Chapter 53: Chapter 51: An Evolution Method with Greater Potential

Ah Fu finally reached the top of the waterfall. With the hardest part over, Li Qian let out a long sigh, his heart finally at ease. Without hesitation, he put his strength into it and threw the Wind Chime Fruit.

He had even prepared two Wind Chime Fruits this time, just in case of an accident. He was worried that if Ah Fu failed to catch the first one, he’d have a second chance.

As it turned out, his worry was needless. Compared to scaling the Hundred Feet Waterfall, catching the Wind Chime Fruit wasn’t exactly effortless, but it was far less difficult.

Li Qian threw the Wind Chime Fruit. Having practiced this countless times, Ah Fu timed it perfectly, lunging upward in a powerful Fish Jump and snatching it from the air. Seeing this, a smile touched Li Qian’s lips.

’All my effort wasn’t wasted, after all.’

At the top of the Hundred Feet Waterfall, Ah Fu caught the Wind Chime Fruit and promptly swallowed it whole.

As soon as it swallowed the Wind Chime Fruit, Ah Fu’s entire body erupted with the Light of Evolution.

The Light of Evolution had already appeared while it was Climbing the Waterfall, but that was nothing compared to this.

The Light of Evolution flared instantly, enveloping Ah Fu completely. It was like a sun in midday, embedded at the very top of the waterfall.

Fortunately, the area around the Hundred Feet Waterfall had already been cordoned off. Liu Changfeng and Fatty An’s departure also served as a form of security. Otherwise, if anyone had seen this, it would have undoubtedly caused a huge commotion.

Just as it had with Qizai’s evolution, the Light of Evolution flared brightly before shattering into countless motes that rained down like a meteor shower, plunging into the pool at the waterfall’s base.

The five Koi Carp in the pool watched this magnificent spectacle, utterly mesmerized and filled with longing.

In that moment, they seemed to realize that training wasn’t just something Brother Qi and Boss Fu demanded of them—it was a chance to change their own destinies.

The shower of light soon subsided, vanishing without a trace.

Then, as Li Qian watched with anticipation...

SPLASH!

A sudden sound of something breaking the surface rang out.

A classic Eastern Dragon’s head burst from the water’s surface, majestic and imposing.

Its sharp, conical horn, its long, slender body shimmering with cyan light, and its elegant tail swaying in the breeze—every aspect was a perfect fusion of combat prowess and aesthetic beauty.

Ah Fu burst from the water and instantly took to the sky, its presence majestic and soul-stirring. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

This was the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon, a Pet Beast with Dominator Level Potential. Even though he had already witnessed it with Qizai, Li Qian could never get tired of the sight.

He used his Eye of True Sight to inspect it, and Ah Fu’s information immediately appeared before him. It was identical to Qizai’s right after its evolution, except its Level was Tier Three Elite, and it had already mastered the Dragon Claw Skill.

However, he didn’t see the Rain Prayer Skill. He wondered if it would only be mastered once its strength reached the Elite Fourth Rank.

Of course, Li Qian had a theory... ’Ah Fu’s Potential also shows up as ’Tier Five Dominator’ under my Eye of True Sight, but there are differences between one ’Tier Five Dominator’ and another.’

’Its inability to master the Rain Prayer Skill is likely a manifestation of that difference. Its Potential is ultimately a notch weaker than Qizai’s.’

As for its strength jumping straight to Tier Three Elite, Li Qian wasn’t surprised.

In fact, when Qizai first evolved, its Level could have also shot straight to Elite. The only reason it remained at Tier Nine was because of the limitations of my own strength as a Beast Master.

The moment I broke through, it followed suit, advancing to Elite and reaching Tier Four. This proved that without my limitations, Qizai would have reached at least Tier Three Elite upon evolution.

But Ah Fu was contracted to his mother, Han Yuqing, whose Spiritual Power had long surpassed the Elite level, so there were naturally no such restrictions.

