Chapter 54 Beast Taming Token
At the beginning of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), Ji An woke up from a hazy sleep and heard a slight sound coming from the bamboo basket.
He yawned, and the sounds from the bamboo basket immediately stopped.
He got up and walked to the bamboo basket. Looking at the spirit-hunting rat, which was tied up like a rice dumpling with strips of cloth, lying there stiffly, he poked it with his finger with a wicked grin.
This spirit-seeking rat is clearly a cub; an adult would be as big as a cat.
The cub's eyes were the only part exposed; its mouth and limbs were completely bound tightly with strips of cloth.
It wasn't very strong, and being tightly bound by three layers of cloth, it couldn't exert any force and had no chance of breaking free.
Ji An ignored it and went straight out to wash her face. The cold water stimulated her facial nerves, and she quickly woke up.
The sky resembled an inverted bowl, the moon was reduced to a faint hue, and the starlight was extremely dim.
The distant mountains resembled a giant beast crouching in the shadows, indistinct and difficult to discern.
Back in the bamboo house, he sat cross-legged on a futon, swallowed a Ginseng Essence Pill, and began his cultivation for the day by circulating the Pure Source Scripture.
The spiritual energy in the elixir was absorbed by the immortal veins, flowing like a babbling brook, and finally transformed into pure magical power that flowed into the dantian.
The stone tortoise lunged forward, and its magical power immediately halved.
Once the medicinal effects of the pill had worn off, Ji An opened his eyes, his gaze gentle and bright.
He nodded and smiled with satisfaction. The feeling of rapidly improving one's cultivation level with the help of elixirs or spirit-capturing arrays was always intoxicating.
Daylight had broken, and golden morning light shone on the valley.
Ji An picked up the spirit-seeking rat, felt the little beast's accelerated heartbeat, and gently squeezed it twice.
He walked out of the bamboo house and counted the number of Fire Cloud Ginseng; not a single one was missing.
Relieved, Ji An mounted the talisman bird and flew towards Emerald Bamboo Peak.
"Senior Sister Zhao's spiritual pressure is even stronger than before, so she must be close to breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Refining."
Ji An complimented, glancing quickly at the other's rather impressive chest, thinking to himself that the other's development had accelerated considerably since he last saw him.
"It will be soon indeed."
A smile appeared on Zhao Mengyao's lips, revealing shallow dimples on her cheeks.
She has grown taller since she first entered the sect, her legs are longer, and her hairstyle has changed. She looks even more radiant than before.
She's been in a good mood these past few days. The bottleneck at the ninth level of Qi Refining has loosened, and a breakthrough is just around the corner.
She glanced at it and said:
"Junior Brother Ji is a rare guest indeed. What are you holding in your hand?"
In her memory, the other party had approached her once, to borrow spirit stones.
“A wild spirit-seeking mouse walked right into my trap and I caught it. I saw that it was quite intelligent, so I decided to tame it and put it to good use in the future.”
I came today to ask my senior sister for a Beast Taming Token, so it will be easier to control them.
Senior Sister Zhao is a disciple of the Beast Taming Hall, so you don't have to worry about buying defective products from her.
Monsters are naturally wild, and to make them easier to control, a wisp of their spirit is sealed in a beast-taming token.
Cultivators can issue commands to demonic beasts through beast-taming tokens and can also conduct simple mental communication.
Destroying the Beast Taming Token will severely injure the beast; this is a safety net for cultivators to control their beasts.
"A spirit-seeking rat that can satisfy my junior brother must have an excellent bloodline and be worth cultivating. May I take a look?"
"sure."
Ji An untied the spirit-seeking rat, revealing its fluffy golden-brown fur.
Is it still playing dead?
Zhao Mengyao giggled, checked it carefully, and said:
"Indeed, I judge that this demonic beast's bloodline is close to the superior grade. If it is properly nurtured in the future, it may become a demonic beast in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage."
