Suddenly, a trough opened, and mixed feed came flowing out of it. Upon hearing this noise, the nearby spiritlings who were playing about spread their claws and pounced into the trough.
It was chow time!
The larger and older spiritlings could basically secure a good spot and eat until their bellies were full. The weaker ones could only pace about in circles at the side anxiously. After squeezing into a spot, they would barely get a few mouthfuls in before being pushed out of the way.
Zhu Minglang took notice of the feed in the trough. There were greens, chicken, fruits, worms, large bonesā¦ Truthfully speaking, the food was more sumptuous than commoners in Wutu had.
āSilkworms?ā
Suddenly, Zhu Minglang noticed a particular kind of feed. It was the large silkworms he had been raising for the past years. What was interesting was that most of the spiritlings werenāt interested in them; not even some bird spiritsā¦
After a round of fighting, only some rotten feed and a few silkworms that none of the spiritlings desired were left in the trough. At that moment, Zhu Minglang noticed a dark crocodile spiritling making its way around a few strong wolf spiritlings warily, and immediately making a run for it after grabbing a silkworm!
The wolf spiritlings immediately gave chase after noticing the dark little crocodile spirit, biting down at it.
The crocodile spiritling was still very small. Every one of the wolf spiritlings was a size bigger, not to mention there were four of them chasing it!
The crocodile spiritling crawled away cleverly, throwing three of the wolf spiritlings off its trail. In the end, however, it was still blocked by the last wolf spiritling, which was the size of an adult dog, in front of its nest. It didnāt even have a chance to swallow the silkworm before it was pounced on and pressed on the ground by the wolf spiritlingā¦
āThere are bullies even hereā¦ā Zhu Minglang shook his head. He grabbed the little wolf spirit with one hand and tossed it aside.
After breaking out of its predicament, the dark crocodile spirit immediately jumped on the silkworm, which had rolled around in the dirt and was covered with soil. Not caring whether it was dirty or not, it immediately stuffed the silkworm into its mouth.
āLittle crocodile spirit, are you willing to follow me? Putting whether youād dragonize aside, I can guarantee you an endless supply of silkworms; I specialize in raising them!ā Zhu Minglang picked up the little black crocodile.
This little black crocodile spirit appeared a little ugly but adorable upon closer look, with a big silly head, and a long, thick crocodileās body.
Its hide was bright and clean. It didnāt have a rough hide like most crocodiles did.
āHere, Iāll give you another one. Consider it as us reaching an agreement,ā Zhu Minglang picked up another large silkworm that had gone ignored and brought it to the little crocodile spiritās mouth.
The little crocodile spirit was probably famished; it quickly ate everything.
Zhu Minglang tried feeding it chicken, but he discovered that the little crocodile spirit didnāt want any, and was only eating large silkwormsā¦
This had reminded Zhu Minglang of what the Valkyrie had said before; some true dragons loved eating silkworms when they were young.
However, Zhu Minglang noticed there was a small protrusion on the little crocodile spiritās forehead. When he tried touching it, it felt obviously like bone.
It was a hidden horn that had yet to grow out!
-Crocodiles have horns?
-Only dragons have them!
-Mhm, youāre the one!
-Itās no big deal if itās a little uglier and darker; itās not like I need to sell its appeal.-
-All thatās needed is that it can fight and work!-
The tall and cold young master was fed up with waiting.
Li Shaoying saw the spiritling Zhu Minglang chose, and looked confused.
The cold young master, on the other hand, didnāt even spare a glance at it. Not only that, he didnāt even bother to pick a spiritling from here!
āā
With the soul binding, the little crocodile spirit was now Zhu Minglangās new spirit pet.
What came after was the arrangement of accommodations. The cold young master was indeed not like the two of them; he had his own courtyard.
Zhu Minglang and Li Shaoying were put up in a large courtyard residence.
It had a large public courtyard for practice, and twelve individual wooden houses, built in a row, nice and orderly. It was pretty clean and cosy.
Behind the houses was an independent area, meant to accommodate the spiritlings that couldnāt be kept in their mastersā spirit domains. The students could make some modifications based on their spiritlingsā habits and properties.
The little crocodile spirit was amphibious. Zhu Minglang casually dug out a small pond, with clean mud surrounding it. Since he had decided to adopt this spiritling, heād treat it well!
After unpacking everything, Zhu Minglang discovered three meals were prepared for them daily, to his pleasant surprise. He could go to the canteen for his meals as he wished, and the students with cash in hand could go spend them at Phoenix Falls Town.
By the time he laid down his futon, it was already late at night. Zhu Minglang took a hot water bath, refreshing himself. Drowsiness quickly caught up to him.
He laid down on his futon. He was truly tired; he quickly fell asleep after shutting his eyes. It was probably due to his suppressed emotions being swept away. He slept really well and comfortably that night, and he even relived the night in the dungeon in his dreamā¦
āā
The morning light was gentle. The sounds of other studentsā strict scolding were coming from outside.
There were already some smug youngsters up training their spiritlings, hoping theyād quickly turn into dragons.
Little Baiqiās dragonization would probably take some time. Zhu Minglang was enjoying the rare peace, and those youngstersā morning training noises reminded him of the past.
-Speaking of which, shouldnāt I start working hard as well?-
āWuwuoo!ā
Behind the house, the little crocodile spiritās cry rang out.
Zhu Minglang finally collected himself, and went to check on the little crocodile spirit he had recently adopted.
āYou want to train, too? Indeed, youāre too weak as you are now. Iāll have you go swim in the lake first, then,ā Zhu Minglang said to the little crocodile spirit.
He extended his palm out on the sand. The little crocodile spirit crawled onto his palm along Zhu Minglangās long finger. He brought his palm up to his shoulder, and the little crocodile spirit cleverly ran onto his shoulder.
As Zhu Minglang left his house, the little crocodile spirit observed everything in its surroundings with its large, round eyes, staring at the people, the courtyard, and other spiritlingsā¦
It was curious, but more so vigilant!
āYou seem to have grown bigger. Itās only been a day and you grew much heavier.ā Zhu Minglang opened a box and picked out a large silkworm out with a bamboo stick, bringing it to the little crocodile spirit on his shoulder.
The little crocodile spirit swallowed it in one bite, not even chewing it first.
Just as he exited his house, Zhu Minglang immediately saw a few youths and teens gathered together, discussing something. They were probably Zhu Minglangās classmates.
āYou guys havenāt seen her in person yet. Sheās pretty as a fairy, but really, the damn heavens, why did it have to treat her that way!ā
āI heard it was an old beggar?ā
āBut I heard it was a young vagrant.ā
āWhat do you guys know? In a place like Wutu with no order, surely everyone would want to have a taste of a fairy like her. Just imagine her being locked up in the dungeon; if you were the jailer, you wouldnāt be able to resist the temptation either, right?ā
āStop talking about it. I beg you, please stop! Sheās my star! Stop talking about this unbearable topic!ā
āNo oneās holding you here. Why do I feel like youāre so excited your saliva could drool down anytime?ā
Out in the residenceās courtyard, this group of people were already discussing the topic that had caused a stir everywhere so early in the morningā¦
When Zhu Minglang walked past them, he couldnāt resist frowning. -Why are the rumors getting more and more ridiculousā¦-