Getting Better and Better

Seeing Bai Lan pick up a remarkably large egg from the ground, Xue Linglong and Li Yunxi immediately drew closer, their curiosity piqued.

“What a huge egg!” Li Yunxi exclaimed, a bewildered expression on her face. “What kind of egg is this, to be so enormous?”

“I’m not sure,” Bai Lan replied. “I accidentally bumped into it while walking. It looks a bit like an ostrich egg.”

“Huh? An ostrich? What’s an ostrich?” Xue Linglong and Li Yunxi chorused, both wearing puzzled expressions.

Hearing their replies, Bai Lan suddenly remembered that ostriches did not exist in this world. Realizing her slip of the tongue, she hastily clarified.

“Ah, it’s just a type of large bird’s egg,” Bai Lan said, letting out a dry chuckle. “Though, I don’t think this is one. I have a feeling it might be a demon beast egg.”

Xue Linglong’s brow furrowed in thought for a moment.

The next instant, her eyes shimmered with a radiant glow, and under its mystical influence, she was able to pierce through the eggshell, discerning its contents.

Inside the egg lay a small white serpent, still in its developmental stage.

Indeed, it was a snake, and an aura of demonic energy emanated from the egg, confirming it was undeniably a demon beast egg.

“Sister, your luck is truly amazing,” Xue Linglong mused. “This does seem to be a demon beast egg. But I don’t recall there being any demon beasts on our Eternal Blossom Island. Could it be a sea demon beast that secretly came ashore to lay its egg?”

Bai Lan, in truth, already knew what it was, but found it awkward to state directly.

A Flood Dragon egg, currently in its growth phase. It will need another three months to fully develop before hatching.

This was the information Bai Lan had perceived, and she was utterly astonished.

To think she had merely stumbled upon a Flood Dragon egg while walking!

While Flood Dragons were not true dragons, they were considered apex demon beasts, possessing a significant chance of evolving into genuine dragons.

This creature would make an absolutely perfect pet.

“Yun Yao,” Bai Lan inquired, “does this Flood Dragon egg have the potential to evolve into a true dragon?”

“Yes, it can,” Yun Yao confirmed. “It’s possible for it to evolve if it consumes true dragon blood. As for true dragon blood, you can exchange it using experience points, but it requires a substantial amount, as the blood of a divine beast is exceptionally precious.”

Bai Lan immediately checked the exchange shop for Azure Dragon blood.

The sight instantly filled her with dread; it required a staggering one million experience points.

Considering she currently possessed a mere four thousand points, she wondered, When would that ever happen?

“Never mind,” Bai Lan chuckled, a lighthearted tone in her voice. “I suppose I’ll let fate decide. But since I’ve encountered this, there’s no way I’d abandon it. This is a treasure, after all.”

With that, she promptly tucked the Flood Dragon egg into her pouch.

After a brief exchange with Yun Yao, Bai Lan casually spoke a few words to Xue Linglong and Li Yunxi.

Neither of them pressed further about the egg, content to wait until the little creature inside eventually hatched.

The three of them stopped on a grassy patch within the flower forest, roughly a hundred meters from their original dwelling.

They unrolled a mat, resigned to making do with a temporary camp there.

As soon as Bai Lan and Xue Linglong sat down, they immediately entered a state of meditative cultivation.

Seeing them both cultivating and having no one to talk to, Li Yunxi likewise entered her own state of cultivation.

However, after about half an hour, waves of spiritual energy simultaneously emanated from both Bai Lan and Xue Linglong.

They had both, at the very same moment, broken through their current realms, reaching the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining.

“What? These two broke through again?” Li Yunxi exclaimed, her face a mask of shock as she felt the surge of power.

Bai Lan’s breakthrough was quite normal, as she was originally a Foundation Establishment cultivator, making Qi Refining breakthroughs simple and effortless for her.

However, Xue Linglong’s talent was truly astonishing.

This little girl, her cultivation speed is right on my heels. She couldn’t be doing it on purpose, could she? Bai Lan grumbled inwardly.

