Chapter 120: Racial Degeneration? Cultivating the Forest Wolf and the Spirit Wolf!

Chapter 120: Racial Degeneration? Cultivating the Forest Wolf and the Spirit Wolf!

Su Ping's gaze shifted away from the two people in front of him, and he looked at Dong Muchun, who had suddenly appeared, with a puzzled expression.

"What are you doing here?"

Dong Muchun's eyes, like those of a fox, held a smile that Su Ping had never seen before.

"You're the one who said it. I have a private room here, and I can come back whenever I want. We agreed on this from the beginning!"

Indeed, they had agreed on it. During the handover, this woman had said that she had a private room and could come and go as she pleased.

Just as Su Ping was about to speak, Dong Muchun smiled and said, "Enough of this. What's the point of wasting time showing off to these insignificant people? Let's leave it to the subordinates. Rest assured, Lao Guan was once a soldier under my command, and I won't mistreat him. I came here today because I have some serious business to discuss with you."

From start to finish, Dong Muchun's gaze never lingered on the couple, or on anyone else besides Su Ping, for even a moment.

Su Ping slowly exhaled, and the rising anger within him was gradually suppressed.

The couple in front of him seemed slightly dazed, as if they hadn't fully processed what was happening. They looked at Dong Muchun with suspicion.

Even the woman's gaze was the same, clearly feeling a blow to her pride when Dong Muchun casually referred to them as 'insignificant people.'

But Dong Muchun didn't seem to care at all.

Just as she said, as the eldest daughter of the Dong family of Jianghai, she understood the rules of this world and the cruel class distinctions better than anyone.

For her, getting angry or upset over such trivial matters and insignificant people, or even wasting time on unnecessary words, was indeed a waste of time.

People like her had long grown accustomed to standing above others, observing the world from a lofty position.

This gaze from above was different from the way humans looked down on ants; it was an absolute awareness of one's own situation, clear and unshakable.

This was the innate nature of a 'Sage' family's direct descendant.

Su Ping couldn't quite grasp this feeling, nor did he particularly want to.

However, Dong Muchun was right about one thing; he didn't need to personally handle such a trivial matter.

It wasn't worth using personal connections for something so minor.

Indeed, this was the case.

Slowly, a figure emerged from behind Dong Muchun.

It was another woman, with golden hair and black-rimmed glasses. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but she exuded an indescribable air of competence.

"Chairman, Young Master Su, leave this to me."

Su Ping was slightly taken aback, but before he could react, a fragrant breeze encircled him, and Dong Muchun directly embraced his shoulder, smiling warmly.

"Alright, let's go!"

Su Ping, at a loss for words, could only follow her into the private elevator leading to the top floor. However, before they went up, he turned back for a quick glance and saw something.

In just this short moment.

A loud slap.

The man who had just been so aloof and disdainful towards everything around him now had a hideous expression, slapping the woman beside him. With a servile expression he had never shown before, he smiled awkwardly at Lao Guan.

Whether it was Dong Muchun or the golden-haired secretary with black-rimmed glasses, their expressions were calm to the extreme, as if they had anticipated everything that had just happened.

Yet, their eyes and minds were not drawn in the slightest.

A peculiar feeling arose within Su Ping's heart.

This feeling made him realize, in this moment, that he seemed to have become somewhat different from ordinary people.

However, Su Ping didn't know what this feeling was about.

As he sat down in the top-floor room, he was still pondering.

Seeing Su Ping's distracted state, Dong Muchun smiled and said, "Alright, enough of this. I'll have them come here and tell you to your face who you, Su Ping, really are.

You are someone with such talent that you can rise above the ordinary Beastmasters. Perhaps, in the future, you can even advance further.

You are the Beastmaster and Breeder that I, Dong Muchun, have taken a particular interest in partnering with.

You are a Beastmaster and Breeder with an incredibly bright future. If you want to call Chairman Qin, go ahead. Then, have that harridan of a woman kneel before you and Lao Guan to apologize.

