I'm Just a Beast Tamer

"’A fourth-stage physical body is already incredibly powerful, but it still can’t withstand the Thunder Tribulation Power of a Three Flowers Realm Cultivator.’"

"’The reason is that neither my fourth-stage body nor those Demon or Spirit Beasts have ever undergone a Thunder Tribulation.’"

"’Ascending to the fourth stage is a huge boost for Demon and Spirit Beasts, but it isn’t the most critical tier.’"

"’The real qualitative leap is the fifth stage.’"

"’When a Demon Beast ascends to the fifth stage, it must endure a Thunder Tribulation. After passing it, it can acquire Bloodline Divine Techniques, become a Demon Emperor, and its Spiritual Wisdom will soar.’"

"’I’m different from a Demon Beast. Even if my physical body breaks through to the fifth stage, it’s unlikely I’ll gain any Bloodline Divine Techniques.’"

"’However, I’ll probably have to face a Thunder Tribulation then. I wonder if I’ll gain some kind of miraculous trait afterward.’"

Jiang Zuo assessed the changes in his body after its breakthrough, comparing it to Demon Beasts, Spirit Beasts, and Three Flowers Realm Cultivators.

His current physical body was equivalent to a fourth-stage Demon Beast. Ordinary Magic from a Three Flowers Realm Cultivator would have a hard time inflicting any significant damage on him.

However, if they used the Thunder Tribulation Power from a Divine Tree Flower, Jiang Zuo couldn’t take the hit head-on.

A body that hadn’t been tempered by a Thunder Tribulation couldn’t withstand its power.

But this wasn’t a major problem.

The amount of Thunder Tribulation Power a Three Flowers Realm cultivator could wield was actually quite limited. Once they ran out of it, or if Jiang Zuo got into close range, they would be completely at his mercy.

Moreover, a body cultivated through the Body Freedom Technique was different from that of a typical fourth-stage Demon Beast.

Jiang Zuo felt he could withstand a few attacks using Thunder Tribulation Power from a Three Flowers Realm Cultivator.

Although his body had just broken through, Jiang Zuo believed there were very few Three Flowers Realm Cultivators who could put him in a truly perilous situation.

While Jiang Zuo was lost in thought, the Daoist Shackles reappeared on his body.

Although most of the black Spiritual Power in his body had been consumed, the color of the shackles looked no different.

However, compared to before his body’s breakthrough, it now took the Daoist Shackles nearly twice as long to completely cover his body.

"’I haven’t really dealt with the foreign power in my Sea of Consciousness yet, but I’ve already eliminated most of the power affecting my physical body. There’s no proof, but I feel it’s best to maintain a balance and not let the gap between them become too great.’"

"’I’ll set aside my physical body for now and focus on improving my Divine Sense.’"

After examining his internal condition once more, Jiang Zuo made his decision.

Following his previous method, he drew a portion of the foreign power from his Sea of Consciousness into his Visualization World.

While in his Sea of Consciousness, this foreign power was suppressed by the Mysterious Stele, existing only as a vague, black energy.

But upon entering Jiang Zuo’s Visualization World, it would transform into humanoid figures that charged toward Jiang Zuo and a group of visualized Pet Beasts.

Jiang Zuo was prepared. He led his group of Pet Beasts to meet them in battle.

After these humanoid figures were killed, they would transform into faint wisps of Divine Sense Power and merge into Jiang Zuo’s Visualization World.

With each victory, his Visualization World would grow stronger, bit by bit.

The Pet Beasts would also be expended during the battle.

After each fight, Jiang Zuo would visualize them to restore their forms.

This process also produced a noticeable improvement in the Pet Beasts.

Their forms grew more and more solid.

When his Divine Sense was nearly depleted, Jiang Zuo would stop and tend to his Pet Beasts on Taihao Peak.

These days, Taihao Peak had basically become a second Spirit Beast Peak.

Not only had Jiang Zuo placed the third-stage Spirit Beasts he’d brought back from the Secret Realm on the mountain to raise, but he’d also lured over many of the second- and third-stage Spirit Beasts from Spirit Beast Peak.

