Chapter 151: Mysterious Beast Egg

"But if I’m willing to give you some leeway, I should receive something in return as well. So here’s my proposal: if you lose, you’ll surrender this residence along with your little maid."

The man’s words caused Long Feng’s eyes to narrow slightly.

Until now, he had treated the dispute as nothing more than a few arrogant disciples trying to take advantage of a newcomer.

However, the moment the man brought Xiao Ruo into the wager, his attitude changed.

The handsome man noticed the shift in Long Feng’s expression and mistook it for hesitation. A smug smile spread across his face as he raised his chin.

"What? Afraid?"

To his surprise, Long Feng didn’t become angry. Instead, he smiled faintly, as though the man’s outrageous demand had amused him.

"Not at all. But don’t you think your wager is a little too small?"

The man’s smile froze.

"What do you mean?"

"If I lose, I have to surrender my residence and my maid. Yet if I win, I get nothing more than what already belongs to me." Long Feng tilted his head slightly, his tone remaining casual.

"Tell me, does that sound like a fair deal to you?"

The surrounding disciples exchanged glances.

They hadn’t expected Long Feng to challenge the terms so directly, especially when his opponent was a Life and Death Realm expert.

Xiao Ruo, however, remained completely calm beside him. She knew Long Feng well enough to understand that he wouldn’t accept a wager unless he was confident in the outcome.

Besides, she had no intention of interfering in a matter he had chosen to handle himself.

The handsome man snorted inwardly at what he considered Long Feng’s stupidity.

This fellow is only at the first level of the Nascent Soul Realm. Does he really believe he can defeat me? There’s a difference of an entire major realm between us!

In his eyes, Long Feng’s earlier victories had merely demonstrated that his flame and combat techniques were somewhat unusual.

They didn’t change the fundamental difference in their cultivation.

Unless Long Feng possessed a Heaven-rank martial technique powerful enough to bridge that gap, defeating a Life and Death Realm cultivator would be no easy task.

And from what he knew, even the Core Disciples of Azura Heaven Sect rarely possessed such techniques.

"Fine!" the man replied impatiently. "Since you’re so concerned about fairness, tell me what you want."

Long Feng looked directly into his eyes.

"Simple, increased the stakes. Shouldn’t you offer something more than empty words?"

The man stared at him for a moment, then let out a cold laugh.

"You really are a greedy fellow."

Despite his words, he reached into his storage ring and took out a jade bottle, tossing it toward Long Feng.

"Here. This is a sixth-rank pill. If you win, it’s yours."

Long Feng caught the bottle, removed the stopper, and glanced at the pill inside.

After examining it for a moment, he closed the bottle and looked back at the man with an unmistakably disappointed expression.

"That’s it?"

The man’s face immediately darkened.

"What do you mean, ’that’s it’?"

"I thought a Core Disciple at the Life and Death Realm would possess something valuable. I didn’t expect you to be so stingy." Long Feng shook his head with a sigh. "Or are you actually so poor that you can’t afford a better wager?"

Several disciples nearby struggled to suppress their laughter. One of them even turned away, his shoulders trembling slightly.

The handsome man’s face flushed red.

"You—!"

He took a deep breath, clearly struggling to suppress his anger.

For a moment, it seemed he might abandon the competition and attack Long Feng outright. However, after a brief pause, he suddenly recalled something.

A cold smile returned to his face.

"Since you think a sixth-rank pill is too cheap, let’s see whether this will satisfy you."

He reached into his storage ring once more and produced a jade box.

When he opened it, a beast egg roughly the size of a human head appeared inside. Its shell was pale silver, marked with several intricate patterns that seemed to shimmer faintly beneath the light.

A subtle spiritual fluctuation emanated from the egg, suggesting that the creature inside was no ordinary beast.

"A beast egg?" Long Feng’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"That’s right." The man’s expression turned smug as he held up the jade box.

"According to the report written by one of the elders, this is an extremely rare high-level spirit beast egg. Its exact species hasn’t been identified, but the elder confirmed that its potential is extraordinary."

He took out a thin jade slip and waved it before Long Feng.

"This is the elder’s report. If you don’t believe me, you can examine it yourself. The Beast Taming Hall wouldn’t issue such a report without reason."

