Not too long later, Li Changsheng sat cross-legged on the bed and assumed the lotus position. He focused his breathing to calm himself, as well as rid his heart of any impure thoughts, entering a specific state of mind.
Inhale… Exhale…
Having completely stilled both heart and mind, he found that even the soft buzzing of cicadas and the sounds of the soft breeze had magnified.
Li Changsheng did not betray surprise; no ripples disturbed the stillness of his innermost being. An indeterminate period of time passed before faint rays of fantastical light shone out from all around him, penetrating through his body into some unknown place that seemed to be hidden in the depths of another parallel universe.
The world seemed to have split into two, with Li Changsheng simultaneously coexisting in two different universes. His soul seemed to have separated from his mortal body and entered another dimension.
At the heart of this dimension was suspended a massive orb of light surrounded by twelve small points of starlight. Everywhere else was completely shrouded in darkness.
This place was Li Changsheng's ocean of consciousness!
The bright orb signified Li Changsheng's soul, ethereal yet clear and bright. The points of starlight, however, were physical embodiments of his cultivated omniscience. The more stars someone had, the more powerful their omniscience was.
At this point, Li Changsheng began to use the Basics to Demon Taming to aid in cultivating his omniscience.
The Basics to Demon Taming was a foundational cultivation guide that was easy to understand and follow, making it most suitable for low-level demon tamers to use in training.
During the cultivation process, the orb of light seemed to come alive, beginning to pulse at an unusual frequency without stopping.
An instant later, hundreds upon thousands of omniscience waves surged in endless succession from the orb like the ebb and flow of a massive ocean. This was the subtle, complicated transformation of his omniscience flooding through the surrounding darkness.
Under the onslaught of the waves of omniscience, a small area of darkness disappeared. In its place was a point of starlight. This star was dim and lusterless, so faint as to be barely perceptible. Under the relentless battering of the waves of omniscience, however, it gradually began to blaze into brilliance.
Under normal circumstances, Li Changsheng's progress in cultivating omniscience would have taken ages. It would have required a great deal of cultivation time to produce a point of starlight as a token.
However, Li Changsheng's cultivation process had significantly sped up compared to his attempts in the past, and this was all thanks to the returns that Ai Xi provided.
After the cardinal binding contract was achieved, the Cardinal Demonic Pet would channel an enormous amount of returns to the demon tamer. The amount itself depended mainly on the demon pet's Grade, Bloodline, Class, and Level—the stronger the demon pet's potential, the greater their strength, and the returns channeled back to the demon tamer would also increase. Naturally, this also greatly increased the speed of the demon tamer's omniscience cultivation.
Time slowly slipped by. After an hour, Li Changsheng's brows furrowed slightly. His head felt dizzy and he was drenched in a cold sweat, limbs beginning to twitch uncontrollably.
This was an indication that he was fast approaching his limits!
Without hesitation, Li Changsheng quickly stopped cultivating and slowly opened his eyes. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a faint smile.
"Ai Xi's returns have doubled my cultivation speed! As long as Ai Xi's strength shows steady improvement after this, my cultivation speed will continue to increase! No wonder there's this saying that's been handed down—one's Cardinal Demonic Pet is one of the yardsticks of a demon tamer's future accomplishments!"
Li Changsheng muttered to himself—at his current cultivation speed, he might not even need a year before he accumulated enough omniscience to get to the threshold of the next stage.
The next morning, sunlight shone through the wooden windows in mottled patterns of light and shadow.
A hazy mist lightly brushed against doors, while the breeze left traces on the pine trees.
In his room, Li Changsheng's nose twitched amid deep slumber; a wave of awful stench assaulted his nostrils. Unconsciously his brow wrinkled.
Jolting awake from his initial half-conscious state, he hurriedly opened his eyes. At the sight of the floor, any pleasant mood he might have been in immediately vanished.
On the clean floorboards were several yellow turds giving off an 'intoxicating' scent. Several flies landed on top of the droppings, enjoying this 'delicacy' that belonged to them and them only.
"Augh, Ai Xi! You can't just take a dump anywhere you like!"
At Li Changsheng's bellow, Ai Xi was startled out of its slumber. In its frantic scramble to stand up, it accidentally knocked into the table off to one side.
Crash!
As the table rocked violently, the vase sitting on top of it toppled over and fell, shattering into pieces all over the ground.
"Augh! My Xifu turnip-shaped vase!" Li Changsheng let out a long cry of anguish. This vase had belonged to his late parents, and he had always cared for it like a treasure—he had not expected that Ai Xi would damage it.
Completely unaware of the disaster it had caused, Ai Xi eagerly scampered in front of Li Changsheng and reared up on its hind legs, wrapping its paws around his thigh.
"Ai Xi! You've done it now!" Li Changsheng scolded angrily. He decided to be stricter in supervising Ai Xi when it trained, giving it no further chance to slack off.
Looking at the droppings and vase shards all over the floor, Li Changsheng had no other choice but to roll up his sleeves and assume the role a poop shoveler.
