Beast Tamer Ascension

Vol 2 Chapter 22: Unprecedented

With the power of the Ice Soul Gu, Lin Jing instantly killed a Ninth Stage Qi Refinement Dragon-Blooded Demonic Beast. The creature stood no chance against him.

Dragon-Blooded Beasts were inherently powerful; those with purer bloodlines could even rival Foundation Establishment beasts. However, under the might of the Ice Soul Gu, they were utterly outmatched.

“The top ten legendary Gu worms... An innate Gu King is far beyond the so-called ‘beast kings’ of the demon beasts. It’s more akin to raising dozens, or even hundreds, of poisonous insects with royal bloodlines together in a deathmatch, resulting in the ultimate Poison King.”

Lin Jing had only unleashed a sliver of the Ice Soul Gu’s power, yet he could already feel a bone-chilling cold spread through his body.

“...” The Pine Leaf Mouse, disliking the frigid aura, stayed far away from him.

As the Dragon-Blooded Beast perished, it transformed into two streams of light. The Pine Leaf Mouse, eagerly anticipating a tasty reward, was shocked when both streams of light flew into Lin Jing instead.

One was absorbed by Lin Jing, while the other entered the Sacred Wood Seal, nourishing the slumbering Ice Soul Gu.

For the first time since its birth, the Ice Soul Gu absorbed energy, causing it to grow noticeably larger in size.

“This...” Lin Jing realized something was amiss, but upon sensing how the absorbed power equated to months of cultivation with spirit stones, his eyes turned bloodshot. He no longer cared what might happen to the Ice Soul Gu.

“Give me half of the qi-replenishing pills!”

Meanwhile, in other parts of the Cavern Heaven, other examinees were also locked in fierce battles, hunting the Dragon-Phoenix creatures.

However, not everyone had Lin Jing’s overwhelming strength. Most of the examinees, after managing to slay a single beast, sat down gasping for breath, relying on pills to replenish their True Energy.

“D*mn it, why did I only bring a few bottles of pills? Why couldn’t I bring more?”

“Ugh, these magic tools are such a pain, needing True Energy to activate. If only I had brought a Mechanical Bamboo Rifle instead!”

Many examinees regretted not being better prepared for such a rare opportunity.

“Luckily, this young master brought plenty of spirit stones!” Gao Sheng boasted. While he lacked sufficient pills, his storage bag contained not only large quantities of low-grade spirit stones but also middle- and high-grade ones.

With a spirit stone in one hand and a magic tool in the other, Gao Sheng fought Dragon-Phoenix creatures with relative ease.

Another standout was Chen Lingxi from the Divine Talisman Sect. Having used only a fraction of her talismans against Lin Jing earlier, she now had most of them at her disposal for hunting the Dragon-Phoenix creatures. Her efficiency was unmatched.

Still, despite the talent and resources of some examinees, none could match Lin Jing’s terrifying speed. With Longevity Blood as bait and the power of the Gu King unleashed, Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse were in a league of their own.

As they soared across the mountains, Dragon-Phoenix projections fell in droves. Their corpses turned into streams of light, flowing into Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse. Before long, Lin Jing broke through to the Ninth Stage of Qi Refinement, catching up to the Pine Leaf Mouse in cultivation.

“Die!”

Another flying dragon attacked, but with a single wave of Lin Jing’s hand, several snow-white spider threads shot out, instantly dismembering the creature. The dragon’s corpse appeared as though it had been sliced by icy blades, its surface coated in frost, and its blood frozen solid.

Boom!

Elsewhere, the Pine Leaf Mouse, clutching a bottle of Longevity Blood, used its agility to dart across the battlefield. It hurled Spirit Bean Bombs at Dragon-Phoenix creatures, taking them down one by one. If not for the delicious feedback from the Dragon-Phoenix creatures already satisfying its cravings, it might have succumbed to the irresistible allure of the Longevity Blood it held.

One day earlier.

At the base of Flying Dragon Mountain within the Hidden Dragon Academy, a brilliant light burst forth.

As spatial ripples condensed, a seemingly ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator emerged in a hurry.

Before descending, the cultivator looked at the two beams of light within the Cavern Heaven and laughed heartily.

“My son, Wang Xiao, is destined for enlightenment!”

“Congratulations, Daoist Wang,” said Cao Ziwei, who was meditating above the academy, immediately congratulating him.

“Thank you, Mr. Cao. The Hidden Dragon Academy truly lives up to its reputation as a gathering place of great fortune. If Xiao’er successfully reaches the Tenth Stage of Qi Refinement and then breaks through to Foundation Establishment, his Heavenly God Physique may finally achieve minor completion,” said Wang, a cultivator from the Wang family. Having learned of his son’s rare opportunity, he had come personally to await the results. ℟Â𐌽ỐᛒĘŜ

“Wang Xiao and Chen Lingxi are indeed the most likely candidates to break through to the Tenth Stage of Qi Refinement,” Cao Ziwei nodded. “After all, the Dragon-Phoenix Cavern Heaven only truly chooses a select few. Although other cultivators may enter and share the opportunities, they’re ultimately not the chosen ones. At best, they can condense their True Energy dozens or hundreds of times to make it comparable to True Essence, but that’s it.”

The Tenth Stage of Qi Refinement was a special realm for talents selected by the Immortal Palace. Reaching it was no simple feat and required both innate talent and extraordinary opportunities.

Cao Ziwei thought of Xu Zhizhi and Lin Jing, two other geniuses who had previously entered a Cavern Heaven. While they might achieve some success here, he doubted they had any hope of reaching the Tenth Stage.

Especially Lin Jing, as a Beast Tamer cultivator, any opportunities he obtained would be split with his contracted beasts, significantly reducing his chances.

“To reach the Tenth Stage of Qi Refinement, one needs both strong innate physique and exceptional opportunities. Without a powerful innate body, the mortal body would struggle to endure or contain the massive amount of True Energy.”

Cao Ziwei’s assessment wasn’t far off.

Inside the Dragon-Phoenix Cavern Heaven, Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse fought relentlessly. However, with the opportunities divided into three parts, the benefits to each individual were diminished.

Despite slaying countless Dragon-Phoenix projections, Lin Jing’s cultivation eventually reached the Ninth Stage of Qi Refinement, but the Pine Leaf Mouse remained stuck at the same level, unable to break through.

Although its Qingdi (Everlasting Emperor) True Energy had been refined over a hundred times, its spiritual bloodline had reached its limit. It could no longer expand its True Energy capacity, leaving it to focus solely on improving the quality of its energy.

Lin Jing found himself in a similar situation—stuck at the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement. His True Energy had been refined to an exceptionally pure level, but the quantity of True Energy remained stagnant, unable to progress further.

As Cao Ziwei had speculated, Lin Jing’s Longevity Body and the Pine Leaf Mouse’s bloodline were far less compatible with this opportunity than the Heavenly God Physique or the Innate Talisman Physique. It seemed inevitable that the two of them would stop at the extreme of the Ninth Stage of Qi Refinement.

However, what Cao Ziwei didn’t know was that the Ice Soul Gu’s overwhelming power, combined with the Longevity Body’s natural ability to attract Dragon-Phoenix projections, had allowed Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse to slay an absurd number of Dragon-Phoenix projections. The number they killed wasn’t just three times that of the average cultivator—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was thirty times as much.

Even though the opportunities were divided into three parts between them, the sheer scale of their efforts resulted in enormous gains.

Though limited by their physique and bloodline, unable to increase their True Energy capacity, they had nonetheless broken through conventional limits. Their True Energy had been refined to a level of unparalleled purity. In this state, just before the Tenth Stage of Qi Refinement, they reached a "half-step Foundation Establishment" state. Without needing to deliberately focus on it, their bodies began to strengthen themselves under the guidance of their impossibly refined True Energy.

The Pine Leaf Mouse’s Glazed Immortal Eyes gleamed, and within its vibrant green pupils, the image of a clover appeared, marking the successful evolution of its ability to the next stage.

On Lin Jing’s side, he also stopped in his tracks, his expression filled with astonishment as he sensed the changes within his body. Though he hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment yet, under the incomparably refined Beast Taming Qi within him, something extraordinary had occurred—he had condensed a second drop of golden blood within his body.

This blood was the Contract Blood of the Beast Taming Art. Normally, a cultivator practicing the Beast Taming Art could condense one drop during the Qi Refinement stage and a second drop upon reaching Foundation Establishment. However, Lin Jing had defied all convention by condensing two drops of Contract Blood while still in the Qi Refinement stage!

This meant that he could now form contracts with two spirit beasts during the Qi Refinement stage, an unprecedented feat in the history of the Beast Taming Sect.

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