Chapter 340 Visiting the Rare Beast Shop
Iron-winged Mad Dragon.
This is a special dragon species at the peak of the eighth rank, which has an extra pair of long wings compared to ordinary dragons.
But these long wings are not feathers; they are bare and covered with sharp scales, enabling them to launch extremely powerful attacks.
At this moment, Iron Winged Dragon was not in the shop.
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Zhong Cai looked up at the volcano in front of her, her expression somewhat subtle.
Wu Shaogan grasped his hand and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Zhong Cai touched her nose.
How could you say that on someone else's rare animal's territory?
However, he secretly sent a telepathic message to Wu Shaogan.
This Iron-Winged Dragon looks a lot like the evil dragons in the Western fantasy novels I read in my past life.
Wu Shaogan raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment.
[A-Cai doesn't seem to have told a similar story.]
Zhong Cai chuckled.
I haven't mentioned it.
After he confessed his past life to Lao Wu, he didn't often talk about his past. He hadn't even finished telling his own family stories yet, so how could he have imagined talking about the West!
It's only now that I've encountered this situation, and it suddenly came to mind that I'm mentioning it.
So Zhong Cai started nagging Wu Shaogan.
[Those Western dragons also live in volcanoes, can spew fire and lava, are mostly bald, and are quite brutal.]
[Tell me, doesn't it look like the Iron-Winged Mad Dragon?]
Wu Shaogan made a comparison.
[It really does look quite similar.]
Zhong Cai laughed: "I knew it!"
Wu Shaogan had lost count of how many times he'd ruffled Zhong Cai's hair today, and then said with a smile, "Come on, let's go inside and take a look."
Zhong Cai happily took Wu Shaogan's hand and walked with him into the volcano... towards the palace in front.
Most shops run by rare beasts are exceptionally large, ensuring that other beastmen of at least the same size as the rare beast itself can enter and exit. However, the Ironwing Mad Dragon's palace is much smaller, about the same size as a normal human palace.
That's a bit strange.
When Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan went inside, they saw a rather simple small stone platform carved directly into the mountainside, on which different goods were displayed, emanating various powerful auras.
Even the worst among them is at level six.
At the same moment, Zhong Cai sensed a strong aura of fire, making the temperature inside the entire palace extremely high, causing people to feel uncomfortable as soon as they entered.
However, Zhong Cai was no longer surprised when she saw the various goods.
At least 80% of these are fire-attribute, so it's only natural that they are hot.
Neither Zhong Cai, who practices the Five Elements and Stars Technique, nor Wu Shaogan, who cultivates Yin and Yang, has a particularly high need for the fire attribute.
·
Since they were just strolling around, Zhong Cai pulled Wu Shaogan along and started walking from the far left.
On the first stone platform, there was a level six fire hibiscus.
This is a rare and precious medicinal herb that grows specifically deep within volcanic magma.
The heat of magma is terrifying. Even cultivators who specialize in fire attribute cultivation may not be able to dive that deep. Usually, only special rare beasts like the Iron-Winged Mad Dragon can go deep into this place to collect it.
Moreover, they must be intelligent; otherwise, they would have just eaten them without ever thinking of trading them with humans.
Zhong Cai looked down and felt that the quality was good. Although it was stored rather roughly, the medicinal properties were not lost at all.
Zhong Cai had never kept this rare medicine in stock before.
Wu Shaogan looked at Zhong Cai and said with a smile, "Take it down?"
Zhong Cai thought back for a moment and realized that her ancient city also had a similar special environment, so she could indeed plant the fire hibiscus there, and perhaps even grow more in the future...
His gaze fell on the crystal embedded in front of the stone platform.
Wu Shaogan understood and pressed the crystal.
In an instant, a clear hissing sound rang out, instantly announcing the resources needed to obtain the Fire Hibiscus.
[Eight hundred low-grade mystic stones!]
Zhong Cai was taken aback: "They only want to trade with Xuan Stones?"
He was immediately puzzled. Why would a rare beast like the Iron-Winged Mad Dragon trade for the resources it wanted, but instead demand Mystic Stones? Could it be that many transactions within rare beast clans also use Mystic Stones as currency?
