The Book Spirit's words forced everything Chen Shuangbai had been about to say right back down his throat.
Chen Shuangbai had no idea whether the Book Spirit had really been so pleased by his flattery that it had told him so much. He gave a long, formal disciple's bow, then copied down the methods for raising Snow-Plumed Eagles from An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts.
He now understood why the bird egg had appeared in the Rotting Venom Viper's cave.
An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts recorded-
Bird eggs were among the things Rotting Venom Vipers liked to eat.
And since that Rotting Venom Viper was so powerful, eggs laid by the equally powerful Snow-Plumed Eagle were clearly the best suited to it.
But for some reason, it had not swallowed one of them on the spot, instead carrying it back to its nest...
Perhaps...
Was it saving it for the hatchlings' first taste of meat?!
Unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it.
After learning that he had obtained a Snow-Plumed Eagle egg rather than a Rotting Venom Viper egg, Chen Shuangbai felt he had profited even more.
"If I manage to hatch it, its ability to fly alone will put it far ahead of many other Demon Beast companions."
Flight!
That was a cultivator's first aspiration when they began cultivating.
Besides,
The Snow-Plumed Eagle's own potential ranked in the upper middle among demonic birds.
An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts recorded that Demon Beast bloodlines were divided into five grades.
Mortal blood, spirit blood, profound blood, sacred blood, and true blood.
The Snow-Plumed Eagle possessed an upper-grade mortal bloodline. It was a descendant with a special bloodline that had degenerated in the snowy mountain region from the Cold Moon Golden-Plumed Eagle, a middle-grade profound-blooded Demon Beast. If its origins were traced back further, they might lead to those true bloodlines.
But all that was far too distant.
The immediate priority was to create a special environment suitable for hatching the egg.
Chen Shuangbai immediately studied the hatching method he had copied down.
He could take the copy outside, since he had spent Merit Points on it.
According to An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts, the conditions for hatching a Snow-Plumed Eagle egg were no ordinary matter either.
Adult Snow-Plumed Eagles built their nests atop snowy mountains, where people were scarce and temperatures were extremely low, making them suitable for stabilizing their bloodline. They would also seek out heavenly materials and earthly treasures containing the ice and wind attributes to nourish and purify their bloodline.
Adult Snow-Plumed Eagles could control the ice and wind attributes and awaken the bloodline talents Cold Wind and Sky Rending.
The former was the very symbol of an adult Snow-Plumed Eagle's status as king of the snowy mountain skies, while the latter meant that an adult Snow-Plumed Eagle possessed a flying speed far surpassing that of similar demonic birds.
When it flew, the air currents it stirred up were powerful enough to pierce mountains and shatter rocks, hence the name Sky Rending.
The mere thought of it sent Chen Shuangbai's heart surging.
Just imagine.
In the future, he could travel standing on the back of an incomparably majestic king of the snowy mountains, roaming through a sea of clouds with the land beneath his feet spread out in full view. Now that was a true immortal cultivator.
"Hehe, boy, you're just copying something down. Why have you started grinning like a fool?"
Seeing the strange smile on Chen Shuangbai's face, the Book Spirit chuckled and remarked on it.
Chen Shuangbai coughed lightly twice, then sped up his copying.
The raising methods recorded in An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts were very detailed, and there were many annotations from senior brothers and sisters, making them easy for Chen Shuangbai to understand.
That prompted Chen Shuangbai to sigh once again.
"The gap between sect cultivators and Rogue Cultivators is as vast as the difference between heaven and earth."
Once he had finished copying, Chen Shuangbai made to take his leave, but the Book Spirit called him back.
"Lord Book Spirit, is there anything else?"
Chen Shuangbai was quite fond of the Book Spirit, who was somewhat proud and liked hearing pleasant words.
The Book Spirit felt the same way.
It was not a true living being, but had been transformed from some special kind of living creature by an expert of the sect. Ordinarily, it could only remain confined here, guarding the sect's tens of thousands of texts.
The Book Spirit pointed a finger, and a stream of Spirit Power landed in Chen Shuangbai's hand, taking the form of a Jade Slip.
Startled, Chen Shuangbai was about to take a look, but the Book Spirit interrupted him. "Look at it when you get back."
"If you find it useful, come here more often in the future to keep me company and relieve my boredom..."
With that,
Before Chen Shuangbai could agree, the Book Spirit raised a hand and waved. Chen Shuangbai found himself outside the cave abode.
The two disciples guarding the cave glanced at the treasured mirror hanging above the cave abode. Seeing nothing unusual, they let Chen Shuangbai leave.
After returning to his cave abode on Lesser Yang Peak,
Chen Shuangbai activated the cave abode's protective formation and placed the text he had copied on his desk. Instead of looking through it again immediately, however, he opened the Jade Slip the Book Spirit had given him.
A moment later,
Chen Shuangbai was moved.
It was actually a special taming method for avian Demon Beasts.
Of course, it was somewhat better than the one recorded in An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts, but not by a great deal.
Presumably, the Book Spirit did not have the authority to give him anything much better.
This taming method appeared to build on the original method in An Introduction to Raising a Hundred Beasts, with improvements specifically tailored to avian Demon Beasts, including but not limited to nest building, contracting, hatching, feeding, and free-range rearing.
In short-
He, Chen Shuangbai, had struck it rich.
"Forget it, forget it. No need to think so much about it. The immediate priority is to find a suitable environment and build a proper nest for this egg."
Early the next morning,
Chen Shuangbai arrived at a formation shop called the Jade True Pavilion in the Cloud Peak Small Market and told the attendant that he needed a first-tier, lower-grade Cooling Formation disc.
The art of formations was divided into five tiers.
The first tier was the lowest, and lower grade was the very lowest.
The Cooling Formation was an ice-element formation that the sect had specifically commissioned a formation master to improve. Every summer, during the scorching heat, the sect worried that its disciples would be too hot to settle their minds and cultivate.
Once the formation was activated, one could enjoy the coolness of a gentle breeze even in the blazing summer heat.
Chen Shuangbai wanted the discs precisely to create the snowy plain environment that Snow-Plumed Eagles liked.
The attendant soon brought out three Cooling Formation discs. Chen Shuangbai picked one up for a careful inspection, activating his Spirit-Appraising Pupil to take a closer look.
The disc had been carved from a kind of ice-blue jade and was about the size of a palm. Fine, densely packed formation patterns were engraved on its surface, with cold air faintly circulating between the lines.
In the Spirit-Appraising Pupil's special field of vision,
The disc's internal structure was clearly visible. Its Spirit Power channels were unobstructed, and an ice-attribute crystal the size of a grain of rice was embedded in its core as a power source.
Although it was only the lowest-tier, lower-grade disc, its workmanship was fairly fine, and its formation patterns had been drawn quite competently. It was enough to meet everyday cooling needs.
But... if he wanted to simulate a snowy plain, the temperature still would not be low enough.
That was why Chen Shuangbai was buying three at once.
He could have bought a higher-grade Cooling Formation disc, but that was too expensive.
For Chen Shuangbai as he was now, it would have been quite a burden.
After paying the Merit Points, Chen Shuangbai walked out of the shop. Looking at the mountains standing amid the distant sea of clouds, he could not help but sigh softly.
"When all is said and done, poverty is at the root of it."
"I'll have to find a way to earn Merit Points."