"Fellow Daoist Su! You have to tell me, that move Yu Bao just used..."

"I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! Senior, can you put me down first..."

The spar ended, and thanks to Peng Kai’s persistence, Su Zhi was "volunteered" to exchange pointers.

Diya lingered by the ring, staring at it blankly.

’I’m so stupid, I really am.’

’I only knew he awakened Thick Earth Blessing, I didn’t know his Thick Earth Blessing could be used on other Skills.’

’I should have fought like that, not like this.’

’Or I just shouldn’t have charged in recklessly. It would’ve been better to wait for him to slowly reveal all his trump cards before attacking.’

’And that punch... I should have angled it 15° upwards to make it easier to recover.’

’Ugh, this is so frustrating...’

Diya was once again regretting his poor performance, feeling like ants were crawling all over him.

"Woof?" Yu Bao trotted over, Bling Bling.

"Hmph." Diya was still vexed and turned his head away, ignoring him.

’You won. You’re stronger than me.’

"Woof."

Yu Bao took out a bag of spicy gluten strips and nudged him with it.

’Don’t be sad. I’ll treat you to something yummy.’

"Hmph..." Diya glanced greedily at the spicy gluten strips...

But as a noble Nether Flame Spirit, he refused to accept the charity and stubbornly turned his head away.

’Spicy gluten strips are delicious, but I won’t let them break my will anymore!’

"Woof woof."

Yu Bao shook the bag in his paw.

’Are you sure you don’t want any? This is the good stuff—Weilong Big Latiao.’

As a noble Nether Flame Spirit, Diya wouldn’t eat it, even if it was the good stuff! Of course, a little peek couldn’t hurt. So Diya took a peek...

...just one peek...

And then he couldn’t look away.

The clean and elegant white packaging screamed simple luxury. When gently torn open, it revealed thick, long gluten strips lined up neatly, waiting to be enjoyed.

The chili oil was red and tantalizing, yet it gave off a sanitary vibe, completely unlike those cheap, flashy five-mao-a-bag trollops.

"Woof!" Yu Bao pulled one out with his mouth and chewed it with relish.

’This is the pinnacle of spicy gluten strips! One bag costs five yuan!’

"Hmph..."

Diya nodded, his eyes glued to the Weilong Big Latiao in Yu Bao’s mouth.

Five yuan a bag. Such a high price meant it was no longer a cheap sensory thrill but a high-class spiritual pleasure.

It was indeed worthy of his noble status as a Nether Flame Spirit.

Then, after eating two strips, Yu Bao trotted toward the trash can with the Weilong in his mouth.

Diya was shocked. "Hmph?!"

"Woof." Yu Bao used his paw to open the trash can.

’I was going to treat you, but since you don’t seem to want it right now and I can’t finish it, I guess I’ll just have to throw it away~’

"Hmph!"

Diya snatched the Weilong Big Latiao with a Nether Flame Spike.

As a noble Nether Flame Spirit, he expressed his strong condemnation of the little country bumpkin dog’s wasteful behavior!

Then, to prevent it from being wasted and to protect the spicy gluten strips, Diya buried his head and began to devour them.

Yu Bao poked him, a comical expression on his face. "Woof?"

’Is it good?’

"Hmph... hmph..." Diya nodded repeatedly, stuffing his mouth with the spicy strips, his eyes glazing over.

’I am a noble Nether Flame Spirit... I... spicy gluten strips...’

’These spicy gluten strips are amazing!!!’

·

With the team card collected and the spar concluded, it was nearly noon. Su Zhi bid farewell to the elders of the branch alliance.

"Farewell, Fellow Daoist Su. I wish you..."

Peng Kai’s expression turned comical. "Good luck with your Beast Taming, and may you improve every day!"

Su Zhi retorted, "And I wish Fellow Daoist Peng a speedy escape from singlehood."

Peng Kai: "Damn."

