I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 61: Chapter 59: Power Quality

Jiang Zuo rubbed his eyes, confirming he wasn’t seeing things.

Xiaoqing had granted him a bonus of 175 Strength, 506 Physique, and 22 Agility!

Jiang Zuo picked up a smooth river pebble by his feet, squeezed his palm, and gave it a light clench.

With a crisp CRACK, the river pebble crumbled into powder and fragments, slipping through Jiang Zuo’s fingers.

’It’s not an illusion. My stats have definitely increased. It’s just... the feeling is completely different from when I add the points myself.’

Jiang Zuo looked down at his own body.

In the past, whenever he added dozens of attribute points at once, his body would undergo immense changes.

Now that Xiaoqing had boosted his Strength by over one hundred and his Physique by over five hundred, the changes should have been enormous.

But aside from feeling much stronger and his body being enveloped by some unknown power, Jiang Zuo noticed no other significant changes.

’Is there a fundamental difference between adding points myself and the bonus from a Lifebound Spirit Beast?’

Jiang Zuo pondered this, closing his eyes to carefully sense the difference.

’Adding points myself is like a quantitative increase, whereas Xiaoqing’s attribute bonus isn’t an increase in quantity, but in quality?’

’The system uses the format Strength 136.5 + 175 instead of just adding them together. This must be what it’s trying to convey!’

After a good while, Jiang Zuo finally perceived the difference between adding points himself and the attribute bonus from Xiaoqing.

Take Strength, for example. In terms of quantity, his stat was still 136.5. But before Xiaoqing’s bonus, one point of Strength was about the size of a sesame seed.

With Xiaoqing’s attribute bonus, each point of Strength had become the size of a soybean.

As for why this was happening,

Jiang Zuo guessed there were two reasons.

First, it was an external power; Xiaoqing’s attribute bonus wasn’t fixed and could fluctuate at any time.

Second, the quality of Xiaoqing’s attributes was far higher than his own.

Jiang Zuo remembered Subai once mentioning that even if a Mortal Martial Artist managed to cultivate True Qi and become an Innate Martial Artist, they were ultimately still inferior to a Cultivator at the Perfection of Qi Cultivation.

The reason for this lay in the fundamental difference in the nature of their respective powers.

Spiritual Power was far more potent than True Qi.

Although Xiaoqing’s rank had fallen due to the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array, it was still a Spirit Beast that used Spiritual Power.

This method of enhancement was undoubtedly more advantageous for Jiang Zuo.

Take his Strength, for example. His actual power was now greater than the sum of 311 points would suggest—perhaps significantly so.

...

After forging the Lifebound Spirit Beast Contract, the bond between Jiang Zuo and Xiaoqing grew even closer.

Within the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array, Xiaoqing couldn’t replenish its Spiritual Qi. Continued growth was likely impossible; just avoiding regression would be an impressive feat.

Even if Xiaoqing’s cultivation progress could still increase, it was unlikely to ever reach 100% due to the lack of Spiritual Qi.

Nevertheless, Jiang Zuo planned to let Xiaoqing continue occupying a slot in the Cultivation Beast Cage.

Xiaoqing was still a newborn and needed to be trained and taught good habits.

Jiang Zuo and Xiaoqing had not spent much time together yet, so he wanted to be around it as much as possible while it was still young.

When it came to fostering affection and loyalty, the younger the subject, the better the results.

People who raise birds, for example, know that if you don’t play with them when they’re chicks, no amount of effort will matter once they’re grown.

With Xiaoqing around, Great Black’s second bloodline enhancement could now be put on the schedule.

Although Jiang Zuo was eager to see what changes the second bloodline enhancement would bring to Great Black, he knew he couldn’t rush it.

The stronger the Spirit Beast Blood, the better the effects of the second bloodline enhancement would be.

He would at least wait for Xiaoqing to grow a little more and for its body to stabilize before considering it.

Great Black wasn’t even twenty yet, a long way from its seventy-year lifespan limit. It could absolutely afford to wait.

Besides, spending more time with Xiaoqing before the bloodline enhancement would be greatly beneficial for Great Black as well.

...

’I wonder where I stand now among Martial Artists? What level am I roughly equivalent to?’

It took Jiang Zuo several days to fully acclimate to his body after the explosive increase in his stats.

If he didn’t control his strength, he was now a Humanoid Fierce Beast, capable of causing immense destruction with the slightest effort.

Having lived by the Li River for over a decade, Jiang Zuo knew that Lizhou was a large city where it was convenient to find anything you needed.

Jiang Zuo was not short on money, so he had spent the years reading a vast number of books.

Many of them were about Martial Artists, so he was already quite familiar with their ranking system.

The Martial Artist ranks, from lowest to highest, were: Skin Refining, Muscle Training, Bone Refining, Blood Exchange, Meridian Passage, Inner Breath, and True Qi.

Those who cultivated Inner Breath could already be called Grandmasters, and those who cultivated True Qi were Innate Martial Artists.

The first three stages—Skin Refining, Muscle Training, and Bone Refining—were considered relatively easy to train, and most Martial Artists were at one of these levels.

After reaching Blood Exchange, the difficulty of advancing increased dramatically. Each subsequent stage had a massive threshold, and the number of Martial Artists at these higher levels dropped sharply.

