DIV Chapter 39: Earth-Grade Bloodline

The marketplace trading area was bustling with people coming and going, noisy and clamorous.

There weren't many stall owners selling beast eggs, and they were almost all beast tamers.

Of course, there were also some lucky cultivators who accidentally discovered beast eggs while exploring outside and brought them back to the marketplace to sell.

"Where could that beast egg shown in the divination be?" Li Chang'an altered his aura and walked through the trading area.

He tried to maintain his composure while his gaze quickly swept over each stall.

After about half a quarter hour, he had already looked at more than ten stalls selling beast eggs.

But he hadn't found any trace of Mysterious Water Turtle eggs.

Time passed quickly.

Unknowingly, another half quarter hour went by.

Finally, Li Chang'an's steps paused, and his gaze locked onto a stall.

On that stall were several oval beast eggs, each emitting weak water attribute fluctuations.

"Mysterious Water Turtle eggs!" Li Chang'an remained composed and walked over to examine them.

In front of the stall, there were several other cultivators also examining these beast eggs.

They all had hesitant expressions on their faces, as if considering whether to buy them or not.

At this moment, the stall owner was telling about how he had obtained these Mysterious Water Turtles.

"I'm not a beast tamer, it was just luck. When I was exploring in the secret realm not long ago, I found a large lake, and by the lakeside I discovered this nest of Mysterious Water Turtle eggs..."

He was beaming with joy, in quite a good mood.

After all, this nest of Mysterious Water Turtle eggs was also quite a fortune.

Li Chang'an stood in front of the stall, his gaze sweeping over each Mysterious Water Turtle egg.

"Strange, they all look no different, just ordinary Mysterious Water Turtle eggs. Which one has undergone bloodline mutation?" Li Chang'an pondered silently.

Normal Mysterious Water Turtles had the same bloodline grade as Yellow Sand Hounds, only mid-grade.

But the turtle egg mentioned in the divination had somehow, for unknown reasons, had its bloodline jump up two tiers directly.

This was equivalent to upgrading a human's mid-grade spiritual roots to earth spiritual roots.

It was truly puzzling.

However, since it was discovered in a secret realm, and everyone knew that secret realms often produced various strange and abnormal phenomena...

"Fellow Daoists, these Mysterious Water Turtle eggs are only fifty spirit stones each, first come first served!"

The stall owner said with a smile.

In front of the stall, a cultivator shook his head.

"Too expensive, Mysterious Water Turtle eggs aren't worth this price."

"How is it expensive?" The stall owner immediately refuted.

"Fellow Daoist, Mysterious Water Turtles are mid-grade bloodline spiritual beasts. With proper cultivation, breaking through to late first-tier isn't difficult."

"That may be so, but too many treasures are needed during the cultivation process."

The cultivator still shook his head.

He sighed, "I don't even have enough treasures for my own cultivation, where would I get extra treasures to cultivate spiritual beasts?"

The stall owner asked him, "Then why does Fellow Daoist want to buy them?"

"I plan to use them as ingredients to make a water attribute spiritual dish, which might enhance my understanding of water element spells."

"I see."

The stall owner understood.

However, he still insisted that he wouldn't sell for less than fifty spirit stones.

This price was indeed not low, causing the other cultivators to frown.

Before long, those people left.

Only Li Chang'an remained at the stall.

"Fellow Daoist, have you made your choice?"

The stall owner's eyes lit up slightly, knowing business had come.

Li Chang'an's expression was calm as he nodded.

"I'll take all these Mysterious Water Turtle eggs."

"All of them?"

The stall owner was stunned, then overjoyed.

But he didn't immediately trade, instead carefully looking Li Chang'an over.

"Fellow Daoist, fifty spirit stones each, are you certain?"

"Certain." Li Chang'an's tone was very serious.

Afterward, both parties signed a trading contract.

Seven turtle eggs in total, for a total price of three hundred fifty spirit stones.

Li Chang'an successfully obtained the turtle eggs while handing over the spirit stones to the stall owner.

"Fellow Daoist is straightforward!"

The stall owner beamed with joy, hurriedly collecting the spirit stones.

Li Chang'an was also delighted, though he didn't show it, maintaining his calm expression.

After this, he wandered around the marketplace for a while longer.

After confirming there were no other Mysterious Water Turtle eggs for sale, he left the marketplace.

Shortly after leaving the marketplace, he directly used his escape technique and disappeared from the spot.

...

Inside his room, Li Chang'an returned and took out the seven turtle eggs.

"Which one is it exactly?" His expression was focused as he observed carefully for a long time.

He still couldn't see any abnormalities.

"Forget it, let them recognize me as master first."

Li Chang'an's mind stirred, and he took out seven spirit contracts from his storage bag.

He dripped his own blood onto these spirit contracts.

After a moment, each contract released a beam of light, illuminating one turtle egg each.

The contracts were thus completed.

At this instant, Li Chang'an established a weak connection with the seven turtle eggs.

"Eh?"

He immediately sensed the difference in one of the turtle eggs.

In his perception, that turtle egg's life aura was very vigorous, far exceeding the other six.

Moreover, its aura was rapidly strengthening.

After more than ten breaths, the eggshell began to tremble.

"Is it about to hatch?" Li Chang'an's expression became serious as he stared at that turtle egg.

To avoid accidents, he placed the Spirit Eye next to that turtle egg and crushed many spirit stones, making the spiritual energy concentration in the entire room far exceed normal levels.

"I hope nothing goes wrong." Li Chang'an thought silently.

After a moment, only a "crack" sound was heard.

A thin crack appeared on the eggshell.

Then, more and more cracks appeared.

Just then, Li Chang'an's expression changed slightly.

"The life auras of the other six turtle eggs are all declining."

He sensed that the little turtle breaking out of its shell was absorbing the life force of the other six turtle eggs.

Li Chang'an's eyes flickered, but he didn't interfere.

After about half a quarter hour, the life auras of the other six turtle eggs completely disappeared, becoming dead eggs that could no longer hatch.

"Crack!"

That special Mysterious Water Turtle finally emerged from its shell.

It was only palm-sized, entirely blue-gray in color, with its head held high, a pair of large eyes looking at Li Chang'an, conveying affectionate emotions.

Due to the previous spirit contract, it already regarded Li Chang'an as family.

"Hungry?"

Li Chang'an sensed another emotion the little turtle was conveying.

He took out some spiritual medicines and demon beast flesh and blood, placing them beside it.

This little fellow accepted everything.

Before long, it had eaten all the spiritual medicines and flesh clean.

It blinked its big eyes, conveying satisfaction.

"It can actually eat this much."

Li Chang'an's eyelid twitched as he watched.

After a while, he took out a spirit-testing stone.

This type of stone could test human cultivators' spiritual roots and also test demon beast bloodlines.

He took a drop of the little turtle's blood and dropped it onto the spirit-testing stone.

The next instant, the spirit-testing stone blazed with brilliant light.

"It really is earth-grade bloodline!" Li Chang'an's face showed joy.

Even with the divination's hint, he had still harbored some doubts.

After all, spiritual beasts' bloodlines were fixed from birth, just like human cultivators' spiritual roots, and theoretically couldn't be improved.

Li Chang'an thought of his own spiritual roots.

"Since bloodline grades can be improved, could there be a way to improve my spiritual roots as well?"

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