Burying the Spirit Vein
After dinner, Shen Jingchuan returned to his room, took out the Spirit Gathering Formation Plate, opened it, sat cross-legged inside the array, and probed the ball of light in mid-air within his Heaven and Earth Ring with his Divine Sense.
Upon hearing this, he was overjoyed.
Inside the sphere of light, the green light that had enveloped the damaged Spirit Vein had faded completely. It hung there quietly, its entire body radiating a faint silver light, much more lustrous than before. It was repaired.
Shen Jingchuan suppressed his excitement and took the Spirit Vein out of the light sphere.
With a flash of light, a Spirit Vein over ten feet long landed in his hand. It was heavy, its surface shimmering with silver light, and a warm Spiritual Qi seeped into his palm. He looked at it over and over, unable to suppress the corner of his mouth from smiling.
With a thought, he was already inside the Ring's space.
Xian'er noticed him coming in, turned around, and immediately saw the Spirit Vein in his hand, which gracefully fell to the ground.
"Great, it's fixed."
Before the words were even finished, a small figure ran over from a distance; it was Su Qinghua.
"Brother, you're here." She ran up to him, glancing back towards the horse pen. "Big Black hasn't been eating much these past few days, and Little Black and Treading Snow are still the same, curled up in their cocoons and not moving."
Shen Jingchuan glanced in the direction of the gaze.
"It's alright, they just need a little more time. I'll go check on Big Black later."
Xian'er raised her finger and pointed directly below the ball of light in mid-air.
"Let's get down to business first. We'll bury it right here."
Shen Jingchuan carried the Spirit Vein over.
How deep?
Xian'er landed beside that spot.
"Dig as deep as possible, let's start with ten feet."
Shen Jingchuan nodded, gently placed the Spirit Vein aside, and raised his hand to release his Law Artifact flying sword. Guided by his Divine Sense, the sword light fell into the soil, causing the earth to churn and part to both sides, soon digging out a large pit about ten feet deep.
He carefully placed the Spirit Vein into the bottom of the pit, then used his sword light to fill the pit with soil and tamp it down.
After a moment, wisps of Spiritual Qi seeped up from the soil, and a thin layer of mist condensed on the tips of the grass underfoot. The Spiritual Qi in the entire space became denser, and breathing felt indescribably comfortable.
Xian'er looked down at her feet and nodded.
"It's done. The Spirit Vein is buried here, and it will naturally release Spiritual Qi to nourish this place day and night. The Ring will also benefit from it, so you don't need to worry about it anymore."
Shen Jingchuan stood there, sensing the Spiritual Qi gradually filling the surroundings. It seemed he would have to get more of this stuff in the future.
With the most important matter settled, Qinghua pulled Shen Jingchuan toward the corner where the three horses were.
It was called a stable, but there wasn't really a shed; it was just a flat area by the stream where the three horses usually rested.
Big Black, who had been lying down, raised its head when it heard the noise. Seeing that it was Shen Jingchuan coming over, it immediately stood up, hoofed its way over, and nuzzled its big head into his chest.
Shen Jingchuan reached out and hugged it, patted its neck, then took out two apples from his Storage Ring, spread them in his palm, and fed them to it.
He watched Big Black chew on an apple and stroked its mane.
"It's okay, it's normal, they'll succeed, don't worry."
Su Qingshu, who was squatting beside the two silkworm cocoons, turned around when he heard the sound, and quickly stood up when he saw it was him.
"Elder brother."
Shen Jingchuan nodded, his gaze falling on the two tightly wrapped cocoons.
Just then, one of the cocoons twitched slightly.
Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the cocoon.
The cocoon shell undulated slightly at first, then cracked open. The crack widened, and fragments of the shell fell off, revealing a black figure emerging from within.
It's Little Black.
It shook its head, and the remaining slime slid off its fur. The bulging fleshy growths on both sides of its shoulder blades were gone, and it spread out a pair of wings, which, though still folded, were clearly visible. The single horn on its forehead was also revealed, longer than before, and jet black and shiny.
Even more strangely, thin bolts of electricity would occasionally flash across its horn, crackling softly, circling its body before dissipating.
Little Black Hei looked up and saw Shen Jingchuan in front of it. It snorted, stepped closer, and nuzzled its head against him.
Big Black went up to meet him, stuck out its tongue, and licked Little Black's neck twice, making a low growling sound in its throat, as if it were greeting him.
Shen Jingchuan looked at the Little Black with wings and electric horns in front of him and couldn't stop smiling. He quickly took out two apples for it to eat.
As he continued rubbing, his gaze fell upon another cocoon that remained still nearby.
The cocoon next to it also moved.
First, a crack appeared on the shell, and the broken shells parted to both sides, and a figure slowly emerged from inside.
Shen Jingchuan was taken aback.
"This is... Treading Snow?"
The horse in front of me has changed its coat color. The black and white hairs are now evenly blended together, and from a distance, it appears grayish-white, as if covered with a thin layer of frost.
It has a pair of wings spread out on either side of its shoulder blades, and a single horn growing from the center of its forehead.
The horn was white as jade, translucent, like a solid piece of ice crystal. A faint chill emanated from the horn, covered with a layer of fine frost flowers, making it look quite different from Little Black's jet-black and shiny horn.
A chill permeated my body, the surrounding air seemed to have cooled down, and tiny frost flowers were faintly condensing on the tips of the grass at my feet.
Treading Snow shook her head, snorted, and looked at Shen Jingchuan before stepping closer.
Shen Jingchuan reached out and caught it, rubbed its neck, and then took out two apples to feed it.
"Great, Treading Snow, you've succeeded too."
After feeding Treading Snow, I heard Qinghua softly exclaim, "Ah!"
He turned around and saw that Little Black beside him was already trying to spread its wings.
The wings gradually spread out, growing larger and larger. Once fully extended, each wing was over four meters wide, and with a single flap, it stirred up bits of grass from the ground. The horse, standing in the middle, with its two wings, was nearly ten meters long.
Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua stood to the side, heads tilted back, mouths covered, eyes wide with disbelief, speechless for a long time.
Xian'er floated over and landed beside the two horses, looking them up and down.
"These two little guys are really lucky."
She turned back and smiled at Shen Jingchuan:
"Their bloodlines have awakened, and even their Innate Divine Abilities have been activated. Little Black is lightning-based, while Treading Snow is ice-based; one lightning, one ice, neither is inferior."
She changed the subject.
"Did you buy the Contract Jade Slip I asked you to buy?"
Shen Jingchuan nodded.
"I bought it."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Xian'er glanced at him. "We can sign now. However, they have now gained cultivation and intelligence."
She paused, her expression softening.
"Fortunately, your relationship is there. You signed Equal Contract, it's a mutual agreement, it doesn't suppress their development, and you can communicate directly after signing, leading to better cooperation. Given your relationship with them, I don't think there will be any problems."
Xian'er raised her finger and pointed to her brow, then made a gesture.
"Sink your Divine Sense into the Jade Slip, think about forming a contract with them, and then have them confirm it. Once the Jade Slip warms up, the contract will be formed. Go and explain things to them first."