Although this third-generation pullet was a cheeky little thing, her looks and demeanor were clearly a cut above those of her father, Jia Five.
Though Wang Ba was thoroughly annoyed, he still could not resist stroking her neck.
The pullet looked rather pleased, even rubbing her head back and forth against Wang Ba's fingers.
Perhaps because of the lifespan Wang Ba had deposited in her, she was unexpectedly affectionate toward him.
"Cluck, cluck..."
[Target lifespan: 111.4 years]
Wang Ba was a little surprised to see the pullet's lifespan.
These past few days, all his thoughts had been on how to escape the Eastern Saint Sect. Apart from essential chores such as cleaning and feeding them chicken feed, he had paid little attention to these Spirit Chickens.
He had not expected a third-generation Spirit Chicken's lifespan after its breakthrough to exceed Jia Five's by a full twenty years.
A thought stirred in Wang Ba's mind. He took the low-tier Spiritlight Talisman from his sleeve and brought it close to the pullet.
Soon, a pure white light tinged with green rose from the yellow paper.
"A middle-grade Spirit Chicken, but already extremely close to high grade!"
Wang Ba felt both pleasantly surprised and somewhat regretful.
For a mere mortal like him to raise a Spirit Chicken approaching high grade was naturally something worth celebrating.
Unfortunately, he would be leaving before long. Even though he had spent a year raising this precious breeding chicken, he could not take her with him.
Her ultimate fate could only be to die after he drained all her lifespan.
What a waste of such a rare breeding chicken.
At the thought, he could not help remembering the Immortal Ascension Society's surveillance, and his heart immediately grew heavy.
After stroking the pullet's head, Wang Ba lifted her off his lap.
He had neither the time nor the inclination to play with her now.
Just how can I avoid the Immortal Ascension Society's surveillance?
And who made those stone fragments? Do they have anything to do with the Immortal Ascension Society?
If not, who did it? If it was the Immortal Ascension Society, that doesn't seem to fit their earlier attitude...
Stroking the beard on his chin, which had already grown an inch long, Wang Ba sank into thought.
But he soon noticed that the pullet had jumped onto his lap again.
And he distinctly felt a slightly damp warmth suddenly spread across his leg...
Wang Ba could not help clenching his teeth.
This damned little thing!
He looked down, and sure enough, there was a dry lump of chicken droppings, distinctly white and green, stuck to his trouser leg.
Meanwhile, the pullet on his lap held a pebble in her beak, tilting her head at him with a curious, innocent expression.
"I'll smack you to death... huh? Wait!"
"A pebble?"
Wang Ba finally spotted what he had overlooked, and an unbelievable guess flashed through his mind.
Then he watched in astonishment as the pullet stood on one foot on his thigh, looking utterly innocent while easily crushing a seemingly hard pebble with her sharp beak as though cracking a sunflower seed, then swallowing it.
Seemingly unsatisfied, the pullet jumped off Wang Ba's lap and hopped over to a larger chunk of broken stone.
Tap!
In that instant, Wang Ba felt as though his eyes were playing tricks on him!
He caught only a faint afterimage of the pullet lightly pecking the stone.
Then he saw the chunk of stone split smoothly down the middle, like a searing-hot knife sliding into solidified lard.
On the cut surface, he saw a row of dozens of familiar chisel marks.
Those marks were densely packed and seemed quite fresh...
Then the pullet happily split each half in two again. In an instant, another dozen or so chisel marks appeared on the cut surfaces.
It really was her!
The devastation in Old Sun's room really was this pullet's doing!
Seeing this, Wang Ba finally confirmed his guess.
No, perhaps the other two third-generation Spirit Chickens were involved too.
At that thought, Wang Ba hurriedly observed them for a while longer.
To his disappointment, however, although the other two Spirit Chickens, one male and one female, were no less impressive in build than the pullet, they did not seem to possess her terrifying strength and speed.
They also picked pebbles up in their beaks, but were completely unable to crush them and spat them out after a while.
Clearly, the pullet's case seemed unique and extremely unusual.
"She's clearly a meat chicken, yet she has the ability to fight."
"But the other two, her brother and sister from the same parents, still show the traits of meat chickens."
