The Red Tiger followed calmly behind the avatars, while Aotian, through the perspectives of Coyote and Falcon, the inner elders of the Beast Pavilion, attempted to use his talents to analyze the tiger.
[Name: Shòu Xuán (Meaning: Profound Beast) - [Codename: Coyote]
Position: Elder of the Beast Pavilion
Cultivation: 1st Level Golden Core (1 Major Realm above the Host)
Position Ability: Beast Domain
Position Bonus: Beastmaster (Power of Raised Beast increased by 3x)]
'Well, aside from the standard expected of a Beast Pavilion inner elder — high affinity with beasts and knowing how to strengthen them — I don't feel much difference. The Beastmaster bonus seems to require long-term observation since it involves increasing the power of a raised beast, and I haven't raised one yet. But what exactly Beast Domain does is still unclear. I'll need to observe and test it more in the future,' Aotian pondered.
At the same time, he also evaluated the Red Tiger through the two outer elders of the Beast Pavilion, Bear and Leopard.
[Name: Lín Zhì (Meaning: Will of the Forest) - [Codename: Bear]
Position: Outer Elder (Beast Pavilion)
Cultivation: 1st Level Foundation Establishment (Host's Realm)
Position Ability: Beast Heart
Affiliation Ability: Combat Affinity with Beasts
Position Bonus: Observable Evolution (4 times per day)]
'Beast Heart, just like the other outer elder abilities, simply represents high affinity and talent — still slightly inferior to that of an inner elder. With Beast Heart, I can feel the beast's traits, understand what it lacks and how to improve it.' He analyzed. 'Now, let's try this active talent, Observable Evolution.' Aotian decided and immediately attempted it.
The spiritual energy of the two outer elders began rotating slowly in their dantians in an extremely complex pattern, difficult to comprehend. Even so, that slow movement felt familiar.
Just like when Bao Hui used his ability to analyze treasures, or when the Sword Pavilion elders copied Jian Huiyin's sword intent, there was a sense of waiting for information.
The ability required a defined analysis and a target — in other words, he had to carefully observe the tiger to activate it successfully.
And that's what he did: he began analyzing the tiger from top to bottom.
Meanwhile, the Red Tiger was starting to sweat internally.
Those elders from the Infinite Dao Sect had suddenly begun staring at him relentlessly. And as they did, they ended up lagging behind, letting him lead the way.
The problem… was that he didn't know the way.
And the even bigger problem was that he was certain two of those elders were shamelessly analyzing even his tiger balls.
'What kind of perverted sect is this?!!' He was sweating bullets — at least on the inside. Tigers didn't sweat through their skin, after all. But if he could, he'd be a walking waterfall.
And just as he was on the verge of panic, he heard a voice.
"You're going the wrong way. It's to the right."
'I want my forest baaaack!!!' He cried internally.
…
In the cave, Aotian and Rihai were exploring their new environment and deciding on their rooms.
The cave was spacious, lit by a few stones that emitted a cozy white light. It was simply furnished with a few wooden pieces — not overly decorated, very minimal.
If not for the beautiful golden runes of formations adorning the stone walls, the place would look like what it truly was — a plain cave with furniture.
'Cultivators don't seem to care much about where they live, as long as the place has plenty of spiritual energy… or maybe it's just because this is a standard cave-mansion for outer disciples and doesn't need much decoration. The cave-mansion of the city lord from Black Rock Mountain was far more furnished, decorated, and comfortable, at least,' Aotian mused, amused.
As he was analyzing, at that exact moment, the ability from the two Beast Pavilion outer elders activated, and Aotian saw the result:
[Beast: Red Tiger
Cultivation: Late Stage Level Two Beast
Age: 243 Years
Bloodline: Red Tiger (Diluted)
Qualifications: Initial Stage of Level Three]
[-------------Evolutions-------------
Option 1:
[Bloodline: Red Tiger (Complete)
Qualifications: Perfect Stage of Level Three]
[Requirements:
Required Cultivation: Perfection of Level Two
Pill: Core-Tier Bloodline Purification Pill — Recipe: Starheart Herb, Teargrass Herb...]
—-------------------------------------
—-------------------------------------
Option 2:
[Bloodline: Pink Tiger…
—-------------------------------------
—-------------------------------------
Option 7:
[Bloodline: Blazing Tiger
Qualifications: Mid Stage of Level Three]
[Requirements:
Required Cultivation: Late Stage of Level Two
Pill: Blazing Core Pill — Recipe: Scorchroot, Solar Red Flower...]
—-------------------------------------
—-------------------------------------
Option 8:
[Bloodline: Purple Tiger…
—-------------------------------------
—-------------------------------------
Option 12:
[Bloodline: Blood Tiger (Diluted)
Qualifications: Perfect Stage of Level Three]
[Requirements:
Required Cultivation: Early Stage of Level Three
Pill: Blood Beast Pill — Recipe: Bloodheart Fruit, Blood Ginseng...]
