Chapter 38: Hatching Eggs
"Carefree Conference?"
Li Quanqing stroked the fuzzy big lion. The fur was fluffy and warm, and it felt very soothing to touch.
He was somewhat looking forward to it, perhaps he could obtain some Demon Beast cubs brought over from the mainland.
The Yun Family's Mountain Shifting Cloud Boat crossed hundreds of thousands of miles every few decades to engage in cross-sea trading.
Though risky, it was equally lucrative.
"Roar~"
The Red Flame Lion, having been touched on its ticklish spot, crouched with its hind legs on the ground, unable to resist letting out a deep roar; its round fluffy ears flipping back and forth, with an almost anthropomorphic expression.
Its initially majestic and domineering appearance thus gained a hint of cuteness.
[Proud Lion Heart] Red Flame Lion: "Yes, that's the spot, scratch more, scratch more! Curse the Human Clan, I've condescended to let you touch me, why has no one fed me anything tasty yet?"
[Cultivation: Qi Refining Fourth Level (78%)]
"Even though it has cultivated into a demon, deep down, it's still just a big kitty~"
A glint of amusement flashed in Li Quanqing's eyes as he saw the big lion approaching the peak of its lion life, and then suddenly withdrew his hand from under the fluffy neck.
It wasn't his own domesticated big cat, a couple of touches were enough.
Scratching any more would be a bit impolite, haha.
"Roar? Roar-woo? Roar, roar, roar, roar!"
With the climax abruptly interrupted, the Red Flame Lion was immediately frantic, raising its huge lion head to look around desperately amongst the crowd, endlessly nostalgic.
Unfortunately, by this time, Li Quanqing had already left.
Back at the shop, Li Quanfu greeted him: "Boss, how was the harvest?"
"Not bad."
Li Quanqing was in a pleasant mood, looking at two huge Copper-armored Crabs, he lifted one in each hand and directly carried them to his room.
Bang! Bang!
The door to his room shut, and the young man began tinkering on his own.
The crab shells were solid and shockingly integrated, with even the joints covered by layers of thin shells.
The only option to retrieve the crab cubs was to open it up.
Li Quanqing maneuvered the Green Carp Sword, the Geng Metal Sword Light breathing in and out, piercing a small hole in the crab shell.
Hiss hiss!
A few currents of air gushed out, bringing with them a faint stench of decay amid the fishy smell.
Creak, creak!
Li Quanqing used the Flying Sword like a saw, carefully, and finally completely cut open the back of the big crab.
Amidst a scene of bloody gore, seven or eight Copper-armored Crab cubs lay inside, barely bigger than a teacup.
Click, crack!
After adjusting to the sudden bright light, they immediately started waving their pincers at the large face in front of them, trying to intimidate the foe.
Looking at the blood-stained crab cubs, Li Quanqing shook his head, one by one picking them up and placing them into the prepared seawater.
[Copper-headed Stubborn][Copper-headed Stubborn][Copper-headed Stubborn]...
True to the crab family, their character was akin to those of the dumb iron clan.
Li Quanqing picked up a small crab, shook it in the water to wash off the blood, and seemed to have shaken the little guy dizzy, seeing stars and with its pincers hanging feebly.
The newly born crab cubs had not yet experienced trials by wind and rain, their shells were brightly colored and shiny, golden and reminiscent of golden statues.
Beautiful and posh.
Li Quanqing repeated the same procedure with another Copper-armored Crab.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to a shortage of food or lack of air.
This Copper-armored Crab had two dead cubs in its belly, their bodies dried and rigid, ensnared in a large mass of bloody mucus.
In the end, a total of 15 Copper-armored Crab young were obtained; although all were somewhat developmentally delayed, each one was lively and highly aggressive.
Hiss, hiss!
A Copper-armored Crab opened and closed its mandibles, letting out a sharp cry, struggling to climb out of its basin, wanting to burrow back into the body of the large Copper-armored Crab.
"Hungry?"
Li Quanqing took out the prepared Demon Beast Meat jerky, tore it into small strips, and handed it in front of the crab babies.
