An Unexpected Windfall

Wang Mengde suppressed the joy in his heart and turned his gaze to the water bucket beside him.

With a thought.

He circulated the Water Arrow Technique.

Spiritual energy surged within him, flowing along a specific route before gathering in his palm and forming an arcane spiritual-energy rune.

Then, drawn by the spiritual-energy rune, the water in the bucket flew out in a stream and gathered in his palm.

Compressed.

Taking shape.

A water arrow slowly emerged.

It was only finger-length.

As thin as a chopstick.

"Go."

The water arrow shot through the air and struck the ground.

Pfft!

A tiny, shallow pit appeared in the earthen ground.

It was only finger-width wide and fingertip-deep.

Its power was rather ordinary.

Yet Wang Mengde was not disappointed.

He had only just begun. It was perfectly normal for its power to be weak.

Beginner, minor mastery, major mastery, proficient, perfected, reaching the pinnacle.

With more practice in the future, its power would only grow stronger.

The higher his cultivation, the stronger its power would become as well.

He withdrew his gaze and took another jade slip from his robes.

Shen Qingxue had left this behind when she departed, using it to repay the favor owed to his former self.

This jade slip was far more ancient-looking.

It was dull gray all over, with a line of small characters engraved in the middle.

Myriad Beast Taming Art, First Layer.

Shen Qingxue had said this jade slip was worth three thousand spirit stones.

However, Wang Mengde did not believe that woman's words.

Still, no matter what, it was a cultivation art.

He picked up the jade slip, pressed it to his brow, and sent his divine sense inside.

The next moment.

A vast torrent of information, hundreds of times greater than that of the Water Arrow Technique, surged madly into his mind like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

There was too much.

The sheer volume of information made Wang Mengde's mind swell with agonizing pain in an instant.

It felt as if his head were about to burst apart.

Wang Mengde's face went pale at once. Veins bulged on his forehead, while beads of sweat rolled down in great drops.

Wang Mengde gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and desperately focused his mind, slowly digesting the frenzied flood of information.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

Time passed little by little.

Wang Mengde sat motionless, like an old monk deep in meditation.

A full six hours later.

Wang Mengde opened his eyes and let out a long breath of turbid air.

He had finally digested all that immense information.

Wang Mengde rubbed his faintly aching temples.

True Myriad Beast Taming Formula.

The cultivation art was divided into four layers.

Upon cultivating the first layer to perfection, one could contract a spirit beast and become connected to it in heart and mind.

Upon cultivating the second layer to perfection, one could contract a second spirit beast and link souls with it.

When a spirit beast broke through, it could feed back soul power to strengthen its master's soul. When the master broke through, they could likewise nourish the spirit beast and aid its soul.

Unfortunately.

This jade slip only contained the first layer.

Wang Mengde opened his eyes and looked at the jade slip in his hand, a trace of regret flashing through his gaze.

Then he recalled the incomparably complicated cultivation method and could not help but feel a headache coming on.

The difficulty of cultivating this beast-taming art was simply too high.

Constructing the contract method required extraordinarily precise control of divine sense.

Deducing the command method required a vast amount of soul power.

Constructing the spirit beast space was even more complicated to the extreme, requiring a full eighteen thousand spiritual-energy patterns, with not a single pattern allowed the slightest error.

One small mistake, and all previous efforts would be wasted.

Most cultivators would probably be unable to even get started after decades.

That greatly diminished the value of this beast-taming art.

It was far inferior to those straightforward beast-taming arts that were easy to learn.

If it were put up for sale at Rosy Cloud Pavilion, perhaps no one would even pay three hundred spirit stones for it.

He had known that woman would not be so generous.

Still.

It was a cultivation art after all.

Wang Mengde calmed himself, closed his eyes once more, and pondered the cultivation-art information in his mind.

The contract method.

The command method.

The method of constructing the spirit beast space.

Another four hours later.

A line of small golden words appeared in Wang Mengde's mind.

[True Myriad Beast Taming Formula +1]

Then, thread after thread of insight poured into his mind.

