Free Web NovelChapter 429: Chapter 416: Stepping into the Three-star Realm
Lu You nodded, and a moment later, the two of them arrived at the Array Society with their Pet Beasts.
Gu Ming had previously submitted a formal application to Elder Huo to join the society, which had been quickly approved.
After many days of study, he now had a considerable understanding of Arrays.
Choosing this location for the Evolution was undoubtedly a great honor for Elder Huo.
It showed that in Gu Ming’s mind, the Array Society held a status at least equal to that of the Outdoor Adventure Club.
Of course, the faculty advisor for the Outdoor Adventure Club also showed up outside the Array Society’s courtyard.
There was a hint of displeasure on his face. He snorted but didn’t say anything more.
Elder Huo chuckled. Seeing the man not say another peep was immensely satisfying.
He personally took charge of the Array, first activating the courtyard’s Qi Gathering Array to its full potential.
With his Pet Beast managing it, a massive amount of Spiritual Qi soon gushed forth, quickly filling the entire area.
High above the university, the normally invisible School Protection Array slowly materialized, revealing a translucent, dome-shaped canopy of gradient blue.
Outside the courtyard, a number of unfamiliar teachers and professors began to arrive.
They were all researchers who had heard the news and come to observe the second and third instances of Qi Refining Evolution.
Gu Ming had already completed the first draft of his paper on Qi Refining Evolution, but it had yet to be published due to a lack of case studies.
If Ah Kun and Mouse Treasure’s Evolutions were successful, he would have the supplemental cases he needed.
The Peak journal had expressed its willingness to accept the manuscript and publish it for the reference of all Beastmasters.
Faced with an invitation from a top-tier journal, Gu Ming had no reason to refuse.
They wanted more case studies to ensure the new Evolution Method’s viability, so he invited them to watch in person.
The university also helped facilitate the event, providing the venue and inviting several local reviewers from the Peak journal to observe.
Some of them weren’t from Wenquxing University. They arrived discreetly, careful not to attract the students’ attention, and merely struck up conversations with some of the old-timers outside the Array Society’s courtyard.
To any onlookers, they were just a group of old men watching the excitement, with no intention of pushing through the crowd to chase the latest "trend."
Gu Ming also genuinely needed the Credit Points that would be awarded for publishing in such a top-tier journal, as it would grant him more freedom to utilize the university’s resources.
’In that case, there’s no need to overthink it. I just have to give it my all.’
When the Spiritual Qi concentration in the air climbed to a critical point, everyone who took a deep breath felt a stuffiness in their chests.
This was a sign of mild "Spiritual Qi poisoning," an indication that the concentration was now too high for Low-star Pet Beasts to bear.
The first-year students who had just joined the Array Society tried to tough it out, but Elder Huo didn’t let them stay. He bellowed:
"First-years, clear the area now! The Qi Refining Evolution is about to begin, and a Celestial Tribulation doesn’t care who it hits!"
Elder Huo’s half-threatening, half-chiding words sent many of the struggling first-years retreating with sullen expressions.
A few, however, stubbornly remained.
After Gu Ming’s first successful Qi Refining Evolution at the university, the campus culture had completely changed. Who would even consider the ordinary path to Three-star Evolution anymore?
Everyone was racking their brains, trying to figure out how to get their own Pet Beasts to undergo Qi Refining Evolution.
That’s right, Gu Ming had once again started a new trend in Evolution. Everyone was now looking toward the most advanced path forward.
Of course, this wasn’t to say that every Beastmaster had the means to attempt a Qi Refining Evolution.
The professors also remained cautious. Until the path of Qi Refining Evolution was fully understood, it was still considered Gu Ming’s cutting-edge research and was by no means suitable for everyone.
Only if his paper, once published, could spark a discussion across the entire field and lead to an accumulation of over a hundred thousand successful cases could it be adapted into a new evolutionary path suitable for the majority of Pet Beasts.
Otherwise, it was an extremely dangerous and radical Evolution Method, one that absolutely should not be promoted to the nation’s Beastmasters.
Before long, even the students who had stubbornly insisted could no longer bear it. They retreated reluctantly, looking back with every step.
The Three-star and higher-level Beastmasters, however, remained on the field to continue their observation.
Gu Ming looked up at the sky. The setting sun was slowly sinking behind the distant mountains, the sky turning from light to dark as day quietly gave way to night.
