Beast Taming: My System is Bugged-Chapter 43 - 42: Three-tailed Fire Fox, Future Five Tails?

Chapter 43: Chapter 42: Three-tailed Fire Fox, Future Five Tails?

This was Cyan Treasure’s first complete round of exercise. After the soreness in its abdominal muscles set in, it felt a warm current spreading through them.

"Don’t stop the Breathing Technique. Concentrate and focus it on the sore muscles to relieve the pressure," Teacher Zhang said as he released his grip on its acupoints.

Cyan Treasure instinctively activated the Breathing Technique, inhaling Spiritual Qi while simultaneously wriggling its muscles to assimilate the Mana.

This intensified the soreness in its muscles, but Cyan Treasure endured it. It continued the exercise, intentionally slowing its breathing to let its muscles "breathe."

Normally, after such an extreme workout, it should have had no strength left to continue assimilating Mana.

But this time, the muscles in its neck mustered a new reserve of strength.

Its strength increased!

The Breathing Technique had also changed. It was no longer using muscles to refine Mana. Instead, it was circulating Mana to repair the damaged, exhausted muscles and speed up their recovery.

Cyan Treasure felt a flicker of joy, sensing the distinct improvement.

Gu Ming, who was watching nearby, understood as well.

The Breathing Technique didn’t just build strength; when the body was extremely fatigued, it could also work in reverse to restore it.

’This Cultivation Technique offers no obvious advantage in a short fight, but in a prolonged battle, it’s practically a Divine Technique for restoring Physical Strength just by breathing.’

"I’ll see if this shop has any medicinal herbs. A prepared bath right now would speed up recovery."

Teacher Zhang got up and looked around. Seeing only training equipment, he went out to ask Manager Ruan.

Gu Ming stayed behind to watch over Cyan Treasure. Seeing it use the Breathing Technique to recover Physical Strength, he marveled at the technique’s versatility. ’I should just focus on mastering this Breathing Technique tonight,’ he thought.

’Once Teacher Zhang teaches me the Snake Pet Body Technique, I can practice them both in my dreams tonight.’

By the time Teacher Zhang returned, Gu Ming had already made his training plan for the night.

He turned and saw Teacher Zhang holding a stainless steel pot, with a Three-tailed Fire Fox following behind him.

The Three-tailed Fire Fox was Manager Ruan’s Three-star Pet Beast. A Glazed Ancient Seal was embedded between its brows, and a vibrant red glow pulsed from it, making the fox’s fur shimmer with a fiery light. It looked truly extraordinary.

This was a genuine High-star Potential Pet Beast. It had at least Four-star potential but was currently stuck at the Three-star level due to a bottleneck.

"It’s going to help us heat the water. A huge help. Who knows how long it would take if we had to heat it slowly."

Teacher Zhang said with a smile, pulling out several packets of medicinal herbs from his Beast Taming Space.

Gu Ming watched with envy. He also wanted a Beast Taming Space that could be used for storage.

"What are the requirements for creating a Beast Taming Space?" he asked.

Teacher Zhang gave a wry smile. It wasn’t easy. The Beastmaster’s Spiritual Technique had to reach the Master Level, and they also needed surgery to modify one of their organs.

For example, modifying the appendix into an organ with the Spatial Attribute.

Only after meeting both conditions could one create a Beast Taming Space inside their body, capable of holding Pet Beasts and items.

Setting aside the high bar for the Spiritual Technique, the cost of the surgery and medical fees alone was a huge expense.

To create his own Beast Taming Space, Zhang Yunpeng had to take out significant loans, which took him a long time to pay off.

Seeing Gu Ming’s persistent questions, he added:

"The surgery to give my appendix the Spatial Attribute cost me over ten million. It took me more than a decade to pay off the debt."

"And that’s not including university tuition and Pet Beast cultivation fees. Given your family’s situation... besides taking out loans, the only other way is through the ’genius clause’."

’The genius clause.’

Gu Ming’s expression grew distant. He knew this was how prominent local families or large corporations nurtured new talent.

They would start scouting talent during the final year of high school and support them all the way through university. Before they even graduated, during their university internships, they would already be working for their sponsoring family or company.

