Choosing Treasures (Thanks to Bookworm for the 5,000-coin reward)

The next day, rain fell over Soaring Cloud Peak once more.

It had begun in the latter half of the night.

But unlike the usual drizzle, this time it was a torrential downpour. Raindrops as large as beans hammered the ground, making crackling sounds.

Ye Jingcheng could not remember how long it had been since he had seen such heavy rain.

He only knew that when he pushed open the doors and windows, the ground ahead was already covered in puddles, with leaves washed away by the rain and mist rising across the mountain.

Soaring Cloud Peak was different from Taihang Marketplace. The formation did not stop the rain from falling. Ye Jingcheng had once heard his Fourth Brother say that the family did this to better follow the Dao of nature.

Those four simple words left Ye Jingcheng understanding without truly understanding.

As usual, Ye Jingcheng began feeding his spirit beasts. After all, they had gone through a major competition.

First came the Crimson Flame Fox. Its meal consisted of two Spirit Feeding Pills, one Azure Spirit Pill, and a large chunk of spirit beast meat. After finishing the pills and food, the Crimson Flame Fox stretched out its head, allowing Ye Jingcheng to feel its scorching forehead.

Ye Jingcheng happily patted it twice, then sent in the treasure light from the treasure book.

The Crimson Flame Fox slowly lay down, its two crimson forepaws resting before it.

Its gaze gradually turned lazy.

After channeling treasure light for a while, Ye Jingcheng took out the Golden-Scaled Beast again. Its meal was two Spirit Feeding Pills, one Body Tempering Pill, and a large chunk of spirit beast meat.

The latter's Earth Spike Technique had also performed exceptionally well. As it tore into the spirit beast meat with great mouthfuls, Ye Jingcheng fed it some treasure light from the treasure book.

Unlike before, when the spirit beasts had not yet belonged to Ye Jingcheng and he had only fed them a thread of it, he now gave the Golden-Scaled Beast no less than he gave the Crimson Flame Fox.

Of course, this was also because two pages of Ye Jingcheng's treasure book had now opened, and both pages could store treasure light.

The treasure book's reserves of treasure light were now considerable. Ye Jingcheng spared no effort in supplying the Golden-Scaled Beast and Crimson Flame Fox.

Yet he also understood that, aside from healing injuries, the treasure book's greatest use was allowing young beasts to grow stronger, increasing their absorption of spiritual energy and spirit food.

If a cultivator consumed a portion of spirit food, they could absorb eighty percent of it through their cultivation art.

Spirit beasts, on the other hand, could only absorb fifty percent through their own bodily functions. But with the addition of spiritual light, they could absorb one hundred percent.

That was even higher than cultivators using certain ordinary cultivation arts.

This was also why Ye Jingcheng's spirit beasts grew faster than those of other cultivators.

After feeding the Golden-Scaled Beast, he took out the Jade Ring Rat as well. He fed this beast less: one Spirit Feeding Pill, a little spirit beast meat, and some treasure light.

Its potential was limited, after all. Still, the Jade Ring Rat squeaked cheerfully. Back in the Azure Cloud Mountain Range, it had spent its days in darkness and gloom—where could it have found such fine conditions?

As for the treasure light, Ye Jingcheng did not reduce its share.

All three spirit beasts quietly lay down, and Ye Jingcheng put them back into the spirit beast pouch.

The rain had yet to stop, but Ye Jingcheng could not wait any longer. After casting a Rain Avoidance Technique and a Divine Movement Technique on himself, he headed for the Treasure Pavilion.

Today was the day to collect the rewards. And since he had also taken first place, the rewards surely would not be poor.

Ye Jingcheng greatly anticipated the cultivation art. Of course, if he could take a look at spirit beasts as well, he would be even more delighted.

Following the winding stone path, the Treasure Pavilion soon came into view.

Amid the haze of rain and mist, the Treasure Pavilion seemed even more mysterious. There were also quite a few cultivators gathered before it now.

Those who had participated in the family competition and earned rewards had all come to exchange them today.

Upon entering the Treasure Pavilion, Ye Jingcheng discovered that the person distributing the rewards was not Eighth Elder Ye Haiping, but Ye Xingqi, a family uncle of the Xing generation. Dressed in the Ye Family's long robe, he looked especially busy.

