“Beast Taming” was a skill Wang Sheng had acquired early on. Occasionally petting Da Bai could enhance his progress, so it increased rapidly.
He achieved a Breakthrough in no time, and although he petted Da Bai less frequently afterward, the progress slowly continued.
Eventually, both Da Bai and Yun Xiao fell into a long silence that lasted a year or two, focusing on their evolution.
Meanwhile, he busied himself with cultivating more and more skills, often neglecting Beast Taming. He barely attended to Da Bai and Yun Xiao and later learned Sword Flight, which made Da Bai unnecessary for traveling. Thus, the progress in “Beast Taming” gradually came to a halt.
Now, having reached Breakthrough three times, Wang Sheng himself was initially bewildered.
But soon, he realized why.
This time, using Da Bai as transportation counted as him taming Da Bai, so the progress bar was actually continuously growing.
That’s why there was this sudden Breakthrough.
Looking at the “Beast Taming: Breakthrough +3 (1%)” progress bar, Wang Sheng composed himself, surprised at heart.
He now wanted to try out the Beast Taming ability post the third Breakthrough.
“Beast Taming” was neither a knowledge-based skill nor a cultivation technique, so after the Breakthrough, he roughly understood the effects of the third Breakthrough.
“Yun Xiao!”
He called in his mind, and Yun Xiao seemed to sense something. It was usually flying in the sky, keeping an eye on Liu Jian’an and the others.
Usually, to call it, Wang Sheng had to shout or use Divine Thought to remind it.
But now, he just called it mentally, and Yun Xiao in the sky sensed something and flew down directly, landing on the window of the tiger cart.
“Chirp chirp chirp~”
What do you need from me?
Yun Xiao didn’t realize there was an issue; it just naturally came.
This was the first ability after the third Breakthrough in “Beast Taming”; the connection between Wang Sheng, Yun Xiao, and Da Bai became much closer—Wang Sheng could convey his thoughts to Da Bai and Yun Xiao through telepathy.
And this method of connection was actually bidirectional.
However, Yun Xiao hadn’t yet grasped this point.
“Go, see what’s ahead and communicate it to me. Just think about it in your mind, and remember to think about conveying it to me at the same time.”
Yun Xiao, intelligent as it was, thought of the recent call from Wang Sheng, realized something, and flew out.
And it began reporting on the road conditions ahead in its mind.
“Chirp chirp chirp~”
Head a certain distance to the right at the curve, which is quite sharp; Da Bai should slow down…
As Yun Xiao reported, Wang Sheng also used his Divine Thought to probe ahead, and the information he got was similar to Yun Xiao’s description.
Not only that, Wang Sheng realized he could presumably block the reception of information.
Of course, he wouldn’t do that.
After ending this test, Wang Sheng had Yun Xiao come back and then began the second part of the test.
He let out his Divine Thought, enveloping Yun Xiao, and then—
Yun Xiao instantly shrank. What was originally the size of a palm, now became the size of a thumb, and could even become smaller.
“Chirp chirp chirp~”
Faced with this situation, Yun Xiao was somewhat panicked; it felt that it was already small enough!
This was the second ability. It allowed the control of Yun Xiao and Da Bai’s size. Of course, they couldn’t exceed their original size; it just made carrying them more convenient.
Looking at Yun Xiao’s panicked expression, Wang Sheng said, “Don’t rush. Try to grow bigger and see!”
Yun Xiao calmed down and tried to grow bigger, and indeed returned to its original size.
This ability, Wang Sheng could “authorize” to spirits like Yun Xiao and Da Bai that he had connected with.
“From now on, just use this ability as you see fit!”
This ability, actually, wasn’t very useful for Yun Xiao but was quite convenient for Da Bai.
After saying this, Wang Sheng began testing the last ability.
Whether it be telepathy or shrinking ability, both were just additives to the last ability.
Perhaps the final ability was the true transformation after the third Breakthrough.
“Yun Xiao, get ready, I’m going to give you some power!”
Yun Xiao: “???”
Before Yun Xiao could react, it felt an extremely powerful force injected into its body, instantly causing it to ascend several levels.
“Screech!”
Reaching a limit, Yun Xiao’s voice changed, a resounding bird cry echoing through the skies, as if it came from a high-flying phoenix.
In the mountain forests by the road, numerous birds took flight, continuously chirping.
It was like all birds paying homage to the phoenix!
“What’s this…”
Wang Sheng hadn’t expected such a huge change after enhancing Yun Xiao’s strength.
Even Da Bai pulling the cart outside was startled.
“Roar~”
What’s that noise? Why is there suddenly the presence of a high-level spiritual beast?
Then it saw Yun Xiao, vastly enlarged, soaring above in the high skies, with countless birds circling around it, akin to them worshiping their king.
“Yun Xiao’s strength now compares to a Grandmaster at most, right? Such a big change?”
Wang Sheng’s Divine Thought probed clearly—Yun Xiao’s strength was at most equivalent to a human Grandmaster and couldn’t be stronger.
Yet now, why does it seem so imposing?
“Screech!”
Hearing this screech, Wang Sheng suddenly understood something.