The elders burst out laughing, and a cheerful atmosphere filled the entrance of the branch alliance.

At Ai Kun’s Flying Pancake Stall next door, the middle-parted Brother Kun was surprised to see so many big shots emerge at once. He started snapping photos as he watched, his suspenders slipping off his shoulder.

"We’ll be heading back now. Farewell, seniors!"

"Goodbye, Xiaosu!"

"Su Zhi."

Just as he was about to leave, Peng Kai called out to him.

Su Zhi turned back. The dark gold Alliance Member medal gleamed in the sun, catching the light and reflecting a bright spot in his eyes.

"Remember, an oath isn’t just something you say. It’s something you live by."

The usually wild Peng Kai had a solemn and serious look in his eyes.

"Get stronger, then walk your Dao. Comrade Su Zhi!"

Su Zhi was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

The sun was rising, and the elders of the Alliance Committee stood against the light, watching the young man and woman depart.

"Why so serious all of a sudden?"

After they left, Yan Dingyi looked at Peng Kai with a smile. "That feels a bit out of character for you."

"It’s better to give him some advice. After all, he’s a truly promising seedling, not like that pile of trash recommended by the schools."

Peng Kai chuckled softly.

He recalled Su Zhi saying that Candle Venerable’s Divine Thought had glanced at him. There was a running joke in the Beast Taming Realm that only the chosen one would receive Elder Zhuo’s attention.

’What if he really is the chosen one?’

·

·

Su Zhi knocked on his front door, found it was already unlocked, and let himself in...

"Dad, Mom, I’m ho—"

"WAAAH! Xiaoshu is finally back! I missed you to death!"

Before Su Zhi could finish, a middle-aged man in a small pink apron, brandishing a small spatula, rushed out of the kitchen with a roar and threw his arms around him.

"Woof..." Yu Bao, who had been in Su Zhi’s arms, was squashed between two men, squeezed into a hot dog.

Su Zhi dropped his suitcase and peeled his dad off, only for Wang Sujuan to seamlessly take his place, pouncing on him and hugging him fiercely.

"I knew my Xiaoshu was the strongest! Xiaoshu is awesome!"

He could hear his mother’s sobs.

"SLURP, SLURP." Yu Bao licked away his mom’s tears and put out a paw to comfort her.

"Yu Bao is awesome too!!" Wang Sujuan also hugged Yu Bao and gave him a bunch of kisses before throwing herself back into Su Zhi’s arms to cry some more.

Feeling his shoulder grow damp with tears of joy, Su Zhi smiled gently and hugged his mother back.

’Mom was always encouraging me and believing in me. She was probably the one who was most worried about me.’

"Thanks, Mom. We won the championship. We’ll go even further from now on."

"Mhm!"

Wang Sujuan smiled through her tears and gave Su Zhi a kiss.

After comforting his mom, Su Zhi looked over at Su Mao, feeling it would be unfair not to spread the love. Then he saw his dad typing on a writer’s assistant app:

[Leave of Absence Notice]

My son has returned from his competition, so I have to make him a big celebratory feast. No update this morning...

Su Zhi: "..."

Any touching feelings he had instantly vanished.

’This dad is a lost cause. I should find a chance to mail him to Peng Kai...’

·

Dinner would be ready in a while, so Su Zhi led Yu Bao to his bedroom, which also served as his study.

The familiar smells of his bed and desk washed over him. The Yu Dian Dog figurine on his desk was slightly crooked, and in the pen holder, three black pens still rested on one side, with a red and a blue pen on the other.

Everything was just as he’d left it.

He had stayed at the city league accommodations for five days, but this felt more like home.

Feeling a wave of emotion, Su Zhi spread-eagled himself on the bed.

Yu Bao lay down next to his ear, and Su Zhi felt the furry touch of his tail on his cheek.

’It feels so good to be home.’

Yu Bao nudged him with his nose. "Woof!"

"Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you." Su Zhi grabbed Yu Bao’s head and started ruffling his fur.

After battling Xue Ao in the morning and Diya just now, Yu Bao had managed to gain some Points. It wasn’t a lot, but every little bit counts.

Hmm, 0.22...

"Not a lot."

Su Zhi couldn’t help but laugh. His appetite had really grown. In the past, this many points would have kept him up all night with excitement.

Yu Bao’s idea was to dump everything into Intelligence.

’He knew this one! His Intelligence was at 1.88, and adding 0.22 would make for a nice, clean number!’

Afraid he would get carried away, Su Zhi vetoed Yu Bao’s proposal. In the end, the Envoy’s Pet and his master negotiated and decided: 0.02 points would go to Intelligence, and the remaining 0.20 would be split evenly between agility and Constitution—

[Pet Beast: Yu Bao (Yu Dian Dog)

Power: 1.22

agility: 1.90

Intelligence: 1.90

Constitution: 1.40

Perception: 2.00]

[Real-time Energy Value: 1440]

Yu Bao’s eyes shot open.

He had never added so many points to Constitution at once. Having 0.10 points poured in all at once felt like it was about to make him burst.

His body felt unprecedentedly powerful and durable!

If he went back to that little dark room now, he was confident he could fight 004 for a day and a night without flagging!

Su Zhi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Yu Bao. "See? Putting points into Constitution is pretty great, right? If we had gone with a Constitution + Power build from the start, you might have been well-suited for standardized training."

"Woof." Yu Bao shook his head.

Those crappy standardized Skills were no fun at all. He couldn’t bring himself to learn them, even if he got points for it.

Besides, what’s so fun about melee combat compared to attacking from a distance?

"What if you can’t kill them with ranged attacks? You’d still have to fight up close, wouldn’t you?"

"Woof." Yu Bao gave Su Zhi the look of a Wise One.

’That just means your firepower isn’t strong enough. You just have to keep figuring out how to increase your firepower.’

Su Zhi: "..."

’Damn, why does Yu Bao’s line of thinking have such a Russian vibe? Is this what putting points into Intelligence does to you?’

"Woof."

Yu Bao didn’t bask in the joy of his new stats for long before diving into his studies, flipping through Su Zhi’s textbooks.

Even though they were all standardized skills, the saying went "absorb the essence and discard the dregs." Perhaps the Skills of other Pet Beasts could offer him some inspiration!

’If I knew you were going to be like this, I wouldn’t have bothered putting so much thought into a skill framework...’

Su Zhi chuckled again. Seeing Yu Bao get so serious about his studies, he decided not to disturb him.

The great cannon that Yu Bao had come up with before was still fresh in Su Zhi’s mind. He might as well let him keep pondering on his own; who knows, one day he might just come up with a Star Destroyer.

After resting, Su Zhi opened his backpack to unpack.

He’d gotten quite a lot of stuff from the city league this time:

The souvenir coal carving was placed next to his Yu Dian Dog figurine. The championship trophy would be delivered in a few days, and Su Zhi had already cleared a space for it on the second shelf of his bookcase.

There was also the admission notice for the summer camp, a 50,000-yuan cash prize, and a bunch of other odds and ends—mostly useless trinkets and resources...

But for Su Zhi, the most important item was a resource shared by all top-four contestants—

The Divine Concealment Core!

He opened the exquisite, red-velvet-lined gift box and saw the transparent, glass-like cuboid within, a smile creeping into his eyes.

Decades ago, a study accidentally discovered that pure space, containing no other substances, would slowly condense and eventually form a crystal-clear solid.

And that was the origin of the Tier Two Space Element resource—the Divine Concealment Core.

·

·

Note: A real vacuum also contains various invisible or undetectable substances. The Divine Concealment Core here refers to pure space that is completely devoid of any known or unknown matter (which is of course impossible in reality; it’s just part of the setting).