Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Mister Rong sat behind a desk, a light and happy expression on his face. As he basked in the congratulations of his disciples, his face glowed with a healthy red light.

The dark star ice serpent had suddenly risen to the next level. All of the high level figures within the sect were overjoyed and they immediately ordered a blockade of all outgoing news in order to give their opponents a surprise in the Beast King Battle that was supposed to happen two months later. They also gave Mister Rong a massive number of gifts, all of them incomparably precious and priceless treasures.

As Mister Rong's disciples, these several young people all enjoyed the glory of the spotlight. Moreover, the higher the status their teacher had in the sect, the more invisible advantages they would obtain. Today, several disciples of other beast trainer grandmasters all looked at them with envy, leaving them proud and happy for a long time afterwards.

Mister Rong had a calm and steady personality. He soon composed himself and lifted a hand, gesturing at everyone. "Alright. Since I have drawn the attention of others, you should all handle your matters with even more caution from now on. Do not let success go to your head, otherwise others will ridicule me for not teaching my disciples well."

"Teacher is right."

"We disciples will remember your words."

"We will not cause teacher to lose face."

Looking at these respectful disciples, Mister Rong revealed a satisfied expression. They were all young people with outstanding talents. As long as they tried hard and gave their best, they were sure to have considerable achievements in the future.

But at this time, he revealed a surprised look. He said, "Ziyue, you are frowning. What concerns might you have?"

Xiang Ziyue respectfully said, "Teacher, this disciple is only confused. Why would the dark star ice serpent suddenly rise to the next level? According to the statistical data we have collected and its recent performance so far, even if everything proceeds smoothly it would still require half a year before it gathers the necessary acc.u.mulations. Moreover, although the dark star ice serpent has risen to the next level, with its strength increasing, and its other various data points within a normal range, its mind seems to be dispirited and it is in a state of deep slumber right now."

Mister Rong revealed a look of praise. "Very good. Ziyue, you were able to come up with an objective observation based on the real data provided and you didn't let the joy of the moment crowd out your rationality. That is a very rare accomplishment. In all honesty, although I had confidence that I could help the dark star ice serpent reach the next level, as you said, it would have still required a period of time. For it to have suddenly transformed, I am also confused. If you have some extra time you can try to unravel this mystery. Perhaps you'll make some other harvests too."

Xiang Ziyue picked up a nearby jade slip that had the data recorded within. He nodded and said, "Yes, teacher. I will spend some time on this task and report to you once anything is found."

…

First Moon Mountain Range ran north to south for almost a million miles. Even though the terrain was dangerous and monster beasts prowled all over the land, it was because of this that there was a rich plethora of resources here. All of this together also attracted a massive number of cultivators to join in. After the long years, several hundred cities had risen throughout the forested mountains. In the dim of night, they were like pearls that illuminated the pitch black darkness.

Midmorning City was the largest and most dazzling of these hundreds of pearls. Sky Declaring Pavilion was one of the strongest recognized influences in First Moon Mountain Range, so they naturally established themselves in the city.

Buzz -

Buzz -

A low and deep buzzing sound rapidly faded away. Around a mountain away from Midmorning City, Qin Yu calmly stepped out, observing the city at night.

One of the addresses that Feng Qing left for him, where the Beast Trainer Invitational was supposed to be held, was in Midmorning City. But, this wasn't the closest place to Wali Village. He had purposefully chosen a further location and made some deliberate detours before he arrived here in order to prevent any future disasters from happening to the Zhou Family.

His thoughts stirred and the muscles on his face began to move, slowly transforming into that of a completely common and ordinary-looking man. Besides a pair of deep eyes, if he was placed in the middle of a crowd no one would spare him a second glance.

He tidied himself up a little, adding on some signs of travel weariness. Then, he walked towards Midmorning City. There were only two days left until the event began.

…

After the dark star ice serpent rose to the next level, it seemed dispirited and spent more of its time sleeping than awake. Luckily, this condition only lasted for three days before it was restored to normal. This caused the high level figures of the sect to let out gasps of relief. Xiang Ziyue also felt as if he could hear the disappointed sighs of several other beast trainer grandmasters.

Following his teacher these past three days, he had busied himself with inspecting the condition of the dark star ice serpent. He had been so busy that he wasn't even able to get an ounce of sleep in. It was only now that he finally had some free time to himself.

After washing his face and just before he was about to rest, Xiang Ziyue suddenly thought back to the conversation he had three days ago, when he mentioned to his teacher his confusion about why the dark star ice serpent would suddenly rise to a new level.

"Should I rest first before I investigate?"

After hesitating for a few breaths of time, Xiang Ziyue let out a long breath. Then, he slapped himself awake and plodded his way to the study. There, he took a look at the jade slip with the recorded data of the dark star ice serpent.