Rare beasts do indeed need the energy of heaven and earth to cultivate. If they form a contract with human cultivators and are given an energy-gathering array plate, they can indeed achieve twice the result with half the effort when cultivating in it.
However, array plates can be inlaid with mystic stones to extract their energy, but they themselves cannot utilize the mystic stones.
More often than not, rare beasts not only devour the energy of heaven and earth with their own abilities, but also increase their strength by eating other savage beasts or rare beasts below them in the food chain.
When consuming other beasts, the most common method is to consume their flesh and blood, which is easily digested and absorbed. Next is consuming beast cores, but these cores often contain the beast's resentment or a large amount of incompatible impurities, so each time a beast core is consumed, it takes a lot of time to refine and consume it… Beast cores contain even more energy, and although digestion takes longer, they provide a greater boost to the beast.
On the other hand—
Rare animals are indeed more often exchanged for other animals.
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Seeing Zhong Cai's incredulous expression, Wu Shaogan smiled and said, "Regardless of why this senior rare beast wants the Xuan Stone, it is obviously more convenient for you and me."
Zhong Cai thought about it and agreed. She couldn't help but tease, "I've also heard that Western dragons love shiny treasures, and our Xuan Stone is one of them. Maybe you just want to collect more Xuan Stones so you can sleep on Xuan Stone Mountain?"
Wu Shaogan was taken aback, then burst into laughter: "A-Cai is right."
Zhong Cai smiled and quickly took out enough Xuan Stones to complete the transaction.
“If that’s really the case, that would be great.” Zhong Cai raised his eyebrows and said, “Bartering inevitably requires leaving a note, but if we use Xuan Stones, we can just ‘pay’ and take it away.”
Wu Shaogan: "A Cai is right."
While the two were chatting, Zhong Cai had already successfully obtained the Fire Hibiscus.
They then continued walking and came to the second stone platform.
Here is the skin of a fiery serpent that also lives deep in magma, level six, priced at four hundred low-grade mystic stones.
It's another integer.
Zhong Cai touched the outer skin and felt that the quality was quite good. In particular, the skin had a bright color and was very suitable for making clothes.
He then looked at his old man, Wu, and thought that Wu would look good in it.
So Zhong Cai waved her hand and bought it again!
Wu Shaogan has gentle features.
The snakeskin is quite long, and A-Cai wanted to make it into clothes for him. He thought it could be made into a set of clothes so they could wear matching outfits.
Thinking of this, Wu Shaogan shook Zhong Cai's hand again.
Zhong Cai glanced at him, understood, and said with a radiant smile, "Great! Matching outfits, please!"
Wu Shaogan also smiled.
Next, the two went to see the third stone platform.
It contained a large amount of snake meat, emitting a strong fiery aura. If fire-attribute cultivators ate it, it would greatly aid their cultivation.
But for the Zhong-Wu couple, too much fire was hard to digest, so they decided to skip it.
Skip it, next one.
Then came the veins of the fire serpent, its scales...
Zhong Cai laughed and said, "It seems that Senior Iron Wing Mad Dragon has destroyed the lair of this Flame Serpent. He not only stole the Fire Hibiscus that it was guarding, but also divided the Flame Serpent and made full use of it."
There's absolutely no need to hesitate, that's exactly how it is!
Wu Shaogan smiled and echoed his sentiment.
The two walked past several stone platforms, where they saw fire snake resources. Basically, apart from beast cores, everything else was being sold, and all of it was purchased with Xuan Stones.
After finally seeing the resources of the Fire Serpent, the two saw the resources of another savage beast after it had been cut up, which could also be purchased with Xuan Stones.
Next came rare beast eggs and fetuses... all of the same fire attribute.
All the beast body resources are at least Tier 6, while the potential level of rare beast eggs and beast fetuses is not very high, at most Tier 7.
Besides these, there are many fire-attribute refining materials that can only be obtained from the depths of volcanoes...
There was also a lot of volcanic mud, lava moss, fire essence, and fire crystals...
Without exception, they can all be purchased by spending Xuan Stones!
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After examining them one by one, Zhong Cai went from thinking that this rare beast senior had emptied the lair of a savage beast to thinking that the other party had emptied a volcano.
At this moment, he said with a smile, "Now I finally understand why this palace was designed by you, senior, to be most suitable for human cultivators."
