Once she finished her thesis, wrote down the Cultivation Technique’s name, and had her Pet Beast call it out to connect to the Celestial Dao, the Hall of the Great Dao would cast down its Holy Light of certification.

The first person to complete their Cultivation Technique would always receive special attention from the proctoring teachers, and their chances of getting bonus points were high.

Of course, the most crucial part was the exposure. She would be noticed by teachers from the major universities.

She hadn’t considered the possibility of her Cultivation Technique not being recognized by the Hall of the Great Dao. She never did anything she wasn’t sure about.

But charging ahead blindly wasn’t the answer right now. The disorienting effect was severe, and it was hard to see the whole picture when you were stuck inside the mountain.

Getting down the mountain was easy, but going up was hard. She couldn’t just fight her way up, could she? Just look at how many students were stuck on the path below.

Jiang Jinling was confident in her Grass Spirit’s strength, but no matter how powerful an Elf Pet was, it couldn’t fight a thousand enemies at once.

’I need to see what Gu Ming is up to. He must have discovered something.’ Jiang Jinling’s intuition told her she had to stick close to Gu Ming.

But the Cultivation Technique she was currently creating left her with no time to spare. She immediately nodded and said, "Go follow him and see what he’s doing. Call me right away if anything happens."

Lou Meng nodded. She knew Jiang Jinling regarded Gu Ming with great importance.

This was the person directly connected to the entire exam’s core question. The fact that the examiner used his Cyan Treasure’s Breathing Technique as the test subject was clearly significant.

Most people probably hadn’t thought that far ahead and just assumed Gu Ming got lucky and was favored by the examiner.

However, anyone who truly understood Pet Beast Cultivation Techniques would realize after studying the Green Treasure Breathing Technique that its cultivation value was extremely high. It was no ordinary technique and had immense potential for development.

Many students at the site believed that most of the credit for the Green Treasure Breathing Technique belonged to another cultivation technique teacher. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

As a student, Gu Ming was at most an assistant who had merely contributed to its creation.

No one knew how much Gu Ming had actually contributed. Perhaps all he did was provide an exceptionally talented and intelligent Little Cyan Snake.

As for his position as the corresponding and primary author on the paper, that didn’t prove anything either.

Money makes the world go round.

The teacher was the second author, probably because he’d been bought off.

A high school senior’s first paper being published directly in a four-star journal like the *Flood Dragon Monthly Report* was enough to make people red with envy and attract criticism.

Just the day before yesterday, Lou Meng had heard someone say he was probably just a rich kid who’d paid his way onto the paper.

It was as if people would only acknowledge Gu Ming’s skill if Teacher Zhang Yunpeng’s involvement was completely removed from the Cultivation Technique paper.

Lou Meng had initially thought the same way, but after following Jiang Jinling around and analyzing the Green Treasure Breathing Technique with her for a few days, she started paying close attention to Cyan Treasure’s condition.

They discovered that the various Cultivation Techniques used by Cyan Treasure and Ah Kun were highly interconnected. It wasn’t just the Breathing Technique that was outstanding; their other techniques were excellent as well.

He was the most talented person she had ever seen in creating Cultivation Techniques, second only to Jiang.

This showed that Gu Ming’s attainments in Pet Beast Cultivation Techniques were in no way inferior to Jiang Jinling’s.

This also caused a shift in the attitude of the people from Forest Valley High School. They went from paying him little mind to secretly keeping a close eye on Gu Ming, watching his every move.

It wasn’t that they wanted to copy his answers, but rather to study his Breathing Technique and try to avoid creating an overlapping Cultivation Technique.

Jiang Jinling watched Lou Meng chase after Gu Ming, then looked away and continued to work on the materials for her Breathing Technique.

...

Down below.

Gu Ming retreated more than a hundred meters, returning to the sweltering, sauna-like layer.

A scorching heatwave instantly washed over him. The air was filled with sparks, and just standing there made a person break out in a sweat.

It was the fifth day, and the exam was nearing its end.

There were a great many students on the mountain. The low-temperature areas where people could stand had long since been occupied, leaving no room to even set foot.

The high-temperature zones were far from places where normal humans could stay. Pet Beasts could remain inside, but letting them act without their masters was too risky.

With the intelligence of a Pet Beast, they were a long way from being able to navigate treacherous traps and break through Arrays on their own.

In the end, the Beastmasters still had to fight it out in the low-temperature areas, injuring and crippling the weaker ones so the Thousand-eyed Wind Birds would carry them away for treatment.

A few Water or Ice Element Pet Beasts could help their masters cool down and endure the high-temperature zones, but their Mana was limited, so they couldn’t last for long.

After trying and failing, some students had no choice but to return to the low-temperature areas to fight.

As Gu Ming descended the mountain, he saw people starting fights every few steps.

The crowd was already dense, and once a fight broke out, it was easy for bystanders to get caught in the crossfire. This caused the battles to escalate, and at almost every moment, examinees were fighting.

By Gu Ming’s estimate, seven or eight thousand students had already been eliminated.

