Chapter 825: May I Ask, Who Are You?

Gangbao spread her wings and swiftly soared upward, then began to spin.

Immediately, a fierce wind erupted around her with Gangbao as the center.

Under the night sky, the howling wind sounded like a roaring beast, terrifying and ferocious.

Qiao Sang had been enhanced before, and her physique was no longer that of an ordinary person.

Besides, Gangbao had flown high enough that the wind blowing down from above didn’t affect her too much. At most, her hair and clothes were a bit tousled.

Again

. Qiao Sang stood still in place, looking up at the sky, and spoke in her mind.

Gangbao halted in the air.

The storm dispersed.

Two seconds later, Gangbao started spinning again.

Soon, the wind raged like a furious torrent, fiercely battering everything in the air.

Some flying-type pet beasts that were planning to pass through quickly detoured when they saw the situation.

Again

. Qiao Sang said mentally.

Gangbao once again stopped, spun, and unleashed the storm.

Half a minute later...

Again

.

---

Again

.

---

Again

.

As time passed, that same familiar command echoed over and over in Gangbao’s mind.

Yabao had already fallen asleep.

Little Treasure had gone off to look for his little underlings.

Lubao had finished her training and was resting in the water tank.

Only Qiao Sang and Gangbao remained in the open-air training ground.

“Dee dee...”

“Chan chan...”

Adinishi munched on chips while watching Gangbao’s training outside the floor-to-ceiling window with the Chan Chan Stones.

“Chan chan.”

One of the Chan Chan Stones walked over to Adinishi and kindly offered a red chili pepper.

These past few months, the Chan Chan Stones had been eating chili peppers almost daily. To them, it was already like a snack.

“Dee dee...”

Adinishi gently pushed the offered chili away, indicating refusal.

The Chan Chan Stone wasn’t disappointed and casually popped the chili into its own mouth, continuing to watch the training outside.

---

The wind howled wildly.

But this time, at the center, Gangbao was wrapped in a tornado like a massive dragon.

The powerful rotating air current concentrated most of the wind’s force, extending its area of effect so much that Qiao Sang had to retreat under the eaves, further away.

After about ten seconds, Gangbao flapped her wings hard, and the tornado dispersed.

At that moment, the moonlight shone on Gangbao, and the leftover wind fluttered her glossy, purple wings, making her look especially cool and intimidating.

Come here.

Her voice echoed in Gangbao’s mind.

Her gaze softened, and she flapped her wings, flying toward her beast master.

Soon, Gangbao landed right in front of her.

“Tired? Take a break.” Qiao Sang handed over a C-grade energy recovery drink that she had prepared beforehand.

“Gang Slice.” Gangbao took it with her wing and gulped it down in one go.

Qiao Sang wasn’t particularly surprised that the tornado had successfully formed.

These days, every few days, Gangbao would manage to control the storm and form a tornado successfully.

But the next day, after a few more tries, she would fail again.

This kind of practice couldn’t be a one-time success thing. Without a cheat code, just because you succeed once doesn’t mean you'll never fail again.

So they ended up stuck in a frustrating loop.

“Gang Slice?” Gangbao called out, asking what time it was.

Qiao Sang pulled out her phone and checked.

“4:23.”

“Gang Slice.” Upon hearing that, Gangbao spread her wings again, preparing to continue.

“Wait.” Qiao Sang stopped him.

Gangbao looked over.

“I’ve thought about it. If you really want to participate in the first round, then now is not the best time to continue storm training.” Qiao Sang shared her thoughts.

“There are only a few hours left until the match. Continuing now might cause instability. Instead, it’d be better to focus on memorizing the feeling of forming the tornado just now and the control involved.”

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao thought for a moment and gave a call, suggesting

there’s still a risk of failure that way.

“That’s right.” Qiao Sang said seriously.

“So next, we won’t train the storm anymore, we’ll switch to control training. Improving your skill control will help you better execute techniques. That was our original plan, focusing on skill mastery.”

“But now I want to switch directions, let control be the focus.”

“As long as your control improves, then no matter what skill you use, even if your mastery level is low, you can still control it precisely.”

Gangbao stared at her beast master and suddenly fell silent.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Qiao Sang asked.

