Suddenly, the sky was as if obscured by something, and a shadow descended. Dugu Qianye looked up and saw a giant bird circling in the air. It resembled a glittering peacock, crowned with three feathers; its wings were as blue as the dawn sky, and its long tail feathers shimmered gently in the sun; its wingspread was easily over ten meters.
Divine Bird Qingluan!
Qingluan circled above Dugu Qianye for a while before swooping down, grasping her, and flying into the sky. The wind howled chaotically, causing Dugu Qianye's skin to sting painfully.
Not knowing how long she had flown, Dugu Qianye only knew she had passed through the middle region and even flown over the inner region. At last, Qingluan descended in front of a cave and said, "Go inside."
Comparing the disparity between their strengths, Dugu Qianye obediently walked towards the cave. Having been brought here after such a lengthy flight, she figured it was unlikely to be for the purpose of finishing her off here. Seeing Dugu Qianye enter, Qingluan shook its body and, transforming its appearance, followed behind her.
As Dugu Qianye went deeper, she traversed a long corridor and eventually arrived in a spacious cavern. The empty cave held only a golden egg resting on a stone platform.
Standing before the half-meter-tall golden egg, the familiar calling led her to approach unconsciously. Dugu Qianye extended her right hand, intending to touch the golden egg, but suddenly her middle finger throbbed with pain, and a drop of fresh blood fell onto the golden egg, slowly seeping in. As the blood merged, the golden light slowly turned a bright red. Then a surge of Phantom Power flowed through her right hand into her body, bursting her narrow veins.
Dugu Qianye turned deathly pale from the sudden pain and broke into a cold sweat. Trying to withdraw her hand, she discovered it was firmly adhered to the golden egg. A sticky voice echoed in her mind, "With thy blood, merge with my life, connected through mutual sustenance, bound in life and death, henceforth sharing a life, wilt thou agree?"
Knowing that there was no turning back from the current situation, Dugu Qianye gritted her teeth and said, "I am willing."
Upon saying this, a white light encased both the person and the egg within the heavens and earth. Then intricate contract symbols settled onto Dugu Qianye's forehead before slowly fading away.
Phantom Power continued to pour into her body without stopping, and she could distinctly feel her veins tearing apart inch by inch. All of a sudden, a golden flame burst forth from her Dantian, coursing through her veins, refining the severed sections, which slowly healed. The process of being stretched to rupture, refined, and healed repeated. The severe pain became too much for her to support herself, and she fell to the ground, rolling in agony.
Half an hour later, the healed veins were no longer tearing. By then, she looked as though she had been fished out of water, with hair clinging to her face, and her clothes dripping wet. Six small stars appeared beneath her feet, followed by another, and then another, until nine stars slowly merged together to form a small moon, with nine small stars appearing around it.
A ninth-rank Phantom Master! Dugu Qianye had ascended from a sixth-rank Phantom Warrior to a ninth-rank Phantom Master in one go!
Gradually, Dugu Qianye awoke from the pain and confusion. She used her spiritual power to examine her veins and was instantly taken aback. The previously narrow veins had become wide, with the old and the new being as different as a mountain stream from a great river. The thickness was incomparable to before, and they even faintly glowed with a golden color.
Suddenly, a voice sounded in her mind, "The first seal of the Refining Demon Pot has been lifted." Simultaneously, an excerpt of the Beast Taming Technique appeared in her mind.
"Beast Taming Technique?"
Dugu Qianye rose to her feet and looked at the golden egg on the stone platform. This was her Lifesoul Contracted Beast! She was incredulously bound by contract to an egg!
On the Xuanyue Continent, there were mainly three types of contracts: the Lifesoul Contract, where the person and the Phantom Beast were connected in life and death; the Equal Contract, where one party's death only resulted in the other party's decline by one rank; and the Master-Servant Contract, where if the master died, the Phantom Beast would also die, but if the Phantom Beast perished, the master would remain unaffected.
After studying the egg for a long time, Dugu Qianye still couldn't figure out what kind it was. She couldn't resist poking the golden egg with her finger, and with a "crack," a fissure appeared on the surface of the egg.
"Uh, no way? Did I just break it?"
Dugu Qianye was so startled, she froze. If the egg was not yet ready to hatch and it broke, could it possibly kill her as well?!
"Hehe, it's not broken, it's ready to come out." A light laugh came from behind her, as Qingluan flew beside Dugu Qianye and spoke. It didn't know why the golden egg it was guarding had chosen this little person, but having seen her endure such pain that she bit her lip without making a sound, it knew this had to be a child of remarkable strength and perseverance.
"It's coming out?" Dugu Qianye watched as the crack grew larger until it split the egg in two, and a tiny head popped out. The body followed slowly, its head adorned with a four-pointed star—a born Holy Beast!
Chicken head, snake neck, swallow jaw, dragon pattern, turtle back, fish tail, on closer inspection, it looked somewhat familiar. Upon another look, eh, wasn't this the ancient Chinese totem—the Phoenix!
Upon seeing Dugu Qianye, the little Phoenix cried out and flapped towards her. Looking into the blinking eyes of the little Phoenix, a sense of kinship emerged spontaneously.
"Are you a Phoenix?" Dugu Qianye asked.
"Silly master!" came the sticky voice from the time of the contract, "Phoenixes have males known as 'Feng' and females known as 'Huang'. How could I possibly be a Phoenix, silly."
"Then you are a Huang?"
"Not entirely. Everyone knows that within Phoenixes, the male is Feng and the female is Huang; they united and produced nine types: Golden Phoenix, Colorful Phoenix, Fire Phoenix, Snow Phoenix, Blue Phoenix, Peacock, Roc, Thunderbird, Great Windbird. But before the Golden Phoenix, there is the Golden Phoenix Huang, for it carries the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird and can only be passed down through a single lineage. Even though I don't have kin, my status is the highest among the Phoenixes." After finishing her explanation, the little Phoenix nestled into Dugu Qianye's arms, then flew beside the eggshell and started eating half of it. A burst of golden light shimmered, and the one-foot-long little Phoenix grew to a meter long, with two more stars sprouting from its head. The little Phoenix picked up the other half of the eggshell and handed it to Dugu Qianye. "Master, keep this, it will be useful in the future." The little Phoenix morphed into a small colorful bird and nestled in Dugu Qianye's arms, "The egg of a Phoenix is formed from the essence of the mother's body, and in the future, it can be used by the master for many purposes."
Afterward, the little Phoenix looked at Qingluan beside her and said, "So you are the sister who has been protecting me all these years? Thank you!"
"Hehe, protecting you has been my mission!" Qingluan said while looking at the little Phoenix, feeling a multitude of emotions. She never imagined that the egg she was given right from birth by her parents would turn out to be a Golden Phoenix Huang!
"Master, please contract Sister Qingluan. I am not yet grown and cannot carry the master flying."
Dugu Qianye looked at Qingluan and asked, "Would you like to join us?"
Qingluan nodded her head and reverted to her normal state. Dugu Qianye walked over, placed her hand on Qingluan's head, and silently recited the Beast Taming Technique in her mind. The contract protocols descended, and the two completed the bond.
A moon and nine stars rose beneath her feet, and gradually the nine stars merged into one moon and two stars.
A second-level Great Phantom Master! A 15-year-old, second-level Great Phantom Master! Even the number one prodigy on the Continent only became a Great Phantom Master at the age of 16!