Chu Shengâs eyes gleamed. Just as he was hesitating over which unlucky soul to target first, his movements suddenly froze.
His [Nether Vision] swept over a thicket of bushes not far ahead. There, a dense, dark swarm of tiny things was buzzing and circling.
Werenât those... White-striped Aedes Mosquitoes?!
And there were quite a few of themâat least several dozen, maybe even a hundred!
Chu Shengâs brain instantly short-circuited.
âRight... this is a simulated tropical rainforest. Isnât it perfectly normal for there to be mosquitoes?â
âIf I, in my original White-striped Aedes Mosquito form, blended in with my own kind, who the hell could ever spot me?â
âSo why did I go to all that trouble, recycling corpses and using up Life Essence, just to spend ages cobbling together a Cockroach Mecha?â
âWasnât that just a completely pointless and redundant effort?â
Chu Sheng stood frozen on the spot, suddenly starting to doubt himself.
But then, a thought struck him...
âHold on! How could this be a redundant effort?â
âThis "New Roach Battle Treasure" can give me a brand-new cover identityâthe Contracted Beast of some student at the Hong Kong University Beast Taming Academy!â
âWith this identity, I can move about the academy openly and legitimately!â
He had previously overheard the Empressâs thoughts mentioning that every academy at Hong Kong University had a testing center. These centers had all sorts of tests, and if you broke a record, you could receive extremely generous rewards!
The Beast Taming Academy was naturally no exception!
Moreover, the tests at the Beast Taming Academy had a special feature: Contracted Beasts could participate on their own! And there were rewards for them, too!
After all, the Contracted Beasts here had a Bloodline Level of High-Level at a minimum, and their Spiritual Wisdom was no less than Upper-Grade. They were basically equivalent to ten-year-old children, so completing tasks alone was no problem at all.
At this thought, a perfect plan instantly popped into Chu Shengâs mind!
âStep one: Hide the Mecha, then use my mosquito form to lie low and farm. Iâll suck blood like crazy and get my Qi Blood Realm to Fourth-Grade first!â
âStep two: Once Iâm strong enough, Iâll pilot the "New Roach Battle Treasure," go to the Beast Taming Academyâs testing center, and dominate everything, snatching up all those rewards!â
âPerfect!â
Without further hesitation, Chu Sheng piloted the Mecha into an extremely well-hidden tree hollow and made it look as if it was in "hibernation."
Meanwhile, he himself flew silently out of the cockpit, concealed his aura, and effortlessly blended into the swarm of wild White-striped Aedes Mosquitoes that were searching for targets.
Alright, let the all-you-can-eat buffet begin!
Following the main swarm, Chu Sheng soon locked onto a sleeping Demon Beast near a stretch of swampâa Purple Lightning Demon Wolf at the Peak of Third-Grade.
Without the slightest hesitation, he silently landed on its back.
He plunged his proboscis in and began to suck!
[Ding! Host has absorbed 22 points of Qi Blood! Current Total Qi Blood: 7186!]
[Estimated digestion time: 10 minutes. Estimated Evolution Points gained upon completion: 5!]
Although he could only suck ten or twenty points of Qi Blood at a time in his White-striped Aedes Mosquito form, the sheer number of "blood bags" here was frightening!
And his digestion speed was incredibly fast!
Chu Sheng did a quick calculation. At this rate, he could absorb at least one or two thousand points of Qi Blood in a single day!
âIf I just stay here for ten days to half a month... wouldnât I get ten or twenty thousand Qi Blood just like that?â
âHoly crap!â
âThis efficiency was almost on par with absorbing the King-level Essence Blood from before!â
Of course, Chu Sheng knew full well that it wasnât that simple of a comparison.
When he absorbed the King-level Essence Blood before, his realm was too low, and his body simply couldnât handle the terrifying torrent of Energy. Each time, it had caused considerable damage.
Most of the absorbed Energy was actually used by the system to repair his body. The amount that was truly utilized was probably less than even a tenth.
This current, gentler method of "supplementing," while yielding a small amount each time, had a one-hundred-percent Energy utilization rate!
He estimated that once he reached Fourth-Grade or Fifth-Grade and his physical body grew stronger, the effect of absorbing King-level Essence Blood would be hundreds of times better than it was now!
âFor now... Iâll just use these free, all-you-can-drink blood bags to level up like crazy!â
The more Chu Sheng thought about it, the more excited he became. He felt like he had discovered a brand-new, sustainable path to prosperity!
He lay blissfully on the Purple Lightning Demon Wolfâs back, sipping away, feeling incredibly content.
