Months passed and Ling Yun's grasp over alchemy continued to increase at an alarming rate. This caused much trouble to Mu Feixue. Though he was polite on surface, his eyes were like deep endless pools with their unsated thirst for knowledge.

  She was running out things to teach him at his level as he kept demanding more. Everyday he would practice refining till his spiritual Qi runs out. Then he would take a Qi recovery pill and start again. She believed Ling Yun was only limited by his cultivation, otherwise he would've been only refining pills day and night. He had already reached the level of an official apprentice alchemist.

  The ingredients regularly consumed for his practice were expensive enough but for her it didn't make dent on her fortune. The pills he was refining or could refine were only common rank 1 pills. She had accumulated more than enough fortune to train and support a master alchemist.

  For his part, Ling Yun was hurriedly leaping forward. Ever since he heard the words heaven defying genius, he had started cultivating like a man possessed. Brahma's words had set his heart ablaze; every time he successfully refined a new kind of pill, every time he made a new breakthrough, it was like a shot of ecstasy injected in his veins. In short he had become addicted to cultivation.

  To refine pills, an alchemist requires four things, an alchemy cauldron, ingredients, spiritual Qi and mental concentration. With Mu Feixue providing for the first two, he only lacked in his Qi reserve which he tried to make up with healthy doses of pills.

  Refining pill causes mental exhaustion. Alchemists can't continuously produce pills like a machine and have to give time for their minds to recover. Alchemy is a delicate process, lack of concentration can cause failure at best and death at worst. But Ling Yun doesn't have to worry about the last part. With his immense soul, he could be refining these rank 1 pills for a whole day without any sign of mental exhaustion. So with nothing holding him back, his practice sessions went far too long.

  The reason he was so excitedly rushing ahead because he knew that he can and will master it all eventually. Every difficult recipe will be understood, every pill refining method will be mastered, it was like the path ahead of him was dotted with trees bearing ripe juicy fruits ready to be plucked. Ling Yun was overflowing with confidence that his hardwork will always pay off eventually.

  His mastery of alchemy and spiritual culinary arts were growing by leaps and bounds. The only thing suffering was his soul arts. But what could he do? He can't acquire souls to harvest in the mansion and Mu Feixue would never let him go outside.

  Frankly he wasn't that interested in cultivating it. Now that he was on the path of an alchemist, why should he go hunting in the forest if he could just stay inside in a cozy mansion studying alchemy. Also being an alchemist sounds much more reputable and prosperous than some shady soul cultivator.

  His cultivation was also rising and he could feel he would be ready to breakthrough to the sixth realm soon. It was midnight and after fulfilling his nightly duties, he was meditating when Brahma's voice alerted him.

  "Ling Yun get ready. The egg is about to hatch."

  He checked the bracelet and found the demonic beast egg surrounded by the fire spirit grass in the pocket space. Ling Yun had put them in the back of his mind. In the beginning he wanted to sell them but the current Ling Yun isn't lacking in money courtesy of the loving, doting Mu Feixue.

  He had thought that the egg would've hatched long ago but clearly he was wrong. The soul of the infant had been formed but the body took some time to be completed. From his Third Eye he could sense a small blue orb. It was so faint that he had to concentrate hard.

  Ling Yun feared that it could cause damage to the house so he decided to take it outside. He went to the garden and put the egg on the ground. Under the moonlit night sky, its red stripes looked like bloodstains. There were faint tremors on its surface and then the shell cracked slowly.

  All of his muscles were tense as he waited for it to emerge. Even though it was just a newly born infant, Ling Yun wasn't taking any chances. The cracks expanded throughout the shell and a piece of it fell out. Ling Yun peered st the dark hole and suddenly a pair of blood red piercing eyes shone in the darkness that made him involuntarily take a step back.

  The eyes vanished into darkness and then reappeared again as the infant took its first breath in the outside world. It was a pure white snake covered in some kind of mucus. Its width was half of his arm and its length was the same as from his palm to his elbow.

  The snake opened its eyes and its first ever sight was a young boy with a ocean blue eyes. It continued to stare at him as Ling Yun made his move.

  He quickly split a fragment of his soul making it as small as it could to avoid injuring the newly formed soul. The soul was completely defenseless as he made an imprint. From his third eye he could see that the blue orb had a small golden dot on it.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  He took out a small bowl filled with the essence of the sandwyrm and put it on the ground. The snake flicked its tongue and its eyes widened in recognition. It slithered slowly till it reached the bowl and dove into it.

  It was the essence of a second rank demonic snake with a true spirit bloodline, the snake would like it very much. Ling Yun carefully watched everything with attention, never taking his eyes off even for a second. He had expected it to be a sandwyrm so he was puzzled to see something completely different.

  Why was the sandwyrm trying to hatch a beast from different species?

