Despite being a Rank 4, Yang Jie’s white peacock had a weak foundation. If Lin Jin’s suspicion was correct, the creature must have consumed a medicine too powerful that forced it to evolve.
Since Yang Jie had no proper knowledge of medicine, he probably did not use any methods to help his pet beast dissolve the vigorous leftover energy from the evolution.
If this were to go on, once the medicine’s effect wears off, the best-case scenario would see the white peacock falling from its current rank with its veins and internal organs damaged. It would be doomed to never evolve again. The worst-case scenario would see its veins rupturing, a problem that was undoubtedly fatal.
The added burden on the white peacock when it clashed with Xiao Huo would only speed up the process.
Though, if Lin Jin were to look into the bird’s details museum, there might be a way to resolve this issue and it might be saved. But why should Lin Jin help Yang Jie?
He was already showing Ye Yuzhou enough respect by holding back against his opponent’s pet beast at such a crucial moment. To help the white peacock fuse with the medicine’s effects? Lin Jin was no masochist.
Hence, he said to Yang Jie, “Yang Jie, let’s make a bet, shall we? I’m going to count to ten. On the tenth count, your peacock will either lose the battle and die.”
Anger flared up in Yang Jie’s eyes. “Bullsh*t! Lin Jin, if you have the guts, you’d let our pet beasts fight it out. I dare you!”
Lin Jin shook his head. Yang Jie was still stubborn in spite of how grave the situation had become.
“Fine, it’s that’s your wish, so be it.”
Then, Lin Jin began counting. He was only at ‘three’ when the white peacock began to weaken and by ‘seven’, the white peacock let out a shriek before its beak coughed up blood as it fell to the ground.
This startled everyone. One of the mentors hurried over to take a look before holding up his hand.
It was a gesture that signaled the end of the competition.
The verdict was clear. Yang Jie’s face was swollen from the beating he received and he couldn’t even get up on his feet. Similarly, his pet beast was now reduced to a bloody pulp, its fate unknown. The victor couldn’t be any more obvious.
“Lin Jin wins!” the mentor announced.
Lin Jin summoned Xiao Huo back. He glanced at the bloodied white peacock before returning to his seat.
Someone went into the arena to treat both Yang Jie and his white peacock but otherwise, no one else paid him any more attention. The disciples were all staring at Lin Jin with great respect and admiration.
He’s way too strong.
It was apparent that either Lin Jin or his pet beast was able to overwhelm Yang Jie on their own. Lin Jin deserved his place as number one in this disciple tournament.
“Brother Lin, we’re gonna be filthy rich!” exclaimed Lu Yunhe with a beaming smile. He was referring to the substantial amount of money he had placed on Lin Jin’s victory.
Yang Jie and the white peacock were taken away for treatment. The Friar Association had obviously arranged for beast appraisers and physicians to be on standby in case of emergencies like this. Still, it wasn’t long before Ye Yuzhou could be seen coming over.
Lin Jin knew what Ye Yuzhou was here for so he stayed quiet.
Ye Yuzhou sighed and whispered, “Appraiser Lin, as Yang Jie’s mentor, I did think that it’d be beneficial for him to learn a lesson on humility. However, one cannot deny what a remarkable creature his white peacock is. It would be too much of a pity and a loss to the Jade Dragon Kingdom if it just died like that.”
Lin Jin remained silent.
“Appraiser Lin, if you have any ideas, please help us. Do it in my favor, please?” Since Ye Yuzhou had put it this way, it would be inappropriate for Lin Jin to continue being indifferent.
After all, it wouldn’t be right for Lin Jin to turn Ye Yuzhou down, bearing in mind his age, experience, and status.
“Take me to him.” Lin Jin got up.
Ye Yuzhou glanced around and whispered, “Is the Curator here as well?”
Lin Jin frowned. “If you don’t trust me, I won’t help.”
