21 The Gluttonous Toad Swallows The Heaven

At a distance about 100 feet away from the spiritual well, the father-son duo sat silently hiding behind a tree that was about 600-700 years old. Qin Long used the Qi Concealment Technique so his body did not reveal even a trace of Qi.

Most spiritual beasts had keen senses, if that spiritual toad sensed his Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator aura, it would not easily show itself.

As Qin Long was a disciple of the Beastmaster Sect, he had learnt many spells on how to deal with demon beasts. For him, concealing his aura was quite a simple matter.

Of course, this was also because his cultivation was far more advanced than that of the spiritual beast. Qin Feng was barely worth mentioning as he was merely a second-level Qi Refinement Stage cultivator and Qin Long had cast a spell making his aura even weaker. His Qi was currently equivalent to someone who did not know how to cultivate.

The father-son duo hid behind a tree and stealthily sized up that spiritual well as they waited for the spiritual toad to appear. Time passed gradually. The air was still and the blazing sun shining down on the earth heated up the ground. The leaves on the spiritual fruit trees all looked droopy and unenergetic.

If Qin Feng had not started his cultivation journey and did not have the ability to utilize his cultivation to lower his temperature, he would have given up a long time ago from the torment.

Just when he was starting to feel a little impatient, his father gently tugged at him suddenly. He was stunned but managed to quickly look in the direction of his father's gaze.

All he heard was the sound of a gentle splash coming from the direction of the spiritual well about 100 feet away. After that, he saw a completely jade green body that was about the size of a child's fist leaping out of the well. The spiritual toad crouched on the scorching brick of the well that had been baked by the hot sun but did not seem to be bothered by the heat.

With a bulging snow-white belly, a pair of lively eyes darted around inspecting the area. Once it discovered that there were no humans around, it croaked a few times softly then jumped down from the well. 

This spiritual toad was just as Fifth Elder had reported it to be, a single jump made it look like it was flying. A gentle leap and it had already landed several dozen feet away. With only a few jumps, it had arrived at a spiritual tree that was located not far from them. With a gape of its mouth, a shadow flashed past. It seemed that the spiritual toad had already stretched out its long tongue and hooked a gorgeous red spiritual fruit, bringing it into its mouth with a gulp.

That spiritual fruit was not small, it was double the size of the spiritual toad. However, once the toad brought its tongue back with the spiritual fruit, it managed to swallow the whole fruit easily. 

"Huh?" Qin Long was a little surprised, "It's a Heaven Swallowing Toad. No wonder why it can eat so much."

"Heaven Swallowing Toad?" Qin Feng looked at his father in confusion. In all his time spent reading the Spiritual Beast Manual from the family scripture library, he had never seen an entry about the Heaven Swallowing Toad.

Qin Long did not respond to Qin Feng. Because at his words, that Heaven Swallowing Toad had discovered their presence. The Heaven Swallowing Toad rushed to turn around, its pair of glossy black large eyes seemed a little wary and suspicious as it looked at the two people behind the tree. 

Qin Long lightly chuckled and no longer hiding he stepped out toward the direction of the Heaven Swallowing Toad. At the same time he explained, "Heaven Swallowing Toads are one of the more unique species among the toad demon beasts. After all, with a name like heaven swallowing, you can imagine it is not an ordinary creature. It has its own space within its belly.

"This species of spiritual toad are extremely few in number but once they have achieved great cultivation, their power is absolutely astonishing. If you are swallowed into their belly, your life will be completely in their control.

"However, it's a shame that this type of demon beast is extremely hard to nurture. If the Heaven Swallowing Toad wants to advance in cultivation level, it will need to consume an overwhelming amount of spiritual items. That's because it needs spiritual items to fill up the large space within its belly.

"Furthermore, as its cultivation level advances, all the resources that it requires will increase as well. The cultivation resources that a single sect owns which is enough to nurture up to a thousand disciples might not be enough for a single Heaven Swallowing Toad."

