Chapter 114 - 112: Innate! Baptism of Heaven and Earth
It was the fourteenth year of raising the Iron Thorn Fish, and the seventieth year of raising the Seated Mountain Eagles.
With the return of the sixth batch of Seated Mountain Eagles, Jiang Zuo now had two sets of sixth-layer fruits on hand.
Jiang Zuo called for One, the Seated Mountain Eagle.
There were only two sets of fruits. Jiang Zuo had to see how One would react after eating the fruits before deciding what to do with the remaining set.
Before letting One eat the fruits, Jiang Zuo first placed it into the Advanced Beast Cage.
Over the years, Jiang Zuo had occasionally put One and the other Seated Mountain Eagles into the Advanced Beast Cage to train and learn the Porcupine Roar Beast Pattern.
It was only on one such occasion that he noticed he could gain extra Beast Taming Experience when a Pet Beast learned a Beast Pattern Ability through the Advanced Beast Cage.
It wasn’t much, only about 30 points.
But it was a pleasant surprise.
After this discovery, Jiang Zuo tried to induce a Mutation in a Seated Mountain Eagle within the Advanced Beast Cage.
He then discovered that raising a mutated Pet Beast in either the Advanced Beast Cage or the Cultivation Beast Cage also granted extra Beast Taming Experience.
Furthermore, each mutated Pet Beast yielded an additional 50 points of Beast Taming Experience—a significant amount.
Before the Seated Mountain Eagles, Jiang Zuo had only ever raised a Mutated Black Stone Fish and caused Great Black to mutate through bloodline enhancement.
The system didn’t issue a notification for simply gaining Beast Taming Experience. The only time he had ever been notified of an experience gain was when he received extra experience from Subai, which happened to be just enough to level up his Beast Tamer rank.
When he raised the Mutated Black Stone Fish, his attention was completely captivated by the notification for completing the mission and receiving a reward, so he hadn’t noticed the extra boost in experience.
As for Great Black’s Mutation, that had occurred outside the Advanced Beast Cage.
This discovery made Jiang Zuo feel like he’d lost a fortune.
’If I’d found out sooner, I could have earned at least several hundred more points of Beast Taming Experience.’
Afterward, Jiang Zuo also tried having his Pet Beasts increase their Cultivation inside the Advanced Beast Cage.
However, he found that this didn’t work.
This time, however, Jiang Zuo had a feeling that if One could Promote to Innate within the Advanced Beast Cage, he might be able to squeeze out some benefits.
"Let’s do this!"
Jiang Zuo placed the six sixth-layer fruits into One’s beak.
One tilted its head back and swallowed them all in one gulp.
Unsure of what would happen, Jiang Zuo didn’t let the other Seated Mountain Eagles gather to watch. To minimize any potential accidents, he even had all of them, except for Two, keep their distance.
But about half an hour after One swallowed the six fruits, the Seated Mountain Eagles on the island, though they were far away, seemed to sense something.
They took to the sky one after another, flying toward One’s location.
But they didn’t dare get too close, merely circling a hundred or two hundred meters away.
Seeing this, a thought struck Jiang Zuo, and he donned the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor.
The moment he put on the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, Jiang Zuo immediately felt an extraordinary aura emanating from One.
Even with his level of Cultivation, he felt an urge to prostrate himself in worship.
’Is it about to Promote to the Innate realm?’
The thought flashed through Jiang Zuo’s mind.
"WOOF! WOOF!"
The aura around One grew increasingly intense. A short distance away, Great Black also sensed an inexplicable threat.
It barked a few times at One.
One’s aura began to climb rapidly.
WHOOSH!
Unable to hold back any longer, it flapped its wings and shot a hundred meters into the air.
At that moment, its aura also surged to its absolute peak!
Then, high in the sky, a pale blue light materialized out of thin air above One’s head.
The pale blue light rained down on One, where it was absorbed into its body.
