Chapter 71

Chapter 71: The Divine Beast Egg in the Pool

Rong Shu raised a hand to touch the Talisman she kept at her chest, a charm that could block a strike even from a king?beast level demonic beast.

With that brief opening, it would be enough time for Rong Shu to control the Flying Boat and flee.

The beast that had carved out such a massive tunnel dwelled underground; it was likely not a flying type and must be enormous.

Having decided, Rong Shu scratched a mark at the mouth of the passage with the tip of her saber, then ventured deeper.

After walking for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Rong Shu carved another mark at the forty-third turn and entered a side passage.

This time the tunnel opened into a breach in the hard rock, like a doorway punched through stone.

Rong Shu steadied her mind, tightened her grip on the saber, and approached.

Beyond the opening lay a vast natural cavern. Stone and rock walls enclosed it on all sides, and at a glance she saw no traces of demonic beasts.

In the middle of the cavern was a conspicuous underground spring.

Rong Shu drew near and studied it for a long moment, then slowly noticed something amiss.

This did not seem to be water.

The liquid in the pool was thicker than springwater, like a kind of milky slurry.

She murmured: this is Immortal Jade Milk, the legendary supreme restorative?

With the tip of her right index finger she lifted a smear of the milk and examined it carefully; it matched the description of Immortal Jade Nectar she had seen in the Myriad Books Tower of the alchemists’ sub-guild.

Staring at the great pool of Immortal Jade Milk before her, Rong Shu could not help clicking her tongue.

A whole pool of Immortal Jade Milk was priceless; if word got out, the Four Sects of the Southern Wilds would not sit still.

All at once her eyes lit up as she thought: [A sacred curative, could it heal the problem in my dantian?]

With that, Rong Shu stripped off her outer robe and leaped into the Celestial Jade Milk Pool.

She let out a soft sound: “Mm.”

The moment she entered the pool she circulated her qi, drawing in the Immortal Jade Milk; within seconds her body began to respond.

Comfort spread through her entire body; minor abrasions on her skin knit back together before her eyes, and her dantian grew faintly hot and pleasantly warm, as if a steady current were pouring in to mend some unknown tear within.

At the same time the qi around her surged into turbulence, and the Immortal Jade Milk roiled in response.

Rong Shu could not name the sensation.

Vaguely, she felt everything was moving in a good direction.

Qi of various attributes gathered in her dantian, coursing through her body in one small circulation after another, and she blinked in surprise as she thought: [Why am I absorbing so much water qi?]

Noticing the water qi glowing blue within her dantian, she froze for a beat.

Her rate of absorbing water qi was far better than before; it still could not match wind, but it was already comparable to her absorption of metal or wood.

While her thoughts wandered, she inadvertently broke through in the water attribute to Qi Refining, first layer.

[Huh?]

Rong Shu looked down at the pool of Immortal Jade Milk.

A supreme heaven-and-earth tonic born of water’s origin… so the problem of her slow water qi absorption had been solved?

As if in answer, her water attribute advanced again to Qi Refining, second layer.

[!!]

[The surprise came too suddenly, what am I supposed to do?]

Since the water qi issue was resolved, what about the dantian, at that thought, Rong Shu grew uneasy.

The best way to verify it would be to attempt a breakthrough now to Qi Refining, ninth layer.

She steadied her mind and guided all her qi to convert into wind, then charged at the threshold of the ninth layer.

After a moment, Rong Shu deflated.

[No good.]

Her cultivation was still a roller coaster, rising only to fall again.

When she opened her eyes, she was dumbfounded.

Two thirds of the pool had been full before, but the level had dropped sharply; at a glance barely one third of the Immortal Jade Milk remained.

When she first entered she had to mind not to drown herself, but now when she stood the liquid reached only her chest.

She scratched her head, thinking: [Uh…]

She had absorbed so much Immortal Jade Milk that even her once-stubborn water attribute improved, yet the dantian issue still refused to resolve.

She told herself: [Forget it. If it fixes the water absorption, it is not a loss.]

Planting her feet on the bottom, she had only taken a few steps when something round bumped her leg.

She reached down and scooped up an egg patterned with flowing golden lines.

She stared in surprise and said: “An egg?”

The egg was large enough that she needed both hands to hold it steady.

She had seen spirit beasts lay eggs at the Spirit Beast Garden; this looked somewhat like a Spirit Beast Egg, but those had smooth white shells without such markings.

However, there were only demonic beasts in this secret realm, no spirit beasts, so this should be a demonic beast’s egg.

Turning it in her hands, she noticed a crack along one part of the shell.

She paused and frowned as she thought: [Why is there a crack in the shell?]

Whether spirit or demonic, if a crack appeared before the hatchling inside broke the shell on its own, the egg was most likely a dead one.

Yet with her palm against the shell, she could sense the life within.

Her gaze fell on the Celestial Jade Milk Pool and she understood.

So it was this pool that had preserved the Demonic Beast Egg’s life?

She glanced again at the crack, thought for a moment, and put the egg back into the Celestial Jade Milk Pool.

An egg did not have legs; it could not have come to the pool by itself unless someone, or some beast, brought it.

Whatever the reason, she had to leave now.

Anyone who used a whole pool of Celestial Jade Milk to preserve an egg’s life must value it immensely.

She had already absorbed a small half of it and had earned enough.

If she lingered, she might well run into the pool’s owner.

Rong Shu leaped from the pool, landed on the stone, cast a cleansing technique on herself, then donned the outer robe she had stowed in her Storage Pouch and prepared to leave at once.

But as she turned, she suddenly found herself staring into a pair of blood-red eyes larger than her entire body.

The hump that seemed fused with the rock wall rose and fell with breath; only then did Rong Shu realize a colossal demonic beast lay crouched before her, staring at her like a predator.

Her whole body went rigid as a chill surged up from her feet to the crown of her head.