Chapter 76

"Li Shishu, you are fooling us juniors again; you want to find someone to test that 'man-beast unity' thing of yours," Zhou Chu replied helplessly after hearing this.

"Man-beast unity?" Wang Yu was somewhat surprised when he heard this.

"This is a secret technique Li Shishu is researching that can allow a cultivator to temporarily borrow the mana of a spirit beast, but it hasn't been successfully researched yet. Quite a few senior brothers have been severely injured by mana backlash during the process of testing this secret technique. The ancestral elder has already ordered that Li Shishu is not allowed to find anyone else to test this secret technique," Zhou Chu explained with a grin.

"Hmph, if it weren't for the ancestral elder's order, this Origin Return Art of mine would have been successfully tested long ago; it's truly a pity, just one step away," the old man snorted, seemingly somewhat helpless.

"Li Shishu is actually able to create his own secret technique; this disciple is filled with admiration," Wang Yu couldn't help but show respect.

"Hehe, you brat know how to talk. I remember, you are a physical bloodline possessor, right? What bloodline did you awaken? What spirit root do you have, and what cultivation art do you primarily practice? When choosing a young beast, I'll give you a few pointers," Li Shishu chuckled, looked back at Wang Yu, and seemed to find him somewhat pleasing to the eye.

"Many thanks, Shishu. This disciple awakened the Iron-Eating Crocodile bloodline and has water, fire, metal, and wind spirit roots. I originally practiced the Yin Water Art, but recently I switched to the Fire Spirit Art," Wang Yu said happily, thanking him repeatedly.

Since the other party was so proficient in beast-taming, if he could receive personal guidance, it would naturally save him a lot of detours.

"Iron-Eating Crocodile—is this a low-rank reptilian demon beast? If you want to fully utilize the affinity of your bloodline, it is best to choose this type of young beast. The Fire Spirit Art is a pure fire-attribute cultivation art; if you consider coordination with a spirit beast in the future, choosing a fire-attribute or wind-attribute spirit beast is also not bad.

Not to mention fire-attribute spirit beasts, if a wind-attribute spirit beast coordinates with a fire-attribute cultivation art, the power is often astonishing.

If I remember correctly, among the new batch of young beasts, there seem to be only a few Iron-Headed Crocodile beast eggs, while for fire-attribute young beasts, there are a few Fire-Tailed Wolves and Fire-Feathered Eagles. Wind-attribute young beasts are very rare; there aren't any in the hall right now," Li Shishu said while pondering, leading the two to a green gate.

On the left and right of the gate crouched two black armored warrior statues, each a zhang tall, their entire bodies covered in dense silver patterns, each holding a giant silver axe in their hands.

As soon as the three of them approached, these two armored warrior statues actually turned their heads amidst the sound of mechanisms, looking at the three of them.

The old man just raised one hand and shook something he was holding, and the two armored warrior statues returned their heads to normal.

Then the old man flicked his sleeve, and several white runes flew out, vanishing into the gate in a flash.

The green gate slowly opened.

Only then did the old man lead the two of them inside.

Behind the gate were strikingly two rows of long iron cages, but each iron cage was separated individually by a pale white light shield. At a glance, there were over a hundred of them, yet they were strangely quiet, without a sound.

The old man led the two of them quickly to the front of a cage, chanted incantations, and once again pointed with the item in his hand.

This time, Wang Yu saw clearly: the item in the old man's hand was clearly a white mini-banner about two inches long.

The white light shield of the cage instantly collapsed and disappeared, revealing two young beasts inside.

Two green little wolves, no more than a foot tall, but they were dragging crimson tails that looked like torches.

"Fire-Tailed Wolf, a fire-attribute wolf beast, with a growth cycle of about thirty years. After reaching adulthood, it is an entry-rank late-stage spirit beast, but it has the potential for second-rank early-stage. It is good at both melee combat and the Fire Snake spell, and it is not picky about food; it is considered one of the easiest spirit beasts to raise. Quite a few outer sect disciples choose this spirit beast to raise."

