Chapter 285: Chapter 277: Let’s See How He’s Doing

Gu Ming was currently teaching Mouse Treasure the Earth Element Main Array, with the Light Array serving a supportive role.

If used without a Light Spiritual Root, the Cultivation Technique could still function, but its ability to nurture life would be greatly diminished.

This Cultivation Technique could have been taught to Cyan Treasure as well.

Unfortunately, Cyan Treasure lacked an Earth Element Spiritual Root, so a Cultivation Technique for catalyzing life would have to be based on the Grass Element, supplemented by the Light Element.

But this would violate the competition’s restrictions.

Therefore, Gu Ming could only have Mouse Treasure take the lead and try it first. Once he had mastered the uses of both Arrays, Cyan Treasure’s subsequent Cultivation would also go more smoothly.

Meanwhile, after Gu Ming’s Array thesis took first place, other contestants began finalizing their own theses on Arrays or Cultivation Techniques, drawing the attention of the Hall of the Great Dao for collection.

This was the national competition, and the participants were all top-ranking geniuses from their respective provinces. On average, every one of them was capable of creating a Cultivation Technique.

However, creating a Cultivation Technique worthy of being collected by the Hall of the Great Dao was no easy feat.

Everyone waited with bated breath, only to see the Hall of the Great Dao open in the sky and cast down a mere Monochromatic Holy Light.

And that Holy Light didn’t land on them, but on someone else.

At this moment, the contestants who had failed to summon the Hall of the Great Dao looked disappointed.

’Why did someone else’s Cultivation Technique thesis succeed?’

’Why couldn’t I?’

Anxious thoughts like these swirled in their minds, leaving a bitter, unspoken taste.

The Hall of the Great Dao would close its doors and vanish, only to reappear a short while later.

The participants who failed to receive even a Monochromatic certification lost all hope and simply left the competition early to return home.

Even for the contestants who did receive a Monochromatic Holy Light, the rest of the exam would not be easy.

After all, Gu Ming had kicked things off with a spectacular success, earning a Four-Colored Holy Light for his Array design, which placed immense pressure on those who followed.

No one knew how he would fare on the Cultivation Technique design question, so as long as Gu Ming hadn’t finished his Cultivation Technique thesis, they still had a chance to compete.

「Not long after.」

As the first Dual-Colored Holy Light shone upon the arena, the atmosphere of the national competition grew even more tense.

While everyone else was writing their theses, Jiang Jinling had her Pet Beast frantically absorb the Holy Light from the Hall of the Great Dao.

Finally, on the fourth day of the exam, she enabled her Pet Beast to complete its Two-star Evolution.

Its Evolution somewhat affected the thesis designs of the other people in the arena.

But for a genius contestant like Jiang Jinling, multitasking was not difficult. She guided her Pet Beast’s Evolution while simultaneously writing her thesis—two of them, in fact.

She had already finished drafting her Array design, but because she was focused on her Pet Beast’s Evolution, she hadn’t performed the final check.

Once the Grass Spirit’s Evolution was complete, she put the final period on her paper. The Hall of the Great Dao, which had just closed, opened once more, casting a brilliant beam of Tri-Colored Holy Light onto her thesis draft and, at the same time, into the Four-star Pill Furnace beside her.

Jiang Jinling showed no ecstatic joy on her face. Instead, she gently shook her head.

After witnessing Gu Ming’s Four-Colored Holy Light, the Tri-Colored Holy Light—an achievement that would normally have made her happy for months—seemed somewhat lackluster in this moment.

She looked up and saw that Gu Ming was still guiding his Pet Beast, Mouse Treasure, in its Cultivation. From the way it was Cultivating its Technique, it seemed to be using something related to an Array.

It was worth mentioning that the night before coming to the national competition, Jiang Jinling had furiously crammed by reading several of Gu Ming’s published Cultivation Technique theses.

She had discovered that he was fond of inscribing Arrays in his Pet Beasts’ minds.

At first, she had considered it an unorthodox design, just a novelty to look at and perhaps draw some inspiration from.

Now, however, she realized Gu Ming was treading this path with confidence.

She had already learned the details about his Four-Colored Holy Light Array question through her own intelligence network.

The Array design was incredibly impressive, containing many groundbreaking and novel methods that significantly lowered the threshold for use.

His application of a Beastmaster’s Divine Sense was exquisite, allowing one’s Divine Sense to enter the Array without any feeling of awkwardness.

Of course, the most important part was the use of the Wave-Swallowing Technique Battle Technique within the Pill Furnace; that was the Array’s most eye-catching, innovative design feature.

