Subjugation

The Golden Feather Eagle was a Spirit-Rank Demonic Beast and an eagle of the skies.

It had always soared high above as a solitary hunter.

Nie Li touched his chin and chuckled.

"Woah, Nie Li, the way you just smiled was so wretched."

Nie Li gave Lu Piao a sidelong glance.

"Lord Ye Xiu, please catch up to that Golden Feather Eagle!"

"You want its demon spirit?"

"No, I want the whole thing."

Everyone looked at Nie Li, and Lu Piao's gaze was full of profound meaning.

He never would have guessed.

With your thick brows and big eyes, Nie Li, you actually...

Ye Xiu directly released a wave of his formidable soul force.

The golden pupils of the Golden Feather Eagle flying ahead abruptly constricted.

Crap, I seem to have run into an expert.

It immediately spread its pair of golden wings, screeching as it flew faster and tried to make a run for it.

Chen Fei grabbed several of them and instantly appeared on the path ahead of the Golden Feather Eagle.

"Where do you think you're running?"

Ye Xiu tossed Nie Li directly onto the back of the Golden Feather Eagle.

The Golden Feather Eagle spanned sixteen meters from wingtip to wingtip, and Nie Li sat right on its back, then placed his palm upon it.

The various beast-taming methods in the Book of Time and Space Spirit were definitely not read for nothing.

The Golden Feather Eagle, which had originally intended to put up a frantic struggle, felt the wave of comfort washing over it from its back and let out a piercing eagle cry.

What... what is this feeling?

This... feels so, so good!

The instinctual comfort almost made it flap its wings right then and there.

Nie Li recalled the information on the Golden Feather Eagle from the Demonic Beast Compendium recorded within the Book of Time and Space Spirit.

Although this creature had always loved soaring through the sky, if one could specifically target its weaknesses to tame it, one could render it docile.

Right now, that was precisely the case.

The Golden Feather Eagle's initial rebellious struggle gradually shifted into submission.

Until Nie Li was sitting on its back and it no longer resisted at all.

Nie Li stroked its head, and the Golden Feather Eagle affectionately rubbed against Nie Li's hand.

"Everyone, come on up and sit."

The carrying capacity of the Golden Feather Eagle was quite formidable; after all, it was a raptor that hunted in the skies.

Lu Piao jumped excitedly onto the back of the Golden Feather Eagle. "When will I be able to raise a Demon Beast?"

Nie Li smiled. "No rush. Once your strength is formidable, what kind of Demon Beast can't you raise?"

With nine people climbing aboard, even the Golden Feather Eagle turned its head back to look at Nie Li with a resentful gaze.

What kind of unearned blessing was this?

Being a Spirit-Rank Demonic Beast, it had already given birth to a sliver of intelligence. Nie Li could already tell from the eagle's cry that its strength was at 5-star Silver Rank, nearing the Gold Rank, and its intelligence was, well, probably about the same as their age.

(I suddenly didn't understand the subsequent Demon Beast realm divisions; could someone tell me in the comments? If not, then I'll just refer to them as Bronze-rank and Silver-rank Demon Beasts all the same.)

Nie Li could also see the situation, so he took a Soul-Tempering Pill out of his Space Ring.

Who said Demon Beasts couldn't eat them?

When Demon Beasts launched attacks, aside from using their physical bodies, they also had their own combat techniques—didn't those combat techniques also consume their own strength?

Moreover, just as demon spirits could be nurtured through the use of soul force, Demon Beasts could naturally be nurtured through medicinal pills as well.

Once a Soul-Tempering Pill went down its throat, the Golden Feather Eagle's pair of golden pupils immediately conveyed a sentiment of wanting more, and it even let out a few cries akin to eager chirps.

"Haha, if we make it back, you can take that pill as after-meal snacks in Glory City all you want!"

The Golden Feather Eagle seemed to understand Nie Li's words, and it flapped its golden wings even more vigorously, flying frantically in the direction of Glory City.

