The Master of Beasts

With the Soldier Insect game to pass the time, Chen Jiuge didn't find himself too bored. However, Senior Sister Bai Yao was just too unskilled, and Senior Sister Wen Ruo didn't really enjoy playing; constantly dominating weaker opponents could also be quite dull.

After being defeated again, Senior Sister Bai Yao left in a huff, declaring she wouldn't play anymore, and took Senior Sister Wen Ruo away with her.

Chen Jiuge, somewhat speechlessly, collected the still-living Soldier Insects. Among them, the most commanding one was the Great General he always used. He carefully placed the badly wounded Great General into a culture dish. Suddenly, he wondered if it had developed Spiritual Wisdom. Just now, when it looked at me, did it seem to gaze back with gratitude and admiration?

Feeling he was letting his imagination run wild, Chen Jiuge dismissed the thought. How could such puppet-like Soldier Insect Spiritual Beasts develop any kind of Spiritual Wisdom?

He gathered the Life Origin Energy emanating from the Life Origin Ore and channeled it into the culture dish before tucking it into his Spiritual Beast Bag.

Little did he know, that particular Great General secretly stole glances at the "Father God" who had led it to be ever-victorious. Chen Jiuge was unaware of this. In fact, even the disciple who had sold the Soldier Insects didn't know that a Great General Soldier Insect, if it won a hundred battles and continued to live, would absorb the murderous aura from wars, develop Spiritual Wisdom, and become a true Great General.

The Beast Breeding Competition was bustling, allowing Chen Jiuge to witness a vast array of different Spiritual Beasts and clearly recognize his own shortcomings.

Spiritual Beasts were not simply about pure bloodlines; that was just one of दीन simplest yet most difficult breeding methods. A true Beast Breeder should combine various materials to cultivate a range of Spiritual Beasts with different functions without harming the beasts themselves, not just focus on battle-type Spiritual Beasts. Perhaps this was also the initial thought of the Great Elder, who had strongly supported the Beast Breeding Competition but later led it astray.

A month passed quickly. In that time, Chen Jiuge's Silver Iron Eagles finally began to sell because the Outer Disciples had arrived.

Though the Inner Sect and the Main Hall weren't far from the Outer Sect, in this world governed by Extraordinary Power, the class system was quite clear. Outer Disciples were merely preparatory disciples of the Myriad Beasts Sect and couldn't enter the Main Hall at will. Of course, they could participate in special events like the Beast Breeding Competition.

Having made it to the Main Hall, which was no easy feat, these Outer Disciples naturally didn't go for the flashy, impractical Spiritual Beasts. Instead, most chose Spiritual Beasts that would enhance their own strength. As a result, Chen Jiuge's business saw a surge in sales. Although mostly lower bloodline-rank Silver Iron Eagles were sold, there was a vast number of Outer Disciples. When the quantity sold went up, so did the profits.

Riding this wave, Chen Jiuge managed to break into the top five thousand, which was quite a stroke of luck.

"Junior Brother, your ranking is already very good," Wen Ruo said comfortingly. "I remember an elder mentioning once that our Master participated in the Beast Breeding Competition a very long time ago. Apparently, he barely passed the preliminaries."

Chen Jiuge was speechless. Using our Master's past performance to comfort me… is that really okay?

"Little Ruo, guess what I found?" Bai Yao suddenly popped up nearby, holding a mirror. Before the other two could say anything, Bai Yao couldn't resist showing off. "See this? It's a Beauty Mirror! It gives evaluations based on the person looking into it."

With that, she immediately held the mirror up to herself in front of them.

Then Chen Jiuge saw the mirror extend hands from its sides, give a thumbs-up, and praise, "Peerless charm, destined to make countless young men fall head over heels!"

"Little Ruo, you try it," Bai Yao said, quite pleased with the mirror's flattery, and handed it to Wen Ruo.

Facing Wen Ruo, the Beauty Mirror began a new round of compliments, "Gentle as water, the perfect dream lover."

Wen Ruo's face turned slightly red, and she shyly moved the mirror away.

"Your turn, your turn, Junior Brother!" Bai Yao felt the mirror's praise for Little Ruo was quite fitting. However, it still couldn't compare to her own, which made her even happier internally.

Chen Jiuge took the Beauty Mirror, feeling quite curious himself. He had only encountered a fraction of the various strange and bizarre Spiritual Beasts at the Beast Breeding Competition and hadn't yet experienced this Beauty Mirror.

"Handsome and dashing, with a debonair charm. Not bad, young man, not bad at all!"

Chen Jiuge felt this assessment was a bit off. I'm indeed not bad-looking, but I have more of a refined, delicate handsomeness. In terms of sheer attractiveness, I'd only be considered above average. This level of praise doesn't seem to fit me at all.

However, neither of his Senior Sisters seemed to think anything was amiss. Bai Yao excitedly went off to test it with her friend, who was said to be quite unattractive; she was very curious about the mirror's verdict for her.

After this little interlude with Senior Sister Bai Yao, Chen Jiuge's spirits lifted considerably.

His previous despondency stemmed mostly from feeling that despite the significant help he had received from an elder and his Senior Sister, he couldn't even make it into the top hundred. He felt he had let them down. If I had known, I would have been bolder and used my Golden Finger to cultivate those powerful Spiritual Beasts.

But who could have predicted that the Sect Master would suddenly mistake his Golden Finger for some kind of Karmic Divine Skill? What an epic blunder!

An hour after Senior Sister Bai Yao left, a piercing Dragon cry echoed from the sky, followed by a sonorous voice announcing, "The final test of the Beast Breeding Competition begins!"

Chen Jiuge looked puzzledly at Senior Sister Wen Ruo. "What is this final test?"

Senior Sister Wen Ruo was also bewildered. "I don't know. There wasn't this kind of final test when I came to participate last time."

Watching the Mirage Dragon Mirrors from all the display stands fly towards the sky and eventually converge into dozens of enormous Mirage Dragon Mirrors, and seeing the Spiritual Beasts fighting each other within them, Chen Jiuge excitedly stood up. "I get it now, Senior Sister! You might really have a chance this time!"

Next to a Mirage Dragon, a burly elder looked displeased as he spoke to Jun Linseng beside him, "There, happy now?"

"AHEM. Ye Sheng, it's not that I insisted on you changing the rules," Jun Linseng explained. "The main issue is, look at the kind of Spiritual Beasts appearing in the Beast Breeding Competition now. The Cultivation World still respects strength above all."

"Enough said! You lot don't understand Spiritual Beasts at all!" Ye Sheng said disdainfully to his old friend. "Spiritual Beasts aren't just for combat. Diversity, infinite possibilities—that's the true charm of Spiritual Beasts!"

"Alright, alright, you're right," Jun Linseng sighed. "But the battlefield in the Demon Abyss is becoming more chaotic by the day. The Demon Clan at the lowest levels are simply too numerous. I'm afraid we might have to send our Outer Disciples there soon. Breeding more Combat Spiritual Beasts would be beneficial for their survival."

"Those damned Demon Clan whelps!" Ye Sheng frowned. "Didn't we just slaughter one of their Demon Kings? How come they're stirring up trouble again?"

"I don't know." With that, Jun Linseng turned and left. As the Sect Master of the Myriad Beasts Sect, he was often quite busy, especially with sudden news like this.

Standing in place, lost in thought for a moment, Ye Sheng came back to his senses. Why should I bother worrying? I'm not the Sect Master. Still, this Beast Breeding Competition does look rather interesting. I wonder which will be the strongest Spiritual Beast in terms of combat power?