Chapter 268: You Won't Train?

If it had been her previous life, when it wasn't her turn to compete that day, Qiao Sang would have absolutely packed up and gone home first thing.

It wasn't that she lacked a sense of collective honor; it's just that the older one gets, the more boring sports meets seem. The events were nothing more than running, high jump, and the like—watch too many times and they lost their appeal.

In her previous life, the opening ceremony of a sports meet was when the most people were present. Once the opening ceremony ended, most would drift away, and the classmates who stayed to watch on the field were only there because their own class's students were about to compete.

But the beast-taming society was different. The ones competing were basically pet beasts, so even if the events were the same every year, they were far more entertaining because of the different forms and traits of the pet beasts.

Qiao Sang immediately decided to stay and cheer on her classmates.

"Xun…"

Little Xunbao, knowing it wasn't competing today, wilted.

Qiao Sang rubbed its head and smiled. "Competing tomorrow is pretty good—one more day to practice. Wait here, I'll go find out who your opponents are tomorrow so we can prepare more thoroughly."

"Xun~"

Little Xunbao's eyes lit up. It thought that worked.

"I know!" Zhang Shuzhou, who had been chatting with someone nearby, suddenly leaned over eagerly. "I know who's competing in the bare-handed tile-smashing tomorrow!"

Although he had been talking to someone the whole time, Qiao Sang, as the school's most talked-about figure, had too strong a presence. Combined with the dyed-haired Treasure Seeking Demon, it was impossible not to pay special attention.

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Zhang Shuzhou kept glancing at the Treasure Seeking Demon out of the corner of his eye.

A Treasure Seeking Demon, huh…

He hadn't expected that what Wang Yiding from the class next door said was actually true…

Zhang Shuzhou looked at Qiao Sang with a complicated expression, feeling she should just change her name to Qiao the Freak!

Unaware of Zhang Shuzhou's inner thoughts, Qiao Sang played along and asked, "Who else?"

"A total of thirteen people are participating, one from each class," Zhang Shuzhou said. "Besides Li Jiang from Class 2 and Zhao Fangrui from Class 8, the other eleven—no, plus you—besides the three of you, the contestants from the other ten classes all sent out combat-type pet beasts."

"Among them, besides you, the one with the best chance of winning is another one—Liu Qijia from Class 9. His pet beast is a Mighty Monkey. I heard his dad is a beast tamer who specializes in breeding combat-type pet beasts. Terrifyingly strong."

Qiao Sang was taken aback. "How do you know my chances of winning are good?"

Zhang Shuzhou grinned. "Who doesn't know that your Treasure Seeking Ghost—no, should call it Treasure Seeking Demon now—who doesn't know that your Treasure Seeking Demon can not only smash tiles, but has practiced it to perfection? Let alone competing with first-years, even against Gao San, it would crush them in minutes."

Qiao Sang's mouth twitched. "That's a rumor."

"A rumor?!" Zhang Shuzhou exclaimed. "Are you saying your Treasure Seeking Demon can't smash tiles?"

The entire class instantly fell silent and looked over.

Qiao Sang held it in for a long moment. "…It can."

Chatter resumed in the classroom.

"I knew it had to be true," Zhang Shuzhou said with a smile.

Qiao Sang: "…"

……

8:10 AM.

When the school leaders' cookie-cutter speeches finally ended, almost all the students summoned their pet beasts.

Pet beasts normally weren't allowed to be summoned casually, but the sports meet was an exception.

In an instant, the field was filled with pet beasts everywhere.

Qiao Sang also summoned Like Ya Bao.

As for Lubao, she remembered it had still been sleeping when she put it into the Beast Taming Codex this morning. Not much time had passed since then, so she'd let it sleep a while longer.

"Ya!"

Like Ya Bao wagged its tail excitedly at the lively atmosphere around it.

"Like Ya Bao, do you remember Little Ball Cattail?" Qiao Sang asked.

"Ya…" Like Ya Bao tried hard to recall.

"The one with a very timid personality and a dandelion on its head," Qiao Sang reminded it.

