Lu Ba’s roar got stuck in his throat. Even after breaking through to Rank 3 and gaining explosive strength, his fear of Xiao Huo remained. Beasts had an innate ability to sense the disparity between each other’s power levels. All in all, even though Lu Ba had evolved, he still didn’t dare to provoke Xiao Huo.
“Alright, we’ll do without the roar. We don’t want to disturb the neighbors now do we?” said Lin Jin as he looked at the humongous lion before him. Patting the creature, Lu Ba immediately shrunk back down and returned to his normal size.
“Brother Lin, I will never forget your grace.” Lu Yunhe immediately stepped forward and saluted Lin Jin.
This act of respect was paid with great sincerity.
All these years, for the sake of helping Lu Ba evolve, Lu Yunhe had exhausted every method he knew of, including searching for famous beast appraisers across the continent, as well as using a variety of different methods but all to no avail.
Lu Yunhe knew about Lu Ba’s condition. His pet beast actually had limited talent and evolving to Rank 2 was already hard enough. Moving up to Rank 3 was solely dependent on luck.
However, if Lu Yunhe wanted to advance in the Friar Association, Lu Ba’s evolution was imperative.
In terms of the effort he invested into growing his strength, Lu Yunhe was proud to say that he wouldn’t lose to anyone else. Even the Maple City Friar Association’s number one disciple was on the same level as he was, reaching the fourth realm of their blood contract.
The only reason Yang Jie was superior to him was the fact that the man had a Rank 3 pet beast.
Now that his pet beast had achieved Rank 3 as well, Lu Yunhe was brimming with confidence. He even had the urge to compete with Yang Jie right now to see who truly deserved the title of number one.
Lu Yunhe was in high spirits, and his blood was boiling with excitement. However, he suddenly thought of something else.
‘Wait.’
Now that Lin Jin was a disciple in the Friar Association if he were to compete with Lin Jin, who would have a better chance of winning?
For some reason, Lu Yunhe was uncertain about the answer.
Logically speaking, Lin Jin had just become a disciple and had yet to learn anything substantial. Not only was his blood contract not cultivated, but he also had yet to learn any spells.
All these required several years of practice and accumulation to build up.
And yet, a peculiar thought came to mind.
If Lu Yunhe was really matched up against Lin Jin during the tournament, could he win?
After a brief moment of contemplation, Lu Yunhe reached a conclusion.
This Brother Lin was unusual in every aspect so common sense didn’t apply to him. If he truly had to fight Lin Jin on the day of the tournament, Lu Yunhe had decided, whether or not he could defeat Lin Jin, he would still let Lin Jin win.
Because he owed Lin Jin an astronomical favor!
Lin Jin was oblivious to the thoughts running through Lu Yunhe’s mind. He had indeed put in quite some effort today to help Lu Ba evolve.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that no one else could help Lu Ba evolve normally because none of them knew the pulse-seeking technique.
Even for Lin Jin, that internal acupuncture he performed earlier had been quite taxing on his strength.
Now that Lin Jin was aware that he had twenty-nine stones worth of spirit energy, it meant that Lu Ba’s evolution earlier exhausted all twenty-nine stones of his spirit energy in one go.
It was no wonder the amount of spirit energy was said to be able to define a person’s strength.
In a duel, if one’s spirit energy could only support one spell while his or her opponent could sustain two spells, this already marked the difference in power between both individuals. Although one could use a spirit energy stone to supplement their spirit energy, the act of absorbing the spirit energy alone would be incredibly taxing. The more spirit energy one absorbed, the more physical exhaustion he would have to endure.
In addition to that, if the amount of spirit energy absorbed exceeded a certain limit, it would take a toll on the user’s body, rendering the absorbed spirit energy completely useless.
Lin Jin was exhausted and everyone could tell. Lu Yunhe thanked him a few more times before taking his leave. Lin Jin’s apprentices left along with him in fear of disturbing Lin Jin’s rest.
That night, Lin Jin slept like there was no tomorrow.
The next morning, when Lin Jin woke up, Xiao Huo was still in the middle of his cultivation process. Clearly, this Beast Energy Formation Part Two was much more challenging than Part One.
After giving the world a morning call, Goldy ran off somewhere.
Lin Jin had thought of teaching Goldy the Beast Energy Formation but the latter obviously wasn’t as hardworking as Xiao Huo. He lacked perseverance and wasn’t at all interested.
Hence, Lin Jin didn’t force him. Goldy had quite a personality and was way too assertive. Anyway, he should just be left alone. The rooster had a powerful bloodline so even without the Beast Energy Formation, he was the only one who could go against Xiao Huo without fear of losing.
As for the Shadow Wolf, he had yet to make a full recovery from his injuries. When he gets much better, Lin Jin planned to help it advance to Rank 2 and then teach him the Beast Energy Formation Part One.
Without taking Xiao Huo with him, Lin Jin set off for the Beast Appraisal Association alone.
Now that he learned the coiled wire needle, Lin Jin could protect himself. Even if the black anaconda monster decided to ambush him, with the coiled wire needle in his arsenal, Lin Jin could at least escape unscathed.
Upon arriving at his consultation hall, there was already a line waiting outside. Just like yesterday, Lin Jin’s tokens were all snapped up in an instant.
The demand for his services was even higher than the current chief, Tan Lin.
Time passed and before noon, Lin Jin was done appraising and treating all pet beasts for today. But before he could stretch his back, there were sounds of hurried footsteps outside his door.
“Appraiser Lin, we have an emergency consultation!” an apprentice exclaimed as he rushed inside.
At the same time, several people carried a wooden board in with a human lying on top of it.
Lin Jin immediately frowned.
This person covered head to toe in blood and it was quite frightening.
“What’s going on?” Lin Jin got up at once. Getting a closer look, he saw it was a young man lying on the board with his eyes closed, evidently knocked out cold.
Laying on the young man’s chest was a huge fox.
This fox was badly beaten into a bloody mess. Lin Jin had a feeling that the blood on this man belonged to the large fox. Also, the lacerations on the fox’s body were so bad that its bones were exposed, making it a sorry sight to look at.
Even Lin Jin felt his scalp prickle the moment he saw the wounds.
One of the men carrying the board stepped forward and explained, “Appraiser Lin, we found this man on a pathway outside the city and this fox was lying on top of him. We thought it was a case of a wild beast attacking a human so we tried to chase it away. But for some reason, this animal’s flesh is glued to this young man and we couldn’t chase it away no matter how we beat it.”
Another apprentice interrupted, “At first, he was sent to the city’s medical center but the people there said that since it was a beast-attack, he had to be sent here. The emergency hall was clueless on what to do and after sending him to Jia Qian’s, she said she couldn’t help either. We met Appraiser Gao Jiang on the way and he instructed us to send him here to your place.”
Lin Jin looked up but didn’t see Gao Jiang anywhere. However, he noticed Jia Qian standing a distance away behind the group. Upon meeting Lin Jin’s gaze, she quickly looked away.