Wu Shaogan had also thought of that, but he still deliberately said, "Oh?"
Zhong Cai deliberately sighed and said, "Because all resources are priced in Xuan Stones, and human cultivators are the ones who take the most Xuan Stones!"
Wu Shaogan immediately praised, "A-Cai is intelligent."
Zhong Cai said smugly, "Of course!"
Then, Zhong Cai swept away all the fire-attribute refining materials!
He needs a huge amount of various attribute-refining materials for the next upgrade of the ancient city!
Now that I've come across these, I'll naturally buy them all!
After finishing her sweep, Zhong Cai was in a good mood. She then held hands with Wu Shaogan and walked out the door to another shop next door.
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This shop was also run by a rare beast. The beast was at home, but it seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, constantly emitting deafening snores.
Not wanting to disturb the rare beast, the two of them were naturally careful not to make any noise.
During the inspection, most of the resources found came from various savage beasts, along with a few rare medicines that were not kept in a very good condition, and some common medicinal herbs of a fairly high grade.
The highest quality resources come from the fur of this rare beast itself... or from its clan.
It is also an excellent material for refining, which can be used to make mystical weapons or precious garments. Often, after a successful crafting, it will be imbued with some of the innate abilities of the ancient beast's clan.
This senior beast no longer wanted to trade for mystic stones, but instead directly chose beast cores—wild beast cores were acceptable, and so were rare beast cores.
However, this senior did not intend to force a sale. The price he gave for the resources was one or a few beast cores, but the level and value of the resources themselves were about the same as the value of obtaining the beast cores.
Zhong Cai has accumulated quite a few beast cores.
Back in the days on the Flying Star Continent, Dao soldiers would often hunt wild beasts in various places, butcher them, and put them into blind boxes, naturally accumulating a lot of beast cores. Although most of the beast cores were stuffed into various blind boxes, a small number were still collected by Zhong.
Especially those of extremely high quality.
The soldiers work very hard to hunt sixth or seventh-tier beasts, and since their beast cores are of such a high level, they can only be placed in high-level blind boxes, and the demand for them is relatively much smaller.
So Zhong Cai accumulated some, but most of it came from sea beasts—he encountered a beast tide at sea, and the treasure ship slaughtered them on its own, collecting the flesh and blood as nourishment, while he kept all the beast cores.
The reason he was saving them was that he wanted to use the beast cores to refine some pills when his alchemy skills improved.
In addition, there's the reward from card draws... The highest level the Dao soldiers could get was seventh-tier, while Zhong Cai had even drawn a ninth-tier beast core!
After careful selection, quite a few of these beast cores can be put up for trade.
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Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan walked along the stone platform in the shop—yes, all the rare beast seniors who opened shops basically carved stone platforms, stone pillars, stone piers and so on to place resources.
The two walked and selected items as they went.
The main purpose is to select fifth or sixth grade ingredients that taste good, to supply Wu Shaogan with for his future cultivation.
As for fourth-tier items suitable for Zhong Cai... they are basically not provided here, so there is no room for selection.
Zhong Cai mainly chooses to purchase rare and precious medicinal herbs.
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Next, the two went to visit the next shop.
It was opened by a rare beast, or obtained by exchanging beast cores...
Basically, everything can be traded freely, and there's no need to leave any posts.
However, this may be related to the fact that the shop owners they visited were both at the eighth level, and they may not yet have higher-level resource needs.
Or perhaps there is no such need at the moment.
The two didn't think much of it and continued shopping and browsing along the way.
Zhong Cai couldn't help but sigh, "I have to thank those sea monsters that blocked my way."
Thinking back to that scene, Wu Shaogan embraced Zhong Cai, his smile fading slightly.
Zhong Cai noticed Wu Shaogan's change in mood in time, and thinking about her own longing at that time, she also felt a little down.
A short while later, the two of them, without prior arrangement, adjusted their moods and held each other's hands again.
Zhong Cai said, "It won't happen again!"
Wu Shao chuckled dryly: "Yes. I won't."
Soon, the two continued their stroll.
They have accumulated a lot of resources, and now they can buy whatever they want without any problems.
Basically, anything you need can be obtained quickly.
