Soaking in the bath and circulating his qi and blood, Chen Jiuge's Body Cultivation for the day was complete.
Then, sitting cross-legged on the bed in meditation, he contemplated for an hour to strengthen his Divine Soul; the Beast Master's Cultivation was also completed.
Finally, he practiced Qi Cultivation in a meditative state until dawn, and that day's Cultivation was considered finished.
Such simple and unadorned Cultivation, yet it really consumes a lot of Spirit Stones.
A single medicinal bath required ten Upper Spirit. Although only needed once a month, this expense truly strained his budget.
Then there was the Third Rank Concentrating God Incense for strengthening the Divine Soul. One stick also cost one Upper Spirit, and about ten sticks were needed a month. Alas, I'm still so poor!
「Three days passed in a flash.」
The Grass-Wood Turtles, whose Bloodlines had been extracted by the Golden Finger, had hatched one after another over these few days. They looked to be of good quality, considered premium among Grass-Wood Turtles. The leader among them possessed an especially pure Bloodline. If it had enough resources, it might even advance to the Fourth Rank.
Unfortunately, these were all resource-type Spiritual Beasts. The Myriad Beasts Sect had made special arrangements for such Spiritual Beasts; their Spiritual Wisdom would not be too high. This was especially true for the Red Flame Sheep, which were considered merely Spirit Food and had even lower intelligence.
However, the purity of the Bloodline could, fortunately, awaken their Spiritual Wisdom to some extent. Otherwise, even those three Third Rank Red Flame Sheep variants in the small Secret Realm couldn't have possessed such high Spiritual Wisdom.
"Little Turtle, grow up quickly." Full of anticipation, Chen Jiuge gently stroked a newly hatched Grass-Wood Turtle, filled with high hopes for its future.
Relying on the Array set up in the valley, a Grass-Wood Turtle that originally required three hundred years to mature should now only need two hundred. The increase in Bloodline purity should also accelerate its growth. Coupled with Elixirs specifically designed to hasten the maturity of Spiritual Beasts, it shouldn't even take a hundred years to complete the initial accumulation. Chen Jiuge roughly estimated the time and realized he might start recouping his investment in less than a century.
Cultivators in this world lived very long lives, easily reaching thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Thanks to the dense Spiritual Energy and abundant resources, the upper limits in this world were raised infinitely high. To think, even the Chen Family, to which I belong, has a True Immortal Level ancestor, and the Chen Family is merely an inconspicuous affiliated family under the Myriad Beasts Sect.
However, I don't have many Spirit Stones left now. It's the right time to clear out those matured First Rank and Second Rank Spiritual Chickens and Snow Rabbits in the valley and focus on raising the Red Flame Sheep and Grass-Wood Turtles. The Bloodlines of the three Red Flame Sheep variants are also hard to enhance, but it's manageable. I might sell some variant Spiritual Beasts. Thinking of the Spirit Stones in his pocket, Chen Jiuge felt somewhat troubled.
Buying the small Secret Realm had been a bit impulsive. Most of the payment came from his parents; otherwise, I would have been eating dirt by now.
While Chen Jiuge was troubled about his lack of Spirit Stones, he suddenly received a transmission from a family Elder.
"Jiuge, we have arrived at Hundred Dragon City and are temporarily staying at the White Dragon Inn. Come over when you have time. You need to meet the young ones who came from home this time."
Is Third Elder personally leading the team? Chen Jiuge was somewhat surprised. Although recruiting new members for the Myriad Beasts Sect wasn't a trivial matter, it shouldn't require a Mahayana Realm Elder to personally lead the team.
Despite his confusion, Chen Jiuge sent a message back saying he would be there shortly.
"Black Eye, I have to go out for a bit. Watch over the house," Chen Jiuge said. "By the way, have you seen War Song? That fellow has been out for so many days and hasn't come back yet."
Black Eye, the dog, nodded its head, signifying it would watch over the house, then shook its head, indicating it didn't know where War Song, the monkey, had gone.
Frowning, Chen Jiuge said, "That War Song is really getting out of hand, not coming back for so many days. Never mind, I'll go out first. I'll deal with him when I return."
