Originally, before leaving the Bluestone Market, Qi Ping had considered going to extreme lengths to purchase the Illusion-Moon White Fox. Soul and comprehension-based talents, as well as illusion-type spirit beasts, were exceptionally rare; it was a pity to let such an opportunity slip away.
However, after weighing the risks, Qi Ping ultimately decided to abandon the idea.
For one, to scrape together another two thousand spirit stones, he would have had to sell the four-sword formation artifact taken from the black-robed rogue cultivator and the high-year Blood Ginseng he had nurtured himself. Both items carried immense risks.
Secondly, spending over four thousand spirit stones at once in the Bluestone Market would inevitably catch the attention of those with far-reaching influence. Such a massive sum of spirit stones might even draw the greed of Foundation Establishment cultivators.
With these three risks looming, Qi Ping decisively abandoned the plan to buy the Illusion-Moon White Fox. Furthermore, he currently lacked the excess resources to nurture a second high-maintenance beast. At this stage, it was better to utilize the Li-Fire Crow's talent to concentrate his resources on raising his own cultivation level. There was no need to take such a massive gamble.
The bees were self-sufficient, and the Li-Fire Crow was satisfied merely by basking in the sun. Aside from focusing on his cultivation, Qi Ping only needed to grow enough Blood Ginseng and Fire Spirit Grass. Beyond that, his primary concern was researching the honey version of the Fire Spirit Tempering Pill.
As for the Illusion-Moon White Fox, he would just have to see if another opportunity arose in the future. Bluestone County still held four other even more rare and powerful spirit beasts. Qi Ping felt that once his strength increased, he would have more options. Future opportunities might bring even more surprising spirit beasts.
Deep within the forest on Peak No. 7 of the Cloud-Mist Mountain Range.
A massive swarm of High-speed Ring-cutter Bees and Golden Marrow Bees were distributed across the entire mountain, firmly guarding a clear-featured youth with a resolute expression in the heart of the forest.
In front of the youth stood a black crow, its feathers as dark as ink. A ray of sunlight pierced through the canopy, falling upon the crow and making the flame mark on its head glow with extraordinary brilliance. Occasionally, a wisp of solar energy would spiral from the mark into the crow's body.
This pair was, of course, Qi Ping and the Li-Fire Crow, who had recently returned to the Cloud-Mist Mountain Range from the Bluestone Market.
'The contract is about to begin. I wonder which talent I'll obtain?'
Expectation rose in Qi Ping's heart. A large part of the reason he had worked so hard to find a powerful spirit beast was for this very moment. As long as he obtained a talent suitable for cultivation, his path to the Foundation Establishment stage would essentially be secured. All three of the Li-Fire Crow's talents were excellent; any of them would greatly benefit his practice of the Wood-Flame Manual.
The Li-Fire Body, the Li-Fire Flame, and Solar Perception were all rare aptitudes for practicing fire-attribute techniques.
'There's an eighty percent chance of obtaining a primary talent. As long as I'm not so unlucky as to get one of the crow's minor traits...'
With a slightly nervous heart, Qi Ping summoned the Beastmaster Druid's exclusive animal companion contract array. Amidst a surge of mysterious power, an emerald-green, human-sized mystical array slowly formed between Qi Ping and the Li-Fire Crow.
Immediately after, Qi Ping guided the array's energy to sink into the crow's body.
As the energy entered, an emerald-green light erupted from the Li-Fire Crow, while a matching glow rose from Qi Ping himself. This process took much longer than when he had contracted the Golden Marrow Bee, lasting for over an hour before the ritual was finally complete.
An hour later.
Qi Ping, who had been immersed in the realization of his new talent, finally opened his eyes as the ritual ended. When his eyes snapped open, they were filled with pure joy.
"It worked!"
"The Li-Fire Body!"
His luck had held out. Not only did he avoid the twenty percent chance of a useless random trait, but he had also obtained his most desired talent: the Li-Fire Body.
While the Li-Fire Body, the Li-Fire Flame, and Solar Perception could all improve his fire-attribute cultivation aptitude, the boost from the Li-Fire Body was the most direct and had the most immediate effect on his cultivation. The Li-Fire Flame required learning how to utilize life-fire for cultivation, and Solar Perception required sunlight, but the Li-Fire Body simply needed to exist to be effective.
[Li-Fire Body: A wisp of Solar True Fire has fused into your blood, granting you high fire-attribute cultivation talent. Refining fire-attribute spirit items can rapidly increase your strength.]
'There are significant changes compared to the Li-Fire Crow's version of the talent.'
After sensing the talent information in his mind, Qi Ping quickly noticed the discrepancy. The original description for the Li-Fire Crow's talent was:
[Li-Fire Body: A thin trace of the ancient Golden Crow bloodline flows through the body, granting high fire-attribute cultivation talent. Consuming fire-attribute spirit items can rapidly increase strength.]
'Perhaps because I have a human body, the thin Golden Crow bloodline was converted into a wisp of Solar True Fire?'
'That's for the best. Having demon-race bloodline in a human body would cause no end of trouble.'
'The effect is practically the same, anyway. It provides high fire-attribute cultivation talent and allows for rapid strength gain through refining fire-attribute spirit items.'
Qi Ping was quite satisfied with this change; Solar True Fire was more versatile for him than Golden Crow bloodline.
Next, he checked his Druid attribute panel:
Name: Qi Ping
Level: 3 (33/400)
Class: Beastmaster Druid (Primary), Forest Druid (Secondary)
Talents: Animal Companion, Nature Affinity
Animal Companions: (2/3) Golden Marrow Bee, Li-Fire Crow
Wild Shape: (1/1) Golden Marrow Bee (Variants: Golden Marrow, High-speed Ring-cutter, Pot-bellied, Balanced, Toxic, Ink-Armor)
Shared Talents: Grand Brewer, Li-Fire Body
Skills: lv2 Plant Growth (86/200), lv1 Beastmaster's Grace (17/100), lv3 Barkskin (312/400), lv1 Healing Touch (2/100)
Skills (Constant): Animal Speech, Befriend Animal, Heart of the Wild
(Level Exp +25, Plant Growth Exp +19, Beastmaster's Grace Exp +2, Barkskin Exp +44, Healing Touch Exp +2)
'Level experience and skill experience are growing steadily. Not bad!'
Seeing the addition of a new animal companion and a shared talent, along with the steady growth of his experience points, Qi Ping felt a deep sense of satisfaction. Watching his various attributes increase was a joyous thing.
After the contract was finalized and the shared talent obtained, Qi Ping suppressed the urge to immediately practice the Wood-Flame Manual and first checked the Li-Fire Crow's condition.
Confirming the crow was fine, Qi Ping went to plant the two newly acquired stalks of Fire Spirit Grass and the five seeds. He cast the [Plant Growth] skill four times before finally taking out the Wood-Flame Manual to study.
Qi Ping did this to ensure he could maintain sufficient mental energy to study the manual while simultaneously nurturing the Blood Ginseng and Fire Spirit Grass. Mass-producing the bees and restoring the Li-Fire Crow's bloodline required a vast amount of spirit herbs, and his own cultivation would demand no small amount as well.
As a person who was perpetually "spirit stone poor," Qi Ping had to meticulously calculate his mental energy to maximize his efficiency.