He knew that his talent was only considered normal. The reason he was able to become one of his teacher's most outstanding disciples was because he put in more effort than others.

He carefully verified the data. Soon, Xiang Ziyue was immersed within and all feelings of exhaustion vanished. When the sun started to rise, he looked away from the data, his eyebrows slowly furrowing together.

Nothing was wrong. Everything seemed normal. But, it was this normality that caused Xiang Ziyue to feel as if something wasn't right.

Without outside interference, how could the dark star ice serpent suddenly rise to a higher level? Although there was a possibility that its bloodline had evolved, the chances of that happening were far too small. Moreover, within the sect, when this dark star ice serpent reached a.d.u.l.thood it had undergone a bloodline promotion ceremony. The chances of such a change occurring spontaneously after that were nearly zero.

"Just what is wrong here?"

Xiang Ziyue drew in a deep breath and started to sift through the data once more, trying to find the key from the vast and complex records.

After an unknown period of time, a not too formal and simple record fell into his eyes. It was a record from an apprentice level beast trainer who was taking care of the dark star ice serpent. Attached inside it were some records on the changes of the dark star ice serpent's blood energy.

This record itself wasn't valuable to begin with. Moreover, it had already been verified and annotated by another one of teacher's disciples and then tossed into an archive. Before, Xiang Ziyue had only glanced at it. If it weren't for the sudden promotion of the dark star ice serpent suddenly arousing his suspicions, he might have never glanced at this.

But this data point was like a star in the dark skies, guiding Xiang Ziyue's attention towards it.

Soon, he found other similar data records. After carefully patching them together, he finally came up with a diagram showing the blood energy fluctuations of the dark star ice serpent before it was promoted to the next level.

The slightly upward arc caused Xiang Ziyue's breathing to quicken. But this wasn't enough. He needed more evidence.

After tidying up the data he had extracted, Xiang Ziyue pushed open the doors and stepped out. Facing the hazy darkness of the early morning, he walked into the sect's storehouse division. This place held all of the detailed records of what the dark star ice serpent ate.

Xiang Ziyue knew that during this period of time, no other people had been allowed to approach the dark star ice serpent. If so, then it had to be related to something it ate.

He contrasted his data diagram with the calendar. Soon, he found the specific batch of goods that had been fed to the dark star ice serpent on that day. To avoid any accidents occurring and also for data recording purposes, all high level spirit beasts in the sect had highly detailed feeding records and all of them were preserved in their entirety.

Some of the extremely important goods would also be preserved and given out in small samples. Once it was confirmed that the spirit beast could eat it without issue, it would then be placed into the feed once more.

This was to prevent hostile forces from poisoning and murdering these spirit beasts that the sect had raised with such difficulty. Numerous instances of this had happened in the past.

Xiang Ziyue came just in time and the saved sample items still hadn't been used. After looking through the ordinary materials and discovering there wasn't a problem, he began to look here.

Two hours later, he held an ash gray leaf in his hands. Its surface was covered in silver white lines. Xiang Ziyue stared at it with wide eyes, his face full of disbelief.

After a stunned moment, he leapt up onto his feet, accidentally kicking the table. But, he didn't seem to notice this at all. He raced out of the storehouse division.

"Tsk tsk, look at him. These beast raisers act crazy all day long. Listen well to me and avoid them in the future." One of the senior cultivators guarding the gate commented, the look on his face saying that he was a veteran teaching a new recruit.

Several young cultivators beside him nodded repeatedly.

…

Qin Yu asked around and soon found out where Sky Declaring Pavilion was. The Beast Trainer Invitational was an important event and there was a dedicated reception staff.

"This mister, may I ask if you have already registered? If you have completed the registration, please tell me your individual information."

The female cultivator behind the desk sweetly smiled.

"Ning Qin."

The female cultivator soon looked up his information. Her smile brightened and she stood up, respectfully saying, "So it was Grandmaster Ning Qing. You have already passed the core testing. You may directly enter the final trials."

Everyone around him fell silent. Many of them had stunned looks that slowly turned to awe.

No one would dare to manipulate their own information. Sky Declaring Pavilion also had their own methods for making simple judgments, so it was impossible to conceal.

Without accident, this common-looking youth before them was a genuine beast trainer grandmaster!

Qin Yu also didn't think this would happen. But, with Feng Qing's status, doing this wasn't difficult at all. He calmly nodded as if he already expected this.

The female cultivator passed over a black jade card with both hands. "Grandmaster Ning Qin, this is the time, location, and requirements of your final trial. If you have any questions then feel free to ask us."

Then, she passed over another card. "Due to your honored status, Sky Declaring Pavilion has reserved the top guest room in Moon Inviting Park for you. This is your room card; please accept it. During this period, any expenditure made there can be charged to this card."

"Thank you."

After taking the cards, Qin Yu left with everyone's attention focused on him.