Ch.17: Mutation?
Another morning.
More than half a month had passed since the spirit-hunting expedition began, and nearly all forty-six students had already obtained their first spirit rings.
Only a handful remained — Lu Sheng among them.
For a group of fifty venturing into the Star Dou Great Forest, this pace might seem slow.
But in truth, it was remarkably faster.
Finding a suitable spirit beast could easily take two or three months for some.
After all, this was a once-in-a-lifetime event; once a spirit ring was chosen, there was no turning back.
Many clans and organizations had entire research divisions dedicated to studying beast compatibility, mapping habitats, and cataloging the abilities each beast could grant under different conditions.
Even if he wasn't sure about other cities, Lu Sheng could confidently say that Qinglong City's system for spirit hunting was absolutely top-notch.
That much was clear from the results: forty students, all successful in just sixteen days.
The city's location played a big role, too.
Nestled at the border of the Star Dou Great Forest and surrounded by mountains with a vast lake nearby, Qinglong City sat in a zone teeming with compatible spirit beasts.
The native fauna shared elemental traits and temperaments that matched most citizens' martial spirits.
If not for the City's upper management having distinctly unique martial spirits, Qinglong could have been mistaken for a single extended clan.
"Hmm… I guess that's still what people call it sometimes," Lu Sheng murmured, realizing the irony in his own words.
Regardless, the efficiency was undeniable.
His own chosen spirit beast was scheduled to be captured today.
But things didn't go as planned.
"So, you're saying the spirit beast mutated?" Lu Sheng asked, disbelief evident in his tone.
Shan Dong, standing across from him, looked equally awkward. He had proudly promised both Lu Sheng and Captain Yun Mo that he'd ensure the young master's spirit ring was secured before sunrise.
Yet here they were, facing a situation no one could have predicted.
Just before dawn, the moment when a beast's energy and reflexes were said to be at their weakest, the White-Tailed Illusion Lizard they had been tracking changed color.
By the time Shan Dong caught up to it, the beast had found and devoured some kind of heavenly treasure.
The act triggered a violent mutation and forced evolution.
Still, Shan Dong had done his part.
Stopping the beast from eating more, he captured it alive and also managed to recover dozens of those heavenly plants from the area and brought them back.
Not a total loss, at least some merit earned for his efforts.
He could only sigh and point at the unconscious beast lying nearby, its body faintly glowing with rising soul power even in its unconscious state.
Lu Sheng studied it silently.
He couldn't blame Shan Dong; it wasn't negligence, just terrible luck.
Blaming someone who had tried to help would only make him look petty.
Finally, he exhaled softly. "I understand. You did what you could. At least you stopped it from eating more of those treasures."
He smiled faintly. "That alone deserves credit. I'll make sure the City Lord and Lady Li know what you did."
"Now," he said, shifting his gaze to the beast, "let's see what we're dealing with."
The White-Tailed Illusion Lizard was a rare spirit beast known for its spiritual and adaptive nature.
Small as a housecat, it thrived in dense forests by blending seamlessly into its surroundings.
It was a special kind of beast known to be born with no distinct traits, but gaining new characteristics and abilities based on its surroundings and habitat it lives in.
Lu Sheng had chosen it precisely for its adaptability.
Its dual traits of spiritual acuity and environmental adaptation mirrored the essence of his martial spirit, Deoxys.
A natural fit.
White-Tailed Illusion Lizards were prized for manifesting diverse abilities, transparency, cloning, energy shields, elemental body transformation, stealth, and agility augmentation.
Before reaching a thousand years of cultivation, they could wield several of these abilities at once.
But after crossing that threshold, they lost most of their versatility, becoming fixed in one specialization.
Ironically, a thousand-year-old lizard was weaker than its younger counterpart in terms of abilities but was far more stable, seemingly a complete form without any room for new adaptations and evolution.
That was exactly why Lu Sheng had chosen it.
Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Li had both agreed with his plan.
But now, the beast's body pulsed with uncontrollable energy.
Its soul power fluctuations were far too strong, clearly beyond the thousand-year mark.
He frowned.
'So… it is stronger now, but has it already lost what made it valuable?'
There was only one way to find out.
"Appraisal."
A faint light flickered before his eyes.
[Race: Spirit Beast]
[Species: Five-Tailed Elemental Lizard]
[Age: 1387 (rapidly increasing)]
[Talent: Extreme Adaptation (in effect), Spiritual, Five Elemental Affinity (growing), Elemental Core (growing; in effect)]
[Description: A spirit beast renowned for its survival instincts. After consuming multiple heavenly treasures of varying elemental attributes, it developed five distinct elemental affinities and an 'Elemental Core.' Its adaptive talent is currently active at full capacity, struggling to stabilize the violent energies within. Once its evolution stabilizes, it will lose the talent 'Adaptation' and die under the backlash of the Elemental Core's energy.]
Lu Sheng stared quietly at the glowing text, his expression unreadable. The line between opportunity and disaster had never felt so thin.
But one thing was certain — he could not lose this opportunity; he had to seize it.
