Return IV

Within a wooden hut, a young man was seen talking to another young man. A smartwatch on his wrist was lit up, revealing the face of the young man he was speaking to.

"Got it, I'll come over soon." the young man on the other side of the call said. The young man who had made the call nodded, ending the call with a click.

Standing up, he sorted out the items that were stored within his personal storage space. After sorting everything out, he got out of the wooden hut, where an old man, as well as a young man and a young woman, was waiting for him.

"Did he agree?"

"En. Once he arrives, we can prepare to leave soon."

"Alright."

***********

A day later, a young man with fiery red hair arrived. Since he couldn't enter, he had to wait outside the gates for someone to pick him up. Shortly afterward, two young men arrived to welcome him in.

"Hey there, Ye Qin, Wang Tao. How is she?" the young man who was obviously Sun Zhan asked.

"She's doing fine I guess, enough about that. Let's get you inside." Ye Qin replied.

Ye Qin tapped his smartwatch and sent something over to Sun Zhan. With it, he could enter the academy grounds at any time without needing to seek permission. The three young men then entered the university grounds.

"How is he?" Wang Tao asked.

"He's doing fine, his strength is gradually increasing. He will come out soon. I didn't forget to ask him for two drops of blood." Sun Zhan replied.

"Good, everything has been prepared. We will leave in a few days, so it won't be for a while." Ye Qin said.

Shortly, the three of them arrived at the Medicine peak. There, two large cauldrons were already waiting, the peak master, as well as Long Bing Rong was awaiting their arrival.

Without speaking, Ye Qin and Wang Tao began their preparations. Sun Zhan summoned his partners ahead of time, preparing to jump in at any time. He also handed over two drops of golden blood to the brothers, once the preparations were complete.

Glob! Glob!

The cauldrons were boiling after a dozen or so minutes. Of course, it was already bubbling before even a minute had gone by, only after it was hot enough, did Ye Qin and Wang Tao start adding in the ingredients.

As Sun Zhan watched, his eyes betrayed him. He couldn't contain his emotions as he saw the strange scene before him. Two young men, his age were taking care of large cauldrons as if they were alchemists in novels.

The peak master, and Long Bing Rong were not as surprised. Even though this was the second time they had seen it, they were still not used to the sight.

After another dozen or so minutes, Ye Qin and Wang Tao dripped a single drop of blood into each cauldron. Facing Sun Zhan, he knew what they meant. The Fiery Molten Ape, as well as the Thunder Gale Ape both jumped into the cauldrons.

Lids were placed over the cauldrons, as Ye Qin and Wang Tao watched the flames, and gradually added things inside as time went by.

***********

After six hours had gone by, a reaction was finally showing. The two cauldrons were trembling greatly. Two surging auras could be felt at the same time. Both cauldrons shone with golden light, as the shadow of a golden ape manifested above the cauldrons.

Roar!

The lids came off on their own, from the trembling, in which the two brothers stored the lids quickly. After a few minutes, two figures jumped out from the cauldrons.

On one side, a large ape, that was smaller than before appeared. It's previous molten-like armor now looked like a real suit of armor. It was gold, red and brown in certain areas, covering a majority of its body.

On its head, a crown-like headband was seen. Its eyelids were slightly golden, revealing a deep and profound set of eyes that seemed to be able to see through the very truth of the world itself.

To describe its size better, the ape was now only two meters and a little bit in height. Much shorter than before, its powerful muscles however, proved that it didn't lose its physical prowess despite its loss in size.

Next to it, a golden monkey with purple lighting surrounding its body stood. It was around the size of an average human male. It's body, neither thin nor too masculine, perfectly balanced in proportions.

A golden set of armor was around its body. On its head, a similar crown-like headband was also seen. Its eyelids were slightly golden and red at the same time. When its eyes opened, two sets of pupils were seen in each eye.

[Monster: Blazing Golden Ape]

[Level: 30]

[Grade: Rare]

[Type: Beast]

[Element: Fire, Earth, Gold and King]

[Additional Info: A monkey embedded with the blood of a heavenly stone monkey. Its size shrunk due to its new blood, while increasing both its strength and agility.]

[Monster: Thunder Golden Ape]

[Level: 30]

[Grade: Epic]

[Type: Beast]

[Element: Thunder, Wind, Gold and Emperor]

[Additional Info: A monkey with the blood of a heavenly stone monkey. It's eyes can see through all illusions and truths, nothing can be hidden from its eyes. It's physical strength, defence, and agility has increased with its evolution, as well as giving it new powers.]

"Oh? They both dropped down to level 30 from the evolution. Though it does make sense, with such a powerful evolution, it's only right that their levels decreased by a large margin. Their grades are a minor problem, fortunately, I also have the materials needed to increase them." Ye Qin thought.

"We aren't done yet, keep them out." Ye Qin said, while Sun Zhan was still admiring the new sight of his partners.

Ye Qin and Wang Tao quickly dumped the contents of the cauldrons, every bit of the materials including the blood was used up completely. Now, only a putrid black substance was left behind in the cauldrons.

After emptying and rinsing them, the two brothers placed the cauldrons back and took out more materials.

