Chapter 101 : Thunder Needle Weasel

Chapter 101: Thunder Needle Weasel

“Fellow Daoist, this way please.” The female cultivator quickly led Chen Beiwu inside.

Following the wide corridor all the way to the end, the female cultivator swiped open the access restriction and brought Chen Beiwu into a training chamber brimming with a sense of technology.

【Lightning Tribulation Offense and Defense Testing Platform】

【Hundred-Variations Cold Domain Maze】

【Ten-Thousand-Jin Tempering Pillar】

【Blazing Fire Method-Refining Furnace】

Looking at these spirit beast training instruments, which combined formations and talismans, Chen Beiwu’s eyes brightened.

Though beast creatures were favored by heaven and earth, with their bloodlines capable of carrying the Three Thousand Daos, when they broke through major realms they still needed to undergo tribulation, enduring the baptism of heavenly thunder.

For instance, when a Cang Thunder Tiger advanced from a first-realm spirit to a second-realm lesser beast, it had to withstand the trial of the Azure Thunder Tribulation.

The Azure Thunder Tribulation was a rather rare first-tier thunder tribulation within the Immortal Alliance. The heavenly thunder took on an azure hue, and depending on the strength of the beast’s bloodline, between one and nine bolts would descend. Thus, Immortal Alliance cultivators also called it the One-to-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

Since the Cang Thunder Tiger itself was a lightning-attribute spirit beast, passing the One-to-Nine Azure Thunder Tribulation was as easy as drinking water.

But spirit beasts of other attributes were different—especially water and wood-attribute ones, which were restrained by lightning.

Such spirit beasts found it extremely difficult to pass the One-to-Nine Thunder Tribulation, often leaving their cultivator companions gravely weakened, suffering a total loss.

To address this, the Immortal Alliance’s Artifacts Pavilion had specially developed the Lightning Tribulation Offense and Defense Testing Platform.

This second-tier spiritual artifact suspended lightning-attracting crystals and the essences of the Five Elements above its dome, allowing beast tamers to simulate a controllable version of the minor Five-Elements One-to-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

When cultivators and their companion beasts entered, they could experience the baptism of thunder tribulation in advance, tempering their will and slightly improving their resistance to lightning.

“You may leave.” Chen Beiwu waved his hand, signaling the female cultivator to exit, then retrieved Gold Egg from his beast pouch.

“Gulu.”

Gold Egg shook his body, curiously surveying the surroundings.

‘Do you want to test the defensive ability of your Flowing Gold Scales?’ Chen Beiwu asked through intent.

“Gulu.” Gold Egg shivered all over and hurriedly shook his head.

‘Very good. Since you’re already so eager, then go inside.’ Chen Beiwu opened the lightning tribulation testing platform and placed Gold Egg inside, despite his attempts to resist.

【Water-attribute companion beast detected. Activate lightning tribulation training mode? Yes/No】

Chen Beiwu pressed “Yes.” The dome of the testing platform began spitting fine arcs of lightning.

【Please select One-to-Nine Thunder Tribulation strength: Superior / Intermediate / Inferior】

After a moment’s thought, Chen Beiwu chose the superior-level tribulation suited for tempering great spirits.

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

Sensing the growing thundercloud power above, Gold Egg’s body began trembling restlessly.

Soon, as time passed, lightning swirled wildly within the vortex-shaped dark clouds. A bolt of lightning, shaped like a flood dragon, crashed down, aiming straight at Gold Egg.

“Gulu!”

Gold Egg’s eyes widened, golden light instinctively erupting from beneath his scales to cover his body.

Seeing this, Chen Beiwu secretly nodded.

Under the threat of lightning, Gold Egg activated his Flowing Gold Scales technique far faster than before.

“Boom!”

As Chen Beiwu had expected, when the thunder dispersed, Gold Egg looked frightened, but his scales remained utterly unharmed.

Pressing the stop button, Chen Beiwu asked through intent: “How do you feel? Isn’t it just like I said—not painful at all?”

“Gulu.” Gold Egg nodded.

The thunder tribulation indeed wasn’t painful, but the sheer display of might was enough to scare a fish half to death.

