I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 87: Chapter 85: Heated Auction

The Longevity Jade played a crucial role in drastically shortening the eaglets’ growth time. If anyone discovered such a massive piece of Longevity Jade, they would likely assume it was solely responsible for the eagles’ rapid development. This would be very detrimental to Jiang Zuo’s efforts to build his Beast Taming Reputation.

So, Jiang Zuo built a large wooden shed on the coast and forbade anyone from entering. This way, no random person could just walk in, see the Longevity Jade, and spread rumors that would only lead to trouble.

As for the Yu Family Siblings, Jiang Zuo wasn’t worried.

Telling anyone wouldn’t benefit them in the slightest; on the contrary, it would mean offending a Grandmaster Clan.

As long as they had half a brain, they knew what to do.

The three eaglets grew day by day, and no one came to disturb Jiang Zuo during that time.

Knowing the Longevity Jade was a valuable item, Jiang Zuo planned to gather more and store it in his Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

It would be quite useful if he could raise Pet Beasts on a large scale in the future.

Jiang Zuo asked Xiaoqing to search the seabed for more whenever it had time, but Xiaoqing reported that a Longevity Jade of the same quality as the one they possessed was extremely rare.

There were plenty of lower-quality ones, but they were virtually ineffective on a Spirit Beast of its caliber.

Jiang Zuo went to compare them himself and discovered that these Jade Stones were also graded.

The vast majority of the Jade Stones were pale white; only a rare few were bluish-green.

It would be difficult to find another one like the piece he held.

What the island residents called Longevity Jade were the pale white ones.

Even so, as long as a piece was large enough, it could grant a person a long life free of illness and was thus highly sought after.

There were quite a few of these Longevity Jades on the seabed, but it was impossible for even a Meridian Passage Martial Artist to search for them at a depth of three hundred meters.

Jiang Zuo planned to go to the seabed and collect a batch to take with him when it was time to leave Fire Mist Island.

They were useless to Spirit Beasts, but they still had a decent effect on ordinary Pet Beasts.

Besides, they made excellent gifts for mortals, so it couldn’t hurt to stock up.

For now, however, Jiang Zuo wouldn’t touch them.

If he collected too many, it might affect the growth of the fish in the sea, which would in turn impact his grand eagle-raising operation.

A year passed quickly, and the three eaglets had grown into magnificent, authentic Seated Mountain Eagles.

——Seated Mountain Eagle: A large raptor with an 80-year lifespan. Resolute, intelligent, fierce, and a skilled fighter. Possesses three Talent Slots, equipped with the Learning, Combat, and Mutation talents. Rearing progress: 100%.

The Seated Mountain Eagles on Eagle Mountain had only just left their nests. They would still need to follow their parents for another month or so to learn how to hunt before they could start fending for themselves.

In contrast, the three Seated Mountain Eagles raised by Jiang Zuo had already grown to the state of their wild counterparts six months from now and were long capable of hunting on their own.

After being fully raised, each Seated Mountain Eagle granted Jiang Zuo about eight years of life. As for strength and agility, he couldn’t see the specific data because his own stats were already at the cap of 999.

Jiang Zuo guessed that the Seated Mountain Eagles’ various attributes were currently around thirty-plus points.

However, Jiang Zuo couldn’t auction them off just yet. He needed to raise them for another six months until they reached the Great Success stage of Skin Refining, at which point they would be able to carry a person in flight.

As the first batch of three Seated Mountain Eagles was ready, Jiang Zuo had already selected and brought back three new chicks from Eagle Mountain to begin the next cycle seamlessly.

In other words, Jiang Zuo would now be raising six Seated Mountain Eagles simultaneously.

Thankfully, the three mature eagles could now hunt for themselves. Otherwise, if Jiang Zuo had to catch all their fish, he’d be worked to death.

With Xiaoqing around to help drive fish from the depths to the surface, the three Seated Mountain Eagles didn’t have to worry about bad weather preventing them from catching a meal.

They still lived in the large wooden shed Jiang Zuo had built. Every day, they did nothing but eat and train.

As the three Seated Mountain Eagles’ attributes continued to increase, their flying abilities grew stronger.

Jiang Zuo began riding the largest of the females, occasionally making appearances at the human settlements on the island.

Unlike humans, the females of most raptor species are larger and grow faster.

However, Jiang Zuo wasn’t raising only one gender. With the future in mind, he planned to raise one male and two females this year, then one female and two males the next.

The Seated Mountain Eagle wasn’t yet strong enough to carry a person for long distances, but short flights over Fire Mist Island were no longer an issue.

The first time Jiang Zuo appeared at the settlements riding the Seated Mountain Eagle, he immediately drew gasps of astonishment from the crowd.

After he visited several different settlements, many people on Fire Mist Island came to know of a young man who owned a Seated Mountain Eagle capable of carrying a rider.

Half a month later, when Jiang Zuo appeared again, someone immediately approached him to ask where he got his Seated Mountain Eagle.

When Jiang Zuo said he had raised it himself, the questioner didn’t doubt him.

Raising Seated Mountain Eagles was something of an arcane art; with good luck, it wasn’t surprising that someone might manage it.

He simply asked happily if Jiang Zuo would sell the Seated Mountain Eagle, promising a price that would surely satisfy him.

Jiang Zuo then took the opportunity to spread the word that he specialized in raising Seated Mountain Eagles, and that he had successfully raised three that could be ridden.

He announced that in two months, the Seated Mountain Eagles would be fully mature. They would be auctioned off in Huowu Town, and anyone interested could participate in the bidding.

After he left this message in several settlements, the news spread like wildfire.

After all, a rideable Seated Mountain Eagle was the stuff of legend on Fire Mist Island. Although people on the island were always trying to raise them, no one had ever been seen who could consistently produce one capable of carrying a person.