As a result, right when night fell, the Golden Feather Eagle finally flew to Glory City.

"Huh? There are Demon Beasts in the sky!"

The guards on duty on the city wall below saw the Golden Feather Eagle flying over and hurriedly drew their bows and arrows, intending to shoot it down.

Chen Fei stepped forward and flashed his identity as an elder of the Sacred Nether Family, which finally made those guards put their bows and arrows away.

In the end, the Golden Feather Eagle landed straight inside the City Lord's Mansion just like that.

Ye Zong, who had been reviewing documents late into the night, couldn't help but furrow his brows again when he saw the dozen-meter-long Golden Feather Eagle in the courtyard and Nie Li and the others dismounting from its back.

This brat went out for a trip and actually managed to bring back a pet Demon Beast.

However, the timing worked out quite well, as tomorrow was the third time for viewing the future.

A courtyard occupied a vast area, so not only could it accommodate the small two-story building for the eight people, but accommodating a Golden Feather Eagle was also not a problem. With it lying down and curling up there-well, it was just right.

It was truly exhausted. A three-day journey was stubbornly compressed into a single day, and it had indeed flown back after nearly being worn out to the point of utter collapse.

"This trip to Gulan City was indeed full of rewards. Let's get a good night's rest today and look at the future tomorrow."

Everyone agreed, as the past few days had indeed been quite tiring.

Nie Li produced a small porcelain vial.

It was filled with twenty Soul-Tempering Pills.

"I said it long ago: if you stay with me, you can eat this stuff as after-meal snacks without any problem at all. Come on, open up!"

The Golden Feather Eagle obediently opened its beak, and Nie Li gave a fierce flick of the porcelain vial in his hand. The Soul-Tempering Pills flew straight out of the bottleneck, all tumbling into its mouth.

The Golden Feather Eagle cried out happily, then closed its eyes and began to sleep.

It needed to digest this medicinal potency.

It was a Spirit-Rank Demonic Beast to begin with, and its strength was merely a step away from the Gold Rank. It never expected that after following this person, the pills he gave it at one time would surpass months of its own hunting.

Might as well just follow along, then.

Nie Li had long since lost the habit of sleeping.

What sleep? Wasn't cultivation wonderful?

Returning to his own room, he filled a jade tub with thirty-six types of nourishing, highly restorative herbs that nourished soul force, and then he himself swallowed another porcelain vial of Soul-Tempering Pills.

This stuff was simply great; it could rapidly elevate strength and didn't have any side effects to speak of.

After all this time, he was still merely at the Bronze Rank. He had to hurry and break through to the Silver Rank to absorb a demon spirit; otherwise, when facing those experts, he wouldn't even have the strength to fight back.

The medicinal bath for nourishing soul force, the soul-nourishing pills, and the fragment of the Book of Time and Space Spirit pressed against his chest that constantly nourished his soul.

Over the course of the night, Nie Li neared the major hurdle of 4-star Bronze.

In the morning, Nie Li set up a lounge chair for himself in the courtyard, with drinks and fruit placed on the table beside it.

When viewing the future, pairing it with these things was exceptionally nice.

The group of people also enjoyed the sunshine in this manner, eating fruit and looking at the future-wasn't that wonderful?

Chen Linjian was in no rush to leave either, seeing as his father had already given him orders that he could just stay at the City Lord's Mansion for as long as he wanted.

After all, following Nie Li came with benefits.

After Chen Fei returned, he recounted the events in Gulan City to Chen Zhenglong. Chen Zhenglong directly gave the order to take out seven century-old Sacred Nether Grasses that had always been treasured by the Sacred Nether Family.

Even a ten-year-old one, if placed on the auction house in Glory City, could be said to be worth a thousand gold.

As for century-old ones, the Sacred Nether Family only possessed twelve in total, and right now, well over half of them had been sent over.