Chapter 125

After finishing all this, it had already been a month since Gu Xuan returned to Tian Dou Royal Academy; now Gu Xuan brought Ye Lingling to stay at Binghuo Liangyi Yan, without hurrying back.

Ye Haitang had already taken office at Binghuo Liangyi Yan; the matter of the family's relocation was to be handled again by Zhang Jinyuan and Youming Luo.

Ye Haitang and Yang Wudi occasionally exchanged knowledge about medicinal theory and alchemy, then began to replan the medicinal fields.

After learning of Ye Hai's abilities, Yang Wudi, though helpless, knew that professional matters must be handled by professionals; although Yang Wudi was very professional, Ye Haitang was even more professional than him!

The reason Gu Xuan is still at Binghuo Liangyi Yan is that the dragon egg is about to hatch; the dragon blood pools of two 90,000-year and one 30,000-year have almost been absorbed, and Dugu Bo estimates that after hatching this dragon egg will likely directly reach the thousand-year level.

After all, with such terrifying resources accumulated, the aura now emanating from this dragon egg is already comparable to that of a thousand-year spirit beast.

Gu Xuan wasn't particularly surprised, after all, when spirit beasts hatch their young, they have no ability to hunt same-level spirit beasts to feed their offspring.

During this period, Dugu Bo naturally noticed the close relationship between Gu Xuan and Ye Lingling, but as an old man he didn't feel comfortable meddling in the younger generation's affairs.

Gu Xuan's talent is here; Dugu Bo is not a pedantic person, he knows that Gu Xuan's future confidantes cannot be only Du Gu Yan, but as long as Du Gu Yan holds the position of principal wife it's fine.

Moreover, he also knew that Du Gu Yan was Gu Xuan's first girlfriend, and Gu Xuan had given the Lovesick Broken Heart Red to Du Gu Yan, allowing her martial soul to evolve.

Ancestor, a top-tier martial soul on par with a true dragon! Yang Wudi's stay at Binghuo Liangyi Yan hasn't been short, and Dugu Bo naturally also understood the miraculous nature of some immortal-grade herbs; Gu Xuan being able to give the Lovesick Broken Heart Red to Du Gu Yan is enough to prove her status in his heart, so Dugu Bo therefore refrained from meddling further to confirm anything.

And just as Dugu Bo had predicted, a week later the dragon egg cracked; while Gu Xuan was cultivating inside the Binghuo Liangyi Yan, he kept a strand of spiritual power constantly monitoring the egg, and when it was about to hatch he arrived at the egg's edge.

The dragon egg was oval, one meter in diameter and two meters tall, standing in a pool of dragon blood; now the pool's dragon blood had run out, and Gu Xuan replaced it with some nourishing nutrient solution.

The shell cracked open a slit at the top, then the entire egg split with a fissure down the middle, and the shell halves fell to either side; at that moment Gu Xuan realized that the egg's wall was a full ten centimeters thick.

When the egg split, a resonant dragon roar rang through the clouds, and a small sword‑wing demon dragon, entirely deep blue and one and a half meters tall, emerged.

Gu Xuan examined it closely; this sword‑wing demon dragon differed slightly from the Ninth Soul Ring of Mi He, that is, from its father.

First, of course, its color; secondly, its body. The small sword‑wing demon dragon has eight miniature dragon swords on its back, and not only that, its forehead and tail are also dragon swords, the forehead swords seemingly formed directly, and the tail swords likewise.

This sword‑wing demon dragon bears a full ten dragon swords, and its aura already reaches the thousand‑year level, being at its peak from birth.

Although the dragon swords appear somewhat delicate, they still retain the majesty of its father.

Gu Xuan sized it up, and the small sword‑wing demon dragon sized him up; Gu Xuan gave a faint smile, and the eight dragon swords on his back unfolded, while the small sword‑wing demon dragon, following its inner bloodline, arched and, standing above the blood pool, extended its hand toward Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan also felt as if he had some connection with this little creature; after patting its still somewhat soft head and the dragon sword on its head, Gu Xuan smiled, "From now on you shall be called Gu Jian."

The sword‑wing demon dragon seemed to understand Gu Xuan's words, nuzzling his hand affectionately, nodding to show it understood, and opening its mouth slightly to emit two sounds that were extremely pleasant to Gu Xuan's ears.

