The Name Golden Egg

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Chapter 42: The Name Golden Egg

"Gurgle."

As the golden light faded, Chen Beiwu could see a distinct spark of awareness and submission in the Golden Scale's formerly moronic eyes.

The Golden Scale's greatest strength was not its divine sense, but its extraordinary defense, which spirit beasts of the same tier could scarcely overcome.

With such an imperviously defended companion beast guarding his Dao path, his future chances of survival would surely soar.

"Your scales are golden. From now on, I'll call you Golden Egg."

Sensing the reverence transmitted through the Companion Beast Seal, Chen Beiwu could not resist stroking the Golden Scale's plump belly as he settled on its name.

Golden Egg and golden core differed by only a single sound in Chinese, yet the name embodied Chen Beiwu's hopes for his future Dao path.

"Gurgle."

Golden Egg blinked his fish eyes in bewilderment, his mouth opening and closing.

He had no idea what had just happened. All he knew was that he was hungry now.

Chen Beiwu turned his gaze toward the dumbfounded Darkwater Spirit Turtle beside him.

Watching Chen Beiwu's figure disappear, the Darkwater Spirit Turtle could not help smacking its lips.

The Redblood Fish sashimi had certainly been delicious, but why did something feel a little strange?

Clouds and mist rolled over Four Seas Lake, making it resemble an immortal paradise.

Han Liangcai opened his eyes and stared fixedly at the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Mirror, ignoring the spirit stones that had crumbled to powder on the table.

"Strange. Why isn't there even a single Northern Heaven Five Qi Fatebearer? Could my method of searching be wrong? Is that peerless hidden dragon not of the water fate, or has the time simply not come?" he murmured.

The next second, as though sensing something, Han Liangcai looked in surprise at the figure emerging from the lake, then shifted his gaze toward the Darkwater Spirit Turtle at the bottom.

Whoosh!

With a thought from the golden core True Person, the variant spirit turtle instantly appeared on the stone table.

"Why did you give away the Golden Scale Master bestowed on you?" he asked with a frown.

The Darkwater Spirit Turtle raised its head, looking utterly unconcerned.

"You mean that person has an excellent fate, but couldn't activate your spirit bond sense, so you gave him a variant Golden Scale to establish a favorable connection?"

Hearing this outrageous explanation, Han Liangcai's lips twitched.

This little brat was relying on Master's affection to play him for a fool.

What favorable connection? The creature had clearly taken a fancy to that man's Stone-in-the-Grass.

Stone-in-the-Grass was not particularly high-grade, only second-tier. Its side effect caused partial petrification of a cultivator's dantian, yet it was a second-tier spirit medicine whose circulation the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect had forbidden.

That was because a genius Alchemist had once emerged in the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect and discovered that the side effect of Stone-in-the-Grass could give Darkwater Spirit Turtles a peculiar pleasure that left them floating as though they were ascending to immortality.

The more Stone-in-the-Grass a Darkwater Spirit Turtle consumed, the stronger that pleasure became. Some exceptionally gifted spirit turtles could even enter a state of Dao enlightenment, sending the price of Stone-in-the-Grass soaring until it became hard currency within the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect.

At its peak, a single stalk of second-tier Stone-in-the-Grass could even be exchanged with a Darkwater Spirit Turtle for a Third-Tier Upper-Grade Treasure Medicine.

However, spirit turtles capable of entering a state of Dao enlightenment were a minority, after all. The vast majority developed a dependency from consuming too much Stone-in-the-Grass, eventually suffering bodily petrification and a severe loss of potential.

Thus, the immortal sect's leadership issued a decree that brought the entire farce to an end.

"Stone-in-the-Grass isn't difficult to obtain, but why would a commoner from Fallen Dragon Prefecture know an immortal sect's secrets?" Han Liangcai closed his eyes and activated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Mirror to trace cause and effect.

A long while later, he opened his eyes, surprise showing in them. "It was actually just a coincidence."

With such fortune, that person might well achieve something extraordinary in the future.

The little fellow's attempt to establish a favorable connection had stumbled into success this time.

By the shore of Four Seas Lake.

Seeing the delight on Chen Beiwu's face, Xu Ziqing approached curiously.

