728 Making the Phoenix Egg Accept a Master

This answer was like a jarring blow to the stomach, and An Lin was immediately knocked breathless.

"Holy f*ck! You're about to f*cking lose, and you still act all confident?" An Lin was shocked.

Bai Ling shrugged with a smile. "I'm confident in my imminent loss, how about that?"

An Lin grimaced upon hearing this. "You're about to lose this research institute. How could you be so calm and collected?"

Bai Ling's expression remained tranquil upon hearing this. "What else can I do? I can't beat Black Spirit Snake, so I can only settle for second."

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault…" An Lin apologized with a guilty expression.

He had barged into this place before being trapped by the silver Gundam and the demonic baby. If it wasn't for Bai Ling's intervention, he would most likely have died then and there. However, from Black Spirit Snake's words, he could deduce that Bai Ling's intervention might have cost her dearly in the race for control over this place.

"Don't apologize to me." Bai Ling waved a hand and said, "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have decided to explore this world again. Research institutes and things like that aren't that important. It would be fortunate if I did manage to gain control, but it's not a tragedy for me to lose."

Hmm, is she implying that I'm more important than the research institutes?

An Lin thought to himself, and the notion made him feel even guiltier…

"Oh, right, we can't hand over the phoenix egg to them." Bai Ling turned her eyes on the box slung across An Lin's back and said, "After all, that is the most valuable item the Purple Star Phoenix Research Institute has to offer. I'll teach you a spell formation to carve onto the egg, after which you can drip a drop of your blood essence onto it, thereby taming it and urging it to accept you as its master!

"Heh, if someone else got their hand on this egg, they wouldn't be able to do anything with it anyway. It's exactly because of this that Black Spirit Snake was in no hurry to recover it.

"However, the person who ended up with the phoenix egg is you, and you ended up meeting me. Perhaps this is fate…" A hint of sadness appeared in Bai Ling's eyes as if she was reminiscing about past events.

An Lin was a little hesitant upon hearing this. "Big Sister Bai, this phoenix egg is so valuable; are you really willing to just give it to me?"

From what she had just said, An Lin could deduce that this egg also belonged to the Purple Star. Hence it was a bit surprising to him that Bai Ling would try to help him establish a connection with the egg.

"This is an opportunity for you, so stop being so hesitant," Bai Ling snapped as her expression darkened.

An Lin nodded sheepishly upon hearing this before another thought occurred to him. "What if I take this egg for myself, and Nuwa's forces decide to hunt me down for it?"

Bai Ling: "… Good question! I've decided that I'm not giving the egg to you anymore; I'll keep it for myself!"

"No, I'll take it!" An Lin's expression immediately shifted as he spoke in a firm voice.

Holy sh*t! He had almost died several times and forked out a ton of money for this egg, so he couldn't just let it slip away from him!

Bai Ling burst into laughter as her eyes rippled with mirth. "People like you need to be more honest with yourselves! Don't worry, Black Spirit Snake is not that petty. If the phoenix has accepted a master, then she can only let it go. She's not going to stoop to things like murder and robbery."

An Lin nodded upon hearing this. He had encountered Black Spirit Snake once and knew that she wasn't the type of person to abuse her power and do whatever she wanted. She should be quite a reasonable person. Yes, that should be the case…

A wisp of divine intent entered his mind, carrying with it information on how to tame the phoenix as well as the spell formation involved.

An Lin crawled out from the coffin before carefully bringing the phoenix egg out from the White Fox Divine Box before carving a spell formation onto its surface according to Bai Ling's instructions.

After completing the spell formation, a scintillating light burst forth from the golden egg, and it appeared to be trembling slightly.

At the same time, a monstrous aura began to proliferate outward, as if an unbelievably terrifying giant beast was slowly awakening.

An Lin fought against the pressure before making a series of hand seals to establish a beast pet contract and dripping a drop of blood essence onto the egg.

Sizzle…

The blood essence was absorbed by the egg, and the scintillating light died down as its aura also began to withdraw.

Thus, a connection was forged between An Lin and the golden egg.

Within his sea of vital energy, the white vermilion bird let loose a joyful cry as if it were celebrating something.

An Kirin sat atop the little whale's head and yawned before turning to look up at the excited vermilion bird. With confusion etched on his face, he wondered what the hell it was smoking.

An Lin blinked blankly at the golden egg, from which there was no reaction. "Is that it?"

Bai Ling nodded in reply. "Yes. Now, all that's left is to wait for it to hatch!"

"How do I hatch it? Can I use my Divine Flames to warm it up a bit?" An Lin asked with a curious expression.

Bai Ling's eyes widened in shock. "Are you insane? This is an egg!"

Da Bai was also shocked. "Big Brother An, are you trying to make the phoenix follow in the footsteps of our little brother? Woof!"

An Lin scratched his head. "Aren't phoenixes all reborn amid a sea of flames? I was thinking maybe I could feed it some fire…"

Bai Ling: "… Please stop being such an idiot!"

Dong Guo's interest was piqued by something else. "Who is this younger brother you're talking about?"

An Lin and Da Bai fell silent at his question.

This was a dark chapter in their history that should never be brought up again.

"Big Brother An, Little Na is number five, Little Tian is number six, does that mean the phoenix will be number seven? Woof!" Da Bai asked with excitement.

"That's right!" An Lin's eyes lit up as his mind followed another train of thought, and he said, "I finally have a seventh beast pet. We can form a team of seven Cabalash Siblings!"

"Grandpa, grandpa! Let's go capture the snake spirit! Woof!" Da Bai said in a tender voice as he looked up at An Lin with his big, watery eyes while wagging his tongue.

Previously, when he accompanied An Lin to the mortal world, he had seen the story about the seven Cabalash Siblings, so he immediately knew what An Lin was referring to.

"Alright! Where is the snake spirit? I will teach it a lesson!" An Lin replied in a heavy voice, which held a remarkable resemblance to the voice of the old man in the story.

"Grandpa, the snake spirit is on that rock over there! Woof!" With a wicked smile, Da Bai turned to Bai Ling, who was standing within the barrier of blue light.

"Nice! We've got an old man, seven Cabalash Siblings, and a snake spirit!" An Lin exclaimed in amazement as he too turned to Bai Ling.

Bai Ling: "…"

Shivers ran down An Lin and Da Bai's spines.

There's a killing intent!

Dong Guo opened his mouth, only to have it shut again. He discovered he had been completely ignored and that no one had paid attention to what he had just said.

He pulled his clothes more tightly around his body as a grief-stricken expression appeared on his face.

This world really was too cold and too cruel. He couldn't feel even a single hint of warmth…

"Big Brother An, what are you going to name the phoenix? Woof!" The overwhelming killing intent wafting through the air forced Da Bai to change the topic.

"That's a good question… Should I call it Little Feng, or Little Huang…" An Lin stroked his chin in deep thought.

Bai Ling couldn't help but interject, "There's no thought behind a name like that."

"Alright… Why don't we call it Little Huang? Huang as in yellow!" An Lin's eyes lit up as a figurative lightbulb switched on above his head.

Bai Ling: "…"

Da Bai: "…"

"Are you sure you're not mistaking this phoenix for a pet dog?" Dong Guo was shocked.

A high and mighty divine beast was going to be named Little Huang?

His outlook on the cultivation world was flipped on its head again!This is referring to a story in China about seven children who grew from bottle gourds and their adventures with their grandpa.Phoenix = feng huang in Chinese, so he's basically tossing up between the two characters that comprise phoenix.