I'm Just a Beast Tamer

"This breeding manual... was it really written by that Zhou kid?"

In Su Kaifu’s home, Yan Bocheng flipped through the pages and asked Su Kaifu and the others.

As the elder of the Beast Taming Arena, he was more than familiar with matters of Beast Taming.

This was especially true for Cloud Rock Eagles, as Yan Bocheng had personally raised many of them.

He only needed to flip through a few pages of this breeding manual to know there was nothing wrong with it.

Reading it even cleared up some things he hadn’t understood in the past, giving him a sense of sudden enlightenment.

But that wasn’t all. The key was that this breeding manual was written in far too much detail, far too systematically.

It didn’t seem like something a sixteen-year-old boy could have produced at all.

"He absolutely wrote it!"

"I often go to ask Zhou Yong for advice on some issues, and I’ve frequently seen him writing something."

"At first, I thought he was practicing his Cultivation Technique, but I only realized these past few days that he was writing this breeding manual!"

Su Kaifu replied, nodding with certainty.

"That’s right, I’ve seen it many times too!"

"Elder Yan, besides him, who else here could have written it?"

"Exactly! If someone else had written it, they would’ve been bragging to the high heavens by now!"

The other old men also chimed in all at once.

"Elder Yan, I understand you find it hard to believe, seeing how young he is. If we hadn’t witnessed it ourselves, we’d also find it hard to imagine a young man not even sixteen years old could write such a book."

"But it’s the absolute truth that he wrote this breeding manual. There’s no mistake."

"If you don’t believe it, just go have a look at the Cloud Rock Eagles he’s raising."

"He only got his four Cloud Rock Eagles two or three months ago, but each one is already the size of an eagle that’s been raised for four or five months, and they’re incredibly obedient too!"

"There are so many cultivation geniuses in the world, so why can’t there be a Beast Taming genius?"

Su Kaifu added.

"Then let’s go have a look."

Upon hearing this, Yan Bocheng’s curiosity was piqued as well.

And so, the large group made their way to Jiang Zuo’s residence.

"Elder Yan!"

Jiang Zuo was in the middle of training his Cloud Rock Eagles. When he saw Elder Yan and his group, he stopped and went to greet them.

Yan Bocheng’s eye twitched involuntarily as he looked at the Cloud Rock Eagles Jiang Zuo was raising.

The four Cloud Rock Eagles had sleek, glossy feathers and were full of spirit. None of them ran when they saw the large group approach; they just stood quietly behind Jiang Zuo.

Birds of prey grow fastest in their first few months. They change day by day and can become unrecognizable after a month.

But these Cloud Rock Eagles had grown absurdly fast. They didn’t look like they had only been raised for two or three months at all.

Before coming, Yan Bocheng had even thought of a few difficult questions to test Jiang Zuo.

Now, seeing these Cloud Rock Eagles, Yan Bocheng felt it was no longer necessary.

Since the Beast Taming Arena’s founding, no disciple had ever managed to raise a Cloud Rock Eagle to such a state in just two or three months.

"Zhou Yong, did you write this book?"

Yan Bocheng asked, holding up the breeding manual.

"Yes, this disciple wrote it."

Jiang Zuo nodded.

"I can see this book was not easy to write. What are your plans, now that you’ve written it?"

Elder Yan asked.

At his question, Su Kaifu and the other disciples who had followed along all turned to look at Jiang Zuo.

Indeed, Jiang Zuo himself certainly didn’t need a breeding manual like this. Why had he gone through all the trouble to write it?

"Well... To be honest with you, Elder Yan, my Spirit Root is rather special. To achieve success in my Cultivation, I need to choose the Cultivation Technique that suits me best."

"My plan was to learn about the sect’s Cultivation Techniques for all the different elemental Spirit Roots before making a decision."

"But I don’t have any Sect Contribution points, so there was no way for me to do that."

"So, I decided to write this breeding manual and offer it to the sect. I figured that if the sect accepted it, they would probably give me some Sect Contribution points as a reward."

Jiang Zuo had anticipated this question and answered honestly.

Both his desire to view the sect’s Cultivation Techniques and his plan to write a manual to earn Sect Contribution were his true intentions, so he wasn’t afraid of being investigated.

