Chapter 144 - The Blessings of a Working Crane

  After obtaining the mission information, Lu Xuan did not stay for long. He rented a crane and came to the Beast Taming Hall.

  He asked his fellow disciples in the Beast Taming Hall about the specific habitat of the cranes, bypassed several mountains, and found a vast marsh.

  The marsh covers an area of ​​hundreds of acres. At this time, there are hundreds of cranes living here. Many cranes have white feathers and elegant postures. Some are playing with water plants in the marsh, or stretching their wings in the low sky. Lu Xuan searched for a long time before he saw a pair of cranes with long necks entwined and ears rubbing.

  As if sensing Lu Xuan's arrival, a cultivator flew out from the depths of the marsh. He had dark skin and was a ninth-level Qi training cultivator.

  "My junior brother is polite. I am Xu Yi, the manager of this marshland. What is your name? I am here to solve the problem of crane reproduction."

  "Hello, Senior Brother Xu. I am Lu Xuan. As you said, I received the crane reproduction mission at the General Affairs Hall. I came to take a look at the crane habitat."

  "It turns out to be Junior Brother Lu. You must have worked hard all the way here. Come with me to rest for a while."

  Upon hearing this, Xu Yi showed an eager smile on his face and led Lu Xuan through the marshland.

  Half a minute later, the two came to a wooden house. The building area was not large, with only three or four small houses, but the environment was good, surrounded by water, and the view was good.

  "Are all the cranes in the sect raised by you, Senior Brother Xu?"

  Lu Xuan asked curiously after the two chatted for a while.

  "Haha, there are more than just me, but I am mainly responsible for these spiritual cranes."

  "The spiritual cranes in the water are only a small part. Most of the spiritual cranes are now staying in various places in the sect, transporting fellow disciples and earning some spiritual stones for the Beast Taming Hall."

  "When night falls, they will basically return to the water, and only a few spiritual cranes will still guard important places in the sect."

  The dark-skinned Xu Yi laughed.

  "Are hundreds of spiritual cranes in the water still a minority? The total number must be at least thousands, right?"

  Lu Xuan asked in surprise, surprised by the large number of spiritual cranes.

  "The most recent census of the number of spiritual cranes counted more than 2,300 spiritual cranes, but this is already the lowest number in history. I remember that when I just took over this water, the number of spiritual cranes in it exceeded 3,000."

  "The main sects have a relatively large demand for spiritual cranes. Whether it is for communication or transportation, they are good candidates."

  Xu Yi explained.

  Lu Xuan deeply agreed. The sect is vast and boundless, and the Qianlong Lake alone stretches for hundreds of miles.

  Most of the outer disciples do not have flying instruments, so how to shorten the travel time is a huge problem for them.

  Although the cultivators in the Qi training realm have mastered light body techniques or speed-type talismans, their speed is relatively slow and the consumption is huge, which is not cost-effective.

  The spirit crane can solve this problem very well. It is extremely fast, not inferior to some flying instruments. Regardless of the distance, it consumes one spirit stone each time, which is within the tolerance of high-level Qi training cultivators.

  "How do you solve the problem of food for so many spirit cranes?"

  Lu Xuan is very interested in how to raise a large number of spirit cranes.

  "Food is easy to solve. Let them find some spirit grass roots, tender leaves, or spirit clams and spirit snails in the water."

  "The Beast Taming Hall will provide some specially cultivated spirit insects from time to time to feed the spirit cranes."

  Xu Yi asked casually.

  "..."

  "The spirit cranes earn so many spirit stones, and you only feed them these little things?"

  Lu Xuan was speechless. There are more than 2,000 spirit cranes in the Beast Taming Hall. On average, each head earns a few spirit stones a day. That day is estimated to be no less than 7,000 or 8,000 spirit stones.   

  Such a money-making spiritual beast actually has to go to the water to find food by itself?

  Moreover, so many spiritual cranes are crowded in this water. If they rush, they may bump into several of their kind. For the spiritual cranes soaring in the sky, it is also a considerable constraint.

  "I work hard to earn spiritual stones, but in the end I can't eat enough, live in a bad place, and all the money goes into the pockets of the Beast Taming Hall."

  "This is the blessing of the working cranes. There is no hope in life. No wonder they don't want to give birth at all."

  Lu Xuan sighed at the degree of black heart of the monks in the Beast Taming Hall and understood the choice of the spiritual cranes.

  The two chatted for a while, and another young monk found the water. After talking, Lu Xuan learned that the young monk was named Zhou Zhengqing, and he also came for the birth problem of the spiritual cranes.

  Some tasks in the General Affairs Hall have a limit on the number of people, while others do not. The spiritual crane birth task does not limit the number of monks.

  "It should be Junior Brother Lu and Junior Brother Zhou who accept this task. In the next period of time, I will trouble the two junior brothers to help solve the birth problem of the spiritual cranes."

  Xu Yi straightened his face and said seriously.

  "The spiritual cranes are widely used in the Tianjian Sect, but the spiritual cranes raised in the Beast Taming Hall are now facing a big problem. The number of spiritual cranes willing to give birth is decreasing, causing the total number of spiritual cranes to show a downward trend in recent years."

  "Especially this year, the number of pregnant spiritual cranes is nearly 20% less than last year. If this continues, the sect will not have enough spiritual cranes to carry monks."

  Xu Yi's face showed a trace of worry.

  "There is another problem that needs attention. Among the spiritual cranes, the number of female cranes that refuse to give birth is obviously less."

  "Due to the long pregnancy period, hatching and raising young spiritual cranes requires a lot of time and energy, especially during the conception stage. When nurturing the spiritual crane eggs, it will cause damage to their own spiritual power. All of this is also the main reason for the decrease in the number of spiritual cranes."

  "Even during the estrus period of the spiritual cranes, it can be clearly seen that the mating desire of the spiritual cranes has been seriously reduced. Many spiritual cranes would rather go out to earn spiritual stones than stay in the water to give birth to new spiritual cranes."

  Xu Yi explained the situation of the spiritual cranes in detail to Lu Xuan and the others.

  After hearing this, the two were silent for a moment, as if thinking about a solution.

  "Brother Xu, I feel that the current situation is not due to the objective reproduction difficulties of the cranes, but their subjective unwillingness to reproduce, so it is best to start from this aspect."

  Lu Xuan said first.

  With his past life experience, he could empathize with the choice of the cranes.

  "Brother Lu, what you said is a bit mysterious."

  Zhou Zhengqing, who was standing aside, couldn't help but refute when he heard what Lu Xuan said.

  "They are just some evil animals. Their lives and deaths are in our hands. How can they choose whether to reproduce?"

  He turned his head and looked at Xu Yi, smiling.

  "Brother Xu, I suggest taking a simple and direct approach to force the cranes to reproduce more, so as to increase the number of cranes."

  "Coincidentally, I accidentally got a side door technique, similar to the technique of double cultivation, which can stimulate the lust of spirit beasts. There is also a method of configuring aphrodisiac drugs. Under the two-phase effect, it is guaranteed that the cranes can reproduce in large numbers and increase the number of cranes in one fell swoop."

  "Really? Brother Zhou actually has such a good method?"

  Xu Yi's eyes lit up when he heard this.

  (End of this chapter)