Chapter 8
Chapter 8.
[Baby Jiaolong: Is the Talisman-Wing Insect any good?]
-I found it while cleaning the cave abode. Is this thing any good? I really don't know ㅠ
└Yao Immortal (178.1): Oh, here we go again.
I grinned at the reaction from Yao Immortal (178.1), who seemed to reply to my posts surprisingly often.
[Baby Jiaolong: I really don't know ㅠ How do I raise it? Should I give it spirit fruits?]
└Yao Immortal (333.3): That spirit fruit wouldn't happen to be the Purple Heart Grass Fruit I know, would it?
└Yao Immortal (66.66): Fellow Daoist, are you falling for it again? That guy's doing this on purpose.
└Baby Jiaolong: Yao-suckers, falling for it again ㅠㅠ
└Yao Immortal (333.3): How shameless! I fell for it again...!
I giggled as I read the replies and realized that more Yao Immortals than I'd expected had no idea what a Talisman-Wing Insect was.
Well, unless you're an insect master, you wouldn't know every kind of spirit insect.
Their reactions seemed perfectly natural.
└Yao Immortal (12.12): A Talisman-Wing Insect, I see. That's a fairly rare creature you have there. Was this one prepared for you, too?
A Yao Immortal who seemed quite advanced in age recognized the Talisman-Wing Insect.
‘The Talisman-Wing Insect should be fine.’
I'd looked it up beforehand, and it wasn't the kind of spirit insect that would send the Yao Immortal Gallery into an uproar. Most people seemed to react with, ‘Oh, that's a rare spirit insect. You have one of those?’
The reason was that a Talisman-Wing Insect's strength varied depending on how it was raised, and the way it performed depended on how its owner handled it.
To begin with, it wasn't much use unless you were a talisman master. And above all, raising one was supposed to be difficult.
└SunshineIsThisWorld: It doesn't even look like a proper talisman yet, so it's a first-tier Talisman-Wing Insect. You're going to raise that?
└Baby Jiaolong: Yep. Talisman-making didn't seem that hard.
Just as Sunshine said, the Talisman-Wing Insect I'd hatched was a first-tier spirit insect. To unleash the ninth-ranked power described in the Hundred-Insect Compendium, I'd have to keep feeding it talismans and make it molt.
Its grade rose with every molt.
Usually, it had to reach at least the third tier to properly demonstrate its power, so it was far from ready to be useful.
└Yao Immortal (178.1): Must be nice, being rich enough to raise a Talisman-Wing Insect... I wouldn't even dare try raising one. I'd sell it right away.
└Yao Immortal (963.3): For real. I know a little about this, and apparently you'd have to spend enough to bankrupt a sect just to raise a Talisman-Wing Insect.
└Yao Immortal (66.66): Fellow Daoist, just how rich are you to think you can raise one?
[Baby Jiaolong: My cave abode has so many materials, I'm trying to use some of them up ㅠㅠ]
-Look at this ㅠㅠ
「Picture of White Spirit Paper and Yellow Spirit Paper piled up like mountains in the cave abode」
└Yao Immortal (66.66): Holy shit!
└Yao Immortal (178.1): Ugh... there goes my cultivation for today.
└Yao Immortal (963.3): Wow, there's that much? You have more there than my sect has in its storehouse.
[Yao Immortal (178.1): Recruiting people to raid [Baby Jiaolong]'s cave abode.]
-If you can't stand [Baby Jiaolong]'s flexing anymore, gather here!
└Yao Immortal (124.1): Hand.
└Yao Immortal (66.66): Hand.
└Yao Immortal (963.3): Hand.
└Yao Immortal (444.44): Tongue.
“Heh. Here it comes.”
Just as I'd expected.
The mood was getting ugly, so it seemed like time for a drastic countermeasure.
[Baby Jiaolong: Selling Purple Heart Pills.]
-The fruit had ripened just right, so I tried refining it in my Yang-Void Cauldron. It obviously went poorly, so they're low-grade, but they're no use to me. Selling them.
There was a recipe for Purple Heart Pills and various supplementary ingredients in the Arts Room, so I'd tried refining some as an experiment.
And it worked.
Thanks to the Yang-Void Cauldron giving me a ridiculous boost, I managed to make a low-grade pill on my first try.
‘I can make five pills from a single Purple Heart Grass Fruit, so this is a better deal.’