"Very good. I understand your intentions."

"This breeding manual is very well-written, so I’ll take it with me for now. You certainly won’t be short-changed on Sect Contribution. However, this matter needs to be reported to the sect leadership, as I can’t make the final decision on my own."

"But don’t worry. You will receive every point of contribution you deserve."

"The Sect Contribution points will be transferred to your name within three days at most."

Hearing Jiang Zuo’s words and discerning no falsehood, Yan Bocheng immediately broke into a smile.

No sect would dislike a disciple who was both capable and strove to improve.

"And as for the rest of you, you’ve seen this breeding manual, and that’s it. You are not to spread its contents privately!"

Yan Bocheng then said to Su Kaifu and the others.

Once the breeding manual was submitted to the sect, it would become sect property. Spreading it privately would be a crime equivalent to leaking a sect Cultivation Technique.

The lightest punishment was expulsion from the sect; the most severe was public execution.

"Understood!"

Su Kaifu and the others hurriedly replied.

...

"Elder Yan, what brings you to the Internal Affairs Hall?"

The Internal Affairs Hall of the Black Tortoise Dao Sect was where matters such as managing disciples’ contribution points and approving appointments and dismissals were handled.

Yan Bocheng was responsible for personnel in the Beast Taming Arena. He was always prudent when appointing disciples to positions, so when the Internal Affairs Hall received his application documents, it was usually just a formality. It was rare for Yan Bocheng to come to the Internal Affairs Hall in person.

"I had some business to take care of."

"Huh? Old Luo, you’re back from Zhenhe Pass?"

Yan Bocheng replied, then noticed Luo Taidong inside the Internal Affairs Hall.

"You bet. That godforsaken place... there are no major battles to be fought, and you can’t get any proper Cultivation done. It’s like being in prison."

"What brings you to the Internal Affairs Hall? Why don’t you join me for a drink?"

Luo Taidong remembered a particularly good wine that Yan Bocheng had, which he hadn’t tasted in over a decade.

Bumping into Yan Bocheng at the Internal Affairs Hall was a great opportunity he didn’t want to miss.

"I actually do have some business here."

"Old Xu, take a look at this book. How many contribution points would it be worth as an offering to the sect?"

Yan Bocheng waved him off and took out the Cloud Rock Eagle breeding manual, handing it to Xu Hongyuan.

Xu Hongyuan had been the Rotating Elder of the Internal Affairs Hall for the past ten years.

"Let me see... Old Yan, where did you get this breeding manual?"

Xu Hongyuan asked in surprise after a quick look.

"A Cloud Rock Eagle breeding manual? Such a thing exists?"

Luo Taidong also leaned over, curious.

Among the elders, there were few who hadn’t raised a Cloud Rock Eagle before; they all had some experience with it.

"Amazing! The person who wrote this manual is a true talent. I finally understand some of the things I couldn’t figure out back then."

Luo Taidong couldn’t help but praise it aloud after reading for a moment.

Xu Hongyuan nodded in deep agreement, then looked at Yan Bocheng along with Luo Taidong.

"This book was written by an Outer Disciple from the Beast Taming Arena. He wants to offer it to the sect in exchange for contribution points."

"An Outer Disciple? Since when did the Beast Taming Arena produce such a genius?"

Both Luo Taidong and Xu Hongyuan were astonished.

They had both guessed that some elderly disciple had poured a lifetime of experience raising Cloud Rock Eagles into writing such a book.

"You wouldn’t have guessed it, but it’s that disciple named Zhou Yong you recruited at Zhenhe Pass three months ago!"

Yan Bocheng revealed the answer with a chuckle.

"It’s him?"

Luo Taidong was in disbelief.

Xu Hongyuan wasn’t aware of this matter. He quickly inquired, and after hearing the two of them speak about Zhou Yong, he pondered for a moment.

"Although it’s just a breeding method for a Tier-1 Spirit Beast, in my personal opinion, this book could be considered a cornerstone of the sect. A reward of 30,000 Sect Contribution points would not be excessive."

"However, such a large amount of Sect Contribution will require Elder Luo’s approval."

