Chapter 268: Featheryearn
"Elder Li..."
Meng Qianqian turned back to Han Li with a resigned expression, but all of a sudden, a faint crack rang out, and the circle of cracks on the underside of the egg began to bulge outward, following which a piece of eggshell the size of a human head fell out to create a hole in the egg.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly turned around upon hearing this, focusing her gaze on the hole in the egg with a hint of anticipation and anxiety in her eyes, and she was greeted by a sound much like the chirping of a chicken hatchling.
Immediately thereafter, a furry head that was roughly the same size as the hole in the egg poked out from within.
The eyes of the head were only half open, and the head itself was covered in a layer of shimmering azure feathers. It bore somewhat of a resemblance to a hen, with a short and straight beak, above which was a pair of nostrils, and its cheeks were rather bloated, giving it an adorably dopey appearance.
Only after turning its head side to side a few times did it completely open its eyes, and it took a glance at Han Li before turning its gaze to Meng Qianqian with its head cocked to the side.
After that, it emerged fully from the egg before stumbling unsteadily toward Meng Qianqian.
It had a long and thin neck connected to a rather frail and wiry body that was completely out of proportion with its large head. It was as if all of its nutrients had gone to growing its head, giving it a very unbalanced body.
Han Li wasn't exactly disappointed by the bird, he merely felt like it was a little... ugly.
He couldn't help but wonder where and for what purpose Fang Pan had obtained this egg.
In contrast with Han Li's reaction, Meng Qianqian's eyes were glowing as she watched the delicate hatchling stumbling toward her. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little concerned, fearing that its thin and frail neck wouldn't be able to support the weight of its large head.
She looked straight into the hatchling's eyes, and she didn't find it to be ugly at all. Instead, she felt like it was very adorable in a clumsy way.
At times when she had previously encountered cultivation bottlenecks or had something weighing on her mind that she didn't want to tell even her brother, she would come to this egg, treating it like a close friend that she could speak to in her time of need.
Before she knew it, the egg had become a close companion of hers on her cultivation journey, having been with her since she was at the Nascent Soul Stage.
It could even be said that without the companionship provided by this egg, perhaps she wouldn't have been able to reach the Deity Transformation Stage so quickly, so now that the egg had finally hatched, she was overcome by a sense of mixed emotions.
She slowly crouched down and picked up the hatchling, which had finally stumbled its way to her side, and gently stroked its soft feathers with her hand.
Meanwhile, the hatchling rested its head on the feather that she was holding, gently rubbing its head against it while chirping quietly to itself.
"Can you give it a name, Elder Li?" Meng Qianqian asked as she turned to Han Li with the hatchling cradled in her arms.
"That feather you're holding most likely belonged to tis mother, so let's call it Featheryearn," Han Li said after a moment of contemplation.
"Featheryearn... That's a really nice name! I'll call it Featheryearn from now on," Meng Qianqian replied with a joyful smile.
Meng Qianqian raised the hatchling to her eye level, then said to it with a serious expression, "From now on, your name is Featheryearn!"
Only then did Han Li notice that there was a small fleshy growth concealed beneath the hatchling's feathers on the underside of its head.
His brows furrowed slightly as he approached Meng Qianqian and took the hatchling from her, and after carefully observing it for a while, he lifted the wings and the tail of the hatchling one by one. In doing so, he discovered a faintly shimmering feather under each of those places, and a contemplative look appeared on his face.
"Is there something wrong, Elder Li?" Meng Qianqian asked with a concerned expression.
"No, it's just that I've been trying to figure out what this egg is this entire time, but to no avail, and now that the egg has hatched, I've finally gotten an idea of what it could be," Han Li replied with a smile.
Meng Qianqian was rather intrigued to hear this, and she hurriedly asked, "Is Featheryearn supposed to be something special?"
"I can't say for sure right now, but what I can be certain of is that it's a wind-attribute spirit bird, and one with extremely high evolutionary potential, at that. Perhaps its body holds some type of true spirit bloodline," Han Li replied.
Meng Qianqian's eyes lit up even further upon hearing this, and she turned to the hatchling as she praised, "It sounds like you're destined for great things, Featheryearn!"
The hatchling naturally had no idea what was being said about it, and it was continuing to chirp incessantly, seemingly full of longing and curiosity toward the world around it.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce an azure pill, following which a burst of azure light emerged over the palms of his hand to envelop the entire pill.
It didn't take long before the pill began to melt away within the azure light, transforming into a burst of azure qi that was imbued with rich spiritual power.
Han Li then guided the burst of azure qi into the hatchling's beak, and it slid down Featheryearn's long and thin neck, then flashed a few times in its belly before fading away.
Featheryearn immediately stopped chirping before burping in a very humanized fashion, much to Meng Qianqian's amusement, and she began to giggle with delight.