"Jingcheng, Eighth Uncle is on the second floor of the Treasure Pavilion!" As though he had noticed Ye Jingcheng's confusion, Ye Xingqi kindly reminded him while continuing his work.

"Thank you, Uncle Qi!" Ye Jingcheng nodded and headed upstairs. This was his third time coming to the second floor, but his expectations were far greater this time. He could choose an entire Profound-rank cultivation art.

In the Great Yu Cultivation World, cultivation arts were divided into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Each rank was further divided into supreme, high, middle, and low grades.

His Parting Fire Art was merely a middle-grade Yellow-rank cultivation art. Its only advantages were decent power and ease of cultivation.

Although Ye Jingcheng now had four spirit roots, with the enhancement from his spirit beasts, he no longer needed to select easily cultivated arts.

Upon reaching the second floor, Ye Jingcheng found Ye Jingyu, Ye Jingteng, Ye Jingyong, and the others already there.

"Fifteenth Uncle, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Fourth Brother!"

Ye Jingcheng greeted them one by one, then finally bowed toward Ye Haiping ahead of him.

"Eighth Granduncle!"

The latter glanced at Ye Jingcheng before finally speaking.

"Alright, the time has come. We can begin. Everyone stay where you are, and come with me one at a time!"

"There is a formation set up here. It is different from usual!" Ye Haiping warned again.

Only then did Ye Jingcheng notice that the arrangement of the counters on the second floor was clearly different today. The spirit patterns on the stone pillars along the walls had also begun to glow.

Ye Jingcheng and the others all nodded.

The first person to follow Ye Haiping was Ye Jingteng. As the first place winner of the late Qi Refinement stage competition, he was the first to receive the family's reward.

Ye Jingteng emerged soon afterward. He looked rather disappointed, as though none of the cultivation arts had caught his eye.

"Eldest Brother, how was your haul?" Ye Jingyu said nothing, but Ye Jingyong spoke openly.

Ye Jingteng merely shook his head. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

Next came Ye Jingyu and the clan uncle from the Xing generation.

After the two followed Ye Haiping inside, unsurprisingly, they too emerged with disappointment written all over their faces.

Then it was Ye Jingcheng's turn.

Ye Jingcheng took a deep breath. Naturally, he still held some expectations.

Thus, with Ye Haiping walking ahead, Ye Jingcheng followed close on his heels. Before long, they reached the end of the wooden shelves and entered a small partitioned room.

There was only one wooden shelf in the room, upon which several jade slips were placed.

Once Ye Jingcheng entered, the partition door shut. Layers of spiritual light rippled outward, forming an airtight formation without a single gap.

"Reveal your mark!" Ye Haiping said sternly.

At those words, Ye Jingcheng froze, a bewildered expression appearing on his face. Ye Haiping's expression did not change at the sight, but he then spread open his hand, revealing two three-inch Beast-Link Marks.

"Not bad. You do have a sense of caution."

Upon seeing the Beast-Link Marks, Ye Jingcheng smiled awkwardly. He then revealed his own five-inch Beast-Link Mark, upon which the spiritual phantom of a little red fox was carved.

"As expected, five inches!" Ye Haiping nodded as well.

"The cultivation techniques are here. There are both Profound-rank techniques and top-grade Yellow-rank techniques. I didn't give you any ordinary Yellow-rank techniques. Also, remember this: you may choose the techniques as you please, but you must not leak even the slightest bit of them!" With a wave of Ye Haiping's hand, several more jade slips appeared on the wooden shelf.

When those jade slips appeared, Ye Jingcheng felt somewhat embarrassed. He now vaguely understood why Ye Jingteng had seemed disappointed.

The family was on guard against him.

Thinking back to the scene where he had tried to persuade Ye Jingyu, Ye Jingteng likely did not even know about the Beast-Link Mark.

After all, Ye Jingteng had dual spirit roots.

At that moment, Ye Jingcheng was rather curious about the Ye Family's standards of evaluation. What did one need to qualify to learn the Beast-Link Mark?

"Also, take a look at the spirit beasts here. You may choose a spirit beast as well, though I don't particularly recommend it." Ye Haiping took out another jade slip and added.

The spirit beasts clearly did not come with detailed information for him to examine; instead, they were presented through the jade slip's images.