Chapter Fifty-Seven: Innate Demonic Beast

  ……

  Even someone like Ding Wanyan couldn't help but accelerate her heartbeat, and she hastily went forward to take a closer look. As expected, just as Leidong had said, the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger showed signs of having just been produced. The two siblings exchanged a glance, then hastily collected the Shadow Tiger's corpse before each spreading out their divine sense to search separately.

  In the blink of an eye, Ding Yuanyan took the lead and found two newly born Shadow Tiger cubs with their umbilical cords still attached from a rocky cave that had been eroded by the dark wind. Fortunately, the bloodline of the Shadow Tigers was not ordinary, and they had a very strong will to live. These two half-transparent, dirty little beasts were barely alive.

  She hastily took out some Lingfeng honey that she usually consumed herself, and fed each of them half a bottle. Only then did Ding Yuanyan gently wrap them up with her true energy, mount the Green Cloud Chariot, and hurry back to the Wan Gui Cave.

  Lei Dong was still entering Ding Yuanyan's home for the first time, and it was indeed much different from a man's place, more delicate and tasteful. It was nothing like Lei Dong's place, which was empty and desolate.

  However, at this time, the two Soul-Eating Shadow Tiger cubs were in their hands, and they couldn't care about anything else. Lei Dong was browsing through some books on demonic beasts on the bookshelf and also found some articles on how to deal with newborn little demons. Following the procedures, he helped them bathe, wrapped them in blankets, and fed them some honey. The two little beasts were a bit better off, fell asleep soundly, and stopped shivering.

  There are only two reasons why these two Soul-Devouring Shadow Tigers are so highly valued. Firstly, the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger is a congenital demon beast. What is meant by congenital demon beast refers to those that from birth onwards belong to the category of demon beasts. Unlike some ordinary demon beasts, which are mostly normal wild animals that have been nurtured in spiritual energy for a long time and slowly evolve into demon beasts over time.

  Secondly, the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger is a relatively rare existence even among pre-heavenly demonic beasts. Its bloodline seems to contain a hint of the legendary ancient true spirit's blood. This is an extraordinary thing, and even if it's only a hint, it makes them different from ordinary pre-heavenly demonic beasts. It's precisely because of that hint of ancient true spirit bloodline that the materials on the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger are extremely valuable. Refining pills or equipment with them would be excellent. Otherwise, Lei Dong wouldn't have coveted that adult shadow tiger corpse. Although it's said that the adult shadow tiger's cultivation isn't high, only around the 12th layer of Qi Refining.

  But the most valuable thing about the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger is itself. Unfortunately, any demon beast that has awakened to spiritual intelligence is extremely difficult to tame, and even if one spends countless effort to tame it, it will still be unruly and may turn on its master at any moment. The only exception is a newly born demon beast cub that has not yet opened its eyes. If the first person it sees when it opens its eyes is its future master, and it is then carefully nurtured, ideally with the use of blood sacrifice techniques, then it will become a lifelong assistant to the cultivator, loyal and never betraying them.

  In a certain sense, the value of these two Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger cubs is not inferior to that of top-grade Spirit Ghosts; no, they are even better than top-grade Spirit Ghosts. This is because top-grade Spirit Ghosts can only be used by some evil cultivators who cultivate the Ghost Controlling Technique. However, these top-grade pet cubs, the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tigers, can be used by any cultivator.

  "Let's draw blood first, one person, one cub, to avoid red eyes." Lei Dong proposed. He did want to swallow the two Shadow Tiger cubs alone, but this thought only flashed by. Unless Lei Dong didn't want to continue mixing in the Wan Gui Cave, betraying his sect and going back on his word. Moreover, Ding Yuanyan had indeed been good to him. She was the one who found the cubs first, yet she still called out to Lei Dong to leave together. What's more, if Ding Yuanyan weren't there, even if he encountered Bai Liyun fighting the Shadow Tiger, what could he do? The actual combat strength of both sides would be at most evenly matched, and Lei Dong might even be slightly inferior.

  "Good."

