15 Back In Business (2)

The warm-up exercise started with Ye Chen manipulating the spiritual energy in his body and guiding it to travel around all parts of his body. He gradually increases the speed of the flow and concentrates it on one part of his body, before quickly directing the energy to another.

Although one cannot split their energy into two different parts at the same time, one can increase the speed of the spiritual energy going to the next intended body part. If a cultivator is fast enough switching the energies between two body parts, it may look like that person can split the energy.

However, such abilities are rare and the cultivators who are proficient in this aspect can be counted using the fingers on one hand - Elder Ming is not one of them. Although Elder Ming is an elder with a high cultivation base, his speciality is not close combat. He specializes in beast alchemy, which was created by the elder himself.

Because of Elder Ming's strong beliefs in the soft approach of contracting and gaining spiritual beasts' trust, he did years of research on them. No one in Ping Tian continent knows about beasts alchemy except him.

Depending on the type of beast, different techniques to induce their behaviour and interest have to be applied.

For instance, feline type beasts are attracted to the smell of Nepeta cataria, also commonly known as catnip. However, by using that one plant alone, it gives little to no effect on beasts. It would just tickle their interest for a few seconds before they go back on guard. This is where beast alchemy comes in.

By blending Nepeta cataria with other herbs, it strengthens the potency and gives the pill a special attribute which would trigger the feline type beast to lower their guard and trust the cultivator who administered the pill to them.

However, although it only increases the chances for the cultivator to form a contract, it is still not strong enough to ensure a definite contract. The remaining steps to fully obtain the beast would be through a cultivator's sincerity and hard work, which involves getting to know the beast as a partner and letting the beast choose the cultivator, too.

This is where there is a possibility that some cultivators may exploit the usage of beast alchemy and only use the first step of administering the pills and subdue the beast by force after, not bothering to complete the remaining steps.

This is the main reason why Elder Ming was reluctant to pass down his Beast Alchemy knowledge. If in the hands of the wrong people, the beast's fate in this world may be in turmoil, tipping the balance since the weakness of all beasts would be bared to the world, allowing cultivators to trick them and use violence after.

"Shizun, you said you would pass me the information of the beasts in the west after I turned fourteen." Ye Chen recalled as he continued punching the wooden dummy, switching between attack and defence at a quick pace.

"Oh, I forgot about that." Elder Ming put down the brush he was writing with and let out a stupid smile before going back to writing.

"..."

The sounds of wooden punches were loud and filled the training grounds of Sea Peak while the peak master casually sat beside his disciple on a stone bench, writing seriously.

Two hours later, Ye Chen paused and decided to take a break and strolled over to the stone table. His face let out a twisted smile as he watched Elder Ming, with a serious face, drawing erotic women in compromising positions.

"Shizun...You!!!" Ye Chen's face turned red as he yelled at his perverted teacher.

Shocked by the sudden loud noise, Elder Ming looked up at the embarrassed teenager and started laughing loudly saying, "Dearest disciple, what is your reaction? Have you not seen such things before?"

"...you…!"

"I thought this would be the first thing you would want to look at as soon as you turned fourteen!! Who would have thought my disciple is so innocent. Why don't Shizun give this to you?" Elder Ming chased after Ye Chen while roaring with laughter and it felt like Sea Peak was noisier than usual.

"Guuu...guuu" A soft noise came from the ground.

"Ahh….! Xiao Cheng, you are back?" Ye Chen bent down and rubbed the head of the orange pile of fur wagging her tails excitedly. The three-tailed fox is a young beast that Ye Chen "stole" from his Shi-Xiong when he was an outer sect student.

After that incident, the Shi-Xiong was so humiliated and embarrassed about the situation that he begged his family to buy him another contract beast. Because he was still bound with the three-tailed fox, he took his chances and recklessly unbound their contract once he recovered from the wounds Ye Chen gave him.

Thankfully for both cultivator and beast, the contract backlash was only minor for both of them. The incident happened four years ago - after the contract dissolved, Elder Ming, who was present at the scene previously, took the abandoned beast in and took care of her in Sea Peak after that.

"Guuuu….guuuuu.guuuuguuuguuu." Xiao Cheng kept on whining and held on to Ye Chen's hands.

"I missed you too Xiao Cheng! How did your errand go?" Ye Chen whispered while patting the little creature.

"Guuu…!"

"I see, I see, that's great that Xiao Cheng is enjoying it!"

A silver lynx with purple eyes hopped up Ye Chen's shoulders while he was distracted with Xiao Cheng.

"Brrrrr…" It purred.

"Yin Li, welcome back." Ye Chen smiled gently while stroking the chin of the lazy looking beast.

It let out a soft yawn and nestled itself comfortably around the youth's neck.

"Brrr" It let out a soft purr before closing its eyes.

Xiao Cheng, whose pats were interrupted by the appearance of Yin Li let out an unsatisfied sound, "Guu."

Ye Chen laughed at the sight of the cute little fox's grumpy appearance. He picked up Xiao Cheng and tugged her into his arms. "Now it's even, alright?" He coaxed.

"You should consider becoming a nursery teacher. The children will love you to bits." Elder Ming snorted as he observed the youth carrying two furry beasts, one napping on his shoulders and another in his arms.

Ye Chen shook his head in disagreement, "No way! I can't deal with children. Beasts are so much cuter and easier to understand."

"That's only because you are gifted with beast communication. Most can only communicate with their own contract beast and here you are, communicating with almost all of Sea Peak's spiritual beasts like they are your children." Elder Ming added.