Ye Yuzhou was obviously hoping that the Curator would step up instead, but sensing Lin Jin’s impatience, he quickly responded, “I do, I do trust you. We’ll be troubling you then, Appraiser Lin.”
By the time they arrived, the white peacock was moments away from drawing its last breath.
Lin Jin reached out to touch it. The information displayed in the Museum of Deadly Beasts basically confirmed the suspicion he held earlier. The white peacock had overexerted its body after consuming some potent medicine. It was no wonder that it got itself in such a terrible state.
It only managed to hold out this long thanks to its strong constitution and powerful bloodline. Had it been another pet beast, they would have died long ago.
Several treatment methods were provided in the museum. Lin Jin roughly read through them and chose the most suitable method with the highest chance of success.
“Please get me some hemolytic flower, dream mushroom, rocky leaf, and brew concoction out of these ingredients.” Lin Jin ordered as he tried to stop the white peacock’s bleeding with acupuncture.
The people around were frozen in place.
Angered, Ye Yuzhou barked at them and they scurried away to gather the items as instructed.
By now, Bai Zhenkong and Lu Bin had also arrived but they dared not close in. They merely stood there, observing from the sidelines.
“General Lu, why do you think Yang Jie’s pet beast turned out this way? Did it get hit by some strange magic?” Having no knowledge of medicine, Bai Zhenkong resorted to creative speculation for potential explanations.
Lu Bin shook his head. “I’m guessing that its owner must have fed it medicine recklessly. Chances are, the medicine was consumed with the aim of promoting its evolution but it just wasn’t compatible with the pet beast. I’ve seen similar cases before of people discovering pills from immortal ruins and then blindly feeding them to their pet beasts. In every instance, the pet beast would grow stronger temporarily and endless trouble would follow after that.”
At this, Bai Zhenkong sighed.
He was initially hopeful that Maple City would have another Rank 4 pet beast to guard the city. It now seemed like he had been hoping for too much.
Though, it wasn’t all bad news. At the very least, he could now confirm that Lin Jin’s pet beast was Rank 4 too, so Maple City still had one new Rank 4 pet beast.
Soon, the medicinal ingredients were gathered and brewed into a potent concoction.
Lin Jin pierced the white peacock with a needle and the latter woke up. He poured the liquid into its throat but a short while later, the white peacock began to throw up.
Whatever it spat out carried a dense medicinal aura.
Those were clearly the fragments of the pills that its body failed to digest and absorb properly.
At a glance, Lin Jin knew how powerful that pill was and it was a pity that Yang Jie fed it to his pet beast without first checking what the pill was for.
The consequences, which happened right before their eyes, were grave.
Once the pill fragments were thrown up, the peacock’s condition started to stabilize. Using the pulse-seeking technique, Lin Jin assisted the peacock in forcing out the remnants of the medicine’s effects while simultaneously mending the ruptured veins.
When everything was done, Lin Jin got up and turned to leave.
The white peacock’s life was no longer in danger but neither was it a Rank 4 beast anymore. However, without Lin Jin, it might have been a goner by now.
Now, the pet beast could only spend the rest of its life at Rank 3 with zero prospect of evolution in the future.
Lin Jin only intervened because Ye Yuzhou had asked for his help. As for Yang Jie, after suffering this crushing defeat, he would probably start acting more humbly from now on. Would he ever surpass Lin Jin again? Anyone who had the slightest bit of intelligence would know the answer to this.
Of course not.
Thus, Lin Jin was crowned the champion of this year’s disciple tournament.
He also got the reward he aimed for.
In fact, his prize wasn’t just the lesser dragon blood pill. He also received some intermediate spirit stones and spellbooks that weren’t found in the Spirit Library.
But to Lin Jin, nothing could compare to the lesser dragon blood pill.
With this, Xiao Huo’s path to further evolution was open. Otherwise, even with the Museum of Deadly Beasts, Rank 4 would be the ceiling for Xiao Huo.