These little guys had been eating rotten meat since they were born, eating their own kind, which was not a good habit.
It needed to be corrected.
Sniff sniff!
The Copper-armored Crab babies looked at the meat strip above their heads, tried to pinch it with their pincers, smelled it, and then decisively gave up.
They spread their spider-like crab legs and scurried quickly, diving again under the large Copper-armored Crab's body.
"Seems they are still not hungry enough."
Li Quanqing packed up the Demon Beast Meat, locked up all the little crabs.
He planned to starve them for a few meals to soften their wild nature.
Of course, he still left a piece of Spirit Stone and dried meat in the water to prevent them from really starving to death.
The remaining bodies of the Copper-armored Crabs were easy to deal with; the hard shells could be preserved for a long time, to be used for Artifact Refining later.
The fresh parts of the crab meat were kept for eating, while the rotten parts were smashed into fish bait to be fed later to the Green Jade Carps and iron-bone crabs.
Not easy to come to the Workshop just once, always had to bring some gifts back to his own carps and crabs.
Li Quanqing considered himself a very kind and generous fish pond owner.
Li Quanfu and Li Quange were both experts in cooking; Li Quanqing just needed to sit and wait to enjoy a delicious crab pot.
The craftsmanship was indeed good, fresh and sweet, the meat bouncy and truly brought out the taste of the sea.
After the meal, Li Quanqing took out a Jade Scroll and pressed it against his forehead.
It was given by Xie Hongyu, containing many tips and experiences on raising Azure Water Pythons.
Azure Water, as the name suggested, this type of Spiritual Python was born in the sea, naturally close to the Tao of Water.
Due to the delicious taste of snake eggs, having many predators, Azure Water Pythons evolved a special defense mechanism over the long years.
Each snake egg had an outer shell as beautiful as jade and extremely hard, difficult to destroy by many spells.
For the Azure Water Python to hatch, the mother snake needed to continuously secrete a special mucus during the incubation.
This fluid could soften the eggshell, helping the snake babies to smoothly enter this world.
If the mother snake died accidentally and incubation was interrupted, the rigid eggshell not softened enough.
The Azure Water Python would exhaust all nutrients in the egg fluid and perish prematurely.
Evolution was never absolutely perfect; every advantage had its drawback.
Li Quanqing picked up a snake egg, its jade-like shell embellished with sea-blue speckles, ripples forming scale-like protrusions.
It was just an egg, yet beautifully akin to a piece of art.
"Although I don't have a pregnant mother snake, the wisdom of the Human Clan is infinite, and they've already developed a secret formula for mixing this mucus."
Li Quanqing pinched the Jade Scroll, his face still showing a trace of astonishment.
Without these records, without the hard work of ancestors, he would probably be helpless facing the snake eggs.
This was the heritage of the Cultivation World, ensuring the prosperity and rise of a clan.
Spirit Stone shavings, Snake Saliva Flower, Sea Crystal Sand, Hundred Herbs Mud...
Li Quanqing spent several days and finally bought all the ingredients recorded in the secret formula.
During this process, the little Copper-armored Crabs also got hungry enough to compromise, trying to swallow a few pieces of dried meat.
Even the most stubborn bones have a day when they are smashed.
Eventually, following a strict mixing ratio, Li Quanqing successfully concocted this artificial Spiritual Liquid.
The Spiritual Liquid was sticky, like blue jelly, emitting a strange aromatic scent, and smelled very cool.
Li Quanqing filled a wooden barrel with seawater, poured in the Spiritual Liquid, instantly turning the seawater into a sparkling azure blue.
Just to be safe, he first put in a snake egg to test if it worked.
Gurgle!
The snake egg sank into the water, soon starting to produce bubbles as if something inside the shell was breathing.
"Success, just like recorded in the Jade Scroll!"
Li Quanqing breathed a sigh of relief, repeated the process, and soaked all the Azure Water Python's eggs in it.
After he handled these two newly acquired Spiritual Beasts well, the Baoqing Auction officially began.
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