228: End of instruction
Kui Fang, who had been left somewhat questioning his life by Xu Yan's series of actions, took several deep breaths. He spent a moment composing himself, making an effort not to focus on the five planets nearby and the high-quality materials being rapidly produced on them, before beginning to answer Xu Yan's doubts and questions from this period of study.
What brought him some comfort was that, although Xu Yan had provided a nearly perfect answer—one that even he himself could not achieve—being able to reach this step was mainly due to the other party's somewhat ridiculous Innate Talent effect.
During the process of answering Xu Yan's questions and testing him, Kui Fang got a general sense of where Xu Yan's true knowledge and practical experience currently stood.
Setting aside the Innate Talent effect, Xu Yan's true level was roughly at the stage of a senior professional in this field, about thirty to forty percent faster than a top-tier genius with a natural gift for it. However, with those five planets nearby as a comparison, Kui Fang expressed that at least he was still within the realm of being "human."
Quickly finishing the teaching phase and confirming that Xu Yan had no other questions, Kui Fang took out a token from his storage device and handed it to Xu Yan.
"Alright, regardless of whether you had the boost from your Innate Talent, your abilities in the two directions of blood sacrifice and soul refining have already exceeded the passing standard.
According to my sect's rules, once you've passed two basic secret techniques, reached the Monarch Rank yourself, and can support yourself normally through your own abilities, you've reached the graduation standard and can complete your apprenticeship.
As for the other secret techniques, they're all right there anyway. It's up to them to choose what they want to learn or not. If there are any problems, they can ask their mentor or master via long-distance communication.
This token is equivalent to a diploma from your academy, specifically the kind that marks an outstanding graduate. With this token, various channels and information related to the Demonic Path will be open to you. You can explore that on your own later."
As he spoke, sensing the changes in the surrounding space, Kui Fang paused before speaking again: "Alright, time's up, I should be going. Consider these six planets a gift to you. After those guys come out, they'll probably give you some meeting gifts or something. It's what you deserve, so don't refuse—just take them."
After saying this, he waved to Xu Yan, sat back on the bone throne, and vanished as a streak of light.
Almost the moment Kui Fang left, two figures appeared before Xu Yan: Wu Xiang and the Overlord Intelligent Machine. As the two appeared, a mechanical voice reached Xu Yan's ears.
"Conclusion: Newborn Intelligent Machine · Wu Xiang's cultivation level is excellent. No signs of mistreatment, no independent will. Access permissions for Big Dipper · Tianquan have been opened to it.
Judgment: Awarding a Space-Based Equipment Customization Order. With this order, one piece of upgradable space-based equipment can be customized for free at the Big Dipper War Star · Tianquan internal factory. Initial level is Peak Monarch; it can be upgraded to Overlord Rank for free once the user's strength reaches the requirement. Subsequent upgrades are possible, with costs to be borne by the user."
As the voice faded, the humanoid Intelligent Machine tapped the air. A projection of a virtual token appeared before Xu Yan, then solidified from virtual to reality and fell into Xu Yan's hand.
Having done this, the silver Intelligent Machine turned into a series of virtual symbols that flowed toward the sky, finally vanishing.
After the silver Intelligent Machine left, the other spirit beasts and the seniors who had guided them returned to Xu Yan one after another. They didn't say much, simply handing their gifts to Xu Yan and expressing the goodwill of themselves and the clans behind them before departing on their own.
The Eight-Phases Spider gave eight special spiritual plant seeds cultivated according to the Eight Trigrams. Planting them in the eight directions of a secret realm according to a specific pattern could increase the realm's strength, integrity, and stability, while continuously generating Eight-Phases Power and producing fruits with special effects.
The Iron-Eating Beast gave a thousand-acre Monarch Rank Jade-Iron Bamboo Forest. The bamboo shoots were delicious with no consumption threshold, while the mature bamboo was hard, requiring strong biting and digestive abilities. Without processing, it possessed eighty percent of the effect of regular spirit food of the same level. Eating it could increase physical strength, and it could also be used as a material for making equipment.
As for the Black Tortoise, who was Xuan You's cousin, he gave a secret realm fragment—a fragment naturally derived from the Xuan Ming Realm and then partitioned off. At its core was a fist-sized Source of Underworld Water, and the interior housed a large number of various species and grades of ingredients that Xuan You usually liked to eat.
Compared to the Intelligent Machine race, who did not need to eat and gave a Space-Based Equipment Customization Order, these three coincidentally sent gifts related to 'eating.' Moreover, they were the kind that provided great benefits to the juniors while allowing the Beast Tamer and other spirit beast companions to share in the gains.
Only the Overlord Rank Suanni senior was a special case.
Because the other party didn't appear before Xu Yan at all; only the two spirit beasts, Chi Ming and Qing Lan, walked out of the independent space used for teaching.
Regarding this, the two spirit beasts didn't leave Xu Yan in doubt for long, explaining directly through the contract.
The reason the Overlord Rank Suanni senior didn't come out wasn't due to arrogance, looking down on people, or any other nonsense.
It was simply because that senior... was gone.
According to Chi Ming and Qing Lan, after the senior entered the independent space, he stated bluntly that they thought very highly of Xu Yan.
Furthermore, this view wasn't just held by the Suanni or even the Dragon-Sons lineage, but the entire Dragon Clan was very optimistic about Xu Yan's future.
The two Suanni, who were related to the Dragon Clan and shared the special sentiment of a 'first time' with Xu Yan, naturally became the bridge between the other party and Xu Yan.
However, although the two Suanni, Chi Ming and Qing Lan, had the advantage of special sentiment and numbers, they held a lower weight among Xu Yan's spirit beasts due to their strength, appearing somewhat transparent overall.
Although their upper limit had been greatly increased because the senior who gave them the bloodline inheritance was powerful enough, and they had coincidentally mutated into a special Twin Suanni form...
Because two spirit beasts were sharing a single bloodline inheritance, they ultimately showed some signs of innate deficiency.
Additionally, before Xu Yan's research was completed, they lacked a Monarch Rank form, causing the two to waste a lot of time at the Commander Rank. If one looked at their strength growth speed alone, it was actually okay, but compared to the other exceptionally gifted spirit beasts in Xu Yan's hands who had various opportunities, it seemed somewhat slow.
The Overlord Rank Suanni had come this time, on one hand, to show goodwill and win over the two Suanni, giving them even a little bit of favorable impression and sense of belonging toward the Dragon Clan; on the other hand, it was to make up for the deficiencies in the two Suanni's bloodline inheritance.
The method the other party used was also very simple: if the bloodline inheritance wasn't enough for two spirit beasts to share, then give another portion to make up for the missing part.
Therefore, after completing the instruction of the two Suanni, that Overlord Rank Suanni senior chose to directly sacrifice his entire body of blood and bone to supplement the innate deficiencies in the two Suanni.