  Not to mention Ding Yuanyan, even the old ghostly ancestor would be extremely jealous of this kind of thing. Without thinking, she agreed to it immediately. However, her way of thinking is simpler than Leidong's, from start to finish, she never thought of monopolizing it. Perhaps, this is because she has been favored by the old ancestor since she entered the sect, and has never lacked resources for cultivation, so she has never suffered. Unlike Leidong, who was poor when he first entered the sect. Before becoming rich, in order to save a few bottles of small condensed energy pills, he would spend half a day negotiating with people.

  These two small beasts were just right, one male and one female. The two people each took a beast and began to offer them as sacrifices in blood.

  Borrowed Ding Yuanyan's practice room, Lei Dong held the swaddled Shadow Tiger cub in his arms. He cut open his finger and inserted it into its mouth. Soon, the little beast instinctively began to suckle as if it were milk. A thread of fresh blood slowly flowed into its mouth. At the same time, Lei Dong manipulated a spell, slowly infiltrating his divine consciousness into the cub's body...

  After half a day's effort, Leidong finally settled everything, his face pale and exhausted beyond words. But amidst the exhaustion, he was extremely excited. This young male Shadow Tiger had benefited greatly from its first blood sacrifice to Leidong, and it opened its sticky eyelids, gazing at Leidong with pure and curious eyes. One could faintly see its affection and adoration for him. It would occasionally lick Leidong's hand, causing a tingling sensation that rippled through his steady heart. After the blood sacrifice, the man and beast were essentially connected by blood ties. As a result, not only was the little beast close to Leidong, but Leidong also had an intense affection for it on a primal level.

  After leaving the cultivation room, I found that Ding Yuanyan had also sacrificed the small Shadow Tiger blood that belonged to her. She was delighted with it and refused to put it down no matter how she held it in her arms.

  However, the great benefits have been obtained. But the problems that come with it also need to be solved.

  Under the suggestion of Lei Dong, he first spent some contribution points to get two low-grade spiritual beast bags for emergency use. So-called spiritual beasts are actually no different from demonic beasts in essence. However, after being blood-sacrificed and nurtured by cultivators, they become spiritual beasts. Spiritual beast bags are small spaces used to nurture and store spiritual beasts on a daily basis. They are similar to storage waistbands and soul-nurturing towers in some sense, but there is an essential difference between them.

  Storage belts and other equipment are used to store various materials, miscellaneous items, etc. Therefore, when manufacturing storage-type equipment, the survival factor of living things can be completely ignored. However, the spiritual beast bag not only needs to open up space but also needs to consider the problem of the spiritual beast's survival inside. Therefore, the difficulty and cost of refining are far beyond what a storage belt can match.

  It can be said that for spaces of the same size, the price of a beast pouch far exceeds that of a storage belt by more than a hundred times.

  It's also because of this that I've prepared two lower-grade spirit beast bags for now. After all, high-grade spirit beast bags aren't something you can find in a short time, at least they're not visible on the exchange list.

  Also placed in the spiritual beast bag were some spiritual stones, flower honey, and even a few yin soul inferior ghosts. Soul-eating Shadow Tiger, the name "soul-eater" wasn't called for nothing. It's also why this rare congenital demon beast can occasionally be found within the range of the Yin Xie Sect. This place is more suitable for the Soul-eating Shadow Tiger's living environment after all. Various things related to souls and spirits are naturally one of its main foods. Of course, the shadow tiger also needs some normal food to supplement its physical strength and grow.

  After settling the matter of the two small beasts, the master and his sister discussed it again and then went to report to Wan Gui Lao Zu.

  The two of them were the old ancestor's beloved disciples, especially Ding Yuanyan, whom the old ancestor had high expectations for. Now that they had both come to see him together, the old ancestor also gave them face and interrupted his cultivation to meet with them. However, after listening to Lei Dong's detailed account of events without any embellishments or concealments, Wan Gui Lao Zu's expression suddenly became colorful. At first, he was somewhat annoyed that Lei Dong had killed Bai Li Yun for a Shadow Tiger, leaving behind future troubles. Although the materials from the Shadow Tiger were indeed valuable, they weren't even worth a few tens of thousands of spirit stones in Wan Gui Lao Zu's eyes. To fight over these things and have a huge falling out with Ku Gu Feng was extremely irrational.

  But then he heard that it was actually the Shadow Tiger after giving birth, and Lao Zu's breathing suddenly became urgent.

  ……