"Who’s going to search for the Spirit Medicine?" Gu Ming asked.

"Wait, where are your Pet Beasts? Did they all go to the wetlands to find materials?"

It was then that Wang Teng realized Cyan Treasure, Mouse Treasure, and Ah Kun were nowhere to be seen. Only his Dumb Flower was by his side.

The answer was so obvious he didn’t even need to ask.

He was the only one there with an available Pet Beast, so he was the only one who could go.

Besides, Dumb Flower had a powerful Talent for finding Spirit Medicine, so he would be faster than if their Pet Beasts went searching.

When the other two nodded, Wang Teng could only resign himself to the task.

"Be careful after I leave. At least call one Pet Beast back to stand guard so you don’t get ambushed."

Wang Teng added, still uneasy as he was about to leave.

Although their team was an exploration party focused on healing Spirit Beasts, that didn’t rule out the possibility of other teams of examinees nearby coming to steal the injured Spirit Beasts.

After all, the examination grounds were a battlefield. There was no holding back between fellow students; when points were on the line, they would inevitably fight over them.

Gu Ming also understood the risks involved. After confirming with Dumb Flower that no one else had appeared nearby yet, he told Wang Teng to go without worry.

Meanwhile, Gu Ming could sense his Pet Beasts roaming through the reeds over a hundred meters away, searching for the required Spirit Stone resources.

He hadn’t yet told them to look for the materials needed to make Water Stones.

He would have to call them back to give them the new instructions.

After some thought, Gu Ming decided it would be most convenient for Ah Kun to return.

He sent a command through the Pet Beast Contract, signaling for Ah Kun to return for new instructions.

Thanks to its swimming Skills, Ah Kun was back in less than ten seconds.

Gu Ming then instructed it to search for the medicinal ingredients and relic stones needed to refine a Water Soul Stone.

The principle behind refining a Water Soul Stone was as follows:

A Water Soul Stone was refined from Cold Water Marrow and Bifurcated Rock. The former was hidden in the heart of a whirlpool within the wetland’s cold spring, appearing like a ball woven from threads of ice.

The latter was a bluish-gray stone with spiral patterns, often found about ten centimeters deep in the soil beneath the roots of yang-natured aquatic plants.

He condensed a wisp of Divine Sense Sword Qi and projected it into Ah Kun’s Sea of Consciousness, recreating the appearance of the Cold Water Marrow and the Amphibian Rock in the most direct way possible.

’Ah Kun seemed to have an epiphany. As a Juvenile Kunpeng, it had already sensed a bone-chilling current in that mysterious patch of water earlier. So that must have been the Cold Water Marrow.’

"Huh? You’ve already encountered it?" Gu Ming asked suddenly.

Ah Kun was stunned. It hadn’t realized it, but since its master said so, it could only try its best to remember.

Ever since its Evolution, its memory had improved slightly, and it could remember things a little better now.

Like that image its master had just projected into its mind... A sudden, bone-chilling coldness spread through its body as the sensation returned.

Ah Kun now recalled using its tail fin to sweep through the silt by the reed roots, kicking up a patch of wet mud.

The mud had been shockingly cold, and something that looked like a fish had been lying within it. It moved too fast for Ah Kun to keep up, so it had mistaken it for an Ice Element spirit fish.

But looking back now, that "fish" had no solid form; it was just a flowing cluster of blue ice crystals.

That must have been the Cold Water Marrow. To think it had encountered it just a moment ago.

It had been so focused on finding the Spirit Stones its master wanted that it hadn’t paid much attention to anything else.

Now that it had a lead, Ah Kun immediately turned and plunged back into the water, using its swimming Skills to speed back to that cold spot.

A pocket of bone-chilling cold still lingered in the water.

Sensing carefully, it could feel a current in the wetland that was distinctly colder than the water around it.

It followed the current, its vibrating scales stirring up ripples that shimmered like Starlight.

Soon, Ah Kun found the Cold Water Marrow and swallowed it, storing it in its Big Fish Stomach.

