In the Heavenly Chamber One, all eyes were on Ruan Ruan.
More accurately, they were fixed on the purple creature in Ruan Ruan's embrace, which was currently crunching on eggshells.
After Shen Xiao Yan had purchased the beast egg of this purple lightning cloud beast for 300,200,000 blue coins, the staff from the breeding auction house had promptly delivered it.
As if fearing Shen Xiao Yan might regret her purchase, the supervisor cautiously urged her to pay the crystal coins.
Although bidding had felt exhilarating, and Shen Xiao Yan indeed had no shortage of money, she didn't have that many crystal coins on hand.
Therefore, she produced a small stalk of Longevity Grass.
Upon seeing the Longevity Grass, the supervisor's eyes immediately lit up, as if he wanted to press his face against it.
When he heard Shen Xiao Yan offer it as payment, he agreed without a second thought.
After all, if this stalk of Longevity Grass were to be auctioned, it would be worth 5,000,000 blue coins!
Moreover, it looked incredibly healthy, clearly capable of lasting for a long time. If he presented it to his superiors, he might even receive a commendation. Such a stroke of luck was rare indeed.
And now, he had stumbled upon it. If he didn't seize this opportunity, he would truly be a fool.
Watching the supervisor hurry away with the pot of Longevity Grass, Shen Xiao Yan smiled and handed the beast egg to Ruan Ruan.
The beast egg was only the size of an adult man's palm and had initially seemed quite delicate.
However, Ruan Ruan's hands were even smaller, and the beast egg appeared somewhat large in them.
Ruan Ruan's skin was fair, and her perfectly shaped fingernails had a healthy, rosy glow, creating a pleasing contrast with the purple beast egg.
Zhen Ling Rong watched this scene with a delighted grin, exclaiming, "Ruan Ruan, hurry and drip blood to recognize your master!"
Shen Xiao Yan looked at Zhen Ling Rong in surprise, "Drip blood to recognize your master?"
What was going on?
Was it what she was thinking?
Zhen Ling Rong patiently explained, "Whether or not this beast egg can hatch, all you need to do is drip a drop of your essence onto it. From then on, it will be yours, and any divine beast that hatches from it will also be yours. No matter who tries to snatch it away, they won't be able to claim it as their own."
Hearing Zhen Ling Rong's explanation, Shen Xiao Yan understood. The so-called 'drip blood to recognize master' was essentially a way to brand the beast egg with Ruan Ruan's ownership.
Naturally, this brand was more than just a mere decoration.
Ruan Ruan, with great interest, dripped a drop of her essence onto the beast egg.
This in itself was nothing remarkable, but that's when the extraordinary event occurred.
As Ruan Ruan's essence landed on the beast egg, it suddenly emitted a blinding purple light.
The purple light didn't emanate from the surface; instead, Ruan Ruan's essence had directly penetrated the eggshell and entered within.
The purple light shone from that small opening.
Shen Xiao Yan and the others closed their eyes for a moment, and when they felt they could adjust to the purple light, they opened them again.
What they saw then shocked them all.
The beast egg, which had been the size of an adult's palm, had now cracked into several pieces on Ruan Ruan's lap.
And within the shattered eggshell, there was a small, pale purple beast.
When it was young, it resembled a ermine, but its ears were semicircular.
These semicircles were perfectly formed, just like in the cartoon images Shen Xiao Yan had seen in her previous life.
The little beast rubbed its eyes with its tiny paws.
Its large eyes swept over everyone in the room, then it lowered its small head and began to diligently eat the eggshell closest to it.
Lu Tao Bao watched the little beast for a while before stammering, "How did it hatch? Its teeth are so good, it can chew on such hard eggshells right after coming out."
Hearing Lu Tao Bao, Lin Xin burst into laughter. "Young people who don't understand should study diligently and ask questions. Otherwise, saying something like this in front of others later will truly be a joke."
