As the Sea Burst Crocodile continued to absorb water-elemental energy, its body grew larger and its cultivation kept increasing.
"Five years of cultivation." Shu Da breathed heavily. Five years of cultivation was the dividing line between ordinary and excellent.
"Six years of cultivation!" He was thrilled. It really was worthy of being a Sea Burst Crocodile.
But it still hadn't stopped. His eyes shone as he shouted, "Seven years of cultivation!"
The Sea Burst Crocodile was now half a person tall, its claws and teeth glinting coldly. Its fierce aura had grown even more intense. It seemed full, and its absorption of elemental energy gradually slowed, but it continued all the same.
"Eight years of cultivation!" Shu Da was so excited he nearly jumped. At the final moment, the Sea Burst Crocodile had finally reached eight years of cultivation. Without a doubt, it had absolutely exceptional growth potential!
Feeling a close bond form between him and the Sea Burst Crocodile, Shu Da burst into laughter. "I really am a genius!"
He was so excited that his head suddenly felt heavy, his feet light, and the world spun around him. Just as he was about to topple over, a stream of spiritual energy flowed back to him from the Sea Burst Crocodile.
Deep-blue water-element spiritual energy soon coursed through Shu Da's entire body. He shuddered, as if he'd swallowed a powerful tonic. His weakness vanished, and he was immediately full of vigor.
"Such lovely skin, so smooth and supple!" Beneath the drooping bed curtains, Shu Er was straddling his personal maid. His hands roamed over her full, tender breasts, kneading them as he pleased.
He smacked his lips, lust gleaming in his eyes as his hips pumped away. He paid no heed to the tears in the maid's eyes or the sobs she tried to stifle.
"That fool Shu Da has no appreciation for romance. He doesn't even know how to enjoy such a lovely maid! Hm? Why all the noise outside?" He scowled in displeasure and demanded coldly.
A servant immediately replied from outside the door, "Reporting to Second Young Master, the Eldest Young Master has successfully hatched his demon beast egg. What's more, the egg has exceptionally high aptitude. On its first absorption of elemental energy, it immediately reached eight years of cultivation."
"What? He actually beat me to it!" Shu Er's movements froze, a glint of malice flashing in his eyes.
"Damn it!" He cursed viciously, but his hips began moving faster and faster. Beneath him, the maid clenched her teeth, suffering in agony.
In the blink of an eye, Shu Er's movements abruptly stopped. An expression of lustful abandon, relief, and heavenly bliss spread across his face.
"Ah..."
He let out a deep sigh, then cleaned himself up. After throwing on a robe, he hurriedly went to fetch his own demon beast egg.
A short while later.
"Five years of cultivation... Seven years of cultivation, eight years of cultivation! Hahaha, my Green Fang Snake has eight years of cultivation too. Someone, hurry and tell Mother this wonderful news!" Shu Er stared at the emerald-green snake coiled at his feet, his face alight with delight.
Heaven truly hadn't forsaken me!
"Shu Da's Sea Burst Crocodile is a water-element demon beast. Water nourishes wood, and my Green Fang Snake is a wood-element demon beast! Shu Da, Shu Da, you may have been born a moment before me, but you're as stupid as an ox. The position of city lord will definitely be mine!"
At that moment, Shu Er was brimming with confidence, his ambition surging and his whole body ablaze.
It was like trying to reach a mountain that kept moving farther away.
By the time Chu Yun climbed the Nameless Volcano, it was already past midnight. Moonlight flowed like water, illuminating the path before him until it gleamed like white jade. Relying on his memories from his previous life, he successfully found the cave he remembered.
The cave was halfway up the Nameless Volcano. It wasn't particularly dark inside; the rock's unusual composition gave off a reddish-brown glow. As soon as Chu Yun entered, he felt warmth unlike anything outside the mountain. The familiar sights filled him with a spontaneous sense of belonging.
He went farther in, and the temperature grew higher and higher. At the bottom of the cave, he found the hot spring he'd hoped to see. Steam billowed above it, and the pool was just the right size. More importantly, its water was flowing.
Chu Yun was delighted. This hot spring would save him an unknown amount of trouble.
Next, he did a bit more work, such as sprinkling Tasteless Powder near the cave entrance and using Iron Vine Hemp Rope to make simple warning traps.
After that, he didn't rush to hatch the egg. Instead, he chose a flat spot and peacefully went to sleep.
With the memories from his previous life, he naturally understood everything he needed to pay attention to while hatching an egg. He was anxious too, but he kept his patience and took things one step at a time.
The moon set and the sun rose. The sky brightened, and the forest awoke to a vibrant morning. Clear birdcalls rang out in waves, like pleasant flute music.
Chu Yun woke up.
He stretched mightily and began loosening up. After a night's sleep, he felt completely refreshed, and his strength had returned to its peak.
He took out the dry rations he'd brought with him and ate until he was eighty percent full. Then he formally began hatching the Supreme Heavenly Fox Egg.
The first step was cleansing himself.
The purpose of cleansing was to remove any strange odors from his body. Newly hatched demon beasts were exceptionally sensitive and especially likely to remember the first person they saw. They would remember everything about that person, including their appearance and scent.
Cleansing away strange odors and returning to one's natural scent could establish a stronger bond between a person and a demon beast.
The greatest taboo was having someone else's scent on you. So before hatching an egg, you absolutely couldn't have intimate physical contact with anyone else.