The purpose, of course, was to make it convenient for him to secretly draw their blood.

And given his current status in the Black Tortoise Dao Sect, no one would dare voice any objections.

Over the past three years, Jiang Zuo had offered the blood from these Spirit Beasts to the Desolate Heaven Beast Bone Armor, obtaining nearly five hundred points of Beast Soul Power.

Adding what he had gained in the Celestial Eye Black Pupil Secret Realm, Jiang Zuo’s Beast Soul Power had now returned to a level of over forty-six hundred.

He only needed to gather a little over three hundred more to reach the 5,000 Beast Soul Power required to upgrade his Spirit Garden.

For Jiang Zuo, gathering enough was just a matter of time.

The real trouble was the low-grade Spirit Vein.

A single low-grade Spirit Vein was enough to establish a small or medium-sized sect.

The Black Tortoise Dao Sect itself was only built upon a mid-grade Spirit Vein; it couldn’t simply produce a low-grade one.

Jiang Zuo had already gone to the Scripture Pavilion to specifically research low-grade Spirit Veins.

To extract a Spirit Vein, one needed an Array Master with profound cultivation who was an expert in this field, as well as a Pocket World Spirit Treasure to move the Spirit Vein after extracting it.

A high-level Array Master was already hard to find, and a Pocket World Spirit Treasure was even rarer.

These two conditions made it fundamentally impossible for Spirit Veins to be traded openly.

Even the most famous major sects might not possess such capabilities.

"’If it really comes down to it, I’ll just have to learn Arrays myself.’"

Jiang Zuo mused.

’Rather than relying on others, it would be better to spend some extra time myself.’

In fact, Jiang Zuo considered this the most feasible solution.

Although he had never studied Arrays before, his Divine Sense was extremely strong, and he had been researching Beast Patterns all along.

From what he understood, Beast Patterns and Arrays shared some similarities.

Learning Arrays shouldn’t be too difficult for him.

And since he didn’t have to worry about his lifespan, there was no pressure on him to learn Arrays quickly.

At this thought, Jiang Zuo felt his mind settle.

More than a year after he began eliminating the foreign power in his Sea of Consciousness, on this particular day, after drawing a Beast Pattern and offering it to the Mysterious Stele, Jiang Zuo felt a sudden shift.

The refinement progress of the Mysterious Stele had reached 60%!

"’Sixty percent... I wonder if there will be any new changes?’"

Jiang Zuo thought, then visualized and condensed a Blood Qi Avatar.

The Mysterious Stele remained motionless in his Sea of Consciousness, leaving Jiang Zuo with no way to test it directly. He could only investigate through the Blood Qi Avatar.

"’The visualized phantom of the stele has changed!’"

As soon as he condensed the Blood Qi Avatar and visualized the stele’s phantom, before he even took any action, Jiang Zuo noticed that the phantom was different from before.

The stele’s phantom had become brighter and seemed to faintly emanate a special kind of power.

"’The Blood Qi Avatar can now bear more power, and its maximum range has increased from thirty li to fifty li.’"

"’But the biggest difference is...’"

Jiang Zuo controlled his Blood Qi Avatar, sending it into an uninhabited forest fifty li away.

Then, he had the Blood Qi Avatar pick up a pinecone from the ground.

The next moment, the Blood Qi Avatar dissipated.

But as the avatar vanished, the stele’s phantom enveloped the pinecone and disappeared into thin air.

「Taihao Peak, inside the cave residence.」

Jiang Zuo’s eyes snapped open, and he stared at the palm of his hand in shock.

The pinecone had been brought back by the stele’s phantom from a distance of fifty li!

The Mysterious Stele, at 60% refinement, had unlocked an ability that made even Jiang Zuo’s heart pound with excitement.

With the Mysterious Stele’s ability to retrieve items from a distance, the number of tasks Jiang Zuo could have his Blood Qi Avatar perform instantly multiplied.

Full of interest, Jiang Zuo proceeded to conduct various tests on the Mysterious Stele’s new ability.

