Chapter 23 - Beast Hall
Hao Xuan stood there in the hall as the rest walked around looking at the flood dragons body. It was the first time any of them had seen one up close. Even though flood dragons weren't actual dragons, they were still extremely powerful and were synonymous with natural disasters.
They had elemental powers and could bring about great floods, forcefully erupt dormant volcanos, and move tectonic plates, just to name a few.
Hao Xuan took a closer look at the thing and it really was huge. It's head alone was 3-4 times the size of Hao Xuan's body. He suddenly felt really thankful towards whichever creature it was that had killed it.
As they were chatting, their Fifth sister walked in holding the cub. As soon as the cub saw Hao Xuan it jumped down from her embrace and ran towards him.
Hao Xuan bent down and picked it up and it started licking his face.
"Meow Meow", it spoke while looking at Hao Xuan with a heartbroken look on its face, as if saying "how could you leave me all alone?"
And for some strange reason, Hao Xuan felt like he could actually feel what the cub was saying and petted him while apologizing.
"Ninth brother, is the little one yours? Where did you find it?" Fifth asked, looking really envious. Apparently, she also liked cute and cuddly things and was really disappointed when the cub left her hanging without a second thought.
"From the forest while I was on a mission. I couldn't find its parents so thought why not bring him with," he replied awkwardly. Even a blind man could see she was feeling hurt after getting ditched by the cub.
"Meow" the cub spoke in a slightly annoyed tone.
"What? What'd I say?" Hao Xuan asked looking at its cute little face.
"Meow" it replied again while hitting Hao Xuan's face with its fluffy little paws.
"Oh, are you mad that you don't have a name? What do you want to be called then?" Hao Xuan asked as if knowing what it was saying.
Just as Hao Xuan finished asking, a word randomly appeared in his mind, "Zhurong".
"Hm?" He felt strange. It was like it *had* to be the cub's name and nothing else would feel right.
"How about Zhurong then?" Hao Xuan asked the cub after a few seconds.
"Meow Meow Meow" it suddenly got really happy and started licking his face again as if agreeing to it.
"Haha, alright. From now on you will be called Zhurong!" Hao Xuan replied with a laugh.
"Wow! It must be a high-level spiritual beast if it can understand human language at its age," Sixth said with a slightly shocked expression.
"Brother, it looks like you got quite a harvest this time around," Third patted his shoulder and laughed.
They all talked for several more minutes until First walked back in.
"Ninth Brother, I talked to the general and he was really impressed. He said you can either choose to sell the body whole to the military and get paid in points or sell some parts. In exchange, you can choose any beast as a mount from the beast hall free of charge and one technique," First spoke quickly, sounding really excited as if it was him who was getting all these rewards.
"Brother, I really have no idea what to do. What do you suggest?" Hao Xuan asked after thinking for a few seconds. He didn't have any memories and had no idea what to even do with the body so it was better to ask for advice.
"I suggest you sell the skin to the military as they can use it to make armors and shields. The rest you can either use yourself or sell at an auction or some other business," First replied.
"The skin? Why the skin?" Hao Xuan asked.
"Because it's the most important part of a beast like this, for the military at least. So you'd get the most value from it. Also, a good mount is very important for soldiers like us. We all have our own contracted beasts. And there are some rarer and top secret ones that are not available to the public, but are bred specifically for the military leaders and the elite," he explained.
"Alright, let's do that then. What about the rest? How can I use it myself?" Hao Xuan asked again looking at the huge corpse not far from him.
"Every part of a spiritual beast is worth a lot. The meat is rich with Qi and can increase cultivation. The blood is used to make pills, weapons and in some techniques. Also, the beast core is the most important part, especially for one like this. You can use it for cultivation and can come in very handy," First said as he pointed at the flood dragons head.
"Core? What's that?" Hao Xuan asked. He hadn't read anything about that.
"When beasts are at a certain level, they can start gathering their Qi and elemental energy in a crystal inside their body. Not every beast has one but the ones which do are much more powerful. You can use it to cultivate as it contains extremely dense Qi and elemental energies," First said as he took out a blade and stabbed it inside the flood dragons head.