A qualified demon tamer was bound to be an outstanding poop shoveler as well!
To save on expenses and maintain his secret, Li Changsheng did not employ any personal maids. He only had two servants who worked in the kitchen; normally he tidied up his room on his own.
By the time he finished cleaning everything up, half an hour had passed.
Once he had left his room, Li Changsheng locked the door.
Since early morning was the golden time of day, the servants of Li Manor were already awake and busy. Male servants, mostly bare-chested, went about their manual labor, while female servants either prepared meals or awakened their masters.
Smoke curled up from the kitchen chimneys in every direction, drifting toward the blue sky and the faraway mountains.
After leaving his small courtyard, Li Changsheng arrived at the training grounds on the northern side of the manor.
These training grounds covered a few acres of flatland and were fully equipped with training facilities. It was also the main area for the clan's demon tamers who wished to train their demon pets.
There were already other members of the clan training their demon pets when Li Changsheng arrived. The grounds were lively with shouts and gesticulating, and the sun blazed in the sky.
Apart from members of the clan, some clan guards were there as well.
This was a world of supernatural prowess, where one's strength was practically equivalent to one's social standing. The stronger one was, the easier it was to obtain resources and social status. As a result, people worked harder to become stronger, especially relentlessly hardworking prodigies.
Li Changsheng's competitors were on the training grounds too. Like Li Changsheng, they were demon tamers from the clan who had leveled up in the recent year and were now training their demon pets in preparation for the upcoming evaluations.
The moment Li Changsheng set foot on the training grounds, the young, endearingly klutzy Ai Xi drew quite a lot of attention, especially from the girls!
"Wow! What a cute little kitty!"
"That's no kitty. That's a young tiger demon!"
"Based on its characteristics, this must be a High-class Servant White-fronted Tiger!"
…
Amid the rabble of discussion, Li Changsheng strolled forward, stopping to greet familiar clan mates from time to time.
"The White-fronted Tiger might be good, but my Fire Wolf here is a Medial Grade demon with far greater potential!"
A jarring voice suddenly rang out from the crowd, quelling the initial bustling atmosphere from before.
Li Changsheng turned in the direction of the voice and saw a short-haired adolescent lad standing not too far away. This young man's gaze was unyielding; beside him was a red-furred Fire Wolf that looked like a blazing flame.
The lad's name was Li Jianren, and he loved being in the limelight. To what extent, one might ask? To sum it up in one sentence, he was the sort of fellow who longed to be the groom at every wedding or the corpse at every funeral—someone who wished nothing more than to be the center of the universe!
Li Jianren locked eyes with Li Changsheng, gaze smug. The fact that he had been able to achieve a binding contract with a Medial Grade Fire Wolf was mainly due to his father.
The Li Clan had had a long tradition of rearing young demons, and Li Jianren's father was the person in charge of this. He had gotten to know these young demons like the back of his hand over the many years he had spent with them, so when his son had become a demon tamer, naturally he had given Li Jianren some suggestions.
Young demons or not, Medial Grade Fire Wolves could develop impressive battle strength in a short time, provided they were diligently trained.
Howl!
At this point, the young Fire Wolf raised its head and unleashed a long howl in an attempt to intimidate Ai Xi.
Unexpectedly, however, Ai Xi did not show fear—on the contrary, its expression displayed an eagerness to try this new skill out. With a sidelong glance at the Fire Wolf, it imitated its howl.
Howl!
Ai Xi's gaze was cold and savage as it howled. Teeth bared and claws unsheathed, the intimidation characteristics of its Roar began to activate. Its aura was menacing, startling the young Fire Wolf into involuntarily retreating a step.
Wilting visibly as if all its energy had been sapped out, it lowered its head, whimpering.
Why torment another child like itself?
"No way!"
Li Jianren's eyes widened, expression one of utter disbelief; he even forgot to counterattack.
At the same time, an inquisitive note crept into the eyes of the many people watching Ai Xi. Some others turned gazes full of scorn upon the Fire Wolf. Although both of these were young demons and the Fire Wolf was taller than Ai Xi by a full head, the Fire Wolf was perhaps a little too timid.
Li Changsheng shook his head and headed toward the bamboo grove in the northeast corner, ignoring the stunned Li Jianren.
As he departed, Li Changsheng released his omniscience and pulled up the Fire Wolf's details.
[Demon Name]: Fire Wolf (Newborn Stage)
[Demon Level]: Lower 3rd Order
[Demon Class]: Middle-Class Servant
[Demon Grade]: Medial Grade
[Demon Bloodline]: None
[Demon Type]: Fire
[Demon Condition]: Healthy
[Demon Weakness]: Water
"WIth Ai Xi's potential, it shouldn't be long before she completely surpasses the Fire Wolf!"
Ai Xi was miles ahead of the Fire Wolf in terms of potential, but that was not solely due to the difference in their Grades—their Bloodlines and Classes had played a part as well.