The God Who Commands Death

As the era progressed, many pet beasts once believed to "have no evolutionary forms" had been proven capable of evolution after all; their evolution conditions had simply been more obscure.

Especially after seeing the Ugly Water Chicken's moves, Jiang Xing came up with an idea so outrageous it could be called absurd—

Perhaps every pet beast in the Beast Taming World possessed the potential to evolve!

People's understanding of evolution was merely the tip of the iceberg, which was why such misunderstandings arose.

Just like in the microscopic world, people had initially believed atoms were the smallest particles and could not be divided further. Yet as theory advanced, they discovered electrons, neutrons, protons...

Those pet beasts unable to evolve simply had conditions that had not yet been discovered.

"Once I finish the project at hand, I can look for similar pet beasts and uncover their evolutionary potential."

For now, Jiang Xing's main focus was on the Ugly Water Chicken.

After all, compared to the earth-shattering theory of "changing natural evolution into Intimacy evolution," "discovering a brand-new form and proving that Intimacy is an evolution condition" was clearly easier for people to accept.

However, the Ugly Water Chicken was not a Golden-Veined Koi.

It was neither an ornamental pet beast nor a resource pet beast, much less a combat pet beast.

No one wanted to tame one, so naturally, they would not appear in farms or Breeding Houses.

Furthermore, according to the Beast Taming Compendium, the Ugly Water Chicken was so ugly that even predators did not want to eat it. It had few natural enemies, but because it was too ugly for even its own kind to accept, it had become a solitary pet beast. Reproduction was difficult, and its population was small.

They could only be found in the countryside of Jiangnan.

The Magic City Evolution Assembly was about to begin, and Jiang Xing could not possibly head to the countryside at a time like this.

So he made a call and asked Senior Li to make the trip, collect some Ugly Water Chickens for him, and deliver them directly to the research institute.

Well, the Ugly Water Chicken was a Water Type pet beast too. Nothing wrong with that.

Senior Li readily agreed.

He had come from a commoner background himself. Aside from being an outstanding graduate of Yuzhong University, the reason he had built up his current fortune was also closely tied to Dr. Xu's students.

Build good relationships with his junior brothers and sisters, obtain firsthand information, and invest in advance.

Even if the odds of failure far exceeded the odds of success, one successful investment would earn everything back.

After hanging up, Jiang Xing turned his attention back to the Howl Dog.

Training Power ≈ the Return move was only his hypothesis. It might not be correct—

After all, the system mission had come from the Purple-Black Puppy. It was the Necro form of a Howl Dog, and its attributes, abilities, moves, and more had all undergone tremendous changes.

What if the Undead Howl Dog forgot Training Power after reviving and gained an entirely new Return move, with the two having nothing to do with each other...

Then Jiang Xing's hypothesis would be overturned, and he would need to reconsider the project.

Therefore, before gathering more pet beasts and formally studying Intimacy, Beauty Condition, and even Emotional Energy, Jiang Xing first needed to give the Purple-Black Puppy a full examination.

Having previously examined the Rainbow Dragon Cub, Jiang Xing asked Master Jian to help him contact a Magic City research institute and purchase some basic research equipment.

After moving the equipment into the Secret Realm, he spent two days completing the Purple-Black Puppy's examination.

He also completed its Beast Taming Compendium entry.

[Name: Spirit-Guarding Dog]

[Attributes: Fire, Necro]

[Talent: Red-Hearted Loyalty—When stepping forward to protect its Beast Tamer, both defenses greatly increase.]

[Species Rank: Low-Rank Commander]

[Species Moves: Intimidate, Snap, Tackle, Ghost Fire, Resentment, Training Power...]

[Description: A Ghost pet beast. A loyal Howl Dog that, unable to let go of its Emotion for its owner, revived after death and became a dog that guards spirits, forever accompanying its owner.]

Very good. The Spirit-Guarding Dog had not mastered any strange moves. The only one that might be related to Intimacy was still Training Power.

Jiang Xing could now proceed with his research project in peace.

Additionally, the Spirit-Guarding Dog's Beast Taming Compendium entry itself left Jiang Xing conflicted—

According to the test results, the Spirit-Guarding Dog was not really an evolved form of the Howl Dog. It was more like an entirely different base pet beast.

As a base pet beast, its strength was quite formidable. Not only had its species rank reached Low-Rank Commander, but it also possessed Red-Hearted Loyalty, a protector talent that was quite effective under wild battle rules.

The Fire + Necro attribute combination was also an excellent combat pairing.

Combined with its loyalty, which death itself could not erase, it was foreseeable that it would definitely be beloved by Beast Tamers.

But...

For the Spirit-Guarding Dog, being loved was not necessarily a good thing.

If certain Beast Tamers wanted only a Spirit-Guarding Dog and not a Howl Dog, they might very well exploit the Howl Dog's loyalty, send it to its death, and turn it into a Spirit-Guarding Dog...

As a symbol of loyalty, being exploited even after death because of that very loyalty would be utterly hellish.

It did not seem right to conceal it and refrain from publishing the discovery, either.

The Howl Dog was a High-Level Extraordinary species. In the future, it could evolve into a Mid Commander Rank Roaring Dog or a Low Monarch Rank Moon-Howling Divine Dog.

As a household dog, it could not only guard homes and yards, but was also the first pet beast of many commoner Beast Tamers.

If the Spirit-Guarding Dog's existence were concealed, then some Beast Tamers who truly cherished their pet beasts and shared deep bonds with them would lose the chance to see them again.

"No wonder Necro Pet Beast Researchers and Necromancy Doctors are the most controversial among all Pet Beast Researchers, drawing both praise and criticism..."

"Innately Necro pet beasts are one thing. Necro pet beasts transformed afterward are far too testing of morality and the human heart."

With his conflict unresolved, Jiang Xing continued investigating why Howl Dogs transformed into Spirit-Guarding Dogs.

He quickly discovered a turning point—

Back when he had first entered the Courtyard Secret Realm, Jiang Xing had noticed that it was filled with an aura of death that made people uncomfortable.

And his teacher, Dr. Xu, was not only an authority on Water Type pet beasts. He had also proposed and proven Environment Theory, proving that certain special environments were evolution conditions for specific pet beasts, and further verifying the connection between Environment and Evolutionary Energy...

Senior Sister Su's Storm Sea Lizard had also relied on their teacher's Environment Theory. Using its own strength, it created a special storm zone at sea and completed a brand-new evolution, proving that "artificial special environments can also promote pet beast evolution and become corresponding evolution conditions"...

In fact, Jiang Xing's manual creation of the Dragon Gate to provide evolution conditions for the Golden-Veined Koi had likewise been based on knowledge related to Environment Theory...

Therefore, Jiang Xing was extremely sensitive to environmental factors and had specifically obtained a set of Energy Observation Equipment.

The results were unsurprising.

This tiny Secret Realm actually contained an incomparably pure power of death.

In terms of purity alone, it far surpassed even Little Qilin's power!

One had to know that the Lucky Cloud Qilin was a pet beast with true Quasi-Divine Rank strength. A power even stronger and purer than its own meant its source had to be a Mythical Rank pet beast!

According to the saying that Mythical Pet Beasts were equivalent to gods...

This power came from the "God of Death."

The reason the Howl Dog could transform into a Spirit-Guarding Dog and survive for so long was entirely because this Secret Realm had been thoroughly saturated by Death Divine Power, transforming it into a special Land of Death.