If that's still not enough, go ahead and kill their severely injured son. Rest assured, not only will Chairman Qin not say anything, but with me here, the outside world won't leave a trace of them either.

How about it? Will this satisfy you?"

Su Ping smiled helplessly.

He absolutely believed that Dong Muchun could do everything she said.

But he also knew their boundaries.

Dong Muchun's smile faded, and she didn't sit down. Instead, she stood before the surrounding floor-to-ceiling windows, observing the world with the same calmness as before.

"Su Ping, I truly envy and admire you. With your talent, you can rise above the ordinary Beastmasters and perhaps even advance further in the future.

So, I also want to tell you that in this world, people are different from one another. You need to learn to adapt to these differences instead of enjoying them. And you must strive to master these differences."

In the previous life, there were some well-known proverbs or poems.

'Among the kings, princes, and ministers, are there any seeds of greatness?'

'The inner treasury is burned to ashes, the streets of heaven are paved with the bones of officials...'

Such poems were endless.

However, in this Beastmaster world of reincarnation, although ordinary Beastmasters may have assessments or opportunities to showcase their Beastmastery talents, in reality, the class barriers and rigid social structure are even more exaggerated than in the previous life.

Not to mention anything else, the trading value of any Beast business is as high as the sky, which is the most direct manifestation of the rigid class divide.

An ordinary family, working hard for a year, without eating or drinking, might only save a few hundred thousand, and that's an overstatement.

But to nurture a companion beast, there's a success rate, and it costs millions. Moreover, cultivating a skill for the beast only provides a limited boost to its combat power.

This is enough to show that for an ordinary Beastmaster, it's very difficult to forge a path and find a future in the Beastmastery world.

Dong Muchun casually mentioned it because she trusted Su Ping and believed that this cunning young man could figure out many things.

So, Dong Muchun turned around, and the indifferent expression she had when she saw through this world suddenly transformed into a smiling face:

"Let's discuss a collaboration. How about it?"

Su Ping slowly withdrew from his previous contemplation.

Seeing how quickly Dong Muchun's expression changed, he was caught off guard, and for a moment, he couldn't quite understand which side of this woman was her true self.

Thinking about it this way, Qin Xiaoxue's straightforward personality was indeed easier to get along with.

"Collaborate on what? Isn't the Mystic Realm already collapsed?"

Dong Muchun chuckled:

"I have high hopes for you, so I want to invest in you! Heaven Cloud will invest ten billion, in exchange for 49% of the shares of the Heart of Wood. How does that sound?"

Su Ping's brows furrowed decisively:

"The shares of the Heart of Wood are not for sale!"

Su Ping was indeed short on funds, and the Heart of Wood was most lacking in funds at the moment! Money was needed for construction, lake excavation, botanical garden creation, and the improvement of various regional race companion beasts to form a stable ecological chain. Money was also required for the construction of his own professional high-level laboratory.

Money was needed for various experimental instruments, and in the future, when trying to evolve Little Qing, the Paper Puppet, and others, a large amount of resources would also be required! Without money, nothing could be accomplished.

However, selling shares was out of the question.

The Heart of Wood was passed down by his grandfather, how could it be sold to others?

Don't be fooled by the fact that Dong Muchun only wants a mere 49% now, and Su Ping still has absolute control. But who knows what the future holds?

Moreover, ten billion is indeed a bit too cheap.

Su Ping's outright rejection didn't surprise Dong Muchun at all.

She smiled cunningly:

"This is the investment value assessed by the Heaven Cloud's board of directors and evaluation team, of course, I didn't tell them about the Thousand Wood Wolf! Hehe."

After a pause, Dong Muchun continued:

"I'm preparing to invest one billion in my personal name, taking up 1% of the shares of the Heart of Wood. Apart from this, I won't interfere with or pry into the management of Beast cultivation formulas, evolution formulas, and other matters. I'll only be responsible for profit-sharing and will resolve some manageable troubles based on my abilities.