He felt a little regretful. Initially, he had thought that he would be able to capture another spiritual beast, even if he could not keep it, he would still be able to sell it and exchange a couple of cultivation resources for his son. In the end, the toad turned out to be a Heaven Swallowing Toad that no one would be able to keep. It made him feel quite helpless.

It seemed like the losses of the family's spirit orchard this year would be hard to restore since no one would buy this bottomless glutton. If the Heaven Swallowing Toad was a level-2 spiritual beast, he could have sold it to a tool refiner who would have been able to use the space within its belly to create a space-type spiritual tool. 

However, looking at its current state, it was only a late-stage level-1 beast. The space within its body was too small to be of any use and was not worth any money.

The different levels of demonic beasts were pretty straightforward, with level-1 being the lowest stage and level-9 being the highest. A level-1 demon beast was equivalent to a cultivator of the Qi Refinement Stage, level-2 was equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, and so on. Once a beast had reached level-9 and above, it would be at the Immortal Demon Stage.

Qin Long sighed, feeling sorry for himself as he gestured with his hands to cast a spell. Since the family's losses could not be recuperated, he should stop it from becoming an even bigger loss. 

He cast a spell to draw a cage from the ground as he planned to trap the Heaven Swallowing Toad where it stood before killing it. However, he did not expect the toad to be so agile. With a sudden leap, it had managed to escape from the area where Qin Long had cast the spell in the second before it landed. With just a few hops, it had managed to jump back to the front of the spiritual well and with a bound it leaped into the well.

Qin Long had been a little too slow and because of that, he did not manage to trap that spiritual toad. In an instant, his expression turned dark. He was a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. Even though a large portion of his fighting strength lay within his spiritual beasts, making his own power slightly weaker, it was definitely not so weak that he could not even capture a late-stage level-1 demon beast. Or was it?

In his fury, he summoned his Jade-eyed Spirit Snake and pointed at the well. The Jade-eyed Spirit Snake immediately understood his intention and with a fluid motion, dove into the well and swam down along the side of the well. 

Its body swam along the smooth walls of the well like it was flat ground and it was in no danger of falling. The Jade-eyed Spirit Snake slithered in the water and stuck out its forked tongue. Heading in the direction of the Heaven Swallowing Toad's aura, it chased rapidly. 

Qin Long shut his eyes and sent a thread of Divine sense upon that spiritual beast. He kept a keen eye on the Heaven Swallowing Toad that was in the midst of escaping at high speeds. 'Let's see where on earth you can run to in this underground stream,' Qin Long thought inwardly.

The vertical pupils of the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake glowed with a faint jade light and it focused its glare on the Heaven Swallowing Toad. Even though this was a space of complete and utter darkness, it was able to see the entire outline of the toad clearly.

At the side of the well, Qin Long's lips curled with a faint smile as he waited for his Jade-eyed Spirit Snake to bring the Heaven Swallowing Toad back. However, he started frowning in the very next instant.

That was because the Heaven Swallowing Toad's swimming speed in the water was not much slower compared to the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake. It hurtled at high speed to escape and in mere seconds, it had already swam more than 10 miles away but still showed no signs of stopping. 

That was also another unique point about the Beastmaster Sect as he could place his Divine sense on spiritual beasts, ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators would not be able to see such over long distances with their divine sense.

In the darkness of the underground well, the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake continued to chase after the aura of the Heaven Swallowing Toad and suddenly a glint of bright light appeared in front of it. It was an exit connected to the ground above.

It saw the Heaven Swallowing Toad swim away at high speed and with a great push from its two hind legs. The toad leaped out of the water and its tiny body disappeared into the woods. Not a trace of it could be seen.

The Jade-eyed Spirit Snake did not consider this an amazing tactic as it could lock onto the aura of the toad and continue to hunt after it. However, once the Spirit Snake had emerged above the water surface and could see its surroundings clearly, it swiftly returned to the water. Without a sound, it swam back in the direction it had just come from.