  The snake lifted its head from the bowl. He took a look to see the bowl was half-full, the newborn snake only had this much of an appetite. Now came the most difficult part.

  The snake slowly crawled towards him as he forced himself to stay still. Brahma had told him that to deepen the bond with the snake, he had to allow it to feel his warmth. But it was so hard not to run away as a demonic beast was coming his way.

  He could feel his knees shaking, his heart beat increasing rapidly as the snake inched closer. Dozen of thoughts of fleeing rapidly bubbled in his mind but he forcefully banished them.

  The soul imprint must have worked, it wouldn't bite me, right? Right?!

  The snake reached his foot and began climbing. His clothes got stained with the mucus as it slowly moved upwards till it reached his shoulders. It loosely wrapped around his neck and it came face to face with Ling Yun. Ling Yun held his breath fearing any sudden movement would get him bitten.

  The snake leaned closer to his face as his shivers intensified and then it gave his cheek a single lick. Then it went down and fell asleep, loosely hanging around his shoulders. Ling Yun finally let out a sigh of relief.

  Couldn't my first spiritual beast companion be something less scary?

  He looked at the sleeping snake. Now that his fears were gone, the little snake looked a little cute. Its skin was pure white like freshly polished alabaster. He poked it a little and found it softer than cotton.

  I could live with that. But it would take some time to get used to the weight

  He went back to the cultivation chambers and sat down in the lotus position. With the snake on his shoulders, Ling Yun started cultivating. He had wasted enough time and couldn't afford to skip any further.

  ***

  "So you found an egg in the Myriad Beast Mountain in an empty lair of a sandwyrm?"

  An Ning with raised eyebrows looked at the pair of master and disciple seated infront of her with an infant snake on the table.

  When Mu Feixue woke up, she was shocked to a demonic beast hanging around her beloved disciple's neck. She instantly was about to incinerate it but Ling Yun stopped her frantically. He gave her a hurried explanation while she sealed the infant snake in a barrier on the table.

  The next hour was spent scolding Ling Yun for his foolishness. Getting this close to a demonic beast defenseless was both stupid and dangerous, especially snakes. A single poisonous bite could kill him. Ling Yun didn't tell her about soul imprint so her fear was valid. She had never been angry at him before but under it, Ling Yun could sense it was her fear and concern for his life.

  The lazy Mu Feixue didn't know much about beast taming and frankly she never cared to learn about anything that had nothing to do with her. So in the end like always she called her knowledgeable friend An Ning.

  An Ning found quite a number of holes in his story. It all seemed far too convenient, a village boy dared to enter the lair of a second rank demonic beast only to find the owner gone with such valuable treasures inside it. Either the boy had great luck or he was lying.

  But looking at her friend sitting too close to the boy with plain affection shining in her eyes, maybe the former was true. After all, any stranger could never believe that such a renowned alchemist would take a village boy as her disciple.

  This boy must be born under an auspicious star.

  "Ling Yun, you should be careful and tell these matters to your master first. It was far too reckless. Never underestimate a demonic beast even if it's a newborn infant."

  "Yes senior. I promise I will never do it again."

  Ling Yun humbly nodded at her reprimand. An Ning sighed, the boy must have already been scolded much before. No use in continuing further.

  "I don't recognise this snake so it must be a rare one. I will bring a beast taming amulet and a token later, till then keep it sealed. Now tell me what do you want to do with it? If you want to, you can put it in the auction of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. I can ensure you get a fair deal and this could fetch a lot of money."

  Ling Yun had thought about it before so instantly replied. "Senior, I want to try my hand at raising it."

  "Raising a demonic best is not easy. You are already quite busy studying alchemy. When will you find the time to raise it?"

  "An Ning, let Yun'er do it if he's interested. He is a young boy. It will be good experience for him."

  The objection came from an unexpected source. She thought her friend would support him. Ling Yun also didn't think his master would take his side.

  "I will take responsibility that nothing bad happens." The reason Mu Feixue jumped in support was not for Ling Yun, but for her sake. Ling Yun was already troubling her with demanding more and more lessons, she hoped that raising the snake would shift his focus giving her more leeway.

  Mu Feixue was also worried about his mental state. Always studying alchemy shouldn't be healthy for a young boy; taking care of his pet would let him relax a bit.

  Her eyes shifted between her friend and the disciple before admitting defeat. "If that's what you decided, I will bring some scrolls on raising and taming snake type demonic beasts. Just be careful at all times.

  "Since you have taken it as your pet, you should name it."

  Ling Yun pondered for a bit and looked at the white snake. The snake had woken up some time before and was bumping against the invisible barrier wanting to be free. As if sensing his gaze, its face turned towards him. The blood red eyes seemed like they were begging him for help.

  The sight was so cute that Ling Yun wondered for a moment that if it's really a dangerous demonic beast.

  Don't worry little fellow, your master will definitely free you soon.

  "I will name it little Bai."