Chapter 344: A Word of Warning to You All

The corner of Qiao Sang's mouth twitched even harder.

Good grief, so she hadn't misheard...

They had just gone through a "life-and-death battle," and at this hour too — was going to train now really serious?

Just as Qiao Sang was thinking about how to advise Lu Lu Lu that a balance of work and rest was the truth, Xu Yixuan beside her wore a stunned expression, seriously doubting there was something wrong with her ears.

She couldn't understand what Bing Lu Qi Ya was saying, but she could understand Qiao Sang's words!

Bing Lu Qi Ya had actually taken the initiative to go train?!

For a moment, Xu Yixuan's face almost twisted with envy.

One had to know, back when she was in her first year of high school, to get her own pet beast to train properly, she had tried both soft and hard approaches, and even bought books like "Rebellion Is Not the Pet Beast's Fault," "Shoubashou Sect Teaches You How to Make Your Pet Beast Willing to Train," "Understanding Your Pet Beast's Inner World Through Daily Behavior," and "How to Make Your Pet Beast Interested in Training," spending a long stretch of time before the Fire God, who was still a Fire Fang Dog back then, was finally willing to train.

But now, what was she seeing — Bing Lu Qi Ya was the one dragging Qiao Sang off to train!

Not Qiao Sang dragging Bing Lu Qi Ya!

It was Bing Lu Qi Ya dragging Qiao Sang!

"I'm coming too!" Xu Yixuan said loudly. With a freak like this right beside her, she really couldn't lie around anymore!

Hey, hey, hey, what time is it even — what are you joining in for... Qiao Sang looked at Xu Yixuan and said in a gentle tone: "There's still a competition tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want to get some proper rest?"

Quick, say you want to rest!

Xu Yixuan thought for a moment, then said seriously: "You make a good point. Then I'll just train for about an hour."

Qiao Sang: "..."

At that moment, Lu Lu Lu tugged at her pant leg with a paw again.

Qiao Sang looked down, meeting Lu Lu Lu's eyes.

"Lu." Lu Lu Lu called out with a serious expression.

Qiao Sang sighed inwardly and conceded: "Then let's go."

Hong Rao Beast Center.

Because it was nearly the small hours of the morning, the public training grounds were already nearly empty.

Xu Yixuan trained with Yin Meng Ling, while Qiao Sang communicated with Lu Lu Lu.

"Why did you smash your head straight into the ground when you were practicing Water Jet today?" Qiao Sang asked.

"Lu." Lu Lu Lu pointed at the gem on her forehead with a paw, indicating it was fine — she could heal it.

Qiao Sang said helplessly: "That's not the point. As long as you release one Water Jet, whether you hit the ground or not, your improvement is exactly the same."

Releasing a skill once adds 1 to that skill's proficiency — isn't that just the same?

"Lu..."

As her beastmaster's words landed, Lu Lu Lu's face took on a dejected expression.

She felt she was terribly weak — even her strongest attack skill wasn't as impressive as any random move Ya Bao put out.

Ya Bao had even evolved now. No matter how she trained, was she simply never going to catch up to that guy...

Looking at Lu Lu Lu's state, Qiao Sang immediately sensed something was off with her emotions.

Lu Lu Lu usually kept a cool image — when would she ever be like this? She had been perfectly fine during today's competition... Qiao Sang replayed what had happened today, and quickly had a guess.

Qiao Sang thought for a moment and said: "Do you think you're no good?"

"Lu Lu Lu!" Having been seen through, Lu Lu Lu instantly flared up in embarrassment and barked loudly, insisting she was plenty capable.

"I think so too," Qiao Sang nodded in agreement. "Think about it — you know the super-tier skill Healing Light, and Ya Bao's strongest skill right now is only high-tier. Last time you said you wanted to learn the high-tier skill Rain Prayer, you learned it in one go. Isn't that amazing?"

"Lu..."

Lu Lu Lu stared at her beastmaster for a while, then with a serious expression voiced her thoughts.

"Lu Lu Lu!"

She wanted to get stronger! Even stronger!

You want to become stronger than Ya Bao, don't you... Qiao Sang thought to herself.

Actually, Lu Lu Lu really wasn't weak. Healing Light paired with Rain Prayer plus the Carefree trait, along with a Water Jet whose proficiency had already reached Perfection — leaving aside challenging higher levels, her odds of winning against same-tier pet beasts were still quite high. What she lacked right now was simply real combat experience.

But unfortunately, the ones being compared to Lu Lu Lu were Ya Bao and Little Xun Bao.

Ya Bao knew Shadow Clone, and had even reached the Ultimate level; her skill proficiency shot up like a rocket every day, and most of the skills she knew were attack types.

As for Little Xun Bao, a single Shadow Control — usable for both control and attack — basically made her invincible among same-tier opponents.

But Lu Lu Lu's two highest-level moves were one healing type and one transformation type, so naturally she couldn't compare to those two in terms of offense.

Clearly a support, yet with the heart of a hard hitter... After that inner sigh, Qiao Sang said aloud: "Let's learn a new skill."

"Lu!"

Learning a new skill wasn't something to rush — first, she had to choose carefully.

A high-tier attack skill of the water type or ice type — that was the standard Qiao Sang wanted to pick.

But before choosing a skill, there was one more important thing: the competition.

The next day.

Qiao Sang and Xu Yixuan arrived at Hui Cheng Beastmaster High School early in the morning.

Thanks to Healing Light, even though she had slept later than a dog the night before, there wasn't the slightest trace of fatigue on Qiao Sang's face.

By now the spectator stands had already gathered quite a crowd, everyone chatting excitedly.

With Ya Bao's evolution, Qiao Sang only felt that her hearing had improved quite a bit. Even though the surroundings were terribly noisy, as long as she listened carefully, she could hear voices seven or eight rows away perfectly clearly.

"I only got the news this morning!"

"Me too!"

"I found out yesterday — I was woken up halfway through sleep by my wife, who insisted I watch a video."

"Our place is really something! I think it'll develop sooner or later. It's only been nine years and another secret realm rift has appeared."

"After watching today's competition, want to go check in together?"

"Let's not. The secret realm rift that appeared just last night — we should at least wait until the safety alert is lifted."

"I heard from Xiao Song that Ding Yanjing's Valley Tail Flower has already evolved into a Valley Tail Sunflower. Is it true?"

"A secret realm rift… I'm a bit worried wild pet beasts might come out and affect the competition."

Qiao Sang froze. Wait a minute! What did she just hear?

Ding Yanjing?

The Ding Yanjing from Li Tan Beast-Taming High School?

His Valley Tail Flower evolved?

Qiao Sang turned her head, trying to see who had said it.

But there were too many people; after looking for a while she gave up.

Qiao Sang turned back, pulled out her phone, and checked the forum for news, only to find there wasn't a single post about Ding Yanjing's Valley Tail Flower evolving into a Valley Tail Sunflower.

Could it be someone with the same name and same pet beast?

That shouldn't be the case — what a coincidence that would be. If she'd heard it somewhere else she might let it go, but hearing it here, it was most likely about someone from Beast-Taming High School.

"Ding Yanjing's Valley Tail Flower evolved?" Qiao Sang turned and asked.

"No way." The He Datao beside her looked completely unconvinced: "Where did you see that news?"

Before Qiao Sang could answer, Xu Yixuan spoke up at that moment: "If it had evolved, Li Tan Beast-Taming High School would definitely have been bragging about it."

"Even if Li Tan Beast-Taming High School didn't brag, just look at how show-offy Ding Yanjing is — he'd definitely be the first to take his Valley Tail Sunflower out strutting everywhere."

He Datao chimed in: "And evolving into a high-level pet beast at such a critical moment — whoever it is among the contestants, everyone would definitely hear about it right away."

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment: "If the pet beast evolved and wasn't summoned to compete, how would others find out?"

Xu Yixuan laughed: "The school teachers and teammates competing together would know, right? This is huge good news — no one would hide it. It would boost the school team's morale, and it'd give them face out there."

Qiao Sang was silent for a few seconds, then said: "Then let me tell you all first — my Flame Listener Hound has evolved."

Xu Yixuan: "???"

He Datao: "???"