LAVW – Chapter 38 Do You Sell Spirit Beasts?

After being jolted around for a while, Shi Qian quickly jumped down from Xu Miao’s thin little shoulders as soon as he stopped.

It seemed that his Brother Ye was truly steady and calm by nature.

Even when running, he remained stable.

Shi Qian had never experienced such intense jolting before—especially since Xu Miao wasn’t even running that fast.

While Shi Qian was holding his head in his hands, Xu Miao’s attempt to rescue the goat’s milk ended in failure.

When he lifted the lid, a strong burnt smell immediately filled the air.

The goats in the pen were visibly disgusted and began bleating loudly, especially the ram, which bleated the loudest.

Hearing this, Xu Rui asked, “Xu Miao, how about we roast some lamb tonight?”

It seemed that Xu Miao really was the one raising the goats—and he held the power of life and death over them.

Xu Miao generously replied, “Alright, but just one. Otherwise, there won’t be enough milk for the tavern.”

This was Xu Miao’s only significant source of income, so he took it very seriously.

Hearing her younger brother’s serious tone, Xu Rui’s heart softened.

Her little brother was really quite thoughtful—he knew how hard things were for her, so he raised spirit goats to sell their milk and earn spirit stones.

But how much could a child really earn? The quality of the spirit goats at home wasn’t that high either—barely enough to cover some pocket money.

Xu Rui looked at the wound on her brother’s body and decided she would need to talk to him about it tonight.

Recently, the number of outsiders coming to Ten Thousand Beasts City had increased dramatically, and the surge in foot traffic brought many business opportunities. A lot of clever children had started running to the city gates to make money off the outsiders.

Xu Rui figured that Xu Miao must have heard about this and followed the other children to the gate to try his luck.

But more strangers also meant more instability and danger. Xu Rui couldn’t help but worry.

After getting permission from the shepherd, Xu Rui didn’t immediately start roasting the lamb.

Instead, she took out a bottle of medicinal pills and two vials of medicine. She also released her injured Red Spirit Sparrow from its spirit beast pouch and fed it the pill.

“Chirp—”

The small red sparrow let out a delicate call, rubbed its head against Xu Rui’s hand twice, and then pecked the pill into its beak.

After taking the pill, Xu Rui also gave Huo some of the medicinal liquid.

Shi Qian noticed that the pretty sister was so focused on taking care of her spirit beast that she had completely forgotten about him.

Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity for him?

Shi Qian jumped onto the table and skillfully pulled out a pill bottle.

Long Ye, who had been following behind, immediately stepped in and pressed down on Brother Qian’s hand. “Don’t mess around. Pills aren’t something you can just hand out carelessly.”

They had just met her—it wasn’t like they were old friends. How could he just give her medicine so casually?

There’s an old saying: Don’t speak too deeply when the relationship is shallow.

Long Ye felt like all the lessons he had drilled into Brother Qian had gone to waste. One of the rules was clear—Don’t play the good guy and try to save people. You might end up getting tricked.

It’s not uncommon for people to fake injuries, gain the sympathy of cultivators, and then turn around to rob and kill them.

Shi Qian  Squeaked, “Squeak Squeak”

Brother Ye, just look at the bottle first.

Long Ye glanced at the bottle and saw the label—”Nurturing Spirit Pill.”

This type of pill could treat all sorts of minor ailments. The grade of the pill in Shi Qian’s hand wasn’t that high, so it wouldn’t be very effective for someone at the Foundation Establishment stage, but it wouldn’t cause any harm either.

Shi Qian obviously knew that you shouldn’t hand out medicine casually.

Xu Rui wasn’t his Sister Lizhi, with whom he was close. And Long Ye had already established a bit of a connection. Xu Rui was clearly in good condition, so giving her the pill was simply a way to gain some favor.

Long Ye: …

It seemed like Shi Qian had learned the lesson—but also kind of hadn’t.

Seeing that Long Ye didn’t stop him, Shi Qian took it as silent approval. He hugged the jade pill bottle and handed it to Xu Rui again.

“Squeak Squeak”

You should take it too.

The pill bottle wasn’t very big—definitely smaller than Shi Qian—so he could still see Xu Rui and the Red Spirit Sparrow’s shocked expressions clearly.

The Red Spirit Sparrow was utterly stunned.

It never imagined that a spirit beast would actually offer medicine to a human!

Xu Rui was also shocked and stammered, “Th-thank you, little spirit beast.” Her tone even softened.