‘No problem. After getting struck a few more times, you’ll get used to it.’

After soothing Gold Egg’s emotions, Chen Beiwu pressed the continuous-strike button.

“Boom!”

“Boom…!”

Inside the testing platform, nine consecutive thunderclaps erupted.

A quarter-hour later, Gold Egg’s eyes were vacant, lying on the scorched stone platform, exhaling circles of black smoke.

Only upon seeing Chen Beiwu’s figure did a spark of life return to his eyes.

“Gulu!”

Gold Egg shook his body, staring straight at Chen Beiwu.

‘What, you want to duel me?’ Chen Beiwu pointed at himself, asking through intent.

At his words, Gold Egg’s anger instantly dissipated.

Getting struck by lightning was one thing—it didn’t hurt. But sparring with his beast tamer? That really hurt!

Seeing Gold Egg’s reaction, Chen Beiwu couldn’t help but shake his head.

He already conducted himself with caution, but hadn’t expected Gold Egg to be even more exaggerated.

‘Looks like I need to find an opponent to temper Gold Egg’s confidence.’

With that thought, Chen Beiwu activated the Beast Taming Training Hall’s sparring matcher and chose a companion beast solo duel.

At the same time, within another cultivation chamber of the Beast Taming Training Hall—

An elegant man, seated in meditation, slowly opened his eyes to glance at the notification on his phone.

“Golden Scale? What’s the point of contracting a second-tier spirit beast like that?” Han Zheng shook his head helplessly.

Fish-type spirit beasts had weak combat abilities in the early stages. Facing one in battle was nothing but a waste of time.

Normally, he wouldn’t bother accepting such sparring requests.

But his contracted companion beast, the Thunder Needle Weasel, had recently reached a crucial stage in its cultivation. As long as it consumed a single second-tier spiritual herb, it could break through the forty-nine-year bottleneck and attempt to advance to a second-realm lesser beast.

To afford that spiritual herb, even though he was a Beast Taming Specialist student from Yuan-Kong County, undefeated among peers of the same level, he still had to take on part-time work for the sake of livelihood.

“Fine then. Bad luck for you, picking me as your opponent.” Han Zheng stood and walked toward the fifteenth sparring platform of the training hall.

……

Fifteenth sparring platform.

Han Zheng put on a professional smile and introduced himself: “Greetings, Fellow Daoist. I am Han Zheng, your appointed Grade-A sparring trainer.”

“Let’s start directly.” Chen Beiwu cut straight to the point.

Han Zheng’s expression turned serious. A flash of lightning shot from the beast pouch at his waist, landing upon the sparring platform.

It was a two-foot-long weasel-shaped beast. Its back, tail, and claws were all covered with dark-blue scale armor.

Its front claws each had three hooked talons, with translucent webbing stretched between them that flickered with faint arcs of lightning.

【Species】: Thunder Needle Weasel

【Attribute】: Lightning

【Bloodline】: Second-Tier, Low-Grade

【Cultivation Years】: Forty-nine years

【Innate Abilities】: Thunder Prison (claws release lightning to bind and paralyze opponents), Thunder Armor (scales discharge lightning and store thunder energy)

‘Not bad. This Thunder Needle Weasel should be able to put a little pressure on Gold Egg.’ Chen Beiwu secretly nodded, then drew out his beast pouch.

“Plop, plop.” A golden radiance surged forth.

Han Zheng curiously glanced down—and in that Golden Scale’s eyes, he actually saw a trace of simple-minded innocence.

‘Why does this Golden Scale’s gaze hold not the slightest bit of wildness or ferocity?’ His heart skipped a beat.

Beast Tamers who doted on their companion beasts to this degree were usually pampered cultivators.

In the months he had worked as a sparring trainer, this was the type of opponent Han Zheng least wished to meet.

The typical kind—weak yet eager to fight. During sparring, they couldn’t bear for their beasts to be injured. The moment something went against their wishes, they would make a fuss.

‘Little Weasel, hold back a bit if you can.’ Han Zheng reminded through intent.

“Zhi zhi!”

The Thunder Needle Weasel fixed its gaze on the Golden Scale, throat gulping instinctively, completely ignoring its beast tamer’s warning.