Ye Jiao chose to just pick some weird looking herbs around her. She wasn"t sure of their worth and use, but they might be precious, so she would pick some of them. On the other hand, Qin Zheng was still busy hunting for stones. Apparently there were a lot of ores scattering around.People who came to this place didn"t realize that they had ignored a treasure.
"Why are you picking so many useless herbs?" Qin Zheng frowned when he noticed the batch of gra.s.ses, flowers, and many others in Ye Jiao"s hand.
"Well, I just thought that they might have some use."
"If you want to create some low level pills, they are pretty useful but the amount is severely lacking," Qin Zheng scratched his head.
"Wait, you know their use?"
"Yeah? They"re common in my hometown."
Now, Ye Jiao was speechless. The herbs that she saw here so far were those rare herbs. Even though she was unfamiliar with many of them, she could guess based on the high concentration of Eon Energy from the herbs she had seen so far. She picked one of the gra.s.ses that she picked and showed it to Qin Zheng. "Then, can you tell me what"s the use of this one?"
"It has the basic water properties and is known as the basic material for water attribute pills."
"How about this one?"
"That"s…"
After asking a lot of questions to Qin Zheng, Ye Jiao came to realize that almost all of the herbs she picked were common herbs that can be found anywhere. Still, she decided to keep them all in her storage bracelet should they have some use. There was nothing wrong with picking them.
Hours pa.s.sed as the two of them continued this hunting game. Zhan Jing didn"t partic.i.p.ate because he didn"t have any interest in herbs or stones. Aside from striding around to look here and there, he didn"t do anything.
"There"s a lake nearby," Zhan Jing pointed to the front. "Do you want to take a short bath?"
"Bath?" Ye Jiao"s eyes lit up. She wanted to have a bath if it was possible since they have been traveling for hours without much rest. Thankfully, they have the basic food and water for their necessity.
Qin Zheng looked over to the direction Zhan Jing pointed. "Sounds fun."
"You want to take a bath too?"
"There"s nothing wrong with it, right? Shall we go together?"
"…Excuse me?"
Zhan Jing didn"t know whether to laugh or cry seeing Ye Jiao"s reddened face, angry and embarra.s.sed. He thought that she didn"t receive any education for a young girl, seeing how she lived by herself for the past two or so years. It seemed like she already had the basic mastered.
Qin Zheng tilted his head. "Isn"t it normal to take a bath in the lake together?"
"It"s not for women and men!"
"Women?" Qin Zheng directed his gaze slightly down. He shook his head slightly. "Can you even be categorized as a woman?"
Swis.h.!.+ Clang!
Ye Jiao summoned her dagger far faster than usual as she thrusted it towards Qin Zheng"s direction. He blocked it with ease using a secret weapon that he hid inside his sleeve. His lips curled up into a smirk.
"Who"s the one who loves to attack other people randomly now?"
"That"s because you"re insulting me," Ye Jiao glared. "You"re not allowed to go there until I"m finished bathing."
"Oh? You"re the one who decides?"
"Yes, I am."
Seeing the dangerous glint on Ye Jiao"s eyes, Qin Zheng chose to back down. He kept away his hidden weapon as he directed his gaze back to the ground, searching for another rock. In any case, there was nothing interesting with this young girl, so he would not even bother peeking on her.
"Fine, there"s nothing interesting to see anyway."
Somehow, Ye Jiao has the urge to strike her dagger into this young man once again. Hadn"t he learned the difference between girls and boys? Well, she knew that she hadn"t undergone her p.u.b.erty as she was only 11, but it should be normal. This made her wonder what kind of education he had received up until now.
"Master, I"ll be going now," Ye Jiao bid her farewell as she dashed towards the lake. Looking at the clear water, her eyes sparkled. It was amazing to see that there could be a lake inside this water-like environment.
While Ye Jiao was enjoying her bath session, Qin Zheng had forgotten all about her as he focused his attention to look for another interesting rock. He came here because he had heard about the existence of these rocks, so he would gather as much as possible before getting out of this place.
"Qin Zheng, I didn"t know that you like to tease a girl."
"Tease?" Qin Zheng looked back. "I"m just saying what"s common in my hometown."
Zhan Jing was speechless. "What"s your age when you take a bath in the river along with the other children?"
"I should be 3 or so? I don"t really remember."
"…"
How could you say that it"s common when you don"t even remember?
Feeling that his mind would be roasted if he pursued this topic, Zhan Jing focused his attention elsewhere. He still had to wait for Qi Huan to finish getting his inheritance. That was only if he managed to get it.
At the lake, Ye Jiao didn"t take a long time to take a bath. Once finished, she walked to the sh.o.r.e and dressed again. Her eyes noticed a large rock near the lake. It was placed on top of lush bushes and gra.s.ses. It was blue and silver in color, looking beautiful and enchanting.
There was some trace of blood on the ground nearby, but not a single drop was on the rock itself. However, they had dried up as if they were already there for a long time.
"Is it another rock like what Qin Zheng has gathered?"
Feeling curious, Ye Jiao picked up the rock. To her surprise, it was quite heavy. With its size nearly half of her own body, Ye Jiao carried the strange "rock" to the location of the other two.
"You sure take your time," Qin Zheng remarked. He arched his eyebrows when he saw the large "rock" that Ye Jiao brought. "Where did you find that egg?"
"Egg?" Ye Jiao was stunned to hear that word. "You"re telling me that this is an egg?"
"With its shape, I thought you"ll instantly know that it"s an egg."
"I thought an egg is only at the size of your palm?"
"…Do you think every beast egg is the size of a chicken?" Qin Zheng walked closer and looked at the egg closely. "Considering the thick concentration of Eon Energy inside, it should be an egg, but it"ll still take a long time for it to hatch."
"What"s inside?"
"I don"t know," Qin Zheng frowned. Anything could be inside because this place has traces of several kinds of beast. He couldn"t say for sure which beast had left this egg near the lake. Come again, what kind of stupid beast would leave their egg unattended while they were going elsewhere?
Ye Jiao looked at the egg and then to her Master. "Master, can I keep it?"
Zhan Jing"s lips twitched. "Don"t blame me if its mother tries to find it and is unable to do so because you already take it."
"But, it"s left alone," Ye Jiao replied. "And there"s some trace of dried blood nearby."
"Blood?" Zhan Jing frowned. It might be possible that the egg was left behind because its parents were attacked. He sighed. "Fine, you can keep it by sealing a blood contract."
"What"s a blood contract?"
"It"s a contract you can sign between beast and human. Normally, it"s initiated when the beast chooses to submit to you, but if the beast is still in the egg form, you only need to give a drop of your blood to form a connection with it. Once it hatches, it"ll directly recognize you as its master," Zhan Jing explained carefully.
Ye Jiao frowned. "Does it mean, it can"t reject me?"
"It can"t."
"But what if it doesn"t want to be my beast?"
"You can cancel the contract in the future," Zhan Jing sighed. "You just have to cut off your connection with the beast if you wish to cancel it in the future and then, you won"t be its master anymore."
"I see. I"m making my contract, then."
Ye Jiao bit her finger to the point that it bled before she put it on top of the egg. One drop of blood fell on top of the egg before it shone brightly. In the next second, it returned back to normal, but Ye Jiao could feel the connection she had with the egg. It was weird. Kind of similar to the loyalty contract she had with Wei Liao but this time, it was far tighter and warmer.
"Congratulations on getting your first beast, Ye Jiao."