Chapter 372 — The Arrival of Shi Ying's Totem Companions
The Beast-Taming Craftsman · Page 2 of 9
"Even if the Skill Codex doesn't carry over, a totem-tier undead existence is not bad at all. If by then Eleven and the others have already been raised to myth-tier, and they carry me along as they soar, then living a few thousand or tens of thousands of years seems far from impossible."
To a man in his twenties like Shi Jin, that number was nearly eternal life.
Shi Jin muttered to himself. He had initially begrudged that this was not an enhancement-type resource, but on reflection this was a supreme resource usable on the beastmaster himself—even more remarkable.
Eating it would amount to a tremendous safeguard on his life, far steadier than the soul surgery Chitong had performed with Soulcleaver. After all, this was a resource recorded in the Third Bureau's Codex.
The Codex records of the Third Bureau and the Eleventh Bureau jointly record that in the interval between the fall of the Dragon Emperor Dynasty and the founding of the Void Emperor Dynasty, an ancient secret realm descended, drawing a vast host of overlords, totems, and human beastmasters to explore it.
In the course of that exploration, a human beastmaster of titled-legendary rank happened upon the immortal divine fruit. Without a second thought, he swallowed it himself—an act that, predictably, enraged the totem creatures, who immediately surrounded and hunted him.
Tragically, in that battle all of the titled legend's beasts perished, and the beastmaster himself died as well.
True, the fruit allowed him to reincarnate successfully, and he did gain totem-tier undead power—but alas, he was still blasted to utter annihilation.
Such was one of the recorded tales of the Fruit of Undying.
Legend has it that this titled legend was not moved by greed for the fruit's effects, but rather unwilling to let such a myth-tier resource fall into the hands of totem aliens—so he had no choice but to destroy it.
And that is but one case. The Fruit of Undying is among the most exquisite of myth-tier immortal elixirs, rich with lore, sought after by legendary emperors down through the ages.
The phoenix clan's reserves are truly bountiful... and this is only the Undying Dark Phoenix's personal collection?
At the thought of the Undying Dark Phoenix saying it knew of many secret realms of the Empress Dynasty and of the phoenix clan's legacy realms, Shi Jin's heart raced.
"If it were some other myth-tier resource... say one locked to strengthening a single attribute, or something like the Wind Qilin fossil with little practical use, it wouldn't draw so much covetousness. After all, for the Seven Nations, every house has a few myth-tier resources in its vaults. But this thing seems a bit monstrous. Let's hope all goes smoothly."
At this, recalling the legends, Shi Jin fell into thought again. He looked down from the mountain peak. At present, both Chairman Terashima of the Red God Island and that archaeologist, Shinohara Densetsu, were gritting their teeth and staring upward, desperate to climb up yet unable to, beside themselves with impatience.
"But then again," Shi Jin said, turning his gaze back to the three resources.
Never mind Huan Yang for now—at least the others hadn't seen these resources yet. So how were they supposed to store the Undying Fruit?
By this point, Shi Jin had already determined that this was a fixed-type secret realm, opened up at this fixed location through spatial power and incapable of being moved. Taking it away together with the secret realm was therefore unrealistic; they could only carry off the resources themselves.
As for the Sunflame Flowers, the third-tier Codex recorded how to harvest and preserve them: pull them up roots and all, then store them somewhere dense with the power of flame, and the resources' energy would neither wither nor dissipate for ten years.
Transplanted to a place with abundant solar energy, they could last even longer—this very spot, blanketed in sunflame, was rich in solar power.