"Ya!"

Like Ya Bao barked once, indicating it remembered.

"We're going to watch it compete in shuttlecock kicking now," Qiao Sang said.

"Ya!"

"Xun!"

Jin Feifan's shuttlecock kicking event was today, scheduled early as one of the first batches. He had gone to the designated spot almost as soon as the opening ceremony ended.

Although shuttlecock kicking wasn't exactly thrilling, the matches were short, and they took place when everyone was still buzzing with excitement, so the surrounding area was packed with spectators.

Looking at the wall of people in front of her, Qiao Sang flipped herself directly onto Like Ya Bao's back.

Like Ya Bao immediately understood what its beast tamer meant and used telekinesis to float above the wall of people.

With nothing blocking the view anymore and occupying a spot with an excellent vantage point, Qiao Sang felt just one word inside—awesome!

"Bang!"

As the starting pistol sounded, the thirteen pet beasts standing side by side began kicking the shuttlecock.

Qiao Sang looked at Little Ball Cattail.

Though Little Ball Cattail's body was ball-shaped and its legs were short, it was still quite agile. The shuttlecock was steadily kicked back and forth between its left and right feet, without resorting to its vine whip early on.

Equally steady was the Many-Clawed Crab at the very edge. It hadn't moved a single inch from its spot, yet its ten claws kept taking turns kicking the shuttlecock.

Logically speaking, when kicking a shuttlecock, as long as the feet move, no matter how well one kicks, one's position will inevitably shift—but the Many-Clawed Crab hadn't.

So this is coordination ability… Qiao Sang thought silently.

Like Ya Bao's spiritual power and basic qualities were decent. Whether it was stamina, physical strength, speed, explosive power, etc., they all far exceeded pet beasts of the same rank, but it didn't seem to have anything special in terms of coordination ability.

Coordination ability, simply put, was control ability.

The higher the skill proficiency, the stronger the control.

Ya Bao could indeed improve her own control through increased skill proficiency, but that was only control over specific move forms, not control over the body or over energy.

Qiao Sang couldn't help but think again that Ya Bao's spiritual power and energy had both improved enough now, but for the main body and the clone to be at school and at home respectively, there was still a long distance to bridge.

Recent progress was getting smaller and smaller. If she could improve control—properly controlling the energy within her body and managing the clone—couldn't that extend the distance a bit further from where it was now…

What method should she use to train Ya Bao's coordination…

"Ya ya!"

Ya Bao was enthusiastically cheering Xiaoqiong Pu on, completely unaware that her own beast master was currently thinking about how to train her.

7:02 PM.

Tianjing Yuan, No. 1705.

"Aren't you going to train?" Qiao Sang asked, looking at Bing Lu Qi Ya.

"Lu."

Bing Lu Qi Ya gave her tail a cool flick.

Only someone like Ya Bao needed training—without any training, she was already stronger than Ya Bao.

Didn't the vice principal say that once Shu Lu Ya Na evolved, she'd want to get stronger? This situation didn't seem right… Qiao Sang was a bit baffled.

She thought for a moment and asked, "You kept learning Rain Prayer not long ago. Are you not learning it anymore?"

Bing Lu Qi Ya looked at Qiao Sang, slightly bared her mouth, then quickly restrained herself.

If Qiao Sang's eyesight weren't good, she would have suspected she'd seen wrong.

"Lu."

Bing Lu Qi Ya flicked her tail and walked toward the courtyard with a cool, aloof gait.

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment, then hurried to follow.

Arriving at the courtyard, Bing Lu Qi Ya deliberately found a spot near Ya Bao and stopped.

"Lu Lu Lu."

Then, Bing Lu Qi Ya called out to the sky.

A cold wind blew up, a dark cloud appeared in the air, and after two seconds, rain began to fall.

R-rain?

Feeling the droplets on her face, Qiao Sang looked completely bewildered. As if she had thought of something, her consciousness quickly entered the Beast Master Codex to check Lu Bao's data.

【Rain Prayer (Entry 2/100)+】

PS: Happy New Year's Day, everyone!