He tested it on everything from stones and wood of varying sizes and weights to all sorts of living creatures.

"’There doesn’t seem to be a weight limit, but it can’t bring back any object with a total volume larger than a soccer ball.’"

"’I wonder if this will change in the future as my Divine Sense improves and my Spiritual Power gets stronger.’"

"’Or maybe it requires refining the Mysterious Stele to a higher degree.’"

"’As for living things...’"

"’I’m not sure if it’s because of the Beast Taming System or the Pet Beast Spirit Garden, but it seems only Pet Beasts that have been inside the Pet Beast Spirit Garden can be brought back from a distance.’"

"’Aside from them, not even a living creature as small as a mosquito can be brought back remotely.’"

The test results were basically in line with Jiang Zuo’s expectations.

The Mysterious Stele’s new ability wasn’t omnipotent; it had all sorts of limitations.

But it was still better than he had anticipated, since it could at least retrieve his own Pet Beasts from afar.

This was already quite convenient. In the future, his Blood Qi Avatar could bring Pet Beasts along on its missions.

"’The biggest problem is the Blood Qi Avatar itself.’"

"’Although the Blood Qi Avatar’s strength has increased significantly, it’s only at about the level of the Divine Body Realm. Even if the Mysterious Stele progresses further, it will be very difficult to improve the avatar’s strength.’"

Jiang Zuo looked at the re-condensed Blood Qi Avatar and sighed.

The Blood Qi Avatar was condensed from Blood Qi, which, as a form of power, was simply too low-level.

The fact that Blood Qi could exhibit the power of the Divine Body Realm under the influence of the Mysterious Stele was already quite remarkable.

If Jiang Zuo wanted to make his Blood Qi Avatar stronger, he would have to find another way.

"’An External Incarnation?’"

Jiang Zuo recalled the Magic that frequently appeared in the Cultivation World novels from his past life.

It was a viable method. Jiang Zuo had too much to do and was struggling with being unable to be in multiple places at once.

If he could master a technique like an External Incarnation or some other kind of avatar magic, it would lighten his burden considerably.

However, Jiang Zuo had a vague feeling that his Divine Sense was also on the verge of a breakthrough.

So, he didn’t divert his focus to this matter, planning to achieve the breakthrough first.

「One year later.」

Following a great victory for Jiang Zuo and his pack of Pet Beasts in the Visualization World, a surge of Spiritual Power fused into it.

Jiang Zuo felt his Visualization World expand slightly.

Then, his Sea of Consciousness suddenly expanded as well!

As his Sea of Consciousness expanded, Jiang Zuo’s Divine Sense not only grew but also crossed a threshold, undergoing a qualitative transformation!

Jiang Zuo had always placed great importance on Divine Sense.

However, in this world, the cultivation system for Divine Sense was extremely crude.

Cultivation methods, defensive techniques, and offensive techniques for it were all exceedingly rare.

In terms of levels, Divine Sense was nowhere near as clearly and detailedly defined as cultivation realms.

Although most Cultivators could slowly open their Sea of Consciousness and give birth to Divine Sense after reaching the Divine Body Realm, the majority of them, throughout their entire lives, could only manage to make their Divine Sense a little stronger.

To be able to cultivate to the point of using Divine Sense to attack other Cultivators was already considered a remarkable achievement.

The number of Cultivators who could reach the next stage of Divine Sense was pitifully small.

And now, Jiang Zuo’s Divine Sense had broken through to a new stage.

Divine Sense Transformation!

Divine Sense was originally formless and intangible, but once it became powerful enough, it could take form and affect the physical world.

Take the God Shocking Needle, for example. Previously, Jiang Zuo could only use it to attack another Cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness.

But now, he could condense a God Shocking Needle and shatter a wall with it.

From formless to corporeal, from mental consciousness to physical reality—this was a qualitative change!

"’Now that my Divine Sense has achieved Transformation, I wonder if it will change anything when combined with the Mysterious Stele’s new ability?’" Jiang Zuo wondered.