"No sign of intrusion, yet something plundered them without a sound?" Grandpa Wu stroked his beard, frowning in thought. "Are you sure some kind of Witchcraft curse wasn't taking effect from afar, and you simply lacked the strength to detect it? Something along the lines of the Essence-Draining Incantation, though I've never heard of any curse that works on eggs."
"Uh... that's a possibility, I suppose." Little Crybaby asked cautiously, "If that's the case, is there any way to help detect a curse at work?"
"If your own strength is insufficient, you can only use certain arrays. Within an array, unusual flows of energy will naturally have nowhere to hide."
"Then if we rule out remote curses too, could any other unusual circumstances cause this?"
Grandpa Wu thought for a long while before saying hesitantly, "There is another possibility, but it's exceedingly rare. There's a kind of spirit-attuned butterfly whose cocoon looks like an egg before it emerges. Even a sweep of weaker spiritual sense might not detect it. So its cocoon often mingles with other eggs, passively drawing nutrients from the surrounding eggs to try to emerge as a butterfly. When someone comes to collect the eggs, it hides. When new eggs arrive, it slips back among them."
Little Crybaby was dumbfounded. "A cocoon can move on its own?"
"Yes. It's a spiritual creature of this world, not an ordinary butterfly. It isn't born of parents, but forms spontaneously in places where spirit beasts gather, in response to the spiritual communion of heaven and earth. A deity must be about to descend within several thousand miles, and there must be a gathering place of spirit beasts. Neither condition can be missing."
Little Crybaby scratched her head. "Places where spirit beasts gather are everywhere, but a deity descending... does that really happen?"
"Wouldn't attaining the pinnacle of the Dao of Witchcraft count? And there are other..." At this point, the old man suddenly stopped, as though wary of some taboo, and shook his head. "These things are far beyond you. Just treat it as a story. Your problem was most likely caused by a curse. Don't overthink it."
"Mm-hmm, just a story, then." Little Crybaby continued, "What does this spirit butterfly do?"
"Even I'm not too sure about that. I've never raised one, after all, and those who once possessed one wouldn't announce it to the world. I only know such a legend exists." The old man stroked his beard. "My personal guess is that it might have something to do with communicating with divinity? I'm not certain. If it really is such a divine creature, being so fragile at first that it has to mingle with low-grade spirit pet eggs to compete for nutrients doesn't make much sense... in any case, just take it as a story."
"Thank you, Grandpa Wu." Little Crybaby stood straight and bowed, then ran off happily.
Back at her cave abode, she immediately took out the jade pendant. "Brother, did you hear that just now?"
"Mm..." Qi Yan rubbed his chin in thought. He, too, felt some sort of Witchcraft curse was more likely. A spirit butterfly, drawn by a deity's descent, spontaneously formed by heaven and earth? Communicating with divinity? Was that something a Qi Refinement clan could encounter?
As for setting up an array to capture changes in the flow of energy, he did have reference material now: the Heavenly Evolution Art. This was the Heavenly Evolution Sect's core art, and it contained plenty of foundational knowledge, including overviews of the hundred cultivation arts, from arrays to pill refining and artifact refining. Finding a relevant array in it and setting it up would be fairly simple.
Little Crybaby was saying, "Brother, are you planning to keep a spirit pet?"
"Maybe," Qi Yan said. "I haven't decided yet."
"I used to think about it too," Little Crybaby said, "but raising a spirit pet costs so much... after I reached Golden Core, I felt they weren't all that useful anymore, so there was no need."
She was lying.
She hadn't wanted one because it would be useful, but simply to have a pet to soothe her loneliness. Now that she had Brother A-Yan, she no longer needed one. It had nothing whatsoever to do with reaching Golden Core.
Huh... wouldn't that make Brother A-Yan a spirit pet who keeps me company and chats with me? Little Crybaby felt a flicker of amusement, then wondered whether that thought was too disrespectful to him and didn't dare make a sound.