Right after it let loose that hearty burp, Featheryearn's eyelids instantly began to droop, and its head rolled to the side as it fell asleep.
"The wind-attribute spirit pill that I just fed it is still too much for it to process for now, even though I already used my magic power to make it easier to digest, but this is a good thing. Now that it's asleep, it'll be able to better digest the pill," Han Li explained with a smile.
Meng Qianqian nodded in response.
"Keep that feather for now. You were the one who looked after Featheryearn's egg all this time, so you can keep looking after it now that it's hatched," Han Li said as he passed the sleeping hatchling back to Meng Qianqian.
"Yes, Elder Li," Meng Qianqian replied as she eagerly took Featheryearn from him.
"I recall that there are quite a few wind-attribute spirit plants in the spirit fields on the mountain. You can use those to feed it, but make sure to only feed it 10-year-old plants in the beginning and only feed it older spirit plants when it's ready. Also, make sure you don't feed it any spirit plants or pills of any other attribute," Han Li cautioned.
"Yes, Elder Li," Meng Qianqian replied with a nod.
"Alright, you can go now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Meng Qianqian did as she was told, turning to depart with Featheryearn in her arms, but right as she was about to step out of the stone chamber, Han Li called out to her again.
"What is it, Elder Li?" Meng Qianqian asked as she turned around with a puzzled expression.
"If I'm not mistaken, you've already reached the Deity Transformation Stage, right?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Ah, I was meaning to tell you about that, but I never got a chance to do so, and I ended up forgetting after getting distracted by Featheryearn's egg," Meng Qianqian replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"You possess superior aptitude to your brother and the others, so it's no surprise that you've been able to make faster progress in your cultivation. Here are some Deity Transformation Stage pills as a congratulatory gift for your breakthrough," Han Li said with a smile as he tossed a white porcelain vial at Meng Qianqian, who hurriedly caught the vial and thanked Han Li earnestly before departing in an elated fashion.
Not long after she left, Han Li flew out of his cave abode as a streak of azure light and departed from the Crimson Dawn Peak.
The next day.
It was a bright and sunny day.
The western region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was still covered in a layer of snow, with only certain areas, such as the palaces and the plazas, where the snow had been swept away.
Aside from that, there were also places with underground fire veins or hot springs that had managed to keep the snow at bay, and there was even some greenery present around those areas.
A streak of azure light flew through the air before descending toward the Half Moon Valley beside the West Forest Mountain.
After departing from the Crimson Dawn Peak, the previous night, Han Li had returned the Essence Fire Raven to the cave that contained the underground fire vein, then set off for what he speculated to have been the White Finch Valley.
The Essence Fire Raven had been very pleased to be back, and it circled around Han Li a few times before eagerly flying back into the cave.
After that, Han Li had traveled to the western region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range through a teleportation hall.
If he had chosen to teleport straight to the Cattail Spirit Valley before traveling to the West Forest Peak from there, he would've been able to save a lot of time, and that would've allowed him to reach the Half Moon Valley before first light.
However, the arrival of a True Immortal in the Cattail Spirit Valley would've created a massive stir, even if he had no intention of picking out any servants, and he didn't want to attract any attention.
Hence, he had chosen to take a slightly longer route, and that was why it had taken him so long to get to his destination.
The Half Moon Valley was just as unremarkable as the West Forest Mountain beside it, so neither of those places were held in very high regard by the sect. As such, the Half Moon Valley was still a completely untouched place.
Han Li descended upon the entrance of the valley, then made his way inside to discover a thick layer of snow stretching as far as the eyes could, interspersed only by some dark red rocks, presenting a rather barren sight to behold.
After making his way several thousand feet into the valley, the terrain was becoming wider and more open, but it was also noticeably lower than at the entrance of the valley, and Han Li could tell that he had been walking downhill this entire time.
After walking for around an hour, the valley up ahead suddenly became filled with mist, making it difficult for him to see his surroundings clearly.
Han Li skirted around a massive rock in the valley, and he discovered a large crescent-shaped lake behind it. There were plumes of steam rising up from the lake, clearly indicating that it was a geothermal hot spring.
The temperature around the hot spring was slightly higher than elsewhere in the valley, and an exposed dark red lake bank could be seen.
Han Li made his way over to the edge of the lake before stopping in his tracks and peering into the water with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
The surface of the lake was rippling slightly, and the water was very clear, allowing Han Li to see that the lakebed was riddled with countless rocks of different sizes, but he couldn't see any fish or living creatures inside.
Moments later, Han Li withdrew his gaze, then carefully released his spiritual sense to encompass the entire valley, but after some examination, he wasn't able to find anything of note, and it was as if this really was just a normal valley.
The mission was for him to show his Mantra Treasured Axis in the White Finch Valley, and with that in mind, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed.
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