—-------------------------------------
—-------------------------------------
Option 17:
[Bloodline: One-Eyed Tiger…
—-------------------------------------]
Aotian was stunned by the list.
'Isn't this just like those beast evolution systems?! This is interesting…'
His eyes gleamed at the list, and he began analyzing it carefully.
'There are 17 evolutionary paths, but most are bad and only slightly improve over the current diluted Red Tiger bloodline. Well, I remember reading about systems like this back on Earth, and it's easy to figure out which is the best path.'
His eyes landed on the option he considered the most promising:
[—-------------------------------------
Option 12:
[Bloodline: Blood Tiger (Diluted)
Qualifications: Perfect Stage of Level Three]
—-------------------------------------]
'I don't know if he can keep evolving if I pick a fixed path, like the Complete Red Tiger bloodline. And compared to the Blood Tiger lineage, even though both reach Perfect Stage of Level Three, the Blood Tiger can probably still be purified — and possibly become a Fourth Level Bloodline.'
He reflected and examined the requirements.
'I already have a third-tier inheritance for pill-making, and even though it's just a common one and not synthesized, I can still learn from it and craft the required pills. They may not be the best, but they'll be functional. But I need to think more carefully... I believe evolving the tiger with pills made from a synthesized inheritance would be better. And while I think, I can go look for the herbs required for the pill.'
He analyzed seriously, but after thinking for a moment, he shrugged and let it go.
'Anyway, the tiger has to grow to the third level first, which gives me plenty of time. But I also have to find a way to speed that up. Waiting decades or even centuries for him to advance to the third level is not an option.'
Lost in thought, he walked until he found Rihai, who was examining the internal garden of the cave, where disciples could plant herbs if they wished and earn some extra spirit stones from it — or simply use them for themselves.
Aotian came up from behind, hugged her, and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Do you like our new home?" he asked with a smile, kissing her cheek.
Rihai wasn't startled by the approach — she had already heard his footsteps.
"It's not bad. It's isolated and comfortable. Much better than our house in Blue Cloud City," she replied, smiling at him. But Aotian knew she wasn't impressed, just content.
And he understood. After all, Rihai had probably lived in a much better place when she was younger. Even so, she was satisfied — this place was far superior to what they had before, in comfort, aesthetics, and spiritual energy.
"Only thing missing is a bed. Sitting on rocks all the time is a pain," Aotian joked, gazing at her beautiful profile.
Rihai turned her head to face him and raised an eyebrow.
"They don't put beds for outer disciples so they don't get too comfortable and lazy instead of focusing on cultivation. Kind of like someone," she said teasingly, smiling and pointing a slender white finger at Aotian's nose.
Aotian looked at her, stunned.
"You think I'm lazy?!" he asked, shocked.
Rihai giggled into her hand, amused by his reaction.
She didn't think Aotian was lazy, but he preferred spending time with her over cultivating — which wasn't common among male cultivators. She liked being prioritized, but from other cultivators' perspective, he really did look like a slacker.
She had even been a bit worried back then, but since it had only been a few days since he forged his roots, she planned to talk to him later if he continued spending too much time on her and not on cultivation. Not because she didn't enjoy the attention, but for his sake.
But that was before they were attacked and fled from Blue Cloud City. Nowadays, however, she knew it wasn't that he cultivated too little — it's just that he advanced so quickly that he spent the extra time stabilizing his realm, and ended up using it to be with her.
Because of that, she no longer thought he lacked focus. She was simply teasing him.
"Back then, after you forged your roots, you spent a lot of time with me or looking for me instead of cultivating, so I got worried and thought you weren't paying attention to your cultivation. But now I understand," she explained after laughing at his shock.
Aotian was dumbfounded.
In truth, he really could have kept cultivating non-stop back then, since he adapted very quickly to new realms thanks to his avatars. But he didn't, because he saw no need to rush every second, and believed it was better to take things slowly.
Thinking about it that way… he really was kind of lazy.
"Pff!!" Rihai laughed even more at Aotian's expression, which now looked even more disbelieving.
Aotian, snapping out of his daze from Rihai's laughter, couldn't help but smile, but he tried to fake being angry.
"Girl, how many times do I have to tell you not to provoke your man?!" He quickly grabbed her sides and began to tickle her, gritting his teeth.
"Pff!! Ah!! No! Don't do that, Aotian!! Ah!! Haha!" She was caught off guard by the tickles and began to struggle, before bursting into laughter as his fingers slid along her sides, causing ticklish tingles and goosebumps.
He grinned, amused as she tried to hold his hands, still in his embrace.
Then he stopped and hugged her tightly before she could escape, while she looked slightly messy and disheveled.
"Regret it?" he asked with a grin.
"Never!" she replied, struggling in his arms with a smile, trying to get away.
"Ah! You're not escaping! Surrender!"
"I might bite!"
"Ah, that's a low blow!"
"Tickles are too!"
"Then let's both play dirty!"
"Ahh!!"