Longevity Martial Arts: I have a Mysterious Water Snake Avatar
Chapter 50 - 49: Beast Control Bag, A Bountiful Harvest (Seeking Investment and Followers)

Chapter 50: Chapter 49: Beast Control Bag, A Bountiful Harvest (Seeking Investment and Followers)

Out of caution, Hong Yuan, after cleaning up the battlefield, hurried back to the Phoenix Creek Sect and returned to his courtyard at Phoenix Fire Peak.

The Phoenix Creek Mountain Range was too close to the Phoenix Creek Sect.

If those two Spirit Beast Hall disciples brought a third or fourth-rank True Transmission senior brother or sister, then Hong Yuan would really be in for it!

Getting seniors involved—essentially calling for adult backup—was a situation best avoided if possible.

Once in the training room, Hong Yuan began to tally his unexpected spoils.

The first category was the two Beast Control Bags: one medium-sized and one small-sized.

Beast Control Bags are spatial bags used to store demon beasts. Different types can hold different levels and numbers of demon beasts, and each beast has its own independent space.

A small-sized Beast Control Bag can store ten second-rank or lower demon beasts, while a medium-sized one can hold thirty third-rank or lower demon beasts.

For Spirit Beast Hall disciples, Beast Control Bags are their most indispensable treasures, even more precious than their Beast Control Skill.

Without Beast Control Bags, they would lose the advantage of being a one-person army. Without this advantage, they would fall far behind disciples from other halls and palaces, sinking into the mire, only slightly better than ordinary formal disciples.

A Beast Control Bag was almost tantamount to a second lifeline for Spirit Beast Hall disciples!

Under such circumstances, the selling price of Beast Control Bags was generally five or six times higher than that of comparable-quality storage bags.

A regular small storage bag cost two hundred Energy Stones, but a small-sized Beast Control Bag of comparable quality could fetch a price of up to 1,200 Energy Stones. As for the medium-sized ones, they were even more precious.

With such a huge expenditure of Energy Stones, it was no wonder Spirit Beast Hall disciples often dominated their peers.

Hong Yuan had also considered joining the Spirit Beast Hall, but the massive initial investment of Energy Stones made him stop in his tracks.

Beast Taming was an expensive occupation. Although he, Hong Yuan, was on the path of Longevity Martial Arts, he did not want to remain poor for long.

Tsk, tsk, tsk... Truly, crime pays handsomely, while good deeds go unrewarded.

If I weren’t pursuing Longevity Martial Arts, I might well consider seeking such unexpected windfalls from time to time.

Hong Yuan admired the green and purple Beast Control Bags on the wooden table, a bright smile on his face. He was very happy.

If he were short on cash, just selling these two Beast Control Bags could net him 4,000 to 5,000 Energy Stones.

Outrageous, it was simply too outrageous!

It seems those two Spirit Beast Hall disciples have some status, Hong Yuan thought, recalling their faces. I need to handle the aftermath carefully once I’ve tallied my gains. He planned to use his Painting Skills to draw their likenesses after he finished.

Those two knew my name, Hong Yuan, yet I only had a vague idea about them. This wasn’t good!

The second category of windfall was the pile of dead demon beasts.

These demon beasts had only recently died and were in good condition; if sold, they should fetch a good price. While not as abundant as the haul from the Ten Thousand Beast Cave Heaven, it wasn’t far off.

Mainly, the demon beasts from those two Spirit Beast Hall disciples significantly supplemented his collection.

I reckon I could make nearly 1,000 Energy Stones from these, Hong Yuan estimated, inwardly astounded. This money is coming in too quickly!

Honest labor might only yield a hundred or two Energy Stones, but taking risks could bring massive profits in minutes.

This contrast made Hong Yuan think of his past life, when he knew only hard labor and faced exorbitant housing prices.

Damn it! That explains why a lifetime of honest work couldn’t even buy me a small apartment in the city.

So that’s who those houses were really for...

The more Hong Yuan thought about it, the more infuriated he became. If not for that absurd reality, he wouldn’t have resigned himself to wasting his previous life away.

Feeling irate, Hong Yuan turned his gaze from the storage bag and began to inspect the small-sized Beast Control Bag.

The third part of the windfall was the still-living demon beasts!