Its Big Fish Stomach had a useful feature: when not digesting, it could be used for storage. Its preservation ability was incredible, keeping food fresh for many days.

By the same logic, a natural Spiritual Object like Cold Water Marrow could be stored this way as well.

However, once the Cold Water Marrow was inside, it chilled the little fish to the bone.

’I’d better go back and deliver this,’ it thought. ’I’ll let my master keep it safe.’

Perhaps because it was carrying an object with an extremely heavy yin nature, Ah Kun could now sense that the nearby medicinal plants were either warm or cold.

Having never understood the concept of yin and yang before, it suddenly had an epiphany.

’Could that plant be the yang-natured one my master mentioned?’

Ah Kun stopped and swam over to a reed burning with a faint blue flame. It lowered its head, dug up the roots, and parted the soggy earth. There it saw the Amphibian Rock with its interlocking spiral patterns—exactly what its master had asked for.

At the same time, it also unearthed some small, sparkling pebbles that glittered with a crystalline blue light.

’Looks like I’ve found the Spirit Stones, too.’

...

Wang Teng returned to the forest where they had started, directing his Dumb Flower, which had rooted itself to the ground, to move slowly.

He would stop every hundred meters to survey the nearby medicinal plants, roughly adjusting his direction based on the yin-yang balance of their properties.

A small green bird was flying above his head. Suddenly, Wang Teng sensed three figures. ’It must be another team,’ he thought.

He immediately looked up and called the bird down.

"I’m away from my team looking for medicine right now. Are they allowed to attack me?"

Wang Teng asked.

He had to confirm whether the rules were in his favor. It would be a raw deal to get attacked if the rules weren’t on his side, and he refused to take that kind of loss.

"You have not officially left the team. The other team can initiate an attack against you."

The bird above answered dispassionately.

The logic for team operations differed from that of solo Beastmasters. Teams emphasized strategic coordination. If a member was isolated and ambushed, it was considered a result of the three-person team’s poor strategy, and points would be deducted from the entire team.

Knowing this, Wang Teng could only avoid them. He couldn’t head toward the area he knew had an extremely strong yang presence.

’Could they be looking for the same ingredient?’

After changing direction, Wang Teng looked back at where the three were gathering herbs, unable to shake the thought.

...

Cyan Treasure walked through the wetlands with the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster. As far as the eye could see, there were only swaying reeds and burning blue flames.

It was originally supposed to be looking for Spirit Stones.

But looking at the reeds engulfed in flames, Cyan Treasure’s stomach began to RUMBLE.

As a Grass Element Pet, it didn’t just eat meat; it also loved to eat plants, especially unique ones it had never seen before.

’Maybe this kind of plant could help me evolve new abilities?’

Instinctively drawn to the Flame Reed, Cyan Treasure took a bite without a second thought.

As it bit down, four sensations—dryness, burning, dampness, and cold—assaulted it simultaneously, and Cyan Treasure’s face quickly turned ashen.

The Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster was an Earth Element Pet Beast and didn’t have such a strong urge to eat plants. Seeing Cyan Treasure’s sickly expression, it knew its companion had eaten something it shouldn’t have.

’You can’t just eat anything you see,’ Mouse Treasure thought.

Those burning reeds were obviously not normal. For Cyan Treasure to eat one anyway, it had clearly gotten carried away. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Mouse Treasure waited for a moment and saw Cyan Treasure clutching its belly with its serpentine tail, writhing on the wetland and sending up huge splashes of water.

The splashes, filled with bits of plant matter, didn’t dissipate. Instead, they began to glitter with points of light like a field of stars, which slowly drifted toward Cyan Treasure’s body.

Then, Mouse Treasure noticed something astonishing:

The scales on Cyan Treasure’s skin had become strange, and faint blue motes of light were surfacing upon them.

When the flames from the reeds touched it...

Suddenly, with a WHOOSH—

It burst into flame, burning just like the native reeds around it. The scene was incredibly bizarre.

’What’s going on?’

The Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster was completely stunned as it watched the scene unfold.