Chapter 45 Chapter 45 "Seven-Day Crash Course"
The touch of solid ground was cold, hard rock.
The surface of the stone platform is extremely flat and its area is as large as several basketball courts.
Standing here, overlooking the surging "sea of clouds" below and the isolated primeval forest on all sides, a sense of loneliness and dislocation of time and space arises spontaneously.
The air here seems to be stagnant, containing energy far richer than that in the outside world. Every breath seems to be inhaling and exhaling invisible power.
Zhu Tianba's reaction became even more intense.
It broke free from Jiang Qing's arms almost instantly and fell onto the cold stone surface. Its soft blue-black hair exploded, and its four hooves pawed the ground restlessly. A rapid and low "woooo" sound came from its throat, and its amber pupils contracted to the extreme, staring at the empty area in the center of the stone platform.
Jiang Qing felt his spiritual connection being violently impacted and subconsciously took a half step back.
"Feel it?" Ji Changsu's voice rang out calmly. She had silently stepped onto the stone platform at some point and was standing not far behind Jiang Qing. Her glasses reflected the faint light filtering through the platform's edge, obscuring her eyes. "The core of the Broken Star Valley, the Star-Suppressing Platform, inherently embodies the ancient laws of spatial stability. It's extremely sensitive to any force that might disturb space, especially... the violent power of the Origin."
She slowly walked towards the center of the stone platform, and the surging white mist fluctuated slightly below.
"Zhu Tianba's 'territory-suppressing' power is inherently distorting, suppressing and even reshaping the spatial laws within a certain range. This power naturally conflicts with the Star-Suppressing Platform's instinctive ability to maintain stability."
"Its fear stems from an instinctive reaction deep within its bloodline to the repressive power of the rules of a higher being."
Ji Changsu stopped a few steps away from the center and turned to face Jiang Qing and the bristling Zhu Tianba. "This is the first lesson of your special training. Sense the existence of the 'domain' and learn to restrain yourself under high pressure."
She raised her hand, and a glimmer of light seemed to flash at her fingertips.
"Buzz—"
After a deafening buzzing sound, the airspace in the center of the stone platform suddenly changed.
There seemed to be a hint of sticky gelatinous substance in the air, and the light twitched slightly.
The next second, Jiang Qing felt a pressure ten times stronger than the pressure field rushing towards her face. She instantly felt the soul in her body being pulled. The pressure seemed to be repelling and squeezing, trying to wipe her out from the framework of rules.
"No..." Zhu Tianba at the feet let out a roar, and an unclear syllable rolled out of his throat.
Its four legs were shaking violently and it almost fell to its knees.
Something in Zhu Tianba's body was being awakened. Deep in his amber pupils, an extremely deep dark golden rune suddenly lit up.
The force came suddenly, and before Jiang Qing was fully prepared, Ji Changsu started.
Her face turned pale, and cold sweat instantly soaked her training suit. She could hear nothing but a buzzing in her ears, and her eyeballs seemed about to burst in her sockets.
Jiang Qing could only bite her lower lip tightly, letting the taste of blood fill her mouth, and forcing herself to ignore the mental shock that was almost tearing her apart.
After a long time, she finally felt that this "wind" was not tearing her apart.
The five senses are slowly regaining consciousness.
"Hold it steady." Ji Changsu's voice came into Jiang Qing's ears from all directions. "Now try to sense your pet's emotions, interfere with and control that energy."
On the other end of the mental link, Zhu Tianba's pain and rage were like a red-hot iron, burning deep into her consciousness.
The unruly dark gold power that originated from immortality was colliding and roaring madly, trying to tear apart the shackles of rules imposed on it, like an enraged ancient beast, instinctively wanting to destroy everything that threatened it.
Jiang Qing felt like a small boat about to capsize in the raging waves. He had just managed to stabilize the boat, and now it was heading towards the eye of another whirlpool.
"Control..." Jiang Qing chewed over the word hard in his mind.
Fight against instinct? How to fight against the pressure that almost crushes it?
She forced herself to ignore the double torture of body and mind, and immersed all her thoughts in the spiritual bond that was closely connected with Zhu Tianba.
