Chapter 112: Lu Ba Evolves
Lin Jin’s acupuncture skills deserved to be deemed as highly profound. No one here could see clearly how Lin Jin had done it.
Zhao Ying, Lu Xiaoyun, and Han Dong were craning their necks, keeping their eyes peeled in case they missed a single detail.
Lu Yunhe couldn’t resist exclaiming, “Brother Lin’s acupuncture technique is truly amazing. He looks exactly like a master at work.”
Lin Jin’s focus was fully directed at working his needles. It was obvious that his apprentices and Lu Yunhe couldn’t tell the wonders of his pulse-seeking technique.
This lion, Lu Ba, was a rare beast with a hidden bloodline. Lin Jin was planning to use a combination of acupuncture, pills, and spirit seals to activate Lu Ba’s hidden bloodline. Then, the power from his activated bloodline could help achieve the breakthrough and subsequently, help Lu Ba evolve.
This was one of the evolution methods suggested by the Museum of Deadly Beasts.
Of course, not all evolution methods guaranteed successful results. Some of them had chances of failure.
Half an hour later.
A burst of energy exploded from Lu Ba’s core, giving rise to a gust of wind. He was finally showing signs of evolution.
Excited, Lu Yunhe took a few steps forward. Cracks started appearing on the sides of the cup he was holding due to how hard he was squeezing down on it from sheer nervousness.
Rank 2 pet beasts evolving into Rank 3 was definitely a rare sight. The number of Rank 3 pet beasts in Maple City was far and few in between and only a scarce few experts possessed such beings.
Suddenly, Lin Jin frowned.
With his bloodline activated, Lu Ba’s aura spiked sharply. Under normal circumstances, this should have been enough for the pet beast to show signs of evolution, and following the energy burst, it would break through the barrier, triggering an evolution.
But how, Lu Ba’s aura was gradually weakening.
“Is this the limit?”
Lin Jin realized the problem. While Lu Ba indeed had a hidden bloodline, it was incredibly watered down. Even after activation, to cause it to evolve posed another set of problems.
And even if the success rate was increased to eighty percent with Lin Jin’s help.
There was still a twenty percent chance of failure.
And Lu Ba was out of luck to have come across this twenty percent chance.
It was clear that the evolution process couldn’t continue.
His aura gradually weakened. Even if Lu Ba was trying his best, his body couldn’t keep up with the change. Lu Yunhe could tell what was going on, and through their blood pact, he could sense Lu Ba’s reluctance to give up and how hard he was struggling to evolve.
“It failed!” Lu Yunhe was running around in circles, slowly losing his sanity.
If they couldn’t score a goal during this golden opportunity, trying for another chance would be unrealistically difficult. This was common sense. A pet beast’s evolution should be an upward stream without even a single disruption. If it failed once, the failure rate would increase exponentially for the next attempt. Some would even venture to say that if a pet beast fails to evolve, it would never succeed in evolving ever again.
These sayings were all supplemented by real examples. After failing to evolve, many pet beasts get stuck in a devastating state and never get a second chance until the day they die.
So it goes without saying how flustered Lu Yunhe was right now.
Following a cracking sound, the teacup in his hand was subconsciously shattered to pieces.
Lu Xiaoyun understood what her brother was going through so she went over and said, “It’s not over yet.”
Lu Yunhe was dumbstruck.
Lu Ba no longer had the energy to push through the evolution. Could there still be a chance of success?
Once the aura weakens, it was practically impossible to return to its former peak. Lu Yunhe had seen many of such instances at the Friar Association. Many pet beasts of his brothers failed during the critical moment of their evolution process and of these beasts, not a single one managed to evolve, even till this day.
“Master Lin must have a way to make it happen,” Lu Xiaoyun reassured with confidence.
Lu Yunhe glanced at Lin Jin, and sure enough, Lin Jin didn’t show signs of giving up just because Lu Ba’s aura was diminishing. There wasn’t even a trace of defeat or frustration on his expression.
