A Few Words of Advice

Seeing Selina looking utterly despairing, Leian felt sorry for her, but also found himself with a headache.

After all, he had contracted Selina to protect his family. But in her current state, let alone protecting others, she would be lucky if she could protect herself.

No, he had to find a way to pull her together.

With that in mind, Leian deliberately provoked her. "What? Lost your confidence?"

Selina hung her head and lay there without moving. She truly had no confidence left.

Although magical beasts of the same level were somewhat stronger than humans, she was only a level-nine magical beast. Even if she could use the Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core to break through her bloodline limitation and enter the Saint Realm, she would probably be among the most ordinary Saint Realm magical beasts.

Compared to Jabir, a peak Saint Realm expert, the gap between them was likely as great as the gap between the Saint Realm and those below it.

With such a vast disparity in strength, how could she not despair?

Leian had more or less guessed what Selina was thinking. After considering it, he said, "I've noticed that you seem to have fallen into a misunderstanding. You stubbornly judge strength by bloodline."

"Isn't that how it works?"

Seeing a human like Leian discussing magical beast bloodlines with her, Selina could not help replying.

In her understanding, a magical beast's strength depended on its bloodline. A level-seven magical beast would be level seven upon reaching adulthood, and a level-nine magical beast would be level nine upon reaching adulthood. Apart from the rare cases of bloodline mutation, almost none could break through their bloodline limitations.

Although she had thought of using a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core to break through her bloodline, she did not truly have complete confidence that it would work.

However, Leian shook his head with a smile. "Of course not. In my eyes, bloodlines are merely the lower limit of your strength when you reach adulthood, not something that remains unchanged forever. Humans can grow stronger step by step through cultivation. Could it be that magical beasts cannot?"

"Cultivation?"

Selina was somewhat lost. For all these years, her goal had been to break into the Saint Realm. She understood that cultivation could make one stronger, but subconsciously, she had always felt that was something to consider only after reaching the Saint Realm, because she had never heard of any magical beast breaking through its bloodline limitation through cultivation.

Leian waited for a while. Seeing that Selina still did not react, he reminded her:

"You're a darkness-element magical beast, and Margaret cultivates Dark Battle Qi. When you were following her, did she never mention the profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness to you?"

Hearing this, Selina gradually fell into thought. Before long, she suddenly sprang to her feet and said excitedly, "I think she did mention something. What was it? Let me think..."

As she spoke, she paced in circles while trying hard to remember. After a while, she abruptly stopped, staring fixedly at Leian with her wide eyes as she transmitted through her soul:

"I remember now. Margaret seemed to have said that, based on my talent, I was best suited to cultivate the Shadow Clone Technique. Yes, the Shadow Clone Technique. She also said that to cultivate the Shadow Clone Technique, I could begin with the Stealth Technique..."

At this point, Selina suddenly fell silent. Rare human-like regret appeared in her round, bright eyes.

It turned out Margaret had long ago told her how to become stronger, yet she had always turned a blind eye to it.

At that moment, Selina felt that she was the most foolish magical beast in the world.

Seeing that Selina had gained some insight, Leian smiled in satisfaction. The reason he had gone to such lengths to enlighten her was not only because he was moved by her determination to avenge herself, but also because he thought highly of her future.

As a magical beast, she had always held revenge in her heart, yet had not allowed hatred to twist her nature. That was truly rare. Based on that alone, becoming a god in the future was not impossible for her.

With that thought passing through his mind, Leian said nothing more. He quietly walked around her and headed toward the front courtyard.

It was early spring, and the weather was still somewhat cold. Barry and his wife were sunning themselves in the garden, while beside them, a Golden-Haired Stone Ape over three meters tall lay on the ground dozing.

The Golden-Haired Stone Ape was a level-nine earth-element magical beast. This one, named Carter, had been captured by Leian in the Youquan Mountain Range several years ago specifically for Barry, who was its contracted master.

Back then, to make the Golden-Haired Stone Ape willingly sign a master-servant contract with Barry, Leian had promised to give it a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core.

The Golden-Haired Stone Ape's strength was only slightly above average among level-nine magical beasts. Leian had captured it not because of its strength, but because it could cast the Gravity Spell.

And there had been only one purpose in capturing it: to use the Gravity Spell to assist his family's cultivation.

Leian had thought of this method during his early days of cultivation, but his strength had been insufficient back then, and he could not capture such a magical beast.

In fact, cultivating under the Gravity Spell had indeed produced excellent results.

By now, both Barry and Aili had reached level seven. Even Annie, who had begun cultivating the latest, possessed the strength of a level-six warrior.

However, perhaps because they were too old and their potential had already been exhausted, Barry and Annie had both stagnated in their cultivation over the past year, aside from Aili. This left Leian somewhat helpless.

Of course, he was only helpless; he had not yet given up hope. He was confident that he would become a god-level expert before his parents reached the end of their lives.

By then, he believed that with god-level strength, it would not be difficult to find treasures that could help the two elders break through directly into the Saint Realm.

As for his younger brother and sister, he did not need to worry much about them.

Five years ago, he had tested the two children's talents. His younger brother Allen possessed medium wind-element affinity, while his younger sister Bella possessed high earth-element affinity.

Although neither of their elemental affinities was exceptional, Leian believed that with his guidance, reaching the Saint Realm would absolutely not be a problem for them.

Of course, although Leian was happy to guide them, he had not kept the two children shut up at home. Five years ago, he had sent them both to the warriors' academy in the imperial capital.

Therefore, they were not at the estate right now.

After chatting with his parents for a while, Leian entered the imperial capital and strolled around in secret. Afterward, he went to a tavern and had a few drinks.

There, Leian heard quite a few interesting pieces of news. For example, some noble's wife had been caught having an affair, someone's strength had broken through again, or some unlucky fellow had died in the Youquan Mountain Range.

Naturally, there was also plenty of news about him, though most of it was speculation about when he would enter the Saint Realm.

There was also Stefan, the level-nine expert of the Beni Empire who had been brought up for comparison with him. It was said that Stefan had still not broken through into the Saint Realm, causing the Beni Empire to shift its promotional focus to Robert, a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts.

Robert had not remained idle after entering the Saint Realm. Over the years, he had continually challenged young Saint Realm experts, and it was said that he had not lost a single battle so far.

Leian felt that if news of his entering the Saint Realm got out, Robert would likely come challenge him again—and perhaps he would not be the only one.

Thinking of this, Leian suddenly lost interest in wandering around. He immediately returned to the estate and began another round of arduous cultivation.

Damn it, my throat was itchy and my face felt a little hot. I might be coming down with COVID.