"What's happening?!" Gong Jie cried out as she spilled the water skin she was drinking from. "Are we under attack?!" Wang Kang who was too busy staring at the meat before jumped up and looked around cautiously.
"Calm down you two! It's nothing dangerous!" Tao Yan called out, calming the two down as he looked over in the direction of the glow "Brother Shu, this is…" he called out to Shu He who had already left his seat, kneeling in front of the glow.
But Shu He didn't respond, no, he was far too preoccupied with what he was seeing! The Golden Qi from the surroundings was being sucked into Little Xue as its body glowed with an identical golden glow, it was like she had triggered some sort of chain reaction.
Little Xue's body looked like a pure, solid form of Golden Qi in his eyes, it caused him to shiver as he watched this form shift and move and move and more Qi was absorbed in to it from the surroundings, it was like her physical body was being broken down in to Golden Qi itself!
But… after a minute, the process began to slow down, the amount of Golden Qi being absorbed from the surroundings drastically dropped off causing Shu He to panic. 'No! Isn't there enough? Do you need more?!' His thoughts shifted as he places his hands near her and began steadily emitting his own Golden Qi, like he had expected, Little Xue began absorbing his Qi by the gallons, so much so he quickly began to feel disoriented.
But he didn't relent, he wanted to see the result of his actions, he didn't want to stop here!
After a couple minutes, the suction force suddenly stopped and a resplendent light shone throughout the campsite and surrounding areas like a sun had been born in the black void of space before it suddenly dispersed, light particles travelling for miles before slowly disappearing.
And, before Shu He now rested a small, pure white egg. Shu He fell on to his behind as he breathed heavily, his eyes glimmering as he stared at the egg with a giant grin on his face.
'That was close! If she took any more I'd be in danger again!' He was relieved that he didn't have to go that far for his impulsive desire, risking damage to his soul probably wouldn't have been worth it in the long run.
"Brother Shu?" Tao Yan's voice entered his ears as he snapped out of his concentration to remember he wasn't the only one here. "Oh! Sorry, I was too focused on that!" He stood up and apologised.
"No, that's fine, but what were you doing there? Your little duckling… it began ascending right? I've never heard of a cultivator interfering with one before" He asked, a drip of sweat falling down his brow.
"Oh that… It wasn't much, I was just using a technique from the sect to try to stabilise it you see" Shu He lied, but what could he do? There was no way he could tell him the truth.
"Really? The great sects really are something to have such a technique…" Tao Yan nodded, Shu He wasn't sure if he actually believed him or was just going along with it, but he was thankful.
Shu He then turned around and gently picked up the egg, it was incredibly solid like it was made of pure metal and the surface was as smooth as a ponds surface without a single imperfection, it was around double the size of an ostrich's egg, so it was fairly big as well, but its weight was only about 6 kilos.
"Wait, seriously, what was that?!" Gong Jie wandered over as she looked at the large egg "Is that the little duck?!". "Huh, I've heard of it before, but I've never seen an Ascension" Wang Kang murmured before he turned back to watching the meat cook.
"Right, it's rare to see an animal go through their ascension… I was wondering why you picked up that duckling, did you somehow see this coming?" Tao Yan spoke while he was inspecting the egg.
"No way, truth to be told I knew there was something special about it, but I hadn't expected it to ascend this quickly…" Shu He murmured as he gently stroked the smooth surface of the egg; He tried to peer inside of it with his territory, but it was impossible, it was like a solid block of Golden Qi, a barrier he couldn't penetrate without damaging it.
But… he had an odd feeling, a slight connection between him and what was inside.
'Is it because used my Golden Qi?' He pondered, unsure as to what this meant. Either way, the ascension itself had been eye opening to Shu He, he had pondered for a long time on a single question –
'Why does Golden Qi exist?'
Plants, animals, humans, they all make use of the normal – Azure – Qi, but Golden Qi basically existed in a state of perpetual unuse, so he couldn't help but ask this.
But today, he received a hint to the answer, it was likely that Golden Qi was a type of Qi that paid a hand in to the greater changes within this world, the Golden Qi within the materials Little Xue had eaten merged with its body, it did nothing to help it as it was collected, yet as soon as the saturation reached a certain level it triggered a reaction.
Like a black hole absorbing the surrounding debris after passing a specific mass, the little ducking absorbed all the Golden Qi around her as she triggered her ascension, Shu He wasn't sure what would have happened if he left her as is when she cleared the area, she may have failed her ascension or had an incomplete one, but it seems it was a perfect one this time.
It was a magnificent sight and gave Shu He a deeper understanding of this Qi, he knew already that it had a trait to become any elemental Qi type, but it seems it isn't limited in that aspect, rather it seems like it can be much more.
He was correct in this theory, Golden Qi was the key element to an animals ascension, however it definitely wasn't the only one; Take for example the odd bird in the sanctuary, he had been feeing it Golden Qi semi-regularly, yet it had only changed slightly at most, may it had undergone a failed awakening or some other metamorphosis, but it was still only normal.
Little Xue was likely only about three to four months old, had been chowing down on every material it could find and was fed Qi from him only a few times, yet it already triggered an ascension, there was a massive difference.
It could be down to the little ducks constitution, rather Shu He was sure that paid a massive part in it, but if Golden Qi was the only requirement, he feels there would be more spirit beasts, after all they seem to be able to sense it.
Even Elder Bai had described him to smell like 'the world', which he thinks is down to his Golden Core Flame.
'Should I call it World Qi?' he thought but dismissed the idea. It was too vague and inaccurate; the world contained all types of Qi after all.
"It's so smooth… is this an egg? It looks like one." Gong Jie swept her hand across the 'eggs' surface, it was warm to the touch.
"It's not really an egg, this is called a Ascension Chrysalis, the entire thing other than the very outside is Little Xue herself" Shu He explained as he carefully handled it.
"What? How does that even work?" She lifted her hand, slightly creeped out as she stared at the white oval in a different light.
"I'm not too sure, I've read records about cultivators splitting the Chrysalis in the past, but it was solid throughout, only when they've finished their Ascension do they regain their body and break the Chrysalis." He recalled what he read in the scrolls in his Division, the same scroll was the reason he knew about the details on ascension in the first place.
"I've heard it can take years for an ascension to finish and for smaller creatures their chrysalis is often found by mortals and kept for their appearance before they burst out and frighten everyone, at least this is common in our region." Tao Yan said as he recalled rumours from the Water region.
"How long will it take that little duck- I mean Little Xue to finish?" Gong Jie once again touched the surface of the chrysalis with her fingertips.
"I'm not sure, small animals seem to take less time to ascend so maybe a year or two…" Shu He stared deeply at the white egg, he had only just met it and was now going to stuck with it in this state for a long time.
'This happened way too fast' he sighed internally.
"Hey, the meat is ready you guys!" Wang Kang called out causing the three too look over at him with completely flabbergasted looks on their faces. "What?" He tilted his head as he tore a leg off to take a bite.
Tao Yan sighed. "You need to read the atmosphere, you lug!" Gong Jie yelled.
In the end Shu He went and made a padded space in his back pack for Little Xue to rest before joining the rest to eat, in the end there wasn't much else he could do now but wait!