Chapter 6: Taming

The black bear looked suspiciously at Lu Xiaotian’s actions, using its paw to nudge the wolf demon beast on the ground toward Lu Xiaotian’s feet. Then, drooling, it turned toward the already fragrant roasted meat, its stout body pacing anxiously around the food.

Lu Xiaotian irritably took the roasted wild boar meat down and tossed it to the black bear, then used his dagger to process the two wolf carcasses.

Watching the black bear snap up the roasted meat he had thrown and devour it nearby, Lu Xiaotian rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought. After a long while, he looked at the gluttonous black bear again, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

Three days later, in the morning, at a cliff with an extremely narrow passage, a roasted, fragrant pheasant suddenly appeared. About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the roasted pheasant was snatched away by a mountain eagle.

"Damn feathered beast."

An annoyed Lu Xiaotian discovered that there was an eagle's nest beneath the cliff, with several mountain eagles appearing from time to time. He had no choice but to find another similar terrain and place another piece of roasted meat there.

Half an hour later, a snow-white fox demon beast snatched the roasted meat in one bite. Driven by Lu Xiaotian, the black bear hadn't even managed to block the fox's retreat when Lu Xiaotian saw a flash of white shadow before his eyes, and the fox demon beast vanished from the cliff.

A few days later, two wolf demon beasts were accidentally beaten to death on the spot by the black bear, who couldn't pull its punches in time.

Repeating this process, three months later, a lean young man appeared, accompanied by a huge black bear and a leopard that walked with a wobbly gait, looking quite petite compared to the bear. Around the leopard's neck, just like the black bear's, was an ancient silver ring.

Lu Xiaotian let out a sigh of relief. After spending more than three months, he had finally managed to capture his own spirit beast. Although this leopard was only equivalent to the second level of Qi Refining, Lu Xiaotian felt very satisfied. If not for the black bear's help, he could never have captured a leopard spirit beast stronger than himself on his own.

The only thing that disappointed Lu Xiaotian was that after searching a radius of several miles over these past few months, he had only found one spirit herb identical to the previous one. It seemed that spiritual items were quite rare in this valley.

"Lie down!" The excited Lu Xiaotian, having just obtained his new spirit beast, returned to his cave dwelling and, taking advantage of the hazy night light outside, began training the leopard spirit beast overnight.

However, this leopard was full of wild nature. It lay in front of the cave, lazily lifted its head to glance at Lu Xiaotian, and then closed its eyes to feign sleep, completely ignoring the human who looked far weaker than itself.

"If you won't pay attention to me, you'll suffer for it."

Lu Xiaotian’s expression turned cold. According to the *Art of Beast Taming*, there were usually two ways to tame a spirit beast. One was to raise it from a cub; such cubs had high obedience and could execute the beast tamer's various commands well.

But Lu Xiaotian had no cubs, and the growth cycle of a cub was too long. During the growth period, one had to use additional spiritual items. Lu Xiaotian didn't even have enough spirit herbs for his own cultivation, so he had no energy to raise a cub.

As for the other method of beast taming, it was to subdue an already mature demon beast. Because the demon beast was already fully formed, it was somewhat difficult to tame. Subduing such a beast usually required not only taking risks during the capture but also spending much more energy to tame it afterward.

The leopard spirit beast before him, equivalent to the second level of Qi Refining, was somewhat disdainful of the weak Lu Xiaotian.

Lu Xiaotian curled his lips. At the Thunder Blade Sect, he was just a handyman. Even though the black-robed old man had brought him to this mysterious valley and taught him a bit of cultivation technique, the old man still treated him as nothing more than a servant. The black bear was the black-robed old man's spirit beast and was quite powerful; did this leopard really think it could tower over him? Dream on.

Lu Xiaotian formed a seal with his hands and began chanting.

At this moment, the ancient silver spirit beast ring on the leopard's neck erupted with silver light. Lu Xiaotian felt the vital energy in his body surging into the beast spirit ring like a tide. As the ring emitted light, it began to shrink slowly.

"Awoo..."

The leopard howled and rolled on the ground. A moment later, cold sweat broke out on Lu Xiaotian's forehead. The leopard's strength was still above his own; if the spirit beast ring weren't clamped around its vital neck area, Lu Xiaotian would never have been able to make it submit.

Even so, there was still a look of unyielding defiance in the leopard's eyes.

Even as the leopard rolled on the ground in agony, it showed no intention of yielding.

A cold glint flashed in Lu Xiaotian's eyes. Although the *Art of Beast Taming* mentioned that taming was a long-term process—especially for captured adult demon beasts, as removing their wild nature was not a one-day task—Lu Xiaotian also understood from the book that even beast spirit rings had varying qualities. Inferior rings could not withstand long-term infusion of mana and might even break after being used a few times. Lu Xiaotian wasn't sure what grade the ring the black-robed old man gave him was, but in just this short while, the silver light of the ancient ring had already dimmed. It probably wasn't high-quality goods.

Thinking of this, Lu Xiaotian gritted his teeth, took out the medicine bottle he carried, and swallowed a Qi Gathering Pill. A massive, pure stream of spiritual energy dissolved within his body. Although it was the same as the spiritual energy produced by consuming spirit herbs directly, the energy from the pill was much greater and far gentler. If the fierce energy from a spirit herb had been of this magnitude, he likely wouldn't have been able to contain it, and it would have rampaged through his body, damaging his meridians instead.

After taking the Qi Gathering Pill, the pallor caused by Lu Xiaotian's near-exhaustion of mana immediately returned to a healthy flush.

Following the changing seals of Lu Xiaotian's hands, the spiritual energy generated by the dissolved Qi Gathering Pill found an outlet and poured continuously into the beast spirit ring.

The beast spirit ring erupted with a silver light even more powerful than before, shrinking rapidly.

"Submit, or die!" Half an hour later, Lu Xiaotian looked coldly at the leopard, which was rolling on the ground and gasping its last breaths.

"Awoo..."

The leopard howled, perhaps sensing the threat of death. After a final struggle, it obediently lay flat on its stomach before Lu Xiaotian.

Lu Xiaotian stopped outputting mana. By now, most of the Qi Gathering Pill's medicinal power had been consumed, and Lu Xiaotian felt a sharp pang of regret, though he was glad to have completely subdued this low-tier spirit beast. It had certainly taken a lot of effort.

Relieved, Lu Xiaotian sat down despite his mental and physical exhaustion to refine the remaining small portion of the pill's medicinal power.

Above the valley, the bright moon hung high. While other places were bathed in clear, water-like moonlight, the valley itself was filled with mist. In front of the cave at the valley entrance, Lu Xiaotian's body was already covered in a layer of white vapor.

The black bear was snoring away at the cave entrance, while the leopard, having suffered several tortures that day, lay listlessly a few yards away from the bear.

Under the shroud of mist, one man and two beasts remained until late into the night. Only when the last bit of the pill's spiritual energy was fully refined did Lu Xiaotian open his eyes, feeling unsatisfied. The path of cultivation was truly long.