Li Shishu pointed at the green little wolves in the cage and introduced them.

Seeing this, Wang Yu leaned over to look closely at the two furry little fellows.

But these two little beasts seemed to have eaten and drunk their fill; they just lay in the cage fast asleep, ignoring the three people outside entirely.

After Wang Yu nodded, Li Shishu led the two of them a distance further and arrived in front of another, larger cage, once again forming seals and shaking the banner in his hand.

The white light shield disappeared. Inside the cage were two crimson little birds, no more than the size of a fist, pecking at each other like little roosters; they seemed to have very fiery tempers.

"Fire-Feathered Eagle, a fire-attribute spirit bird, with a growth cycle of sixty years. After reaching adulthood, it is entry-rank late-stage, but it has the potential for second-rank mid-stage. It is good at the Fire Rain spell and flying, and it also has a certain ability for melee combat. It likes to eat demon beast meat. Although it has great cultivation value, the cultivation cycle is too long, and the cultivation cost is huge.

If you want this little thing as a spirit beast, you must think twice; ordinary people can't afford to raise it. It's usually some sect-affiliated families that exchange for these young birds to raise with the power of the entire family," Li Shishu warned.

Wang Yu leaned forward again and observed the two little fellows carefully for a few moments, an expression of fondness appearing on his face.

Who doesn't like a spirit bird that can fly!

Even if he encountered an opponent he couldn't beat, he could still rely on the spirit bird to fly away and save his life.

After letting Wang Yu look for a moment, Li Shishu led the two of them to another cage and once again used the mini-banner to open the white light shield restriction.

After Wang Yu focused his gaze and looked this time, he was slightly stunned.

Inside this cage, a small water pit had actually been dug, and some sand and gravel had been laid out. In the middle of the water pit sat a fist-sized, blue-glowing crystal.

Beside the crystal were placed three giant eggs with black spots, as well as a lizard-like little beast about half a foot long, and a broken, empty eggshell.

This lizard-like little beast was chewing on the eggshell fragments with great relish.

"Eh, one of the beast eggs has actually hatched ahead of schedule." When Li Shishu saw the situation in the cage clearly, he couldn't help but let out a light "eh," his face full of surprise.

"Shishu, these are Iron-Headed Crocodiles, right? It's not strange for one beast egg to hatch a bit early," Zhou Chu said, appearing somewhat dismissive.

"Hmph, what do you know? The incubation cycle of this Iron-Headed Crocodile is as long as a year and a half. I estimated it would take at least another half a year to complete the entire incubation process.

Now that one has hatched ahead of schedule, it can only mean one thing: this Iron-Headed Crocodile young beast might have mutated during the incubation process, which is why it was able to break its shell and come out early," the old man snorted and replied.

"Mutation."

Wang Yu and Zhou Chu were both startled upon hearing this.

The man's face subsequently revealed a look of surprise and joy; he looked at the young beast in the iron cage, his gaze flickering slightly.

"Don't think that spirit beast mutation is such a good thing. Spirit beast mutation means that the original stable innate abilities and even cultivation routes will deviate. The direction of mutation can be good or bad, and the probability of it being bad might even be higher.

For example, the growth cycle of this Iron-Headed Crocodile is forty years. After adulthood, it has the strength of Qi Refinement late-stage and has the potential for second-rank mid-stage. It has thick skin and flesh, especially its head, which is incomparably hard; it is extremely good at melee combat and also possesses a certain ability to control water.

But after mutation, none of this is certain.

After mutation, this Iron-Headed Crocodile's growth cycle might become longer, requiring fifty or sixty years, or its strength after adulthood might decrease, becoming only Qi Refinement mid-stage, or it might not have second-rank mid-stage potential, not to mention other changes in innate abilities.

Of course, if it mutates in a good direction, the result is naturally the opposite; this requires you to gamble on your own luck," the old man saw that the two were tempted and immediately poured a bucket of cold water on them.