He took a deep breath, clearly sensing that the Innate Qi pervading the world was gradually growing richer.
This was the unique Cultivation opportunity that only occurred at the transition between day and night.
There are two periods in a day suitable for cultivating Innate Qi.
And now, the peak moment of its abundance had arrived.
He turned to Ah Kun beside him, his gaze calm yet firm, and nodded gently. "Begin."
At the command, Ah Kun sprang into action. It opened its massive mouth wide, and like a great whale swallowing the sea, it created a vortex in the surrounding air, pulling the dense, fog-like Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into its body.
As its fins fluttered, faint blue ripples emanated from them, as if it were churning an invisible deep sea. Wisps of water vapor coiled around its body, like a gathering tide.
A powerful aura, one belonging to an ancient, wave-devouring leviathan, radiated from its still somewhat juvenile body, causing the very air to stagnate.
On the other side, the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster displayed a completely different Cultivation phenomenon.
If Ah Kun had summoned a turbulent maelstrom of Spiritual Qi like a surging ocean, then Mouse Treasure embodied a quiet stillness, a deep fusion with the earth itself.
It lowered its body to the ground, its form as nimble and steady as a dragon burrowing into the soil, and in the blink of an eye, it seemed to become one with the earth.
Its breathing grew long and steady, its rhythm faintly syncing with the ley lines of the earth. Each Breathing Technique seemed to resonate in harmony with the land itself.
Those standing nearby could almost feel a dull yet powerful pulsation from deep within the earth through the soles of their shoes.
It was as if a long-slumbering Earth Dragon was slowly awakening.
A boundless stream of terrestrial Spiritual Qi was drawn into Mouse Treasure’s body. Its form began to glow with a deep, yellowish-brown luster, making it look like a miniature mountain—silent, yet indestructible.
By now, the Inner Cores of both Pet Beasts had already dissolved into Pure Energy, which flowed entirely into the Dragon Pattern Tripods within their respective Dantians.
Just as it had during Cyan Treasure’s Evolution, the ancient Dragon Pattern on the tripods began to stir once more.
An Ancient Dragon Illusion manifested. Sensing that the Pet Beasts were straying from the proper path, it intended to interfere, to force them onto the ancient ways and stamp its era’s brand upon this critical juncture of their Evolution.
However, Ah Kun and Mouse Treasure were not the same as they were before.
Under Gu Ming’s daily guidance, they had forged an incredibly solid sense of self, their wills as firm as bedrock.
The very instant the Ancient Dragon Illusion appeared, both Pet Beasts simultaneously focused their minds. They met its will with their own, refusing to yield. Instead, they forced it back into the tripod, suppressing its attempts to act out and returning it to its proper, supportive role, where it could only assist them in completing the final stages of Qi Refining and metamorphosis.
Before long, two masses of Innate Qi, condensed from the essence of day and night, slowly took shape within the tripods. They gradually coalesced into three new Inner Cores for each Pet Beast, each one shimmering with a brilliant luster.
This Innate Qi, gleaming like a river of stars, continued to be refined in the subsequent Cultivation. Within their Dantians, it transformed into a small, graceful, nebular river of mist, flowing slowly in a display of profound mystery.
Elder Huo stood a short distance away, periodically glancing up to observe the sky.
The sky remained clear, with not a single sign of Celestial Tribulation Clouds gathering.
He stroked his beard and nodded, a look of gratification in his eyes.
This meant the path of "Qi Refining Evolution" had been tacitly accepted by the Celestial Dao as a conventional path, no longer considered an act that defied the heavens.
Only Cyan Treasure, the one who had first blazed this trail, had drawn the scrutiny of a Celestial Tribulation for its pioneering act.
Since Cyan Treasure had successfully passed its tribulation and was not erased by the Celestial Dao, its followers would no longer be considered defiant.
In a sense, Cyan Treasure itself had become the benchmark for whether an act on the path of Qi Refining Evolution was "defying the heavens" or not.
Its very existence defined the upper limit of Qi Refining Evolution.
Ah Ji, who had been watching quietly from the sidelines, observed the entire successful Evolution of its two companions, its eyes glittering with yearning.
It unconsciously pressed a paw to its chest, as if to calm a heart that was beating faster with envy, while its long tail swayed back and forth behind it.
It thought to itself, ’I wonder how much Innate Qi I’ll need to attain such divine power and start my Three-star Evolution, just like my two bosses?’