This rain-like blue light exuded a sense of the vast, righteous Power of Heaven and Earth.
Jiang Zuo, in his Ten Thousand Beasts Armor form, could feel this with particular clarity.
’The Power of Heaven and Earth! Baptizing a mortal body!’
’So this is what it means for a Martial Artist Promoting to Innate to get a chance at Washing Marrow and Peeling Fur!’
’No wonder it’s possible to awaken a Spirit Root when Promoting to Innate!’
’With a baptism from the Power of Heaven and Earth, a mortal body can be reborn!’
Under the baptism of blue light, One’s originally black feathers began to change rapidly, turning a mix of black and red.
If they could transform completely, the benefits One would receive would undoubtedly be immense.
However, the baptism of the Power of Heaven and Earth came and went quickly.
In just a few short breaths, the baptism of the Power of Heaven and Earth had already vanished.
Although One appeared to have received the baptism of the Power of Heaven and Earth, it hadn’t absorbed much of the power into its body.
’What a stingy baptism from the heavens. No wonder everyone in the Cultivation Realm says an Innate Martial Artist can’t beat someone at the peak of Qi Cultivation.’
’One’s Inner Breath was already perfect, and it had the Blood Sea Creation Skill and the power of those fruits. Its conditions for breaking through to the Innate realm were already excellent.’
’And even with all that, this world only granted it such a brief baptism.’
’For an ordinary Martial Artist, even if they managed to break through, the duration of the baptism they’d receive would be pitifully short.’
Seeing this, Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but complain to himself.
If the baptism from the Power of Heaven and Earth lasted longer when a Martial Artist broke through to the Innate realm, their combat power would undoubtedly soar. They wouldn’t be widely rumored to be weaker than those at the peak of Qi Cultivation.
A longer duration would also greatly increase the chances of awakening a Spirit Root.
’The Nine Revolutions Returning Essence Skill...’
At that moment, Jiang Zuo once again thought of the Nine Revolutions Returning Essence Skill.
’If I can have it undergo Scattering and Reincarnation from the Innate realm, and it can endure a baptism from the heavens each time it cultivates back up, the benefits would be infinite!’
’As soon as One’s condition stabilizes, I’ll have it undergo Scattering and Reincarnation as soon as possible!’
The idea grew stronger and stronger in Jiang Zuo’s mind.
A line of text flashed before Jiang Zuo’s eyes: *You have successfully cultivated a Pet Beast to the level of an Innate Martial Artist in the Advanced Beast Cage. The maximum number of Advanced Beast Cages has been increased by 1!*
He glanced at it, inwardly delighted.
’This really is an unexpected gain.’
He checked his experience points again.
4290/5000!
’Whoa, a direct increase of 100 Beast Taming Experience points!’
Jiang Zuo was now only a little over 700 experience points away from advancing to an Advanced Beast Tamer.
Currently, Jiang Zuo earned 70 experience points a year from raising Iron Thorn Fish.
If he also managed to raise some mutated Seated Mountain Eagles and mutated Iron Thorn Fish along the way, with a bit of luck, he could advance to an Advanced Beast Tamer in five years.
The once-distant goal of becoming an Advanced Beast Tamer suddenly felt within reach.
However, that was still five years away, so Jiang Zuo brought his attention back to One.
One had successfully promoted to the Innate realm, becoming Jiang Zuo’s first Innate Pet Beast.
Before having One undergo Scattering and Reincarnation, Jiang Zuo needed to spend a good amount of time familiarizing himself with the differences between the Innate and Grandmaster realms.
High in the sky, One was flying with exceptional excitement and freedom. The surrounding Seated Mountain Eagles had all flown over, worshiping it as if it were an emperor.
Jiang Zuo waited for it to have its fun before calling it down to begin testing its power.
During the recent baptism of the Power of Heaven and Earth, the Inner Breath in One’s body had been completely converted into True Qi.
Jiang Zuo quickly felt the might of this True Qi.