At the same time, if you want to buy back the shares, you'll have the priority to repurchase, and the repurchase price will not exceed two billion! How does that sound?"

Hmm?!

Su Ping blinked.

Well, the previous harsh conditions were naturally impossible to agree to.

But Dong Muchun's current conditions...

A 1% share? It's not that there isn't any, but in reality, it's indeed very close, and Su Ping also understood this woman's intentions. Tying interests together is the most direct approach.

One billion is indeed a drop in the bucket for the Heart of Wood now, but it can also solve many immediate crises.

And obviously, the most important thing in this condition isn't the money!

After all, he can still have the right to repurchase the shares in the future.

In other words, this woman is investing to form an alliance with him for money?

"What kind of troubles can you solve?"

Su Ping curiously looked at this woman.

Dong Muchun smiled slightly, knowing that such excellent conditions would make Su Ping's heart stir.

She didn't make empty promises but gave a current example:

"For instance, the dangerous companion beast that may exist in the Spirit Stream River!"

Su Ping looked at her suspiciously, wondering if this woman was deliberately 'poisoning' the water for this reason.

However, he didn't say this directly, as it would show a petty side of him.

...

In the end, Su Ping didn't reject Dong Muchun's good intentions again.

Because he also understood that Dong Muchun was investing in his talents, and in fact, she didn't care at all about the 1% share of the Heart of Wood.

Not to mention now, if the monthly profit, after deducting expenses, could leave a few hundred thousand, that would be great.

And a hundred thousand in profit-sharing was indeed not much.

As the chairman of the Heaven Cloud Corporation, Dong Muchun had control over fixed assets worth thousands of billions, and in terms of cash flow, she could easily overwhelm the Heart of Wood.

However, Dong Muchun's involvement could indeed solve many problems in the open and in secret.

Not to mention that if they had gone to Linzhou to purchase the land deed, having the name of Dong Muchun, the chairman of the Heaven Cloud Corporation, as an investor, the purchase price would likely have been much lower.

This is help on the official side, as well as in situations like this.

When encountering some Beast-related troubles, Dong Muchun could obviously resolve them quickly.

Even some intelligence and special resource acquisition could be considered a source channel.

For Su Ping, having more channels and connections was naturally better.

In addition to this, Dong Muchun also provided Su Ping with an unexpected form of assistance.

After the contract was signed, Dong Muchun smiled and nodded, then directly threw over a bank card:

"Here's one hundred million. You can transfer it to the Wood Heart's account, and future profits should also be deposited into this card."

Su Ping nodded without much thought, but Dong Muchun wasn't finished. She took out a small folder from her bosom and handed it to him.

The folder still carried the woman's body temperature and a faint, lingering fragrance.

Su Ping's eyes and nose were focused, not daring to let his mind wander, and he was puzzled by the folder:

"This is..."

"I know that you have extraordinary breeding talents and can develop the evolution channel for the Thousand Wood Wolf, and you're a Beastmaster specializing in Forest Wolves!" Dong Muchun said. "But since you're specializing, you should delve deeper into it. Inside this folder is the complete and perfect evolution plan for the Forest Wolf and the Spirit Wolf."

As Dong Muchun spoke, a light burst forth from Su Ping's eyes, filled with eager excitement.

Dong Muchun gave the little bunny a slightly resentful glance for not understanding her subtle gesture.

It was a rare occasion when she had meticulously arranged everything.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this focus and dedication that she had achieved such success in pet beast breeding today.

Su Ping was unaware of Dong Muchun's thoughts at that moment. His entire attention was focused on the two documents before him.

Forest Wolf and Spirit Wolf.

These two were the most popular evolution forms of the Forest Wolf in the market.

Especially the Forest Wolf, as a direct evolution of the Forest Wolf, had further enhanced abilities, even though the improvement was not significant. Still, it was at least nominally considered a completed evolution.

As the most popular evolution form, it was not difficult to obtain.

