Sun Ruirui needed to consider Comrade Lao Sun’s feelings, so she didn’t press the matter of studying at Shazhou Beast Taming University.
Seeing this, Comrade Lao Sun felt much more at ease, thinking he had successfully persuaded his niece.
Of course, only she knew the truth of the matter—what she was really thinking.
By sharing the Life Golden Pearl, the young girl had received the Life Energy of the Tidal Sea Spirit, an Emperor Level Potential Pet Beast. This allowed her to weather the crisis without any real danger and successfully awaken the incredibly terrifying Beast Taming Talent, Ocean Calamity.
Great gains, however, inevitably came with significant costs.
After she fully awakened her Beast Taming Talent, the Golden Pearl that emerged from Sun Ruirui’s body and returned to Golden Rain was visibly dimmer, having lost the luster it had when it was first produced.
Golden Rain retracted its Life Golden Pearl, its condition visibly flagging.
The toll had been immense.
It couldn’t be helped.
Fortunately, the Golden Pearl was only drained, not damaged in any other way. It should recover after a period of nourishment.
"Brother Qian, Golden Rain..." The young girl glanced at the Pet Beast, then spoke with some embarrassment.
Li Qian understood what Sun Ruirui meant. He smiled and waved his hand. "Don’t worry about it. My main purpose in coming to Zhonghai City was to master the evolution method from Golden Pearl Bud to Tidal Sea Spirit."
"Now, not only have I mastered the evolution method, but I’ve also..." He deliberately glanced at Comrade Lao Sun before continuing, "...fixed the evolutionary flaw. For me, that’s the greatest reward I could ask for."
The implication behind Li Qian’s words couldn’t have been more obvious.
Hearing this, Comrade Lao Sun’s lip twitched.
’What’s that supposed to mean?’
’Is he mocking me again?!’
’If you hadn’t saved my niece, I’d have thrown you out long ago.’
And yet, while he grumbled internally, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
’I’ve researched this for so many years and never found the flaw, but Li Qian comes along and fixes it in no time at all.’
The new generation surpasses the old. ’Am I about to be washed up on the shore?!’
While Comrade Lao Sun was filled with a whirlwind of emotions, Sun Ruirui still felt she owed Li Qian an apology. "But Golden Rain is your Pet Beast."
As she spoke, she fixed her gaze on Jinfeng. "Why don’t you take Jinfeng with you?"
To save her, Golden Rain had already formed a contract with her.
Giving it back to Li Qian was essentially impossible.
Jinfeng, on the other hand, had not yet formed a contract with a Beast Master since its evolution. It was still possible to give it to Li Qian as a replacement.
This was the young girl’s honest thought at that moment.
Hearing this, Li Qian just smiled and shook his head. "Don’t worry about it. I’ve already mastered the evolution method, so I can evolve as many Tidal Sea Spirits as I want."
He continued without pause, "Most importantly, Jinfeng and Golden Rain have lived here for many years. They’re used to it, and I don’t want to force them to leave their home."
The value of a Tidal Sea Spirit with Emperor Level Potential was self-evident.
But for Li Qian, since he had already mastered the evolution method, it wasn’t all that rare.
Another thing was that his Spiritual Power Level hadn’t yet broken through to Commander Level.
Even if he did break through, he had plenty of other Pet Beasts he needed to form contracts with, like Xiaohui...
So, he truly didn’t have the energy to raise another.
That being the case, it was better to let it stay at Hongqiao Manor with the young girl.
’Right, there’s one thing I need to take care of before I go.’
Just as he was about to leave, Li Qian suddenly thought of something. A peculiar smile touched his lips as he beckoned to Golden Rain. "Golden Rain, come over here."
Facing the benefactor who had helped it evolve, Golden Rain didn’t hesitate and walked right over.
Having Golden Rain lower its body, Li Qian whispered something in its ear. Finally, he asked for confirmation, "Promise me, can you do that?"
"WHOO... WHOO..."
Golden Rain let out the unique, whimpering cry of a Tidal Sea Spirit and nodded emphatically, indicating it would definitely keep the secret.
With that taken care of, Li Qian prepared to leave. But just as he took a step, two Roller Coasters zipped over at high speed, flying low to the ground.
The Roller Coasters came to a stop, and five young men and women in uniform stepped out.
"What happened here? Who called the Public Security Bureau?" the young man in the lead asked.
"I did. See that person over there?" Li Qian raised his hand and pointed. "He’s a Cultist from the Ancient Divine Teachings. He’s the one who caused all this."
To avoid having to go to the Public Security Bureau to give a statement, he played a trump card. "By the way, Senior Li Saint from the Transmission Center knows all about this. In fact, we only survived thanks to his timely intervention."
The implication of his words was very clear.
The fact that Li Saint himself had rushed over to help proved, at the very least, that he and Li Qian were on good terms.
"Alright then. We’ll take him back with us first." The young man nodded after hearing Li Qian’s explanation, then pointed at Elder Liao, who was now a puddle of mush, and gave the order.
"It really helps to know people..." Seeing that the young man wasn’t actually going to make him go give a statement, Li Qian couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.
A few moments later, the five of them left the scene with the unconscious Elder Liao.
...
After the people from the Public Security Bureau departed, Li Qian didn’t linger. He soon left Hongqiao Manor as well.
Not long after Li Qian left, Comrade Lao Sun became obsessed.
He constantly flipped through his research materials, muttering to himself nonstop.
"Where exactly is the problem?"
"What exactly is the flaw?"
He seemed to be questioning himself, but no matter how he mulled it over, he couldn’t find an answer.
The biggest reason for Li Qian’s passive-aggressive digs was that he had completed the research on the evolution from Golden Pearl Bud to Tidal Sea Spirit and fixed its flaw.
That was the source of his confidence.
Comrade Lao Sun knew that if he wanted to hold his head high again, he had to find this evolutionary flaw and correct the process.
Otherwise, the next time he ran into that kid, he’d undoubtedly get mocked again.
Finally, unable to come up with the answer, he had no choice but to turn his attention to the newly evolved Jinfeng and Golden Rain...
Perhaps Ah Hai, who had assisted throughout the entire evolution, also knew something.
At this thought, he didn’t hesitate and headed straight for the small cove on the northeast corner of the property.
Since their evolution, both Jinfeng and Golden Rain had taken up residence here, though Golden Rain was now contracted to Sun Ruirui.