"It's fine."
Chen Fan shook his head.
They were outside the City Wall of Cave No. 1. With the wall fully raised, nothing inside the cave could be seen.
"All right."
Qi Feng nodded, took an Incense Stick from his robes, and lit it. Then he went completely still, as though entering meditation. Only after the Incense Stick had burned down did he slowly open his eyes and stand, his expression complicated.
"Sect Master Chen, this Exotic Beast is called a Sky-Swallowing Crocodile."
"They're extremely rare and have enormous potential."
"All the Exotic Beasts in Jiangnan put together might not be worth as much as this one of yours, Sect Master Chen, but..."
"Sky-Swallowing Crocodiles can have a genetic mutation. Roughly one in ten thousand is born with it."
"Its main symptom is that wounds cannot heal."
"Even the smallest wound won't close. If you hadn't been sustaining it with the Altar these past few days, Sect Master Chen, it would have bled to death by now. Unless you're willing to keep sustaining it with the Altar forever, it will..."
He did not quite dare finish the rest.
His father had offered to buy the Sky-Swallowing Crocodile's corpse at a high price.
But he did not dare say so.
Sect Master Chen clearly cared about this Sky-Swallowing Crocodile. Otherwise, he would not have kept sustaining it with the Altar at such great expense.
"Is there no way to treat it?"
Chen Fan frowned as he asked.
"There is."
Qi Feng took a deep breath and nodded. "The Great Dao numbers fifty, while Heavenly Evolution accounts for forty-nine. No illness in this world is completely incurable. If you can find a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure called a Snow Lotus and have it swallow the Flowers, it can be cured."
"It's