Although the Myriad Beasts Domain was considered the territory of the Myriad Beasts Sect, the Sect didn't have enough Disciples to cover the entire domain.
Generally speaking, most of the Myriad Beasts Domain was still composed mainly of mortals, and the Myriad Beasts Sect would dispatch Disciples to be stationed in those Mortal Cities.
Besides that, there were also many Loose Cultivators and small Cultivation Families. Their gatherings led the Myriad Beasts Sect to establish specialized Cultivation Cities, and Hundred Dragon City was one such place.
After leaving the valley, Chen Jiuge took out a Flying Boat from his Storage Ring.
A Third Rank Green Jade Boat. The speed is decent, but the decoration doesn't quite match my status as a farm owner.
Standing at the prow of the boat with his hands behind his back, he watched the streaks of light from fellow Sect members flying around. Despite having seen it countless times, Chen Jiuge never tired of the sight.
"Hey, Senior Brother Chen, are you heading out?"
Chen Jiuge turned his head at the voice and saw a Fire Flood Dragon, its entire body engulfed in flames. It was several tens of meters long, resembling a burning mountain range—a daunting sight. Its body was covered in red scales, each shimmering with dazzling firelight, as if about to erupt into a blaze of intense flames at any moment. The Fire Flood Dragon's head was huge and fierce, with two sharp horns protruding from the top, exuding a sense of power. Its eyes were like two burning fireballs, radiating a heart-palpitating glow. When its mouth opened, one could see its glinting, fiery fangs, sending chills down the spine.
"Senior Brother Fire?" Chen Jiuge vaguely saw a figure standing atop the Fire Flood Dragon and asked hesitantly.
This flamboyant Fire Flood Dragon... apart from Senior Brother Fire, probably no one else would waste Spiritual Energy on mere appearances.
"Hahaha, Junior Brother Chen, long time no see! Where are you off to?" A youth dressed in a fiery red spiritual robe leaped onto the Flying Boat, laughing heartily.
Looking at the flamboyant Senior Brother Fire, Chen Jiuge was also pleasantly surprised. This guy looked flamboyant, but his Cultivation was already at the Nascent Soul stage, and he was an Inner Sect Disciple of Green Dragon Peak.
"Senior Brother Fire, the Sect is recruiting, and people from my family have come. I need to go to Hundred Dragon City to see them," Chen Jiuge explained.
"What a coincidence, me too! Shall we go together?"
Chen Jiuge happily agreed to Senior Brother Fire's invitation.
Dragons are proud creatures. Although Chen Jiuge and Senior Brother Fire had a good relationship, they weren't close enough to ride the Fire Flood Dragon together. So, the two of them headed towards White Dragon City on the Flying Boat.
The Outer Sect of the Myriad Beasts Sect was roughly divided into four areas, named after the four Divine Beasts: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Xuanwu.
Correspondingly, the Myriad Beasts Sect's four strongest Inner Sect branches were the peaks named after these four beasts.
Chen Jiuge belonged to the Green Dragon Region, which was one of the reasons he had previously hesitated to form a Contract with that arrogant Fire Flood Dragon.
Hundred Dragon City was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the Outer Sect of the Green Dragon Region, and it wasn't too far away. Two hours later, the two of them saw the outline of Hundred Dragon City.
The city walls, thousands of feet high, were a daunting sight. Fully armed Cultivators, accompanied by their Guardian Beasts, swiftly patrolled the top of the walls.
Two large banners flew, one inscribed with "Myriad Beasts" and the other with "Hundred Dragons."
Intricate inscriptions were carved into the walls, forming patterns of unique beauty. Most terrifying of all was what seemed to be a colossal creature hidden among the clouds.
"That Spiritual Beast in the clouds must be the White Dragon of Elder Wu from Green Dragon Peak," Senior Brother Fire said, looking enviously at the shadow in the clouds.
"Don't worry, Senior Brother, you'll have one too someday." Chen Jiuge gave a meaningful look at the Fire Flood Dragon beside them. Its Bloodline was potent, and each time they met, it seemed stronger than the last. His Senior Brother has indeed invested a lot of resources in it.