These contracts often stipulated a minimum of fifty years of service. Someone with better qualifications might be able to negotiate it down to thirty or even twenty years.

During this period, all of the student’s cultivation expenses and personal spending money were provided by these external patrons.

Of course, how that money was spent and allocated wasn’t up to the student, but to their patrons.

Gu Ming knew that a few students in his class had already signed a "genius clause."

After the monthly exams in March, the grade-wide rankings would be reshuffled, heralding a new wave of signings.

The higher your rank, the longer you could wait to sign, and the better the contract terms would be.

If your family wasn’t short on money, you could afford to bide your time and hold out for a better offer, gambling on your future prospects.

However, students without money would face intense, cutthroat competition from their peers.

For example, the top twenty students were taking extra cultivation pills every day, continuing their competitive Cultivation outside of class, and using their resources to furiously build up their strength.

A student from a poor family who tried to hold out for a better offer would just be crushed by the geniuses engaged in this rat race.

Once their ranking fell, their own value would plummet.

Gu Ming knew that his family couldn’t possibly afford to send him to university. If he wanted a Beast Taming Space, taking out loans was his only option.

However, that was the path before his system activated. Now that he had Old Deng’s Comeback System, Gu Ming wouldn’t need to take on debt. His progress would just be a bit slower, at worst.

While the two of them were talking, the Three-tailed Fire Fox began its work.

"SCREE—"

With the Fire Fox’s cry, its three large, fluffy tails suddenly unfurled like wings that could set the heavens ablaze.

Glazed Pure Fire ignited out of thin air beneath the pot. Within the conflagration, the phantom of a great fire fox appeared, unfurling its own wings of flame.

The potion hadn’t even begun to boil, yet phantom images of dozens of Spirit Grasses were already materializing above the cauldron’s rim—a ten-year-old Blood Ginseng exhaled a crimson haze, while a five-year-old Blood Qi Lingzhi supported another herb as they burned together.

Even the Dew, which served as a catalyst, condensed into the form of a green luan, flapping its wings as if about to take flight.

Each ingredient Teacher Zhang tossed in manifested its own supernatural phenomenon. As blood-red steam billowed from the cauldron, the Fire Fox squinted. Its third tail suddenly burst into a shower of sparks that circled the cauldron.

The liquid rapidly reduced, instantly condensing several years’ worth of Medicinal Power into a decade’s worth of essence.

Gu Ming subconsciously stopped talking. With just one whiff, he felt the medicinal aroma permeate every pore of his body. In a daze, he seemed to see all three hundred and sixty of his acupoints light up at once.

Needless to say, Cyan Treasure was so excited its scales trembled and its tongue flickered wildly, completely losing the rhythm of its Breathing Technique. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The Three-tailed Fire Fox yipped twice, swished its large tails, and departed, treading on a path of light and flame.

The two men looked into the cauldron. The supernatural visions had vanished, leaving only a bubbling red potion that glinted with faint, fluorescent specks under the light.

The brewing process had taken less than a minute. Not only had it saved dozens of minutes of simmering, but it had also extracted all the medicinal properties of the ingredients.

’As expected of a Three-star Cultivation Element Pet Beast,’ Gu Ming thought. ’When it comes to expertise, I can’t even compare.’

Even Teacher Zhang couldn’t help but shake his head and exclaim:

"Guaranteed Five-star Potential at minimum. The Ruan Family must have a significant background. They’re probably not from around here."

’That makes sense,’ Gu Ming thought. ’With the wealth and power of the local Wang Family, why would they needlessly harass an ordinary woman?’

’Ruan Jing’s family must also possess considerable resources, which attracted the Wang Family’s attention. Then, a conflict must have occurred when they met, leading to this grudge.’

Just then, as Cyan Treasure was about to enter the medicinal bath, the system’s prompt updated.

[Elder Ruan’s Five-tailed Flame Fox has performed exceptionally, refining a rare bonus Attribute—Endurance!]

[You have obtained a medicinal bath brewed by the Five-tailed Flame Fox.]

[Medicinal Power +10]