"Thank you for choosing Sky Courier Logistics Company. Sky Courier delivery worker Wang Hao, employee number 95841, and beast courier Gaga send you their greetings."
"Gaga!"
"Please inspect your delivery. If everything is in order, you may sign for it."
After checking the resources and materials delivered by the Giant Feather Sparrow named Gaga and taken from the courier's spatial bracelet, Su Ping confirmed that everything was correct before signing for them.
The shipment contained materials for just under twenty batches of Woodheart Potion, along with those four poison-type resources.
They had cost Su Ping more than four million. All the money he had earned from Qin Xiaoxue had gone into this purchase.
Li Shu was still fertilizing the Falling Seed Pines over there, and Su Ping did not ask him to help.
With goods worth several million, no amount of caution was excessive.
Besides, even if he called Li Shu over, the man would probably balk at touching them once he learned what they were.
Su Ping fetched Xiao Qing from training and headed straight to the infirmary with his beast without a moment's delay.
He could hardly wait.
Compared with making more potions to cultivate the other Forest Wolves and help them acquire the Woodheart skill, his own soul-linked beast naturally took priority.
Besides, Su Ping had long wanted to test how well Xiao Qing could now tolerate these poison-type resources.
"Awooo!"
Xiao Qing was quite excited too.
The little fellow could sense his master's excitement. Moreover, this was the very place where he had grasped Poison Woodheart.
This place held extraordinary significance in Xiao Qing's heart.
Su Ping switched on the Life Monitor and aimed it at Xiao Qing. Once it could monitor Xiao Qing's vital signs and physical condition at any moment, he put on a gas mask, then slowly opened one of the small wooden boxes he had brought.
Although poison-type resources like these had all been processed, Beast Tamers were more fragile than their Pet Beasts at this stage. A cautious hand kept the boat sailing for ten thousand years.
Inside was an unusual plant.
Three deep purple flowers bloomed above its dark green branches and leaves.
The flowers were still remarkably fresh, yet gave off no pungent odor. Instead, they possessed an indescribably bewitching beauty.
Yet such a beautiful plant bore a rather ill-fitting name: wolfbane aconite.
Its name sounded fierce, but it was actually the cheapest of the three poison-type plants he had purchased.
It was also a purely cultivated poison-type resource, with no connection to poison-type beasts.
Its value was therefore relatively low, and it could only help some ordinary poison-type beasts.
But that was already enough.
Xiao Qing's reaction also proved that Su Ping had made the right choice.
The moment Xiao Qing saw it, his deep, quiet gaze was drawn to the plant, and his entire attention settled on it.
Wolves were carnivores. Such a fierce craving for a plant could only come from the bloodline and genes within his body.
But while Pet Beasts knew nothing of restraint, Su Ping certainly did. Putting on specially made gloves, he was not about to give Xiao Qing the entire stalk of wolfbane aconite to swallow.
Instead, he plucked one purple flower and handed it to Xiao Qing.
Xiao Qing swallowed it in a single bite, gulping it straight into his belly without even chewing.
Su Ping was left somewhat speechless.
Then master and beast simply stared at each other, wide eyes facing smaller ones.
A full ten minutes passed. Seeing his master's eyes turning red from staring behind the gas mask, Xiao Qing tilted his head. "Awoo."
Su Ping's eyelid twitched. He hurriedly glanced at the Life Monitor beside him, only to find every reading normal. Even Xiao Qing's heart rate and pulse had not risen in the slightest.
Not potent enough?
Clearly, consuming this wolfbane aconite did not seem to make much difference to Xiao Qing.
So Su Ping plucked another flower from the wolfbane aconite.
Once again, it vanished in a few quick motions. Once again, there was that familiar gulp. And once again, they spent ten familiar minutes staring at each other.
"Awooo..."
Xiao Qing opened his mouth again and stuck out his tongue to lick his lips. The meaning needed no explanation.
Looking at the wolfbane aconite's remaining flower, along with its branches and leaves, Su Ping began to doubt himself.
Did I buy a damn fake?
That makes no sense. The Beast Tamer Association cracks down hard on that stuff!
But soon, Su Ping narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Xiao Qing, open your mouth."
"Awoo?"
Xiao Qing opened his mouth and looked suspiciously at his master. Su Ping took a close look, and sure enough, a faint purple tint had appeared on Xiao Qing's originally pink tongue.
Aside from that, however, there was not the slightest change.
This time, Su Ping gritted his teeth. He first prepared the antidote and stomach-pumping equipment, then placed the entire remainder of the wolfbane aconite in front of Xiao Qing.
Gulp.
Down it went in one bite.
Su Ping's heart rose into his throat.
Poison-type resources were nothing like other resources. Most other things would not pose much danger to a beast's life even if they proved ineffective, but poison-type resources were different.
Su Ping had even needed to provide proof of identity before he could purchase them.
Sure enough!
This time, within five minutes, Su Ping saw Xiao Qing's pulse and heartbeat begin to accelerate on the Life Monitor.
Su Ping held his breath, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Xiao Qing's condition and the Life Monitor.
Xiao Qing's previously energetic body suddenly wilted, and he lay down on the table.
Purple vein-like lines even began to emerge across his body.
However, the markings were very faint.
Against Xiao Qing's originally emerald-green fur, that purple looked especially jarring.
Yet those purple vein-like markings lasted only a few minutes before disappearing again.
Then Xiao Qing opened his eyes once more and stood up.
Su Ping, however, frowned slightly.
Of course, he breathed a sigh of relief that Xiao Qing's life was not in danger. But now, Xiao Qing's rank had not improved at all, and his skills showed no changes either.
Even Poison Woodheart, whose effects he had thought might improve, had not changed in the slightest.
That left Su Ping a little disappointed.
Still, it was normal. In the end, wolfbane aconite was a poison-type resource of the lowest grade, and its value was not particularly high.
Xiao Qing had already reached ordinary sixth rank. If he could advance this easily, that would have been unreasonable instead.
Poison Woodheart's effects were powerful, and Xiao Qing's mutated Poison type bloodline was extraordinary, but neither justified such rapid improvement.
Yet just as that thought crossed his mind, something Su Ping had not expected happened. Nothing else had changed, but at that very moment, the Myriad Spirits Codex suddenly reacted.
On the emerald-green card record belonging to the Forest Wolf, beneath the log, a new entry slowly appeared once again:
[The Poison type training results of the beast with a mutated Poison type bloodline have improved. Analysis requirements have been reduced to a certain extent.] [Further analysis of the cause of the Mutant Forest Wolf's Poison type mutation has been achieved. You may spend 49,990 experience points from this record to forcibly analyze the Forest Wolf Poison type bloodline mutation cause and obtain the mutation cultivation method.]
Before you continue