The Master of Beasts

If one wanted to cultivate special Spiritual Beasts, they first had to determine which types were most popular within the Myriad Beasts Sect to more quickly enter the market and build a reputation.

This task, however, was an easy one for Chen Jiuge, who found his Elder Sister Wen Ruo meditating at the peak.

"Junior Brother, are you looking for me?" Wen Ruo, who was sitting atop the mountain, regarded her suddenly visiting junior brother with some surprise. Her little junior brother was quite the homebody; the number of times he had come to seek her out over the years could be counted on one hand.

"Yes, Elder Sister, I have some questions," Chen Jiuge said, somewhat embarrassed.

Wen Ruo smiled and replied, "Junior Brother, please ask. Anyway, I usually meditate here in the mornings when I have nothing else to do."

"Elder Sister, I want to cultivate some special Spiritual Beasts but am unsure which types are more popular," inquired Chen Jiuge.

"Popular?" Wen Ruo thought for a moment before answering, "Junior Brother, I am only really familiar with our Hundred Herbs Peak, but I'll give you a rough idea.

"The Spiritual Beasts popular on Hundred Herbs Peak tend to be of the auxiliary type, such as Water Wood Attribute Spiritual Beasts that can help cultivate Spiritual Medicine. Of course, this isn't to say that combat-type Spiritual Beasts aren't popular, just that they are less so compared to those on Hundred Herbs Peak.

"If you look at the entire Myriad Beasts Sect, combat-type Spiritual Beasts are still more marketable, but the competition there is rather fierce. Some senior brothers and Elders are breeding and selling these Spiritual Beasts. If Junior Brother is thinking of cultivating and selling new Spiritual Beasts, it might be best to choose auxiliary ones.

"For instance, those that can help with cultivation, deal with Spiritual Medicine, control plants flexibly, or have great strength—target the needs of Spiritual Plant Masters, Alchemists, and Artifact Refiners, as they tend to be wealthier."

Chen Jiuge nodded. I was thinking the same, just unsure of the market situation. As his Elder Sister had said, many within the Sect cultivated Spiritual Beasts, with a greater emphasis on those geared toward combat. Now, I can decide on my next direction.

After chatting with his Elder Sister for a while and nurturing the bond between fellow disciples, Chen Jiuge was ready to go back and show his worth.

His first choice of Spiritual Beast to focus on was the Medicine Rabbit. Medicine Rabbits were like a super low-spec version of Moon Rabbits, but their capacity for herb cultivation and processing of Spiritual Medicine was quite decent. Previously, Chen Jiuge had also sold two with satisfactory results. The Bloodline source was simple—the Snow Rabbit. Not every Snow Rabbit possessed it, but with a large enough population of Snow Rabbits, cultivating a sufficient quantity would be possible.

Next was the little fire monkey, Dashan, which he had adopted from the ecosystem. The Li Fire Monkey possessed a trace of Li Fire's power, which made it well-suited for both Alchemy and Artifact Refining. Its Grade was not low, and it had both decent combat abilities and a cute appearance.

Finally, Chen Jiuge decided to cultivate the Hundred Spirits Turtle. The abilities of the Hundred Spirits Turtle were versatile; its Gathering Spirit ability was excellent for both cultivation and as an aid. Although many people were already cultivating it, the demand remained insatiable. Moreover, with his Golden Finger, Chen Jiuge could cultivate Hundred Spirits Turtles with purer Bloodlines and stronger Gathering Spirit abilities. He wasn't afraid of the competition.

For these three kinds of Spiritual Beasts, Chen Jiuge specifically carved out three bases within the feeding area of the Moonlight Giant Frog to provide better environments for them.

Arriving at the carnivorous zone, Chen Jiuge surveyed the Snow Rabbits, Spiritual Chickens, and Grey Stone Mice that occasionally poked their heads above ground. He then began to extract Bloodlines to cultivate Medicine Rabbits.

The Medicine Rabbit's Bloodline content was very low; only a trace could be found in several tens of Snow Rabbits. Nearly 2,000 Snow Rabbits were needed to cultivate a single Medicine Rabbit with an ordinary Bloodline. However, since Chen Jiuge planned to build a reputation for high-Grade Spiritual Beasts, he naturally intended to cultivate Medicine Rabbits with stronger Bloodline potential. It took exhausting the accumulated Bloodline of the entire Snow Rabbit clan to produce about 50 Medicine Rabbits. This number was neither too many nor too few and would suffice for the time being.

