Chapter 51: Chapter 49: Advancing to Elite

They called it the small pond, but it was anything but.

It covered an estimated area of about half an acre.

It was only called "small" in comparison to the large pond next to it, which covered a little over an acre and a half.

Li Qian went to the center of the Cultivation Base. A figure was already standing there by the pond’s edge.

He walked over and clapped Fatty An on the shoulder. Li Qian grinned. "Come to see your Tan Tou again?"

"Qianzi, you’ve got to take this seriously. I’m about to graduate, and if I still don’t have a Contracted Pet Beast by then, that bastard Sun Shouhe will laugh me to death," Fatty An complained.

"Fatty, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. The thing is, we’re already going at max speed. Even if I could work without eating or sleeping, your Tan Tou couldn’t handle it."

"Besides, that Sun Shouhe guy is just a buffoon. Why do you even care what he thinks?" Li Qian said with a shrug.

"If you really can’t wait, you could contract a Black Flame Swordsman first. Then, once you reach Elite Level, you can contract Tan Tou," he suggested.

Fatty An immediately shook his head like a pinwheel. "No way! Who knows how long that’ll take?"

Li Qian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "I can’t tell if I should praise you for being self-aware or chew you out for having no ambition."

"Oh, right. There’s a class gathering next week. You going?" Fatty An suddenly asked.

"Where’s it going to be?" Li Qian asked.

"Looks like it’s at Taoyuan Villa, up north," Fatty An said.

"Whoa, Taoyuan Villa? That place isn’t cheap. Who’s organizing it?" Li Qian asked, curious.

"The class president, Tu Jiaojiao, organized it, but I think Sun Shouhe and Lu Kuihuan are footing the bill..." Fatty An said, sounding unsure.

"I’m in. Why wouldn’t I be? I love getting free food and drinks!" Li Qian declared without a moment’s hesitation.

"Knew you would," Fatty An chuckled.

"Those two are laying it on so thick, obviously trying to impress the class president. You’re not worried...?" Li Qian asked, a wry smile on his face.

"Worried my ass! The class president stopped being my target a long time ago. Now, my sights are set on Ms. Zhu Bingqing," Fatty An declared with great conviction.

"Er... Maybe you should pick a different target. You’d have a better shot with Tu Jiaojiao. As for Ms. Zhu Bingqing... you should probably just give up and go to bed," Li Qian said, pursing his lips.

"Damn it, are you even my bro? Roasting me like that?" Fatty An said indignantly.

"I’m just looking out for you, man. Even a toad that wants to eat swan meat needs a pair of wings to get there," Li Qian went on.

Fatty An rolled his eyes and gave him the middle finger.

After bantering with Fatty An for a bit longer, Li Qian headed to the small pond.

The pond wasn’t small, and since it only housed three Cyan Pine Fish, two Golden-striped Turtles, and one Sparrow-tailed Fish, it felt quite spacious.

At the moment, the Sparrow-tailed Fish was swimming about leisurely.

It seemed to really enjoy its new environment.

Nearby, the three Cyan Pine Fish and two Golden-striped Turtles trailed behind it like a group of lackeys.

It looked as if it had already become the queen of the little pond.

Li Qian was relieved to see the Sparrow-tailed Fish had adapted to its new environment.

The fact that it didn’t want to form a contract with his mother, Han Yuqing, wasn’t a major concern.

He could just have his mother form a contract with Ah Fu later on.

Li Qian glanced from the small pond to the large one beside it, then turned his head to look off in a particular direction.

He was looking further south, beyond the Cultivation Base’s grounds.

"What are you looking at?" Fatty An asked.

"I’m thinking, while they’re still Koi Carp, there’s no problem. But if they evolve into Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragons, with their size, how many could these two ponds even hold? And they definitely wouldn’t be comfortable," Li Qian said.

"That’s a good point. What are you thinking?" Fatty An asked with a frown.

Li Qian pointed south. "About three kilometers south of our base, there’s a low-lying area. It seems to be undeveloped right now. Another kilometer south of that is the Lingshui River."

His expression turned wistful. "If we bought or leased that three-kilometer stretch, including the lowland, and diverted water from the Lingshui River, we could probably create an artificial lake in no time."

"Given the size of that lowland, if we flooded it to create a lake, we’d have a perfect habitat for the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragons."

Fatty An’s mouth twitched. "Qianzi, aren’t our strides a little too big? It’ll be bad if we pull something."

Li Qian gave a wry chuckle. "Just thinking ahead."

...

「That night.」

Inside a room on the fifth floor of Building One at the Jiaoyang Cultivation Base, Li Qian was in deep Meditation.

A powerful feeling welled up from the depths of his consciousness.

His Spiritual Power began to boil.

The next moment, Li Qian suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in them.

"Now!"

He focused his full attention, marshaling the formless Spiritual Power in his mind until it felt tangible, then slammed it against an unseen barrier.

RUMBLE...

Inside his sea of consciousness, an invisible barrier shattered.

Instantly, his Spiritual Power surged wildly like a stallion that had broken its reins.

An unknown amount of time passed before the boiling Spiritual Power in his mind gradually subsided.

Li Qian let out a long, slow breath. "I’ve finally broken through to the Elite Level."

At the same time, in the Beast Taming Space, Qizai also broke through to Elite Level, and even shot up all the way to Elite Fourth Rank.

The walls of his Beast Taming Space shifted from sea-blue to a deep blue.

With a mere thought, Qizai’s information appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon (Qizai)]

[Attribute: Water, Wind]

[Level: Elite Fourth Rank]

[Potential: Tier Five Dominator]

[Skills: Fish Jump (Limit Breaker), Climbing Waterfall (Perfection), Water Arrow (Mastery), Water Arrow: Thousand Arrows Attack (Skilled), Water Cannon (Mastery), High-Pressure Water Cannon (Beginner), Rain Prayer (Beginner), Wind Blade (Mastery), Gale Slash (Skilled), Tornado (Beginner), Dragon Claw (Beginner), Longteng (Beginner)]

Li Qian was thrilled by Qizai’s new stats.

Thanks to all the recent battles, training, and this breakthrough, many of its Skill Levels had improved.

On top of that, it had even awakened two new Skills.

[Rain Prayer]

A weather-altering Skill.

It might seem like it only changes the weather, but its applications go far beyond that.

In fact, when used in the right combination, it was a Divine Skill.

Then there was Dragon Claw, a powerful offensive Skill. It compensated for the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon’s weakness in close-quarters combat.

All in all, Li Qian was very pleased with this breakthrough.

Li Qian kept quiet about his breakthrough into the Elite Level.

Nor did he rush to contract a second Pet Beast.

There was no rush.

He needed to plan carefully for his second Pet Beast.

After his initial excitement subsided, his life fell back into its usual routine: a straight line between two points.

School and the Cultivation Base.

Perhaps it was an after-effect of his own breakthrough, but a day later, more good news arrived: Ah Fu’s Climbing Waterfall Skill had reached Perfection.

Since they hadn’t been able to train at the artificial waterfall and the ponds at the Cultivation Base weren’t ready, Li Qian had used the past couple of days to upgrade Ah Fu’s Fish Leaping Skill to the Breakthrough Level with a Limit-Breaking Stone.

And so, Ah Fu now met all the requirements for evolution.