The ones still left on the mountain were either ruthless fighters or had tough, resilient Pet Beasts. They were all difficult opponents.

Fighting head-on here was not a good idea. The two of them could only turn and escape into the high-temperature zone, forcing themselves to walk through the intense heat.

Beside him, Lu You felt the searing heat wash over her. She was gradually becoming drenched in sweat and said worriedly:

"We probably can’t last long here."

"I know," Gu Ming said, immediately having his two Pet Beasts readjust their Breathing Technique.

He had them, who originally only absorbed Water and Earth Spiritual Qi, incorporate a bit of Fire Spiritual Qi, using it to heat their bodies from the inside.

It was already hot enough here, yet Gu Ming was having his Pet Beasts heat up even more. It was completely counterintuitive.

Lu You gently extended her Divine Sense, using her Sword Qi to observe the two pets, curious to see what would happen.

Just as the two Pet Beasts incorporated the Fire Spiritual Qi into their new Breathing Technique cycle...

The system showed its great approval, directly rewarding him with two Achievement Points:

"Just as Ah Kun was on its last breath, feigning death and reviving for the one hundred and first time, you finally saw through the truth of this mountain’s forbidden area. You integrated Fire Spiritual Qi into the Breathing Technique’s cycle, successfully perfecting the Kunpeng Breathing Technique!"

"Achievement Points +1!"

"The Mouse Treasure Breathing Method has also undergone its final modification! With Flame Qi Protection, it fears neither wind nor snow. Achievement +1!"

"Ah Kun has comprehended the Suffocation Domain. You discover that under Ah Kun’s Suffocation Domain, the Ice and Snow Mountain Forbidden Area becomes a windless zone.

"This is the correct path to clearing the competition.

"You gaze at the summit, which several people have already reached. The opportunity is fleeting.

"The residual Fire Spiritual Qi on the mountain has long since been mostly absorbed by geniuses with off-the-charts Talent.

"Your two pets absorb the last of the Fire Spiritual Qi and make a mad dash for the summit."

Gu Ming stared at the system’s nonsensical plot summary, stunned for a moment.

Then he realized this was the final solution to the second Array problem: use the heat generated by the Breathing Technique to warm the body and forcibly push through the wind and cold to the summit.

But in reality, the environment wasn’t that cold.

The predicament he’d encountered at the 400-meter mark was more about the disorienting effect and the ice trees that wielded ice blades to cut through the air and block their path.

’Wait... The ice trees are Ice Element. They’re afraid of fire and are flammable. If my two pets absorb Fire Spiritual Qi here, won’t they have a way to counter them?’

’But could the method to break the Array really be that simple?’

Gu Ming needed to think about it more.

By now, Lu You was soaked in sweat from the heat. She placed a hand on Gu Ming and said:

"We have to go down." She panted, "It’s getting too hot to stay here."

How could an ordinary Beastmaster withstand temperatures of sixty to seventy degrees Celsius?

Even if they had consumed many Spirit Medicines to enhance their Physical Ability and constitution, and had the aid of their Pet Beasts’ Daoist Skills,

their bodies were stronger than ordinary people’s, but they still couldn’t hold out in the high temperatures at the 600-meter mark. They had to go down the mountain to cool off.

One or two hundred meters below was the extreme cold layer, where they could cool down quickly.

But Gu Ming said, "There’s no need. I’ve already figured out the Array up ahead."

With that, he had Ah Kun operate its Breathing Technique at full power:

"Ah Kun, use your newly modified Breathing Technique. Absorb all the Fire Spiritual Qi within a ten-meter radius around us, Devour it, and begin Refinement."

Receiving the command, Ah Kun opened its mouth and began to madly swallow the scorching Spiritual Qi in the air. The vast Spiritual Qi swirled into its mouth like a roll of clouds.

A moment later, Gu Ming felt his body cool down rapidly—the heat radiating from him was being drawn out by Ah Kun and into its mouth.

Ah Kun controlled it intentionally. After absorbing a certain amount, it changed its focus and stopped drawing the heat from its two masters.

Instead, it repeatedly absorbed and controlled the nearby Spiritual Qi, maintaining the temperature within an acceptable range.

In this way, a small, room-temperature zone formed around Gu Ming and Lu You. This was something other Pet Beasts couldn’t do.

This was the true power of the new Breathing Technique.

This maneuver made the proctoring teachers watching from behind the scenes widen their eyes, clicking their tongues in admiration:

"What kind of genius solution is this? Incredible!"

"He’s not breaking the Array according to the textbook. He’s forcibly carving a path with a real-world Cultivation Technique."

Reaching this level was no simple feat.

When Teacher Ruan saw this, his eyes lit up as well.

He had watched Gu Ming many times, and each time he was impressed, but Gu Ming always managed to bring another surprise. It was truly remarkable.

The observing admissions officers from the prestigious universities also grew more and more excited as they watched. They glanced at each other, their gazes no longer friendly but sparking with competitive fire.

At this point, Gu Ming’s Talent for Cultivation Techniques had made him a prospect that every major university would fight to recruit.