Then he put his entire arm inside it and started rummaging around. A few seconds later he pulled his arm out and was holding a diamond shaped white crystal. It looked like a quartz crystal and something milky could be seen inside.
"You should keep this or trade it for another core and use it for cultivation," First said as he handed the crystal over to Hao Xuan.
Hao Xuan remembered that his Infernal Rapture and Wrath of Deimos could be cultivated with some external materials so he decided to keep half the body for himself and the party, use the blood to cultivate Wrath of Deimos and trade in the core for a thunder element one to cultivate Infernal Rapture.
Hao Xuan explained his plan to First who agreed to take him out to the markets and the auction houses so he wouldn't get ripped off by them.
"Oh I almost forgot. Here take this," First handed a pill to Hao Xuan.
"It's from the general. Eat it and cultivate, your injury will heal within a few hours and you can use the remaining Qi to open more meridians," he replied after looking at Hao Xuan's confused face.
Hao Xuan went back to his quarters after storing the carcass once again. He took out the pill, it was light green in color and looked almost like a marble.
After swallowing he felt a cool stream coming from his stomach and going all over his body. He closed his eyes and concentrated on absorbing the pill.
All of his injuries healed within a few seconds and he felt a burning sensation from his left arm and it started healing itself. Within an hour it was healed completely like nothing had ever happened.
The life energies in the pill were so strong that Hao Xuan's nails and hair grew out overnight. His hair were down to his shoulders now and he looked like a caveman.
Using the remaining energies to open more meridians, Hao Xuan reached the fourth stage of the Elementary realm.
***
The next day Hao Xuan woke up at about 8 a.m and cleaned himself up as much as possible but his hair was still the same as he didn't wanna mess with it himself.
He took Zhurong who wouldn't stop meowing with him and met First who laughed at his request of finding a barber.
"I've got a better idea," he only replied and led Hao Xuan into Fortuna City.
They first went to the acquisition department of the military and paid 50 points to get the beast cleaned up and broken into parts.
They took the skin themselves and cut the body into six equal parts. They drained the blood and handed it over to Hao Xuan in 10 or so large barrels. The other parts were stored in a different ring.
"Alright, where do you want to go now? Beast hall or auction house?" First asked as they left the Acquisition department.
"Let's check out the beast Hall first," Hai Xuan replied while petting Zhurong.
After walking for an hour or so, they finally reached the Beast Hall. It was a huge intimidating building. As they entered through the gate there were a lot of beast sculptors that seemed to be alive, bursting with spiritual energy.
The main hall was huge with hundreds of people inside. They went to an information desk and First showed them a token. One of the attendants left and came back a few mins later and asked them to follow him.
He led them to an elevator on the side which went straight down for about 40 seconds.
"Apparently, there is much more to the beast hall than meets the eye," Hao Xuan said to himself looking at the elevator going deeper and deeper into the ground.
They got off when it stopped and went to a small office with several chairs and a desk. The attendant told them to wait and left.
After about 10mins or so a large man with glasses came in holding some papers.
"Are you from the Red Legion?" he asked looking at Hao Xuan and First.
First nodded and handed him the token. He examined it for a few seconds and then said "Follow me" and left.
"What kind of a beast are you looking for?" he asked after a min or two of walking without turning back.
"Um, something cool I guess," Hao Xuan replied while looking around. There were big closed doors every few meters.
"Cool?!? Boy this isn't a toy store. There are monstrously strong beasts here. We breed them to kill without hesitation. Even though you have permission to get any beast you want, the beast itself has to recognize you as its master first," The man replied in a stern tone as if he had heard the most ridiculous thing ever.
"Well, whatever you have then," Hao Xuan replied casually which pissed off the man in the glasses even more.
"Hmph" was the only reply he got.
About 10mins of walking through hallways later, they came to a gigantic locked door. It was made up of some kind of metal and looked extremely sturdy.
Hao Xuan noticed something strange, there were a lot of mechanisms on the outside of the door.
"Um, shouldn't these mechanisms be covered by another sheet of metal or be on the other side at least?" he asked after not being able to come up with an explanation himself.
"No. The door isn't here to keep people out, its here to keep the whatever is on the other side of the door locked in," he said proudly.
Hao Xuan actually got a bit nervous, thinking about the monstrosities that lied on the other side.