And so, the night passed.

The next day, Bai Lan and her two companions first completed the tasks they hadn’t finished the previous day.

Then, they proceeded to submit them.

However, when they handed in their mission, the disciple responsible for collecting the Hundred Flowers Nectar, Lin Leihan, paused.

“Eh? Junior Sister Bai, why is your purification bottle filled entirely with ice crystals?” Lin Leihan asked, puzzled as she examined Bai Lan’s mission item.

Bai Lan knew she would have to explain.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Bai Lan explained. “It seems my power is too cold; the moment it touches the Hundred Flowers Nectar, it instantly turns into ice crystals.”

“However, I’ve sensed that the effects of this bottle of nectar ice crystals seem to be more potent than the normal liquid form. You should try and feel it yourself.”

Lin Leihan nodded, then took a delicate sniff.

Indeed, a richer, more fragrant aroma wafted into her nostrils.

The scent was indeed far more intense than the liquid nectar, promising an undoubtedly superior effect.

“Haha, it truly is!” Lin Leihan exclaimed with a laugh. “If that’s the case, then there’s no problem at all. It seems Junior Sister Bai possesses an extraordinary physique.”

“During the comprehensive talent assessment two years from now, I suspect Junior Sister Bai will be found to have some special constitution.”

Lin Leihan eyed Bai Lan with a hint of surprise.

After all, as a cultivator who had trained for centuries, she wasn’t entirely surprised by such phenomena.

Bai Lan offered no reply.

After collecting their contribution points, the three returned to the site where they intended to build their new home.

A new dwelling was essential; they couldn’t possibly sleep outdoors every night, especially considering how frequently it rained on Eternal Blossom Island.

The trio set to work, beginning by felling suitable trees and then shaping them into lumber.

Xue Linglong and Li Yunxi, however, had no prior experience in such tasks.

Bai Lan, having been born in a mountain village in her previous life, was not entirely unfamiliar with building houses.

She had no intention of constructing a simple wooden hut.

Instead, she planned to build a brick-and-earth house, using the methods from her past, which would make it far more resilient to damage.

As for how to acquire bricks, it was quite simple.

The shoreline boasted an abundance of reefs, and with Bai Lan’s strength, cutting these reefs into stone bricks was an effortless task.

Xue Linglong and Li Yunxi, for their part, adopted a purely learning attitude.

Since they didn’t understand, they simply decided to learn; it wasn’t a particularly difficult task, and Xue Linglong seemed to grasp the process with just a glance.

In the afternoon, their house-building efforts were seemingly noticed by a disciple—the very same one Bai Lan and her companions had rescued the day before.

Before long, a large group of girls rushed over, offering their enthusiastic help to Bai Lan and her friends in rebuilding their dwelling.

This made Bai Lan feel a little awkward, but it was difficult to refuse such kindness.

With many hands, the work would be lighter and save considerable time.

Thus, Bai Lan did not decline.

With the assistance of dozens of people, lumber and reef bricks were steadily transported to the construction site.

Once the materials were ready, Bai Lan still needed to prepare some clay.

This was not hard to find; it was readily available on Eternal Blossom Island.

With so many people working together to build the house, Bai Lan felt a sudden nostalgic pang, as if she were a child again, playing in the mud with her friends from her previous life.

Everyone was covered in dust and grime.

Normally, if one asked these girls to get themselves dirty, they would undoubtedly refuse.

However, Bai Lan and Xue Linglong were their saviors, and assisting their benefactors felt like a small matter.

On the contrary, everyone seemed quite happy, filling the area with the joyful laughter and playful banter of girls.

The construction of the houses lasted for roughly a week.

After seven days, three rather rustic stone-brick dwellings stood upon Eternal Blossom Island.

The houses possessed an peculiar design, entirely unlike the architecture of this era.

Bai Lan had constructed them based on the style of her old home from her previous life: single-story, but with three rooms, making them significantly larger than the original wooden huts.