Ah Huang obviously did not regard these somewhat ugly close cousin mice as the same kind. Without even looking at them, it squatted at the door, chomping on a piece of raw iron with relish, while conveniently guarding the door for Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan’s mind shifted, and he summoned the attribute panel:
[Beast Master]: Gu Yuan
[Status]: Normal
[Beast Pets]: Iron-toothed Rat (Can evolve into a Little Treasure Hunting Mouse, requires 800 Dao Rhyme Points) — Iron-backed Centipede (Can evolve into a Silver-backed Centipede, requires 5600 Dao Rhyme Points) — Big-mouthed Snake (Can evolve into Devouring Serpent, requires 1000 Dao Rhyme Points).
[Tameable Beast Pets]: 0
[Cultivation]: Postnatal Martial Master (Refining Tendons)
[Dao Rhyme]: 1250
....
Regarding Dao Rhyme, Gu Yuan has already accumulated more than twelve hundred.
These Dao Rhymes, apart from the Iron-backed Centipede, are enough to let Iron-toothed Rat Ah Huang or the Big-mouthed Snake evolve, and there will still be some left over.
It’s just that...
Gu Yuan glanced at the three, opened the detailed information about them:
[Iron-toothed Rat (Blue)]
Description: A type of variant mouse that likes to eat gold and iron objects. Due to years of gnawing on metal, it has developed an "Iron Bone," making its body larger and stronger than regular mice, and more aggressive and lethal! Although it still hasn’t transcended the ordinary category, it has considerable intelligence. To evolve into a "Little Treasure Hunting Mouse," it needs to grow into a mature Iron-toothed Rat and consume 800 Dao Rhyme Points!
Status: Normal
Phase: Growth Stage (63％)
...
[Iron-backed Centipede (Red)]
Description: A relatively rare demon insect with a back as hard as iron and sharp legs like knives, it can devour mountain and forest miasma, various poison insects and substances to condense its own demon poisonous fog. It can cast the talent spell "Bone-Eroding Arrow," which erodes gold and dissolves iron. At this moment, it has just entered the growth stage, possessing a certain degree of low-level wisdom. To evolve into "Silver-backed Centipede," it needs to grow into a mature Iron-backed Centipede and consume 5600 Dao Rhyme Points!
Status: Normal
Phase: Growth Stage (39％)
...
[Big-mouthed Snake (Blue)]
Description: A rather special non-toxic snake, although its body is slender, it is extremely flexible and possesses remarkable strength and a fierce temperament. It can crush prey and swallow it whole. Due to its excessive greed, it sometimes gets killed by overfeeding. To evolve into "Devouring Serpent," it needs to grow into a mature Big-mouthed Snake and consume 1000 Dao Rhyme Points!
Status: Normal
Phase: Growth Stage (57％)
...
Among the three, Ah Wu has the slowest growth speed, far from maturity, but there’s nothing that can be done about it.
Gu Yuan only tamed it more than a month ago and has had no time to put in the effort to nurture it.
Additionally, Ah Wu is an Iron-backed Centipede, essentially belonging to the "demon" category, a premium level spirit species pet beast, so its slow growth is quite normal.
As for Ah Huang and Big-mouth, the former is Gu Yuan’s first spirit pet. Given its quick growth and highest spiritual wisdom, Gu Yuan has focused on nurturing it, occasionally giving it iron artifacts as snacks.
If there are no surprises, once Ah Huang becomes a mature Iron-toothed Rat, Gu Yuan will spend Dao Rhyme Points to evolve it.
As for Big-mouth, its growth speed isn’t slow, and although its physique is slender, it has an unusually large appetite.
A body as thick as an index finger can swallow animals like chickens and ducks completely, digesting them cleanly in a day.
Judging from the number of Dao Rhyme Points consumed, Big-mouth seems to have even greater potential.
Therefore, Big-mouth is Gu Yuan’s second backup.
However, right now, let’s level up myself first...
Gu Yuan took out the Leopard Embryo Marrow Cleansing Pill that Xia Xiuxue had just given.
Opening the bottle cap, after a brief inspection, Gu Yuan poured the spirit pill inside out and swallowed it in one gulp.
Even though he has the talent "Immune to Hundred Poisons," and Xia Xiuxue has no reason to poison him, Gu Yuan still acted rather cautiously.
Life is his own, it never hurts to be careful.
As soon as the spirit pill entered his mouth, it began to dissolve into a cooling liquid upon contact with saliva, which Gu Yuan swallowed down in small gulps.
He held it in his mouth for a while, until the whole pill completely melted and entered his stomach, a warmth sprang up, turning into strands of fine flow, surging to every part of his body.
Soon, his muscles began to feel numb and itchy, as if countless bugs were biting.
The qi and blood inside his body also seemed to be stimulated, starting to boil up.
Gu Yuan immediately set down the long sword in his hand, and began practicing the fist technique recorded in the "Golden Snake Swallowing Yuan Technique" in the courtyard.
Whoosh whoosh!
Each move and position, although somewhat slow and peculiar, carried tremendous force!
The air seemed to become viscous, and under the influence of the power wrapped in his fist, occasionally emitted a low whistling sound, carrying a kind of indescribable impact!
Even the solid ground in the courtyard was scraped up by the winds raised, raising a layer of dust, smoke rising all around.
At the same time, Gu Yuan guided the breath using the Breathing Technique, stimulating the qi and blood power, accelerating the digestion and absorption of the pill’s potency.
Under such circumstances, the potency of the Leopard Embryo Marrow Cleansing Pill is gradually depleted, and Gu Yuan’s major tendons become increasingly resilient.
The Refining Tendons Phase that was only a step away is finally beginning to progress towards Great Success!
After a long time, Gu Yuan stopped.
At this moment, all the skin and flesh on his body was faintly glowing red, steaming hot.
Plumes of white smoke rose from him, a result of his excessively high body temperature compared to the lower external temperature.
"Finally achieved great success in refining tendons..."
Gu Yuan let out a long sigh.
At this moment, he felt particularly light all over, his movements seemed lighter and faster, his strength and agility both visibly enhanced.
After Refining Skin, now achieving Great Success in Refining Tendons, his physique has become increasingly robust.
With two of the three Martial Master phases completed, Gu Yuan is now moving on to the Bone Refining stage.
Most importantly, from starting martial arts practice to now, it’s barely been over a month.
For others, at this point, most would not even have entered the doorway of Refining Skin yet.
The fact that Gu Yuan can achieve this level in such a short time, if word got out, would certainly cause quite a stir.
Given the current skills of Gu Yuan, if he were to venture the world with a sword, he might even earn a title like "Young Warrior Gu" as a talented youth.
After resting for a while, Gu Yuan took out the "Wandering Snake Step" he had just obtained and started flipping through it.
This kind of lightweight martial arts generally requires first understanding the essence of the martial art, followed by long practice of its movements, before any achievements can be made.
But for Gu Yuan, this process seems to have become much simpler.
He flipped open the martial arts secret manual, reading each word and sentence carefully, while examining the illustrations it contained.
After finishing this thin booklet, Gu Yuan was already enlightened. A picture formed naturally in his mind:
A Spiritual Snake is winding and moving through the mountain forest, skillfully and nimbly dodging trees, rocks, and other obstacles at great speed.
"So it’s like this..."
Gu Yuan silently savored the comprehension, immersed in it.
Then, he set down the booklet, moved his feet, and sprinted off, gaining speed quickly.
More importantly, his movement carried a sense of nimbleness and slick quickness.
Like a human-shaped monster snake.
...