However, what surprised her even more was that Zheng Dong's Gold-Devouring Rat had mastered the Profound level skills of Shadow Clone, Giant Form, Spatial Shift, and Mountain Press.
This was beyond her imagination.
Even though she considered herself a genius and had contracted multiple General-level pet beasts, none of her pets had mastered more than three Profound level skills.
After all, to raise a skill's proficiency to the Profound level, training alone was not enough; it also required the pet beast's comprehension ability and a bit of luck.
On the battlefield, Xiao Zi's clones became incredibly huge, like giant beasts, descending from mid-air and using the ultimate skill Mountain Press to smash down on the Fiery Monkey.
The Fiery Monkey cried out in pain, questioning its existence.
This was no Gold-Devouring Rat, it was a monster!
Although the Fiery Monkey had mastered many powerful offensive skills, it had very few defensive or movement skills.
This was because Teacher Liu Xia had always trained the Fiery Monkey towards strong offense, intending for it to be the main offensive pillar of her pet beast team in the future.
Therefore, facing Xiao Zi's attacks, the Fiery Monkey could only attack desperately, unable to defend at all.
Unfortunately, Xiao Zi's clones came wave after wave, and the Fiery Monkey couldn't hold on for long before being stunned by the Mountain Press from Xiao Zi's clones.
The battle ended, and silence fell around. No one doubted Zheng Dong's strength anymore. Teacher Liu Xia was not angry; instead, she was happy.
With Zheng Dong in her class, she was confident in winning first place in the Battle Department's freshman competition this year.
"Do you see? This is strength. If any of you have this strength, you can enjoy the same treatment. Moreover, Zheng Dong wasn't slacking off; he was experimenting with Principal Yu due to special circumstances.
So, if anyone dares to gossip behind my back again, don't blame me for being impolite!" Teacher Liu Xia declared霸气.
Subsequently, Zheng Dong completed all the practical assessment items with near-perfect scores, completely convincing the other students.
As a result, Zheng Dong's reputation in the Battle Department grew even stronger.
The students who had originally planned to challenge Zheng Dong all backed down.
Of course, there were still many geniuses in the Battle Department.
However, these geniuses were also equipped with corresponding independent villas, so there was no need to challenge Zheng Dong.
They were more looking forward to encountering Zheng Dong in the freshman competition.
Zheng Dong, however, had focused all his attention on the symbiotic experiment and the Yanhuang Genius Selection Competition, paying no mind to the internal competitions within the Battle Department of Modu University.
As the Yanhuang Genius Selection Competition drew closer, Zheng Dong prepared to head to Qindu.
Unfortunately, the symbiotic experiment was still not ideal.
Currently, only the most suitable transcendent plant for symbiosis with Zheng Dong had been selected: the Spirit-Gathering Grass.
Spirit-Gathering Grass was a transcendent plant that could absorb various elemental energies, and its roots could condense corresponding elemental crystals.
For instance, by absorbing wind elemental energy, the Spirit-Gathering Grass could condense wind elemental crystals, and by absorbing fire elemental energy, it could condense fire elemental crystals.
These elemental crystals were very versatile, which was why Spirit-Gathering Grass was widely cultivated in many ruin spaces.
However, this was the only ability of the Spirit-Gathering Grass.
Even after awakening, the Spirit-Gathering Grass would not gain any other abilities, and it could only survive for three to five years.
As a result, no Beast Tamers were willing to contract Spirit-Gathering Grass.
The problem Zheng Dong faced was that the cultivated Spirit-Gathering Grass could adapt to his body, but as soon as he attempted symbiosis, the Spirit-Gathering Grass would be affected by the power of his Azure Dragon bloodline, rapidly die, and fail to complete the symbiosis.
He had to ensure that the Spirit-Gathering Grass was not affected by the power of his Azure Dragon bloodline before completing the symbiosis, which was very difficult.
Principal Yu had also provided a solution.
That was to continuously water the Spirit-Gathering Grass with diluted dragon blood, allowing it to gradually adapt, and then continuously iterate.
Unfortunately, even dragon blood diluted ten thousand times was poison to the Spirit-Gathering Grass, making experimentation impossible.
Of course, he could continue to dilute the dragon blood, but in that case, it would be no different from normal watering of the Spirit-Gathering Grass.
The experiment had hit a snag, but neither Principal Yu nor Zheng Dong had given up.
However, Principal Yu also reminded Zheng Dong that if the experiment made no progress, Zheng Dong should consider other methods to resolve the mixed-blood issue.
After all, no one could say for sure how long it would take for the experiment to achieve a breakthrough.
Zheng Dong knew it wouldn't be easy, otherwise, someone would have succeeded long ago.
He continued to collect relevant information and conduct experiments until he received a call from Xiao Lin, the president of the Rongcheng Beast Tamer Association.
"Zheng Dong, how are your preparations? The selection competition starts in two days. I'll be waiting for you in Qindu then."
Zheng Dong was unsure of the strength of others, but with Youyou, it should not be a problem.
So, he said, "Although I haven't completed the contract for my second pet beast, I have obtained a Lord-level heroic spirit."
"Lord-level? Its strength should be quite good! You should also come to Qindu as soon as possible. If you need anything, I can make arrangements in advance!" Xiao Lin said.
After hanging up the phone, Zheng Dong took leave from Teacher Liu Xia and rushed to Qindu the next day.
This selection competition was not held within Qindu city but in a small town in the suburbs, not far from the Qin Emperor's Ruins.
After Zheng Dong got off the plane, he went to the hotel where Xiao Lin was staying and met the sisters Shen Bing and Shen Xue.
Then, led by Xiao Lin, Zheng Dong and the others headed to the small town.
The town was beautiful and had been developed into a tourist resort with all kinds of living and recreational facilities. Xiao Lin had also booked rooms for Zheng Dong and the others.
Next, at Xiao Lin's recommendation, Zheng Dong and the others completed their registration.
As for the competition rules, they had not yet been announced and would only be known on the day of the competition.
Since the competition was not open to the public, there were no media outlets.
The town had also suspended external access, citing an event organized by a large company.
Furthermore, from the start of registration until the end of the competition, Zheng Dong and the others were not allowed to leave the town.
Leaving would be considered automatic disqualification.
Zheng Dong even signed a non-disclosure agreement because of this.
This made him feel a bit strange, unable to understand the reason for the authorities not publicizing the competition.
The water in this world might be much deeper than he realized.
He didn't dwell on it too much; as long as his strength was sufficient, he would naturally learn about things in the future.
Besides, Zheng Dong discovered that they had arrived relatively late.
Many geniuses recommended by Beast Tamer legions had arrived a week earlier.
The Modu Beast Tamer Association had also recommended many geniuses, including quite a few who were studying at Modu University.
However, Zheng Dong rarely attended classes, so he didn't recognize them.
The next day, the selection competition officially began.
The number of participants was more than Zheng Dong had anticipated, with over three thousand people.
The vast majority were junior Beast Tamers like himself, but there were also many intermediate Beast Tamers with Beast Taming Space levels reaching Grade Three and having contracted three pet beasts.
Zheng Dong also unexpectedly saw a familiar face on the podium, Professor Xue Yin.
In addition to Professor Xue Yin, there was also Li Yang, the Vice President of the Yanhuang Beast Tamer Association, and Professor Huang Cheng, one of the heads of the Ruin Bureau.
Zheng Dong was not familiar with Li Yang.
However, he had heard from Xia Mengqiu that Professor Huang Cheng was Xia Mengqiu's maternal grandfather, which was why Xia Mengqiu had thrived in the Ruin Bureau and could easily help him apply for the Necromancer Tower from the Ruin Bureau.
Then, Li Yang announced the rules for the preliminary round.
All participants would earn points through virtual battles, and the top one hundred with the highest scores would qualify.
The virtual battle equipment used this time was an Emperor-level mechanical pet beast called the Phantom Emperor.
The Phantom Emperor simulated battlefields using ultimate skills and could accommodate thousands of people for virtual battles simultaneously without any interference.
If everything went smoothly, the preliminary round could be completed on the same day.
"The purpose of this selection competition is to crack the Qin Emperor's Ruins and obtain the Qin Emperor's inheritance. Therefore, in the preliminary round, the transcendent creatures you virtually battle will have the same attributes as your summoned pet beasts.
Furthermore, the number and level of transcendent creatures will continuously increase with each round. The more rounds you clear, the more transcendent creatures you defeat, and the shorter the time taken, the higher your score will be," Li Yang continued to explain.
Instantly, Shen Bing and Shen Xue, standing beside Zheng Dong, were astonished and then looked at Zheng Dong with envious eyes.
This meant that Zheng Dong, by summoning Youyou, could almost pass the rounds with ease.
The quasi-divine skill Lord of the Undead could command all undead of the same level, meaning Youyou could directly order any Lord-level undead to stand still and not resist.
Additionally, the quasi-divine skill Samsara Karma Fire was highly effective against undead, making it a nemesis to almost all undead.
With this, Zheng Dong would surely win effortlessly!
Zheng Dong, however, thought more than the two sisters. He would definitely advance in the preliminary round, and he was more concerned about the relationship between the preliminary round and the Qin Emperor's Ruins.
If the Qin Emperor's trials followed the same rules as the preliminary round, did that mean he had a high chance of passing the Qin Emperor's trials and obtaining the Qin Emperor's inheritance?
Of course, this was just Zheng Dong's speculation.
To enter the Qin Emperor's Ruin space, he would have to wait until after this selection competition ended, and he did not yet know the specific time.
Next, Zheng Dong and the others were each given a mechanical electronic glasses. After putting them on, a virtual battlefield would appear before their eyes.
However, people could not be too close to each other and had to start the competition in designated locations.
This made the competition area quite large.
This was not a problem for the Emperor-level Phantom Emperor, as the range of its simulated battlefield using ultimate skills could even cover an area of several tens of miles around the entire town.
Furthermore, it could convert the virtual battle scenes into live broadcasts and project them in real-time.
The Phantom Emperor had many functions, but most of them were auxiliary.
As for combat, it had not mastered any related skills.
As all participants took their positions, Li Yang gave the order, and the competition began.
With the electronic mechanical glasses on, Zheng Dong's surroundings changed drastically, and he found himself on a desolate yellow land. A gust of northwest wind blew, kicking up dust.
A prompt also sounded, asking Zheng Dong to summon his pet beast as soon as possible.
Youyou was then summoned by Zheng Dong and playfully jumped onto his shoulder.
Immediately after, a Lord-level undead, the Phantom Cat, appeared opposite Zheng Dong.
Although the Phantom Cat was a simulated transcendent creature, it felt no different from a real Phantom Cat to Zheng Dong.
As the Phantom Cat was about to attack, it felt an irresistible will, and it had to obey Youyou's command to remain still.
Subsequently, Youyou used the Ghost Fire skill to resolve it.
The first round was easily cleared.
Without any time to rest, two more Lord-level undead appeared.
Without Zheng Dong needing to act, Youyou quickly dealt with both of them.
...
In reality, Li Yang and the others on the podium were chatting and did not pay much attention to the preliminary round.
Virtual battles between junior and intermediate Beast Tamers were like child's play to them, with nothing much to see.
However, they still had the Phantom Emperor project the names of the top one hundred participants onto the large screen opposite the podium.
This was because the team leaders of the Beast Tamer Associations from various regions, as well as representatives from Beast Tamer Legions, Breeding Bureaus, Weapon Bureaus, and other major organizations, were quite concerned about whether their participants had entered the top one hundred.
After all, failing to pass even the preliminary round would be quite embarrassing.
Soon, to everyone's surprise, they saw Zheng Dong's name steadily climbing to first place.
But that wasn't all. The rounds Zheng Dong cleared changed every few minutes, and he quickly passed the seventeenth round.
Meanwhile, Cao Teng from the Imperial Capital, who was ranked second, had just cleared the ninth round.
The gap was simply too large!
After all, the difficulty of clearing rounds increased as one progressed.
But Zheng Dong made it seem as easy as drinking water, which led many to suspect Zheng Dong of cheating.
The discussions grew louder, and the Phantom Emperor couldn't help but project several scornful expressions, "You fools, are you questioning my abilities?"
The Phantom Emperor had only taken over a decade to awaken and grow into an Emperor-level mechanical pet beast, so its mentality was actually similar to that of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old child.
When it saw people questioning Zheng Dong, it felt as if they were questioning it.
After all, to cheat in the simulated battlefield, one would need its consent.
Fortunately, Li Yang spoke up and said, "Let's watch Zheng Dong's battle situation. The eighteenth round should involve facing a General-level transcendent creature.
I wonder if he can still pass it with ease."
Instantly, the Phantom Emperor switched the screen, and the large screen displayed Zheng Dong battling the General-level undead, the Night Giant.
The Night Giant was massive, making Zheng Dong and Youyou look like two infants in its presence.
It initiated the attack first, using its Night Fist to smash towards Zheng Dong and Youyou.
Seeing this, everyone was guessing how Zheng Dong and Youyou would dodge.
The next second, countless illusions appeared, densely packed, like an undead army surging towards the Night Giant.
Youyou used the low-level skill Phantom.
Because its proficiency had reached the Profound level, the manifested phantoms were almost indistinguishable from reality, and there was no limit to the number of phantoms it could create.
However, it was still a low-level skill, only meant to scare, with no actual attack power.
During this period, with Zheng Dong's assistance, Youyou's proficiency in all low-level and mid-level skills had reached the Profound level, its high-level skills had reached the Proficient level, and its ultimate skills had reached the Skilled level.
However, the proficiency of quasi-divine skills was difficult to improve, and they were all still at the beginner level.
Seeing these illusions, Li Yang and the others remained calm.
Everyone else also found it normal.
After all, a low-level skill reaching the Profound level was nothing to be surprised about.
However, almost everyone believed that the General-level Night Giant would not be fooled by these false illusions.
After all, the General-level Night Giant should also have mastered perception-type skills.
But to their utter astonishment, the Night Giant hastily retracted its Night Fist, clutched its head with both hands, and let out a pained wail.
What was going on?
Could it be that this General-level Night Giant was just for show?
It was definitely cheating!