Not only the disciples, even Mu Shiyue was stunned by the sudden return of the Black Abyss Falcon.
When she saw the falcon appear in front of her, she thought something had happened to the disciples and it had rushed back to seek help!
Only after she noticed the long centipede corpse in its beak and learned the details did she finally relax.
"You really gave me a scare!" Mu Shiyue patted Da Hei on the head and scolded it with a smile.
She had thought something serious had happened!
Da Hei dropped the centipede corpse onto the ground and cried out, "Screech—!"
Then it rubbed its large head against Mu Shiyue, its affection clearly displayed.
Mu Shiyue laughed helplessly and took out a steam bun from her storage pouch, handing it over.
Da Hei happily took the steam bun and began pecking at it little by little.
Over these past few days, Mu Shiyue had become much more diligent than before. Even the steam buns had been categorized.
After all, there were too many types of spirit beasts in the household. Even if she didn't make a special steam bun for each species, she at least had to divide them into general types.
So the steam buns were mainly split into three kinds.
—Those containing meat, containing plants, and containing insects.
Fortunately, the preparation steps at the beginning were the same, only near the end did she add different ingredients.
So it wasn't too troublesome.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have had the patience to be so meticulous.
Naturally, the steam bun Da Hei was eating contained plenty of insects.
Da Hei loved them.
Although it could simply swallow insects directly, steam buns processed and cooked by Mu Shiyue had a unique flavor, far more delicious than eating bugs raw.
The Dark Iron Centipede was indeed extremely venomous, but that had no effect on it.
However, it wanted to eat something even tastier!
So after killing the centipede, it decisively brought it back to Wanxuan Sect.
Once she understood Da Hei's intention, Mu Shiyue felt both amused and exasperated.
Did it really have to carry the centipede all the way back?!
Wouldn't it have been fine to just eat it there?
It's quite nourishing too!
"Screech—"
Da Hei raised its head and cried again, it still believed processed centipede tasted better.
Mu Shiyue: "..."
Her face turned green.
If all of them started doing this, wouldn't she end up becoming their personal chef?
—Although she was already their chef, serving them meals every day.
But she didn't want to spend all her time cooking, which would be exhausting.
Still, considering that Da Hei had helped several of her disciples, she agreed this once.
"Just this once, next time I won't help you!" She tapped Da Hei's large head.
"Screech—"
Da Hei cried happily, not thinking about the future at all.
Anyway, the next time it caught good prey, it would definitely bring it back to Mu Shiyue.
Next time?
They could talk about that later!
Da Hei shook its head and lowered it again, continuing to eat the steam bun, occasionally making happy noises.
"Awroo~"
"Moo~"
The sound of hoofbeats approached.
Little Tiger Baby arrived riding on Ah Lang, bringing Little Sesame along.
The two little creatures sat proudly on Ah Lang's back, looking down arrogantly as if ruling the world.
Little Sesame was busy gnawing bamboo and eating happily, paying no attention to anything else.
"Awroo~"
Seeing Da Hei eating a steam bun, Little Tiger Baby immediately jumped down from Ah Lang's back.
But before it even got close, Da Hei flapped a wing and knocked it aside.
"Aw!" Little Tiger Baby rolled across the ground several times, jumped up angrily, and bared its teeth at Da Hei.
Da Hei glanced at it, ignored it, and continued eating its steam bun.
Furious, Little Tiger Baby rushed forward again, extending the claws on its little paws and scratching toward Da Hei's wing.
Clang!
A spark flashed across Da Hei's wing, and a thin feather strand drifted down.
Da Hei finally lifted its eyes and looked at the little cub.
"Aw aw!" Little Tiger Baby cried excitedly in its childish voice. It had finally managed to injure Da Hei!
—Even if it's only a tiny bit.
As it grew older, Little Tiger Baby was still a small milk tiger, but the fierce nature of a carnivore was already emerging.
After defeating all its small companions, it began challenging the adults.
Of course, it wasn't completely foolish.
So it chose the Black Abyss Falcon.
Among all the adult spirit beasts, the Black Abyss Falcon was the weakest.
The Spotted Spirit Cow was stronger than the Black Abyss Falcon, but it had a gentle temperament and only liked eating grass and taking walks.
Besides, its thick hide meant Little Tiger Baby couldn't even break its defenses.
So it frequently challenged the Black Abyss Falcon.
Of course, the gap in strength between them was enormous, and Little Tiger Baby lost every time.
But that didn't stop it from trying again and again.
Now that Da Hei had returned, Little Tiger Baby came to provoke it again.
As for Little Sesame and Ah Lang, the two were far calmer, each leisurely eating bamboo and grass.
Mu Shiyue glanced at Little Tiger Baby and shook her head helplessly, ignoring their antics.
She looked at the centipede corpse on the ground.
The centipede had already been dead for some time, its body completely stiff.
It's also quite large, at least as long as an adult's forearm.
With a slight motion of Mu Shiyue's hand, metal-element spiritual energy formed a blade. The previously tough shell was sliced open, revealing a small red crystal-like stone in the middle.
"Squeak squeak…"
Smelling the scent, the Treasure-Seeking Mouse poked its head out of Mu Shiyue's pocket and began chirping toward it.
This was a soul crystal from a spirit beast, though not every spirit beast possessed one.
Spirit beasts with soul crystals were far stronger than ordinary spirit beasts.
The crystal contained abundant spiritual energy and could be used to craft many things.
If consumed directly, it could greatly accelerate growth in strength.
Mu Shiyue tapped the Treasure-Seeking Mouse's head and pushed it back into her pocket.
Nearby, a small plant suddenly grew taller, wrapped around the soul crystal, and delivered it directly in front of Da Hei.
"Da Hei, catch!"
Da Hei instinctively turned its head and caught the crystal in its beak.
Once inside its mouth, the soul crystal quickly melted into liquid.
Da Hei smacked its beak, shook its head happily, and continued eating its steam bun.
After feeding the soul crystal to Da Hei, Mu Shiyue called out, "Eldest…"
Only then did she realize the disciples had all gone out.
"Ai ya, I almost forgot!" She slapped her forehead and took out a communication talisman.
Looking at the small talisman, she clicked her tongue.
This talisman allowed people to communicate with others and was fairly immediate.
But it was a consumable item, after being used once back and forth, it was gone.
Moreover, it couldn't display much content due to limited space.
Most importantly, communication talismans usually came in pairs and couldn't connect to multiple people.
In Mu Shiyue's eyes, it's basically like a long-obsolete telegraph, nowhere near comparable to a phone.
If something wasn't urgent, it's better to use flying letters or send someone to deliver a message!
Her disciples really needed to upgrade and improve it.
After grumbling internally for a moment, she used the talisman to send a message to Qin Yiwei, informing them that Da Hei had returned so they wouldn't worry.
Once that was done, Mu Shiyue continued processing the centipede.
But when she cut open its abdomen, she froze.