Even if Lu Tao Bao was slow-witted, he understood at that moment that Lin Xin was indirectly calling him an idiot.
But what he said wasn't wrong.
Hadn't this little purple beast just hatched?
Seeing his bewildered expression, Yi Zhi Xie finally couldn't bear it. He patted Lu Tao Bao's shoulder and said earnestly, "Divine beasts are called divine beasts because they are different from ordinary beasts. Their eggshells are not ordinary. After they emerge from the egg, they will consume their own eggshells as quickly as possible. In doing so, they receive a form of inheritance, enabling them to understand many things."
Hearing this, Lu Tao Bao suddenly understood. "So that's how it is! But why are their teeth so good?"
Shen Xiao Yan and the others all turned to look at Lu Tao Bao.
After such a clear explanation, he could still ask that question. He was truly remarkable.
Yi Zhi Xie patted Lu Tao Bao heavily on the shoulder, sighed, but did not explain further.
They continued to wait until the little beast had finished eating all the eggshells. Only then did Ruan Ruan speak.
"What is your name?"
Hearing this, the little beast tilted its head and looked at Ruan Ruan. "Don't humans always like to name their pets? Why are you asking me my name?"
Ruan Ruan tilted her head and looked at Shen Xiao Yan. "Is that so? Mother."
Shen Xiao Yan nodded. "Ruan Ruan, you should come up with a name."
Hearing Shen Xiao Yan say this, Ruan Ruan truly began to ponder.
After thinking for a long time, Ruan Ruan said, "How about calling it Sha Meng!"
"Pfft!"
Shen Xiao Yan couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Seeing Ruan Ruan's confused gaze, Shen Xiao Yan wiped the corner of her lips and asked helplessly, "Why Sha Meng?"
Ruan Ruan blinked innocently. "Doesn't Mother often praise Luo Luo and the others for being 'sha meng'? And when Mother sees any cute animals, she always says they are 'sha meng'. Isn't that a word of praise?"
Shen Xiao Yan felt speechless.
She desperately wanted to ask, "Daughter, don't you see that all these cute things have one thing in common: they are silly?"
But looking at her daughter's innocent gaze, the words wouldn't come out.
Forget it, let's call it Sha Meng!
After all, looking at the little beast's appearance, she didn't think it was a particularly intelligent creature.
Indeed, upon hearing Ruan Ruan's words, the purple little beast's eyes lit up, and it became overjoyed.
"Sha Meng is good, I like Sha Meng!"
Listening to the childish voice say this, Shen Xiao Yan felt like burying her face in her hands.
But she managed to hold back.
Zhen Ling Rong looked at Sha Meng in Ruan Ruan's embrace, then at Ruan Ruan, and finally clicked her tongue in admiration. "Truly worthy of being Grandma's little treasure. Such good luck! To casually buy a divine beast egg and have it hatch like this."
After speaking, she turned to look at Lin Xin and Mi Le Buddha. "You two find more divine beast eggs later and get one for Xiao Han and Xiao He each."
Hearing Zhen Ling Rong, Lin Xin and Mi Le Buddha exchanged a glance. They didn't say anything, but their hearts roared.
It seemed she treated divine beast eggs like common cabbage, asking for more.
Where were they supposed to find more?
As they were talking animatedly, a figure suddenly rushed towards Ruan Ruan.
The group was caught off guard and couldn't stop the figure in time.
By the time they realized what was happening and prepared to intervene, the figure had already reached Ruan Ruan.
Concerned for Ruan Ruan's safety, they dared not act rashly.
Just as Shen Xiao Yan was about to speak, a flash of purple light cut through the air. Then, everyone smelled the scent of burnt flesh.
As they wondered what was happening, they saw the shadowy figure standing in front of Ruan Ruan collapse softly to the ground.
The hood she was wearing had been split in half and lay on either side of her body.
Her originally white clothing had turned a charred black.