Gu Ming looked at the system's updated message. Beside him, a broth was boiling over a large flame, steam billowing out.
Beads of sweat gradually formed on Gu Ming's forehead.
He wasn't scared by the future events it showed; he was just pissed off at the system.
'Spirit Stones contaminated by an Evil God, only a small amount are usable...' Gu Ming seriously suspected the system had pulled a fast one.
What should have been a huge haul now only amounted to a small portion of usable Spirit Stones.
He didn't know exactly how many this "small portion" was, but at least it was something. 'I guess I can count that as a plus,' he thought.
Gu Ming shook his head and contacted Teacher Zhang. He asked him to bring over some Natural Medicinal Herbs that Cyan Treasure would need in the future, and to withdraw some cash as well.
He didn't say why he needed the cash.
Teacher Zhang came up with his own explanation and conveniently withdrew the cash on his way back to the Gu Family residence.
Once he arrived at the house, Gu Ming took the cash and, without so much as a glance, quickly stuffed it into his pocket.
Teacher Zhang thought Gu Ming's parents were back, but a look around revealed they weren't home.
"Where are they?"
"Probably went gambling," Gu Ming said.
His parents both had very cushy jobs; they basically got paid for doing nothing. It wasn't uncommon for them to skip work occasionally for a bit of recreational gambling.
If he needed to find them, he just had to give them a call.
But Teacher Zhang clearly wasn't in the mood for that. He had bought a whole month's supply of Natural Medicinal Herbs to save Gu Ming a trip later in the month.
Even if these herbs weren't used for practicing the Breathing Technique, they could still substitute for Elixirs to increase Cyan Treasure's muscle power.
Their only drawback was not being as potent as modern Synthetic Elixirs.
「Teacher Zhang has returned to the house. He is extremely apologetic. He never expected the buyer he traded with to be an Evil God worshipper and only found out after receiving the payment.」
「To prevent you from taking a huge loss, he used the contaminated Spirit Stones to buy Spirit Medicine resources at a discounted price. These are all Spirit Medicines that are perfectly suited for a Grass and Wood Flood Dragon, namely...」
Gu Ming had been keeping a close eye on the system's updates. His mood, which had been soured by the system, instantly brightened.
Cloud-Eroding Grass, Jade Orchid, Purple Cloud Vine...
One after another, the names appeared. Most were unfamiliar to him, but some were herbs he recognized.
Among the ones he recognized were herbs that could enhance a Pet Beast's Perception Ability, some that strengthened Mana recovery, and others related to toxin immunity.
'Even though I got fewer Spirit Stones, being able to trade them for future medicinal ingredients doesn't seem like a bad deal.'
'The only question is whether these herbs are suitable for Cyan Treasure.'
In the system's timeline, the medicines Teacher Zhang got were all intended for a Grass and Wood Flood Dragon.
'I hope the system isn't screwing me over. It'd be best if a Snake Pet can use them too.'
Gu Ming picked up the herbs from the table and carefully examined the label on each packet. They were still sealed, so the contents hadn't transformed yet.
Following the same procedure he used to transform the Spirit Stones, Gu Ming placed them all in a bedroom cabinet and shut the door.
As for the cash from Teacher Zhang, he put it in a drawer.
A few seconds later, a new message popped up from the system.
「You have packed all the Spirit Medicines into the storage cabinet.」
「You have placed one hundred uncontaminated Spirit Stones into the drawer.」
'Since Teacher Zhang is here, I won't open the cabinet. I'll check it after he leaves.'
As for the Spirit Stones, Gu Ming didn't open the drawer to check them either. All he needed was the system's confirmation of their new location.
This time, Gu Ming had asked his teacher to withdraw twenty thousand in cash. He hadn't asked for too much, precisely to avoid a failed conversion.
Fortunately, the twenty thousand in cash had successfully converted into one hundred Spirit Stones.
With this successful case, Gu Ming breathed a small sigh of relief.
As long as he could get Spirit Stones, losing a bit of money was no big deal.
Even if Spiritual Energy Pills on the market cost dozens of times more, they still couldn't compare to Spirit Stones. This was a treasure that could ignore cultivation aptitude and allow even a Low-star Potential Pet Beast to advance rapidly.
