Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Xiao Hei's Potential
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The gathering came to an end.
Chen Jianghe and Zhou Miaoyun left the Mirror Moon Immortal Pavilion together, but they soon parted ways. Zhou Miaoyun was headed to the Treasure Pavilion.
She was probably going to purchase some resources.
Chen Jianghe wasn't in a hurry to return to his aquaculture waters. Since he was already in Mirror Moon Market City, he naturally wanted to visit the Beast Taming Emporium to broaden his horizons.
At the gathering, neither Yu Daniu nor Zhou Miaoyun asked if he planned to take a Calamity Dispelling Pill to break through. It seemed they had both tacitly accepted his cultivation limits.
Chen Jianghe wasn't offended by this; it saved him the trouble of coming up with an excuse.
"Fellow Daoist Chen? Are you planning to buy a spirit beast to help raise your Little Green Fish?"
Just as he reached the entrance of the Beast Taming Emporium, he ran into Talisman Master Chu Lang, who was on his way out, holding a ring that glinted with a green light.
"Yes, I'm here to check the prices."
Chen Jianghe smiled and nodded. "Talisman Master Chu, did you just buy a spirit beast?"
"Hehe, you know some of my younger relatives live in Bixia Town. The world is turbulent right now, so I bought a spirit beast for them."
Talisman Master Chu Lang shook the Spirit Beast Ring in his hand.
The Spirit Beast Ring not only helps a cultivator form a contract with a spirit beast, enabling telepathic communication.
Most importantly, a high-grade Spirit Beast Ring contains a beast space where the spirit beast can be stored.
The spirit beast remains in a dormant state within this space.
Of course, high-grade Spirit Beast Rings are expensive, costing more than ten times the twenty spirit stones of a low-grade one.
It was clear that the ring in Talisman Master Chu Lang's hand was a high-grade Spirit Beast Ring, and the spirit beast he had purchased was already stored inside.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, you shouldn't leave the waters of Mirror Moon Lake for the time being. Wait until that demonic cultivator has been dealt with before you venture out."
Talisman Master Chu Lang advised with concern.
"Alright, thank you, Talisman Master Chu."
Chen Jianghe clasped his hands in thanks and watched Talisman Master Chu Lang leave.
He knew, of course, why Talisman Master Chu Lang was concerned about him. The talisman inheritance trade provided the man with a considerable income of spirit stones each year.
Stepping into the Beast Taming Emporium, Chen Jianghe felt as if he had walked into an ocean park. A massive crystal tunnel, filled with water, housed various water-type spirit beasts swimming and playing.
Perhaps because most cultivators around Mirror Moon Lake practiced water-type cultivation arts, the majority of the spirit beasts were water-type.
There were also spirit beasts of other elemental types kept in crystal enclosures.
"Fellow Daoist, feel free to look around. Our Beast Taming Emporium has many types of spirit beasts. Due to space limitations, we can't display them all, but there is a jade slip catalog over there for you to browse."
A young man in ornate robes approached Chen Jianghe and began to explain the emporium's offerings.
'Late-stage Qi Refining!'
Chen Jianghe noticed that not only was the young man introducing the place at the late stage of Qi Refining, but the several talented young men and celestial maidens at the counter were as well.
This made him marvel at the profound heritage of the Beast Taming Immortal Zhou Clan.
"Alright, I'll take a look around first."
Chen Jianghe smiled and nodded.
Walking down the crystal tunnel, he could see various types of first-rank spirit beasts swimming inside.
There were even Black Crystal Mystic Turtles and Little Green Fish.
But they were few in number, only three or four of them.
The majority were water-type spirit beasts like jellyfish and squid.
"A long-armed ape!"
When he reached the exhibition hall for other elemental spirit beasts, he saw a primate-like ape spirit beast. Its arms hung past its knees, strong and sturdy, and its fur was a bronze color.
Its eyes were bright and sharp as it met Chen Jianghe's gaze.
The long-armed ape was a metal-type spirit beast with a second-grade, high-tier bloodline. Upon reaching adulthood, it would be at the mid-stage of the first rank and could quickly grow to the late stage. It could wield specially made magical artifacts as weapons, making it extremely powerful in combat.