“I was too anxious.” Lu Yunhe took a deep breath. He regained his composure this time and didn’t allow any further emotions to surface.
Meanwhile, Lu Ba’s aura was going downhill fast and failure seemed imminent.
“Looks like relying solely on your hidden bloodline would be tough for you to evolve.” Lin Jin remained nonchalant as the museum provided remedial methods for evolution failures.
That’s why he wasn’t worried at all.
Flicking his fingers, a needle shot out, piercing into Lu Ba’s flesh and entering his veins.
It was the coiled wire needle.
Lin Jin was well-acquainted with the coiled wire needle technique by now. Not only could this skill be used to appraise beasts and attack enemies, but it was also useful in regulating veins.
Swimming along Lu Ba’s veins, the needle finally arrived at Lu Ba’s heart.
The pulse-seeking technique involved both external and internal acupuncture skills. In most cases, external acupuncture was preferred and it was what most people practiced. However, the uniqueness and essence of the pulse-seeking technique came from the internal acupuncture skill.
A creature’s internal organs were the biggest ‘acupoints’.
But because Lin Jin didn’t understand the pulse-seeking technique enough, nor was he familiar with it previously that he hadn’t performed the internal acupuncture thus far.
Lu Ba had reached a bottleneck during his evolution. On his own, it was probably impossible to achieve a breakthrough so Lin Jin could only use the internal acupuncture technique to give him a hand.
Under Lin Jin’s control, the coiled wire needle pierced into an acupoint in Lu Ba’s heart.
Lu Ba immediately let out a beastly roar.
Every pet beast present was startled by this roar, except Xiao Huo who was so engrossed in cultivating the Beast Energy Formation Part Two that he was practically deaf toward anything that happened around him.
Goldy jumped down from the roof, studying Lu Ba who regained a burst of energy with much curiosity. The shadow wolf also poked its head out to take a look. Meanwhile, Zhao Ying, Lu Xiaoyun, and Han Dong’s pet beasts looked apprehensive and slightly nervous.
After performing the acupuncture, to be on the safe side, Lin Jin passed on a tiny section of the Beast Energy Formation Part One to Lu Ba. They were all practices that could incite immediate results.
With this, Lu Ba’s intelligence was elevated and he mimicked Xiao Huo’s crouching pose. The burst of energy around him began shrinking as Lu Ba absorbed the spirit energy lingering in the air.
Crack crack crack!
Lu Ba’s skin and flesh started falling away as the razor-like tempest around him slashed at his body. Lu Yunhe almost forgot to breathe as he watched it all happen.
The slashed skin and fur began to disintegrate and new skin immediately grew in its place. During this process, Lu Ba’s frame grew larger.
It wasn’t just a one-size increase but several sizes.
His growth was such that Lin Jin’s yard was almost occupied entirely by Lu Ba’s body.
If he were to raise his head, Lu Ba’s height would be taller than the roof. Just his claws were already the size of grinding wheels.
Lu Ba’s increase in size verified one thing.
“He really evolved!” Lu Yunhe was so excited that he could contain his emotions no more. Every strand of his hair was standing on ends and his body trembled with his fists held tight. As if this was the only way to suppress himself for screaming and shouting like a mad man.
Because just earlier, he assumed that the evolution was a failure and had even begun to accept this result.
But now, happiness came sprouting out of nowhere.
The Rank 3 Lu Ba was incredibly ferocious and his hulking frame itself was simply domineering. Feeling pleased with its newly-gained powers, Lu Ba confidently raised its head at the sky, ready to let out a mighty roar when it suddenly felt its blood freeze as it heard a low growl come out of nowhere.
Xiao Huo who had been quiet the entire time suddenly opened his eyes and growled dangerously at Lu Ba.
Lu Ba’s evolution had stirred the elements and spirit energy around the area, disturbing Xiao Huo’s cultivation of part two of the Beast Energy Formation. And this annoyed the little guy.