Unfortunately, the system hadn't specified the amount of the uncontaminated portion of Spirit Stones. He would have to test it slowly, retrieving them in batches.
In the bedroom, Ah Kun had watched the entire process. Not being particularly bright, it couldn't comprehend its master's actions.
After its master left the bedroom, Ah Kun looked toward the cabinet overhead and the desk drawer on the other side of the room.
'It looked like Master just stuffed a red envelope in the drawer.'
'Could that be Spirit Stones?'
Ah Kun recalled the sight of its master pulling Spirit Stones from a red envelope, and its stomach immediately began to GURGLE.
Ever since it had successfully devoured a Spirit Stone, Ah Kun had been unable to forget the taste.
'I really want to eat one again. I wonder when Master will feed me another Spirit Stone.'
'No, I can't keep snatching Big Brother Cyan Treasure's resources.'
'I'm a Kunpeng. I can devour anything and everything. I can eat whatever, but I can't fight with Big Brother Cyan Treasure over resources. It is Master's future.'
'My lifespan isn't long. Even if I can digest hard things, it's impossible for me to achieve a breakthrough before my time is up.'
'A fish must have self-awareness. Having lived for a few years, I've long since come to understand the ways of the world.'
'Having a master who cares about me is enough. I'm already very satisfied.'
「Meanwhile.」
Gu Ming returned to the dining table to see Cyan Treasure already soaking in a pot of medicinal broth. Under Teacher Zhang's guidance, it was breathing slowly, absorbing Spiritual Qi and exercising its muscles.
The nutrients from the broth entered Cyan Treasure's body through its scales, replenishing a great deal of its Spiritual Qi and energy.
Its Spiritual Qi absorption had been slow and its muscular energy depleted quickly, but now its endurance had increased instantly, lasting for a full fifteen minutes instead of just a few.
Throughout this time, Teacher Zhang kept his fingertips on the surface of Cyan Treasure's body, using a Spiritual Technique to observe it carefully.
As soon as Cyan Treasure showed signs of overexertion, he would have it slow its breathing, waiting for its muscles to relax before letting it continue.
「Teacher Zhang is very surprised. The Flood Dragon, which should have only had a few days to live, has actually completed a full Circulation after having multiple acupoints stimulated.」
「"Who would have thought that a Snake Pet Cultivation Method could be used by a Sub-dragon Pet? This Dragon Pet's Talent is extraordinary."」
In reality, however, Teacher Zhang was surprised by something else.
"Strange. It's already figured out the latter parts of the breathing circulation path on its own, parts that I haven't even finished developing."
The more Teacher Zhang probed, the more he could perceive how incredible Cyan Treasure was.
He hadn't been able to sense the circulation of Mana inside its body when he watched the video before.
He had assumed it would take countless adjustments—for instance, if a certain rhythm was off and the training effect was null, he would have to find a new breathing rhythm, record the corresponding muscle contraction data, and track the Mana conversion data.
The research process Zhang Yunpeng had envisioned for his thesis was one of trial and error: accumulating successful runs of the Cultivation Technique, adjusting the technique's pathways based on massive amounts of data, and ultimately finding the perfect balance between absorption, exercise, and Refinement.
But as it turned out, after just a slight tweak from him, Cyan Treasure's breathing frequency needed no further adjustment. The training effect was surprisingly good; only the efficiency of Refining Mana lagged behind the other two aspects.
He could already say that this Cultivation Technique was fundamentally complete and didn't require any major revisions.
"Could there really be a self-taught Pet Beast genius in this world?" Teacher Zhang murmured to himself.
Gu Ming, however, knew the real reason.
The current Zhang Yunpeng had only been researching the Cultivation Technique for about a decade.
The future Zhang Yunpeng, however, would have researched it for over forty years—a gap in time sufficient to perfect this Cultivation Technique.
But that raised a question. If this Cultivation Technique was still incomplete in the future, just a fragment, how could he turn it into a complete version?
Gu Ming looked at Cyan Treasure's Skills panel, which read:
Unnamed Cultivation Technique (Fragment) Skill Level:
Entry Level: 2/???
The number for the next Skill Level was a series of question marks—it was a fragment, after all.
'Wait a minute... Unnamed. Could that mean...?'
Gu Ming looked up at Teacher Zhang and asked, "Teacher, what's the name of this Cultivation Technique?"