Xu Miao, watching from the side, proudly introduced, “Sis, this is Brother Qian—call him Brother Qian!”

Being cared for twice in a row, how could Xu Rui not be touched? Without hesitation, she accepted the pill and pulled out a red spirit fruit. “Brother Qian, you gave me medicine, so I’ll treat you to this.”

Technically, she should have offered something better to Long Ye, but she was saving up her spirit stones to treat her brother’s illness, so she couldn’t afford to be generous.

The only things she was willing to spend money on were her spirit beast and her brother.

The red spirit fruit was the most suitable thing she had on her right now.

It was a bit expensive, and Xu Rui had originally been reluctant to spend her spirit stones. But since Shi Qian was so thoughtful, she suddenly felt happy to give it away.

As soon as the red spirit fruit was pulled out of the storage space, a thin red mist swirled around it, radiating strong fire-element spiritual energy.

The Red Spirit Sparrow  Chirped, ” Chirp!”

That’s my fruit!

Xu Rui smiled and nudged her sparrow, then said to Shi Qian, “This is Huo. You two can eat it together or play together.”

Shi Qian watched the Red Spirit Sparrow’s defeated expression, then obediently nodded.

Had he accidentally… gotten caught up in this little red bird’s territory?

Oops. 😅

Shi Qian didn’t think of himself as a greedy spirit beast. He generously pushed the plate with the fruit toward the Red Spirit Sparrow.

“ Squeak”

You eat it.

After settling the little red bird, Shi Qian looked toward Xu Rui and pointed at the ram.

“Squeak.”

I’ll just have roast lamb.

Xu Rui didn’t say anything. She downed two tubes of medicine and turned to slaughter the sheep.

Xu Miao said proudly, “My sister is really good at slaughtering sheep. One clean strike and it’s done. I’m pretty good at roasting it too.”

Shi Qian watched with his own eyes as Xu Rui ended the ram’s life with a single slash.

Then, the Red Spirit Sparrow breathed out a streak of fire, and the sheep’s wool coat instantly burned away, revealing clean white skin underneath. Within minutes, the sheep was completely gutted and ready to be seasoned.

When Shi Qian didn’t understand what was happening, Xu Miao provided a helpful commentary.

“See how white the sheep’s skin is? First, you freeze it with a layer of ice. That way, when the fire is applied, the ice melts at just the right moment and keeps the skin from burning.”

Long Ye complimented, “That’s a clever trick.”

Roasting the lamb would take some time, so Xu Rui prepared a few other dishes as well. She didn’t do everything herself, though—she made sure to give Xu Miao some tasks to keep him involved. The little guy was having the time of his life.

After sending Xu Miao to the neighboring house to get some liquor, Xu Rui returned to the roasting stand.

Shi Qian was staring intently at the roasting lamb when he noticed that the atmosphere had suddenly become awkwardly quiet.

He had been too focused on the food and hadn’t realized that Xu Miao was gone and that Huo had already gone back into the spirit beast pouch to recover after eating the fruit. That left only Xu Rui and Long Ye awkwardly facing each other.

But just then, Xu Rui broke the silence and asked, “Brother Ye, were you in the Golden Core stage before?”

Long Ye thought of Wang Xingzhi’s situation, which did match Xu Rui’s assumption—but he himself wasn’t at that level.

So Long Ye shook his head and replied, “No, I was at the Qi Refining stage.”

It was the truth—but it also sounded a bit like a dark joke. Shi Qian had to hold back a laugh.

Xu Rui was stunned for a moment.

Isn’t every Foundation Establishment cultivator someone who started from the Qi Refining stage?

She adjusted her tone and said seriously, “You know, I used to say that I was the strongest below the Golden Core stage in this city. I’ve fought over 200 matches and never lost a single one.”

Long Ye wasn’t sure what she was trying to say, so he just responded simply, “Impressive.”

“But I guess there’s always someone better out there.” Xu Rui decided to believe that Long Ye was just an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. She sighed, “I guess I’ve been relying too much on Huo’s Vermilion Bird bloodline to suppress the other cultivators in this city.”

Shi Qian curiously  Squeaked, “ Squeak?”

There’s really a Vermilion Bird?

Long Ye explained, “The Vermilion Bird is one of the Four Sacred Beasts of legend. But the Vermilion Birds we talk about nowadays are likely the royal lineage of the Red Spirit Sparrows. It’s said that the bloodline of the royal Red Spirit Sparrows carries traces of phoenix energy.”

Ohhh, I see.

