As the Iron Carving King chewed, it started to feel that something was wrong. A fire seemed to be burning in its belly!

It suddenly paused its claws and swallowed the last bite of the Red Crocodile. Immediately after, a mysterious power flowed from its stomach to its tail feathers!

"SKRAW! SKRAW!"

The Iron Carving King cried out in alarm. Its tail felt like it was on fire.

’No! This can’t be happening! It feels like something is about to burst out!’

"POOF—!"

It turned its head, its eyes widening, and saw that its tail feathers had transformed into the tail of a Red Crocodile!!!

And all the black iron feathers on the lower half of its body had turned into fiery red fish scales!

’What the hell is this!’

A Red Crocodile had the head of a crocodile and a fish-like tail that was thick and hard.

The Iron Carving King liked to eat Red Crocodiles, but it had never imagined its own tail would take on the shape of one.

This surreal scene almost made it faint.

[Fusion Complete]

[Result: The Iron Carving King has obtained the Water Attribute. It can freely switch the form of its tail, changing it into a Red Crocodile’s tail. In this form, it can swim as freely as a fish in water, and its tail slaps can cause tons of damage.]

After reading the information, Yu Changsheng was utterly astonished.

’I was trying to raise the Iron Carving King to be like a Golden-winged Roc, but now it’s turning into a fish. Isn’t this going to turn it into a Kunpeng?’

"But I guess it makes sense. After all, it only cost 99 Essence."

Yu Changsheng stroked his chin, sizing up the Iron Carving King’s new form. ’This is pretty interesting. In the future, I won’t just be able to fly through the sky on its back, I’ll be able to go underwater too!’

The Iron Carving King curiously looked at its new tail and slammed it against the ground a few times with all its might.

"SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!"

The ground instantly cracked, and the entire house shook violently, startling a few servant disciples next door from their sleep. They thought it was an earthquake.

"Stop! Stop that!"

Yu Changsheng quickly stopped it from causing any more trouble, wiping away a cold sweat. ’This house can’t take much more of this!’

The Iron Carving King shrank back its head, then excitedly pointed at its tail with its little claws, as if to say, ’Master, look, look!’

’I can turn into the shape of a Red Crocodile!’

"I see it. You need to practice this ability and get good at it. You’ll get other abilities in the future, just like how the Red Snake King can spit poison," Yu Changsheng said with a smile.

The Iron Carving King then understood that its master had bestowed this ability upon it, and it let out a joyful cry.

"Skraw."

「The next day.」

"BANG!"

In the valley outside the Spirit Chicken Garden, the Red Snake King and the Iron Carving King were fighting.

After they had each acquired new abilities, Yu Changsheng began to train them in combat so they wouldn’t get rusty.

"SKRAW!"

The Iron Carving King spread its wings and lunged, its sharp claws swiping toward the Red Snake King.

However, the Red Snake King didn’t dodge. Instead, it met the attack head-on!

A blue light covered its Snake Scales—it was its Talent Magic, Water Illusion Spirit Armor!

The sharp claws scraped across, but the Snake Scales were completely unaffected. They were so slippery that the Iron Carving King couldn’t even get a grip!

"Skraw?"

The Iron Carving King was a bit stunned. It hadn’t expected the Red Snake King’s defense to be so strange; its attacks were completely useless against it.

The Red Snake King whipped its tail, lashing out directly at the Iron Carving King.

But the Iron Carving King’s reaction was swift. It changed its form in mid-air, its lower body transforming into a fish tail, which collided with the incoming snake tail.

"BANG!"

Relying on its superior Realm, the Red Snake King overpowered the Iron Carving King.

But the force erupting from the fish tail also made its own tail go numb. It was secretly shocked. ’This little brother’s attack is so strong. If we were at the same tier, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to withstand it.’

"PFFT!"

The Red Snake King spat out a Water Arrow and lashed its tail again.

Faced with this barrage of attacks, the Iron Carving King was struggling to hold on. After all, defense had never been its strong suit.

It hastily changed its form again, spreading its wings and spiraling away to dodge the tail whip, but it couldn’t evade the Water Arrow.

"BANG!" The Iron Carving King lost its balance in mid-air. Before it could adjust, the Red Snake King coiled around its body, immobilizing it.