The Li Fire Monkey was a bit more troublesome. This Bloodline existed within the Fire Attribute Spiritual Beasts Zhu Yinghuang had brought over last time; it was a variant of the Low Rank Fire Monkey. There were only a few thousand Fire Monkeys. They lived within the ecological sphere, and the remaining number was unknown. If there aren't many left, I might have to ask Zhu Yinghuang to buy some more. No, that's not right. He hasn't emerged yet, so I'd have to ask Zhu Yingque. What a headache.

Having rummaged through the ecological sphere for an entire day, Chen Jiuge looked at the measly amount of Bloodline—sufficient for just a few Li Fire Monkeys—in his hand and was rather speechless. These are Third Rank Spiritual Beasts, after all! Other Second Rank Spiritual Beasts have better survival numbers compared to the Fire Monkeys. It's really disappointing.

"Let's sort out the Hundred Spirits Turtle first, and then I'll contact Zhu Yingque tomorrow," Chen Jiuge said, shaking his head. I'm not particularly adept at dealing with women.

The Bloodline of the Hundred Spirits Turtle came from the Grass and Wood Tortoise, the one that looked like a large turtle with a garlic bulb on its back, resembling a Bulbasaur.

Gazing at the Grass and Wood Tortoises lying all over the ground, Chen Jiuge chuckled without commenting. These Grass and Wood Tortoises, after years of breeding, had generally reached Fourth Rank. On normal days, they just lay there sleeping. After waking up, they ate. With no natural predators, they naturally became this lethargic. However, this made it convenient for Chen Jiuge to extract their Bloodline.

Somehow, the Bloodline of the Hundred Spirits Turtle was actually plentiful within the Grass and Wood Tortoise population. It took only about a dozen to create a Hundred Spirits Turtle with a decent Bloodline, and around thirty to yield a Fifth Rank, high-grade Hundred Spirits Turtle.

Over the years, the population of the Grass and Wood Tortoises had exploded, growing from a few hundred to nearly 10,000. The Grass and Wood Essence they condensed each year also brought a significant number of Spirit Stones to Chen Jiuge. This time, they provided as many as 300 high-grade Hundred Spirits Turtles, making them exemplary representatives of Spiritual Beasts.

After setting up these Spiritual Beasts, Chen Jiuge's tasks for the day were deemed complete.

That evening, while enjoying a small drink, Chen Jiuge suddenly had an idea. Since my Golden Finger can extract Bloodlines, can I not manually breed them? Much like hybridization in my previous world. As long as I separate them, I could create two different Spiritual Beasts. If I chose two closely-related yet valuable Spiritual Beasts, the speed at which I could breed them might skyrocket!

Thinking of this possibility, Chen Jiuge got so excited that he almost couldn't calm down to continue his Cultivation.

「The next day.」

Planning to go to Vermilion Bird Peak, Chen Jiuge suddenly realized, I don't know the location of Zhu Yingque's cave mansion! He had to pull out the Communication Stone to contact her.

The result was Zhu Yingque informing him that she wasn't currently at Vermilion Bird Peak. Fortunately, dealing with the Li Fire Monkeys, which were Low Rank Spiritual Beasts, was still quite simple for someone of Zhu Yingque's status. She just left a message saying someone would deliver them to Eden Garden later.

In the afternoon, Chen Jiuge successfully received nearly 10,000 Fire Monkeys. Although it cost me quite a few Spirit Stones, it was still worth it. After all, it was Zhu Yingque who had instructed this, and the price of this batch of Fire Monkeys was 30% lower than the usual market rate. This is a substantial gain!

Having sorted out the last of the Li Fire Monkeys, Chen Jiuge ordered Li Qiwen to send some people to take care of these three types of Spiritual Beasts. Food would be regularly delivered by the Golden Iron Back Apes, and all they needed to ensure was the normal growth of these Spiritual Beasts.

"Just add these three types of Spiritual Beasts to the sales list," Chen Jiuge said excitedly. "Then it's time to test out my idea from last night! If hybridization really works, the rate at which I acquire Spirit Stones might reach a frightening level!"

As for the subjects of the hybridization experiment, the obvious choice is the most numerous Snow Rabbits and Spiritual Chickens.