“Gang Slice...” Gangbao called out in a drawn-out voice, clearly saying:

Why didn’t you say that earlier?

Qiao Sang: …

After a brief silence, Qiao Sang admitted honestly, “I just thought of it today.”

If it were Yabao or the others, she might've tried to bluff, but with Gangbao, most likely due to their bond evolution, she always felt like any lie would be immediately exposed.

At first, she’d been very confident about training Gangbao’s entrance routine, so she didn’t pay much attention to it.

After all, her beast companions all had solid talent and grasped things quickly. Plus, practicing the tornado formation was essentially also training the storm skill.

The more skilled a move became, the easier it was to control, something she understood even before becoming a beast master.

She had a cheat-like ability, so the storm skill’s proficiency was naturally increasing every day. She’d taken it for granted that continued practice would eventually lead to perfect control.

But she forgot that as a skill grew stronger, the demands for control would evolve too.

Each time the storm skill grew more powerful, the required control would also shift.

By the time she realized this, it was already too late.

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao called softly, indicating she accepted her explanation.

“Gang Slice?”

Then she tilted her head in confusion,

how exactly was this ‘control training’ supposed to work?

“For a tornado to form, the key is maintaining balanced energy output when casting storm.”

Thanks to her months of study at Yulianton and one-on-one guidance from professors at the Imperial Beast University, Qiao Sang’s knowledge had expanded greatly.

She didn’t even need to search online to come up with an idea: “In a moment, use Wing Blades and try to control the energy flow to each feather, make sure the force of each attack is consistent.”

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao nodded and immediately turned to go train.

“Wait for me.” Qiao Sang ran back inside the house.

As she passed through the living room, she quickly glanced at the Chan Chan Stones and Adinishi by the floor-to-ceiling window, then went into a storage room and grabbed seven portable force gauges.

These devices were designed to measure the power of skills used by pet beasts. They were round, resembling badminton rackets, with handles that needed to be held or fixed in place.

Qiao Sang came out holding the devices and looked toward Adinishi and the Chan Chan Stones, asking, “Can you guys help me with something?”

“Chan chan.”

All five Chan Chan Stones nodded.

Though they’d been living it up lately, they hadn’t forgotten they were here for work.

“Dee dee.”

Adinishi responded while munching on chips, indicating agreement.

Then it remembered the human in front of it couldn’t understand beast language, so it gave a nod.

“It’s simple.” Qiao Sang stepped forward and handed the portable gauges to each Chan Chan Stone and Adinishi.

“Just hold these and stand in a line outside.”

“Chan chan.”

The Chan Chan Stones nodded and made their way to the outdoor training ground.

Adinishi poured the remaining chips into its mouth, clapped its hands to brush off the crumbs, and followed behind.

Gangbao, we’ve made it, a phantom beast is helping us train now

... Qiao Sang resisted the urge to pull out her phone and snap pictures as she walked toward the training ground.

Now, Qiao Sang, the Chan Chan Stones, and Adinishi all stood in a row, holding up their force gauges.

Gangbao hovered dozens of meters up in the sky.

“You can begin. Focus on energy control. Try to make every attack land with the same force.” Qiao Sang instructed mentally.

“Don’t worry about how strong it is, just make sure the output is evenly distributed.”

“Gang Slice!”

High in the sky, Gangbao called out.

She flapped her wings, and seven glowing purple feathers shot down toward the Chan Chan Stones and Adinishi.

The Chan Chan Stones stayed still, though they reflexively shut their eyes.

Adinishi, bored, was already sitting on the ground with the gauge in hand.

Trusting Gangbao completely, Qiao Sang didn’t flinch or even blink.

Seven streaks of purple light whooshed through the air and struck the force gauges.

The display screens on each gauge showed:

300kg.

300kg.

298kg.

300kg.

301kg.

300kg.

300kg.

Gangbao glanced at them, then silently recalled the feathers.

The seven purple feathers flew back up and returned to her body.

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao called again.

Seven more purple feathers shot out.

Time ticked by.

The sun rose, gradually brightening the sky.

Gangbao was still at the training ground.

“Xun xun…”

At some point, Little Treasure had returned. He looked through the window and sighed as he watched the scene.

Too intense

…

Liu Yao walked over beside Little Treasure, gazing at the scene outside with a complicated expression.

