Chapter 537: Hatched Egg

The moment the female Bluewind Eagle finished eating the last of the spirit fruits, Aksai walked forward with steady steps.

He raised his hand and focused his Spirit energy into the Essence Equation Rune shackle around her leg. The rune flickered with a soft blue light before slowly dimming and vanishing.

“You’re free now,” Aksai said softly.

The female eagle flapped her wings once and gave a short cry, testing her leg with a cautious step. She looked around, then turned her sharp gaze at the male Bluewind Eagle.

Aksai then stepped back and raised his hand again. A dome-shaped spectral barrier shimmered into existence above them, wide enough to fit an entire battlefield.

Inside the glowing translucent dome, the land beneath shimmered slightly with traces of Spirit energy, ready for what was to come.

“Go on then,” Aksai whispered to the male eagle. “It’s your chance.”

The male Bluewind Eagle let out a powerful cry, flapping his wings hard. He stepped forward and released another sharp screech, this one filled with challenge and pride. The female answered right back with her own piercing cry and stepped forward as well, her feathers raised and eyes glowing with determination.

And with that, the spar began.

Both birds charged at each other, claws first. Winds surged around their forms as they summoned 2nd Order wind-element Spirit spells. Gusts flew, feathers scattered, and the ground beneath trembled. Their battle moved fast—quick steps, slashing claws, and wind blades cutting through the air.

At first, they fought on the ground. They moved with force and grace, leaping and twisting, attacking and blocking. But when the space below could no longer contain their speed, they took to the skies.

Inside the dome, the air howled. The female eagle twisted and turned with great agility, flipping mid-air and dodging the male’s attacks with ease. But the male had stronger Spirit spells. With every move, his attacks gained more weight. He hurled blade-like wind crescents and conjured spirals of air that pushed the female back.

Outside the dome, Aksai watched quietly, his arms folded. He could see the male still holding back, still trying not to hurt the female.

“You won’t win like that,” Aksai said under his breath.

He touched the dome lightly and sent a Spirit message to the male eagle. His words were calm and serious. “Don’t hesitate. Use your strength. Strike. You have to prove you’re stronger. She won’t accept you if you keep defending.”

The male eagle paused in mid-air. He glanced toward Aksai’s direction for a moment. Then he looked back at the female. His eyes hardened.

He beat his wings and let out another cry, this one deeper and heavier. He dropped all defensive moves and rushed in with a sharp strike, slamming into the female with a burst of wind.

The force caught her off-guard. She tried to counter, but the male was too fast now, too aggressive. He used his most powerful wind-element Spirit spell, conjuring a spinning vortex that pushed her upward. Then, with a flash, he soared higher, flipped mid-air, and came crashing down in a diagonal slash of wind energy.

The female screeched and tried to hold her ground, but the blow knocked her balance away. Her wings gave out. She spun in the air and dropped to the ground with a thud. The male eagle landed right after her and pinned her down, one claw on her chest. His feathers were messy, and he had a scratch across his side.

But he was clearly in a better condition.

He released a loud and sharp eagle cry that echoed through the dome. A victory cry.

The female squirmed beneath him, growling in protest. She lifted her head slightly, her pride clearly hurt.

But then, something shifted in her eyes.

The effects of the pills Aksai had slipped into her feed earlier finally began to settle in. Her feathers smoothed. Her breathing softened. The glow in her eyes dimmed—not in defeat, but in acceptance.

She gave a soft grunt and slowly bowed her head.

The male eagle blinked. Then his chest puffed up and he cried out in joy. He opened his wings wide and let out a powerful wind-element Spirit spell. The gust rushed across the dome, forming a circular breeze that rose like a column around them.

Then he dropped his head and gently nudged the female eagle. She responded with a soft nudge of her own. He rubbed his beak against her neck, and she did the same.

Aksai smiled from outside the dome. His arms were still folded, but his lips curled with satisfaction. Just then, footsteps echoed lightly behind him on the grassy ground. Aksai turned his head slightly and saw Yelia approaching.

Her long green robes swayed with her steps. She glanced at the two demon birds, then turned her sharp, thoughtful eyes to Aksai.

“My liege,” she began in her soft, patient voice. “Even if you’ve managed to get those two together, it won’t be easy for them to give you many Bluewind Eagle babies in a short time.”

