Contract Spirit Beast

Darkwater Spirit Turtle widened its eyes and looked at Chen Beiwu strangely.

This Qi Refining mortal cultivator not only had an excellent Fate Pattern, but his eye for things was sharp too. He could actually see that the Golden Scale was extraordinary.

Don't be fooled by how this Golden Scale was a little stupid and greedy. It was a rare Variant Spirit Turtle in the Miniature Water Realm, with a trace of the Golden-Horned Flood Dragon's thin Bloodline hidden within it.

In terms of collection value alone, the Variant Golden Scale could even rival some Third-Tier Lower Grade Treasure Beasts.

As for contracting one as a Companion Beast, no Water-Attribute cultivator would be willing to do so.

That was because the Variant Golden Scale faced an extremely high hurdle to breaking through its Bloodline Shackles and awakening the Golden-Horned Flood Dragon Bloodline within it to undergo Dragon Transformation. It had to meet three conditions.

First, it needed five hundred years of Dao Practice and had to advance to a Third-Realm Demon General.

Second, it had to refine the essence blood of a Third-Realm Flood Dragon.

Third, it had to leap over the Dragon Gate: find a lake where Dragon Veins converged and raise a flood to undergo Flood Dragon Transformation.

The first two conditions for Dragon Transformation could stump the second-generation cultivators of Golden Core Aristocratic Clans, but they could not stump those from Nascent Soul True Clans, let alone prodigies from the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect.

What truly made second-generation cultivators give up on the Variant Golden Scale was the third condition for Dragon Transformation, which was basically impossible to fulfill.

One had to know that a Spirit Lake where Dragon Veins converged connected to the stars above and the earth's veins below. It could be said to be a crucial hub that maintained the circulation of spiritual energy throughout an area.

Under those circumstances, if a Golden Scale raised a flood in a lake where Dragon Veins converged to undergo Flood Dragon Transformation, it would be like destroying a spiritual-energy hub, causing the Spirit Veins that Cultivation Lineages relied on for survival to dry up.

As a result, even if a Golden-Horned Flood Dragon had overwhelming combat power and could survive a fight with a Nascent Soul True Lord, no Cultivation Lineage would be willing to destroy a Spirit Vein to undergo Dragon Transformation-unless it was someone else's Spirit Vein.

However, in the Immortal Alliance Era, all Spirit Vein Blessed Lands on Heavenly Abyss Star belonged to the Immortal Alliance. Local Cultivation Lineages only had the right to use the Spirit Veins, and privately destroying an earth vein had also become a grave crime that the Thirteen Immortal Sects could not overlook.

As a result, the famed Golden-Horned Flood Dragon of the Primordial Era had not only teetered on the brink of extinction; even the Variant Golden Scale was left with nothing but its collection value. Basically, no second-generation cultivator would choose to contract one.

Could this kid be planning to contract the Golden Scale?

Seeing the hesitation in Darkwater Spirit Turtle's eyes, Chen Beiwu tested the waters. "This one won't do either?"

Darkwater Spirit Turtle gave Chen Beiwu a long look, then held up two claws and rubbed them together a couple of times, making the all-too-familiar gesture for asking for money.

Chen Beiwu was delighted, but put on a troubled expression to keep the other party from demanding an exorbitant price.

"What do you want, Spirit Stones or Spirit Materials?"

Darkwater Spirit Turtle let out a roar and pointed a claw at Chen Beiwu's waist.

Following its gaze, Chen Beiwu looked down and immediately spotted the Jade Box, carefully secured at his waist.

"No problem."

Afraid the Spirit Turtle would change its mind, Chen Beiwu immediately took down the Jade Box and offered it with both hands.

Darkwater Spirit Turtle took the Jade Box and opened it a crack. Then, under everyone's astonished gazes, it took a deep breath and wore a blissful, almost intoxicated expression.

Not bad. Very pure!

A satisfied smile spread across Darkwater Spirit Turtle's face, leaving Chen Beiwu utterly bewildered.

What was going on? Was Stone-in-the-Grass really that tempting to Darkwater Spirit Turtle?

Judging by its smug expression, why did it feel like he was the one taking a loss?

"Where's the merchandise?"

Chen Beiwu closed the Jade Box and looked toward the Miniature Water Realm.

At his words, Darkwater Spirit Turtle swung its tail, scooped the Golden Scale out of the Water Realm, and tossed it over without a care. Chen Beiwu hurriedly reached out with both hands to catch it.