Even for a trial coordination tournament, they trained all night. If Qiao Sang didn’t succeed, who could?

“Don’t disturb them.” Liu Yao said.

“Gangbao needs to train. Come help me make breakfast instead.”

With that, he turned and walked toward the kitchen.

“Xun xun~”

Little Treasure perked up with interest and followed eagerly.

He was always curious about new things.

---

An hour and a half later.

“Yap!”

Yabao came running toward the training ground from the living room.

If Yabao’s awake, then it’s pretty late already…

Qiao Sang, holding her force gauge, looked at the approaching figure, half-dazed.

Just then, seven purple streaks of light flew from the sky.

300kg. 300kg. 300kg…

Qiao Sang forced herself to focus. Seeing all displays show 300kg, she let out a weary smile: “Alright, we can stop now.”

“Chan chan…” The Chan Chan Stones walked wearily toward the living room.

Working is hard…

“Dee dee!” Adinishi had already smelled the aroma of food from the villa, its eyes glowing blue with excitement before it disappeared on the spot.

Qiao Sang instinctively dropped the gauge and opened her arms to catch the pouncing Yabao.

“Yap!”

Yabao let out a dissatisfied cry,

why wasn’t he invited to train?

Qiao Sang paused for a second.

“Can you stay up all night?”

“Yap…”

Yabao looked sheepish.

Forget staying up all night, even going to bed late was a struggle.

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao descended from the sky.

“Let’s go eat.” Qiao Sang yawned.

“Then get ready to head out.”

“Gang Slice?”

Gangbao didn’t immediately follow her. She called out, asking

if that training was really enough?

Qiao Sang thought for a moment.

“I think it’s enough.”

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao visibly relaxed and flapped her wings toward the house.

Qiao Sang, holding Yabao, followed beside her with a smile.

“You trust me just like that? I thought you’d want to rehearse the entrance a few more times.”

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao didn’t even look back as she called out.

I trust you.

Qiao Sang paused, feeling a wave of warmth rush into her chest. Her sleepiness cleared a bit.

She could sense how seriously Gangbao took this coordination tournament. And yet, just one word from her was enough to make her relax and let go of further training.

This Gangbao was so different from the one she first contracted with…

Back then, even in battle, she still hesitated to follow her commands…

---

Half an hour later, Qiao Sang wore a backpack with Lubao inside and sat on Yabao’s back, full of energy as they set off toward the coordination contest venue.

By now, the sky was bright.

High above, many people were flying to work on their flying-type pet beasts.

“Xun xun?”

Little Treasure looked curious.

How’s No. 4’s training? Should they switch roles?

“Gang Slice.”

Before Qiao Sang could respond, Gangbao called out, saying

she only succeeded once, not switching.

“Xun xun!”

Little Treasure grew anxious.

Let’s switch!

Only one successful attempt? That’s not enough!

If No. 4 failed the first stage, how could he appear in the second phase?

“Gang Slice.”

Gangbao calmly replied:

My beast master said I’m fine.

“Xun xun…”

Little Treasure relaxed.

If the beast master said so, then it must be okay.

After confirming he wouldn’t be on stage for the first round, Little Treasure removed his ring and pulled out accessories and pet clothes, dressing himself and Gangbao up.

Gangbao stood still and let herself be dressed.

Just wait, you’re going to be wearing everything…

Qiao Sang twitched as she saw them in red and green, flashing jewelry from head to toe. She silently looked away, eyes on the GPS. Out of sight, out of mind.

---

No. 1 Xiangsuo Street.

Venue of the coordination contest.

Many fashionably dressed coordinators had already gathered. A few reporters were broadcasting live.

Yabao landed from above. His gorgeous fur and never-before-seen appearance drew immediate attention.

Many people turned to look.

Some recognized him as Fire Qilu, their eyes lit up, and they quickly pulled out phones or cameras.

Qiao Sang climbed down from Yabao’s back.

A poised female reporter with golden curls jogged over holding a microphone and asked: “Excuse me, are you a coordinator?”

Qiao Sang froze, then remembered the F-rank coordinator badge she had recently received. She nodded: “I am.”

She reflected on her June self, feeling amazed by how hardworking she'd been that month.