In an instant, the even more turbulent pain and violent emotions almost overwhelmed her.
Dark golden runes flashed wildly in Zhu Tianba's eyes. His body trembled violently, and his four hooves sank deeply into the hard rocky ground, leaving white marks.
Jiang Qing's consciousness struggled to move through the violent energy turbulence.
She no longer tried to suppress it with brute force, but instead, as if she had found a piece of driftwood in the stormy waves, she tried to capture the faint fluctuation in Zhu Tianba's core of consciousness, which belonged to him.
Finally, she managed to approach the center of the chaos.
"Tianba..." Jiang Qing transmitted his thoughts in the spiritual connection.
Zhu Tianba did not react. It seemed to be completely stunned and had lost all consciousness.
"Tianba." Jiang Qing called its name softly.
Still no response.
She thought for a moment, then slowly placed her fingers close to its head, trying to read its current thoughts.
"No!" Ji Changsu saw Jiang Qing's actions, understood what she was going to do, and tried to stop her.
It is impossible to read the mind of a spirit pet when its energy is in a state of turmoil. On the contrary, if the beastmaster intervenes in the spirit pet's sea of consciousness at this time, he may be hurt by the chaotic and violent aura.
"System, what should we do now?" Ji Changsu quickly summoned the white ball in his mind.
Bai Tuanzi immediately jumped out: [Don't worry, host, the prophet system scan has not foreseen any life-threatening situation.]
At this moment, Jiang Qing, who had entered the mind-reading state, arrived not at the sea of consciousness of the spirit pet, nor at the cold rocks of the Star-Suppressing Platform, but at a sky burning with blood-red sunset.
Beneath the sky lies the outline of a village blackened and ruined by war.
Everyone was holding farm tools as weapons, with distorted and ferocious expressions on their faces, as if they were about to go to a fight at the next second.
The picture only has one fragment, which is played repeatedly, with the focus on everyone's faces, rotating back and forth.
If Jiang Qing hadn't remembered that he was now in Zhu Tianba's sea of consciousness, he would have thought that he had crossed over again.
She looked around the picture but did not find Zhu Tianba. She didn't even see a pig in this small village.
Why is this passage in Zhu Tianba’s sea of consciousness?
Was this its own memory, or the memory of the owner of the Kdog's beast core it merged with? If it was Zhu Tianba's, when had it been here? And where was this village?
Countless questions popped up in Jiang Qing's mind at once.
“Woo——”
A roar far more violent than any previous roar, filled with endless pain, exploded in Jiang Qing's sea of consciousness like thunder, and at the same time penetrated the stagnant air of the Star-Suppressing Platform.
The illusion shattered in an instant.
Jiang Qing suddenly came back to her senses. The severe dizziness and tearing sensation made her eyes go black and she could hardly stand.
But what was even more unexpected to her was the changes coming from the other end of the mental link.
The faint call, with a familiar scent and warmth, penetrated some of the violent noise.
Deep in the chaotic torrent, something seemed to "pause" ever so slightly.
The wildly flashing and almost shattered dark golden rune had a tiny pause in its violent frequency.
A trace of bewildered confusion flashed across the depths of Zhu Tianba's amber pupils, which were almost completely consumed by violence.
The mark of the contract imprinted deep in the soul, the breath belonging to "Jiang Qing", is like a tough silk thread, stubbornly connecting it to the core that is about to be lost in the endless storm of chaos.
Jiang Qing caught that extremely brief and weak connection.
She no longer tried to suppress the violent force, it was like trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm.
All her thoughts followed the thread of the contract and accurately penetrated the "gap" in Zhu Tianba's consciousness core where confusion and familiarity were intertwined.
"receive!"
Zhu Tianba let out a roar that was a mixture of pain and struggle, his body suddenly arched up, and he fell heavily to the ground, his four hooves deeply embedded in the rocks.
The dark gold power that was madly rushing in its body suddenly stagnated, as if it was tightly bound by invisible shackles.
The buzzing pressure field of the stone platform seemed to have sensed this subtle change.