The bloodline levels of demonic beasts correspond to the aptitude classifications of cultivators, namely, low-grade bloodline, mid-grade bloodline, high-grade bloodline, earth-grade bloodline, and heaven-grade bloodline.
Bloodline represents the upper limit of a monster's potential growth, but it's not absolute; nurturing after birth is also a very important factor.
It is said that a powerful being once cultivated the Spirit-Seeking Rat to the Golden Core level, which far exceeds the bloodline limit of the Spirit-Seeking Rat. Whether this is true or not is unknown.
"Return the spirit-seeking rat," Zhao Mengyao nodded and said.
"I happen to have two beast-taming tokens that I made myself, but they can only restrain demonic beasts in the Qi Refining stage. Would you like them, junior brother?"
"That's enough, thank you, Senior Sister. How many crystals?"
"Two spirit stones, junior brother, shall we settle the payment now?"
Zhao Mengyao revealed a half-smile. She took out a piece of cyan jade, about the length of a palm and three fingers wide. The jade was covered with runes, and a gray bead was inlaid in the center.
"I'll owe you, Senior Sister."
Ji An revealed a kind smile, showing the advantage of being thick-skinned.
He took out a piece of paper and handed it over:
"If it's convenient, I'd like to buy some medicinal herbs from my senior sister."
This is used to prepare the Spirit-Feeding Pill, a secret medicine specifically for cultivating Spirit-Seeking Rats.
Of course, he added three more herbs, and there was an extra amount of each herb.
Furthermore, some of the medicinal herbs require special processing methods, making it impossible to recreate the secret medicine using this prescription alone.
Zhao Mengyao's eyes flickered a few times as she took the formula and examined it carefully:
"These are all common medicinal herbs. I'll prepare a prescription for you. Please wait a moment."
Taking advantage of this break, Ji An used a secret technique to sign a spirit pet contract with the Spirit-Seeking Rat, and then captured a wisp of the demon beast's spirit into the Beast Taming Token.
The little mouse, once released, looked utterly dejected.
Fifteen minutes later, Zhao Mengyao returned carrying a bundle of medicinal herbs wrapped in paper:
"The medicinal herbs are worth three spirit stones."
"Thank you, Senior Sister. I will return the five spirit stones in full three months."
Ji An thanked him sincerely and accepted the medicinal herbs. This was a three-month supply for the spirit-seeking rats, and if they were used sparingly, it could feed them for four or five months.
He has nothing left to buy except for pills, and can afford to raise spirit-seeking rats.
If you wait until you need to train beasts before you can train them, there won't be enough time.
Back at his lodgings, Ji An sternly admonished him:
"From now on, you are not allowed to covet the medicinal herbs in the yard, otherwise..."
He released his Gengjin Finger, and a golden light flashed, creating a hole in the stone at the gate.
Sensing that sharpness, the fur on the Spirit-Seeking Rat's neck stood on end, fear flashed in its eyes, and it nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Ji An put the beast down and grabbed a handful of spirit rice to feed it.
The spirit-seeking mouse's mood immediately improved, and it quickly began to eat. After a night of tossing and turning, it was exhausted and frightened, and desperately needed something to eat to comfort itself.
Ji An began to work on the Spirit-Nourishing Pills. Being his first time making them, he was clumsy and wasted a lot of medicinal materials. It took him a long time to finally roll out twenty-two light red pills.
Normally, the feed pills need to be fed every three days, but since the quantity of finished products is lower than expected, we can only choose to feed them every four days.
"Here's a reward for you. Keep up the good work, the best is yet to come."
Ji An tossed out a Spirit-Feeding Pill, and the Spirit-Seeking Rat leaped up and caught the pill.
After landing, it held the pill in its two front paws, sniffed it carefully several times, licked it, and then its dark little eyes suddenly lit up. It opened its mouth and swallowed the pill.
The spirit-seeking mouse lay in the sunlight, its eyes half-closed, a look of contentment on its face.
(End of this chapter)
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