"That’s Ah Fu!" His mother, Han Yuqing, was standing by the edge of the pool. She couldn’t help but murmur, still in a state of shock and disbelief even after witnessing the entire process firsthand.

No wonder they say in the Beast Taming Realm that a powerful Breeder can turn the mundane into the miraculous. After personally witnessing Ah Fu’s evolution tonight, she was utterly convinced. Her son was exactly that kind of Breeder!

At this moment, she no longer had to worry about the future of the Cultivation Base. Her heart swelled with pride. ’This is my son, a Genius Cultivator!’

’With a son like him, a Genius Cultivator, the base will surely overcome its current difficulties. The future is bound to be limitlessly bright.’

"How was the feedback from Ah Fu’s evolution?" Li Qian asked, turning to his mother, Han Yuqing.

"It was amazing," Han Yuqing replied with a smile. "My Spiritual Power surged. I should be in the late-stage Elite now."

Li Qian nodded, satisfied.

This was precisely why he’d had his mother contract Ah Fu ahead of time.

An evolution like the Fish Leaping the Dragon Gate, which Ah Fu and Qizai underwent, provided feedback far beyond what any ordinary evolution could offer.

This had already been proven with Li Qian himself.

He couldn’t let such a great opportunity go to waste with Ah Fu’s evolution.

Just as Li Qian and his mother were speaking, Liu Changfeng and Fatty An arrived, one right after the other.

They had already seen Qizai and Ah Fu soaring in the sky.

Knowing that the evolution was complete, they no longer kept their distance.

Arriving closer, they gazed up at the two flood dragons hovering in midair, their faces filled with envy.

"Ah Long, did you see that?" Liu Changfeng said, pulling his gaze away and walking quickly to the edge of the pool to address his Koi Carp. "One day, you’ll be just like Ah Fu, a magnificent Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon. So train hard and try to evolve as soon as you can."

The five Koi Carp in the pool leaped from the water, one after another, buzzing with excitement.

Ah Fu’s Fish Leaping the Dragon Gate, its transformation from a Koi Carp to a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon, from a Wasted Pet to a Divine Pet—the sight had both deeply shocked and intensely motivated them.

’Brother Qi did it. Boss Fu did it. We’re all Koi Carp, so why can’t we?’

At that moment, ambition sparked within their hearts. The desire to grow stronger burned more fiercely than ever before.

With the evolution complete, there was no reason to linger. Li Qian recalled Qizai and the five fish, Han Yuqing recalled Ah Fu, and the group of four returned to the hotel.

The next day, the three of them returned to Lingshui City.

Around noon, the mother and son returned to the Cultivation Base. Li Chengyang rushed over at once to ask what had happened.

Han Yuqing simply smiled without a word and summoned Ah Fu.

Staring at the majestic Ah Fu hovering in the air, his father, Li Chengyang, was stunned for a moment. Then, he turned directly to Li Qian and said, "Son, get me a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon, too."

Li Qian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Dad, the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon is a Wind-Water Dual Element Pet Beast. It doesn’t match your Beast Taming Talent, so there’s no point in forcing a contract."

"It’s just a Pet Beast with Dominator Level Potential. I’ll find you an Earth Element one later that I guarantee will be just as good as a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon," he continued, trying to placate him.

"By the way, how are the preparations for the Land Bear’s evolution going?" he asked, changing the subject.

At the mention of this, a trace of delight finally appeared on Li Chengyang’s face. "The Earth Core Rock is ready. All that’s left is to train its Stone Armor Racial Skill to the Perfection Level."

The evolution method for the Land Bear had been made public, so it could be evolved at home without having to go to the Cultivation Association.

There were quite a few public evolution paths like the one from Land Bear to Mountain Giant Bear.

His mother’s Gray Bean Dove was another example.

The main reason they had chosen those two Pet Beasts was that their evolution methods were simple and their Evolution Materials were relatively cheap.