Long Feng accepted the jade slip and quickly skimmed through its contents.

The report indeed mentioned that the egg possessed unusual spiritual fluctuations and might belong to a rare species with considerable growth potential.

However, the elder had been unable to identify the creature, and its eventual strength remained uncertain.

Long Feng returned the jade slip and looked at the egg again.

"So, you don’t even know what kind of beast it is?"

The man’s expression stiffened.

"The elder’s report clearly states that it’s rare!"

"Rare doesn’t necessarily mean valuable."

Long Feng returned the jade slip to him. "What if the egg is defective? What if it never hatches? And even if something comes out, how do you know it’ll be worth raising?"

He sighed and shook his head as though he were genuinely disappointed.

"Nowadays, we can’t just trust any Tom, Dick, or Harry who claims to have found a treasure. Your bargaining skills really are terrible."

The man’s jaw tightened so hard that a muscle twitched in his cheek.

"Enough! If you’re afraid, just say so!"

"Afraid?" Long Feng laughed. "I merely don’t want to accept a worthless wager. But since you’ve brought it out, I’ll take it if I win. Perhaps I’ll be lucky enough to hatch something useful."

His careless tone made the man’s expression even uglier.

Nevertheless, the wager had been settled. With so many disciples watching, neither side could simply back out without losing face.

The handsome man put away the jade slip and beast egg, then stepped back several paces.

The moment his expression turned serious, the spiritual energy surrounding his body began to surge.

The ground beneath his feet trembled as his aura climbed steadily, forcing several nearby disciples to retreat.

He brought his hands together and formed a series of seals, drawing the spiritual energy around him into a single point above his head.

In the next instant, an enormous palm began to take shape.

It was several meters wide, its surface covered in intricate patterns resembling overlapping layers of stone. The air grew heavy beneath it, and even the spiritual energy flowing through the courtyard seemed to slow as the palm gathered strength.

"Earth-rank martial technique—Mountain Rock Palm!"

The man shouted as he thrust both hands forward.

The enormous palm descended with terrifying force, its shadow spreading over Long Feng as though a mountain were collapsing toward him.

But Long Feng stood still, his black robes fluttering in the violent wind generated by the attack.

Only when the palm was about to reach him did he finally raise his left hand.

Crimson energy surged from his arm, spreading over his fingers and palm. His hand transformed into a terrifying claw, its surface covered in dark scales.

A sinister aura spread from the claw.

Sky Demon Claw!

Under ordinary circumstances, its power was already formidable, particularly when combined with the transformed claw of his left hand.

However, against an opponent an entire major realm above him, a mid-grade Earth-rank technique alone wasn’t enough to guarantee victory.

Long Feng understood this perfectly.

That was why, just as the enormous stone palm came crashing down, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The hidden blood power within his left hand suddenly awakened.

A deep crimson light flashed beneath the black scales.

In an instant, the blood-red patterns spread across the claw like living veins, and the aura surrounding it underwent a dramatic transformation.

The claw, which had initially seemed like an ordinary Earth-rank technique, erupted with a terrifying force that caused the surrounding spiritual energy to tremble.

The pressure rose sharply. The man’s confident expression froze.

"What’s that?!"

The next moment, the claw collided with the descending palm.

BOOM!

A violent shock wave swept across the area.

The enormous stone palm shuddered as cracks spread across its surface. The man hurriedly poured more spiritual energy into his technique, trying to reinforce it before it shattered.

But it was already too late.

Before he could react, the claw smashed through the last remnants of his defense and struck him squarely in the chest.

His body flew backward like a broken kite, crashing heavily onto the ground. The spiritual energy surrounding him scattered, and the enormous palm above the courtyard vanished into nothingness.

Dust rose around the place where he landed. For several breaths, nobody spoke.

Long Feng slowly lowered his left hand. The crimson light faded beneath the black scales, and the terrifying aura of the Sky Demon Claw receded as though it had never appeared.

He looked toward the fallen man with a calm expression.

"Well? Do you admit defeat?"

The man tried to push himself up, but a sharp pain forced him back down. His face had turned pale, and his eyes remained fixed on Long Feng’s left hand.

He had never imagined that Long Feng possessed exactly such a trump card.

Long Feng extended his hand and demanded.

"The beast egg."