Beast Tamer Ascension

Book 4: Chapter 21: Don’t Underestimate Contract Beasts as Prodigies

Vol 4 Chapter 21: Don’t Underestimate Contract Beasts as Prodigies

At the top of the Buddhist pagoda, Lin Jing looked at the Ghost Bride.

To squeeze into the top ten prodigies of the Tianyuan Realm, the Golden Light Gu was a must-have. After all, the Golden Gu could greatly enhance the power of the Ice Soul Gu.

After finishing his conversation with the Demon Emperor, Lin Jing realized a very serious problem, so he suddenly started paying special attention to the individual strength of his pet beasts.

Earlier, the Demon Emperor had implied that he and his beasts could enter the Origin Realm as one entity…

This was a big issue.

The Demon Emperor thought that way because the various Cavern Heavens and secret realms of the Tianyuan Realm all operated under that logic.

But would the Origin Realm really recognize him and the Pine Leaf Mouse, Dragon Carp, and Ice Soul Gu as a single entity?

The reason Tianyuan Realm’s realms accepted this was because this was the Celestial Palace’s territory, and the Beast Taming Art originated from the Celestial Palace itself.

It was a public area jointly reconstructed, maintained, and managed by many Celestial Realm powers on par with the Celestial Palace, serving as a training ground for prodigies from various realms.

The Origin Realm had rich resources, and cultivators from every realm wanted in. Because of that, the number of entries had to be limited to prevent those resources from drying up.

So there was a high chance that the Origin Realm’s rules wouldn’t recognize the Beast Tamer and their contract beasts as one being. If that were the case, then things would get messy.

Forget about the main body going in while leaving incarnations behind—even both versions might not be allowed entry.

But it wasn’t completely hopeless. If Lin Jing wanted to bring Pine Leaf Mouse, Dragon Carp, and Ice Soul Gu along, there was still a way.

That would be to have Pine Leaf Mouse, Dragon Carp, and Ice Soul Gu each make it into the top ten of the Fortune Gold List on their own. As long as they could defeat other top-ten prodigies individually, then even if the Origin Realm didn’t acknowledge beast contracts, the four of them could use four separate slots to enter.

Who said a pet beast couldn’t be a realm’s prodigy?

Although this might earn him a beating from some great powers in Tianyuan Realm, it wouldn’t violate the entry rules set by the Second Ancient Emperor.

So just to be safe, Pine Leaf Mouse, Dragon Carp, and Ice Soul Gu all needed to have the power to suppress prodigies on their own.

Lin Jing wasn’t too worried about the Pine Leaf Mouse and Dragon Carp—both were rare beasts, near-immortal beings. The challenge was the Ice Soul Gu.

For Gu worms, having or not having a human host was a night-and-day difference in combat power. So he had to boost its individual power as much as possible.

Devouring other rare Gu was a solid strategy.

Then, in battle, even if it couldn’t win by brute force, it could win by elemental advantage. If facing a prodigy from Poseidon Palace, it would use the Thunder Tribulation Gu. If facing a wood-based cultivator, it would use the Golden Light Gu… as long as it had enough elemental types, it could gain a huge edge in fights.

“Senior, we’re ready. Can we begin?” The Ghost Bride before him was the key to obtaining the Golden Light Gu!

“Mm.” Tang Ling nodded.

“You can start. I won’t resist.”

“Then I’ll begin.” Lin Jing extended his hand, summoning the Buddha-Demon Pearl outside his body. The upper half of the pearl was gold, the lower half black—gold radiated rich Buddhist light, while black surged with demonic energy. Holding it gave Lin Jing the feeling of gripping a Poké Ball, about to catch a Pokémon.

“Go.” With focused eyes, Lin Jing activated the Buddha-Demon Pearl to absorb the Ghost Bride. In the next instant, she, having offered no resistance, twisted like a phantom and was sucked into the pearl. But right after that—crack—a flicker of light sparked from the pearl, and it showed signs of cracking.