The great thing about the Yang-Void Cauldron was that it helped prevent the furnace from exploding or burning the ingredients, letting even a beginner refine pills of a fairly high grade.
And then there was the Fleshly Alchemy Furnace.
Despite the bizarre idea of refining pills inside a yao beast's stomach, it was actually quite something.
When I circulated the furnace inside my belly and refined the ingredients with the Samadhi True Fire within me, I could definitely examine their properties in greater detail.
No wonder Yao Immortals used a Fleshly Alchemy Furnace.
Its biggest drawback was that an explosion could cause internal injuries, but the Yang-Void Cauldron made that impossible. Besides, it let my body absorb the medicinal effects that leaked out, so even if I failed at alchemy, my body would be filled with beneficial energy. I'd be a fool not to use it.
“This is so good! So good! Now this is what I call getting something for nothing!”
Yao Immortal (178.1)'s plan to raid my cave abode fizzled out once the Purple Heart Pills appeared.
Because I'd put them up for auction.
Purple Heart Pills that dispel killing poison?
These are incredibly rare pills that people can't get their hands on, no matter how much they want them.
“Heeheehee.”
Best parents ever, leaving me a cave abode like this! They might be True Immortals with all sorts of sinister schemes, but I'd decided to think of them as my parents.
That was easier.
So what if they were True Immortals?
It's not like I could do anything about it anyway.
I might as well enjoy it.
“It's climbing pretty high. I thought my pills wouldn't be worth much since I made them myself.”
The auction bid, which I'd started at one high-grade spirit stone, had already passed a hundred.
And I'd only listed one of the five.
It seemed like I could list another one every time the Yao Immortal Gallery got heated.
Of course, even if I sold them, I still couldn't use the spirit stones... It couldn't be helped.
I had to at least use them to change the subject.
“Anyway...”
I closed the Yao Immortal Gallery and watched the little spirit insects crawling around.
“You said it would look like a leaf, and it really does. Right now, it's just a talisman-eating bug.”
As I watched the Talisman-Wing Insect crunching away on a talisman, I suddenly felt uneasy, unable to picture how it would change as it kept molting.
They said it would turn into something like a talisman, but I couldn't really imagine it yet.
“I don't know. Time will take care of that.”
The Talisman-Wing Insect wasn't the only spirit insect.
A cultivator's eternal friend.
I'd hatched Dust-Cleaning Insects, spirit insects that cleaned the cave abode, and Green-Life Insects, which looked after spirit trees and spirit herbs.
I didn't think I needed the rest of the spirit insects, so I left them alone.
I could leave the spirit trees and herbs as they were, but apparently it was better to have the insects, so I was raising them.
The Dust-Cleaning Insects ate dust from the cave abode, and the Green-Life Insects hunted pests in the soil, so I didn't have to worry about feeding them.
There was only one thing I needed to focus on.
The Talisman-Wing Insects.
“Should I make them some food?”
I took out some White Spirit Paper, picked up a brush, and drew a talisman in one stroke.
What I made was a high-grade, first-tier Concealment Talisman.
I'd only made a few, but maybe I'd already gotten the hang of it, because I was starting to produce high-grade first-tier Concealment Talismans.
“Off to a good start.”
Grinning, I got right back to practicing talisman-making.
In no time, I'd made ten, twenty, then thirty.
After drawing thirty, I'd used up a fair amount of yao energy.
“I've worked hard enough for today. Time to stop.”
I scattered all the Qi-Eating Talismans and Concealment Talismans for the Talisman-Wing Insects, then returned to my room and flopped onto my bed.
Lately, I'd been living a surprisingly orderly life for me.
When I got up in the morning, I'd browse the Gallery for a bit, then practice the Purple Cloud Thunderbolt Art.
When I got hungry, I'd cook with spirit fruits and spirit ingredients, practice alchemy or talisman-making, and take care of the spirit insects.
I might be the most diligent jiaolong in the world...
A few days later.
The auction for the Purple Heart Pills ended.
The winning bid was 109 high-grade spirit stones, and this time [SunshineIsThisWorld] won.
[SunshineIsThisWorld: Review of the Purple Heart Pill]
-Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more! Sell more!
It seemed like the effect was better than expected.
Usually so calm, that guy always went on a posting spree as soon as he got excited.
“Heeheehee.”
Time passed without anything much happening.
Black Wind still hadn't shown up.
It couldn't be helped.