In the appraisal window, he saw the spirit beast's age rapidly increase from 1,387 to 1,450, then 1,600, and it was still rising.
Fully immersed in thought, he didn't notice a tall, broad man quietly appear beside him.
Yun Mo looked at the young master standing motionless, eyes fixed on the unconscious beast.
"Are you ready, young master?"
Yun Mo tilted his head slightly, watching as Lu Sheng remained still before the Five-Tailed Elemental Lizard, showing no reaction for quite some time.
He wondered if, after seeing the beast so closely, Lu Sheng was feeling a sudden wave of fear.
But that thought passed quickly. After all, Lu Sheng had been fighting since the third day of the expedition, almost every day.
There was no way he would be scared now.
It wasn't his first time seeing an injured spirit beast.
Yun Mo had observed his mannerisms well enough to know, Lu Sheng wasn't the type to hesitate or feel pity at a decisive moment.
"Young master?" he called again, seeing no response.
"Huh? Oh, nothing," Lu Sheng replied, snapping out of his daze.
He blinked, somewhat surprised to see Yun Mo suddenly beside him.
"So, master, should we leave it here or take it back to the city for research?"
Shan Dong asked as he noticed Lu Sheng return to his senses.
"We'll take it back."
"Alright, I'll immediately prepare the cage for it."
"No need."
At those words, Shan Dong froze.
"What do you mean? We won't take this beast along?"
"No, we'll take it with us — but after I absorb the spirit ring."
"This…" Shan Dong fell silent, and even Yun Mo was stunned.
They could both clearly see the spirit beast's cultivation rising higher and higher with every passing moment.
Especially Yun Mo, as a Soul King, his perception was sharp. The beast had already surpassed the two-thousand-year mark.
For an ordinary spirit master without powerful resources, absorbing a two-thousand-year ring would be nearly impossible, even as a third ring.
Even with the city's full support, it would make sense only as a second ring.
But as the first?
It was suicidal.
His expression hardened.
The city lord's words quietly echoed in his ears, "I will leave Lu Sheng with you, hope you look after him."
Making him realize it was his time to act.
He absolutely cannot allow the young master to act on his own.
This kid clearly doesn't know the immensity of Heaven and Earth.
He may resent him in the future, but having a future to hate someone was always better than not having one at all.
Just as he was about to speak, Lu Sheng's calm voice cut through his thoughts.
"Mr. Yun, I understand that you're worried about me, but please believe me on this. I won't do something I'm not confident in. Grandpa Zhou trusted me enough to send me out to explore the world on my own. I hope you can trust me as well."
He said this while meeting Yun Mo's eyes directly, steady, unwavering, filled with conviction.
Seeing that firm gaze without a hint of hesitation or fear, even Yun Mo, the captain of the city guards who had survived countless beast tides and years of hard work, couldn't help but remember his youth.
Always being reckless, mindlessly charging ahead without any thought, but there was one thing he lacked, which was such strong sense of confidence.
Seeing the glint in his eyes, he even felt a flicker of admiration.
'What a stubborn lad,' he thought, clicking his tongue softly as he stepped back.
Leaning against a nearby tree, he closed his eyes, quietly waiting.
...
Seeing Yun Mo step back of his own accord, Lu Sheng exhaled a long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
After all, if Yun Mo had chosen to stop him, even using the "my master is the next city lord" argument wouldn't have worked.
Grandpa Zhou had only told Yun Mo to protect him, not to follow his orders.
If he judged absorbing this spirit ring as dangerous, there would've been no convincing him otherwise.
Thinking of that, Lu Sheng felt genuinely grateful to the captain of the city guards.
'Mr. Yun Mo, I'll remember this favor,' he thought, steadying his resolve.
'I'm ready.'
"I'll begin now," Lu Sheng said aloud, summoning the martial spirit phantom behind him as his aura shifted, entering the fake martial spirit possession.
"Martial Spirit Possession: Deoxys!"
Gripping the dagger in his hand, he entered the possession state. A golden glow enveloped him as metallic silver lines and blue runic symbols flowed across his body like living streams of light.
Feeling the surge of energy coursing through him, he fixed his gaze on the beast before him.
Even without using Appraisal, the physical traits were clear; the Five-Tailed Elemental Lizard had crossed the 3,000-year mark.
Its growth rate had slowed, but it was still rising, roughly one year every two seconds.
'Let's hope it stays within the acceptable range,' he thought, trusting in the potions and medicinal bath Grandma Li had given him since childhood, and the improvement in strength his Divine Martial Spirit had undergone.
Without hesitation, he drove the dagger into the beast's head, the sound of bone cracking echoing faintly.
A radiant purple ring emerged, flickering with the intertwined hues of the five elements.
Lu Sheng sat cross-legged on the forest floor, regulating his breath as he began circulating soul power according to the meditation technique.
Behind him, the faint phantom of Deoxys appeared, its presence solemn and calm, guiding the spirit ring toward itself.
As the ring touched the martial spirit, a ripple of energy spread through him — and another notification appeared in his vision.
{Ding!}