The yellow-green round creature looked like a weaver bird however it had a few distinctive features that separated it from regular weavers. For one was its excessively rotund body that made it look more like a sheep than a bird as its feathers even seemed fluffier than wool.
The creature looked to be about two and a half meters in diameter, it was round all over that even spotting its neck and legs proved difficult. However, despite its goofy look, it had a regal bearing to it. Its eyes were deep black holding a sense of profoundness in them as a cluster of stars occasionally flickered in its eyes. Its eyes seemed to be like a nebula. At its head, it had what looked like an imprint of a purple crown.
With those two distinctive features, any cultivator off the street would know what creature this was, a celestial nesting weaver bird. It was a spirit beast with a superior bloodline that matched the likes of golden roc, black tortoise, phoenix, kunpeng, dragons, and vermilion birds …creatures known to be the apex among spirit beasts.
However, unlike its fellow top-tier bloodline compatriots, the celestial nesting weaver was utterly useless combat-wise. Its forte lay in sniffing out treasures and using them to build a godly nest that would outmatch any abode out there including even those in holy lands. It was a creature driven by the desire to create the most comfortable space to live other than that it wasn't bothered by anything else including even taking care of its young. It was why their population was so pitifully few ignoring the constraints of copulation that comes with spirit beasts that have powerful bloodlines. Celestial nesting weavers would kick out their young immediately after they hatch to avoid worrying about feeding them or raising them since it's a chore when that time could be spent sleeping or making the nest comfier.
The younglings have to start living by themselves with the pitiful scraps their parents leave them with. Though the definition of scraps in a celestial nesting weaver's eye is vastly different from most creatures out there. To them, anything in the lower ranks of sky grade might as well be dung, so whatever scraps the parents threw to their young was well enough to sustain them in their younger years or get them killed if they drew some greedy cultivator's or spirit beast's eyes.
"So what are you doing here? It's not like you to make an appearance especially since there's not much that may catch your eye here," Yang Qing exasperatedly asked as he rolled the celestial nesting weaver off the table onto the ground and went on to use it as a footstool.
Despite its clear annoyance at being used as a footstool, the celestial nesting weaver didn't even bother to move. It rolled its eyes however halfway through it felt it was a bother so it just returned its gaze back to normal.
"I sensed something interesting," said the celestial nesting weaver as its gaze trailed to where Haishi and Bolin were.
Yang Qing found its gaze strange since due to its lazy nature even eating was usually a bother to it not unless the food was some precious herb that drew its eye. But Yang Qing knew its temperament very well, there was nothing here that would draw its attention that it would decide to leave the comfort of its nest and forego sleep.
The celestial nesting weaver has been with him for the past six years. He had once won an award that let him pick one treasure from the Order's treasury and after going through the catalog of things he could pick, it was a no-brainer to him. The celestial nesting weaver was the best choice and nothing else came close.
With the Order's stingy nature of giving out almost bare abodes having a creature whose talent lay in creating a heavenly abode was the greatest gift he could have and he also felt a sense of kindred kinship with the bird in their love for sleep and comfort. At the time all he saw was a kingly abode and ignored the expense of having such a choosey bird that refuses any material below high-rank sky grade in building its nest.
Most of his merit points and income are spent on buying precious materials for the celestial nesting weaver to use for its nest which unlike its current lackluster nature gets very verbose as it criticizes every single material causing Yang Qing no small amount of endless grief. However, despite its critical nature, it lives up to its reputation. Ever since Yang Qing started living there much to its displeasure, he has never once spent time in his courtyard.
The quality and comfort were miles apart. Infact it was in part due to that nest that he got enough accumulation to breakthrough to the palace stage. Everything within that nest was geared toward comfort. Comfort in cultivating, breathing, sleeping, eating anything that could be done would be done comfortably while in that nest. The nest was suffused with the celestial nesting weaver's dao, the dao of restful solace.
Since the celestial nesting weaver was already stronger than Yang Qing cultivation-wise, it was at the fourth stage of the palace real when Yang Qing was just at the peak of the core formation realm at the time, he benefited much from interacting with its rich dao-filled nest.
"Yaoting, you seem fluffier every time I see you," Zhang Qingge said as she buried her head in his feathers with her small body which made it roll away from Yang Qing's feet.
"It's only natural," Yaoting the celestial nesting weaver said smugly taking Zhang Qingge's statement as a complement. It also seemed to rather enjoy her head rubbing on its feathers like a cat whose back ear was being rubbed.
