102:

  Xiao Feng’s expression was tense as he studied the surface of the beast egg intently, as if doing so would reveal a greater truth to him. After the solution Beast Master Zen had used to clean it’s surface, it’s hue had turned as black as the darkest of nights, the contours of the whorls running across its surface now visible in greater detail than before and it’s form, still misshapen with a good third of it’s surface area having sunk inwards due to what Xiao Feng suspected to be blunt force trauma.

  “This moment came sooner than I’d expected it to,” Xiao Feng muttered, still coming to terms with the fact that he had not only refined a Beast Bonding Pill on his second attempt ever, but also managed to refine a Heavenly Grade at that. “Do you think it will work?”

  Lianhua leaned in closer to get a better view of the Beast Egg, as if doing so would reveal secrets hitherto unknown, before she offered her assessment, “I am not certain. It is already surprising to me that a Beast Egg can absorb nutrition from its exterior shell while being as heavily damaged as it is. The fact it still does suggests to me that it still has a chance at survival and to that end, it is not hard to consider the possibility that it is capable of repairing the damage done to it if granted access to enough Qi.”

  Xiao Feng activated the Essence Cultivation Art, taking a minute to keenly observe the Beast Egg with his enhanced gaze. He noted that the pulsing and dimming cycle had quickened, as it did when he didn’t supply the Beast Egg with Bi-Horn milk in the last eight or so hours. The Beast Egg was having to work harder to preserve its integrity because the Qi Xiao Feng had supplied in the form of the Bi-Horn Milk had run out, forcing it to rely on its reserves gathered from the ambient Qi. Except this time, the frequency of the pulsing and dimming cycle was quicker than ever before, suggesting that it was having a much harder time at holding onto its structural integrity.

  The Bi-Horn Milk was no longer enough to keep the damaged egg from unravelling, but there was no telling how the Beast Egg would react to random Qi Dense Spiritual Plants or Spiritual Beast Extracts in their unrefined forms, given that they lacked the nutrients a newly-hatched Beast needed to sustain itself.

  That had been Xiao Feng’s rationale behind seeking out guidance on refining the Beast Bonding Pill, an incredible reserve of nutrition and qi sourced from eight different ingredients that was highly concentrated into a sphere whose diameter was half the size of his thumb. If the Beast Egg was limited by the volume of organic matter it could absorb at a time or the energy required to extract and process Qi from the absorbed matter, then the Beast Bonding Pill would theoretically solve both those issues.

  If a Heavenly Grade Beast Bonding Pill doesn’t cut it, then the Beast Egg might be limited in its capabilities to process Qi, Xiao Feng thought. That doesn’t seem like the case because it was capable of extracting Qi from a foundation establishment cultivator, namely myself, but what do I know about these things?

  “Well, I gave it my best shot either way,” Xiao Feng muttered, his tone tense.

  He plucked out the vial containing the Beast Bonding Pill from the wooden vial rack, unstoppered it, took a deep breath to calm himself and turned the vial upside down so the pill within landed upon his open palm.

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  A moment later, Xiao Feng placed the Beast Bonding Pill next to the Beast Egg and yanked his hand back so quickly one would think that he had just burned his hand.

  With Essence Cultivation Art active, Xiao Feng observed.

  Nothing happened.

  For a minute straight, there was no discernible change in the pace the pulsing and dimming cycle was occurring while the Beast Bonding Pill just sat there, entirely inert.

  Just when Xiao Feng’s heart began to drop, a sudden change occurred.

  The pulsing and dimming cycle began to rapidly speed up, the change occurring so quickly that it made Xiao Feng feel dizzy just in his attempt to observe it.

  A loud sizzling sounded out as the Beast Bonding Pill began to dissolve against the Beast Egg’s surface, but that was far from the only change that was taking place as the entire damaged portion of the Beast Egg began to bubble, a continuous gurgling sound making the new phenomenon known.

  It took a minute for the Beast Egg to absorb what roughly appeared to be a fourth of the Beast Bonding Pill’s mass, which seemed to fuel the black bubbles progress outwards, continuing until the Beast Egg had taken the shape of a rough sphere with a portion of it’s surface area still seemingly formed out of violently roiling bubbles that were constantly forming and popping.

  Then, as abruptly had begun, the bubbling stopped.

  The Beast Egg was now a spherical whole, it’s whorls more pronounced than ever and it’s hue so ensconced in darkness that it felt like the Beast Egg was absorbing light from it’s vicinity.

  “Is it done?” Lianhua asked, her tone awe-struck.

  Xiao Feng activated his Essence Cultivation Art to confirm.

  The Beast Egg was now whole, but the pace of the pulsing and dimming cycle was still at the same blisteringly fast pace it had adopted since absorbing the Beast Bonding Pill.

  There was no reason for the Beast Egg to be cycling Qi across its repaired form so quickly, unless of course, it wasn’t whole yet.

  “I don’t think so,” Xiao Feng replied, his tone uncertain. If it had been before I fed it the Beast Bonding Pill, I would think the Beast Egg was dying. But it isn’t. Why in the world does it need to cycle Qi so quickly?

  “Why?” Lianhua asked.

  “The Beast Bonding Pill was designed to be very tempting to newly hatched beasts. If the Beast Egg is capable of absorbing it, I do not see any reason why it would stop without devouring it all,” Xiao Feng explained, offering only the reason he could explain without revealing the truth of the Essence Cultivation Art.

  Thankfully, any further questions on Xiao Feng’s reasoning were cut short by another change to the egg.

  For the second time, the Beast Egg absorbed another fourth of the Beast Bonding Pill and as a result, it’s entire surface began to violently bubble outwards. The end result was the Beast Egg quite literally doubling in size.

  Too shocked by this change, neither Lianhua nor Xiao Feng could harbor any thoughts of interfering in the process.

  For the third absorption, the change to the egg was less pronounced as it grew by fifty percent. With the fourth and final absorption, the Beast Egg was easily the size of a melon, it’s form perfectly spherical, it’s hue that of the deepest of nights and it’s surface contoured by pronounced whorls, each the size of his pinky finger.

  When the first crack thundered across its surface, Xiao Feng’s excitement was held in check by a different emotion— he was, admittedly, a little afraid of the Beast that had required a Heavenly Grade Beast Bonding Pill of all things, just to hatch.

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