Shi Qian, feeling clever, played around with the idea and Squeaked,

“Squeak Squeak”

We also have dragon blood. Your name is Long Ye (Dragon Leaf), and my name is Long Mao (Dragon Cat).

Long Ye laughed. “That’s not even the same type of dragon.”

Xu Rui asked, “What dragon?”

“I’m Long Ye. My surname is Long (Dragon),” Long Ye said, pointing at Shi Qian. “And he named himself Long Mao (Dragon Cat). Brother Qian seems to think that this ‘dragon’ is similar to the phoenix energy in Huo’s bloodline.”

“Haha, maybe that’s exactly the case.” Xu Rui laughed.

“Actually, that’s how Huo got his name too. I’m Xin (heart), my brother is Shui (water), so we named him Huo (fire).”

Shi Qian: Everyone else is drunk, but I alone am sober.

Only he knew that Long Ye genuinely had dragon blood in his veins.

He had to keep that secret hidden. In the future, he’d become a legendary prophet and shock the entire cultivation world.

When Xu Miao returned with the liquor, he saw everyone laughing—and more importantly, his sister was laughing too. That made him even happier.

He had been worried that his sister would scold him for sneaking out. But now that he had brought Brother Qian and Brother Ye back, the problem seemed to have resolved itself.

The young boy didn’t know that after they finished eating the roast lamb, he was still going to get scolded.

An hour later, after helping clean up the area, Long Ye found a lounge chair, stretched out on it, and lazily gazed up at the stars.

Shi Qian lay spread out on his human pillow, limbs sprawled in every direction. He didn’t want to move.

He was completely stuffed.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Xu Miao was drinking a body-stabilizing potion. With every sip, he felt like he was swallowing a pile of spirit stones.

The bitterness in his mouth was made worse by the sound of his sister’s scolding in his ears.

“Xu Miao, didn’t I already tell you not to get involved? Why did you still go?”

“You got hurt today, didn’t you? If no one had helped you, do you realize how worried I would’ve been if something worse had happened?”

Xu Miao honestly admitted his mistake. “I’m sorry, Sis. I know I was wrong.”

“But I wasn’t trying to make some spirit stones by helping people find inns. I told them I knew about the auction house! If someone sells something there, you’d be able to get a commission!”

That’s where the real money is. This was Xu Miao’s clever plan.

Xu Rui hadn’t expected her brother to be thinking so far ahead.

She handed him a cup of honey water infused with spiritual energy and softened her tone.

“That’s my fault. I didn’t know the whole story, and I blamed you unfairly. I’m sorry. But the city gate is too crowded and dangerous—it really isn’t the right place for you, right? How about we talk to Aunt Hua and Brother Xiong, who run the inn, and help them promote their place instead? That’s actually a really smart idea.”

“Still, it was mostly my fault.” Xu Miao sipped the honey water and brightened up at the thought of being helpful.

Shi Qian’s ears perked up when he heard Xu Miao’s simple, cheerful laughter.

He rolled over and began to seriously think about the next steps.

The problem with saving people was that Xu Rui lacked spirit stones.

Long Ye originally didn’t have any spirit stones either. But during the auction event, when a young master from a cultivation family harassed Xu Rui and bullied the “poor boy” Long Ye, the young master eventually ended up flat on his back.

Long Ye got injured in the process but also gained a large number of spirit stones.

Xu Rui, who had been struggling to gather enough spirit stones, was so touched that Long Ye had gotten hurt for her sake that she took out the spirit stones she had been saving and used them to buy healing pills for Long Ye.

In return, Long Ye—grateful for her help—bought the precious spiritual medicine that Xu Miao needed to survive, spending a fortune in spirit stones to save his life.

That was the mini plotline. No need to mention the senior cultivators for now.

Shi Qian figured that spirit stones weren’t a problem anymore—thanks to the hard work of “Miner Cat” (himself) and “Miner Boy” (Long Ye).

With a portion of the Star Silver Ores they had, they could sell them for quite a bit of spirit stones.

Another problem was the annoying second-generation cultivators (Xiu Er Dai).

It’s not a crime to be beautiful, but there are always people who think they’re entitled to claim that beauty—and they even act like they’re doing you a favor. Those guys seriously deserved a beating.

But fights and killings always carry a huge risk. Shi Qian knew he was weak, so he would absolutely avoid getting involved if he could help it.

He was very clear about his own role: a freeloading treasure-hunting mouse—not a combat master.

Survive today, improve tomorrow, and live to see a better world.

