"It's finally about to be born—oh no, about to hatch!"
Li Feiyu looked at the Fire Crow egg in front of him, a little incoherent.
Around the Fire Crow egg were placed over three hundred low-grade Fire Spirit Stones and six mid-grade Fire Spirit Stones, continuously providing Fire Spiritual Qi.
Looking at the quality of the Spirit Stones, most of them had already been completely absorbed, which was quite incredible.
Li Feiyu had started trying to hatch the Fire Crow a month ago, but no matter how he tried, it failed.
At that time, Li Feiyu thought of a fact he had overlooked.
How long had the Blazing Zenith Sect's Secret Realm existed?
At least several thousand years, right?
So, the question was, how long had the Fire Crow egg been stored in the Spirit Beast Pouch?
After such a long time, what kind of Spirit Beast egg could be stored for so long and not be a dead egg?!
Li Feiyu immediately cursed, thinking it would have been better to have more Magic Treasures or Legacy items; a Spirit Beast egg as a Legacy item was too unreliable!
After calming down, Li Feiyu tried to probe with his Divine Sense, and he actually sensed a faint, almost imperceptible trace of life.
"Ah, this… it actually still has Qi."
However, a Spirit Beast egg of this state was no different from a stillbirth; normally, it would be impossible to hatch.
"The Fire Crow, the Blazing Zenith Sect's Guardian Spirit Beast in the past, possesses a trace of the True Spirit Three-legged Golden Crow's Bloodline. The original one followed the Founding Ancestral Master Huo Yuntian; it had three legs, was entirely scarlet, with three scarlet-gold feathers on its head, and possessed vast Divine Abilities, comparable to a Soul Transformation Cultivator. Later, all Fire Crows were its descendants."
"According to records, this Fire Crow contains True Spirit Bloodline. If it can be revived and nurtured, even if it can't compare to the original one, it can at least grow to the Nascent Soul Realm, comparable to a Soul Transformation Great Yao."
Thinking of this, Li Feiyu felt a bit reluctant and didn't want to give up.
"Then let's give it a try."
Li Feiyu's only trump card was the longevity liquid.
longevity liquid is divided into ordinary human longevity and natal longevity.
Considering the state of the Fire Crow, Li Feiyu tried to convert natal longevity liquid for the first time and condense it outside his body.
Natal longevity liquid is different from ordinary longevity liquid; it is golden, amber-like, and has an extremely strong fragrance that can stir the innate desire of living beings to devour it.
Li Feiyu dripped it onto the Fire Crow egg, and the natal longevity liquid was instantly absorbed by the Spirit Egg.
"It worked!"
Li Feiyu began to repeat the process, each time using a drop of natal longevity liquid, equivalent to ten years of ordinary longevity liquid.
Drop after drop.
In the blink of an eye, a thousand years of Lifespan vanished, and at this moment, the Fire Crow egg's aura became vigorous. The surface of the Spirit Beast egg began to emit a faint red glow, flickering on and off.
"Is it about to hatch?"
Li Feiyu saw that the phenomenon was consistent with the records, and his heart immediately began to pound with excitement.
Before long, the surrounding Spiritual Qi began to surge in frantically, even forming a small Spiritual Qi vortex.
"The more Spiritual Qi it needs, the greater its potential."
Li Feiyu began to take out Spirit Stones from his Storage Pouch, first fifty low-grade Fire Spirit Stones, which weren't enough, then added more, finally reaching over three hundred.
Li Feiyu was slightly surprised and took out six more mid-grade Fire Spirit Stones.
The Spiritual Qi content of mid-grade Spirit Stones is a hundred times that of low-grade ones, but judging by the Fire Crow egg's appearance, it accepted everything.
Time flew by to the present.
When it was confirmed that the Fire Crow egg could hatch, Li Feiyu fed it with his essence blood for several days, then imprinted a Blood Restriction to establish a master-servant relationship.
The Blood Restriction was something Li Feiyu discovered in a damaged ancient text on Spirit Beast Mountain. It has a great restrictive power over Spirit Beasts and Spirit Insects, but it requires a lot of essence blood.
Feeding with essence blood can make the Spirit Beast feel affectionate towards him after birth, while the Blood Restriction prevents the Spirit Beast from retaliating.
He had prepared a large amount of blood-replenishing Spirit Medicine beforehand.
"Crack, crack, crack~"
The side of the eggshell cracked, and a small claw stretched out, with four toes, three in front and one behind, and the toes had hooked claws.
The small claw retracted, and then with a "plop," the claw stretched out again, and the eggshell was kicked away.
"It's quite strong."
Spirit Beast eggs of this kind generally have relatively hard eggshells. To shatter it so easily indicates that the power of this single claw is considerable.
However, birds usually peck open the shell with their beaks, but it kicked it open with its foot, which was quite unique.
"Plop, plop, plop~"
After several consecutive times, the side of the Spirit Beast egg was wide open, and a fluffy, reddish-gold little head poked out, looking around curiously.
Upon seeing Li Feiyu, the little fellow chirped happily a few times, flew directly up, flapping its wings, and stopped in front of him.
Its clumsy appearance was quite endearing.
Seeing its wings lose strength, Li Feiyu immediately caught it with his hand.