According to the *Yun Clan Chronicle*, the Yun Clan possessed a late first-rank long-armed ape, which the Yun Clan Ancestor had bought and raised before reaching Foundation Establishment, spending one hundred and twenty spirit stones on it.
Spirit beast bloodlines were divided into nine grades, each further split into high and low tiers. The third-grade bloodline spirit beast that appeared in Qinghe Market City back then was a third-grade, high-tier spirit beast, which was why it had prompted the Beast Taming Immortal Zhou Clan to take action.
A second-grade, high-tier spirit beast had a chance of reaching the second rank as long as it could obtain the spirit core of a second-rank spirit beast.
One hundred and fifty spirit stones.
He glanced at the price and saw it was thirty spirit stones more expensive than when the Yun Clan Ancestor had bought his.
After a tour of the Beast Taming Emporium and browsing the jade slip catalog, he discovered that they had over a dozen types of second-grade, high-tier spirit beasts for sale.
The prices were all over one hundred spirit stones.
Primate spirit beasts like the long-armed ape were slightly more expensive.
As for third-grade bloodline spirit beasts, the emporium didn't sell any, not even those with low-tier bloodlines.
He also got a better understanding of the price of Spirit Beast Rings.
Spirit Beast Rings were a type of special magical artifact, divided into low-grade and high-grade. The low-grade ones were the common type, valued at twenty spirit stones.
A high-grade Spirit Beast Ring, with its beast space, was worth three hundred spirit stones.
This meant that Talisman Master Chu Lang had just spent a minimum of over three hundred spirit stones at the Beast Taming Emporium.
A high-grade Spirit Beast Ring cost three hundred spirit stones. Add a spirit beast to that, and even the most common juvenile second-grade, low-tier spirit beast was worth five spirit stones.
If he had purchased an adult spirit beast, the price would have more than doubled or tripled.
Talisman Master Chu Lang said he bought the spirit beast to provide his younger relatives with a means of defense, which meant he must have purchased an adult one.
A late first-rank spirit beast, even with a second-grade, low-tier bloodline, was worth two hundred spirit stones.
"When will I ever become a high-grade Talisman Master!"
Chen Jianghe walked out of the Beast Taming Emporium and glanced at the Treasure Pavilion, wondering if Zhou Miaoyun had left yet.
He headed straight back to his aquaculture waters.
One couldn't stay in the market city overnight unless they rented a room at an inn or tavern.
Or one could find some entertainment to pass the night.
Why waste the money? He could be back on his own turf in a quarter of an hour.
Entering the cabin and sitting cross-legged, he compared Xiao Hei to the long-armed ape. Judging by their auras, Xiao Hei wasn't an adult yet either.
But Xiao Hei's cultivation level surpassed that of the long-armed ape.
This might be partly due to the many resources he had fed it, but it also indicated that Xiao Hei's bloodline purity was higher than the long-armed ape's.
Spirit beasts generally had longer lifespans than cultivators, roughly twice as long, and they typically reached adulthood around the age of forty.
Turtle-type beasts had even longer lifespans, three times that of a cultivator, which meant they should reach adulthood at sixty.
By that calculation, Xiao Hei was nineteen this year and would definitely become a late first-rank spirit beast before reaching adulthood.
Reaching the late first-rank upon adulthood was the standard for a third-grade bloodline.
But Xiao Hei's situation was special and couldn't be judged by normal standards.
"Xiao Hei and I swapped lifespans, so does he reach adulthood at twenty, or sixty?"
If it was sixty, then Xiao Hei wouldn't suffer from declining vitality even when he died of old age at one hundred and twenty.
But if it was twenty, that would still meet the standard for a second-grade, high-tier bloodline.
"It would be best if Xiao Hei matures at sixty. That way, even if I reach Foundation Establishment at the age of one hundred, his vitality won't have declined, and he can still attempt to break through to the second rank."
If Xiao Hei truly did mature at sixty, then he was undeniably a third-grade bloodline spirit beast, and becoming a second-rank spirit beast would be practically a certainty.
A first-grade bloodline had become a third-grade bloodline?
The *Three Revolutions Demon Ascension Art* surfaced in Chen Jianghe's mind.