But how could they avoid the second-generation cultivators?

Xu Rui had to work, and since the auction was bound to attract trouble-seeking cannon fodder, they were bound to run into some issues.

Shi Qian hadn’t figured out the answer yet. He couldn’t remember any specific details, and before he could think too hard about it, Xu Miao dragged him off to watch him comb the sheep’s wool.

Later, Shi Qian sprawled out and enjoyed himself too.

In his dream…

“Squeak.”

I need to buy a wool comb.

Long Ye, still cultivating in the middle of the night: …I really want to drag him up to cultivate together.

But younglings need sleep. Long Ye decided he could tolerate it for a few more years before forcing Brother Qian to train with him.

Ever since he came out of the Heavenly Dao Pool, Long Ye had discovered a significant advantage—he no longer needed to sleep. Cultivating alone was enough to keep his energy up.

More time for cultivation meant becoming even stronger.

Long Ye remembered the wool comb and continued meditating under the starlight.

The Next Day Xu Rui took the day off and decided to show her brother and Long Ye around before the auction started. It was only right to play host.

“Where do you want to go?”

When Xu Rui asked, Xu Miao was the first to respond.

“To the flying field!”

Aside from long-distance flights, the flying field in Ten Thousand Beasts City offered other services too. No youngling in the Qi Refining stage could resist the temptation of soaring through the sky and experiencing the thrill of a Golden Core cultivator.

Xu Rui coldly rejected the idea. “No. It’s bad for your health.”

Xu Rui had already heard that the most crucial medicine needed to heal her brother would appear at this large auction.

If she could gather enough spirit stones, she could use an internal purchasing channel to buy it directly without having to bid against other people.

With that last spiritual medicine—combined with the previous stock she had collected—it might barely be enough to create a treatment to heal her brother completely.

But the problem was—she didn’t have enough spirit stones. Not even close.

Unless she got extremely lucky and managed to gather enough spirit stones before the medicine was auctioned off. The most realistic way would be to earn a high commission through the auction—but that depended entirely on luck. All she could do was hope for good fortune.

Xu Rui didn’t want to tell her brother about this. She didn’t want to risk disappointing him. But at the same time, she held onto hope, quietly praying that things would work out.

Since her brother’s health was at stake, she wanted to keep his body in the best possible condition—free from stress and injury.

Xu Miao simply responded with an “Oh.” He had already figured out it wasn’t going to happen, so he wasn’t disappointed. He immediately suggested another idea.

“Then how about the Secret Realm Exhibition Hall! It’s super popular with tourists, and it’s really fun.”

“The exhibition hall is a good idea.” Xu Rui nodded approvingly. “It was remodeled from a real secret realm—only Ten Thousand Beasts City has something like it. They even have areas for spirit beasts to play. The curator is really good at making money.”

Since both siblings recommended it—and because it was a remodeled secret realm—Shi Qian and Long Ye, who both had a strong interest in secret realms, naturally wanted to check it out.

Both of them were secretly making their own calculations but arrived at the same conclusion.

Long Ye: Brother Qian is a lucky treasure-hunting mouse—who knows, he might stumble upon something valuable in the secret realm.

Shi Qian: Long Ye is a destined overpowered dragon (Long Aotian). How could they possibly miss out on a treasure-finding arc?

The group excitedly arrived at the entrance of the Secret Realm Exhibition Hall and paid the entry fee of 100 spirit stones each—including the spirit beasts.

After paying, a faintly glowing red mark appeared on Long Ye’s hand, infused with spiritual energy.

Shi Qian specifically requested that his red mark be stamped on his forehead. He quietly admired how good he looked with it, but he didn’t mention it out loud.

Xu Miao copied him, and then Xu Rui and Huo also marked their foreheads.

Maybe it was because of the sour mood from yesterday, but today Huo insisted on copying Shi Qian and perched on Xu Rui’s head.

With the red mark in place, Huo let out a proud Chirp flapped his wings, and looked smugly at the white furball.

Then Xu Rui pulled him down and held him in her arms, raising her other hand in warning. “Huo, don’t copy Brother Qian! If you keep grabbing my hair, I’ll smack you!”

Shi Qian lowered his head, side-eyeing the dejected little red bird. Then he refused to budge and insisted on staying perched on Long Ye’s head, provoking Huo with a Squeak:

“Squeak Squeak.”

I’m standing higher, so I have a better view.

Long Ye chuckled. “Don’t grab my hair, or I’ll pull you down.”