Chu Yun had fought the previous night and trekked through the forest, so he smelled of blood, rocks, plants, and more. The mixture was strong and had completely masked his own scent. Cleaning himself was an urgent priority.
The hot spring in the cave was the best choice. There was a mountain stream nearby too, but going back and forth through the cave would leave him with other scents from along the way.
Chu Yun took off his clothes, stained with mud, moss, and blood, and tossed them far aside. He stepped into the hot spring and began washing himself thoroughly.
The spring was pleasantly warm, as if soft hands were soothing his whole body. Steam curled upward, opening every pore. A feeling of incredible comfort rose in his heart.
He carefully scrubbed every part of his body, from the tips of his hair to his scalp, ears, and the sides of his nose. He didn't miss a speck of dirt.
His build was leaner than the overweight Shu Da's, and somewhat more robust than the scrawny Shu Er's. The body of a thirteen-year-old boy had tender, smooth skin, and his muscles formed graceful, streamlined lines. Though steam half veiled him, the youthful vigor of adolescence still hung about him like a fragrant breeze, brimming with vitality.
He spent more than half an hour scrubbing himself three times over, making sure everything was as perfect as possible. Only then did he leave the hot spring, satisfied.
He put on the fresh clothes he'd prepared, and his earlier disheveled appearance vanished; he looked completely refreshed. He was already a handsome, delicate-featured boy, and in his simple, pale-white hemp clothes, he would surely make anyone sigh, "Youth is wonderful."
There wasn't a trace of any other odor on him now; only warm moisture rose from his skin.
Even so, Chu Yun wasn't satisfied with the moisture. He waited patiently until it had completely evaporated before moving on to the next step.
The second step was washing the egg.
Demon beast eggshells were often coated with mud and other grime, so they needed to be washed. Once a demon beast hatched, the broken eggshell would be the best food for it as a youngling.
Food naturally had to be clean and hygienic.
By now, the dirty water had drained away, and fresh, clear water had flowed into the hot spring. Using the warm spring water, Chu Yun carefully washed the Heavenly Fox Egg.
After washing the egg came the third step—choosing a location.
Choosing where to hatch a demon beast egg was a matter requiring great care. Places rich in elemental energy were best. Densely populated places, such as villages and towns, were generally full of people but low in elemental energy, so they weren't ideal.
By contrast, remote places rarely visited by people, such as forests, grasslands, and the sea, were rich in elemental energy and excellent for hatching. Some unusual demon beast eggs had extremely strict environmental requirements. They couldn't hatch outside a specific environment. Forcing them to hatch would instead kill the beast inside.
For example, the cave where Chu Yun was staying was halfway up the Nameless Volcano and backed onto a forest. It was rich in fire-element energy, along with plenty of earth-element and wood-element energy, water-element energy in the air, and a small amount of free metal-element energy.
It was countless times better than Shu Family City.
The fourth step was building a nest.
Constructing a hatching nest also varied from egg to egg. Some demon beast eggs had especially complicated, even demanding requirements. But the Heavenly Fox Egg wasn't one of them.
Chu Yun took out fifty Baleful Earth Stones and stacked them into a circular, tray-shaped mound.
Baleful Earth Stone could transform the elemental energy around it, turning fire-element energy into water-element energy and earth-element energy into metal-element energy. It was the main material used to build a hatching nest.
Generally, around thirty Baleful Earth Stones were enough. But Chu Yun thought it over and decided he'd rather waste a few than leave anything imperfect. He wanted the newborn Heavenly Fox to absorb the fullest, richest elemental energy.
Besides the Baleful Earth Stones, the main material, he also needed supplementary materials.
Now the bag of Snow Sand that Grandpa Red Spear had given him came in handy. Snow Sand was a rare material, pure white and crystalline, with the effect of gently nurturing spiritual nature. Using it could help one connect with a demon beast's spiritual nature more quickly and effectively.
After pouring out the entire bag of Snow Sand, Chu Yun was relieved to find that it was just enough.
Next came the fifth step—drawing blood.
In human society, there was a saying about recognizing kin by blood. Drawing blood was an important step in forming a bond, refining a demon beast egg, and making the beast one's own.
The more vital the blood used, the better the effect. The finest blood in a person's body was heart blood. But that didn't mean one had to actually cut open one's chest, dig out one's heart, and use it to draw blood.
Generally, a Spirit Beast Master would bite their finger and let a drop of blood fall. People often said the ten fingers were connected to the heart, so this blood was heart blood too.
But Chu Yun didn't use that method. He bit the tip of his tongue, gathering a mouthful of vital blood. A person had to think before speaking, then move their tongue to form the words. So the blood on the tongue was heart blood too. And because the tongue was soft and full of vitality, its blood was fresher and more vibrant than blood from the fingers.
Ordinary Spirit Beast Masters didn't bite their tongues and use tongue-tip blood when hatching eggs. That was because this method was far more painful than biting a finger. A bitten finger could be bandaged, and one could deliberately avoid using it. But the tongue was different; it was needed for eating and speaking.
In his previous life, Chu Yun hadn't used tongue-tip blood either, only blood from his fingertip. But after being reborn, his state of mind had subtly changed. He wanted to do everything as perfectly as possible, making up for the regrets of his past.
But then again, when refining a Supreme demon beast egg, using tongue-tip blood was perfectly normal.