They simply couldn’t afford the more expensive or unlisted evolution paths.

This was one of the main criteria for most ordinary people when choosing a Pet Beast.

Of course, these types of Pet Beasts had their limitations, the most common one being their relatively low Potential.

Take his father’s Land Bear, for example. Even after evolving into a Mountain Giant Bear, its Potential would cap out at Mid-Tier Commander.

Individuals varied in strength; the stronger ones could reach Commander Sixth Rank, while the weaker ones would only reach Commander Fourth Rank.

His mother’s Storm Eagle had it even worse. Even after evolution, its Potential would barely reach the Commander Level.

However, the Storm Eagle’s evolution was correspondingly simpler.

It just needed to train its strength up to its Racial Potential Limit—Tier Five Elite—and then, with the help of a Pet Beast that had mastered Wind’s Breath, it could evolve under the skill’s influence.

As for the Wind’s Breath Skill, while it was relatively rare, one could certainly find a Pet Beast that had mastered it by going to the Breeder Association.

It was just a matter of spending some money.

In reality, the Federation, the Beastmaster Association, and the Breeder Association had made public far more evolution paths than just those for these two Pet Beasts.

They called it "benefiting the broad masses of Beast Masters."

And in truth, it did benefit a large number of ordinary Beast Masters.

However, most of these publicly available evolution paths were for Pet Beasts with relatively simple evolution methods and fairly average Potential.

Some Pet Beasts could even evolve naturally just by leveling up a specific Racial Skill or crossing a certain strength threshold. For them, whether the evolution method was public or not made no real difference.

As for the truly valuable evolution paths, like the one from Koi Carp to Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon, those were almost never made public.

These evolution methods were controlled by the Federation, the Beastmaster Association, and the Breeder Association, or by certain major corporations, organizations, and guilds.

A Beast Master could still undergo the corresponding evolution, but only by going to one of these places and paying a hefty price.

Li Qian could understand this, though.

’After all, without the promise of huge profits, who would be willing to invest enormous amounts of capital and manpower into researching Pet Beast evolution methods?’

’And releasing the simpler, lower-Potential evolution methods ensures that ordinary Beast Masters still have a path to advance.’

’This ensures a large population of Beast Masters with decent combat strength among the common people.’

’Which is beneficial for both responding to emergencies and maintaining the Federation’s overall combat strength.’

Li Qian had read the public information on this topic and naturally knew the Land Bear’s evolution method, so he planned to handle it himself and help his father’s Land Bear evolve.

’I’m a Breeder now, after all. A proper one, even if I haven’t taken the official exam.’

’But I’m not worried about the exam. I can just get it done at the Beast Taming University once I enroll, as long as I have the skills.’

’It’s a bit strange, though. I can understand Liu Changfeng keeping it a secret for me; he doesn’t know what I’m planning and is probably afraid of causing a misunderstanding.’

’But that Zhou Weiping fellow saw Qizai last time. Why hasn’t he spread the news?’

’Does he think I just happened to contract a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon by chance? That it didn’t evolve from a Koi Carp?’

’Otherwise, if word got out, the Lingshui City Breeder Association would’ve already shown up at my door with a certificate.’

’Then again, this is good. At least I’ll have some peace and quiet for a while.’

’As for the Breeder certificate, as long as I have the ability, it’s practically mine for the taking.’

And in fact, things were just as Li Qian had guessed.

Last time, Zhou Wei had indeed seen Qizai, but he had simply assumed Li Qian had gotten incredibly lucky and managed to directly contract a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon that had already evolved.

Such things were rare, but not unheard of.

Forget a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon—some lucky souls had even stumbled upon dragon eggs in the wild by a stroke of fate.

Of course, at the same time, he would also ask others—like the An Family, Gao Yaxin, and Liu Changfeng—to see if they could find an evolution path for the Land Bear with even greater Potential.

Checking the official Pet Beast forums was another good option.

In short, it was a two-pronged approach.