Qi Yan had no idea she was thinking any of this. He had never heard of high-end combat spirit pets either. They all assisted with the hundred arts; low-level cultivators couldn't afford them, while high-level cultivators no longer thought much of them, so generally only organizations had a need for them. Long ago, the Qi Clan had kept one to help prospect for ore, but later there were no unclaimed deposits left to find, so after the spirit pet died, they hadn't raised another.
Spirit pets were different from yao. Or perhaps spirit pets could be considered low-level yao that couldn't take human form? In any case, once they reached a level where they could assist in Golden Core battles, those things probably could no longer be called spirit pets. They ought to be called yao.
Back on Tianliang Continent, he had only ever heard of yao and never seen one. Had the first one he saw been that dragon in the sea? Or the white deer at the Heavenly Evolution Sect's entrance? Did those count?
In any case, he had heard that the yao race mainly lived on the northern islands, collectively called the overseas wilderness by the Six Continents of Tiannan. Yao beasts ran rampant there, and ordinary cultivators didn't dare venture in recklessly.
So he said, "I probably won't keep one either. I'm just broadening my horizons. If I really want a pet, perhaps I'll get a chance to take in a yao someday. Hmm, how about a cat?"
Little Crybaby laughed. "A cat yao wouldn't be a cute little kitty anymore. Careful, it might scratch your face into a flowerbed."
"From that tone, you like cats?"
"Kittens are so cute. What kind of cat do you like, Brother?"
"Hmm... a tabby." He had kept one in his previous life. Sadly, it had later passed away, leaving Qi Yan heartbroken for quite some time.
"I like them too. Unfortunately, the sect won't let us keep them. They say animals raised in spiritually rich sacred mountains can easily become yao."
"That's true, actually, but I've seen sects keeping immortal cranes and white deer. Don't those count? Are they discriminating against cats?"
Neither of them noticed that their conversations had moved from helping and consulting each other into casual chatter about hobbies and everyday life, quietly and without a trace.
They were truly "simmering telephone porridge" now.
What they noticed even less was Xiao Yuan at the door, blinking, frozen with her hand raised to knock, listening with her little head tilted, utterly astonished.
Was he talking to someone in his sect?
He liked tabbies?
Could he elaborate on what he liked about tabbies?
Unfortunately, the conversation moved on after only a few exchanges. And just what were they talking about now? "A lover? I don't have one."
Naturally, Little Crybaby on the other end had finally worked up the courage to tentatively ask whether her Brother A-Yan had a lover.
After receiving a negative answer, Little Crybaby's heart rejoiced, but her mouth offered consolation she didn't mean. "You're so outstanding, Brother, and you don't have a lover? Those women have no eye for quality."
Qi Yan gave a joking sigh. "How do you know I'm outstanding? Maybe I'm hideously ugly. Maybe... I really will have to find a cat to be with someday."
Xiao Yuan: "?"
Little Crybaby bristled. "What does it matter what you look like? Why would you find a cat!"
Didn't you say cats were cute...? Qi Yan was about to answer when a knock came at the door, forcing him to end the call. "Someone's here to see me. Let's talk next time."
Little Crybaby had yet to learn that this time, her fur had bristled for exactly the right reason. The one interrupting her chat with her brother was indeed a tabby cat.
Qi Yan opened the door to see a little round face peering about outside, as though checking whether he had someone hidden inside.
"Stop looking. There's no one here." Qi Yan really wanted to push her head back out. His hand twitched, but ultimately he didn't dare move it carelessly. He said helplessly, "Is something wrong with this meditation room? Why is the soundproofing so poor? When did you get here?"
"When you said you wanted a cat for a lover." Xiao Yuan looked at him as though he were a pervert, though her little round face carried a rare flush of embarrassed indignation. "Pervert."
An attack like that brushed past like the breeze; it wasn't even as hard to bear as her old looks of disdain. Qi Yan stepped outside without a care and asked casually, "What are you here for?"
