“This is the most basic way to rear magical beasts. Given enough spiritual force, even a common rabbit will ascend and become human. Unfortunately, it is also a slow process, as their bodies must be able to process all the spiritual force.
“The second type I will call “bloodline beasts”. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the only cultivators were mighty beasts. Humans could only copy nature and imitate what animals did, while they, the true rulers of the world, dominated everything around them. Those almighty rulers were called “sacred beasts”, and although most have died out, their bloodlines have been passed on throughout the ages.
“Occasionally, beasts are born with a higher concentration of such a bloodline. They develop to be more powerful and more intelligent compared to their spiritual beast brethren. But the real advantage lies in something called the awakening. When a bloodline beast awakens, it regains a portion of its ancestral memories alongside a cultivation method exclusively tailored to its race. In this book, I have recorded these bloodline cultivation methods.”
‘This is my lucky break! Author, I would kiss you if you were standing here right now.’ Jun thought, excitedly flipping to the next page.
True to the book’s name, there were a myriad of different animal species here. Wolves, snakes, lions, eagles, and sparrows, and even rabbits. After more and more fervent flipping, he finally found the dog section.
“There is no recorded bloodline cultivation method for dogs.”
‘What the fuck? Screw your mother! All of this effort, and for what? The heavens have eyes, yet they have given birth to a motherfucker like you.’ Jun cursed on and on, stomping his paws against the ground. His teeth itched to tear the book to shreds, but the last remaining shred of sanity stopped him.
It took him minutes to calm down before he read on with gnashed teeth.
“I doubted my ears when I heard the news. Many mortals, when discovering their spiritual roots, would take domesticated animals with them. How could it be that a cultivator’s beloved pet wouldn’t have a method? Well, as it turns out, nearly all of them rely on the first method as they ascend together with their master.
“I’m confident dogs with thicker bloodlines have been born and have received their inheritance, but no such beings have deigned to join our Divine Beast Alliance. Naturally, I couldn’t accept such a fact and leave this section empty, so I spent weeks scouring through sect records, ancient manuals, and prehistoric books. Eventually, I found something I would call an “auxiliary cultivation method”.”
Jun was still mad, but some of the anger had faded away. At this moment, he was closer to a trash raccoon than a dog—he would take anything he could get.
“The method had no name, so I’ve named it the Bone Essence Art. It is quite simple. The first step is finding the bones of magical creatures, which contain spiritual force. While a dog is chewing on them, press on the 9th and 17th meridian points and send your qi in opposite directions. You must do this a few times before the magical beast learns to mimic this flow of qi. Then, they will begin to do it subconsciously every time they chew on a bone.”
The book went on to describe the Bone Essence Art in much more detail. This art would allow dogs to absorb spiritual force and start refining their bodies. On the next page was a diagram of a dog with its meridians laid bare. Various dots on the body were marked down as “meridian points.” Recalling his various lessons, he recognized them as points from which absorbing spiritual force and releasing inner qi was the easiest.
There were two things to note after he had gone through the entire book. Not a single page mentioned how he could get spiritual force to listen to him, which made him come up with a depressing conclusion. What separated regular animals and magical beasts was this simple ability to control spiritual force, and he was but a simple dog. After all, the book was about rearing magical beasts. Why would the author write about something that was so self-explanatory?
While not as ground-breaking, the second fact was that every dog species had the same set of meridians. Whether it be chihuahuas or Great Danes, they were all the same. A dog was a dog, no matter how it looked. How bizarre.
‘Wait. Aren’t dogs just domesticated wolves?’
He flipped over to the wolf section and found out that while dog and wolf meridians were mostly the same, wolves had a lot more meridian points on their muzzle, fangs, and claws. Still, there were a lot of similarities. Better yet, the wolves had a bloodline art of their own.
“Wolves are one of the most frequent to awaken their bloodlines. Just in our alliance, we’ve got three past the stage of Nascent Soul. Their awakening taught them a poetic technique called the Lunar Divinity Art. Here is how to cultivate it.
“Find a clear body of water. The larger, the better, but ideally, you want a lake. Wait for a night of a full moon, and if any clouds are blocking the view, simply disperse them. Then, when the clear lake perfectly captures the image of the three moons, stimulate the wolf’s 1st, 3rd, and 7th meridian points. After that, make your inner qi circulate rhythmically in three perfect circles, never stopping for a moment.
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“If everything has gone right, the wolf will howl at the moons and lap up the water, drawing the reflection closer to itself. Then, the wolf will devour all three.”
The art didn’t mean much to Jun now—he didn’t even have meridians where the first and third points were located. Yet, wolves and dogs were so close that there had to be a way to make this art into his own. He just didn’t know how he would do it yet.