Some Beastmasters specializing in Forest Wolves were highly skilled in mastering them.

Among them was Sun Chao Ju.

However, even though they had mastered the techniques, they couldn't casually reveal them to others.

Most of their breeding methods were acquired through the exchange of credits within the Breeder Association.

And the required number of credits was not a small amount.

Su Ping had previously considered taking his research results to the Breeder Association to exchange for a large number of credits and then use them to obtain these two evolution forms.

Indeed, Su Ping had thought about exchanging for them.

Although the Thousand Wood Wolf was already excellent, the Forest Wolf and Spirit Wolf, as the most popular evolution forms, had their merits.

Moreover, his goal was to enhance both the wolf pack and the Wood element.

One focused on the wolf pack, while the other emphasized the Wood element.

In a wolf pack, it was unlikely to have only one evolution form like the Thousand Wood Wolf. A diverse pack would have a mutually beneficial amplifying effect.

As for the Wood element, the 'Forest Tide' battle style could significantly enhance the combat power of plant-type pet beasts.

Su Ping naturally wanted to capitalize on his strengths.

However, he hadn't decided which plant-type pet beast to focus on yet, and he wasn't in a hurry to make that decision.

For now, the Larch seemed like a good choice.

But Su Ping didn't know much about plant-type pet beasts, so he planned to visit the pet beast market and the Breeder Association in his free time to explore and perhaps find a suitable one to bring home and try raising.

At that moment, Dong Muchun handed over the breeding and evolution methods for the Forest Wolf and Spirit Wolf to Su Ping.

Su Ping didn't mind that they were still in Dong Muchun's office.

He eagerly opened the folder and read:

"The Forest Wolf is the first choice for race optimization in the evolution of Forest Wolves!"

Race optimization?

Su Ping had come across this term while studying the Breeder Association's materials.

However, it was essentially unrelated to Beastmasters and breeders, as it was a change that occurred over an extended period.

Many years ago, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years, the Forest Wolf population wasn't as large as it is today.

Instead, there was a pet beast called the Wood Wolf.

It was a very basic Wood-type wolf with only ordinary peak racial potential, making it a low-level pet beast.

In reality, the Forest Wolf was an evolved form of the Wood Wolf.

Of course, this was somewhat evident from their names.

So, the Forest Wolf was the optimized race that evolved from the Wood Wolf.

After the Wood Wolf evolved into the Forest Wolf, the offspring produced by the interbreeding of Forest Wolves were new Forest Wolves.

In ancient times, the chances of this might have been lower, as the first generation of evolved Forest Wolves was more likely to give birth to Wood Wolves with relatively better qualities.

Only when the evolutionary lineage became more concentrated would there be a chance to directly birth Forest Wolf cubs.

Even in modern society, Forest Wolf cubs occasionally exhibit reversion, reverting from Forest Wolves to Wood Wolves.

This was the most powerful evidence supporting this theory.

The Forest Wolf, as a further evolved form of the Forest Wolf, had a simpler and more straightforward evolution process, making it more accessible to the masses.

Therefore, a similar situation could occur in the future, where Forest Wolves reproduce and give birth to new Forest Wolves, causing the original Forest Wolves to gradually decrease in number.

This was the so-called race optimization.

It was a highly probable event over time.

However, this sudden realization sparked some thoughts in Su Ping.

Were powerful pet beasts with high racial ceilings, like the so-called Life Ancient Tree, once low-level pet beasts that had evolved and undergone long-term race optimization in the distant past?

Had the original reversion forms of some powerful races already disappeared in the vast expanse of time?

In the history of the Beastmaster Civilization, even the ancient Dragon Nation did not exist for tens of thousands of years.

However, the lifeforms of the Blue Star have existed for an unimaginable amount of time, a number so vast it is almost beyond comprehension.

Millions of years are entirely possible.

If...

Su Ping blinked, his interest piqued as he pondered this thought.