So heavy!

Without time to feel the astonishing weight in his hands, Chen Beiwu immediately looked into the Golden Scale's idiotic eyes, to avoid any complications from a delay.

"Are you willing to become my Companion Beast?"

"Gurgle, gurgle."

The Golden Scale's round mouth opened and closed as if it were struggling to breathe. It paid no attention to Chen Beiwu's question.

Of course, there was an even greater chance that it couldn't understand human speech.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Beiwu immediately circulated his Magic Power and formed the hand seals for the Myriad Beast Mark.

Wait, you're really doing it! The sudden turn of events left Guan Ange slightly stunned.

He had thought Chen Beiwu was after the Variant Spirit Turtle. He hadn't expected him to be after the Golden Scale.

But why?

In theory, with the help of a Companion Beast cultivator, every Golden Scale could awaken its Bloodline and advance into a Third-Tier Lower Grade Treasure Beast, the Golden Dragon Carp. But in reality, the situation was completely opposite to what theory suggested.

It was no exaggeration to say that, among ten thousand cultivators who contracted Golden Scales, hardly more than one could raise one into a Golden Dragon Carp. The vast majority raised theirs into Red-Gold Scales or Black-Gold Scales.

Because the Golden Scale was a Water-Attribute Spirit Beast, it had to consume Metal Essence Qi in accordance with the theory of the Five Phases generating one another in order to activate the tiny trace of dragon Bloodline within its body.

Metal Essence Qi was not ordinary Metal-Attribute spiritual energy. It was Third-Tier Metal Essence Baleful Intent, formed where a Metal Element Spirit Vein and earth baleful energy converged, and it was extremely rare.

On the Immortal Alliance Official Website, a single dose of Metal Essence Qi sold for about as much as a Calamity-Breaking Golden Elixir.

And the Golden Scale needed to consume three full doses of Metal Essence Qi, tempering its body again and again with Metal Essence Baleful Intent before it could successfully advance into a Golden Dragon Carp.

That was why Water-Attribute cultivators also called the Golden Dragon Carp True Lord Carp.

As the name implied, it was a Third-Tier Treasure Carp that only a Nascent Soul True Lord could afford to raise.

Guan Ange came from a Golden Core Aristocratic Clan, but even he couldn't afford to raise a Golden Dragon Carp, let alone Chen Beiwu, whose background seemed ordinary to him.

"What on earth is this guy thinking?" Guan Ange narrowed his eyes, finding it more and more suspicious the longer he thought about it.

Meanwhile, as Chen Beiwu changed the seals of the Myriad Beast Mark, his vast Magic Power and Divine Sense poured out like a flood. They forcibly surged into the Golden Scale's mind, where a blood-red spirit seal gradually formed in its Sea of Consciousness, its base crimson as blood, with countless runes seemingly swimming across it.

Any Immortal Alliance cultivator with a discerning eye would have recognized at a glance the Three Treasures Companion Seal, which could lock down a Spirit Beast's essence, energy, and spirit.

"Gurgle!"

Feeling its Sea of Consciousness invaded, the Golden Scale widened its fish eyes and instinctively unleashed Demon Power to fight back. Its round belly glowed with dazzling golden light, blinding the cultivators at the bottom of the lake.

At the same time, within the Golden Scale's Sea of Consciousness, a gigantic Dragon Fish, a full ten zhang long, shot into the sky. Its tail churned up waves a hundred zhang high as it tried to smash the Three Treasures Companion Seal hovering above the Sea of Consciousness.

"What terrifying Divine Sense!" Chen Beiwu's face paled.

To possess Divine Sense as vast as that of a Second-Realm Lesser Demon while still a youngling, this Variant Golden Scale truly lived up to being a Golden Legend personally certified by Nine-Breath Chaos. Fortunately, he had come prepared.

"You still won't submit?" Chen Beiwu's Divine Sense stirred as he summoned the power of Nine-Breath Chaos to suppress it.

He might not be able to do anything to this Variant Golden Scale in the outside world, but in a battle within the Sea of Consciousness, he was invincible, able to borrow as he was a sliver of Nine-Breath Chaos's power.

"Boom!"

With only a trace of Nine-Breath Chaos's aura leaking out, the gigantic Dragon Fish struggling wildly within the Sea of Consciousness stiffened. It let the Three Treasures Companion Seal land between its brows, locking down its essence, energy, and spirit.