Qilin

It was the same private room, the same Ma Feifei and the man in black. But this time, there was no tea or smiles. The man in black was tied up and thrown onto the sofa by Ma Feifei, who stared intently at him and occasionally touched him all over.

"What... what do you want to do?" The man in black was filled with fear, and he kept moving back. Ma Feifei's gaze and the hands that occasionally violated him filled him with deep fear and a strong sense of nausea.

"Tsk tsk..." Ma Feifei didn't answer the man in black's words. He pinched the man's thigh. The muscles were taut, and he could feel the immense power contained within them. It was clearly not an ordinary spirit beast.

"Tell me, what is your true form? Are you the Divine Beast that has lived for over 30,000 years in the Nine Heavens Mountain?" Ma Feifei patted the man in black's thigh and asked.

Catching that man in black was so easy. There was no need for a fight in the Bookstore, and the man in black didn't even have a chance to Transform. Plus, the system's mission prompt only mentioned the word "auspicious," leaving Ma Feifei with no idea what the man in black's true form was.

"Why should I tell you?" The man in black was quite stubborn. Although he was caught by Ma Feifei before he even had a chance to resist, he didn't think Ma Feifei would dare to do anything to him.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" Ma Feifei stroked his chin, looking at the man in black with a meaningful gaze.

"You... I'm warning you, my mother is very powerful. If you bully me, your entire Chu Kingdom will suffer annihilation. You'd better think carefully." The man in black couldn't stand Ma Feifei's state and resorted to threats.

"Your mother?" Ma Feifei frowned. He had thought that the man in black had met Yun Qingyang in the seventh mountain of the Nine Heavens Mountain, and given the auspicious omen, it should be the Divine Beast in the Nine Heavens Mountain that had lived for more than 30,000 years. But judging from his words, this guy had elders in his family, which didn't seem to fit the age of 30,000 years!

While spirit beasts generally have long lifespans, living for 30,000 years is already quite extraordinary. And this auspicious creature, after 30,000 years, even has a mother! How old must that mother be? How powerful must she be? Based on this calculation, given the current strength of humanity on the Azure Dragon Continent, probably no one could resist it, right?

Therefore, considering this, the probability that the man in black is the Divine Beast that has lived for 30,000 years is basically zero.

But since it came from the Nine Heavens Mountain and is an auspicious creature, its identity must be that of Divine Beast. And there is only one Divine Beast in the Nine Heavens Mountain. If it is not that Divine Beast, it is inexplicable.

However... Ma Feifei suddenly remembered the mother the man in black had mentioned. Could he be a descendant of that Divine Beast?

But that doesn't make sense! There's only one Divine Beast inside; what kind of creature can have babies without mating?

If such a thing exists, it's heresy! They should be executed. What use are male creatures to females who already have babies? They definitely deserve to be killed.

"Scared? If you're scared, let me go right now, or your Bookstore will be shut down when my mother comes knocking." Seeing that Ma Feifei didn't speak, the man in black assumed that Ma Feifei was frightened by his previous words, and a smug expression appeared on his face as he raised his head and said.

"Oh..." Ma Feifei glanced at the man in black as if he were an idiot, too lazy to argue with him about the topic, and continued to ask, "What's your name?"

"My name is Ba Jiu." This time, the man in black did not refuse to answer.

Ma Feifei was a little confused. This name... why not just call him Eight or Nine? And then their descendants could be called Seventy-Two, wouldn't that be better?

However, having a name made things easier. Ma Feifei took out Tianshu Fragment from his spatial ring, then took Ballpoint Pen and placed the Tianshu Fragment on the tea table, writing the two characters Ba Jiu Bā Jiǔ) with the Ballpoint Pen.

The man in black, puzzled, watched Ma Feifei write his name with curiosity and asked, "What are you doing?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the man in black saw lines of text appear on the orange paper on the tea table with a 'ding ding ding' sound. Upon seeing those words, the man in black's expression changed drastically.

Name: Ba Jiu

Age: Three months (current lifespan estimated at 50,000 years).

Variety: Qilin (Variant)

Cultivation level: First-Grade Divine Beast.

Reading value: 0 (Note: The maximum value is 100; a value of 80 or above will trigger a help task.)

Attribute: Auspicious Divine Pet.

His name and some other information were all displayed on this piece of paper!

I simply can't believe it.

"It really is Qilin." Ma Feifei wasn't too surprised. After the system gave him the task, Ma Feifei had vaguely guessed that it was Qilin. The most famous auspicious mythical Divine Beast is none other than Qilin.

Does such a creature as the Qilin even exist in this world? The Qilin isn't among the ten ancient mythical Divine Beast...

Ma Feifei frowned as he stared at the slowly disappearing characters on the Tianshu Fragment, lost in thought.

The system gives a variant label after the species, which likely indicates that it was not originally Qilin, but evolved into an auspicious Qilin through other mythical beasts.

It's similar to how the Hong Luan Divine Beast Luan Feng evolved into Fenghuang through its previous sermon.

There's also Yun Qingyang, whose true form is Frost Giant Dragon, but the system gives her a quest about the Legend of Yinglong, asking Ma Feifei to retrieve Ying Long's blood from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" to evolve Yun Qingyang, allowing her to obtain the Ying Long bloodline and inherit it.

"Hmm..." Thinking about this, Ma Feifei vaguely had some ideas.

Books, Divine Beast, evolution.

Whether it's Yun Qingyang or the Fenghuang on Luan Feng's back, they all evolved through the books in the Mysterious Bookstore, becoming the Divine Beast of ancient mythology in Ma Feifei's world. The Qilin itself has no record on the Azure Dragon Continent, so does that mean it also evolved through the books in the Mysterious Bookstore?

But Ma Feifei doesn't remember ever seeing this Divine Beast. How did it evolve?

The evolution of these Divine Beast is also quite interesting: dragon, phoenix, Qilin... so will the tortoise be next?

The Book of Book of Rites, Chapter 9, "The Unicorn, Phoenix, Tortoise, and Dragon are called the Four Divine Creatures."

This is commonly known as the "Four Divine Creatures of the Book of Rites".

Ma Feifei felt that this must have been deliberately arranged by the system, otherwise how could the Divine Beast from his world keep appearing one after another, and how could he encounter them all?

"I just don't know which book this Qilin evolved from."

"Hey! Can't you pay me any attention?" Seeing Ma Feifei constantly lost in thought, Ba Jiu finally couldn't help but complain. The other party knew he was Divine Beast, so why wasn't he reacting at all? Shouldn't he be groveling before him, begging to become his contracted beast?

Upon hearing this, Ma Feifei composed herself, looked up at Ba Jiu, and asked, "Would you be willing to be the mascot of the Mysterious Bookstore?"

"Ha!" Ba Jiu sneered inwardly. He had guessed right. Humans... ha!

What are the benefits?

"..."