Chapter 24: Azure Flame Dragon Sparrow

Yanghe Villa sprawled over dozens of square kilometers. Villas were sparse, with hundreds of meters separating each one, and beneath them ran tiny spiritual veins.

These miniature spiritual veins were common throughout Nine Yong City. To awakened beings, they held little value, which in turn made the real estate inexpensively priced.

Inexpensive indeed.

A property here wasn’t even worth a low-grade fifth-rank spirit artifact.

To put things into perspective: A first-rank basic magical tool typically cost between 100 to 600 spiritual soul coins; second-rank intermediate tools ranged from 600 to 3,000 coins; third-rank advanced tools fell within 3,000 to 20,000 coins.

Fourth rank comprised top-tier magical tools, pricing out at 20,000 to 100,000 coins.

Fifth rank consisted of spirit artifacts, where even low-grade items saw a steep price jump, ranging from 200,000 to 1,200,000 coins.

The reason for this disparity was simple: crafting spirit artifacts required immense skill. Only by imbuing an object with its own spirit could it be deemed worthy of such a title.

Real estate, on the other hand, was far more straightforward—having land connected to a spiritual vein was all that mattered.

Within Nine Yong City, there were some eighteen similar villa districts akin to Yanghe Villa.

What truly commanded astronomical prices were the residences in the central district, home to immortals. These dwellings existed in their own spatial realm, offering cultivation conditions far superior to those found in the Outer City.

For Qin Shu, however, a place to live was just that—a dwelling adequate for his needs would suffice.

Villa 006 at Yanghe Villa stood on a hectare of land, its back leaning against verdant mountains, with a crystal-clear lake stretching out before it.

The main building occupied only ten percent of the property; the rest was open space perfect for practicing magic or physical techniques.

The villa came equipped with an anti-spying array: once activated, it enveloped the house in a dense spiritual fog that prevented others from peering inside while also blocking sounds from escaping outside.

It even had a warning function.

In terms of safety, this villa certainly justified its price.

As for the interior decoration, it went without saying - the focus was on elegance and luxury.

Qin Shu couldn’t be more satisfied.

The villa included a dedicated cultivation room where the concentration of spiritual energy was higher.

Holding the monster egg, he practiced cultivation, continuously channeling true essence into nourishing the spirit embryo within.

From the moment he entered the God of Wealth shopping mall until now, his hands hadn’t strayed from this monster egg for a second.

Zhao Gongqian had noticed earlier that Qin Shu had already refined the monster egg, which is why he didn’t suggest selling it.

Otherwise, given its potential, such an egg could have been worth several times more than top-grade spirit artifacts after appraisal.

Perhaps using the spiritual soul coins from activating the teleportation array would be enough.

Feeling the life force within this monster egg, Qin Shu felt as though he were nurturing a new life.

Due to the sufficient concentration of spiritual energy, his conversion into true karmic essence was also rapid.

As the true karmic essence continuously flowed in, the embryo inside the monster egg swiftly developed.

Simultaneously, because of its nature, the strongest and oldest bloodline within it rapidly intensified, suppressing all other bloodlines.

This is the power of karma.

The entire process took exactly one month. While Qin Shu’s cultivation base showed no progress, the monster egg was now ready to hatch.

Sensing this, Qin Shu stopped inputting true essence, placed the egg before him, and simply watched.

“Little one, I’ve put in tremendous effort here; don’t disappoint me!”

He eagerly anticipated the arrival of this new life.

Before long, the green monster egg began to tremble slightly, then started vibrating at high frequency.

The creature inside was breaking through its shell.

Qin Shu could sense the urgency of life within the eggshell, but there was nothing he could do to hasten the process.

However, he didn’t have to wait long.

After approximately eight hundred vigorous vibrations, the top of the eggshell cracked open.

A deep azure beak poked through the fissure, triggering a chain reaction that shattered the entire shell into fragments. A comically ugly bald chick appeared before Qin Shu, chirping noisily.

Its body was only as large as a young girl’s face, with piping calls that sounded quite juvenile.

Nevertheless, its eyes were open, and the first thing it saw was Qin Shu.

Qin Shu felt the new life’s instinctive affection towards him.

Moments later, the bald chick began pecking at the eggshell.

As it consumed the shell, its naked body gradually grew covered in deep Cyan down and feathers, becoming more plush by the minute.

Soon after, a circular cyan magical seal materialized between Qin Shu and the bird.

The Lifeblood Contract had been activated.

Qin Shu extended his divine sense, guiding the seal into his sea of consciousness.

With this, the bonding ritual was complete.

At last, he received the detailed information about his familiar.

After absorbing all the information about his new companion, Qin Shu looked at the Green Flame Dragon Finch with uncontainable satisfaction.

The partially feathered bird was truly striking. Its entire body glowed indigo, adorned with phoenix-like features - head, beak, and crown. Upon its forehead rested a pair of dragon horns.

A serpentine neck supported broad wings, beneath which fine dragon scales peeked out from amidst the feathers. Long legs ended in five razor-sharp talons that glistened coldly.

In an instant, the once ugly bald chick had transformed into an elegant and noble Green Flame Dragon Finch.

A tender voice resonated within Qin Shu’s mind, “Master, I’m hungry.”

“Hungry, huh?! Master will take you to eat something.”

Qin Shu quickly grew attached to the Green Flame Dragon Finch, cherishing it immensely.

With the ancestral bloodlines of the Celestial Dragon and Vermilion Bird, combined with untapped potential, this creature held limitless possibilities for growth.

Whether in battle or daily life, the Green Flame Dragon Finch would accompany him until the very end.

This being could already be considered a divine beast, possessing extraordinary grace and majesty.

The only drawback was its initial low level, essentially starting from scratch.

Although its bloodline had already manifested, the concentration was still minimal. It would need to increase its strength before it could further develop the potential within its bloodline, enhancing the bloodline’s potency.

As a result, out of seven innate divine abilities, only two had awakened, and even then, not fully.

Due to its Devourer ability, the Green Flame Dragon Finch could consume almost anything. The higher the energy content of what it consumed, the more it would aid in its growth.

Qin Shu used his divine sense to guide the creature into the Blood Contract Space for safekeeping, then ventured out to find food for it.

He purchased several dozen tons of second-order beast meat at the monster market, enough to sustain the Green Flame Dragon Finch for a while.

Upon returning home, he released the creature and cut off a piece of meat weighing about a hundred pounds, placing it in front of the Green Flame Dragon Finch.

Witnessing the dragon finch open its phoenix-like beak, it activated its Devourer power on the meat block, causing it to shrink as it was drawn into its mouth.

Despite being partially awakened, this innate talent remained remarkably powerful.

“Are you full?” Qin Shu asked. “There’s more if you’re still hungry.”

“I’m stuffed,” the Green Flame Dragon Finch replied with a burp. “Master, I’d like to sleep now. That place we were just at is so comfortable.”

The Blood Contract Space resided within Qin Shu’s sea of consciousness, where the Cyan Lotus Dao Seed thrived amidst strong karmic energy.

Naturally, the Green Flame Dragon Finch, hatched by true fortune essence, couldn’t resist such an environment.

Without hesitation, Qin Shu summoned the creature back into the Blood Contract Space.