The celestial nesting weaver was an extremely prideful bird despite its lazy nature. It rarely allows people to get within a few feet of it let alone touch it. It tolerated Yang Qing since in its eyes he was its human servant and letting him stay in its nest could be considered payment and Yang Qing was ultimately too shameless.
Other than Yang Qing it was actually receptive to Zhang Qingge for some reason and Xia Boqin. Though in the case of the latter was mostly his noble temperament that the celestial nesting weaver admired. It actually much preferred if Xia Boqin would have been its human servant compared to Yang Qing who was a complete slob. It was also because of this reason it disliked Kang Huilang, who in its eyes was just another Yang Qing except with yellow hair.
…
"You're not interested in the rainbow mist toad are you?" Yang Qing curiously asked when he saw the celestial nesting weaver's eyes still darting in that direction.
"That toad might seem important to you humans but not to me. My attention is on the mirage dragonfly next to it….it's origins don't seem simple. It may not have a lofty bloodline like mine but it's barely passable to be ranked first-rate. It's actually its seals that interest me, they seem rather ingenious," said the celestial nesting weaver as its eyes twinkled and its crown flashed in a brief purple light.
"Haishi? Was there something I missed?" Yang Qing couldn't help but mutter curiously. The rest of the judges also curiously stared at it. Some may distrust or even hate the celestial nesting weaver's pompous guts (Kang Huilang) but they knew its appraisal ability was always on the mark.
"Bolin can you come here for a second," Yang Qing decided to call Bolin over when he still struggled to spot anything off with Haishi. He hoped Bolin might know a few details about her despite spirit beasts being wary and distant to each other.
Bolin and Haishi had noticed the moment the celestial nesting weaver appeared as they felt an innate suppression coming from it. That suppression came from deep within their souls making them feel they were unworthy to be in its presence. This wasn't a cultivation realm suppression but a bloodline one. Though Haishi seemed to fair a bit better compared to Bolin whose whole back was covered in sweat and his legs buckling as if he wanted to kneel.
"Restrain your aura will you," Yang Qing said once he saw Bolin's struggle walking over.
"Why should I?" the celestial nesting weaver pompously said.
"I'll fill your nest with earth-rank herbs if you don't," Yang Qing said not missing a beat.
"YANG QING!!! You would dare?" the celestial nesting weaver said in shock mixed with anger.
"You know very well the answer to that. Now, will you do it or not?" Yang Qing coolly said.
It didn't take long before the celestial nesting weaver decided to give in and reign back its aura which came as a relief to Bolin who finally made it to the table.
Even though the aura was not there the suppression didn't disappear completely as it still felt the urge to kneel before the rotund celestial weaver that had narrowed crescent eyes as it relished Zhang Qingge's head rub.
"Do you know much about Haishi?" Yang Qing asked without beating around the bush.
"I'm sorry Master Yang Qing there's not much I know about her other than what the rest of the spirit beasts may know. Infact I may know less than the rest since I was mostly a recluse and barely left my lair," Bolin said with an embarrassed smile.
"Tell me about the little you know even silly rumors can count," Yang Qing gently said.
"Well, there was the odd partnership between her and the green-flowered babirusa. The babirusa was usually temperamental and territorial when it came to food but for some reason, it let her tag along despite her being weaker. That partnership was always rather strange.
Other than that the only other strange thing is how she has survived this long or how she even became a core formation realm spirit beast. As far as I can tell she has little combat experience which in and of itself is something strange in a place as volatile as the green fog region.
Everything around her is shrouded in secrecy. We spirit beasts avoid each other but we are atleast roughly aware of each other's territories so as to avoid conflict or trigger one through expansion. This case is especially observed by spirit beasts in the early stages of the core formation realm who constantly seek each other out for battle.
However in her case no spirit beast even knows where she lives, the only other spirit beasts whose lairs are veiled in secrecy are the three false kings and the overlord of the eighth zone. But in the case of the three false kings, we atleast know their sphere of influence and as for the overlord, no one dares to find out.
Now that I think about it the only evidence of Haishi being seen was only when she was trailing the babirusa. Her whereabouts before and after are completely unknown then again I'm not the most reliable when it comes to information but I have a friend who may know more though his identity is a little sensitive," Bolin said with a little caution.
"Who is it?" Yang Qing curiously asked when he saw Bolin's strange look.
"The green flash viper that escaped from master Feng Xin. He is also one of the three false kings," Bolin said after some hesitation.
