Celestial Beast Taming

The Thorny Sparrow Hunters couldn’t hunt for themselves inside Zhong Yi’s residence.

Zhong Yi hung a box of Fire-Loving Worms he had prepared on the Iron Thorn Wood Frame.

He had the Sun Wheel Thorns use a thorn vine to secure the box containing the Fire-Loving Worms.

Inside this opaque, custom-made iron box were over a hundred Fire-Loving Worms.

Fire-Loving Worms were a type of creature that could survive for long periods as long as they could feed on Fire Elemental Energy.

In an environment with sufficient Fire Elemental Energy, Fire-Loving Worms would breed chaotically with each other, laying vermilion, rice-sized insect eggs.

These insect eggs would fall through the slits in the iron box and onto a tray below.

Hanging this box of Fire-Loving Worms here would be enough to provide ample food for the Thorny Sparrow Hunter couple.

Once new chicks hatched, they could be fed directly with the Fire-Loving Worms’ insect eggs.

The Fire-Loving Worms’ insect eggs contained dense Fire Elemental Energy, making them excellent feed for raising the chicks.

In the future, when the chicks grew up, the Thorny Sparrow Hunter colony would flourish even more.

At that time, he would just need to hang a few more containers of Fire-Loving Worms on the Iron Thorn Wood Frame.

Just then, Zhong Chenghuai’s voice sounded from behind Zhong Yi.

"Young Master, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a house this big. It takes dozens of minutes just to walk across the courtyard."

"I saw that you didn’t return with Xiaolingdang and Xiaoxuan, so I thought I’d come out and look for you."

"It’s open and windy out here. I brought you a jacket."

As he spoke, Zhong Chenghuai walked up to Zhong Yi and draped a thin, but wind-resistant, blue jacket over his shoulders.

Sensing the approach of a stranger, the two Thorny Sparrow Hunters, who were very close to Zhong Yi, immediately flapped their wings and went on alert.

Zhong Yi first ordered the Sun Wheel Thorns to memorize Zhong Chenghuai’s scent.

Then he turned his head and said to Zhong Chenghuai with a smile.

"Uncle Huai, I was just thinking I should let this thorn plant take root first."

"If it takes too long to take root, it would be difficult for me to form a Contract with it."

Zhong Chenghuai took a careful look at the Sun Wheel Thorns and the two Thorny Sparrow Hunters that were beginning to build a nest on its thorny vines.

He hadn’t expected that Zhong Yi had already formed a Contract with such a magnificent thorn plant.

As far as Zhong Chenghuai knew, Zhong Yi was a Celestial Destiny Seeker who had awakened a Healing Element Order Beast.

Logically, if Zhong Yi were to form a Contract with a new Guardian Beast, it should have been a Healing-type Guardian Beast.

’Could this Fire Attribute thorn plant be a Healing-type Guardian Beast?’

’Could it perform fire cupping on injured Guardian Beasts or something!?’

No matter how he looked at it, Zhong Chenghuai couldn’t see the Sun Wheel Thorns as a Healing-type Guardian Beast.

However, Zhong Chenghuai didn’t question Zhong Yi’s choice of Guardian Beast for a couple of reasons.

For one, Zhong Chenghuai himself knew very little, only having a superficial understanding.

For another, as a Celestial Destiny Seeker, Zhong Yi received the best resources Starlight City had to offer.

He figured that the other Celestial Destiny Seekers must have advised Zhong Yi on which Guardian Beasts to form Contracts with.

"Young Master, you previously told me to arrange the Iron Thorn Wood Frames to encircle the area behind the residence as much as possible."

"Right now, about a quarter of the area still needs these Iron Thorn Wood Frames installed."

"The people from Antai Infrastructure will be back tomorrow morning to continue setting up the Iron Thorn Wood Frames."

Since coming to the Central District, the person Zhong Chenghuai had interacted with the most was Wen Tao’s Deputy, Xu Anjun.

Xu Anjun had helped Zhong Chenghuai a great deal; he was even the one who introduced the people from Antai Infrastructure to him.

Antai Infrastructure was a top-tier, long-established power in Starlight City, primarily responsible for the construction, renovation, and decoration of various residences, manors, and some municipal projects.

While a material like Ironthorn Wood wasn’t rare on the market, buying well-aged, uniformly shaped pieces of a similar color wasn’t so simple.

This top-tier power, Antai Infrastructure, had over ten thousand material production bases within Starlight City that stably produced all sorts of construction materials.

They provided high-quality materials from their own production according to customer needs.

For example, these Iron Thorn Wood Frames were all deliberately made by Antai Infrastructure from high-quality Ironthorn Wood after learning of Zhong Chenghuai’s requirements.