The terrifying repulsive force that wanted to "erase" Jiang Qing and Zhu Tianba from the rule level, although its intensity did not weaken, its nature seemed to have undergone a subtle change.
From pure, devastating crushing, it turned into a... cold, scrutinizing squeeze.
The pressure on Jiang Qing did not ease, and he even felt heavier due to the intense consumption of the spiritual connection, but the pain of his soul being torn apart suddenly weakened by a lot.
She suddenly opened her eyes, gasping for breath, sweat streaming down her forehead like a stream. Although her vision was still a little blurry, she could see the scene clearly.
Zhu Tianba was still lying on the cold stone surface, his body still shaking violently. His amber pupils were no longer unfocused. Although filled with pain and fatigue, they had regained focus.
It was as if the little episode just now had never happened.
Ji Changsu's heart slowly calmed down, and the faint light condensed at his fingertips quietly dissipated.
Jiang Qing called out in her direction, "Principal Ji, did it work?"
Ji Changsu pondered for a moment, his complex gaze sweeping over the limp Zhu Tianba and the bewildered Jiang Qing. He nodded, his voice returning to its usual calm, but upon closer inspection, there was a subtle hint of tension. "It's barely taken the first step. Under the high pressure, it's temporarily restrained its instinctive resistance to the 'suppression' force."
She took a few steps closer and squatted down. She did not touch Zhu Tianba rashly, but carefully observed its slight trembling and the golden light remaining in its eyes.
Before Jiang Qing could rejoice, Ji Changsu continued, "But it's only restrained, not controlled. That power is too violent, too primitive. Its bloodline... or rather, the mark left by the beast core, is more... unruly than expected."
Ji Changsu suddenly paused and looked at Jiang Qing: "What did you see when you forcibly intervened in its sea of consciousness just now?"
Ever since the system said that Zhu Tianba was the key for her to go home, she began to pay more attention to it.
Jiang Qing recalled the dilapidated village burning with the bloody sunset glow, and the distorted and ferocious expressions on everyone's faces...
"A village... a village destroyed by war. Many people... are very angry." Jiang Qing's voice was filled with confusion and fear. "But there was no Zhu Tianba inside, not even any other animals."
This was what she could extract from that fragment of footage.
Zhu Tianba was beside her, listening to her description with a confused look on his face, not realizing that this was something he saw in his mind.
Ji Changsu's brows were deeply furrowed, and her lenses reflected the cold light coming through the edge of the Star-Suppressing Platform. Her specific expression could not be seen, but the solemn aura in her eyes was clearly perceptible.
"It's a fragment of genetic memory, which is forced to be stimulated under high pressure or specific stimulation." Ji Changsu has been to many places with the system and has seen many things.
She stood up and returned her gaze to Jiang Qing, scrutinizing him. "What you did just now was very risky. Forcing yourself to read its mind while its energy was raging, if you weren't careful, your own spirit would be torn apart by the backlash of that violent energy. That kind of chaotic sea of consciousness is a deadly vortex for a beastmaster."
Jiang Qing pursed his cracked lips, the rusty taste of blood still lingering in his mouth. "I didn't think too much about it. It seemed like it couldn't hear me at all at the time. I just wanted to find it..."
"Choices driven by instinct are sometimes effective, but more often they are fatal." Ji Changsu's tone was unquestionable and severe.
"Remember, a Beastmaster's strength lies not in mere bravery, but in absolute composure and mastery of the rules. Next time you encounter a similar situation, prioritize strengthening the spiritual connection and use the power of the contract to soothe and guide, rather than diving headfirst into the eye of the storm."
"Yes, Teacher Ji." Jiang Qing lowered his head and answered nonchalantly.
Her attention was still focused on the scene she had previously seen in Zhu Tianba's sea of consciousness.
Jiang Qing hadn't told Ji Changsu something just now. She also felt the despair of something being broken in Zhu Tianba's perception.
At that moment, Zhu Tianba felt disappointed and angry.
Training continues.
On the Star-Suppressing Platform, the stagnant air seemed to take a long time to begin flowing again.
