Teacher Tang spent the most time teaching on the first day. On subsequent days, he only came for an hour to check on Ah Ji’s progress.

Gu Ming waited. On the fifth day, words suddenly appeared from the system.

Ah Ji had gained Skill Level attributes for two Combat Skills.

「Ah Ji’s Skill Levels are as follows:

「Blazing Light Fist: Uninitiated. Experience until Entry Level: 415/2000」

「Shadow Assault: Uninitiated. Experience until Entry Level: 500/2000」

A two-thousand-point progress bar wasn’t a small number, but it wasn’t an astronomical one either.

After all, the ones teaching Ah Ji right now were Six-star Level Pet Beasts.

Moreover, Teacher Tang himself was an incredibly knowledgeable Beastmaster. He could often spot all of Ah Ji’s mistakes during practice at a glance, pointing them out on the spot and having it drill those specific areas.

As a result, the moment the Skill Level attribute appeared for Ah Ji, its Experience Points had already shot up to several hundred.

This showed that Teacher Tang’s teaching ability was far beyond that of a high school teacher.

However, it was also possible that the Skills demonstrated for Ah Ji had already reached the Quasi-Path Level.

The Skills themselves surpassed the theoretical limits of Blazing Light Fist and Shadow Assault, as they contained a Dao Practice unique to Teacher Tang’s Pet Beasts.

Under such tutelage, it was as if Ah Ji was directly confronting Great Dao Insights.

This learning experience was completely on par with the insights into Dao Principles bestowed by the Hall of the Great Dao.

In addition, Gu Ming had been continuously observing the Combat Techniques of the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul and the Xi Beast. At the end of the fifth day’s lesson, the system displayed two prompts.

「Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul (Partial) data has been recorded.」

「Xi Beast (Partial) data has been recorded.」

Gu Ming’s eyes glinted as he saw the two lines.

So, during lunch, Gu Ming communicated with Lu You via his Divine Sense. "Lu You, we’ll enter the dream to cultivate tonight."

Lu You’s body trembled slightly as she sensed Gu Ming’s Divine Sense.

It wasn’t out of fear, but anticipation.

Ever since she had experienced the benefits of dream cultivation, where time flowed differently from the outside world, Lu You could feel the advantages of the extended practice sessions, even if they didn’t bring actual growth in her Cultivation.

For someone of her humble origins, nothing was better than having her Cultivation Time multiplied dozens of times over.

...

「That night.」

Gu Ming held Lu You’s hand. With a single thought, he brought her and the Pet Beasts into the dream with him.

Having not entered the dream for a while, Mouse Treasure and Mianmian frolicked cheerfully in the new Eight-star Dao Field training ground that Gu Ming had just created.

Mouse Treasure and Ah Kun knew in advance that their master would be summoning the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul and the Xi Beast today. They gathered around Ah Ji, waiting for the system to release the two replicated Pet Beasts.

With a light wave of Gu Ming’s hand, two powerful presences materialized on the scene.

They looked almost identical to their real-world counterparts: one was clad in Profound Armor with a transparent lower body, and the other was a being made entirely of light.

The Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul appeared and expressionlessly unleashed Shadow Assault. In the blink of an eye, it was behind Ah Ji’s shadow.

Suddenly, the shadow transformed into a garrote and violently tightened around its throat.

Ah Ji’s throat was constricted so tightly it couldn’t make a sound.

The speed of the attack was so overwhelming that it lost all control, feeling the profound terror of death.

A few seconds later, it was killed by the emotionless, system-controlled Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul. When it revived, its face was filled with terror.

Gu Ming consoled him from the sidelines, "How about I lower the difficulty for you?"

Hearing this, the other two Pet Beasts beside him let out a long sigh.

When they fought the system’s simulated Pet Beasts, they never had their opponents go easy on them. At most, they only had the opponent restrict itself to the combat capabilities of a One or Two-star Level Pet Beast.

The opponent’s only advantage was its application of Techniques, which perfectly matched its own Skill Level, making the Shadow Assault skill both stealthy and extremely dangerous.

Ah Ji didn’t want its seniors to look down on it. It wagged its tail, shook its head, and decided not to lower the difficulty, opting to fight with its One-star Level strength.

And so, the painful training by death began.

The other Pet Beast, the Xi Beast, waited on the sidelines. After Ah Ji had gone through a hundred training cycles, it was its turn to enter the field.

It unleashed Blazing Light Fist, filling the sky with a radiant glow where every point of light was a fist imprint striking toward Ah Ji.

Ah Ji was utterly stunned, its very soul feeling as if it had been pierced by the light. The terrifying destructive power was countless times stronger than the real Xi Beast’s, leaving it in profound shock.

But it was precisely because the system was going all out that it could showcase the most dangerous and potent characteristic of this Daoist Skill’s Great Dao.

Although Ah Ji faced death with every attack, it could revive infinitely. After dying a few times, it cast aside all fear.

With wide eyes, it focused on perceiving all the Great Dao characteristics within these two basic Skills, committing them to memory and accelerating its learning.

As time passed, Lu You practiced her Cyan Pine Skill until it reached Master Level. When she looked up, she saw Ah Ji moving as a blur, gliding swiftly across the ground.

It had become a shadow, its speed incredible. It no longer hopped about slowly as it used to, having also raised its Skill Level in Shadow Escape.

Suddenly, it leaped up from the ground, coalescing back into its physical form.

Ah Ji’s fur bristled, splitting into countless shadow needles that formed a shadowy assault on the Xi Beast opposite it.

After mastering the Shadow Assault skill, Ah Ji’s understanding of shadows was far beyond what it had been. It could now skillfully use its own shadowy fur, transforming it into a deadly weapon. Each shadow needle could pierce an enemy pet’s body like a real one.

By infusing more Mana into its fur, it could even drive the shadows into the target’s body. The chaotic Mana would then detonate within the Pet Beast’s blood, meridians, and bones, wounding it from the inside out.

Nearly ninety percent of Pet Beasts would be unable to withstand such an attack.

However, the Xi Beast it faced was a Six-star Pet. Even though the system had suppressed it to the Same-star Level, leaving it at only the One-star Realm, its Quasi-Path Level Blazing Light Fist was still invincible and easily countered the attack.

It threw a single punch, which transformed into a sky-filling rain of light that swept away all the shadow needles.

Ah Ji then turned toward the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul. Leaping into the air, it swung its right fist, which shone like the sun as it unleashed a searing wave of light.

The surging wave of light solidified into a massive fist in mid-air—its fist imprint.

The light was intensely brilliant, vast and mighty.

In an instant, the wave of light surged like boiling gold. As the fist imprint descended, it was accompanied by a dull roar as it tore through the air, slamming viciously into the Ghost Soul’s illusory body.

The Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul was sent flying by the attack, unable to resist the Blazing Light Fist. It was a clear case of attribute suppression.

Just by sensing the attacks, she could tell that his Skill Level in these two Skills had far surpassed what it was before.

Sensing more closely, the sound of the Blazing Light Fist detonating was like the shocking blast of a missile exploding on open ground.

"Is this the power of Ah Ji’s special Mana?" Lu You asked in surprise.

She could tell that the power of this Blazing Light Fist was freakishly strong, only slightly weaker than the one unleashed by the Xi Beast.

And the Xi Beast’s Blazing Light Fist was at the Quasi-Path Level.

Ah Ji’s was not.

The only explanation was that Ah Ji’s Chaos-like Mana had amplified the power of its Blazing Light Fist several times over.