During the construction process, they also used many high-end Guardian Beasts with construction abilities.

First, a Flowing Earth Rhinoceros Elephant would alter the soil structure, and then the base of the Iron Thorn Wood Frame would be buried in the ground.

This method not only avoided damaging the land’s structure but also loosened the soil.

By scattering grass seeds on the soil tilled by the Flowing Earth Rhinoceros Elephant, and with a Green Grass Deer to promote germination, they could ensure the lawn would look beautiful after construction.

Xu Anjun had directly introduced one of Antai Infrastructure’s managers to Zhong Chenghuai.

Otherwise, no matter how customer-oriented Antai Infrastructure was, a job that required burying thousands of Iron Thorn Wood Frames couldn’t possibly be more than half-finished in just three to five days.

When he first started interacting with Xu Anjun, Zhong Chenghuai hadn’t thought of himself as Zhong Yi’s Deputy.

It was only after talking with Zhong Yi that Zhong Chenghuai began to see himself in the role of Deputy to a Celestial Destiny Seeker.

After Xu Anjun learned that Zhong Chenghuai was confirmed as Zhong Yi’s Deputy, his attitude toward him became much warmer than before.

Zhong Chenghuai could sense this very clearly.

Even though he knew why Xu Anjun was helping him so much, Zhong Chenghuai was still grateful for the favor.

In the past, Zhong Chenghuai would have definitely told Zhong Yi about all these things Xu Anjun had done.

But now that he was Zhong Yi’s Deputy, Zhong Chenghuai could repay this kindness to Xu Anjun in his own way.

He wouldn’t have to leave even minor decisions to Zhong Yi, which would undoubtedly add to Zhong Yi’s burden.

"Uncle Huai, have all the Blood-Beauty Peonies I gave to Brother Zhao been planted?"

"How are they doing?"

After learning how much Zhong Yi valued these Blood-Beauty Peonies, Zhong Chenghuai had been paying extra close attention to the young plants.

He specifically had the people from Antai Infrastructure build a sunroom for the fifty Blood-Beauty Peony plants.

In fact, Zhong Chenghuai had just gone to check on them in the sunroom this afternoon.

"Young Master, the Blood-Beauty Peonies are growing very well. The buds on two or three of the plants have already bloomed."

"I heard from Younger Brother Zhao that all the Blood-Beauty Peonies should be in full bloom in another three or four days."

"Young Master, it’s late at night, and you just got back from the Secret Realm."

"Why don’t you go back and get some rest first? I can take you to see the sunroom where the Blood-Beauty Peonies are planted tomorrow morning."

"We have a full twenty Craftsman Apprentices here now, and they are all meticulously cultivating these Blood-Beauty Peonies and the Sleeping Dream Moths."

"With these Craftsman Apprentices around, handling many matters has become much more convenient."

At this point, something seemed to occur to Zhong Chenghuai, and he said to Zhong Yi.

"Oh, right, Young Master. Tomorrow, Xu Anjun is inviting me to a private Exotic Beast Garden in the Upper City District to pick out an Exotic Beast."

"I heard from Old Xu that this Exotic Beast Garden is invitation-only for members, and it has many rare Exotic Beasts."

"Younger Brother Xu sent me the invitation this afternoon. I don’t know anything about Exotic Beasts, so it would be a waste for me to go."

"Young Master, I’ll give you the invitation. If you’re interested, you should go take a look."

"I heard from Old Xu that opportunities to visit a private, invitation-only Exotic Beast Garden like this are rare. Sometimes you won’t get a chance for two or three years."

As soon as he heard Zhong Chenghuai mention the private, invitation-only Exotic Beast Garden, Zhong Yi’s interest was piqued.

Exotic Beasts weren’t a special type of Guardian Beast, but rather Guardian Beasts that had mutated during the process of Evolution.

A mutated species like the Gardener Worm, which evolved from the Farmer Earthworm, could be classified in the category of Exotic Beasts.

Many mutated Exotic Beasts had broken free from the constraints of their own Bloodline and possessed extremely high cultivation value.

Since there was a chance to pick out an Exotic Beast at the Exotic Beast Garden, Zhong Yi naturally wasn’t going to miss it.

Taking the invitation from Zhong Chenghuai, Zhong Yi said with a smile.

"Uncle Huai, I’ll contact Brother Xu tomorrow and go take a look with him."

Seeing that Zhong Yi was interested, Zhong Chenghuai was very happy.

Zhong Chenghuai hadn’t planned on going anyway, as many things at the residence now required his attention.

"Young Master, I’ve noticed Old Xu is a night owl. He probably isn’t asleep yet. I’ll send him a Q-message right now to let him know."

"I looked at the time on the invitation; it seems this Exotic Beast Garden opens bright and early."