Mutation

Lotus Peak!

Elder Mo sat at a stone table, sipping spirit tea.

A Black Bear Monster in a white Daoist robe came running toward him with great strides.

"Master, that fellow with the Longevity Body that me and Ouyang Hao brought back seems to have successfully entered Qi Refining."

At the Black Bear Monster's words, Elder Mo nodded.

"Faster than I expected."

"The Longevity Body really does make cultivation difficult."

"But fortunately, it's all worthwhile. A Qi Refinement Realm cultivator can easily live past a hundred, and in his case, living to a thousand now would be nothing surprising."

"Even if he cultivates a little slowly, with such a long lifespan working in his favor, after thousands or tens of thousands of years, as long as he doesn't perish, he could still become a patriarch of a region," Elder Mo said with a sigh.

Unlike those cultivation physiques that displayed their might as early as the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment realms...

The Longevity Body needed time before its effects became apparent.

"I just wonder whether he can get that squirrel to mutate..." The Black Bear Monster scratched his head.

"Yes. If he succeeds, he won't need to wait thousands of years. He could soar into the heavens in a single leap right now..." Elder Mo put away his serious expression and said anxiously, "I've already explained the differences between spirit beasts, demon beasts, treasure beasts, and immortal beasts to him."

"But I didn't tell him that whenever someone with a special cultivation physique contracts a pet beast, there's a chance of awakening the power hidden in its bloodline, causing a 'racial mutation' that lets it evolve toward becoming a treasure beast and awaken a special divine ability."

"Forming a bloodline contract with a cultivator who has a special physique is an ordinary spirit beast or demon beast's second chance to mutate into a treasure beast."

"Unfortunately, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Ever since I learned this information, out of all the special Spirit Bodies we've brought back, right up through Ouyang Hao, not one has succeeded."

"I wonder how this Longevity Body will fare." Elder Mo looked impatient and said, "This time... I hope the gamble pays off!"

With that, Elder Mo ran off to worship the ancestors, burn incense, and pray for blessings.

"Ancestors of our sect, hear me!"

"Six pairs have already failed. It's time for a success."

The Black Bear Monster sighed.

"Master, I reckon those folks at the Heavenly Secrets Tower must've swindled you... The information's false. Stop gambling."

The Outer Court!

Inside his room, Lin Jing pinched the Pineleaf Squirrel's pitiful little face.

"Squeak!" The Pineleaf Squirrel wriggled free of Lin Jing's hand and bravely wiped away its tears.

I chose this Beast Tamer myself...

So what if he cultivates a little slowly...

After swallowing this many spirit stones, even a pig could take flight.

It chose to believe in Lin Jing.

With enough stored up, greatness will burst forth. Master's physique must be extraordinary.

We'll surely earn back twice as many spirit stones.

The Pineleaf Squirrel closed its eyes, brainwashing itself.

It waited for the contract.

Meanwhile, sensing the immense vitality within his body, Lin Jing paid no mind at all to his slow cultivation.

There were gains, and there were losses.

Besides, he felt that this terrifying vitality offered far more than just a long lifespan.

Since his flesh and blood were tremendously nourishing to demonic creatures...

Then, viewed from another angle, they would also be tremendously nourishing to his own pet beast, provided he was willing.

Of course, bleeding himself and cutting off his flesh to feed his pet beast was far too brutal. He was a normal person and couldn't accept that.

So he had previously considered whether he could use his blood to refine pills and strengthen his pet beast with them.

Through pill refinement, he could weaken the pills' connection to himself while preserving their nourishing effects, sparing him from having his own pet beast develop unsavory ideas about him...

But that still sounded like a demonic cultivation method, and he wasn't yet familiar with the art of pill refinement. He would leave that research until he knew more.

Lin Jing's gaze flickered. He was still just a lowly Qi Refinement Realm cultivator. Such methods weren't suitable for him yet.

"Let's form the contract." Lin Jing smiled.