The little fellow fell into his palm and immediately stood up again.
Li Feiyu stared between its two feet and said in surprise, "There really is a third leg!"
He had vaguely guessed earlier that if the Fire Crow had three legs, the third leg's power would far exceed the other two.
However, usually, the third leg mostly retracts into the body and only appears when attacking.
"Bloodline reversion to ancestral form, little fellow, it wasn't in vain that I spent a thousand years of Lifespan to save you."
"Chirp, chirp~"
The little fellow flapped its not-yet-full wings a couple of times, as if responding to Li Feiyu.
Li Feiyu poked its head, and it likewise rubbed its head against Li Feiyu's finger, their relationship incredibly intimate.
"Alright, you're hungry too. Go eat the eggshell."
The little fellow glanced at the eggshell, a look of disdain in its eyes. Li Feiyu was momentarily stunned.
Then, the little fellow chirped a few times at Li Feiyu. Li Feiyu thought for a moment and condensed a drop of longevity liquid.
The little fellow's eyes immediately lit up. Its previously weak wings suddenly seemed to gain endless strength, supporting it to fly up and directly swallow the drop of longevity liquid.
Then it contentedly landed back in Li Feiyu's palm.
"It's a bit hard to raise. No, I can't spoil it."
Li Feiyu lectured it earnestly, and only then did the little fellow reluctantly begin to eat the eggshell.
After eating, the little fellow's feathers grew a bit, and its surface became more lustrous. It was a bit sleepy, flew to Li Feiyu's shoulder, and fell asleep while standing.
Like Mortal mother's milk, the energy and nutrients contained in the eggshell are very beneficial for newborns.
He glanced at the pile of Spirit Stones, among which three mid-grade Spirit Stones still had about half left. Li Feiyu didn't waste them, holding the Spirit Stones in his hand, swallowing a Qi Cultivation Pill, and immediately began to meditate and cultivate Qi.
He had already entered the peak of the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Realm, and while still some distance from the Middle Stage, it was not far.
The Spirit Beast egg had hatched, so the other Spirit Insects could also be arranged.
Half a month later, the Soul Devouring Golden Cicada and the Golden-backed Demonic Mantis successfully hatched. Li Feiyu also imprinted them with the Blood Restriction.
A few were fine, but if he were to cultivate a large number of Spirit Insects in the future, this method wouldn't work anymore; even exhausting his essence blood wouldn't be enough.
The Soul Devouring Golden Cicada and the Golden-backed Demonic Mantis were both wild and untamable Spirit Insects, but they had an instinctive need for longevity liquid, so they were very obedient to Li Feiyu's words.
Even the Soul Devouring Golden Cicada, known as a master-devouring fierce insect, had never "acted up."
As for the other Spirit Insect eggs, after some research, Li Feiyu found that they were all ordinary Spirit Insects, of no help to him, so he didn't hatch them.
The Soul Devouring Golden Cicada can devour Spiritual Qi and is most sensitive to Spiritual Qi, while the Golden-backed Demonic Mantis is a natural swordsman with powerful combat strength.
Originally, the Secluded Valley only had Li Feiyu and the Little Fire Crow, one person and one beast. Now with their birth, it suddenly became lively.
The Fire Crow, relying on its earlier birth and strong power, often bullied them.
Even though they were all exceptionally fierce Spirit Insects, their temperaments had been worn down, and they listened to the Little Fire Crow's every command.
Time flew by, and three years passed in a flash.
Li Feiyu had successfully broken through to the Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Realm a year and a half ago, and his cultivation had improved significantly since then.
The Little Fire Crow had grown considerably and was now fifty centimeters tall, entirely scarlet, with three scarlet-gold feathers on its head, appearing exceptionally majestic.
It could spit out a type of scarlet-gold flame, whose power was not inferior to the Scarlet Sun True Flame, but it could only spew this flame a few times before it was depleted.
Its ordinary scarlet flame, however, was also powerful and almost inexhaustible.
Because of its powerful Bloodline, possessing True Spirit blood, the Fire Crow was comparable to a Level 1 Middle Stage Demon Beast right after birth. Under Li Feiyu's full cultivation, it was now comparable to a Level 3 Demon Beast.
The stronger a Spirit Beast's talent, the faster its initial growth, but once it encounters a Bottleneck, breaking through is ten or even a hundred times harder than a Cultivator breaking through a Realm.
As for the pair of Soul Devouring Golden Cicadas and Golden-backed Demonic Mantis, they were approximately Level 1 Upper Stage in strength.
Li Feiyu occasionally fed them longevity liquid, in addition to an unlimited supply of Spirit Nurturing Pills and other foods, so their growth rate also far exceeded that of ordinary Spirit Insects.
"There are still three days until the Spirit Land Assembly."
Li Feiyu got up and put the Spirit Insects into his Spirit Beast Pouch. As for the Fire Crow, it always refused and preferred to stay on Li Feiyu's shoulder.
When it grew larger, there would be no place for it to stay there anymore.
Therefore, Li Feiyu let it be.
"First, I'll go see how Han Li is doing."
Li Feiyu left the Secluded Valley, released his Clear Wind Boat, and flew directly towards Little Dipper Island.