「The next day.」
Li Changsheng got up bright and early and quickly prepared a full pot of pig feed.
Inside the Beast Valley, cooking smoke curled into the air, filling it with a tranquil atmosphere.
Li Changsheng carried a wooden bucket and walked into the beast pen.
OINK... OINK...
Without him needing to call, the two Tusked Pigs, which were clearly a full size larger, ambled up to the fence.
Li Changsheng set down the wooden bucket, his gaze fixed.
[Target: Xiaohua]
[Tier One Low-grade: 97%]
[Target: Big Flower]
[Tier One Low-grade: 99%]
He had been raising the two Tusked Pigs for over half a month, and they had both reached a critical point.
The thought that Big Flower and Xiaohua could soon advance to Tier One Mid-grade, doubling their value, made him inexplicably excited.
But the day after tomorrow was the day to turn in his sect assignment.
Li Changsheng hesitated. ’Should I let them advance now, or wait until after I turn in the assignment?’
Big Flower and Xiaohua were a few sizes larger than typical Tusked Pigs, but that could be explained away as them being naturally robust.
But once they broke through to Tier One Mid-grade, the surge in their vital energy would be hard to conceal.
Inside the pen, Big Flower and Xiaohua kept grunting, and occasionally, the piglets would squeal.
He hesitated for a moment.
SPLASH...
The sound of pig feed being poured echoed in the pen.
Li Changsheng walked out of the beast pen with the empty wooden bucket and returned to the kitchen.
Then, flames ignited in the kitchen stove, and the sound of chopping vegetables was heard once more.
Before long, Li Changsheng walked back into the beast pen, carrying a full bucket of pig feed mixed with various vegetables.
Xiaohua was lying quietly in a corner of its pen, the trough completely empty.
Big Flower paced back and forth in front of the fence, grunting nonstop.
Li Changsheng walked over to Big Flower’s pen and poured the feed from the bucket into it.
Big Flower drew near, sniffed it, grunted a couple of times, and then began to eat noisily.
After pouring the feed, Li Changsheng went to Xiaohua’s pen. He gazed at its increasingly powerful body, his eyes fixed.
[Advancing...]
In the end, he couldn’t resist the temptation—or perhaps, the curiosity—and let Xiaohua advance.
As for the possibility of being discovered, he had considered that issue as well.
When the time came, he would drive Xiaohua into a secret cave in the back mountain, eliminating the risk of discovery.
Moreover, he had discovered that as Big Flower and Xiaohua continued to eat the feed he prepared, their affinity for him grew daily, and they could even respond to simple commands.
The difference in difficulty between hiding a Tusked Pig that could obey commands and one that was naturally violent was obvious.
He observed for a moment.
Li Changsheng then left the beast pen, tidied up the kitchen briefly, and just before leaving, he thought for a moment and picked up a bamboo container from the table.
By now, the sky had brightened completely. Sunlight shone on the cliff walls, turning them a brilliant gold.
Li Changsheng strode along the main path, his eyes scanning the various beast pens. From time to time, he would stop to observe them from a distance.
The various strange Spirit Beasts being raised in the pens made him green with envy. He wished he could raise a whole flock of them himself and achieve Spirit Stone independence sooner.
Gradually, as he drew closer to the center of the Beast Valley, a gentle breeze blew past. The smell of cooking fires grew stronger, but it was overshadowed by a persistent, foul stench.
This was because as the number of surrounding beast pens increased, piles of animal dung were everywhere.
And because of the Fattening Technique, the smell after fermentation was truly beyond description.
Li Changsheng felt fortunate that his beast pen was in a remote location. Otherwise, if he stayed here for too long, he’d end up getting "pickled" by the smell.
He discreetly circulated a trace of Magical Power to block his sense of smell and continued walking forward, his expression unchanged.
At this point, the once-empty main path gradually filled with dozens of figures. Those who knew each other gathered in groups, chatting and laughing.
Of course, the majority were like Li Changsheng, walking alone.
Before long, a massive memorial archway appeared before the crowd. The words "Beast Valley Marketplace" were emblazoned upon it, shining brightly.
Li Changsheng stared at it, his eyes in a daze.
He remembered that when he first entered the Beast Valley a year ago and passed by the archway, it had no words on it, and he hadn’t known its purpose.
Coming back now, he realized it marked the location of the annual Beast Valley trading event.
Without stopping, he continued on as the flow of people on the main path grew ever larger.
Li Changsheng observed carefully and noticed that most of the people had curious expressions, as if this were their first time at the Beast Valley Marketplace.
This confirmed for him that most of them were disciples who had been in the valley for less than a year, here to broaden their horizons, just like him.
As he got closer to the archway, a clamor of noisy chatter gradually reached his ears.
Li Changsheng glanced over and was inwardly astonished.
’The Beast Valley Marketplace truly lives up to its name,’ he thought.
Starting from the archway, a five-meter-wide path stretched out, its end nowhere in sight.
Both sides were lined with stalls of various sizes, selling all sorts of things. From what Li Changsheng could see in a single glance, there were no fewer than a hundred of them.
By this time, quite a few people were already browsing the stalls.
Li Changsheng followed the flow of people through the archway and turned toward the first stall on the left.
The stall consisted of a rectangular wooden cage, about three meters long, containing nearly twenty Tusked Pig piglets.
When Li Changsheng saw the stall owner’s face, his expression faltered slightly.
"Senior Brother Mu!"
Behind the stall, Mu Feng, who was standing with his arms crossed, heard the voice and turned his head. He looked slightly taken aback when he saw Li Changsheng, but then gave a slight nod.
Seeing his old neighbor, Li Changsheng didn’t hurry away. He walked up and examined the piglets in the wooden cage. Judging by their size, they were about a month old and all very lively.
Li Changsheng praised, "Senior Brother Mu, you’ve raised these piglets really well. Every one of them is robust and plump."
"Mm."
Mu Feng grunted softly, paused for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "Your Tusked Pigs have given birth too, right? Do you have enough to turn in for the sect assignment?"
Li Changsheng paused for a second, then nodded. "I have enough. And thank you for the talismans, Senior Brother."
Mu Feng said flatly, "I sold them to you."
Li Changsheng smiled and cupped his hands. "It’s all the same. Next year, when this Junior Brother’s pockets are a little fuller, I’ll be sure to treat you to a drink, Senior Brother."
Mu Feng shook his head slightly and said nothing.
Seeing this, Li Changsheng decided not to disturb his business any further. He bid farewell and turned to walk toward the other stalls.
Mu Feng watched his retreating back, his gaze flickering.
Li Changsheng scanned the stalls one by one. Most of them were selling Tier One Low-grade Spirit Beast cubs.
Such as Tusked Pigs, grouse, Desert Wolves, white rats, Red Foxes, and so on...
A few stalls displayed an assortment of miscellaneous items: tree branches with strange-looking bark, smooth and transparent stones, and small blades of grass with serrated edges.
At first, Li Changsheng curiously examined them, but they turned out to be just ordinary stones, branches, and weeds. Still, they did contribute some information to his ’Eye of Cultivation’.
He continued on his way, and soon, he stopped in front of a certain stall.
On the stall were three Red Fox cubs, entirely pink and adorably fluffy.
"Excuse me, Senior Sister, how many Spirit Stones for one Red Fox cub?" Li Changsheng asked.
The stall owner was a beautiful woman. She looked Li Changsheng up and down, and upon sensing his Qi Cultivation First Layer aura, she immediately shook her head.
"You can’t afford it."