Mysterious Beast Tower (Please Follow)

The Ye Family's ancestral shrine was built against the mountain as well, two stories tall. Two true dragons fighting over a pearl were carved into the tiled roof.

They stood vivid and lifelike upon the glazed tiles, their grandeur immensely imposing!

A huge incense burner stood at the entrance as well, releasing thick blue smoke like a rising flood dragon.

This was not Ye Jingcheng's first visit to the ancestral shrine. He had come once when he had first entered the mountain, but back then, he had only been a child barely over ten years old.

There had not been such a large incense burner that time, either.

Ye Xingliu continued onward, passing around the incense burner and entering the ancestral shrine.

Ye Jingcheng followed closely behind.

As he passed through the rising blue smoke, Ye Jingcheng found the sandalwood incense exceptionally pleasant, so pleasant that he could not help taking a few deeper breaths. The next moment, however, he realized his consciousness was weakening, gradually turning hazy.

His head grew heavier as well, and a stool appeared behind him.

He collapsed onto it.

"Who are you?" Ye Xingliu's cold voice rang out.

"Ye Jingcheng!" Ye Jingcheng answered mechanically, instinctively. He could no longer control his thoughts or think; he could only respond numbly.

"What did you come to the Ye Family for?"

"To cultivate, to attain immortality!"

Ye Xingliu's expression changed, but the next moment, he heard Ye Jingcheng add:

"This is also my home. I grew up here!"

Only then did Ye Xingliu nod. He lightly tapped Ye Jingcheng between the brows with a finger.

With that tap, Ye Jingcheng's body suddenly relaxed. His head felt even groggier, and within a few breaths, he fell into a deep sleep.

In his dream, Ye Jingcheng saw more of the Ye Family's spirit beasts. He saw himself successfully reaching Foundation Establishment within the Ye Family. He saw his Fourth Brother, Ye Jingyu, become the family head, and the Ye Family flourish in prosperity.

The dream was unusually long.

And unusually beautiful.

Until several coughs sounded.

Only then did Ye Jingcheng awaken from his dream. Ye Xingliu was still dressed in an immaculate family Daoist robe, seemingly having waited for a long time.

Though his consciousness had returned, his body still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Family Head..."

But Ye Xingliu spoke solemnly once more:

"Jingcheng, everything you see, hear, and feel next is the family's highest secret. Remember, you must not reveal even the slightest bit to outsiders—not even to the rest of the family. Violators will be purged by the family and have their cultivation taken back. Do you understand?"

"Jingcheng understands!" Ye Jingcheng nodded, rose from the stool, and followed behind Ye Jingcheng.

After saying this, Ye Xingliu stepped into the ancestral shrine. Ye Jingcheng hurriedly followed him inside.

Before them were still countless spirit tablets, an Eight Immortals table, an offering burner, two red candles, and three prayer cushions.

"Sit on the prayer cushion!" Ye Xingliu instructed again, taking the first seat on one.

Ye Jingcheng nodded as well. He knew that he seemed to have just undergone a test.

What came next might be the family's true secret.

As he sat on the prayer cushion, Ye Jingcheng seemed to hear waves of chanting.

Yet he could not make out the words. They were extraordinarily complex.

He tried to listen more closely, but the next moment, he looked up again!

He was jolted in shock. He found himself inside a treasure tower, and hanging all around it were no longer spirit tablets!

Instead, there were statues of spirit beasts, one after another!

They were vivid and lifelike—some sitting, some standing, some flying, some motionless, some enraged, some smiling.

"Jingcheng, leave behind as many spirit patterns as possible!" Ye Xingliu's voice suddenly sounded in his mind, making it clear to him that this was not an illusion, but something that truly existed.

Of course, he still did not understand what those words meant. What were spirit patterns? How was he supposed to leave them behind?

Boom!

A cracking sound suddenly rang out.

Cracks began appearing across the stone statues. Then, chunks of stone fell away. Once all the stone had fallen off—

The spirit beasts charged fiercely toward Ye Jingcheng. The sight was simply too inconceivable!

Ye Jingcheng immediately fled. Those vicious beasts were clearly no ordinary beasts, but the space within the tower was limited, and Ye Jingcheng was quickly struck!

Boom!

A shuddering sensation spread through him as the spirit beast passed directly through his body.

A faint, glowing spirit pattern appeared upon him.

The spirit pattern was still fading at a speed visible to the naked eye.

But the next moment, several more spirit beasts crashed into him!

With every impact, he felt several degrees more dizzy.

And another spiritual pattern appeared on his arm.

Three small spiritual patterns converged into a three-inch-long spiritual pattern.

And once three three-inch-long spiritual patterns appeared, they transformed into a five-inch-long spiritual pattern.

At that point, however, Ye Jingcheng felt as though his head were about to explode.

After another two spirit beasts passed through him, there was one five-inch-long spiritual pattern on Ye Jingcheng's arm, along with two one-inch-long ones.

At that moment, the pagoda abruptly vanished, and Ye Jingcheng returned to the ancestral shrine!

Pain still showed on his face.

"Not bad! Your Beast-Link Mark is as much as five inches long!" Ye Xingliu saw the spiritual pattern on Ye Jingcheng's hand and could not help praising him.

As if noticing Ye Jingcheng's confusion, Ye Xingliu bared an arm. A five-inch-long spiritual pattern could likewise be seen on it.

The next moment, it easily vanished from his arm again.

"This type of spiritual pattern is called a Beast-Link Mark. It is also the family's greatest secret. Once your spiritual pattern has completely stabilized, you will be able to control it freely like I do, concealing it within or outside your body!"

"Its greatest benefit is that it allows spiritual power to circulate between a cultivator and a demon beast!"

"If the gap in cultivation between a cultivator and a demon beast is too great, this Beast-Link Mark can rapidly narrow that gap, until in the end there is no gap at all!"

"Of course, 'rapidly' only means several times faster than normal. It can even be considered sharing a spirit beast's talent!"

"Besides that, many of the family's beast-taming secret arts are related to the Beast-Link Mark. You are only at the Qi Refinement stage right now, so you cannot access them yet. It is enough that you know this!" Ye Xingliu explained point by point.

By then, a tempestuous wave had long been stirred up in Ye Jingcheng's heart.

His previous doubts were resolved at once.

The Ye Family did not care about spiritual roots because, as long as one had a highly talented spirit beast, one could share spiritual power with it and raise a cultivator's talent to a higher level.

Even if a spirit beast's progress slowed after reaching adulthood, one could still inherit the Ye Family's spirit beasts.

Take Ye Jingcheng, for example. Unless something unexpected happened, his cultivation progress would only be dragged onward by the Crimson Flame Fox!

With the Beast-Link Mark, he would continue benefiting from it as well.

A Crimson Flame Fox could normally reach the Foundation Establishment Late Stage after reaching adulthood.

Of course, to Ye Jingcheng, everything now felt more dreamlike than ever!

The treasured book within his body was meant to enhance spirit beasts' talents. From one tail to two tails, and perhaps even nine tails in the future, each would undoubtedly be a leap in quality.

Most crucially, demon beasts mainly improved through powerful bloodlines—and almost entirely by eating!

"This is the method for using the Beast-Link Mark. Record it now, then destroy the jade slip!" Seeing that Ye Jingcheng had no more questions, Ye Xingliu took out a jade slip.

"Thank you, Family Head!"

"When there are no outsiders around, just call me Third Uncle. Our Ye Family isn't that distant!"