"Could she have undergone a mutation?"
Wang Ba stroked his beard in thought, feeling that he did not have quite enough beard to work with.
Wang Ba had read about mutations in Daoist Jiao Hu's Notes on Raising Poultry.
Daoist Jiao Hu loved raising all manner of rare birds and exotic beasts. To research ways of transforming ordinary birds, beasts, fish, and insects into spirit beasts and spirit birds, he had also raised large numbers of birds and beasts.
He had discovered that when using bloodlines to bring about breakthroughs in birds, beasts, fish, and insects, there was an extremely small chance of unusual changes occurring.
Once, when a bi sparrow underwent a bloodline breakthrough, fish gills had actually grown on its breast.
There had also been a long snake that transformed, growing wings on its back and gaining the ability to summon clouds and rain.
These unusual changes could be good or bad. They were often isolated cases and impossible to fathom, so Daoist Jiao Hu called them "mutations"-anomalous changes whose origins could not be traced.
This pullet had most likely undergone a mutation during her lifespan breakthrough, thereby gaining astonishing strength and speed, along with the ability to fight.
"An unexpected windfall, at least."
"I'll call you Jia Seven!"
Wang Ba gently stroked the pullet. Jia Seven immediately narrowed her eyes, letting him handle her and looking quite content.
Yet Wang Ba began to hesitate.
If she were merely a Spirit Chicken approaching high grade, he could grit his teeth and leave her behind or eat her. But he truly could not bear to part with a Spirit Chicken capable of fighting.
Not only could he keep her for breeding, she could even protect him.
After all, a Spirit Chicken capable of fighting had to count as a spirit beast, surely?
Spirit beasts were something only disciples at Qi Refining or above could have access to.
Yet a mortal like him could have a first-tier, middle-grade spirit beast to protect him. Naturally, that gave him a much greater sense of security.
Abandoning her would really be rather wasteful.
"Forget it. There's no rush to decide. I'll see when the time comes."
"The most important thing now is still dealing with the Immortal Ascension Society's surveillance."
This problem was pressing.
Wang Ba racked his brains over it.
Perhaps the pleasant surprise Jia Seven had brought him had broadened his thinking, for an idea suddenly occurred to him.
"Yin Spirit Power can fabricate my appearance and condition in other people's five senses and minds according to my wishes."
"Then what if I fabricate my image as air?"
"Wouldn't I disappear from their sight?"
"If that really works, wouldn't it effectively be an 'invisibility technique'?"
Once this avenue of thought opened up, the more Wang Ba considered it, the more promising it seemed!
But he did not act immediately. Instead, he went over it several more times in his mind, making sure he had overlooked nothing.
Only then did he begin constructing an image of himself in his mind.
Next, he casually took a small bucket from the room, filled it with the droppings Jia Five and the others had left, and walked over to the door.
At the same time, his Yin Spirit Power disguised the bucket as well.
He took a deep breath.
A trace of resolve flashed through Wang Ba's eyes.
Then he carefully pulled open the shabby door, trying not to make the slightest sound.
Fortunately, his Yin Spirit Power did not change, indicating that the people from the Immortal Ascension Society had not observed him opening the door.
He took another deep breath.
This time, however, his expression quickly calmed, and his breathing steadied. Then he stepped one foot outside.
Hum!
His Yin Spirit Power abruptly began spinning rapidly!
It was at least twice as fast as before!
Is disguising myself as air too difficult? Or are there more people watching me?
Wang Ba's thoughts raced.
But once an arrow left the bow, there was no calling it back. No matter how much it consumed, he had to grit his teeth and keep going!
One step!
Two steps!
He was incredibly tense inside.
Yet his body moved just as it usually did. Carrying the small bucket full of chicken droppings, he walked calmly toward the outside of the estate, one step at a time.
Even if his Yin Spirit Power failed to fool them, they would at most think he had collected another bucket of chicken droppings and was taking it outside the estate.
But at that very moment, a Precious Chicken that had been pacing about spotted a scrap of chicken feed behind Wang Ba and suddenly flapped toward him!
Wang Ba's expression changed instantly!
Before you continue