Chapter 3: Raising Spirits of Non-native Tribes

[System file data decompressing...]

[Decompression succeeded!]

After a day of feasting with his family, Feng Qing'an, whose belly was bloated from eating his fill of meat and fish, had just started to digest some of the food. As he lay on his bed, slightly drowsy, he suddenly heard a mechanical voice, which caused him to shoot wide awake.

"Did it work?"

[Immortal Cultivation Guidance System... name error, system renaming in process...]

[Guardian Beast Master Training System preparing...]

Feng Qing'an fully woke up. He sat up in bed, his small face bearing an ever-changing expression. He took a moment to steady his emotions, but the puzzlement and instinctual frustration in his heart couldn't be concealed.

"Why has my good old Immortal Cultivation system turned into a Guardian Beast Master system?"

Immortal Cultivation, the power to move mountains and alter the seas, eternal youth—who wouldn't admire it? Who wouldn't covet it? But now, it had bizarrely turned into some Guardian Beast Master Training System, which seemed so incongruous; the whole narrative was off track.

Cultivators existed in this world. Feng Qing'an had been in this world for ten years, and though he had only ever ventured as far as the county town, he knew this to be true.

Because when he was three—when he had only just started to forge his first memories—an evil spirit had caused a disturbance in the nearby lake. This malevolent water ghost had been causing harm to people, he could still remember the terror-stricken faces of the villagers.

But not long afterward, the villagers had pooled together money to hire a Taoist Priest to perform an exorcism. Feng Qing'an had been taken by his parents to observe the ritual. Although he hadn't understood much, the lake had become calm ever since the rite was performed, and no more lives were claimed.

From then on, the people lived in peace. There were still the occasional drowning incidents, but they were within the range of normalcy for common folk.

This incident alone could not prove much, but Feng Qing'an had witnessed it firsthand. He clearly remembered a normal dawn, where he had seen with his own eyes a man flying through the sky, stepping on the colorful morning clouds.

What was shocking was that when he asked others about it, almost everyone dismissed it as a figment of his childish imagination. Only when he asked his older brother did he get a confirmation that he had also seen it.

For a while after, Feng Qing'an was veritably itching with desire, dreaming every night about how he could start cultivating. It wasn't until half a year later that his impulsive thoughts simmered down.

After all, he was simply a child from an ordinary farming family. Attaining enlightenment and becoming an Immortal was beyond his reach—just stepping out of their village was a major event. Even if he had innate wisdom from a past life, it wouldn't be of much use.

But the sudden successful decompression of the system now stirred Feng Qing'an's long-repressed desire to cultivate. His spirits were so exhilarated that he couldn't feel sleepy at all.

The only issue was that his nice Immortal Cultivation system had been switched to a Guardian Beast system, which seemed a mismatch. But, being an ordinary person, he didn't have the luxury of choice. He should count it as a cause for celebration to even have a system—why fuss about the type of system.

"Speaking of which, was it because this system had a glitch that my previous nine attempts at decompression failed? Was the sudden success this time due to my good luck?"

[Matching Heavenly Dao laws...]

[Logging secret and hidden regions...]

[Logging all spirits...]

[Logging extraordinary treasures...]

[Guardian Beast Master Training System activated successfully! Looking forward to your first usage!]

The successive alert sounds suppressed all the miscellaneous thoughts in Feng Qing'an's mind. He eagerly thought to himself:

"System!"

[Welcome to your first usage, currently detecting Host's information, please wait...]

"..."

[Detecting that the current Host is not a Guardian Beast Master, system mission activation, preparing for release!]

[Main Mission: Become a ranked Guardian Beast Master]

[Requirement: Form your first Soul Contract, and successfully contract a pet beast.]

[Reward: "Sending God Skill"]

"..."

Hearing the gender-neutral mechanical voice in his head, Feng Qing'an was rather bewildered. Could anyone tell him how to become a Guardian Beast Master? And what was this thing called a Soul Contract? How was it formed?

Luckily, the system detected that he was clueless and was extremely considerate.

[Detecting that the current Host does not have any cultivation technique, initiating sub-mission, preparing for release]

[Sub-mission: Farsighted Vision]

[Explanation: A good Guardian Beast Master needs to have a farsighted vision to prepare their pet beast in advance]

[Requirement: Breed a non-human spirit]

[Reward: "Spiritual Soul Condensing Skill"]

At this moment, Feng Qing'an's breath became heavier. A method for cultivation, although it seemed a bit off track, was laid out right before his eyes. Compared to his previous desire to cultivate but having nowhere to go, his aim now was to take the plunge.

"Breed a non-human spirit? That means anything other than a human will do!"

Feng Qing'an got out of bed, flung open the window of his room, and his gaze naturally fell upon the noisy poultry in his courtyard—chickens, ducks, and two big white geese.

Given their family's current financial situation, even if it just came from accepting gifts from others, they had hurdled from being poor farmers to middle-class status. They could afford to eat meat every few days; there was no need to raise these animals.

But the problem was his mother liked raising them. When their family was poor, mother Yin Shi already kept a few old hens, counting on them to lay eggs to supplement the nutrition of him and his elder brother.

After his elder brother aced the imperial examination and their family started living comfortably, his father bought two cattle, while his mother built chicken coops and duck pens, causing a pungent smell in the courtyard. Feng Qing'an complained a few times, but to no avail. How could a farming family be bothered by this smell?

Today, the news of his elder brother Feng Qingping winning the top spot in the imperial examination had spread, and their family had thrown a grand feast. Half the poultry raised by mother Yin Shi was slaughtered, but there were still over a dozen chickens, ducks, and geese left.

"Breed!"

Feng Qing'an's gaze naturally passed over the chicken and duck pens, landing on the two eye-catching big white geese in the courtyard bathing in the moonlight.

Geese have bigger brains than chickens and ducks, which allows them to recognize humans. That's also why they can be used as watchdogs, replacing dogs.

"..."

Feng Qing'an's gaze hovered on the two geese for a long time, but in the end, he closed the window.

The sub-mission the system issued clearly served the main mission, and the requirement of the main mission was to contract a pet beast. He wouldn't have to contract a goose at that time, would he? That sounded absurd.

Would he be wandering the world with a goose in the future? Wouldn't that give people a good laugh?

If it were a white crane, that might not be so bad, and he could consider it. But as for a goose, he decided to give it a pass and look for a different target.

But he was just an ordinary human right now and didn't have many options. He could only choose from among the domestic poultry and livestock visible within his village. He wanted to raise ferocious beasts like wolves or tigers, but was that even possible for a muddy-legged country boy like him?

"Hmm? A wolf!"

Having pondered over this back in bed, Feng Qing'an's eyes lit up with an idea. He lay down and tossed and turned, wishing to fall asleep as quickly as possible such that the next time he opened his eyes, it would be dawn.

But how could he easily fall asleep at a time like this? His mind was filled with thoughts about the newly activated system. Having thought of something suddenly, he muttered in his mind:

"Panel!"

[Insufficient authority level, please try to become a Guardian Beast Master as soon as possible]

The voice was rigid and emotionless.

But Feng Qing'an refused to give up and continued to pester it, staying awake till midnight.

Although he had been tossing and turning for so long, it wasn't in vain—he came to understand one thing. This Guardian Beast Master system had no intelligence system and only reacted to certain keywords. Communication or negotiation was out of the question, let alone being flexible.