Shi Qian  Squeaked smugly. “Squeak Squeak.”

I’m just stepping on it.

Having been human before, Shi Qian knew how valuable hair was—he wouldn’t really mess with Long Ye’s hair.

Of course, Shi Qian forgot that when it comes to a destined overpowered dragon, unexpected trouble is the norm.

Entering the Exhibition Hall, There were two entrances after they passed through the main gate.

The guard glanced at their group and kindly pointed toward the entrance marked “Highly Safe.”

Xu Miao muttered under his breath, “So it’s the nursery zone.”

He’d heard that the other side had more thrilling activities, but his sister never took him there. Since he was a well-behaved kid, he didn’t try sneaking over by himself.

The entrance they were directed to was the so-called “nursery zone”—less exciting, but it had play areas for spirit beasts, which made it a popular spot for spirit beast cubs. Some of them would even set fire to their own homes just to come here.

As soon as they stepped inside, they were transported to the first zone.

This area… seemed to be dedicated to displaying the various ways in which spirit beasts became addicted to games.

Xu Rui took the initiative to explain, “This place offers daycare services for spirit beasts below the Golden Core stage, as well as for spirit beast cubs. The fee is high, but it’s worth it. The spirit beasts can play here for days without needing supervision. If someone is going on a short adventure and can’t find anyone to look after their spirit beast, they’ll bring them here.”

Shi Qian: …

Isn’t this basically a high-end daycare center for humans and a luxury pet boarding service combined?

Shi Qian wandered around and added another note to his internal commentary—it’s basically a zoo.

For example, in the flying beast area, a group of colorful little birds were learning how to sing. Their chirping sounded like a children’s choir—pretty cute, actually. There was even a thoughtful soundproof barrier set up nearby, so Shi Qian and Xu Miao had to step closer to hear it clearly.

Some areas were more chaotic. Some human cultivators were organizing fair sparring matches between their spirit beasts—probably because they had too much energy to burn.

In another area, young cubs were splashing around in a large blue lake, sending water everywhere—

Of course, the bathing zone didn’t only have water. It also had mud pits, swamps, and even a volcano…

Outside that area, Long Ye bought Shi Qian a wool comb and also picked up a large golden bowl.

But the moment Shi Qian saw the golden bowl, he completely forgot about the wool comb. He jumped into the bowl, tested it out, and then stored it in his inventory.

He might have lost his silver nest, but now he had a golden one.

A bit of a loss, but also a win.

The golden bowl’s material wasn’t as good as Star Silver Ores, but Shi Qian had once been a mere mortal—and mortals naturally love gold.

Long Ye silently picked up the forgotten wool comb.

Xu Rui also bought a few things and exclaimed, “The curator really knows how to make spirit stones!”

Shi Qian thought that phrase sounded familiar—especially after hearing it a second and third time.

Wasn’t she supposed to be the kind and understanding older sister?

He was starting to think Xu Rui was just a money-making machine in human form. She didn’t seem remotely interested in Long Ye or any other men.

They moved on to a new zone.

Shi Qian was puzzled when he saw thousands of jade platforms, each occupied by either a person or a spirit beast sitting or lying down with their eyes closed.

Long Ye noticed that both the human cultivators and spirit beasts looked blissful and curiously asked, “What are they doing?”

“I know!” Xu Miao proudly cut in before his sister could answer. “It’s a Dream Battle Platform! Sitting on it allows you to enter an imagined combat scenario where you’re guaranteed to win. It helps people overcome inner demons. Both humans and spirit beasts can use it.”

Shi Qian understood instantly. “Squeak.”

Oh, it’s basically a machine for pleasant dreams.

As they walked further, they were suddenly blocked by an uninvited guest.

Xu Rui’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw the weathered-looking man with graying hair. “Is that Curator You?”

It was indeed the curator—one of the names Xu Rui had mentioned the most.

The unkempt and rugged man looked like a free-spirited rogue. He had an unrefined but otherworldly aura, with a large gourd hanging from his waist.

Curator You nodded at Xu Rui, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment before he realized he didn’t know her. Then his eyes shifted to Long Ye.

Shi Qian instantly became alert.

Could this curator be a hidden threat?

Sure, the later zones were full of cultivation-style setups, but the earlier spirit beast daycare section definitely had a modern-day vibe…

Then Curator You spoke his first words: “Young man, are you selling your spirit beast? Name your price—I can afford it.”

Shi Qian: ?

He was completely confused.

What kind of play is this?