"It's almost midnight. Miss sent me to ask whether you're ready."
"Your miss was the one who said she needed to prepare first. So what did you prepare?"
"Array stones." Xiao Yuan followed closely behind, keeping three feet away from him. "We suspect Witchcraft is involved, so we need to set up an array to test for it first."
Great minds thought alike. This time, someone was even setting up the array for him...
Xiao Yuan said indignantly, "One of you does nothing but drink tea, while the other hides in his room flirting with women. You both talk prettier than the other, but Xiao Yuan does all the work!"
Qi Yan laughed. "How do you know I was talking to a woman? Maybe there was a man on the other end."
Xiao Yuan's eyes widened in horror.
When they reached the sitting room, Ye Jingshan was pacing in circles by the entrance. Yun Ranyi sat inside, sipping tea. Her beautiful eyes settled on Xiao Yuan's face, three feet away from Qi Yan, with a little surprise.
Why was that wretched cat blushing? Was she hot?
At the sight of Qi Yan, Ye Jingshan let out a great sigh of relief. "Exalted Immortal, you're finally here. Miss Yun said her things are ready. Where shall we look first?"
"Let's go straight to where you hatch the eggs," Qi Yan said. "Is it called the incubation room?"
Yun Ranyi bowed slightly. "As you wish, Young Master."
Ye Jingshan's gaze shifted back and forth between them. Xiao Yuan's face scrunched up as though she had eaten dozens of pounds of rotten eggs.
The so-called incubation room wasn't a small room at all, but practically a large factory building. Its exterior was heavily guarded and protected by a very powerful array. Even the Ye Clan residence itself wasn't guarded this tightly.
Inside, spirit pet eggs were sorted by type and placed in separate sections in small groups, with those of the same kind piled together.
Some eggs were being incubated by adult spirit pets, while others relied on certain arrays to hasten the process. Some areas were especially warm, while others were relatively cold. Each type had its own methods. Different trades were separated as if by mountains, and Qi Yan had no desire to study the details.
He had originally planned to get a spirit pet to tend flowers, but after chatting with Little Crybaby, he no longer felt so keen on it. He would leave it to fate.
Ye Jingshan was explaining, "There's a reason we concentrate all our incubation in this large building. The earth veins here offer an advantage, making this place relatively suitable for spirit pets to develop. They're also the foundation on which our Ye Clan established its home. That's why the guards are so strict. Please don't laugh at us."
So the guards weren't merely guarding the eggs, but the land too... without earth veins like these, entering this business would be rather difficult. No wonder only a handful of families within several thousand miles worked in this trade.
Yun Ranyi nodded. "Then let's try examining this place first."
Xiao Yuan took out the array stones and busied herself setting up a Spirit-Peering Array in the center of the building.
This sort of array made unusual flows of spiritual energy throughout an area extremely clear to observe, effectively compensating for shortcomings in spiritual sense.
Xiao Yuan worked swiftly and deftly, and soon the array was ready. In an instant, the whole building suddenly took on a dreamlike air. Spiritual energy curled in mist, and radiance drifted through the air, as though on a dark summer night when they could clearly see the evening breeze wafting in and fireflies twinkling around them like scattered stars. It was as beautiful as being inside an animated film.
Yun Ranyi instinctively reached out a slender hand to cradle a speck of firefly light, a smile on her face.
Qi Yan turned to look, as though watching a superb animated CG sequence: a fairy descending beneath a summer night sky, tranquil and otherworldly, tugging at the heartstrings.
Unfortunately, in one corner, a faint scarlet aura flashed and vanished, so jarring amid this tranquil summer night that it shattered the harmony.
"There really is residual Witchcraft!" Xiao Yuan pounced over at once. "Trying to run!"
Qi Yan frowned.
Wasn't she being too hasty? Residual Witchcraft didn't mean the person was here. Xiao Yuan, what were you doing?