Chapter 227

Chapter 227: Swindled?

The fight between Foundation Establishment strong persons was unexpected by the group.

Lin Ze and Lin Yan exchanged a glance, both seeing deep apprehension in the other’s eyes.

Without the slightest hesitation, they changed direction and flew towards another location.

Zhou Luo took a long, deep look back at the Immortal City behind them. It seemed that as the heart of the entire Qingyuan Domain, the cultivators here were markedly more formidable than elsewhere, with some even reaching the Foundation Establishment realm enough to take action themselves.

Fortunately, they detected it early. After switching paths, they encountered no more bandits.

Several hours later, they returned safely.

Parting ways with the others, Zhou Luo brought Lin Xin back to Zhou Garden.

Upon arrival, he immediately headed straight for the third floor of the main building.

Seeing this, a flicker passed through Lin Xin’s beautiful eyes.

The third floor was strictly forbidden by Zhou Luo to anyone; of course, she wouldn’t enter. She simply felt he likely harbored secrets unknown to her.

The third floor was now protected by a magic formation Zhou Luo had set up. Even if Lin Xin tried to enter, finding the entrance would be extremely difficult.

He entered a spacious room and first took out the turtle egg.

The Xuan Huang turtle egg lay quietly on the table, motionless.

Zhou Luo placed his palm against the shell. A wisp of pure spiritual energy traveled through the surface into the egg’s interior, quickly sensing a faint pulse of life.

Just as described in the jade slips, this turtle egg was near death, its vitality fading fast.

The old man presiding over the auction hadn’t mentioned this; Zhou Luo only learned it after acquiring both the egg and the slips.

Clearly, he’d been swindled.

Even so, Zhou Luo felt little other emotion.

He took out the spiritual plants obtained from the Illusionary Forest, crushed them using his spiritual energy, extracted the Illusionary Power within, and then channeled it into the eggshell through a specific method.

This step alone was beyond the capability of most.

It simultaneously demanded mastery of two arts: both the Spiritual Planting Technique and the Beast Taming Technique required profound skill.

As the Illusionary Power flowed into the eggshell, the previously feeble life force emitted a faint, light glow. But when the light subsided, the turtle egg seemed utterly unchanged.

Was the strength insufficient?

Zhou Luo took out a dozen more spiritual plants, extracted all their Illusionary Power, and infused it into the eggshell.

Yet the power vanished like stones sinking into the sea, producing no change whatsoever.

Zhou Luo’s expression darkened.

His plan had failed; the Illusionary Power had absolutely no effect on it.

No wonder the Qingyuan Sect had put the egg of this Third Level Spirit Beast up for auction. Likely, even the beast tamers within their own Immortal Sect couldn’t help it either.

Since this Third Level Spirit Beast couldn’t be revived, Zhou Luo didn’t press the matter.

He raised his eyes and looked at Little White curled up in a ball.

He’d had a plan in mind before buying back this Third Level Spirit Beast’s egg.

If he couldn’t revive it, then he should let it become Little White’s nourishment.

In the cultivation world, Spirit Beasts would also fight and prey on each other, especially those possessing the same source of power; if they could devour one another, it brought great benefits to themselves.

Zhou Luo only knew this after he became a beast tamer.

So that day, after seeing the Deep Sea Illusion Turtle’s egg, he immediately thought of this.

His original plan was, if he could rely on Illusionary Power to save that Deep Sea Illusion Turtle, then he would gain another Third Level Spirit Beast and hit a huge success.

If he couldn’t save it, he would have Little White devour it.

If people learned Zhou Luo was feeding a Third Level Spirit Beast’s egg as food to another Spirit Beast, they would probably cry out at the waste.

But this Spirit Beast wouldn’t live long anyway, and he had only spent three hundred spiritual stones for it; if it could truly help Little White grow faster, it was absolutely worth it.

He decided to act immediately.

He took that turtle egg to Little White, gazed at it intently, then raised his right hand as a dense light surged from his palm.

The light flickered, transforming into a blade that howled out and struck toward that turtle egg.

Bang—

With a loud noise, the turtle egg trembled, leaving a white mark on its Xuan Huang-colored surface.

"It’s quite hard," Zhou Luo was greatly surprised.

He hadn’t expected the turtle shell to be so tough.

Since that was the case, he couldn’t blame him for being ruthless.

Zhou Luo extended his right hand, a spiritual light flashed in his palm, and a golden long sword appeared in his grasp—this was the top-grade magical artifact, Shuo Feng.

Gripping Shuo Feng, Zhou Luo flicked his wrist and infused spiritual energy into it.

Whoosh—

The next second, the precious sword descended, carrying a sharp force, and chopped precisely onto the turtle shell.

The aura of the top-grade magical artifact erupted with a roar, a terrifying power swept everywhere, stirring up power fluctuations.

Crack—

In response to the sound, the turtle shell shattered, revealing a pale blue fleshy mass inside.

Without any hesitation, Zhou Luo released his mental strength, wrapped it around the egg, then pried open Little White’s mouth and pushed it in.

The embryo had already been withered in vitality, and after such severe damage, it was on its last legs.

But as it made contact with Little White’s body, it suddenly transformed into a streak of light and was swallowed into the belly.

At the same time, Little White’s entire body burst out with dazzling spiritual light.

Zhou Luo touched his right hand on Little White’s soft fur, feeling only a cool sensation emerge.

Under his mental strength’s probing, that light streak passed accurately through the hazy radiance and landed in that azure-blue "lake."

Initially, because it had ingested too much Illusionary Power, Little White was forced into sleep, waiting only to awaken after absorbing all that power.

But now, as the Deep Sea Illusion Turtle’s embryo fell into it, the originally calm "lake surface" suddenly began rippling.

Amid those ripples, the Illusionary Power that had solidified into substance also started trembling.

Within several breaths, that "lake" began shaking violently.

Meanwhile, the spiritual light around Little White grew stronger and stronger, affecting even Zhou Luo’s mind; the scenery before his eyes started twisting and deforming, and he was influenced by the Illusionary Power.

This was a terrifying thing.

Because his mental strength was strong and resilient enough, and he hadn’t encountered such a situation normally.

But when his mental strength touched that Illusionary Power, it was instantly affected.

Was this the power of a Third Level Spirit Beast?

Zhou Luo hurriedly withdrew his mental strength to avoid further erosion by the Illusionary Power.

Seeing the increasingly intense spiritual light, he promptly pulled out an array disk and began setting up a formation to prevent the Illusionary Power from leaking out.

Boom—

Inside the Snow Mountain Spirit Cat’s body, at the place symbolizing the Qi sea, the "lake water" surged violently, with endless power spreading in all directions.

The original power of the Deep Sea Illusion Turtle was interacting with the original power of the Snow Mountain Spirit Cat.

This process didn’t last long because the embryo had already been depleted of vitality; even as a Third Level Spirit Beast, the original power it brought was insufficient.

And once that power from the same source was absorbed by the Snow Mountain Spirit Cat’s body, the "lake" slowly calmed down; not only that, but the originally full Illusionary Power was also depleted by a third in the process.

Seeing Little White’s body settle, Zhou Luo then released his mental strength again to investigate.

To his surprise, he discovered this phenomenon, then joy appeared on his face.

His attempt was successful!

"Meow—"