In this way, we explored almost the entire East Street.
After turning a corner, they entered North Street.
Even on a street far from where they met, there were many different kinds of shops and stores.
The two strolled around casually and found that the shops they visited mainly offered beast cores for rare beasts—occasionally, there were also some special kinds of savage beast flesh and blood available for trade.
Zhong Cai discovered that the shops selling rare animals contained many rare medicinal herbs, most of which grew in remote, untouched places. This wasn't surprising, though; remote areas are home to many animals, making it much easier for them to find resources.
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Several wolf heads, large and small, emerged from a grotto.
As Zhong Caigang approached the small mountain range formed by several connected peaks, he couldn't help but rub his arms.
Wu Shaogan looked up and met several pairs of bright green wolf eyes.
From the largest opening, even breathing sounds could be heard.
The other wolves seemed only interested because of the arrival of humans, so they peeked out a few times, but immediately withdrew after looking and did not make any noise.
It seems they didn't want to disturb the alpha wolf's rest.
At the very bottom of the grotto, there is a large cave.
Unsurprisingly, this must be the wolves' shop.
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Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan did not go over immediately.
[Old Wu, does this look like the Moon Gazing Wolf Clan?]
Wu Shaogan thought for a moment and nodded.
Indeed.
[I noticed that those wolves peeking out all have a moon-shaped mark between their eyebrows; this is the mark of the future successor of the Moon-Gazing Wolf Clan. If one of them succeeds in the competition, the moon-shaped marks on the others will disappear, while the moon-shaped mark on the winner's forehead will transform into a full moon-like mark.]
[If the sleeping Moon-Gazing Wolf were to appear, its brow would likely resemble this.]
Zhong Cai nodded.
He was not as knowledgeable about rare animals as Old Wu.
After all, his mind was focused on the medicinal herbs!
But now that Lao Wu explained it to him like this, he could recall it and make sense of it.
[Old Wu, the Moon Gazing Wolf Clan seems to have a rather volatile temperament.]
Wu Shaogan nodded.
So, when we go to their shop, let's both keep quiet.
Zhong Cai indicated that she understood.
They speak using telepathy.
After they made their decision, the two headed towards the shop.
The design remains as simple and unadorned as ever, and nothing unexpected has happened.
The two checked the items one by one.
I saw a large quantity of... medicinal herbs.
There are also a considerable number of rare and precious natural materials that are beneficial to cultivators.
Moreover, compared to the crude harvesting methods of other rare beasts, the resources here are well preserved, no matter what kind they are—although it is still not as meticulous as that of humans, it is still quite unique among the beast race.
Zhong Cai couldn't help but gasp.
His gaze was fixed on the various medicinal herbs, and he could hardly look away.
Wu Shaogan took his hand and led him to the first location of the medicinal herbs.
Lingshan Blood Ring Flower.
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The Lingshan Blood Ring Flower grows among the snakes of Lingshan Mountain. It needs to absorb the venom of these snakes to grow successfully, making it a special and precious medicinal herb.
It and the Lingshan snake should also be considered symbiotic, because the Lingshan snake needs to suck the sap of the Lingshan Blood Ring Flower when it is young in order to grow up smoothly, so it will carefully protect this precious medicine.
Normally, if a cultivator wants to harvest this precious herb, they will inevitably offend the snakes.
If cultivators want to cultivate this precious medicine... they'll also need to raise a group of snakes along the way.
The number of Blood Ring Flowers on Lingshan Mountain here now varies from dozens to hundreds depending on the year, which shows that it is necessary to control a group of snakes.
The howls of the Moon Gazing Wolf Clan are intimidating to many groups, and they can easily take control of a snake swarm.
The snakes didn't want to be wiped out, so they naturally had to obey the Moon Gazing Wolf Clan's orders—after all, the most powerful attack method of the Spirit Mountain Snakes was poison, but the Moon Gazing Wolves not only had thick fur that was not easily bitten through by snake fangs, but more importantly, they could expend their own energy to draw large amounts of moonlight into their bodies to neutralize those strange poisons.
If it weren't for the fact that the Moon-Gazing Wolves' detoxification method could only be used by themselves, they would have become objects of covetousness for countless beastmen and humans.
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Zhong Cai couldn't help but take stock of it.