"Got it, baba…"

Suddenly, Gu Xuan seemed to understand the sword‑wing demon dragon's voice, and that voice was exactly the same as Ning Rongrong's soft little girl voice from childhood, only the timbre differed.

"M… mother?" Gu Xuan's heart was startled.

But then, even more incredulously, he stared at the Gu Jian before him: it can understand what I say? No, can *I* understand its words? Or can it grasp the meaning it expresses?

However, Gu Xuan quickly recovered; the "young lady" had once shed a drop of refined blood, and now he possessed the soul bone produced by the sword‑dragon's eight wings—his own Gu Jian's father—so communicating with it was naturally no problem.

After all, it's fortunate that it isn't so far‑fetched as to allow barrier‑free mind communication between a person and a beast; otherwise it would be utterly absurd, a gateway to absurdity.

Ye Lingling watched the scene from the side, a bit shocked, but why is this soul beast so cute, duck!

Just now, the dragon's roar was quite loud; Dugu Bo, who was in cultivation seclusion, also came out, Ye Haitang, still adjusting the medicinal field, also joined, and Yang Wudi—no need to mention—was the first to arrive.

The few of them, after seeing the sword‑wing demon dragon before Gu Xuan, were instantly astonished: born at a thousand‑year level? If not due to some special gestation method, then it must be an extraordinary innate talent.

However, they were all seasoned elders who had roamed the world, so they naturally knew about sword‑wing demon dragons; such soul beasts are indeed top‑tier among dragons, but their innate talent would never reach that level.

Of course, the only one with this doubt was Ye Haitang; Dugu Bo and Yang Wudi had already guessed the reason.

The blood of two top‑tier dragon soul beasts—one ninety‑thousand‑year‑old and one thirty‑thousand‑year‑old—has been fully absorbed by the dragon egg, so it is understandable that the hatchling possesses such strength.

Gu Xuan looked at the Gu Jian before him, feeling rather satisfied; after all, regardless of gender, its appearance was sufficiently imposing. Though it still looked a bit like a kindergarten drawing, once it grew a bit and shed its childishness, riding it would be quite cool.

But before Gu Xuan could say anything else, Gu Jian opened its mouth and let out two howls.

In Gu Xuan's ears it sounded like: "Baba, I'm hungry…"

Hearing that, Gu Xuan was slightly stunned: "Weren't you just born? And you're already a thousand‑year soul beast. Besides, I didn't give you any food!"

Looking at the egg shell in the nutrient solution, Gu Xuan suddenly recalled that animals hatched from eggs can eat their own shells, so his right hand instantly turned into a bone claw, crushed a piece of the shell, and offered it to Gu Jian's mouth.

Gu Jian leaned in, sniffed, then glanced at Gu Xuan, saw his good head, and opened its mouth to eat.

"Kaba kaba…"

A delightfully crisp sound rang out, and after only a couple of chews Gu Jian swallowed it whole, then let out two more howls.

Gu Jian's cries sounded to Dugu Bo and the others like a starving infant, but to Gu Xuan they were…

"Baba, delicious, more!"

When Gu Xuan heard that it actually worked, he began breaking off bits of the egg shell in the nutrient solution and feeding them to Gu Jian, and the nutrient solution was indeed very nourishing; when Gu Jian became a bit dry, it would sip some of the solution.

With the nutrient solution, Gu Jian ate its own egg shell in large bites; soon the shell was gone, and the solution was completely drained.

At this moment Gu Xuan's complexion grew a bit excited, because Gu Jian had shed its juvenile greenness; its draconic body was fully revealed, reaching three meters in height, no longer the newborn's naivety, resembling a small replica of her deceased father.

However, Gu Jian's appearance was even more imposing than her father's; the forehead dragon sword now bore a fierce edge, the tail‑end dragon swords were equally extraordinary, and the eight dragon swords on its back were slightly spread, as if ready to take flight.

What surprised Gu Xuan most was that Gu Jian's age had already reached fifteen hundred years; perhaps that is the effect of hatchlings eating their shells.

The bone sword, having finished the shell, howled at Gu Xuan: "Baba, I'm full, but I'm so sleepy, time for a nap…"

After the howl, she settled into the pit to sleep; now Gu Jian's size was far larger than the egg's, its massive body perfectly filling the entire pool.

Watching the sleeping bone sword, Gu Xuan felt a surge of excitement; from now on this would be his handsome mount—no, his soul‑beast daughter!

ps: typos will be corrected later.

(End of Chapter)