She was aware of the gap between them, but she wasn’t discouraged. Instead, she paid even closer attention to Gu Ming’s design direction.

She knew that Cyan Treasure had a Light Grass Spiritual Root and that the officials had forbidden the use of Grass Element Spiritual Qi. His choice was to go in the Earth Element direction, with his other Pet Beast providing support.

From a great distance, she saw Gu Ming make a new move and immediately had her Two-star Grass Spirit sense what he was doing. It instantly detected that the Cultivation Technique Mouse Treasure was using was shaking the earth, beneath which a Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed had just been buried.

"Is he... starting the nurturing process?" she said in surprise.

Planting the Grass Seed meant that Gu Ming was starting to solve the problem.

How well the Black Ghost Wood sprouted would determine the score his New Technique would receive.

Cyan Treasure, which possessed a Light Spiritual Root, also stirred at this moment. It coiled on top of Mouse Treasure’s head, its whole body glowing as an aura of Holy Light flickered around it.

’Is it injecting Light Element Life Energy into Mouse Treasure’s body?’

Jiang Jinling was too far away and could only guess, which left her curiosity unsatisfied.

She turned to the people beside her and said, "Let’s move to a different spot to design our Cultivation Technique."

"Where to?" her teammate asked without a second thought.

"Over there, of course!"

Without any hesitation, Jiang Jinling led her team to a spot near Gu Ming, making it convenient for her to design her Cultivation Technique while observing Mouse Treasure’s process of cultivating the nurturing technique.

Her two teammates were speechless for a moment, but they too noticed that Mouse Treasure had placed both its paws on the ground, as if it were beginning the catalysis.

This also made them watch with curious eyes, studying the scene intently.

...

Lu You noticed Jiang Jinling’s arrival. Keeping her head down, she subtly shifted her position to stand in a spot that blocked Jiang Jinling’s view of Mouse Treasure.

Jiang Jinling frowned, but it wasn’t a major problem.

The Pet Beast’s body was hidden, but that didn’t stop the aura of its Daoist Skill from flowing out, nor could it hide the Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed buried in the ground.

After her Grass Spirit advanced to Two-star, its Perception of all nearby Grass Element plants and seeds had become much sharper, rivaling the ability of a Beastmaster to probe directly with their Divine Sense.

"Sense what’s underground," she commanded.

Mhm!

The Grass Spirit by her side fluttered its small wings, closed its eyes, and gently touched the earth.

Information about the life force of all sorts of Grass Seeds traveled through the earth and into its body.

Jiang Jinling synchronized with this information and gradually began to understand the design of Gu Ming’s new Cultivation Technique.

"How can it be like this!"

She couldn’t help but be astonished when she figured out the core concept of Gu Ming’s design.

...

"Close your eyes and focus, Mouse Treasure."

Gu Ming’s calm voice resounded in Mouse Treasure’s mind. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Mouse Treasure held its breath, calmed its mind, and focused its attention on its Dantian.

It constructed a composite Array in its mind, first outlining a Spirit Gathering Array. Then, it visualized the soil beneath its paws, the sunlight shining down from above, and the newly buried Black Ghost Wood Seed awakening in the embrace of Mother Earth.

Earth Element Spiritual Qi gathered like a stream, converging on the location of the seed beneath it.

Ripples gently spread across the Sea of Consciousness in its mind, making it as clear as a network of veins and allowing a ripple to be easily generated within its body.

This was an earth-elemental ripple generated by the Foundation Establishment Tripod. As it lightly struck the ground, the Runes and patterns in its mind flickered with a faint light.

Mouse Treasure didn’t really understand how to use this Cultivation Technique, but with the help of the Brain Array, the strange and peculiar Earth Nurturing Technique began to operate on its own.

The Grass Seed under its paws also began to tremble, rapidly absorbing nutrients from the ground.

Gu Ming poured on a freshly mixed nutrient solution while having Cyan Treasure inject Light Life Energy into Mouse Treasure’s body to sustain the operation of the other Light Array.

That’s right. After two days of trying, Gu Ming ultimately couldn’t do without the Light Array and had to inscribe it in Mouse Treasure’s mind.

Mouse Treasure didn’t have the ability to activate this Array, but this was an exam, after all, and there were no restrictions on a Pet Beast’s Attributes.

As long as big brother Cyan Treasure was on the side providing support, helping to activate the Array and allowing Mouse Treasure’s Cultivation Technique to run successfully, everything would be fine.

Besides, the test was about Cultivation Technique design. As for how it was activated, that was another matter entirely. Even if the examiners decided to deduct points for it, Gu Ming would accept it.

This was also the very thing that had surprised Jiang Jinling next to them.