Jiang Qing was gasping for breath, his chest was burning, and every breath was filled with the smell of blood.
Under constant pressure, Jiang Qing finally became familiar with the town.
She slumped on the cold rock, almost exhausted.
Zhu Tianba's condition was worse than hers. The pressure field obviously had a greater impact on him. He collapsed to the ground, his body heaving violently, his soft blue-black hair sticking wetly to his skin, and he looked in a miserable state.
Ji Changsu walked to Jiang Qing, squatted down, and condensed a gentle emerald green light on his fingertips, gently tapping Jiang Qing's forehead and Zhu Tianba's back.
A cool and soothing energy was injected, quickly soothing their intense mental and physical exhaustion.
Jiang Qing looked at Zhu Tianba. It seemed to sense her gaze and raised its eyelids with difficulty. A faint and vague "wool" sound came from its throat, with a sense of dependence and an inexplicable grievance.
It struggled to get up and get closer to Jiang Qing, but its limbs were sore and weak that it fell down again.
"That village..." Jiang Qing opened his mouth and couldn't help asking, feeling like a stone was pressing on his heart.
The despair and sense of brokenness that permeated the blood-red sunset were too real and too heavy.
Especially since all of this is related to one's own spiritual pet.
Ji Changsu did not answer immediately. Her gaze seemed to penetrate the surging sea of clouds below the stone platform and look towards a more distant place.
Just now, the system's voice sounded in her head again.
【drop--】
[Key to the Return Journey Creation Mission in Progress]
[Related quest "Tracing the Origin" first stage "Suppressing Adaptation" completion rate: 65%.]
[The second stage "Searching for the Source of Power" is forcibly triggered.]
[Mission Objective: Guide the contractor "Jiang Qing" and his pet "Zhu Tianba" to other parts of the Yuncang Continent, search for residual spatial fluctuations that originate from the beast core, and successfully activate the power of their bloodline.]
Mission Description: Shattered memory fragments cannot provide complete information. Only by tracing the source of power can we analyze the true nature of the mark and find the key to stabilization or separation. The remaining points of the beast core source power are the key to unlocking its mystery. Warning: The source power point may be accompanied by unknown risks and mutated beast bodies.
The cold reminder sound echoed in Jiang Qing's mind, and every word carried an unquestionable compulsion.
This crappy mission again...
Ji Changsu was already tired of this.
If the occasion wasn't wrong, she would definitely take out the incarnation of the system and give it a good beating!
Looking into the watery eyes of the man and the beast in front of him, Ji Changsu sighed helplessly.
Ji Changsu cleared his throat and said ambiguously, "As Zhu Tianba grows, perhaps you will receive more and more comprehensive memories from him."
When Ji Changsu thought about what abnormal energy nodes these two people would have to collect next, he felt that he had a heavy responsibility.
Ji Changsu didn't give her much time to think. He changed his tone and spoke in a tone that was almost declarative: "So, if you stay here and work in isolation, you won't be able to truly control this power, nor will you be able to solve those mysteries. The suppression of the Star-Suppressing Platform is only the first step, allowing you to initially adapt to the confrontation at the level of rules. But true 'control' requires understanding and tracing back to the source."
She paused and glanced at Zhu Tianba, who was barely holding up his head and pricking up his ears. The little guy's amber eyes still showed confusion after the pain and vigilance against the unknown.
"You need to find the answer, Jiang Qing. Take it with you," Ji Changsu said. "Go find the source of that 'territorial suppression' power, and search for the fluctuations that originate from the beast core it fused with. Only by finding the root of that power can you truly understand it, and then... try to control it, or resolve the hidden dangers it brings."
Principal Ji's words sounded a bit childish. Jiang Qing asked doubtfully, "Where can we find it?"
She had just recently come into contact with the world of Beast Tamers and hadn't even gotten familiar with the Fifth Beast Taming Academy, yet she was going to explore other places?
"I will give you guidance." Ji Changsu seemed to have anticipated her reaction and said in a tone that did not allow for argument.