Into the medium-sized Beast Control Bag, Hong Yuan placed 800 Bee Soldiers. In the small-sized Beast Control Bag, he stored five ranked demon beasts that were still alive, including a second-rank Chase Wind Eagle and a first-rank Lightning Wolf.

After driving away those two Spirit Beast Hall disciples, Hong Yuan hadn’t killed all the other beasts. Instead, he had wounded or stunned them, then used the Beast Control Bag to capture those still alive.

Living demon beasts fetched a selling price thirty percent higher than dead ones.

Just these five beasts, if sold to the Wandao Trade Association, could bring him at least 1,500 Energy Stones!

Of course, Hong Yuan had even greedier thoughts.

Should I sell these live demon beasts back to their original owners—those two Spirit Beast Hall disciples? Hong Yuan wondered.

If the original owners were willing to accept, the price would undoubtedly be higher than what the Wandao Trade Association offered.

At least 2,000 Energy Stones!

They’ll accept, right? After all, I’m helping them have a happy family reunion, he mused.

Probably...

Hong Yuan was somewhat unsure.

As he pondered, Hong Yuan suddenly chuckled.

He remembered the delicate and pretty girl, how he had beaten her until she was a tear-stained, sobbing mess.

Truth be told, her crying face was quite fetching.

If possible, I’d like to see her cry again...

After inventorying his gains, Hong Yuan contentedly put away the three storage bags and two Beast Control Bags.

He stood up, left the training room, and walked into the living room.

The living room was plain, over ten square meters in size. It had wooden chairs, a rectangular wooden table, and a teapot, but nothing more—not even a money tree plant.

Clearing the teapot and cups from the rectangular wooden table, Hong Yuan spread out drawing paper, picked up his charcoal pencil, and prepared to paint.

He planned to paint portraits of the two Spirit Beast Hall disciples and ask Le Congsheng or Xu Hongde about them; it was essential for him to understand these two adversaries.

Only then would he decide what to do with the still-living demon beasts: sell them to the Wandao Trade Association or back to their owners.

What if they use these demon beasts against me after I sell them back?

Of course, Hong Yuan wasn’t afraid of the two Spirit Beast Hall disciples retaliating. If they really had such intentions, his research experiments with the poisonous Sting Bee Worm hadn’t been for nothing!

As the saying goes: "With 10% profit, it ensures its use anywhere; with 20% profit, it becomes eager; with 50% profit, it incites positive audacity; with 100% profit, it makes one trample all laws; with 300% profit, one would dare any crime, even risking the gallows."

SCRATCH, SCRATCH...

The face of Xu Haisheng began to take form on the paper, becoming clearer by the moment.

A quarter of an hour later, Hong Yuan blew gently on the drawing paper.

The main features of Xu Haisheng’s face had all appeared, almost as detailed as a photograph.

[Painting +12]

[Skills and Arts: Painting First Rank (25/1000) → Painting First Rank (37/1000)]

After completing the male disciple’s portrait, Hong Yuan began painting the delicate and pretty female disciple once more.

However, as he sketched, Hong Yuan unconsciously depicted the girl’s crying face.

On the paper, a girl looked aggrieved, two clear tear tracks staining her cheeks.

The more Hong Yuan looked, the funnier he found this portrait.

Wanting a better likeness to identify the female disciple, Hong Yuan crumpled the drawing paper into a ball of waste paper, tossed it into the trash, and started over.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the likeness of a girl with fiercely arched eyebrows and a stern, righteous expression appeared on the new paper.

[Painting +21]

[Skills and Arts: Painting First Rank (37/1000) → Painting First Rank (58/1000)]

Seeing several sheets of drawing paper still lying beneath the wooden table, Hong Yuan gave it some thought. He started to paint the Mysterious Water Snake, and after finishing that, he began portraying the giant Ice Armor Python coiling around an icy peak.

When he was done, Hong Yuan looked at the portrait of the Ice Armor Python, stunned, as he noticed the changes to his attribute panel.

Painting can actually increase the Mysterious Water Snake’s evolution progress?!

[Painting +3]

[Skills and Arts: Painting First Rank (58/1000) → Painting First Rank (61/1000)]

[Ice Armor Python +121]

[Avatar: Mysterious Water Snake (Ice Armor Python 713/10,000) → (Ice Armor Python 834/10,000)]