Nine Astra Skies

Little Tanuki squinted its eyes, sending out its Psyche to overwhelm the Raven Hawk. Its Psyche was somewhat like Ye Chen’s Astral Body, only not as potent.

Once Little Tanuki’s Psyche had managed to enwrap the bird, it attempted to tame it. After a little time had passed, Little Tanuki shook its head in defeat and squeaked a couple of times.

“You’re saying the hawk has an owner already?” Ye Chen twitched his brows. Little Tanuki could enslave most Tenth Level beasts. Alas, if the hawk already belonged to someone else, nothing they do would ever work.

What now?

Ye Chen refused to give up. This was a Tenth Level Raven Hawk. How could he just let it get away? The boy pondered for a moment. Regardless, he was going to give it a second try to see if he could successfully enslave it.

Ye Chen’s Astral Body reached out for the bird. Once his Astral Body had located it, it seeped into the hawk’s deepest level of consciousness.

As if sensing something, the Raven Hawk momentarily shuddered in fear. If a Daemon King Rank powerhouse wanted to obliterate it, they could easily squash its Psyche. It felt its life was being threatened and so, it did not dare to make any sudden movements. All it took was one threat from a Daemon King Rank and suddenly, it stopped struggling.

After reaching deep into the hawk’s consciousness, Ye Chen’s Astral Body had learned that it had a very fragile Psyche, just the size of a child’s palm. As far as intelligence was concerned, it was dumber than the Lynx, the Scarlet Sky Tiger, and the Skyphantom Panther too. The Raven Hawk’s Psyche took after the form of a black balloon. Surrounding the sides of the black balloon was a trace of faint blue Psyche, which probably belonged to its owner, not itself.

To Ye Chen’s knowledge, the strongest beast and Celestial Beasts were peak Tenth Level at best. That meant that the Raven Hawk probably belonged to a Tenth Level Celestial Beast too.

How could Ye Chen get rid of that blue Psyche and imprint his Astral Body into it? He thought for a moment. Spirits are a fascinating thing. If Ye Chen made the slightest mistake when he extracted the blue Psyche out of the hawk, it may very well damage the hawk’s Psyche too, thereby causing the bird mental impairment. In other words, it would lack any form of intelligence and render it incapable of understanding any commands. If that happened, it would be pointless for him to enslave the hawk at all. Ye Chen had to ensure that the Raven Hawk’s Psyche was safe as he attempted to extract the blue Psyche.

After putting on his thinking cap for half the day, Ye Chen still struggled to come up with a solution. He remained in deep thoughts. It looked like Ye Chen’s understanding toward Astral Bodies, Psyche, and the likes were still very much limited. Ye Chen had discovered its uses by chance many times. If only there was a book on the cultivation of Astral Body, that would have been a huge help to him. Sadly, even he struggled to comprehend the Celestial Scripture on Mystical Beasts’ Cultivation that Little Tanuki had given him. Was he going to have to pick up some Beast or Celestial Beast studies at some point?

Thinking about things would not cut it. The best way to know was to experiment. Then again, if the experiment failed, the Raven Hawk would be a gone case.

Ye Chen had no choice!

Wait. The lightbulbs in Ye Chen’s head went off. Of course!

Ye Chen could not contain his excitement at that point. He extracted a fragment of his Astral Body and wrapped it around the blue Psyche. As if sensing an impending stranger, the Psyche attempted to struggle but Ye Chen’s Astral Body had managed to hold it tight. The Psyche could not move and soon, Ye Chen’s Astral Body began to eat away the blue Psyche. Slowly, the Psyche disintegrated and was fully absorbed by his Astral Body along with the spiritual energy that the Psyche held.

Moments later, the blue Psyche was completely gone, consumed by Ye Chen’s Astral Body. The Raven Hawk felt no pain in the entire process and Ye Chen could finally imprint a part of his Psyche onto the bird.

Bravo!

Ye Chen flashed a smile. He recalled his Astral Body. The Raven Hawk wobbly stood up and realized it had a new owner. It fanned its wings and took to the sky, flying toward the center of the Chi-amassing Formation.

Outside the Chi-amassing Formation, the face of an azure eagle Celestial Beast changed. It realized that its link with the Raven Hawk had been severed. It felt that the fragment of the Psyche that was imprinted on the hawk was devoured by an unknown power. Its Psyche had taken a hit too. According to the message from the Raven Hawk, there seemed to be a Daemon King Rank powerhouse residing in the Chi-amassing Formation. The azure eagle Celestial Beast did not understand why exactly a Daemon King would show up in a place like this. Was it not stated that any Earth-level Adept Stage Beasts and Celestial Beasts or Earth level Venerable One human beings were forbidden from setting foot into the area? Why would a Daemon King be interested in the Chi-amassing Formation so suddenly?

The eagle just could not get it. The funniest part of all was that it and the rest of the beast had been trying so hard to pelt the formation with an array of attacks in hopes of getting through. Had they known there was a Daemon King inside, none of the beats, Celestial Beasts nor humans would have remained.

“Brothers, I’m taking my flight.” The eagle swiftly took off to the sky, running for his life.

“What’s gotten into him? He just ran off like nobody’s business.”

“Beats me. Forget about him” A group of leopard and lion Celestial Beasts discussed among themselves.

Rather than explaining the situation to them, the self-centered eagle knew of the danger that awaited them and decided to run for the hills headfirst. To it, the death of the other Celestial Beasts mattered naught. If they died, it could steal their belongings. In terms of intelligence, Celestial Beasts were just as smart as humans, which meant it was capable of ill thoughts too. All beings compared together, beasts were the least intelligent beings as their thought process was much more primitive.

The Raven Hawk perched atop one of the rocks near the center of the Chi-amassing Formation. Without Ye Chen’s permission, it did not dare set foot into the golden circle.

Did that mean that Ye Chen had successfully tamed a fourth beast?

Ye Chen thought about things. If the Lynx had died, did that make the Raven Hawk his third Celestial Beast? That was impossible. Before descending into the Sunken Jade Tower, Ye Chen’s last orders to it were to oversee Yin Mengtian and his men’s escape and find a safe place to lay low. If the Lynx had died, his Astral Body would have taken a hit too. If that was not the case, that would mean the Lynx was still somewhere out there.

Perhaps Ye Chen’s Astral Body was truly different from the rest. Perhaps he could tame more than three beasts, unlike Celestial Beasts who were limited to three.

The Raven Hawk was a peak Tenth Level beast. A beast like it could easily take on Qiu Ying! If Ye Chen ever ran into Qiu Ying again, he would make sure that the prime minister had witnessed its might! Just that thought had made Ye Chen’s heart race. Could he recruit more beasts and build an army out of them?

Due to the unique nature of Ye Chen’s Astral Body, he was not sure if he could enslave any beasts. When he got the chance, he would have to put things to test, to see just how many beasts he could enslave.

Seeing the Raven Hawk resting on the rock, Little Tanuki looked at Ye Chen in surprise. The boy had recruited a fourth beast and one that belonged to someone else. It did not see that coming.