However, after about seven or eight sips, the sleeping wolf finally sensed that something was wrong.
"GROWL?"
It snapped its eyes open and shook its head in irritation.
The itching and stinging pain on the back of its neck made it instantly realize it was being bitten by a mosquito! It raised a paw crackling with purple lightning and swatted at the spot!
However, the expected feeling of easily squashing the mosquito never came.
Instead, a sharp pain shot up from its paw!!
"AWOOOO! AWOOOOOOO!!!"
The Purple Lightning Demon Wolf let out a terribly shrill cry, clutching its paw and hopping around madly on the spot, so much in pain that tears nearly welled up in its eyes!
"BZZZZZZ! (Hahahaha!!)"
Chu Sheng flew leisurely up from the demon wolfâs neck, watching the unlucky creature whose paw was now red and swollen, and he couldnât help but feel delighted.
âSeriously, buddy, do you even know basic physics?â
âThe physical strength of the Qi Blood Melting Furnace Realm Second Transformation, concentrated into one centimeter! Do you have any idea how much pressure is generated over such a small surface area?â
âThe only reason it didnât go straight through your paw is because you didnât hit hard enough!â
How could the Purple Lightning Demon Wolf know any of this?
It only felt as if it had slapped a red-hot steel needle. It trembled in pain, letting out a string of agonized howls, "AWOOOO MOTHERFUCKER AWOOOO!!!"
...
ăMeanwhile.ă
Gu Yuexi and her group had arrived at the Array Academyâs testing center.
In the center of the plaza stood a nine-story pagoda, a hundred meters tall and constructed entirely from some unknown glazed crystal. It stood there silently, radiating a heart-palpitating Soul Suppression.
This was the famous "Heart Sea Glazed Tower."
Even though it was summer vacation, the area in front of the tower was still a bustling sea of people.
Hong Kong Universityâs Cultivation Resources were simply too good; even during vacation, most students were unwilling to leave campus.
"Our Hong Kong Island University has a total of seven academies."
Mu Yunfei explained as he led the group inside, "They are the Array, Feng Shui, Magic, Artifact Refining, Alchemy, and Mind Master Academies, as well as... the perennially last-place Beast Taming Academy."
"Among them, Array, Feng Shui, and Magic are Hong Kong Universityâs three ace academies, with the best resources and facilities. And the Array Academy is, without a doubt, number one."
At this, Mu Yunfei sighed, a trace of regret on his face. "When I was young, I thought Spiritual Mind Masters looked cooler in a fight, so I chose the Mind Master Academy... Thinking about it now, the future prospects arenât as good as the big threeâArray, Feng Shui, and Magic. I really regret it a little!"
"Sigh, tell me about it."
Li Wenbo wore a look of shared sentiment. "I also regret not studying Beast Taming. Beast Taming is the mainstream on the mainland!"
"With my current Third-Grade Early Stage Spiritual Realm, I could easily form a contract with a Melting Furnace First Transformation Demon Beast, right? Then I could go around calling myself a First Transformation Beast Tamer! How cool would that sound!"
The group of youths from the Capital City behind him all nodded, their expressions showing varying degrees of regret.
Array was an unpopular major on the mainland; the schoolâs teachers mostly left the students to their own devices, so it offered a lot of freedom.
That was the reason they had chosen the Array major back thenâpurely so they could slack off.
Hearing their words, Mu Yunfeiâs brow couldnât help but furrow. He shook his head and said, "Forgive my bluntness, but a Cultivation System like Beast Taming, which relies entirely on an external object like a Contracted Beast for its strength, is ultimately a heretical path!"
"We Hong Kong Islanders believe in one of two things: either borrowing the grand power of heaven and earth, setting up arrays and drawing talismans to leverage the Law; or tempering ourselves a thousand times over, forging our own Spirit until we achieve divinity through a single thought!"
"Beast Tamers? To put it bluntly, theyâre just a bunch of trash who rely on their Contracted Beasts!"
Gu Yuexi: "..."
A flicker of exasperation crossed her cold, phoenix-like eyes.
She couldnât help but recall her past life. After she had entered the Emperor Level through the Beast Taming Dao, she had come to Hong Kong Island in search of a supreme Mental Power treasure she desperately needed.
Back then, many of Hong Kong Islandâs Emperor-level Powerhouses had looked down on her for being a Beast Tamer, making things difficult for her at every turn.
In the end... of the Twelve Emperors of Hong Kong Island, she had personally taken down eight of them.