Blue Bird

Back then, however, he had to count and eat roasted beans one by one. Now, he could toss them into his mouth by the handful.

His joy was absolutely doubled!

The two of them had been using concealment spells the entire time. Once they reached a place where not a single soul could be seen, Lin Xiao took out his peach wood sword and took Jiang Youfu along to fly on it.

Their flying speed wasn't fast, as they kept a close eye on the ground below for any signs of demonic beasts.

To their surprise, as they journeyed on, the first wave of demonic beasts they encountered didn't appear on the ground they had been focusing on, but came from the sky.

Up ahead, five sapphire-blue birds seemed unaware of their presence and were flying straight toward their direction.

"Brother Xiao, Brother Xiao, those birds ahead are so beautiful!"

Jiang Youfu, standing behind Lin Xiao, tilted his head and marveled at the birds.

To Lin Xiao, these five birds looked somewhat like peacocks. Their feathers were bright and shimmered with a beautiful luster, and they were quite large, estimated to be about two meters long. Yet, the way they flew resembled wild geese.

Upon seeing these five large birds, Lin Xiao made a decision. The first demonic beasts they would raise in the yet-to-be-built breeding farm of their Lingxian Sect would be these!

These birds only had the cultivation of the Spirit Opening Realm. For Lin Xiao, who was in the Golden Core Realm, capturing them alive would be utterly effortless.

He simply spread the five fingers of his left hand, and threads condensed from spiritual energy fanned out from his palm. As if they had eyes of their own, they extended and shot rapidly toward the birds.

In just a single breath, these spiritual energy threads tightly surrounded the five birds. By the time they realized they were trapped, it was already too late.

The dense spiritual threads instantly shrank their encirclement, binding the five birds up like mummies.

Having lost their ability to fly, they began to plummet, dragging Lin Xiao's spiritual threads down with them until the threads were pulled entirely taut. They hung suspended in mid-air, with the other end of the threads still connected to Lin Xiao's palm.

Looking at this scene, Lin Xiao suddenly felt that he really resembled a spider.

He retracted the spiritual threads, pulling the birds back up with them, and then stored them all into the living creature storage area of his private inventory.

Only then did Lin Xiao speak to Jiang Youfu behind him:

"We'll take them back and raise them."

Hearing this, Jiang Youfu was very surprised:

"Really, Brother Xiao! Then, then I'll raise them! I'll feed them every day!"

At this moment, Liao Pantu from within the Soul Nourishing Pendant spoke up:

"Do you two even know what these Blue Yin Birds eat before talking about raising them? Do you think they are that easy to keep?"

At the same time, a system notification chimed in Lin Xiao's mind:

Ding—Congratulations to the host for capturing five Blue Yin Birds. The system has determined that they meet the standards for breedable demonic beasts and are permitted to be placed in the living creature storage area. As a small reward, the host is granted twenty Shroom-Fruit tree saplings. The Shroom-Fruits produced by these saplings are deeply loved by the Blue Yin Birds and are their absolute favorite food, bar none.

Subsequently, Lin Xiao saw twenty somewhat strange-looking little saplings appear in his private inventory.

Thus, he asked:

"Do Blue Yin Birds eat Shroom-Fruits?"

Hearing his sudden response, Liao Pantu was momentarily taken aback:

"How did you know?"

"Uh..." Lin Xiao made a token sound as a reply, but explained absolutely nothing.

After asking, Liao Pantu remembered Lin Xiao's constant uniqueness and the fact that whatever this kid set out to do, he always accomplished. Only then did he let out a light cough:

"As long as you know what to feed them, just raise them. They will be quite useful, yeah."

After saying this, he nestled back into the Soul-Nourishing Jade Pendant, planning not to utter another word.

Having harvested five Blue-Yin Birds, Lin Xiao was in a great mood. He lowered the altitude of his flying sword a bit and continued his hunting journey.

Meanwhile, inside Banxiang City.

Yuan Zhiyun had arrived here a few days earlier.

As the Young Master of the Yuan family, she naturally could not miss a grand event like the Talisman Master Convention.

Naturally, she also stayed among the mountains that had been converted into cave dwellings. Although she was a bit of a penny-pincher, she was still relatively generous when it came to her own food, clothing, and accommodations. After all, she was the Young Master of the Yuan family; she could not afford to lack a certain level of prestige.

Moreover, she wanted to see if anyone here had an Icefield Sprite on hand.

Back in Yuanling City, offering up to a hundred thousand spirit stones had not drawn anyone out for a trade, which meant there truly were not any available. Raising the price further would be useless.

Her family had not only been trying to purchase one in Yuanling City but had also been constantly asking around in other places.

However, they had yielded no results.

An Icefield Sprite was an entity that could only be encountered by chance, not actively sought out. Its efficacy was obvious enough, but more importantly, it was exceptionally good at hiding, rarely showed itself, and was incredibly agile. Unless one was remarkably lucky, it was extremely difficult for an ordinary person to capture one.

Cultivators with lower cultivation bases struggled to catch them, while those with profound cultivation would not specifically venture into the freezing snow to spend massive amounts of time searching for and capturing such a creature alive.

Furthermore, the majority of people who did manage to catch one would immediately bind it to themselves to reap the benefits, as if terrified someone else might snatch it away.

Therefore, this creature was exceedingly rare on the market. So much so that a whole year had passed, and the Yuan family still had not managed to acquire one.

If they still could not buy one, Yuan Zhiyun planned to enter the Icefield Mystic Realm again this year to try her luck.

With these thoughts in mind, Yuan Zhiyun left her rented cave dwelling, preparing to go out and ask around for information.

Who would have thought that as she turned around, she would suddenly catch sight of a somewhat familiar figure.

The figure disappeared around a corner not far ahead, but Yuan Zhiyun furrowed her brows.

Thinking of that figure just now, a deep sense of familiarity spread through her heart. She felt there was a ninety percent chance she knew who it was.

But for a moment, she just could not recall exactly who it was.

As Yuan Zhiyun chased after the direction the figure had disappeared, she pondered. Judging by this, the person must be someone she had not interacted with recently, otherwise, she would not have failed to recognize them instantly.

However, based on the familiarity in her heart, her intuition told her this was definitely someone she knew very well.

Someone she had not interacted with recently, but was very familiar with...

Could it be...

But that was not right. The figure just now had not given off even a trace of spiritual energy, seeming just like a mortal...

Perhaps they had something on them that shielded their cultivation base, or perhaps... their cultivation had been crippled by someone?

Yuan Zhiyun chased in that direction for a short while and managed to catch up to the figure.

However, seeing that the person ahead seemed to be moving stealthily, as if they did not want to be noticed or discovered, she merely trailed quietly behind them instead of stepping forward to confirm their identity right away.

Yuan Qing did not notice that he was being followed; after all, the gap in cultivation between him and Yuan Zhiyun was quite significant.

In his view, he was nothing more than a Qi Condensation realm cultivator. As long as he was careful and cautious, no one should pay him any mind in this Banxiang City that was swarming with cultivators.

Walking down the bustling street, Yuan Qing let out a soft breath. He kept his ears pricked, listening closely for any news regarding the Tianxuan Sect, while his eyes constantly kept watch on the patrol squads maintaining order in the streets.