"You look especially happy right now. Have you settled on your companion beast?"

"Of course." Chen Beiwu smiled. "You'll never guess what companion beast I contracted."

Xu Ziqing froze briefly. "Wasn't it a Darkwater Spirit Turtle?"

With a thought, Chen Beiwu took the plump Golden Egg out of the Spirit Beast Pouch.

"Ah! Is... is that a Golden Scale?"

At the sight of those vacant fish eyes, Xu Ziqing's mouth fell slightly open.

"That's right." The corners of Chen Beiwu's mouth lifted.

Even demon king blood had failed to tempt the Darkwater Spirit Turtle, and he had thought he would miss a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity.

He had never expected fate to favor him again. The miniature water realm carried on the Darkwater Spirit Turtle's back actually contained a second-tier spirit beast whose fortune had reached gold rank.

Hearing Chen Beiwu's answer, Xu Ziqing's mind stalled.

A Golden Scale was not a water-attribute spirit beast an ordinary cultivator could afford to raise.

Unless Chen Beiwu was willing to raise it into a metal-attribute spirit beast, a Red-Gold Scale or Black-Gold Scale-but that was impossible.

If she remembered correctly, Chen Beiwu's metal spiritual root purity was only 15. Raising a Red-Gold Scale would mean severing his own Dao path.

"Golden Egg is a little hungry. I need to find him something to eat, so I probably can't accompany you to Sulfur Reef Island," Chen Beiwu said apologetically.

"It's fine. Your companion beast is more important." Xu Ziqing forced out a smile.

Reason told her that after contracting a Golden Scale, Chen Beiwu would most likely have no chance of reaching golden core.

But her emotions reminded her that this Golden Scale was far from ordinary; otherwise, Chen Beiwu would never have contracted it.

In any case, she needed a little time to recover before she could accept reality.

Noticing Xu Ziqing's mood, Chen Beiwu put Golden Egg away and said goodbye, then turned and headed toward the Spirit Beast Pavilion's main hall.

Golden Egg was not a spirit beast belonging to the Spirit Beast Pavilion. Chen Beiwu had obtained him from the Darkwater Spirit Turtle in exchange for Stone-in-the-Grass, so he could disregard the rules and contract him directly, though he still needed to register him.

As for the source of the Stone-in-the-Grass, he had already found a way to address that before coming to the Spirit Beast Pavilion, even though the Immortal Alliance would most likely not care where a stalk of second-tier spirit medicine came from.

Half an hour later, in the Spirit Beast Pavilion's main hall.

Under the staff's curious gazes, Chen Beiwu finished registering his companion beast's information and spent fifty low-grade spirit stones to purchase the Spirit Beast Pouch in his hand.

Normally, the Spirit Beast Pouch the pavilion provided to cultivators was a complimentary gift accompanying the purchase of a companion beast and cost no spirit stones. But Chen Beiwu had taken an unconventional route and had not even purchased his companion beast, so he had to pay out of his own pocket.

Once that was done, Chen Beiwu spent one low-grade spirit stone to rent a First-Tier Upper-Grade Cultivation Chamber within the Spirit Beast Pavilion.

"One low-grade spirit stone only buys two hours of cultivation. Prices in Fallen Dragon Prefecture really are much higher than at school."

With a sigh, Chen Beiwu sat cross-legged on a cushion, took Golden Egg out of the Spirit Beast Pouch, and began the Three Meridians Refinement that had to be performed after contracting a companion beast.

He activated his divine sense and entered Golden Egg's sea of consciousness through the connection between their Companion Beast Seals. Then, using the companion beast contract, he stirred Golden Egg's essence, qi, and spirit to manifest the three meridians: origin, attribute, and method.

Of these, the origin meridian represented the companion beast's innate five-element essence, also known as origin essence. It was the foundation of the companion beast's bloodline and could later feed back into its partnered cultivator to improve their spiritual root purity.

The higher the grade of a companion beast's innate origin meridian, the greater the spiritual root purity its cultivator could attain.

Legend had it that a companion beast possessing a heaven-grade origin meridian could bring about a staggering transformation in its partnered cultivator's spiritual root aptitude.

(End of chapter)