It was all thanks to this little hoarder squirrel. Otherwise, even with the treatment afforded an inner sect disciple, successfully entering Qi Refining would probably have taken him much, much longer...

He would... make it up to the squirrel later.

Following the method recorded in the Beast Taming Art, Lin Jing began mobilizing his special blood.

He cut a wound in the pad of his finger.

He used true qi to force the special blood out of his body.

Soon, a drop of golden blood shimmered faintly on his fingertip.

As Lin Jing began to bleed, the Pineleaf Squirrel, which had been waiting for the contract with its eyes closed, suddenly opened them.

Its little nose twitched.

Its large eyes looked at Lin Jing.

Master, you smell so good.

Before it could savor the scent, Lin Jing's finger had already touched its forehead.

"Don't struggle."

"You wouldn't want me to suffer a backlash and lose cultivation, would you?"

Startled, the Pineleaf Squirrel didn't struggle, terrified that Lin Jing's cultivation realm might fall.

That cultivation was built up with my spirit stones!

Hum!

The golden blood merged into the Pineleaf Squirrel's body.

The two began forming a bloodline contract.

Just as the Pineleaf Squirrel sensed its connection to Lin Jing growing closer...

Suddenly.

It seemed to plunge into a dream, its thoughts drifting back to its days in the Pine Forest, when it had sat meditating in a tree, bathing in starlight...

In that instant, starlight from across the heavens pierced the curtain of night and fell upon the earth, with a faint sprinkling landing on its body as well.

Time flew by. When dawn came, that starlight hadn't vanished completely. It seemed to have hidden within the Pineleaf Squirrel's bloodline, waiting for a chance to awaken.

Boom!

The contract was complete. The Pineleaf Squirrel opened its eyes, the spiritual power within its body surging, its pupils turning an even richer emerald green.

"Squeak?" But the squirrel itself was utterly bewildered, with no idea what had happened. Nothing like this anomaly had been mentioned in the sect's lessons on the changes that came with forming a contract.

"Hmm?"

Lin Jing had seen that scene too.

What was that?

With the contract complete, Lin Jing froze.

"Can phenomena like that occur during the contracting process?"

He was puzzled.

As far as Lin Jing knew, the process of contracting an ordinary spirit beast should have been completely uneventful.

Starlight...

Wait, the starry sky?

Suddenly, something occurred to Lin Jing.

The only thing connected to the starry sky seemed to be what Elder Mo had told me about... treasure beasts!

Treasure beasts were born from the light of Strange Stars. Compared with ordinary spirit beasts and demon beasts, they would awaken an additional divine ability!

But the Pineleaf Squirrel wasn't bathing in starlight right now. Could exposure in the past still cause a delayed mutation?!

So now...

Had the Pineleaf Squirrel mutated from an ordinary spirit beast into a treasure beast?

Lin Jing looked at the Pineleaf Squirrel.

If that was truly the case, what he wanted to know most now was what new divine ability the Pineleaf Squirrel had awakened.

The Pineleaf Squirrel species possessed spiritual power with innate wood properties, allowing them to hasten the growth of plants.

However, this wasn't any special talent. Most wood-type spirit beasts could do it.

The Pineleaf Squirrel's offensive abilities were also weak. It could only reinforce leaves with spiritual power and launch them as hidden weapons. The technique had limited power and was called the Flying Leaf Technique.

Under these circumstances, the Pineleaf Squirrel species had little chance of becoming powerful through their innate abilities alone. They could only learn powerful spells later.

But now, if it had awakened a divine ability without learning any spells, that might be an opportunity for this ordinary species to defy the heavens and change its fate.

"Does anything feel uncomfortable?"

"Could it be... a racial mutation? Have you awakened a new divine ability?" Lin Jing asked.

The Pineleaf Squirrel tottered around in a few dizzy circles, then shook its head, perfectly "clearheaded."

"Squeak..."

It meant that if he cultivated slowly, he needed to work harder instead of daydreaming about good fortune. It hadn't felt anything at all.