Chapter 288: Advancement Ritual
Ding Mowen and Mu Ye returned to the Snake King Fortress and prepared to meet Su Mei to report on their mission.
Seeing that their teacher was not present, the two immediately asked Su Mei’s assistant, Lin Yan, who was also an Apprentice Beast Tamer.
However, compared to Ding Mowen and Mu Ye, Lin Yan had entered the camp later, and her talent was relatively inferior.
“Teacher?”
“Chief Su has gone to report work to my lord.”
Lin Yan’s personality somewhat resembled Su Mei’s. She handled matters earnestly and responsibly, and was not good at conversation. Even though she clearly knew that Ding Mowen and Mu Ye possessed outstanding Beast Taming talent, she merely responded briefly before lowering her head again to sort through documents.
The two were already accustomed to Lin Yan’s reaction. Upon learning that their teacher had gone to meet my lord, they did not continue to linger.
Within the silent and pitch-black underground lake, the small building on the lake-center island shone as it usually did, emitting a strand of dazzling light.
Although most of the camp had already relocated into the underground cavern and settled in the Snake King Fortress, this had not affected the underground lake in the slightest.
At this moment, inside the living room of the small building, Su Mei was reporting the changes of the past year to Zhou Ming.
“My lord, the Snake King Fortress is nearly complete. The camp’s relocation has entered its final phase. The only remaining issue is the Ferocious Beasts from the Dark Domain, which have repeatedly assaulted the underground cavern where the Snake King Fortress is located.”
“To ensure the fortress’s safety, Aina has stopped leading people into Tamu World to gather resources. She is now permanently stationed at Tiger’s Maw Pass to oversee security.”
The Tiger’s Maw Pass Su Mei referred to was the defensive wall Zhou Ming had arranged at the passage connecting to the Dark Domain, guarding against various threats emerging from it.
Compared to when everyone had lived in the Underground Dark River Camp, their survival pressure had increased significantly after relocating into the underground cavern.
“Ding Mowen and Mu Ye — they’ve already met the conditions for advancement, haven’t they?”
After listening to Su Mei’s report, Zhou Ming pondered briefly before bringing up the two.
Although the number of Apprentice Beast Tamers in the camp had reached twenty to thirty, the two still possessed the highest talent, and their strength far surpassed the other apprentices.
Given their current condition, they were already qualified to advance to Professional Beast Tamers.
“They have indeed met the advancement conditions. But allowing them to advance now… wouldn’t it be too early?”
Su Mei was extremely satisfied with her two students.
However, Ding Mowen and Mu Ye were too young. Both had only just turned twenty, so she worried that they might fail the advancement.
“With their talent, advancing now is not considered early.”
“Go back and begin arranging it.”
Zhou Ming’s expression remained calm. He did not worry that their advancement occurring earlier than his own would allow them to surpass him.
If they failed, he would instead be dissatisfied with their performance — after all, the last few Sapphire Fish had already been given to them.
“Yes.”
Seeing her lord’s firm stance, Su Mei did not dare to disobey his command.
After handling all matters, Zhou Ming returned to the second-floor laboratory. However, this time he did not continue his research.
Because over the past year, he had already completely perfected his own profession system.
“It’s time to advance to Transcendent Master.”
Looking at the cold laboratory before him, Zhou Ming had never expected that one day he would reach this point. His heart was filled with emotion.
As the memories in his mind gradually settled, he packed the laboratory’s various resources into his Spatial Storage Equipment, then left the underground lake and prepared to head to the Cloud Mist Basin.
Due to the ritual’s requirements, the underground lake environment was unsuitable for advancing to Transcendent Master. Thus, Zhou Ming chose the Cloud Mist Basin as the site of his advancement.
The next day, deep within the Cloud Mist Basin, Zhou Ming was commanding his Ironthread Snake swarm to clear a large Marching Ant Nest.
The nest that had once made him feel danger now seemed like a helpless infant, incapable of resistance.
In just a few minutes, the Ironthread Snake swarm cleaned it completely.
After eliminating the ants, Zhou Ming led the swarm into the complex nest and began modifying its depths.
Several days later, dozens of meters underground, a cavern spanning several hundred meters had formed.
At the very center of the cavern stood an hourglass-shaped ritual altar, entirely constructed from Mysterious Black Crystal Stone.
Originally, the altar only required its surface to be built from Mysterious Black Crystal Stone with the necessary runes engraved upon it.
However, to ensure a smooth advancement, Zhou Ming chose to use all the Mysterious Black Crystal Stone he possessed to construct the altar.
When the final rune was successfully engraved, pale blue radiance appeared upon the altar — a natural phenomenon caused by the runes attracting Energy Particles.
On the flat, hardened ground surrounding the altar, countless twisted runes were engraved, forming several concentric Rune Arrays.
At the core of the Rune Arrays, Zhou Ming placed thirty-six Bloodline Jewels meant to purge Bloodline Will, as well as high-grade Source Crystals obtained from the Secret Realm Tower.
After completing the altar, Zhou Ming sat cross-legged at one end of it. His heart was as tranquil as an ancient mountain pool, and in his mind remained only knowledge of the Advancement Ritual.
There were no excessive memories, nor any sentimental reflections on the road he had traveled.
His sole thought was to advance to Transcendent Master, thereby obtaining more resources to reach the pinnacle of the Transcendent Rank.
After confirming once more that his preparations were flawless, the Ironthread Snake from his Beast Space was summoned. They gathered at the opposite end of the altar and ultimately fused into the Dark-gold Purple-patterned Python, coiling atop the altar.
In the next moment, borrowing the power of bloodline, an invisible fluctuation was born within Zhou Ming’s body.
This was the Bloodline Summoning originating from the Ironthread Snake Emperor. Under Zhou Ming’s will, countless Ironthread Snakes began rushing toward the depths of the Cloud Mist Basin.
This time, Zhou Ming spent a full seven days.
“It can begin.”
In the pitch-black depths of the ant nest, Zhou Ming sensed countless Ironthreads converging around the nest. He immediately began the Class Advancement Ritual.
Bloodline power boiled within him. The first concentric Rune Array around the altar emitted black light that enveloped the altar — a result of his research into the Catgirl bloodline.
Its purpose was to break the original Bloodline Structure of the Ironthread Snake.
As the ritual continued, the second concentric Rune Array emitted a blood-colored radiance. These were runes derived from the evolution of various low-tier and high-tier snake-type Ferocious Beast Genetic Structure Maps, allowing the bloodline to gain deeper foundations and greater carrying capacity.
Then the third concentric Rune Array emitted silver-white light — the result of his research into Fusion Worm and Dragon Bloodline genes.
It was used to strengthen the degree of bloodline fusion between Zhou Ming and the snake swarm, while granting the bloodline a unique erosive nature, leaving room for the later integration of other snake bloodlines.
As the three concentric circles shimmered with different lights, under the operation of the ritual, they ultimately transformed into a mysterious and noble purple radiance.
The purple radiance resembled a massive cocoon, enveloping the entire hourglass-shaped ritual altar.