If there was a method to devolve powerful Pet Beasts, and then, from this devolved base race, either breed them anew or explore other research angles to uncover new evolutionary branches, wouldn't it mean that one could develop countless new and unprecedented Pet Beast species, as well as never-before-seen evolutionary forms?

The answer to this question was almost certainly yes.

Some ancient Pet Beasts, in their evolution over countless ages, were influenced by their environment, leading to gradual, silent changes or natural selection.

However, this environmental evolution only ensured their survival in that specific environment and did not necessarily make them the strongest or most promising.

Take the Timber Wolf as an example.

After evolving into the Forest Wolf, it still had the potential to transform into the Thousand Wood Wolf, but it would never have the chance to become a Spirit Wolf of the same rank, as both races had the same ceiling at the Overlord Rank peak.

If the evolution focused primarily on life attributes and semi-elementalization, the Spirit Wolf might not possess the direct combat power of the Forest Wolf, but could it be said that the Spirit Wolf's potential and utility were inferior to the Forest Wolf?

Absolutely not! In fact, due to its life-attribute healing abilities, the Spirit Wolf's role is even more significant.

However, compared to the Forest Wolf, the Spirit Wolf's evolution is more complex, and its primary abilities in life healing make it less suited for survival in the wild and overall combat.

Su Ping believed that the comparison between the Forest Wolf and the Spirit Wolf was not an isolated case.

In the ancient past, during the long history of Pet Beast development, there must have been numerous similar weak Pet Beasts that evolved under the law of survival of the fittest in nature.

The eternal maxim of the Beastmaster world still holds true: the weaker the Pet Beast, the more infinite its potential; the lower the rank, the more diverse its evolution! There are no truly useless Pet Beasts, only Beastmasters who have yet to discover their potential.

If one were to take on the task of researching these potentially devolved ancient species, brand new, and historically unrecorded ancient Pet Beast base forms, then devolution would be the focus of the study.

How could one achieve the devolution of Pet Beasts?

Especially for those with the potential to become incredibly powerful high-rank races, this research direction seemed rather extravagant. However, Beastmasters primarily focused their studies on evolution, and Su Ping, instead of rushing to evolve, was perhaps the first to consider devolution.

Su Ping couldn't help but sigh in frustration.

However, at this moment, he seemed to have forgotten that there was another person in the office.

Dong Muchun looked at the young man before her with curiosity.

Has this kid forgotten that there's another person here? She wondered as she stared at the first page of the document, which he had been reading for quite some time. What could he be thinking about?

And now, he was smiling in a rather unsightly manner. Could it be that her good intentions had backfired?

Undoubtedly, from ancient times to the present, the powerful legacy of the traditional families was maintained through a familiar set of methods: investment, alliance, and intermarriage.

And Su Ping, without a doubt, was the most worthy of investment and alliance.

So, Dong Muchun cleared her throat lightly.

Su Ping finally turned to look at her.

"What are you thinking about? Did you have another inspiration?"

"Hmm..."

After officially completing the investment process, Dong Muchun was now a partner in interests, and Su Ping did feel more at ease with her. He didn't hide anything and shared his thoughts with her honestly.

Given her background, she might have some understanding or even secret methods for devolution.

Unfortunately, Su Ping's hopes were a bit too high.

In this world, almost all Beastmasters focused their research on evolution.

Those who studied devolution were indeed too rare.

Even if there were some, it would be challenging to find them.

So, when Su Ping shared his far-fetched idea about racial optimization, Dong Muchun couldn't help but feel a bit lost.

She couldn't deny Su Ping's idea, but she had no suggestions or help to offer.

Thus, to change the subject, she said, "I'll go check what's happening at the Spirit Stream River."

Su Ping snapped back to attention.

Racial optimization, evolution, and devolution were all just research topics and directions to explore.

But for Su Ping, the difficulty was still too high.

Since it was a matter concerning his own affairs, Su Ping didn't idle and nodded in agreement.

"I'll come with you to take a look!"

Su Ping also wanted to see what was causing harm in his vicinity.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end