Yun Xiao excelled in two abilities.
One was speed, and the other was its own voice.
Yun Xiao’s voice had extremely potent mocking power; he hadn’t expected such a transformation after the improvement.
It was almost an extreme move.
“Really impressive!” Wang Sheng commented on Yun Xiao’s ability, followed by the threefold Breakthrough in “Beast Taming.”
After the threefold Breakthrough, an important ability emerged—it was the power to endow Da Bai and Yun Xiao with his own strength.
Actually, this ability was reciprocal; however, Da Bai and Yun Xiao’s power differed too greatly from his, so it largely functioned in a unidirectional manner.
Using Yun Xiao and Da Bai could enhance his power, but he might not even feel it.
Yet, this sufficiently demonstrated the magic of a threefold Breakthrough.
“It’s called Beast Taming, but it’s essentially a ’Beast Taming’ skill now, isn’t it?”
Beast Taming usually resembled ordinary people taming wild beasts, but after his threefold Breakthrough, it could be said to have nothing to do with conventional Beast Taming. Instead, it was more fitting to refer to it as a Beast Taming ability.
After all, it could enhance both ways.
Wang Sheng pondered for a while, then intended for Yun Xiao to return.
His abilities had all been tested, but just then, he suddenly stopped.
Because the progress bar that read “Beast Taming: Breakthrough +3 (1%)” changed to “Beast Mastery: Breakthrough +3 (1%).”
“Time to change the name?” Wang Sheng had never encountered such a situation before.
“…”
After thinking for a while, Wang Sheng seemed to have realized something.
“It looks like I’ve always overlooked some things!”
Thinking, he internally changed the progress bar from “Planting Skill” to “Farming.”
And indeed, the progress bar labeled “Planting Skill” soon changed its name; the only thing that didn’t change was its level and progress.
Then he tried to change it back and managed it without any surprises.
Seeing this, Wang Sheng confirmed something.
“In fact, the progress bar template is based on what I think internally.”
Thinking of this, he displayed all his skills.
“Cultivation Technique,” “Daily Life,” “Martial Skills”… The categories were extremely clear.
Looking at all the skills with clear categories, he tried to mix them up. As expected, the outcome was successful.
After restoring all the order, he was even more sure of his intuition.
Previously, he had never explored the origin of the progress bar because it was completely unnecessary.
Being so weak initially and having faced crises, no matter what the progress bar was, it did not matter as long as it solved the problem.
Even afterward, he did not pay attention.
When you get stronger using something unknown, thinking too much is meaningless.
Wang Sheng had thought of conspiracy theories.
But these thoughts were fleeting.
It’s laughable. If real powerhouses were targeting you, whether you accept it or not, there are ways to make you accept.
First refusal means memory deletion, restart, and repeat until acceptance.
Thus, Wang Sheng had never thought too much about it.
But this time was different.
He could modify the progress bar, which made Wang Sheng realize that this ability might not be from the outside, but rather inherent to him.
Having crossed over, it seemed some change had occurred, thus birthing this ability.
The origin of the ability was unknown.
However, the fact that he could freely change some information vaguely proved this.
Previously, he hadn’t noticed much, assuming these templates were fixed, but the change from “Beast Taming” to “Beast Mastery” made him realize that the so-called templates were just what he envisioned.
From the beginning, the progress bar was changing according to his will; he just hadn’t realized it.
“All the skills change according to the thoughts in my subconscious…”
Wang Sheng felt the discovery was significant.
Although this renaming couldn’t change the nature of the skills, it also made him aware of some of the essence of his Golden Finger.
Of course, even so, Wang Sheng felt he hadn’t undergone any spiritual transformation.
From the beginning, he didn’t have much opinion about this sort of thing.
This renameable ability just made things more convenient for him.
“Sigh.”
Soon, Wang Sheng dismissed these thoughts from his mind.
This was just a random thought due to a change in skills; after considering it, he needed to return to serious matters.
Cultivation was the most important thing at the moment.
Although some might say they don’t care, the body is quite honest; he found that practicing the spiritual secret techniques was now easier…
Not long after this chance discovery, Wang Sheng led his people to another city.
This time, he still received secret manuals and casual talks from the Yuelai Inn.
At the same time, Wang Sheng also asked his own question.
“Shopkeeper, what’s the situation with the great drought in Yu State Dream Prefecture? Are there really demons?”
The shopkeeper’s complexion changed upon hearing this question.
He recalled the instructions from above—fulfill all of this man’s requests.
So the shopkeeper led Wang Sheng to a secluded room and said, “Sir, this is actually a confidential piece of information, but you are our highest-standard friend, so I can tell you. However, I hope you keep it confidential, otherwise, it could lead to great chaos!”
For the first time, Wang Sheng realized that the matter of the drought might not be as simple as he thought.
He nodded and said, “Don’t worry!”
The shopkeeper then said, “The great drought in Dream Prefecture isn’t caused by any great demons. According to the news, it’s more likely that a treasure has appeared!”
(Thinking it over and over, I still wrote this chapter. The Golden Finger has a pit, a very late one, but it’s related to the protagonist, though there are no conspiracy theories, so don’t worry!)