’I remember back when I killed the Ding Brothers, my Strength was over 110, and he said I was at the Great Success stage of Bone Refining. Now my Strength is over three hundred... Does that put me somewhere between Meridian Passage and Inner Breath?’

Jiang Zuo speculated.

But with the high-quality attribute bonus from Xiaoqing, his stats were stronger than they appeared on the surface.

Factoring in his frighteningly high Physique, Jiang Zuo couldn’t say for sure what kind of expert he was now a match for.

After all, he wasn’t the type to stir up trouble and had never fought against an expert.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, someone came to provoke him.

A few days later, Jiang Zuo went to the shop run by Ruan Jianglan, as he usually did.

Although it had been a long time since he’d found an Obsession Relic, Jiang Zuo hadn’t given up.

It was a matter of probability. As long as he persisted and wasn’t cursed with the worst luck imaginable, he was bound to make a discovery sooner or later.

"Zhao, something has come up in the past few days that I think I need to discuss with you."

Ruan Jianglan said, waiting until Jiang Zuo had finished examining the newly acquired bone items.

"What’s wrong? Did you run into some trouble?"

In the ten-plus years they had known each other, Jiang Zuo and Ruan Jianglan mostly stuck to small talk, such as Jiang Zuo occasionally asking how her son, Ruan Xiaoxian, was doing.

If they discussed anything else, it usually meant she had run into a problem she couldn’t solve on her own.

"Yes. Constable He, who used to look after our shop, retired a few days ago, and it’s not yet clear who is responsible for our street."

"A few days ago, a member of the White Jade Gang came to the shop and not-so-subtly informed me that we’ll need to pay protection fees to them from now on. Otherwise, they’ll have people make trouble for us and put us out of business."

Ruan Jianglan said, nodding.

To run a shop in Lizhou City, one had to pay official taxes to the State Government Office.

But apart from that fee, if you wanted to do business without being hassled, you either had to have your own background, connections, and someone willing to watch your back, or you had to pay a constable for protection.

Previously, Constable He had been in charge of security on this street. Ruan Jianglan had paid him fifty taels of silver annually for his protection.

Even after the shop became profitable, that amount never changed.

It wasn’t because Constable He wasn’t greedy.

Rather, it was because of their unspoken rules; that was all he was allowed to take.

The larger shops that paid more tribute money were not under the purview of constables like him.

If he were to raise Ruan Jianglan’s fee, the most likely result would be that the Chief Constable would take over her shop’s protection, and Constable He would be reassigned to another small business.

If he wasn’t careful and the matter became public, embarrassing the Government Office, he could risk losing all his tribute income.

So for Constable He, it was better to leave well enough alone.

Constable He retired a week ago, and Ruan Jianglan had been waiting for the new constable to show up.

She never expected members of the White Jade Gang to show up instead.

More than a decade had passed, and outside Lizhou City, the White Jade Gang had already become one of the largest gangs.

Back then, even the Black Fish Gang had to grease palms inside Lizhou City to expand.

For the White Jade Gang to have grown to its current scale, it obviously had no shortage of connections within Lizhou City.

"How much does the White Jade Gang want?"

Jiang Zuo asked.

"Thirty percent of the shop’s profits, with a minimum of three hundred taels a year."

Ruan Jianglan said, looking troubled.

Under her careful management, the shop’s business was stable. It wasn’t doing as well as in the early days, but its annual profit was still around one thousand taels, sometimes more, sometimes less.

If she gave thirty percent to the White Jade Gang, her profits would drop significantly.

"I understand. I’ll take care of this matter."

Jiang Zuo nodded. Now that he understood the situation, he didn’t stay any longer and turned to leave.

Ruan Xiaoxian happened to be coming in from outside. Jiang Zuo nodded at him without a word and left the shop.

"Mother, is it because of him that you’ve never remarried?"

Ruan Xiaoxian couldn’t help but ask as he watched his mother walk out from the back room.

Ruan Xiaoxian was a bit older than Wen Shulin and his companion. Almost sixteen, he was no longer an ignorant child.

For as long as he could remember, Jiang Zuo had come to visit once every half-month.

Although Jiang Zuo’s official purpose was to deliver fish to their door, Ruan Xiaoxian had long had a vague feeling that his mother’s relationship with this man was not what it seemed on the surface.

Over the years, quite a few men had shown interest in Ruan Jianglan, and Ruan Xiaoxian could tell that his mother had actually been fond of a few of them as well.

But in the end, she rejected them all and never gave any of them a chance.

"Xiaoxian, don’t let your imagination run wild. Haven’t I told you before? Zhao is a good man, and he’s our benefactor."

"When you recovered from that serious illness as a child, it was thanks to the Silver Spot Fish from Zhao that you didn’t suffer any lasting effects. I haven’t remarried simply because I can’t bear to put you in a difficult position. No matter how good someone else might seem, you would always be an outsider to them."

Ruan Jianglan told Ruan Xiaoxian lovingly.

Hearing his mother’s words, Ruan Xiaoxian said no more.

...

’The White Jade Gang... nearly three hundred members, and their leader is a Bone Refining Martial Artist.’

After returning home, Jiang Zuo spent some time and managed to dig up quite a bit of information on the White Jade Gang.

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