Xu Hongyuan looked toward the other rotating elder, Luo Cheng, also known as Elder Luo.

"Thirty thousand contribution points, isn’t that too much? You have to remember, raising one Cloud Rock Eagle over five years only earns five hundred points."

"For an Outer Disciple who just joined, such a huge sum of contribution might end up harming him instead."

"Besides, if we reward so much for the breeding method of a single Tier-1 Spirit Beast, what happens if he writes a few more for other Spirit Beasts? How much contribution could one person possibly amass then?"

Luo Cheng, however, was hesitant and unwilling to give that much.

"Elder Luo, you can’t think of it that way. If an Inner Sect Disciple offered the sect the same kind of Spirit Beast breeding method, would you think it was worth it or not?"

Yan Bocheng shook his head, disagreeing with Luo Cheng’s view.

"If he were an Inner Sect Disciple, then of course it would be worth it. But how can you treat an Inner Sect Disciple and an Outer Disciple as the same!"

But Luo Cheng stubbornly shook his head.

"It’s simple. I’ll just take him as my disciple."

Luo Taidong suddenly spoke up.

"You’re going to take Zhou Yong as your disciple?"

Yan Bocheng was shocked.

He had actually come here for another reason: to ask the sect to directly accept Jiang Zuo as an Inner Sect Disciple, lest another sect discover his Beast Taming Talent and poach him.

In the entire Far West Land, there was no concept of an Outer Disciple "betraying the sect."

...

When Jiang Zuo heard the news Elder Yan brought back, he was completely dumbfounded.

The 30,000 Sect Contribution points were one thing, already far exceeding his expectations.

He originally thought he would get 10,000 contribution points at most, maybe 20,000 if he was lucky.

But what surprised him even more was Luo Taidong’s decision to take him as a disciple.

One must understand, he only had the aptitude of a low-grade, medium-quality Spirit Root. In this lifetime, without a fortuitous encounter, he would be stuck at the Qi Cultivation realm, unable to even establish a Dao Foundation.

Jiang Zuo had previously guessed that the Black Tortoise Dao Sect would probably give him the status of an Inner Sect Disciple to keep him.

But an Elder’s Direct Disciple—let alone the Seventh Elder’s Direct Disciple—was something Jiang Zuo had never even considered.

An Outer Disciple who had joined less than four months ago had become the Seventh Elder’s Direct Disciple in the blink of an eye. This was a true leap to the heavens.

’Elder Yan said that Elder Luo is busy with something right now and will only formally accept me as his Direct Disciple in about a month.’

’Saying he’s busy is just an excuse. He’s probably gone to verify my identity.’

’However, from the day I decided to impersonate Zhou Yong, I’ve been intentionally leaving a trail of clues for any potential investigators. It’s one thing if they don’t check, but if they do, it will actually help explain a lot of my actions.’

Jiang Zuo thought to himself.

His current appearance was, of course, somewhat different from the real Zhou Yong’s.

However, after deciding to assume Zhou Yong’s identity, he had long since considered these potential problems.

When he first started interacting with people as Zhou Yong, he had actually used makeup to make himself look very similar to him.

Later, after coming into contact with the merchant caravan, Jiang Zuo took the opportunity to build a persona of a survivor who, having cheated death, was determined to change himself and avenge his family, gradually altering his appearance in front of many people.

His behavior, which was different from how he acted in his original village, and the reason why he came to the Black Tortoise Dao Sect and so desperately wanted a better Cultivation Technique despite his poor Spirit Root—all of it could be explained by this.

...

One month later, a piece of news spread rapidly among the tens of thousands of Outer Disciples.

An Outer Disciple who had joined less than half a year ago was rumored to have been taken as a Direct Disciple by the Seventh Elder because of his Beast Taming Talent!

While everyone was wondering what kind of Beast Taming Talent he possessed, more news came out.

Rumor had it that this disciple, named Zhou Yong, had written a book called the *Juvenile Cloud Rock Eagle Breeding Manual* and offered it to the sect, which had rewarded him with 30,000 Sect Contribution points in one go!

It was because of this that the Seventh Elder, Luo Taidong, had directly accepted him as his Direct Disciple!