Aksai raised an eyebrow but didn’t interrupt. He already knew a lecture was coming. He knew that Yelia was aware of what he had done with the birds. He had influenced the female bird’s decision by giving her an aphrodisiac that would kick in after she battled with the male demon bird.

In a way, Aksai had altered the natural process that was set within the demon beasts. Yelia didn’t like it even though she did not openly oppose Aksai’s “shady” methods.

Yelia continued, “Aerial-type demon beasts—especially predatory ones like the Bluewind Eagles—have very low birth rates. Even under perfect conditions, it might take them a decade just to welcome one or two offspring. Maybe a pair, if you’re lucky. And even then, there are other problems.”

“Problems like what?” Aksai asked with a smirk.

Yelia didn’t smile back. “They’re expensive to raise. They require rich Spirit resources for their growth, wide hunting grounds, and large amounts of Spirit-rich food. Their nesting cycles are slow. And they imprint strongly on their own kind. There’s a reason even the Big Five Sects avoid raising them in large numbers.”

Aksai gave a small chuckle. Then he laughed a little louder.

“Hahaha… Don’t worry, Yelia,” he said as he stretched his arms behind his head and let out a relaxed sigh. “I’m not planning to wait a whole decade. Two or three months at most.”

Yelia blinked. “You can’t rush nature, lord Aksai. No matter how well endowed our farm is.”

Aksai turned and looked her in the eye with a mischievous grin. “Maybe others can’t. But I’m not ‘others,’ am I?”

Yelia raised a brow, waiting for his explanation.

“I already made an aphrodisiac for the female eagle,” Aksai said proudly. “And that was just the start. I’m going to craft a whole line of alchemy items—fertility boosters, Spirit nourishment for the eggs, whatever I need. My Bluewind Eagles won’t be laying eggs like regular beasts. They’ll be popping them out like rabbits in heat.”

Yelia let out a soft sigh. “My liege… birds don’t breed like rabbits.”

“But mine will,” Aksai said with a grin. “This little farm is my world. We don’t follow the same rules here.”

He turned his attention back to the birds and watched as the male offered a freshly plucked feather to the female, who accepted it with a low chirp. Aksai’s grin grew wider.

“See? They’re already halfway there.”

Yelia shook her head slowly, though a small smile tugged at her lips despite herself. “Just don’t break their Spirit cores trying to force something unnatural.”

“I won’t,” Aksai said with a chuckle. “I’m not cruel. I’m just efficient.”

He stretched again, cracking his neck and letting out a deep, satisfied breath.

“Mark my words, Yelia,” Aksai said. “This is just a start. Emerald Cove will one day stand shoulder to shoulder with the Big Five Sects in the future. And it will surpass the Big Five Sects’ combined might in the not so distant future as well.”

She looked at him for a long moment and finally said, “certainly, my liege. After all, we have to surpass the standards of the whole Dadangar World eventually anyway. With you taking the right steps from the start, it would be just that much sooner.”

Aksai grinned. “Exactly.”

Just then…

Aksai was still watching the two Bluewind Eagles settle down beside each other when a flicker appeared in front of his eyes. A soft chime followed. It was a notification from his Neural Link Fabric.

A spectral screen unfolded in front of him like a translucent scroll floating in mid-air. Lines of glowing text danced across it.

Aksai raised his eyebrows.

Then his eyes widened.

And then a wide smile stretched across his face.

“Well, well… Looks like it’s finally happening,” he murmured.

Without wasting another second, he activated a movement-type Spirit spell. His figure blurred and vanished from the open field.

A moment later, he reappeared at another section of the Enchanted Everwood Farm—right near the Demon Tree.

The giant tree towered above everything, its dark leaves rustling in the faint breeze of Spirit energy that constantly flowed in the area. Its trunk was thick and twisted, full of life and strange power.

But Aksai’s attention was not on the tree.

Right in front of it, a runic array formation was glowing on the open ground. Intricate lines of Essence Equation runes pulsed with life, forming a circular formation around a large egg.

The egg was nearly the size of half an adult human. It was resting calmly in the very center of the array.

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AN: Aksai receives the demon beast egg in chapter 410.

Scots believed unicorns were real—and made it their national animal.