[A five-hundred-year-old Blood Ring Flower, similar to a level five medicinal herb, can be used to refine antidotes or poison pills, and it seems it can also be used to refine some kind of pill to cleanse impurities... Let me see, there are actually five hundred of them here! There are also quite a few thousand-year-old and several thousand-year-old... each comparable to a level six to eight rare medicinal herb.]
These kinds of rare medicinal herbs can't be grown at all; if you want them, this should be a reliable source.
[However, it's also because the few pill formulas I know that could use this stuff aren't very useful for us, otherwise I would definitely raise a whole nest of Spirit Mountain Snakes in the ancient city specifically to grow these flowers for us.]
Wu Shaogan smiled slightly.
[It's alright, I think the resources that the Moon-Gazing Wolf needs are a good match for A-Cai.]
[Presumably, as long as A-Cai needs it, Wangyue Lang will not cut off her supply.]
Upon hearing this, Zhong Cai raised his eyebrows and his gaze fell on a line of words engraved in front of the stone platform.
He was stunned for a moment.
All the animal figures I saw before were messages, but the writing in front of this stone platform looks like it was "written" with sharp claws.
The handwriting isn't very smooth and is a bit crooked, but each character is very clear.
[For every 500 years, ten plants yield one low-grade Beast Cleansing Pill; fifteen plants yield a mid-grade pill; twenty yield a high-grade pill; and thirty yield a top-grade pill.]
Zhong Cai's gaze fell on the three words "Beast Cleansing Pill," and she blinked.
He recalled the events and realized what the Beast Cleansing Pill was for.
It is specifically designed for animals that are irritable and troubled by abnormal energy. Once they take it, their emotions can be stabilized and they will not lose their temper.
For human cultivators, this helps their contracted beasts, and for some beasts, it can also dispel their negative states, allowing them to stabilize their groups.
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Wu Shaogan pondered for a moment, then transmitted the information he had come up with to Zhong Cai telepathically.
[The Moon-Gazing Wolves usually absorb moonlight for cultivation, but because they rely entirely on instinct, their methods are crude and the moonlight they absorb is not pure... This causes their blood to boil, making them difficult to calm down, resulting in a volatile temper, frequent howling, pouncing, and attacks.]
In severe cases, their internal energy surges violently, causing their skin and flesh to tear and their tendons to rupture. When fighting with other groups, they often cannot sustain the conflict for long, otherwise they may self-destruct due to the energy imbalance.
[The Moon-Gazing Wolf does indeed need resources to counteract this violent power during its cultivation. Most of the time, it will chew on a type of Sunlight Grass. The Yang energy contained within it neutralizes the Yin energy of the moonlight, thus resolving the violent and chaotic energy.]
However, if there isn't enough Sunflower Grass, it will also have a significant negative impact on them. For example, many Moon Wolves without Sunflower Grass to eat will still cause trouble. It will also limit the expansion of the Moon Wolf pack.
Newborn Moon-Gazing Wolves need to learn to absorb moonlight. The first absorption is extremely dangerous. If they consume Sunlight Grass beforehand, the survival rate of Moon-Gazing Wolf cubs will be higher...
Zhong Cai nodded upon hearing this.
No wonder.
[I know about Sunflower Grass; the energy inside is quite explosive. Human cultivators would experience stomach explosions if they ate it raw, while beasts have stronger resistance, but it would still be quite painful.]
[However, the Beast Cleansing Pill is different. Even a low-grade one has a gentler energy source and won't cause pain. Moreover, its effects are much stronger than those of Sunflower Grass.]
[In the past, the Moon-Gazing Wolves lived deep in the mountains, making it difficult for them to reach deals with cultivators for the purchase of elixirs. However, once a deal was made, they would strictly adhere to the rules… I recall records indicating that in transactions with human forces, the Moon-Gazing Wolves would provide abundant resources and assistance. But if the humans' responses were not timely, or if the transactions were fraudulent, their retaliation would be extremely severe.]
[It's quite convenient for them to set up shops here now. They just need to display the relevant resources and set a suitable price, and they don't need to worry about anything else. Human cultivators also don't need to worry about how to get along with the Moon-Gazing Wolves; they can buy as many resources as they collect in pills.]
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