Jun closed the book with a sort of grim acceptance. He was sad because there wasn’t a bloodline cultivation method for dogs, yet happy because the Bone Essence Art existed. True, it would require the help of Chen Hao for now, but what else would the brat do? Not help Jun ascend? He would personally drag the kid back to old man Wei if that happened.
There were still a few more things to do before that. For the next few days, Jun spent practically every living moment pouring through the book. There wasn’t every animal in there, just the popular ones and the ones with bloodline arts, but Jun memorised the meridian points of them all. When he closed his eyes, constellations of beasts would glow before his eyes, stars marking their points. He memorised the various arts like they were divine gospel. After two weeks of seeing everyone around him cultivate, he had grown ravenous for knowledge.
When he was finally done with the book, he brought it directly to Chen Hao. He had thought about long, complicated schemes to figure a way to not make it so obvious, but it wasn’t worth the hassle. The issue was always about Li Xia, not the boy. In the worst-case scenario, both he and Li Xia would find out there was someone else who made Jun deliver the note. Who in their right mind would think that a dog would write something?
In fact, after seeing the cat, Jun had thought about revealing himself. The issue was that Chen Hao knew he was nothing more than a common dog. He wasn’t sure how the boy would react to it or if he would even accept the fact. Such matters could be delayed until they both became stronger.
“What’s this?” Chen Hao curiously looked at the book, tracing a finger over the title. He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, and Jun could practically see sparks flying inside the boy’s mind, connecting the dots.
“I’ve only told Li Xia that you were someone special. But... you’re not a magical beast,” he kneeled, petting Jun as he stared into his eyes in a rare moment of contemplation.
“Boo.” Jun abruptly barked, causing Chen Hao to lose his balance and stumble to the ground. They both laughed at that.
“Well, I might as well take a look at it. Perhaps I can make you into a proper magical beast.”
It took a while for him to read through it, but once he did, a thoughtful expression crossed his face.
“Bones. Bones. Where do I even get bones?” He paced around the room. Suddenly, he looked up.
“You look like you want to shout ‘Eureka!’ You should think some more complicated thoughts from time to help. Really helps the brain expand.” Jun quipped, but Chen Hao ignored him.
“I’ve heard of someone who slaughters animals for a living. Teacher Li said they were present in big cities, where people ate meat all the time. Butchers, he called them. Let’s find one.” Without any extra consideration, Chen Hao beckoned for Jun to follow him as they headed outside. Jun had come to a similar conclusion as the boy.
On the streets, they were at the mercy of kind cultivators who wouldn’t just arrogantly sneer and walk past them. The directions led them further and further away from the lake, which made both increasingly nervous. Jun often dragged Chen Hao to different alleys to avoid meeting too many people. Perhaps he was being poorist, or some form of -ist, but poverty didn’t exactly beget kindness and forgiveness. In fact, Jun thought crime would be even more exaggerated here, where people had vastly different statuses and cultivation bases.
He was quickly proven right as they wandered past scenes hard to describe. Perhaps the worst one was when they saw two white-robed disciples, covered entirely in blood. The first boy was dragging along the second, whispering about finally being able to afford healing for his infected arm. Yet, upon further notice, the second boy was completely limp and pale, smelling of rot and death. It was another morbid reminder that the sect they lived in was far from kind. One mistake, and they could easily end up like that pair. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, pondering over thoughts best left unsaid.
Eventually, they arrived at their destination. The street was clean and orderly, and the buildings here were well-maintained, if overly simple. The most that went into decorating the various houses and shops was a sign, as if the owners were afraid of overly changing them. Upon closer inspection, Jun noticed a small symbol of a black umbrella on each of the houses. Another thing of particular note was that the people walking by didn’t have any robes to denote their status.
“Everyone’s the same here,” Chen Hao said as they stalked from one alley to another. Jun tugged on his robe, trying to pull him back.
“How about we go back and change out of the grey robes, huh?” Jun practically growled at him.
In a way, this was a way for the disciples to protest against the "indentured servitude" that came along with being a white robe. They shed the "markings" entirely, choosing to live out lives separate from the sect.
“The whole area feels strange, I know. But we’re right next to it. Let’s be careful,” he said in response. No matter how much Jun tried to warn him, Chen Hao only promised to be more careful.
‘This is what I get for trying to get a kid to be careful.’
His nose was in second gear, working overtime. He should be getting paid for the extra hours. If there was any danger, he would be able to sniff it in no time. With determined looks, they walked next to a simple, stone building. A sign that said “Meat Shop” was hung above the door, swaying ominously in the wind. Taking a deep breath, they stepped in.