"Every day? Crow, your appetite is enormous. Do you think I'm some charity that feeds crows?" Zhen said in response.
It wasn't really a problem if he had to give the Golden Crow his Dragon Qi every day.
As long as it wasn't excessive, it was doable.
But what if the crow decided to fly off after its cultivation recovered? That would be a huge loss for him.
"I might consider it—if you become my pet," Zhen added.
"What?" The Golden Crow suddenly looked so shocked that it flapped its wings repeatedly.
"You, boy—even though you're impressive for having Dragon Qi, not even True Dragons are qualified to make us Golden Crows their pets. Who do you think you are?" The crow seemed furious at being asked to become a pet.
Annoyed by the bird, Zhen immediately stopped the flow of Dragon Qi from his body and quickly picked up all the eggshell shards, moving them into his Inventory.
"You, hey, give me some more Dragon Qi," said the crow.
"We have to leave now," Zhen replied before turning and walking away hastily.
He didn't want to be found by disciples of the Hundred Flames Sect, so of course he couldn't stay there.
Naturally, the crow followed him as if afraid of being left behind.
Zhen knew the crow wouldn't submit, but it would definitely keep following him.
He would think of a way to make it submit later.
Some time later, he arrived again at the city lord's residence.
He couldn't help but pause, staring at the golden-colored Golden Crow.
Even though it had withdrawn its golden flames, its different color still made it stand out noticeably.
"Crow, you can't follow me around in that form," Zhen said to it.
"I can become smaller," the crow replied calmly.
After that, Zhen watched as it actually shrank until it was only the size of a mosquito.
At that size, Zhen naturally had no more concerns.
He quickly left the city lord's residence.
"Boy, dragons and all the scriptures for training dragon power have long vanished. How do you, a human, have Dragon Qi?" the Golden Crow asked as it followed him.
Zhen was a bit confused about what he should say, being asked such a question.
In the end, he chose not to answer.
"Hey, were you watching me ever since I found your egg?" Zhen asked, changing the topic.
"Yes. I could see from inside my egg," the crow replied.
"Then how did you destroy the formation in this city so quickly?"
"They used my flame as an explosive to destroy the Formation Core. My flame is the hottest fire in existence, of course it exploded and destroyed it. Why? Do you need help destroying a formation?"
"No," Zhen replied.
"What? They're insane!" Zhen was then stunned when he saw the forest outside the city.
Disciples of the Hundred Flames Sect had started dropping fire onto the forest from above, trying to burn it down.
With their fire, the forest naturally started burning quickly, sending thick black smoke into the sky, turning the blue heavens black.
As the fire grew larger, the air in the city became too hot to breathe.
Even worse, the fire began to spread toward the city.
"Damn them!" The townspeople could only curse before trying to flee.
They knew the city was beyond saving now.
Zhen naturally couldn't insist on staying in the city either.
He needed to find another city, following the people who mostly chose Heavenwind City.
It wasn't the nearest city, but it was one of the safest, as it was directly guarded by an elder of the Sacred Cloud Sect—one of the elders known to be willing to die fighting, so the Hundred Flames Sect hadn't rushed to attack that city.
Even though he was on foot, together with the crowd of Spring City refugees, Zhen didn't feel the passage of time as they arrived at the city, which looked much larger, with half of its buildings made of concrete reaching up to fifty meters high.
This city wasn't surrounded by forest. The distance between the city and the forest was quite far. Around it, there were only vast farming fields.
From that city, the fire in Spring City was still clearly visible.
In fact, the flames had only grown larger, spreading in all directions.
The people could only be angry and wait for heavy rain to fall.
With such heat, a downpour was likely to follow.
Unfortunately, what the Hundred Flames Sect was searching for was destined never to be found—the egg had already hatched, and the Golden Crow had left with Zhen.
Zhen didn't think too much about it, as in his mind, this was still just a game—although he also felt that the game was far too strange, with many illogical things happening.
He admired Heavenwind City, which he thought had a very pleasant, cool breeze.
Along its streets, Zhen saw quite a few Cultivation Shops.
He wondered where he could go to exchange his Spirit Core.
It could be exchanged for 5,000 Spirit Coins, which he needed to buy his supplies.
'This one looks good!'
Zhen then decided to enter a Cultivation Shop that had two floors.
It was larger than the others.
When he entered, Zhen even saw many weapons for sale, some of which emitted an aura continuously.
Their prices weren't cheap either—ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 Spirit Coins.
They were Tier 2 Weapons—one of the items Zhen wanted to buy, but seeing the prices, he hesitated whether he should get one.
"Is there something you're looking for, sir?" asked a female shop assistant dressed in a clean white robe.
She looked beautiful and well-groomed, even though she was just a shop employee.
"I have a Spirit Core containing 5,000 units of Spirit Energy. I want to exchange it for Spirit Coins," Zhen replied.
He didn't forget to take the Spirit Core out of his Inventory.
Upon seeing it, the assistant's eyes lit up.
"Sir, please follow me," she said.
She led him to the cashier, informing him of Zhen's request.
The cashier, a young man, extended his hand to Zhen.
"Let me inspect the Spirit Core," he said.
Zhen didn't mind, handing the core over.
In a store like this, there was no way they'd try anything shady—unless they wanted all their customers to flee.
The young man examined the Spirit Core. Afterward, he handed over a cloth pouch filled with Spirit Coins.
"You can count it—there should be 5,000 Spirit Coins inside," he said.
Transactions like this naturally didn't require any fees, because for many powerful people, they preferred to keep Spirit Cores over Spirit Coins.
They needed them, so they were ready to trade with anyone.
Sometimes, they even paid extra.
Zhen looked into the pouch and did a quick count.
There were coins of various colors, all the same size.
Not one more or less—exactly 5,000.
Zhen smiled in satisfaction and thanked them.
He didn't leave the shop right away, instead browsing around for a bit.