CH-22: It Takes A Beast To Be The Best Girl

"They allow humans to use the resources on those lands as long as they don't overexploit them. One of the reasons for this is that when a Divine Ascension Saint is ascending to the upper realm, they can take others with them. So you could say they rear a Divine Ascension Saint to carry them to the Upper Realm."

Instructor Azure Claw Fiend paced across the stage, giving the students time to digest the bomb she just dropped. For many here being a Golden Core True Person was enough, as they would be in the top 10% of the cultivators in the world. But what was a Saint? The peak of humanity, the strongest person in the world! Now Azure Claw Fiend was saying that a person of such status was nothing more than a cattle to those Divine Beasts. First They were flabbergasted, then they were appalled. Not being able to swallow their pride of being human, then they were enraged. Noticing the unrest in a group of students, Instructor Azure Claw Fiend released a bit of her aura. Suddenly everyone was pressed to the ground under extreme pressure.

"Don't say and do something you will regret in a momentary rage." Then she sealed her aura again. It was as if she was a mortal. Then she continued.

"Those Divine Beasts are even older than even Prominent Clans, and their existence is crucial to the World itself. Enough about Divine Beasts, you probably won't ever meet one. Now, let's move on to the anatomy of beasts. Understanding their physical structure is crucial, whether you're engaging them in combat, forging artefacts, or concocting pills from their parts. A wild animal starts its cultivation by forging a Beast Core. You can form a Beast Core in many ways. An example is that if the said animal is herbivorous, the spiritual plants they eat may hasten the forming of the Beast Core. A carnivore does it by eating other animals. Enviromental factors such as the grade of Spiritual Veins or a heavenly treasure directly assist the forming of a Beast Core. The latter can even mutate the animal when it turns into a beast, giving it a bloodline. Every Divine Beast out there has a potent bloodline, and one of the ways those Divine Beasts help humans reach Divine Ascension is through bloodlines. Take the Lin Clan for example; their Guardian Divine Beast, the Golden Striped White Anima Tiger. I would love to talk about it myself but I think there are more apt persons for it."

Being the Lin Clan supremacist he is, my brother Namor didn't miss the chance.

"Of course! My Lin Clan's Guardian Beast, Ancestor Baihu is a being that is the pinnacle of the world. He has had many offspring throughout his life, some of them reaching Sixth Rank and gaining a human body. Through countless marriages with Ancestor Aunts and Uncles, my Lin Clan has the Bloodline of Ancestor Baihu. The bloodline is particularly denser with my father, making him the greatest talent of the last millennia!"

'Is it bestiality at its finest, or is it ' it takes a beast to be the best girl'? Anyway, thankfully that blockhead didn't go into details about our bloodline. I don't know if I should be happy about how he went with it though...' Then I felt an ominous feeling from my side. Of course, it was Iyana, who was looking at me with disgusted eyes. 'Wait! I did not! And your clan did it too! It was even a tortoise!' I hoped my eyes could convey my thoughts.

"I'm sure everyone here would agree that your father, the Lin Patriarch, is a top-tier genius, but our topic is Beast's Anatomy. Now where were we? Right, Beast Cores. After a Beast Core is formed, the aptitude of the said beast determines its limits. Bloodline is one of the factors that raise the aptitude, so offspring of beasts with bloodlines tend to be of higher ranks. Beasts continue their cultivation by collecting more energy in their cores. They can passively absorb that energy or eat other beasts' cores to hasten the process. Every rank up toughens the bones hardens their skin and strengthens their muscles. You can compare it to the Body Cultivation." Hearing this one of the students raised his hand.

"Yes?"

-"I'm sorry but I don't understand. Previously Instructor Fiery Blade told us that the path forward is blocked with body cultivation. If it is blocked how can the beasts can cultivate their body and we cannot?"

"That is a good question. Do you know which form of cultivation humans first used? It is Body Cultivation. They observed the beasts, ate the plants they ate, drank from the water they drank, and bathed in the blood of those they hunted through various means. Body Cultivation in itself was not inherent to humans, and this caused problems for the later realms. Now it is not the time to talk about those realms though. Back to our topic; as beasts grew their cores more, they also began to gain sentience, a drop of intelligence around Third Rank. From then on their cultivation is not simply a cultivation of the body, but also of the mind. As their mind grew, they began to alter their habitats or change to one that is better fitting for them." Then she went on about how to determine a beast's rank through its habitat, and what to look out for in an unknown environment or against an unknown beast. Lessons this time were quite useful, as she was also giving visual aids with materialising her Qi. It was quite the spectacle.

"Looks like our allocated time is over. Next week we will be going through how to tame beasts and rear them. Everyone should attend, it is crucial knowledge for a cultivator." With that, she jumped on her flying beast and set off. Most of the commoners were mesmerised by such a sight, their enthusiasm is apparent on their faces.

'She fooled these idiots well, how can it be so easy to make your beast go past its limits? Just because she had a charismatic feel to her they will be choosing Beast Taming Course now. Not to say such a task is also hard on resources. They should just focus on themselves...' I didn't give much attention to those commoners as I had a more pressing matter at hand.

"Iyana, wait! Wait for me!"

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After a bad attempt at explaining myself, I went back to my cave. 'It is not like there have been any marriages between us past two thousand years, why I'm considered a pervert again?'

Shaking my head I let sleep take me. Tomorrow there will be a refining lesson. The day after tomorrow would have alchemy lessons, and the next day would be talisman making. I was thinking of attending talisman making too after refining lessons.

We gathered in the same auditorium the next morning. There were several groups formed this time. Nobles always stuck together, and now they have begun to recruit those with potential. They would be great assets for their Clans. I did not bother with it since Namor would have it covered. I did not care about being a patriarch after all. Before long our refining instructor arrived. He was an old man with white hair and a long beard. He had a buff physique compared to the expectation of a frail old man, likely due to refining all his life. He was on top of a flying sword,

"Looks like we have a bunch of unrefined gems this time. Ahem, you may call me Instructor Blazing Forgeheart. I will be instructing you on the intricacies of forging and Refining. Before we get to that, I want you to hold these hammers." He said, giving everyone a forging hammer and an anvil.

"I want you to heat the metal and hit it. Don't simply do it because I told you, but hit it with your heart. I will be reviewing them later. You just have to forge the metal, no need to make a working artefact."

'Is he looking for a core disciple? He should be nearing his lifespan then.'

Blazing Forgeheart True Person was someone with great fame. During his childhood, he developed an interest in blacksmithing. This later turned into an interest in refining itself. He was so infatuated with it that he refused to cultivate it before he became a sage. His mother did not take it well. Apparently, he was a bastard child of some noble, so he had been pressured to cultivate by his mother to receive attention from the noble family. Not being able to achieve his goal left a scar on his Dao Heart, causing him to be stuck in the Golden Core Late Stage for the remainder of his life. He then left his family -even abandoning the family name- and pursued refining. He developed a technique named Heart Fire Forge, allowing his infatuation to assist him during Refining, increasing the chances of creating a Supreme Grade artefact. This was theoretically possible in every rank, so he was even sought out by my clan. From what I heard he had refused it saying he only did refining with his will, and would not be able to meet the expectations of a great Clan.

'What a load of bullshit, his wishes would have been respected. He just doesn't like nobles.' clearing my mind, I heated the piece of metal in front of me and waited for when I thought it was right for me to strike. Then I brought my hammer down.

-CLANG!