Demonic Beast Eggs

"That worry of yours is very valid. However," Dai Li placed a hand on Li Xian's shoulder, "You just must trust that the protection provided in the Li Manor is more than enough to ensure their safety. You can't protect them forever, Miss Li." 

Thinking about her head manager's words, Li Xian nodded. "You're right. There's nothing more that I can do." 

As they walked into the store, many of the staffs that worked in the store for a while had come up to greet Li Xian as the lady boss of the store. They did not know of her identity as she does not ever use her Li Clan status. Since young, her parents never forced her to be in the limelight and so, only the four major clans knew of her existence and they themselves would of course not spread her identity. 

"Good afternoon, everyone. Hope everything is running smoothly in the store." Li Xian greeted everyone back warmly. She turned her head and walked towards a high stone pedestal that sat in the corner of the first floor. 

On the pedestal, sat an indigo-furred cat that had a dull black stone on its forehead. It seemed to be asleep. When Li Xian got closer, the cat opened its eyes and saw who it was. It purred and immediately leaped off the pedestal and jumped into Li Xian's arm. The cat's face looked very happy to see Li Xian. 

"Oh Prism, it is so nice to finally see you again." Li Xian gently rubbed the cat's head. 

"Mao!" Prism purred obediently back. 

Prism the cat was a Rainbow Stoned Demonic Cat and was the only Demonic Beast owned by Li Xian. Back when she was in university, she had found the Demonic Cat Egg inside a wild forest and brought it back to raise as her own. Having been a decade since she was born, Prism had already grown in strength to become a middle rank 6 Demonic Beast. This was the highest rank a Rainbow Stoned Demonic Cat could reach and at this strength, it could even rival a stage three Core Formation Realm cultivator. 

Currently, Prism lived in the Glory Beast Emporium as its protector. Li Xian had ordered a stone pedestal, which it loved, for it to watch over the store from above. However, this was not her original plan as she wanted Prism to stay in the courtyard with her, after all, Prism was her companion. Sadly, the rules of the Li Manor, set by Li Kui, was that all Demonic Beasts had to stay in the Li Clan's Demonic Beast Stable. And as such, Li Xian would rather Prism have more freedom in the store than be cooped up with the other Demonic Beasts owned by the family. 

Holding the cat in her arm like a baby, Li Xian left to her office located on the 6th floor, which was the highest floor in the store. This floor was used by the staff and to conduct meetings with potential partners. On the 1st to 3rd floor was where the household products used to raise pets were sold. On the 4th floor, classes and workshops were held here for Beast Tamers. Many lessons may be conducted outdoors due to the sheer size of some Demonic Beasts, but for most theoretical classes, they were held indoors. 

On the 5th floor, this was where the infirmary and sale of Demonic Beast eggs are located. The infirmary in the pet store had a size quota. Anything more than the quota, the Beast Tamer would have to fork out extra cost for the vet to come down to the location to treat the Demonic Beast. 

The sale area of Demonic Beast eggs was a simple room with several display counters. There were no physical eggs to look at. Rather, the eggs were looked at virtually, where the counters will display relevant information on the different Demonic Beast eggs offered by the store. When a person chose to finish their egg, they would have to wait for at most 24 hours before the egg would arrive at the store, or if they desired, delivered directly to their homes. 

In terms of where the eggs were stored, to prevent a possible security breach and the Demonic Beast eggs being stolen, the eggs were stored in the most secure storage vault in the Land of Hua, Golden Gate. Most high-end Demonic Beast pet stores would choose to store their eggs in Golden Gate as they have Nascent Soul Cultivators guarding the location of their storage facilities 24/7. As for the other domestic goods, which were not worth as much as Demonic Beast eggs and were too bulky to take away in large amounts, Prism and a single Core Formation security guard on shift was enough as a deterrence. In the day, Dai Li was also present in the store too. 

Li Xian exited the staff elevator and sat in her seat that had been left empty for many months. Every day, Dai Li would get one of the workers to clear up Li Xian's office, which was why the place still looked like she had never left. Dai Li came in with a thick binder and sat in the chair opposite of his boss. He started to give her a summary on the store's sales and current supply of Demonic Beast eggs. For medium to large enterprises, the supply of Demonic Beast eggs was usually constant, and the supply would not be cut short. 

However, recently, with the covert attacks on the Scorch Desert, conducted by the Li Clan's army, the mercenaries located on the Southern Border were not allowed to carry out their missions of poaching Demonic Beast eggs in certain areas of the Scorch Desert. As such, the supply of Demonic Beast eggs had taken a small hit. 

Li Xian heard of such a situation from her father a few weeks ago and knew that a Beast-Human war was about to happen and had warned Dai Li of the potential supply shortage. Thanks to the prompt warning, the Glory Beast Emporium was able to have a greater supply of Demonic Beast eggs from the Scorch Desert than many of the other enterprises. 

After a thirty-minute meeting, Li Xian went on her computer to search the Demonic Beast egg catalogue of her store. She came back to the office for two matters. One, was the administrative matters and to set the future direction of the store. Two, to obtain a Demonic Beast egg for her son's Zhua Zhou Ceremony. The Zhua Zhou Ceremony was a symbolic tradition conducted in the Land of Hua, whereby the baby shall be placed in front of a set of items. Each item shall symbolize a certain occupation and what the baby chooses is said to decide the child's future inclination. 

In Li Tian and his sibling's Zhua Zhou Ceremony, Li Xian and Ming Guang Rong had planned out the same set of items. To symbolize the Li Clan's Swordsmanship, a small toy sword was used as its symbol. For pride's sake, Li Kui did not allow her to put the other styles of combat as many of them were representative of the three other major clans of Hua. The only exception was Beast Taming as this combat style was generally available in all clans. The Demonic Beast egg shall thus symbolize Beast Taming. The other symbolic items are a pill, a tier 3 herb, and a scroll, which symbolized Pill-Refining, Herbology and Strategies. The tiers of herbs followed the tiers of pills, where 1 was the lowest and most common type of herb and 5 was the rarest type of herb. The other lifestyle occupations were not included by them as they were not very suitable in the clan. 

For the ceremony, Li Xian decided on using the Demonic Beast Egg of the Black Sand Eagle, a tier 5 beast at its strongest. This was an impressive beast that had a great advantage in the sky. When grown up, the Black Sand Eagle pet can allow its beast tamer to ride on it. This Demonic Beast was already the strongest aerial Beast egg that Li Xian's store sold. If Li Tian were to choose the Beast Tamer occupation, Li Xian would not spare any expense and give her son the best treatment. 

For both of Li Tian's siblings, they had chosen the toy sword as their preferred occupation. When this happened, patriarch Li Kui was ecstatic about it. After all, Swordsmanship was the pride of the Li Clan and it would be wrong if his predecessors did not carry on with the lineage. Although, the Zhua Zhou Ceremony was only meant as a symbolic reasoning, it did mean that the child found that item to be the most eye catching out of all the symbols. 

Once Li Xian settled everything and requested for Dai Li to get someone to deliver the egg to the Li Clan in two weeks, the lady left the store and headed back home. It was almost time for her children to wake up. On the Saturday two weeks later, Li Tian was turning one. The little baby had long overheard about the Zhua Zhou Ceremony and knew about the items that were going to be shown that day. He even heard about how many of the children in the Li Clan had chosen swordsmanship.