Chapitre 161: It's Poop - A Little Companion.
Shu He ran over and picked up the fresh 'stone' and looked it over, it was, in every sense of the word, identical to the other ones he had seen so far, it was a nearly perfect round sphere with the occasional shape inconsistency, translucent and white, it contained concentrated Qi beneath its surface and even a small amount of Golden Qi!
He then walked over to the little white duck and lifted it up.
"QUACK?!" It began fluttering its feathers and wings as it was surprised, being yanked up all of a sudden, Shu He began looking it over, the colour and length of its feathers, the size of its body, the colours of its iris and beak, making sure he didn't miss a thing.
'I'm not too familiar with this species, it's very similar to the ducks of my old world though… the feathers are certainly very clean and a shade whiter than I'd expect, its beak has a tinge of gold that normally shouldn't be present, but it can easily be chalked up to the strangeness of this world and a different species….'
"Do you lay these regularly?" He said as he let the duck sit in one of his palms, holding up the stone in the other.
"Quack?" It tilted its head, before looking over to the bag on stones in the distance and quacking enthusiastically.
"Right… you seem quite young as well based on your body… assuming you're a girl based on your feathers and noise you should be a little wider on the end to lay eggs if you were a suitable age." A slight drip of sweat fell down Shu He's forehead "Which means… these aren't small eggs" he looked at the small orb weirdly.
"It's poop" He thought back to hearing how someone consumed this, and how others were planning to do the same, what would they feel knowing that the prized possession was a little ducklings waste… he wanted to laugh.
Rather he did, he burst out laughing.
"Pfffftahahahahahahahah what the hell?! This is the mystery behind the stones?!" He almost fell over recoiling from laughter as the duck pecked at his hand wanting his attention.
"Yes, I'll let you down in a second I just need to check something" He gently grabbed the ducks head with his other hand and pried open its beak with his fingers, much to the reluctance of the little duck.
"It'll be over in a second, just sit still I won't hurt you" He said gently, the little duck then went still, flapping its wings weakly as if to still protest this treatment "There, you're quite smart for a normal animal…"
Yes, again, this duck was by all means a normal animal to Shu He no matter how much he looked at it from the outside, so he had only one choice, look from the inside!
The utilised his <<Divine Territory>> and directed it inside the little ducks open beak and into the mouth, as he went down the oesophagus and into the stomach he noticed something odd.
'Hm? The resistance of the insides against my territory are unusually strong…' realising this, he tested trying to pierce the walls of the stomach like he would with rock or any solid surface and the result shocked him.
'I can't pierce through it!' It was like the lining was made of some sort of impossibly dense material, of course that wasn't the case, or the duck would weight a literal tonne, so it was something else; He searched further yet the moment he did, he felt his senses slipping.
'Wha-?!' He stumbled slightly, losing the concentration to maintain his territory as a slight headache struck him; After a few seconds he regained his concentration and looked at the duck in horror.
"What the hell are you?" he asked, releasing the little duck, and prompting it to tilt its head, Shu He sighed and picked out a seed from his gauntlet, it was a harmless plant seed that could be used to bind enemies, he imbued it with Qi and held it out to the duck.
"Here, have this" He said as he watched it happily scoop it up with its beak and held its head straight as it swallowed it, as it did Shu He did his best to sense his Qi that was in the seed, yet as soon as it reached the lower part of the ducks neck it was completely dispersed, and then he lost track of it.
On Shu He face was a smile that was a half grin and half disbelief.
"What on earth have I found?..." It was something he hadn't ever heard about before, he may not be an expert, but he had spent plenty of time reading about local animals, spirit animals and tending to the animals in the sanctuary when he could, this duck was a complete anomaly.
'This can't be a species trait, is this some sort of mutation? A natural blessing?'
Based on what he had seen, the duck seems capable of completely devouring and absorbing whatever it eats, while normal animals can do this in a way, the duck seems to be able to do it instantly!
And if he was right, these little stones are leftovers, Qi, and resources that it couldn't consume, stuff that would have sent it over capacity! The reason for its odd shape is the ducks unique physique!
This was an amazing discovery, but it sent Shu He into a conundrum.