Its cavernous mouth, wide open, twisted into a mocking grin.

’Little brother, you’re still too green.’

"Alright, that’s enough!"

Yu Changsheng quickly raised his hand to stop their battle, not wanting them to get truly heated.

"Eat this Qi Blood Pill and recover from your injuries."

"Iron Carving King, you don’t have to be fixated on the fish tail. Use your eagle form when you should. When you transform, you have to be fast and decisive. Otherwise, you’re just giving your enemy an opening."

"At the same time, you need to use the Talent Magic you’re good at, like Black Wind Slash and Wind Blade. If you only rely on physical combat, there’s no way you can match the Red Snake King."

Hearing this, the Iron Carving King nodded its head like a student, dutifully taking in the lesson.

Meanwhile, the Red Snake King looked on in amusement, tapping the Iron Carving King’s head with the tip of its tail.

’The big brother’s status isn’t so easily challenged.’

"That’s all for today. We’ll continue training tomorrow."

Yu Changsheng checked their injuries. Seeing nothing serious, he recalled them to his Inner Realm.

「Soon, another month passed.」

Yu Changsheng’s speed of earning money had also increased significantly. By refining Qi Gathering Pills and Spirit Enhancement Pills, he could now earn an income of one thousand five hundred Lower Grade Spirit Stones each month.

The rate at which he acquired Essence had also increased, and he could now obtain about five thousand per month.

He had saved up his Essence this month without using it. With the sect’s selection trials imminent, he needed to decide where to allocate his points based on the situation.

Meanwhile, after consuming several Spirit Enhancement Pills, the Iron Carving King’s Realm broke through to the Tier One Fifth Layer. Its strength had increased a great deal, but it still couldn’t defeat the Red Snake King because the Water Illusion Spirit Armor was simply too overpowered among Tier One Demon Beasts.

As for Yu Changsheng, his own Realm was getting closer and closer to the Qi Refining Sixth Heaven. He was confident he could break through before the selection trials began.

"Hurry, hurry, the tickets are almost sold out!"

"Who else wants a ticket? Twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones each! First come, first served! They’re almost gone!"

"Weren’t they ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones each? Why did you double the price?!"

"Hehehe, that was before. Of course the price has gone up now. You have to understand, this is a lecture from a Golden Core True Master, something that only happens once in a decade! Twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones is still a bargain. What if you listen and have an epiphany?"

Yu Changsheng, who had just come out of the First-Grade Medicine Hall, saw a crowd of people squeezed together up ahead. A Cultivator wearing a Wanxiang Sect Disciple Robe was holding up a ticket and hawking it loudly.

Yu Changsheng grabbed a nearby Loose Cultivator and couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Fellow Daoist, what’s all this about?"

The Loose Cultivator was initially annoyed at being grabbed, but when he saw the robes Yu Changsheng was wearing, a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Oh, that? They say a Golden Core True Master from the Wanxiang Sect’s Magic Peak is going to hold a public lecture to help us Loose Cultivators in the Fish Market understand what the Great Dao truly is. That disciple is selling tickets for the venue."

"If you want to go in and listen, you need a ticket. It was ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones before, but maybe because there are too many people now, the price has gone up to twenty."

"But that’s a Golden Core True Master! Loose Cultivators like us could live for forty or fifty years and not get a single chance to see one. What are a few mere Spirit Stones? It’s not like a Golden Core True Master needs the money. He’s doing this purely out of pity for us, whose Cultivation is slow and have no connection to the Great Dao."

After hearing this, Yu Changsheng was also extremely surprised. ’A Golden Core True Master is so noble, why would one come to the Fish Market to give a lecture?’

Driven by curiosity, he took out twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones and bought a ticket as well.

"Hehehe, take good care of the ticket, Junior Brother. Don’t lose it, or you won’t be able to get past the Array. It’s already packed inside, so it’ll be hard to get a good spot. You can head in from the side over there."

Seeing that Yu Changsheng was also from the Wanxiang Sect, the disciple handed him a ticket with a broad smile and directed him toward a corner of the Cloud Mist Mountain Range up ahead.

An Array had been set up there, enveloping the foot of the mountain where a stage and a plaza had been built, capable of holding over ten thousand people!