Those obscure beast-taming methods, those incomparably complex spiritual-energy patterns, those techniques that ordinarily required decades of bitter cultivation to master.

At this moment, they all became clear and understandable.

As though he had cultivated them hundreds or thousands of times.

As though they had been innate.

Everything fell naturally into place.

He had reached beginner level in the first layer of the True Myriad Beast Taming Formula.

Wang Mengde opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through them.

He lowered his head and looked at his palm.

He could vaguely sense that there was now an indistinct mark in its center.

It was a faint, nearly transparent rune mark.

A contract mark.

At present, it was still exceedingly faint, appearing and vanishing like a shadow.

Once he cultivated the first layer to perfection, this mark would solidify.

Then, once he found a suitable spirit beast, he could imprint the contract.

Wang Mengde looked at the mark in his palm, the corners of his lips lifting into a smile.

Just then.

A sudden change occurred.

A pulling force came from his palm.

The jade slip he had set aside actually flew up on its own and pressed itself against his palm, landing precisely atop the contract mark.

Wang Mengde was slightly startled.

The next moment.

The outer layer of the jade slip began to peel away.

Layers of dull gray powder fell down in soft showers.

The jade slip grew smaller and thinner.

Finally, its outer layer had completely fallen away.

A brand-new jade slip appeared before Wang Mengde.

This jade slip was lustrous white throughout, radiating a faint spiritual glow.

A line of small characters was engraved upon it.

True Myriad Beast Taming Formula, Second Layer.

Wang Mengde froze.

Then, an unbelievable burst of delight erupted in his eyes.

After the second layer was cultivated to perfection, the spirit beast and its master could link souls.

During cultivation, the spirit beast could feed back soul power to strengthen its master's soul.

When the master broke through, they could likewise nourish the spirit beast and strengthen its soul.

What did that mean?

It meant they could support one another and grow together.

That benefit alone—the linking of souls and mutual feedback—could make this cultivation art's value soar a hundredfold, a thousandfold, and more.

Forget three thousand spirit stones.

Even thirty thousand or three hundred thousand spirit stones would have countless people scrambling to buy it.

Soul power was one of a cultivator's most fundamental strengths.

The stronger one's soul, the faster one could comprehend cultivation arts, the easier it became to understand spells, the greater the power of soul-based techniques, and even the chance of breaking through bottlenecks would increase.

Cultivation arts capable of strengthening soul power were without exception priceless treasures.

Even Golden Core True Lords, or even Nascent Soul Patriarchs, would be deeply tempted.

Wang Mengde was overjoyed.

That woman definitely had not cultivated this art to beginner level.

Otherwise, she never would have given it to him.

Wang Mengde carefully tucked the jade slip into his robes.

He did not immediately examine the contents of the second layer.

The immense information contained in the first layer had nearly burst his head open.

With his current soul power, forcibly receiving the second layer's information would be far too dangerous. It might even turn him into an idiot.

He would have to wait until his strength improved before slowly studying it.

Wang Mengde closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

The gains from this cultivation session had been enormous.

His meridians had widened twofold.

The Water Arrow Technique had reached beginner level.

The first layer of the True Myriad Beast Taming Formula had reached beginner level.

And he had even unexpectedly obtained the second layer.

He examined himself with his divine sense.

[Host: Wang Mengde]

[Fate: Heaven Rewards Diligence (Success Is Certain)]

[Qi Refinement Cultivation: Qi Refinement Level 2 (188/200)]

[Body Cultivation: Body Tempering Level 1 (72/100)]

[Cultivation Arts: Minor Five-Element Breathing Art Level 2 (188/200); True Myriad Beast Taming Formula First Layer (1/1000)]

[Spells: Spirit Eye Technique (Proficient) 787/800; Fishing Technique (Proficient) 782/800; Entwining Silk Technique (Proficient) 792/800; Water Arrow Technique (Beginner) 1/100]

"The first layer of the True Myriad Beast Taming Formula actually requires one thousand proficiency points."

Wang Mengde looked at the fate panel and secretly clicked his tongue in astonishment.