"As the second step of your special training, it is also a necessary path. In the Yuncang Continent, there are some special 'nodes' similar to the Dark Valley. They come from another world, either collisions or falls. The space energy is extremely active, and there may even be traces of certain powers left." Ji Changsu said.
"The 'suppression' power within Zhu Tianba's body will produce a strange resonance with the fluctuations of certain nodes. Your task is to follow this resonance, find it, activate it, and attempt to analyze it."
Jiang Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise.
This is consistent with what Chen Ming asked her to find materials to upgrade Zhu Tianba.
The two people have different descriptions of the beast core power, but the core is the same.
Just find it and let Zhu Tianba absorb it and transform it for your own use.
As Ji Changsu spoke, he took out a palm-sized, rustic wooden box from the seal of the contract. The box was carved with intricate cloud patterns, and the edges glowed faintly.
She gently opened the lid of the box, and inside lay a translucent spoon. A faint gray mist lingered in the center of the spoon, like solidified smoke.
"This is the 'Compass Jade,'" Ji Changsu took out the spoon and handed it to Jiang Qing. "It can sense abnormal fluctuations in spatial energy, especially nodes that originate from the same source as spatial force. When you approach your target, the gray mist in the Compass Jade will become active and even guide you in the direction."
This is what she just exchanged through the system.
Jiang Qing took the spoon. It felt cool to the touch and had a warm texture. The gray mist gently surged in her palm, as if it had come to life.
Zhu Tianba curiously leaned over and sniffed, his amber pupils shrank slightly, and a low whimper came from his throat.
The next seven days were a real devilish training for Jiang Qing and Zhu Tianba.
Although the pressure field of Zhenxingtai was greatly weakened by Ji Changsu, it no longer had the terrifying repulsive force at the rule level.
What Ji Changsu called a "real-life test" was a simple, rough, and extremely oppressive battle between her and Jiang Qing.
She didn't even summon a spirit beast.
Ji Changsu was able to achieve absolute crushing victory simply by relying on his powerful physique as a peak-level immortal beastmaster, his exquisite control of energy, and his application of spatial rules that far exceeded Jiang Qing's understanding.
On the first day, Jiang Qing and Zhu Tianba didn't even touch the corner of Ji Changsu's clothes.
Ji Changsu's figure was like a ghost, leaving a trail of afterimages on the stone platform.
Her attacks were precise and tricky, always hitting the weakest points of Jiang Qing's defense or the key points of his power.
Zhu Tianba tried to launch a "township" interference, but with Ji Changsu's gaze that seemed to be able to predict everything and his faster speed, his power was interrupted by a perfect energy shock just as it was gathering, and the backlash made him dizzy.
The man and the beast were beaten so badly that they had no power to fight back and were in a miserable state.
The next day, the day after... Jiang Qing was growing rapidly as he was knocked down again and again, his mental strength was exhausted again and again, and his mistakes were pointed out mercilessly by Ji Changsu again and again.
She began to vaguely sense the faint spatial ripples caused by Ji Changsu's movement, and began to try to more accurately guide the direction and range of that violent force through mental connection when Zhu Tianba activated his ability, instead of letting it spread indiscriminately.
Zhu Tianba also gradually adapted to fighting under pressure. Although he could still be easily defeated by Ji Changsu, under the guidance of Jiang Qing, that unruly power began to show a rudimentary form of "cohesion", no longer so scattered and easily detonated.
Ji Changsu seemed to be trying his best to guide this special training into the direction of a seven-day crash course.
Finally, at the end of the seventh day, Jiang Qing was no longer completely defenseless.
"Almost there." Ji Changsu's voice broke the tranquility of the Star-Suppressing Platform. She stood at the edge of the stone platform, gazing at the surging sea of clouds below. "You have reached the standard for adapting to the rules of the Star-Suppressing Platform, and you have also developed the rudiments of controlling and releasing power in actual combat. If you stay any longer, the suppression of the Star-Suppressing Platform will become a hindrance rather than a help."
Jiang Qing stood up and stretched his sore limbs, his bones making a series of slight crisp sounds.
Returning to the Fifth Beast Taming Academy again, Jiang Qing felt a sense of isolation from the world.
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