There wasn’t a single person who could guarantee raising even one in twenty or thirty years.

From Jiang Zuo’s perspective, this was perfectly normal.

First of all, the Seated Mountain Eagle chicks they found had been abandoned precisely because they were weak.

And the people who raised them couldn’t afford to feed them a diet consisting entirely of fish from the sea.

Those fish weren’t cheap. It was one thing to catch them yourself, but if you had to buy them, the food costs over two or three years would be astronomical.

「Two months passed quickly.」

「This day, in Huowu Town.」

Huowu Town was the first and most populous settlement on Fire Mist Island, even more prosperous than many inland towns.

"Look! Three Seated Mountain Eagles!"

"And there’s someone riding one of them!"

"I remember! Today’s the day that young man said he’d be auctioning the Seated Mountain Eagles!"

"It’s actually real? Let’s go take a look!"

Three Seated Mountain Eagles flew over in formation, with a person riding one of them. For many, the sight was absolutely stunning.

Seeing the three Seated Mountain Eagles land in the town’s marketplace, a crowd of curious onlookers rushed over.

Jiang Zuo had rented an open space in the market the day before and had even hired people to build a sizable wooden platform.

"Such beautiful Seated Mountain Eagles!"

"Look at the sheen of their feathers and their size! You can tell just by looking how well they’ve been raised!"

"No kidding. If they weren’t raised well, could they fly with a rider?"

"I wonder if Old Li is here. He’s spent half his life trying to raise Seated Mountain Eagles, just hoping to get a few that could be ridden. But the ones I’ve seen him raise are a far cry from these three!"

"Shh! Not so loud, Old Li is right over there!"

Soon, a large crowd had gathered, murmuring amongst themselves as they stared at the three magnificent Seated Mountain Eagles.

In the crowd, a gaunt old man stared in shock at the three Seated Mountain Eagles standing on the wooden platform.

He was the Old Li they had just mentioned.

The man in the crowd had been right. Old Li had spent the better part of his life researching how to raise Seated Mountain Eagles.

But in over thirty years, though he had raised more than thirty of them, he had only managed to produce one that could barely carry a rider.

And that one was a far cry from the three before him now.

"Young man, did you raise all three of these Seated Mountain Eagles yourself?"

Old Li simply couldn’t contain himself and spoke up.

"Of course I did," Jiang Zuo replied openly, glancing at Old Li. "If someone else could raise Seated Mountain Eagles like these, I imagine you all would have known about it by now."

Hearing this, Old Li fell silent.

He was deeply skeptical about how such a young man could have achieved this, but Jiang Zuo had a point.

If there were someone like that on Fire Mist Island, he would have known.

In fact, the few people on Fire Mist Island who raised Seated Mountain Eagles all knew one another.

They were all more or less on the same level, and among them, Old Li was considered the best.

"Young man, how do you plan to sell these three Seated Mountain Eagles?"

Someone else asked.

"I’ve said it before. They will be sold by auction to the highest bidder. The bidding will take place right here at 3:00 PM this afternoon."

"This is the first time I’m auctioning Seated Mountain Eagles, so there will be no reserve price. Regardless of the final amount, the highest bidder will take home a Seated Mountain Eagle."

Jiang Zuo replied calmly.

"Are you sure all three Seated Mountain Eagles are capable of carrying a rider?"

Someone asked skeptically.

Everyone says Seated Mountain Eagles are difficult to raise. Raising three rideable ones at once seemed impossible, no matter how you looked at it.

"Don’t worry. I’m about to demonstrate just how capable my Seated Mountain Eagles are. Since someone has questioned their flying ability, I’ll give you a demonstration right now."

"Anyone can try. If you weigh under two hundred pounds, you can come up and give it a shot. I’ll have a Seated Mountain Eagle take you for a flight!"

As soon as Jiang Zuo spoke, the crowd below erupted in an uproar.

An expression of utter disbelief appeared on Old Li’s face.

’Under two hundred pounds?’

’How is that possible!’

’The one he raised could barely manage to carry someone a little over one hundred pounds for a short flight.’

"I’ll go! I’m about one hundred and eighty pounds!"

A stocky, middle-aged man raised his hand and shouted.

The crowd looked over, and no one doubted his claim.

Even if he wasn’t one hundred and eighty, he was at least one hundred and sixty.

If it could carry him, it could certainly carry an ordinary person.

Jiang Zuo gestured for him to come up. Then, he had each of the three Seated Mountain Eagles take a turn carrying the man on a flight over Huowu Town.

After him, Jiang Zuo called up two more people in succession and had them take a turn flying as well.

"It really works!"

"It flew several rounds in a row and doesn’t even look tired. It probably really could carry a two-hundred-pound person without any trouble!"

"Those wings are so powerful! I can barely stand up against the wind from their flapping!"

Every time a Seated Mountain Eagle took flight, its wings kicked up a powerful downdraft.

Forcing the nearby spectators to shield their eyes.

After these consecutive flights, no one doubted the three Seated Mountain Eagles’ flying capabilities any longer.

"Flying ability is just a minor detail. In fact, these three Seated Mountain Eagles I’ve raised all possess the strength of a martial artist at the Great Success stage of Skin Refining. If there are any Skin Refining Martial Artists here who are confident in their combat abilities, you are welcome to come up on stage and fight one of them."

"If you can defeat any one of them, I will reward you with one thousand taels of silver!"

Jiang Zuo added.

"What? Great Success in Skin Refining?"

"That’s impossible!"

"But he’s offering a reward of one thousand taels of silver!"

"Any Skin Refining Martial Artists here? Get up there and give it a shot!"

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