Chapter 660: Guardian for over 660 million years
Mu Hanyan pondered carefully. While it was true that many mythical Exotic Beasts had vanished over the tens of thousands of years according to legend, records indicated that every now and then, a fierce beast of legend would appear. However, Auspicious Beasts had never been seen, which was clearly unusual. There must be some reason for this.
"You have personally experienced the Divine Skills of an auspicious beast. Such divine beasts are not so easily incubated. It is said that only by gathering the purest Heaven and Earth Qi can one possibly hatch an Auspicious Beast. In ancient times, the Heaven and Earth Qi was rich and pure, so Auspicious Beasts would descend from time to time. However, the Heaven and Earth Qi of the Holy Court Continent today is far inferior to that of ancient times, making it impossible to hatch an Auspicious Beast.
Even many Exotic Beasts with Auspicious Beast bloodlines exhaust their vitality during the lengthy incubation process and never reach the moment of hatching," Mu Rui’an explained.
At this point, Mu Hanyan suddenly realized what Mu Rui was saying. She had experienced it herself. When she had obtained the Exotic Beast Egg, its vitality was nearly depleted. Unaware, she had tried to incubate it and nearly had her own life force drained. It was only with the help of the Star Illusion Thousand Machine and Ye Yanran that she was able to escape disaster. Moreover, the Exotic Beast Egg had been revived thanks to her life force.
Thinking of the Star Illusion Thousand Machine, Mu Hanyan suddenly had a question. Why didn’t he warn her in advance? It had put her life on the line, and he himself had fallen into a deep sleep. But after thinking it over, Mu Hanyan came to terms with it. The Star Illusion Thousand Machine was an old monster from countless years ago, always in deep sleep within the Star Plate. Perhaps it simply didn’t know the current state of the Holy Court Continent, so how could it have warned her?
"So, this means that the Auspicious Beast Egg is doomed to never hatch?" Mu Hanyan said, somewhat disheartened and more so, saddened.
Regardless of whether it was an Auspicious Beast, she had risked her life to save this Beast Egg. In a way, it was blood-related to her. Recalling the little round egg’s cute bouncing behind her, and then thinking that it would never be able to hatch and would one day run out of life force and die, how could Mu Hanyan not be saddened?
"If it could have hatched, it would have done so long ago. Why wait until now?" Mu Rui’an also felt a sense of regret and continued, "If I’m not mistaken, the Qiongqi Temple and the existence of the Qiongqi Relics are actually to guard this Auspicious Beast Egg. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of years of guardianship have still failed to change the fate of its Life Essence being exhausted."
"Oh," Mu Hanyan replied softly, her expression growing even more sorrowful.
"It’s not entirely impossible though. Legend has it that long ago, a strange treasure known as the Spirit Talisman appeared on the Holy Court Continent. It possessed various Divine Skills, one of which was to gather Heaven and Earth Qi. If we could find it, perhaps there might be a chance to incubate the egg." Not wanting to see his daughter look disappointed and sad, Mu Rui’an couldn’t help but offer some comfort.
"Where can we find a Spirit Talisman?" Mu Hanyan’s spirits lifted immediately as she asked.
"I’m afraid... I’m afraid it won’t be easy to find. It’s said that the Spirit Talisman is not from our Holy Court Continent, but like Meteorite Gold, it comes from beyond the Nine Heavens, making it extremely rare. More importantly, the initial discoverers of the Spirit Talisman didn’t understand its wondrous use and wasted too much of it. Only after repeated experimentation did people realize its functions. It’s said that our Continent’s Alchemy, Array Mechanism Technique, and even the Alchemy Technique, all originated from those brilliant ancestors of ancient times who evolved these arts through the few remaining Spirit Talismans.
Now, it may be even more difficult to find the last Spirit Talisman on the Holy Court Continent..." Although he didn’t want to make his daughter too sad, he could not give her an unattainable wish, so after much thought, Mu Rui’an spoke with tact. It wasn’t just difficult to find, it was simply non-existent. Where could one possibly look?
Yet as he spoke, his voice grew softer, and staring at that Exotic Beast Egg, his eyes began to glaze over slightly.
"What’s the matter now?" Mu Hanyan grew worried upon seeing her father’s startled demeanor.
"It can’t be, it just can’t be. Isn’t this... isn’t this the legendary Spirit Talisman rune? Looking at its aura, it must have been imbued not long ago—it definitely wasn’t originally there. Where did you get it from?" Mu Rui’an pointed at the Auspicious Beast Egg, speaking with astonishment.
"What rune?" Mu Hanyan looked puzzledly toward the Auspicious Beast Egg, only then noticing that atop its original beautiful pattern, there was now an additional complex and profound design, as if it held endless mysteries.
Mu Hanyan was also confused. From the moment that Auspicious Beast Egg had hit her on the head, she had kept it close to her and never left her side. How could there suddenly be an extra so-called rune?
"Could it be Ye Yanran?" Mu Hanyan thought of her first. But recalling that situation, Ye Yanran hadn’t tampered with anything, had she? Besides, given Ye Yanran’s condition at the time, where would she have found the strength to use any Spirit Talisman?
Mu Hanyan examined the rune closely, feeling that it seemed familiar somehow. A spark of inspiration struck her, and she reached into her bosom.
The top-grade jade given to her by Ling Baobao, though she hadn’t closely examined it, left some impression. The naturally occurring patterns within, weren’t they extremely similar to this so-called rune?
Mu Rui’an noticed the change in her expression, aware she had thought of something. He looked on full of curiosity and anticipation, only to see her look slightly startled, then turn back and open her palm, revealing a handful of shattered jade pieces.
Mu Hanyan had no idea when the jade had shattered into bits and was unable to closely compare them to confirm her guess.
"It is a Spirit Talisman, indeed a Spirit Talisman. Where did you get it from?" To her surprise, upon seeing the handful of jade shards, Mu Rui’an acted as if he had found a treasure, excitedly taking them into his hands and asking.
"Dad, are you sure this is a Spirit Talisman?" Mu Hanyan doubted it. It was just a handful of jade shards. How could he be so certain it was a Spirit Talisman?
More importantly, how could there be a Spirit Talisman on Ling Baobao in the first place?
"There’s no mistake. It is said that this Spirit Talisman can only be refined using top-grade jade and the blood of a Divine Beast. Its use is extremely simple; one only needs to crush it, and some Spirit Talismans of high grades, if meeting certain conditions, can even activate on their own without any need to touch them. Look at this jade, although shattered, if one carefully feels it, they can still sense the imposing air of a Divine Beast within," Mu Rui’an stated confidently.
Mu Hanyan carefully sensed it and indeed, as the jade crumbled, a mysterious and majestic aura was released, extremely subtle, yet very similar to the presence of the Qiongqi Divine Beast.
Unexpectedly, what had been given to her by Ling Baobao turned out to be a Spirit Talisman.
"With this Spirit Talisman, can the Auspicious Beast Egg be hatched now?" Mu Hanyan couldn’t contain the surprise in her heart and excitedly asked Mu Rui’an.