‘I liked the concealment formula Black Wind mentioned... For now, I'll use talismans.’
And then a year passed.
My talisman-making rank went up.
I could now make second-tier talismans.
Naturally, the Talisman-Wing Insects began to molt, too, becoming second-tier Talisman-Wing Insects.
“They really... look a little less like torn leaves now. Some of the holes have filled in.”
From a distance, they were now just convincing enough to make me wonder if they were talismans.
But of course, they still looked incomplete.
They had to reach at least the third tier, so I needed to keep feeding them.
“Sigh... Can I really keep up with this?”
I'd fed them talismans steadily for a year.
All they did was eat and poop, so they'd gone through quite a lot of talismans.
“Well, I still have more than enough left over...”
I had more than enough to feed them until they reached the third tier.
But after that... Well.
I was already a little worried about it.
Looking at the five Talisman-Wing Insects, I felt a strange sense of unease.
I'd heard that they would lay eggs after one more molt, but wouldn't that make things even harder?
“Maybe I should think of something else, or find some White Spirit Paper somewhere.”
If I kept spending my days just feeding them, like I'd spent a hundred years eating, pooping, and posting, I felt like the talismans in the Arts Room would run out.
“What would happen if I stopped giving them talismans... Would they die or run away?”
Still, I'd put effort into raising them, so I'd be a little sad if they died.
Of course, they'd be fine without food for a few months, but I'd still have to support them eventually.
“Is this what being a parent feels like...?”
I worried about it, but it didn't matter.
Because today, anyway,
I was going outside.
“It's been a long, long time.”
A hundred years and two more.
The giant who'd been curled up in the cave abode was finally going out into the world.
I put on a neat outfit made of bone-white silk.
A white robe and a purple skirt.
A splendid outfit.
And with a nameless saber at my waist, I looked like a beautiful girl straight out of an island nation.
Then I tucked the spirit insect pouch containing the Talisman-Wing Insects and my talismans into my clothes.
I packed a few spirit fruits, just in case.
“All right.”
The bundle on my back made me look a little shabby, but there was nothing I could do about that.
I didn't have a storage pouch.
I tied my purplish silver hair back tightly and stood up.
“I'm really going out now!”
My heart was pounding for no reason.
Half nerves, half excitement.
I could feel my blood coursing actively through every part of my body.
My lips curled up at the pleasant pounding of my heart.
[Baby Jiaolong: I'm really going now!]
-I'm really going outside! For real! Really, really going out!?
└Yao Immortal (178.1): Had you still not left your house? Honestly, I'm impressed at this point...
└Yao Immortal (777.54): Just go already!!
└SunshineIsThisWorld: Sell more Purple Heart Pills before you go!! Or at least another Purple Heart Grass Fruit!
└Yao Immortal (963.3): That's what rich kids are like... They don't know how miserable life gets once you leave home.
└LotsaTails: I'm rooting for our Baby! Be careful! Bring me back a present!
└TurtleTurtle: Are you finally hatching from your egg?
└Yao Immortal (12.12): I wish you good fortune.
└Yao Immortal (66.66): O True Immortal!
└Baby Jiaolong: Don't jinx me!
└HumansSuck: You'll meet humans soon. Never trust them. If you see one, cut off their head first.
└Baby Jiaolong: ;;;;;;
Anyway, I was ready.
And I'd gotten the Yao Immortals' support.
“Let's go.”
Rumble.
When I lifted the restrictions around the cave abode, the tightly shut door opened.
And what I saw was—
“Again?!”
It was another cave abode.
But it was a little different from the one before.
There was clearly a door that looked like an exit, and a formation was drawn on the floor before it.
In front of the formation,
a jade tablet floated in the air. It looked like a strange artifact, and the same energy as the formation flowed through it.
‘Could this be a teleportation formation?’
A teleportation formation that could bring me back to the cave abode.
And a jade tablet for using it.
That's what it looked like.
“Wow, they went this far? Am I really some kind of royalty?”
When I took the jade tablet in my hand, the same energy as the teleportation formation flowed through it, just as I'd expected.
It seemed to be a teleportation token that would let me return to the cave abode if I was in danger.
“If they went this far, there's no reason not to go out. All right, let's do this!”
Once again, I undid the restrictions around the cave abode.
Rumble—.
The massive door to the cave abode swung open...
And what I saw beyond it was—
“Wow... What is this?”
A world covered in glass on all sides, as if it were about to shatter.