Glob! Glob!

The sound of something boiling could be heard. In a wooden hut, two large cauldrons filled with nothing but boiling water was seen, being stirred. Two young men, Ye Qin and Wang Tao were awaiting the right moment for their preparations to be complete.

After a while, they added various rare plants and other things into the cauldrons. They stirred everything, making sure it was done perfectly without any mishaps.

"It's ready, get in." Ye Qin said.

Sun Zhan nodded, the two golden apes jumped back into the cauldrons, as they rolled up into balls, and slowly turned into a stone. As a few more ingredients were added, lids were gently placed over the top.

Three hours later, golden light erupted from both cauldrons, almost spilling the contents. Ye Qin and Wang Tao took the lids off, and shut out the flames under the cauldrons.

From within, two golden stones flew out and appeared in front of Sun Zhan. A heavenly and powerful energy was emitting from both stones. Instantly, they shone, blinding everyone, as the stones started to change shape.

The golden stones grew in size, as they started to form two monkeys that looked similar.

Roar!

A powerful roar resounded from the bodies of the two monkeys, even without them actually doing it themselves. A powerful energy surged, as the two took complete shape and appeared before their master once again.

[Monster: Blazing Golden Ape]

[Level: 30]

[Grade: Legendary]

[Type: Mythical Beast (Five Elements Stone Monkey)]

[Element: Fire, Earth, Gold and Emperor]

[Additional Info: Read the previous chapter.]

[Monster: Thunder Golden Ape]

[Level: 30]

[Grade: Legendary]

[Type: Mythical Beast (Five Elements Stone Monkey)]

[Element: Thunder, Wind, Gold and Emperor]

[Additional Info: Read the previous chapter.]

That's right. Ye Qin and Wang Tao had increased both monster's grades to Legendary. Now, they were almost on par with Long Bing Rong's dragons. With a few more levels, they may not necessarily lose out to her.

This time, Ye Qin and Wang Tao not only used their reward for such items, they also paid a hefty price for them. The rarest things were for Long Bing Rong, as well as Sun Zhan, leaving almost nothing left for the two of them.

With their new powers, the two have surpassed them by a large margin. If they were to battle again, the results would be the opposite way, unless Ye Qin uses his powerful abilities from the start.

Now that their job was over, the two of them had nothing to worry about. They could now head off back to the Abandoned lands at any time. Sun Zhan, Long Bing Rong, the the peak master all stared at the two monkeys.

Even Wang Tao did so as well. The three of them could feel a much more powerful aura coming from the apes, compared to just a few hours ago. A single idea came to their minds at the same time.

Increased grade!

Not only did the two brothers help to evolve them, they also directly improved their grades! In their generation, it was almost impossible for anyone else to compete against him.

Of course, this was only true in China, the world was vast, many hidden dragons and crouching tigers could be hiding within the other countries. Within the next few years, many things would occur.

Whether it was the World Youth Tournament or WYT, which is held every ten years, an event that is many times grander than the World Cup or even the Olympics of the past.

What was the WYT? It was where a group of every nation's greatest youth all come together and formed a team in order to compete against the other countries. It was an exciting event that gained attraction from the entire world. Media channels and social media would talk about it all day every time it was held.

During the past three tournaments, China had been ranked very low on the list. It was quite fortunate that they weren't at the very bottom of the list, nevertheless, as one of the world's biggest countries, it was a little embarrassing to place so low.

In the past, China had always ranked amongst the top twenty, even if not in the top ten. With the next tournament coming up in just three years, Ye Qin and Wang Tao needed to increase their strength as fast as possible.

Not only that, once they reached their third year, they would be allowed to participate in an expedition in the Monster Realm. Currently, they already had the qualifications to join, but since they were only in their first year, they didn't want to head off yet.

Once they came back, the WYT would just be around the corner, giving them little time to prepare. With this in mind, Ye Qin and Wang Tao decided to head off the very next day, it seemed like Long Bing Rong would be joining them this time.

When they asked, she only said that she gained permission, and nothing more. With her there, it would be a smoother journey for them. Of course, they would still need to rely on themselves to quickly grow.

Not only did they need to grow quickly, they also had things to do. Whether it was to explore all the ruins, given by the Mermen King, or to researching the crystals they had found within the ruins.

They also wanted to find the missing materials that they needed to evolve their partners and also increase their grades. The ingredients they have currently, were not enough. Many rare things were still missing, which even the headmasters of the universities themselves didn't have either.

The things needed for the two of them were even more rare and hard to find than Long Bing Rong and Sun Zhan's things. Of course, with Sun Zhan, the Great Sage's blood was a wonder in its own, allowing for a new pathway for them.

When Ye Qin had observed the Blackgold Python Tiger, he realized it had three different branches of evolution. One of them, was to continue its current strengths, relying on elemental powers, while another was to rely more on physical prowess.

The final branch was the toughest. It required the most materials, as well as the hardest ones to obtain. The system only gave him question marks when he tried to go into more detail, it was the only unknown factor.

Whatever it was, Ye Qin knew that it was the one he was going for, directly improving Wang Tao's strength by a huge leap once again.