'Should I just leave it as is? Let it live out its life normally?' He thought, but it was highly likely that someone else down the line would realise this little ducks value.
'If it's been consuming materials with high Qi content for months, it may be on the road to ascension already, once it ascends it will be found for sure'.
'But then, should I bring it with me? Should I let it live in the sanctuary?' This seemed like a good choice to Shu He, it should be able to live happily there and after ascending…
But there was another voice in his head, telling him that he shouldn't miss this chance, it was his desire for excitement and interest in the possibilities, he should raise it!
'But… I'd need to use the <<Inner Heart Linking Technique>>… can I do it?' He paused as he looked the duck who was staring at him starry eyed like it had found its meal ticket.
'<<Outer Heart>> wouldn't be enough, I don't want a temporary contract, it would be pointless'.
He paused for a second before slapping his forehead.
'I'd need to wait for it to ascend in the first place… I almost forgot since it's a unique one, but a spirit heart is needed' he sighed before crouching down and patting the little duck on the head.
"Hey, do you want to come with me?" He said gently.
The duck tilted its head, unsure what was being asked of it.
Shu He held up his index finger, and very gently emitted a thin thread of Golden Qi that bundled up into a small ball resembling a seed before holding it out to the duck that looked at it like an immortal treasure before 'eating' it.
It stood in a daze for a while before it began dancing around, flapping its wings in a small ring around Shu He while quacking continuously.
"Alright, alright, quieten down!" Shu He yelled lightly, the duck did as it was told "Good, then, if you follow me I'll give you more of what I just gave you" He stated simply, the little duck happily flapped its wings and quacked in agreement.
'Good, that's decided then!' Shu He smiled slightly while looking at the joyous little bird, then he glanced over to the stones that had been spilled earlier.
'Since I don't need them, they can have them'
…
It was morning, the sun had just risen over the horizon as the town of Pure-Pond was waking up to their usual daily activities, near the outskirts of the town was a carriage with a connected trailer filled with the parts from the Razor Wolf.
A thud sounded out as Shu He placed a large brown pouch in front of the three members of the Crystal Coral sect as they looked on confused.
"Brother Shu, what's this?" Tao Yan asked, staring weirdly at the bag, he felt it was familiar.
"A gift" Shu He replied with a slight smile.
"What? For us?" Gong Jie approached the bag with glimmering eyes as she unwrapped the rope and took a glance inside, as she did she yelped in surprise "Those! Those! Aren't they-?".
"What're ya' panicking about?" Wang Kang followed by Tao Yan looked inside, following which their jaws dropped as they looked towards Shu He in disbelief.
"Aren't these the stones that 'Luo Hu' stole from the others?" his eyes were fixated on the stones for a moment before his eyes shifted "Is he…?".
"He's been dealt with" Shu He replied without missing a beat, his facial expression as hard as stone.
"Oh, this is great! We won't be leaving empty handed!" Gong Jie celebrated as she picked up one of the stones, becoming mesmerised by it.
"We should return the rest to the others" Tao Yan stated causing the seaweed haired girl to look at him with shock.
"Why?!" She didn't understand why their Senior Brother would throw away all this treasure!
"Senior Brother's right Gong Jie, we should do it" The bulky man echoed Tao Yan, causing the girl to look at them with sheer confusion.
"Ahem, we may get a lot of money for all these stones, but as a small sect like ours we should form connections with other smaller sects and earn their goodwill, that will go a much longer way for us."
A look of enlightenment passed over Gong Jie "You're right Senior Brother! I was too short sighted; my greed got the better of me!".
"Having desires is fine, just remember to not let them control you" Tao Yan nodded before he turned to Shu He "It's fine if we handle these, right? That's why you gave them to us after all".
"Go ahead" Shu He nodded as he watched the three take the stones that they had before, before hauling them off and announcing to the local cultivators that they had been retrieved, he wasn't going to take part in any of it, he also said to not announce that he was the one to retrieve them either, they could take all the credit if they wanted.
As he and the little duck sat together on the wagon waiting for them to return, happily eating a pouch of mix seeds, one thought was filling his mind.
'There is NO way I can tell them all they're excited over this little ducks poop'.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone