Bab 38: Chapter 38. The Palace of Heavenly Beasts. Part 2.
While the incident was happening at the entrance, a lively conversation between two men, who appeared to be in their thirties, was underway inside the "Palace," interrupted by a passing object.
"The master's bird flew by," one commented.
"Some idiot tried to get in without permission again. Will they ever stop? Almost every week, some lunatic who doesn't value his life shows up. By now, even the local dogs should know about the punishment for this."
"The problem is, the city has many visitors from distant provinces who come to see our sights. They don't know anything. I also think we should remove Miya and Maya from the entrance because part of the blame for the fool's death lies in their beauty, which attracts young idiots too well."
"No, we shouldn't adjust for idiots; they should adjust for us. Besides, their beauty attracts not only poor idiots but also the wealthy, so we can't remove them."
At this point in their conversation, Rand began walking down the aisle leading straight to them.
"Oh, we have a customer, and he came right after the bird flew by. Awkward, the girls probably offered him a discount because of it. Money down the drain."
"That's just a novice from the Fire Dragon Sect; he won't buy anything, like all of them, for the next ten years. He probably just came to admire...," the second man replied but stopped mid-sentence, noticing the novice's attire. The novice wore the sect's robe, not the standard one but an upgraded artifact version, complemented by an impressive-looking bracelet. Both were top-quality magical artifacts. While he didn't consider such artifacts particularly valuable, he knew that excessive encouragement of young novices was forbidden in the sect. The fact that this young man had such items could only mean he had either an influential master or relatives in the sect's upper echelons. This meant he might have a chance to procure the necessary funds from his seniors in the near future. "Alright, I'll go serve him, and you stay here."
"Fine," his companion in the blue robe replied.
Finishing his conversation with his colleague, the man approached Rand, who had by then come closer.
"Young novice of the great Fire Dragon Sect, welcome to our humble menagerie. My name is Bernard. How may I assist you? But first, may I know your name?"
Rand glanced at the short, middle-aged man and thought, "A seller at the Foundation Establishment stage, not bad. Maybe there really is something worthwhile here."
"My name is Oberin. I want to see your best beasts, not low-quality trash, as I plan to acquire a companion beast and want its development to keep pace with mine in the near future. I hope you can show me a beast that will satisfy me."
"Of course, of course, please follow me. We have only the best here."
The man led Rand down a slightly curved corridor with no visible end. Its width exceeded ten meters, and its height was almost as large. Every few dozen meters, massive doors appeared on both sides of the corridor, matching the size of ordinary gates. Behind these doors were large rooms where the beasts were kept.
The man led Rand to each of the doors, opened them, and described the animals inside.
"Here we have an adult Sabertooth Tiger. Mid-level Foundation Establishment stage. It's wearing an Absolute Submission spiritual artifact collar, controlled by a paired Absolute Control ring. Wearing this ring, your every word will become a law for him, for violating which he will lose the ability to move, and at the same time unbearable pain will fall on him, which will not stop until you utter a command. However, this tiger is professionally trained, so disobedience is unlikely. With some luck, it could even reach Core Formation in the future. It costs only one hundred and twenty thousand low-quality spirit stones. It knows techniques related to strengthening the body, such as…
"Not suitable. Too weak," Rand interrupted Bernard, who had prepared a lengthy story about the tiger's advantages.
"Are you sure? What about this guest of ours?" Bernard opened another door. "An Armored Bear. Mid-level Foundation Establishment stage. It has the same collar and is also trained. With good feeding, it can reach the peak level in a couple of years. Its physical strength far surpasses that of the Sabertooth Tiger. For just one hundred and twenty-five thousand, you can —"
"Not good enough, it is too slow," Rand interrupted again, cutting off Bernard's introduction of the bear.
This was how their interaction went: they moved from room to room, examining the beasts. Bernard tried to describe each one, but Rand dismissed them as too inadequate by his standards. Gradually, Bernard showed Rand more and more powerful representatives of the animal kingdom, but no matter how good they were in Bernard's opinion, they did not suit Rand. He sought a beast strong enough to kill anyone at the Qi Condensation stage with a single strike, yet discreet and swift enough to catch the victim off guard.
"You are very picky, young novice. You've only just started cultivating, yet you have such high standards," Bernard finally expressed his opinion after showing several dozen beasts, although it contradicted trade science.
"You promised to show me the elite, but you've shown me trash that couldn't last a couple of minutes against an ordinary disciple of my sect. Is this all your so-called 'Heavenly Beasts Palace' has to offer?" Rand replied coldly, adding more indignation and coldness to his tone upon hearing Bernard's displeasure.
"Good, good, if you insist on seeing the true elite, follow me. But don't be surprised if you can't afford them." Bernard snapped his fingers, and a bottomless, wide hole appeared in the floor not far from them, from the edge of which a spiral staircase could be seen. Bernard led Rand along it until they reached one of the underground floors of the building, which was one large cave-a room inhabited by two powerful, huge beasts chained to pillars at opposite ends of the cave in order to prevent the animals from contacting and injuring each other.
"Behold. Our latest arrivals. On the right, a young Earth Devouring Serpent, and on the left, a young Red Wyvern. Both at the peak of Foundation Establishment stage, and with a few years of growth, they will easily reach Core Formation stage. Each costs two million low-quality spirit stones or twenty thousand medium-quality stones. And that's very cheap, believe me. If they were fully tamed and had suitable sacred spiritual artifact collars, their price would skyrocket. It might interest you to know that the blood of many of your deacons and elders comes from such a Red Wyvern." Bernard emphasized his last words, expecting to shock the haughty novice into realizing he was overestimating himself.
"Finally, you've shown me something somewhat worthy. Tell me more about them," Rand said, his expression unchanging in response to Bernard's provocation.
"Somewhat worthy, you say…" Bernard began irritably but then took a deep breath and composed himself. "Alright. Let me give you more details. I already mentioned their cultivation. Let's start with this little snake, the Earth Devouring Serpent, " Bernard began, pointing to the forty-meter-long snake, resembling a cross between a snake and a worm. It seemed to understand it was being discussed, glaring at the visitors and hissing loudly but not moving an inch. "Unlike most snakes that hunt exclusively on the surface, this one hunts from underground, ambushing its opponents and typically finishing any fight with one bite from its venomous fangs. Even if it fails to defeat its opponent in one strike, it's far from defenseless. It has a powerful body, comparable to many beasts who focused on strengthening the body. It also has a wide array of techniques, such as Granite Armor, Serpent Eyes, Minor Earth Manipulation, enabling it to use various simple earth techniques, and the formidable Seven-Colored Poison Cloud. This serpent is a real monster, outclassing most cultivators at the same stage.
The other beast, I think, needs no extensive introduction for you. This specific Red Wyvern was graciously provided by your sect, honorable novice. Its wingspan exceeds twenty meters. In combat potential, it rivals the Earth Devouring Serpent, though their fighting styles differ significantly. The Red Wyvern is a true terror of the skies, a creature no one wishes to encounter alone in the air. Its physical strength even surpasses that of the serpent, and it, too, possesses numerous techniques. Some of them are True Flame Breath, Dragon Might, Minor Fire Manipulation, and the incredible Inferno, with which this small dragon descendant can incinerate a small village in seconds.
I've covered the basics. A couple more points: both beasts are completely untamed. Even with a collar, it will take months of training to break their will and force obedience. We do provide such training services, though it requires effort and costs around fifty thousand spirit stones. Additionally, they need appropriate collars with control rings. Currently, we lack spare sacred spiritual artifacts, but for the time being, until they reach Core Formation, peak spiritual artifacts will suffice. They cost just two hundred thousand spirit stones.
If you purchase either, we will give you for free a spirit-grade beast pouch, capable of supporting the presence of living beings inside, and ten special pills that help animals go into deep sleep while they're in the pouches. Most animals extremely dislike being in confined spaces for long periods, especially when conscious."
Bernard's eyes showed that he did not believe at all that Rand would be able to buy someone from this pair of powerful beasts, but one could sense from his detailed description of auxiliary items for animals that there was still a glimmer of hope in him that Rand would be able to buy someone cheaper.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone