Chapter 39.1

From the day he returned to his human form, Jiang Tan continued with his daily activities such as going to the Wen Yun Platform to carry out morning practice.    

Now was the time. 

In fact, he had already been awake for a long time but did not move, this Taotie cub’s wide eyes were staring at the youth’s still sleepy face. 

He didn’t want to go back to his own room because that room was too far from this person. The cub knew how to take advantage of itself, knowing that as long as it turns into its current cub form and climbs onto the youth’s bed and curls up into a ball, the youth will surely not drive it away. 

The youth would even worry that he might be cold, holding him as he slept. 

Careful not to step on the youth as it got off the bed and changed back into his human form, Jiang Tan stood by the bedside and looked for a while.

His master did not like to cultivate by meditating. Living in the same room, Jiang Tan very quickly realized this. Also, his alertness was not very high or he would have already woken up as his breathing pattern changed once he woke up.

His gaze swept over the young man’s facial features, the pair of quietly closed eyes seemed extremely gentle and without the slightest sense of aloofness. 

Jiang Tan’s gaze finally stopped on the youth’s pale lips. Staring for a while, he probably became delirious and unexpectedly stretched his hand forward to touch it… 

When his fingertips brushed across the youth’s lower lips, that slightly cool and soft sensation caused this young Taotie cub to freeze. Although the touch was obviously slightly cold, his forefinger felt like it had been burnt. However, he still did not want to withdraw his hand. 

Forcing himself to tear his gaze away and thinking about how he wouldn’t let other people have the opportunity to speak ill of this youth in the future, Jiang Tan left the room and reached the training room in time.

Many of the chief disciples from the same sect soon found that the person they had previously despised and believed would be unable to build a foundation in his life had not only completely built his foundation but also seemed to have reached the late stage. 

In just one month of not seeing each other, how could a person, with talent that was only slightly better than a waste, reach such a stage? 

Reaching the late stage of foundation building was not that impressive. Those who were able to become chief disciples, the worst was now already at the early heart stabilizing stage. They did not believe that Jiang Tan managed to do this by his own strength.

In the past, they all felt that the other person was not liked by his master, but now they knew that this was not the case. With his peak master’s identity, it was an easy task to obtain a foundation building pill. Thus, most of the disciples believed that Jiang Tan only relied on pills to build his foundation and raised his cultivation level so quickly.

However, using pills to forcibly increase one’s cultivation level will cause it to become extremely difficult to achieve a breakthrough. Knowing that the other person now had a peak master as his backer, they no longer displayed their contempt but those disciples now basically had the attitude of watching a show.

With his mediocre qualifications, in the future, he was likely to be stuck at the late stage of foundation building for at least eight to ten years. When that time comes, even if nobody’s tongues wagged, the person himself would be ashamed. 

However, not long after this, in merely six months time, those disciples who had this thought all felt their face hurt.

The black-haired child’s cultivation level growth was extremely rapid, he was clearly already in the fusion realm.

If his cultivation level continued to rise at this speed, the person that they used to despise and look down on would very quickly be able to catch up to their own level.

This degree of cultivation speed naturally caught a lot of attention, but the dark-haired child who was currently in the centre of this attention was currently in its beast cub form, laying in the young cultivator’s lap. 

Letting the youth poke him left and right, also pinching his paw pads, this Taotie cub’s body that had already grown a little did not show any signs of impatience.

[Crunch.] 

Now, the cub could easily bite off half a piece of stone and his appetite had clearly increased a lot.

Apart from spirit stones, Gu Yan had already improved the little cub’s diet by putting all kinds of spiritual objects in front of the cub earlier on and allowed him to choose. This included some items that could be used for alchemy such as spirit weapons and demon beasts’s flesh that Gu Yan cooked into dishes, items that would make others’ hearts hurt when they see it.

In this form, the body of the small ball didn’t seem to be as round as before, but it still feels very good to touch. 

Realistically speaking, daring to disturb a Taotie beast’s meal and also disturbing so excessively, there was really no one else…

But this Taotie cub seemed happy to be disturbed by the youth, his rounded pupils staring at the young man’s face as it momentarily forgot to eat.

Rolling over and exposing the little belly, he continued to gaze at the young man’s face with a low purr. 

This place was softer to touch, the youth should probably like poking it more. 

So well-behaved… Restraining his impulses, Gu Yan only rubbed the belly when the little ball took the initiative to expose its own belly.

Turning the small ball back again, Gu Yan only caressed along its spine this time and no longer disturbed the cub from eating. Devouring these spiritual items, the Taotie cub in his lap grew very rapidly. 

After all, there were no cultivation bottlenecks for Taotie beasts as they only needed to swallow spiritual power in order to use it. 

It was also probably because its blood was less than one-third, there was a limit to how much this Taotie cub could eat.

If it were pure blood, he would be able to eat freely without having to worry about not being able to digest the spiritual power. 

The Vatican Lotus can turn the cub in his lap into a pure blood, which will solve the problem of physical exhaustion the cub would face after its adulthood.

Gu Yan had of course not forgotten about this matter. In this half a year, they have had many ‘coincidental meetings’ and he has even given some pointers to Shen Yan with regard to cultivation. The protagonist was now a child. With a lack of cautiousness and his carefree attitude, it was easy to establish a friendly relationship.

After their relationship deepened, Gu Yan was ready to use a spirit weapon and anything else precious to exchange for the Vatican Lotus. Alternatively, he would also allow the other person to make a request. As long as the exchange was successful, everything was alright.

 “You’re almost at the early stage of the Heart realm.” Gu Yan stroked the back of the small ball on his leg.

 If things progressed in this direction, perhaps in a few years, this Taotie cub would be to reach the Golden Circle realm. 

The young man’s wrist was half hooked by a tail and the meek-looking cub purred softly in affirmation to his words. 

If this was known, it would probably frighten a large group of people and cause their jaws to drop. However, this would also attract unwanted attention. Before adulthood, the cub was not tyrannical enough, Gu Yan thought about it and decided to refine a spiritual tool that could conceal his disciple’s true cultivation level.