It seemed the Ghost Bride’s power was too great. Even though she was intentionally holding back, the Buddha-Demon Pearl still couldn’t handle it!

“Seal!!" The Thunder Dragon Ancestor slowly drew the pearl into Lin Jing’s body while simultaneously activating the Immortal Body to suppress the pearl’s Buddhist power. At the same time, it used the terrifying vitality of the young Longevity Body—equivalent to twenty thousand years—to suppress the ghostly divine power flooding from the pearl.

“Senior, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” the Ghost Bride answered.

“Next, I’ll need to extract power from the Buddha-Demon Pearl—borrow some of your ghostly divine force.”

“Go ahead.”

“Good!”

With the Ghost Bride’s cooperation, things became much easier for Lin Jing.

He now had much more confidence in obtaining the Golden Gu.

Next, Lin Jing entered a half-month-long closed-door training session for refinement and synchronization.

Until the time for the Golden Light Gu’s final inheritance approached, the Nine Dragons Carriage once again set sail. Lin Jing stood at the front of the wooden boat, atop the dragon’s head, his complexion quite poor.

Originally, Lin Jing looked full of life and youthful energy.

But after sealing the Ghost Bride for a while and using her ghostly divine power, he now looked gloomy, with visibly accelerated life force loss. In the words of the Thunder Dragon Ancestor, he now resembled a devil cultivator from the Netherworld Hall.

“It’s a powerful force, but it can’t be sealed in the body too long. Once I obtain the Golden Light Gu, I must release the Ghost Bride quickly, or my body won’t be able to handle it. I’ll just keep getting weaker, like being drained of Yang energy by a female ghost.”

The side effects of sealing the Ghost Bride were even worse than raising a rare Gu.

But that was due to the huge gap in cultivation. If they were both in the Void Mystical Stage, the burden of using a rare Gu would definitely be heavier.

“Your Highness, we’re almost at Golden Light Temple.”

“Congratulations, Your Highness. You’re about to obtain a rare Gu. With the Ghost Bride, these Buddhist prodigies won’t be able to compete with you.”

“Our journey through the Western Desert is almost at an end,” the Thunder Dragon Ancestor said with a cheerful smile.

“Mm." Lin Jing caught the hint and said, “You’ve worked hard, Senior. Once we return to Qingzhou, I’ll go into seclusion to refine pills and prepare nine Transformation Pills suitable for Nascent Soul-stage Demon Kings in the Thunder Dragon Clan as thanks for your protection.”

“Thank you, Your…” The flying ship exited the void and descended over Golden Light Temple in Golden Body City. The Thunder Dragon Ancestor’s thanks were caught in his throat as he froze, staring at the ruined city before him.

“Huh? Did we get lost?” The nine Thunder Dragon prodigies pulling the carriage were also completely baffled. They hadn’t taken a wrong turn.

It had only been six months. How had Golden Body City ended up like this?

Lin Jing furrowed his brow. In the next moment, three Void Mystical auras spread out from the city. One of them was very familiar to Lin Jing—it was Master Wu Mo of the Demon-Slaying Temple, the monk in the sun-colored robes.

Another was the Indestructible Monk of Golden Light Temple. But now, he no longer looked frail and lifeless—his vitality was brimming.

The last one was a Void Mystical nun—Master Jingxin of the Buddhist Sect.

As Lin Jing and the Thunder Dragon Ancestor arrived, the three monks stepped out of the ruins of Golden Light Temple together.

“We meet again,” Master Wu Mo smiled.

The Indestructible Monk gave Lin Jing and the Thunder Dragon Ancestor a polite palm-pressing gesture and said, “Hehe, you’ve arrived. A few days ago, demonic cultivators from the Gu God Sect came to steal the Golden Light Gu... and this Buddhist City suffered as a result…”

“The Gu God Sect came? Was it Elder Wind Gu or Sect Leader Yang Qiancheng?” Lin Jing’s eyes flickered.