Chapter 304: Your Bird Reflects Who You Are!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Madame Liu San was a merchant. However, unlike your normal merchant, she dealt in the business of flesh.
Such a contemptible trader of humans should not have even been in the consideration of a cultivator, but Madame Liu San was no ordinary human trader.
She had traveled across the Tianxuan Continent in search of female orphans, selecting girls whose appearance, intelligence and character were of excellent quality. She then trained them in the intricacies of poetry and art. If the girl was gifted in cultivation, the madame would teach her mystical Qi cultivation base method, without reservation.
When these girls were accomplished in what they learned, only then would Madame Liu San allow them to go to prime households, to be used as handmaidens.
These girls were of pure heart and spirit; they were gentle and yielding, their appearances were fine. They learned fast, had a servile attitude, and were very considerate and thoughtful.
They would not intentionally play the game of seduction to entice their masters. Moreover, once the bargain had been struck, the handmaiden would remain loyal to her master forever.
It wasn't hard to imagine the price that handmaidens of such quality would command.
The handmaidens trained by Madame Liu San were divided into three classes – white, yellow, and blue; among those, the girls who wore white were the best of them all. The price for a white-clothed handmaiden was no less than five-hundred thousand silver taels.
Such a price would cause even a wealthy household to hesitate, but the handmaidens Yun Yang had prepared were apparently all in white. It meant that Yun Yang had already spent at least two million silver taels for the people selected to serve them!
The two ladies had never enjoyed such treatment, even when they were at home.
In spite of this, Yun Yang’s attitude was still abnormally peculiar.
He took care of the ladies attentively and it was rather reasonable if his stance was what Yue Rulan assumed; Ji Lingxi’s crush and admirer. However, why was he speaking in such an indulgent tone to Ji Lingxi?
If one were to close his or her eyes and purely use his or her ears, each word sounded like a father or older brother giving a lesson to a naïve daughter or younger sister.
"From now on, you’ll both be my elder and younger female cousins in front of outsiders." Yun Yang said, "Our strength is lacking, so let’s manage this current situation first. When safety is no longer a concern, we’ll decide on further arrangements. Will that be fine?"
His question was posed to Yue Rulan, his manner was still as respectful as it was before, filled with an inquiring tone.
Yue Rulan nodded and replied, "Young Master Yun’s arrangement is appropriate. I have no objection to it."
"Who will be the elder and who will be the younger female cousin?" Ji Lingxi asked.
Yun Yang frowned in reply, "Is that even a question?"
Ji Lingxi said huffily, "Sister Lan is the elder female cousin, this is indisputable. However, I can't bring myself to believe that you are older than me. Why must I be the younger female cousin? Can’t it be two elder female cousins?"
Yun Yang said unhappily, "There, there, be good. Please, let us not argue over such petty matters. Sister Lan is injured, she needs her rest."
"…"
Be good?
Ji Lingxi almost fainted.
It was that damnable tone again!
Was he planning to anger her to death?
Even if he was reasonable and considerate, it was an utter unfamiliar situation for her.
"Sister Lan!"
After Yun Yang had left, Ji Lingxi’s cheeks were puffed as she said miserably, "Do you think that he has gone quite mad? What is with that attitude?"
"He wasn’t like this the last time…" she continued in a distressed tone.
Recalling the last encounter before she had left, she clearly remembered bidding farewell to Yun Yang. He had still shown some sense of romance then; at the very least, the sorrow he had was real…
If it were not so, Ji Lingxi would not have cherished the treasured saber, Phoenix Cry, so much. The Phoenix Cry was a divine weapon, no one would part with it without good cause. However, the saber held another layer of meaning to Ji Lingxi; it was a gift from Yun Yang that spoke of the feelings he held for her!
Why had he turned so patronizing after her journey? He was so condescending! He could easily have passed for an immortal, judging by his high and mighty behavior.
Ji Lingxi was petulant but she did not know that Yue Rulan had been affected even more. She was devoted to Ji Lingfeng, unwavering till death, but she was also very confident in her looks. She could not wrap her head around why Yun Yang kept calling her Sister Lan and had been so respectful since they met, treating her like an elder all the time.
Could it be that her old soul had finally shown itself on her face? Why else would Yun Yang treat her like that?
She was still much sought after, even when she was with her sister – the top among the rest in terms of image, elegance and everything else; what had happened to her?
Oh, women. They were such a strange species. Once beauty and romance were involved, their intelligence would dip to zero or even lower immediately!
…
The young lord had arrived at Tiantang City and would come to the Residence of Yun anytime now. Preparations were underway for his appearance.
Yun Yang would not wait and do nothing, of course; besides, the four noble young masters had been long waiting for him to train their mystical beasts. At a time when there would be formidable enemy knocking at his door at any given moment, how could Yun Yang forget that he had such great assistance?
"Ask Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter over, and get them to bring their mystical beasts." Yun Yang said mercifully, "I’ll toil for a few days, help them care for the critters."
…
It was only an hour later when Dong Tianleng and gang gathered at the Residence of Yun.
Their gazes towards Yun Yang were filled with towering resentment.
Qiu Yunsan and two others were here for proper reasons, carrying their mystical beasts while Dong Tianleng’s family had not gotten him any mystical beast offspring until now. Young Master Dong Tianleng was here purely to cause a ruckus.
The fellow only had one very unadulterated thought; "Since I didn’t get a baby beast, none of you can wish to go through this easily!" These were the classic symptoms of a jack*ss.
"All of you stop looking at me like that. Those who didn’t know better would have thought that I did something to you fellows."
Yun Yang said, "I was busy recently… Can't you tell?"
The four young masters were extremely begrudging – it doesn't look like you were busy at all.
It was awkward for them to stay at Tiantang City. They had nothing to do every day but they dared not run around the place since the Cirrus House, the only place they could spend their time, was gone too. They could only gather and boast to each other now.
Every day, the four of them gambled or had a game of mahjong. Now that they played so much, their interest in the money was waning – they did not lack wealth! In the end, they wagered banknotes instead. Whoever lost had to tear their banknotes and the rule was to tear the banknotes into a certain number of pieces… but they got bored of the game after a few days as well.
When they finally got to meet Yun Yang, they had to help him court a girl and put up an act… They could no longer find a reason to exist in Tiantang City anymore!
Was it their fate to turn gay after sticking together every day? Even when they were good gay partners, they could not really get it on!
The outside world was chaotic now that the Four Seasons Tower was about to subdue the world by force and bathe the martial world in blood. In theory, they should return home as early as possible and hide at home for safety. That would be the best thing to do.
However, they had to stay here, waiting for Yun Yang’s order for the mystical beast offspring.
"Bring out your pig – your bear – your tiger!"
Yun Yang turned to look at Dong Tianleng. "What about you?"
Dong Tianleng sighed, his expression filled with despair. "I can only whip out my bird…"
"F*ck off! You may head off to play with your bird by yourself!"
Those around, Yun Yang included, looked at him in disgust, with overwhelming thoughts of giving the idiot a trashing. However, their eyes soon widened in surprise.
Dong Tianleng had actually whipped out a bird!
Removing his hand from within his robe, a tiny fledging that was just hatched sat in his palm. It did not look like it could even stand properly.
The crowd was speechless for a good amount of time; even Yun Yang was also at a loss for words!
There was no doubt that the mystical beast offspring Dong Tianleng had produced was a fledging mystical beast, but this bird was unusual in its own right. One could immediately tell that it had very unusual characteristics.
"My family… got this unintentionally and sent it over to me."
Dong Tianleng wore a straight face. "I didn’t expect my family to be so fortunate that they could get a flying mystical beast."
Chun Wanfeng glanced at the trembling fledging and stopped blinking for a moment; he finally hissed, "Not bad, not bad. Not bad indeed. The Dong Family is certainly powerful. ‘Impressive’!"
Yun Yang had no words to speak.
This baby bird – this freshly hatched nestling - had black spirals around its eyes with its nose in between them. The nose was made up of two tiny holes while its beak was sharp and long.
The bird was magnificently repulsive to behold.
Phantom Vulture!
There was no way anyone could mistake it for anything else.
"This is indeed a seventh-level pinnacle mystical beast’s offspring. It’s not easy for your family to have gotten it." Yun Yang looked like he wished to hurt someone as he said, "Just, this thing… really makes me f*cking want to curse out loud!"
Phantom Vulture – a seventh-level pinnacle mystical beast. It could fly swiftly and its nature was savage, a sign of its competent combat power.
There was one bane though – this creature had a very revolting trait; it was a scavenger of prey, meaning it only fed on carcasses! It fed on nothing else but decaying carcasses.
It was said that once a Phantom Vulture hatched, it would be abandoned by the mother. In other words, the Phantom Vulture would have to survive on its own from the day it hatched; there was no opportunity nor chance for care and love.
Phantom Vultures did not naturally attract the attention of other mystical beasts as prey. This was because Phantom Vultures carried poison on them the day they were born. Despite the mild toxicity and the light poison of a Phantom Vulture fledging, it was still discomforting even when it would not cause too much harm when used directly on a person.
Therefore, Phantom Vultures were said to be Tianxuan Continent’s most disgusting and unlikeable flying mystical beast that had the least people cultivating them. It was horribly easy to obtain them – one could just pluck them from a dense forest.
They were abandoned once they were born, and they would not be hunted down by other beasts, thus making it a walk in the park to acquire them.
The problems would arise only after getting hold of them.
How was one supposed to take care of it?
It fed on carcasses and those that were decaying to boot; where would one care for it? At home?
Would they want to live there together with the miserable creature?
The putridity daily would have turned a home into a terribly foul den!
Looking at this tiny baby bird, everyone could not help covering their noses, disgust clear in their eyes.
"Really, your bird reflects who you are!"
Yun Yang was infuriated.
What were you thinking, bringing this thing into my house? Do you wish to turn my house into a cavern of carrion?
Looking at Dong Tianleng, Yun Yang’s expression fell as he pointed to the door. "You better f*cking get going and quickly roll out of here!"