Chen Guan was slightly stunned. This wasn't quite the script he had expected. Originally, he thought that after hearing about his talent, Qin Ziyu and the others would look down on him, and then he could take the chance to leave.
Refusing to believe it, Chen Guan looked at Qin Ziyu's group. Qin Ziyu shrugged and said, "Relax. You stick with us and do what you can. Leave the rest to us."
The others also showed kindness and even sympathy toward Chen Guan. For a moment, Chen Guan felt a bit dazed. His urge to leave and go solo circled on his lips several times, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it.
On second thought, it wasn't a bad thing. The highest level of Secret Spirit on the island was Level 10. Without higher-level Secret Spirits, there wouldn't be higher-level Secret Techniques, so Second Awakening couldn't be achieved. No matter how strong cultivators got, they'd be stuck at Level 10, unable to go any further.
After cultivators reach Level 10, they must complete Second Awakening to keep leveling up, and Second Awakening requires Secret Spirits and Secret Techniques above Level 10—both are indispensable.
That previous wave of old-timers had already been here a year, yet none managed to break past Level 10, all because of this.
Maybe some brought high-level Secret Techniques with them, but without high-level Secret Spirits, they still can't awaken a second time, an issue no one on the island could solve.
The reason Ji Nanhong gathered so many elites to take down various bosses probably was to look for Secret Spirits above Level 10 in order to complete Second Awakening.
Reaching Level 10 was only a matter of time, but an individual's strength is limited. Even if the island really did have Secret Spirits above Level 10, they'd probably be boss-level beings, and taking them down alone was no easy task. Team coordination would be best. What's more, Chen Guan's Lifebound Talent also needed teamwork to bring out its full effect.
Chen Guan wasn't in a rush to show off his abilities now. He needed to first observe what kind of people Qin Ziyu and his group were. Even if he didn't have teammates, he didn't want to end up in a group like the old-timers.
When Qin Ziyu's group heard that there were all kinds of Spirit-eye Peacocks in the Peacock Forest, they all got interested and decided to bring Chen Guan along to hunt some Spirit-eye Peacocks in the forest.
Chen Guan only found out from their chat that everyone was already at Level 6. Qin Ziyu was even at Level 7, a full level higher than Chen Guan.
Besides their Lifebound Talents being pretty good, the main reason was that before entering, their families had already prepared loads of items usable after First Awakening, like Secret Techniques and Secret Treasures.
If Secret Spirit Pets weren't so hard to carry around, their levels would probably be even higher than now.
Especially Qin Ziyu. The Qin clan descended from one of the Ten Celestial Kings, prosperous for more than eight hundred years. Being known as one of the Divine Land's Ten Great Families was well-deserved.
Even if Qin Ziyu wasn't the direct descendant of the Qin Family main branch, he still must have enormous resources. Even if he didn't bring in the Unparalleled Secret Technique Core and Unparalleled Secret Skill Core, he'd probably carry the best rare Secret Techniques and Skills, plus with his own talent and outstanding abilities, it's no wonder he achieved so much.
Lu Teng, Gongsun Zhuo, Wang Lian, Hua Yun, and Huacai weren't as well-off as Qin Ziyu, but they still brought quite a bit of good stuff, unlike Chen Guan, who came empty-handed, save for one Warring States.
The main reason Chen Guan didn't bring anything was family background. Ordinary families can't get their hands on good Secret Techniques or Skills, and he looked down on the junk ones, so he didn't bother preparing. He originally planned to just play it safe and grow slowly in the Blessed Land, but things changed unexpectedly.
Nearing the Peacock Forest, everyone summoned their pets. Surprisingly, it was a whole lineup of Ghost-headed Sheep, with Qin Ziyu's even being a rare variant.
The Ghost-headed Sheep were at least Level 5, and rare ones were Level 7. To be able to slay so many Ghost-headed Sheep showed Qin Ziyu's group was seriously strong.
"Chen Guan, I've got some extra Ghost-headed Sheep Secret Spirit Pets here for you to use. Once you get something better, just give them back to me." Noticing that only the Self-red Chow Chow was with Chen Guan, Qin Ziyu assumed he had no good pets, and simply transferred two Ghost-headed Sheep Secret Spirits to him.
Chen Guan hesitated a moment but didn't say anything and accepted the Ghost-headed Sheep pets from Qin Ziyu.
Chen Guan was a little surprised. He wondered how Qin Ziyu's group managed to get so many Ghost-headed Sheep pets. Qin Ziyu giving him two didn't mean he only had two—it was because cultivators below Level 10 could only summon two Secret Spirit Pets at a time, so extra pets were useless.
Wang Lian, quick-witted as always, saw Chen Guan's look and guessed immediately what he was thinking. Smiling, she explained, "Ziyu's Lifebound Talent is Pet Charm. Any Secret Spirit he kills personally has a much higher chance of becoming a Secret Spirit Pet, which is how we managed to collect so many Ghost-headed Sheep."
Chen Guan couldn't help glancing at Qin Ziyu. Lifebound Talents were extremely private matters to cultivators and usually guarded as their greatest secrets, let alone one as rare and precious as Qin Ziyu's. He actually made it public.
Then again, with Qin Ziyu's strength and background, others probably wouldn't dare try anything. Knowing about his talent would only make people want to team up with him, which was actually to his advantage.
Everyone hopped onto a Ghost-headed Sheep to ride. Chen Guan did the same. There were riding lessons at the academy, so this wasn't hard at all.
Everyone also summoned another Ghost-headed Sheep to scout ahead. After entering the Peacock Forest, whenever they encountered a Spirit-eye Peacock, they hardly needed to do anything—the Ghost-headed Sheep would gang up and beat it down.
But in the end, it was always Qin Ziyu who delivered the killing blow. Qin Ziyu's Pet Charm Lifebound Talent was indeed extraordinary. Chen Guan had killed quite a few Spirit-eye Peacocks before but didn't get even one pet. The others only killed a dozen or so, and already one blue Spirit-eye Peacock got petified and merged into Qin Ziyu's body.
"The skills and talents aren't practical, nothing much. Anyone want it?" After checking the information, Qin Ziyu displayed the peacock's attributes for everyone.
After everyone checked out the Spirit-eye Peacock's stats, they all shook their heads. It really wasn't much use—still not as practical as the versatile Ghost-headed Sheep.
"There's not much point to killing Spirit-eye Peacocks. Let's go somewhere else." Qin Ziyu immediately suggested leaving the Peacock Forest, not willing to waste time here.
"These past few days, our levels have all gone up a lot and we've got a bunch of pets. How about we go check out that spring?" Wang Lian suddenly said.
Hearing Wang Lian's suggestion, Qin Ziyu's eyes lit up, and both Hua Yun and Huacai fully agreed.
But Gongsun Zhuo frowned and said, "That place is too dangerous. It wouldn't hurt to wait until we're all Level 10 before going."
"Before, maybe, but now we know there are others on the island, people who've been here a year longer than us. No telling what might happen if we drag our feet," said Wang Lian.
"We can give it a try. Let's send in some pets to scout first. If things look bad, we'll just pull back. That thing can't leave the spring anyway," Lu Teng chimed in from the side.
Chen Guan listened for a while before finally figuring out what was going on.