The atmosphere of the Beast Tamer Guild Hall was thick with a mixture of arrogance and jasmine incense. Marble pillars carved with the likenesses of legendary Spirit Beasts stretched high into the vaulted ceiling. Silk banners displaying the heraldry of the founding families draped from the rafters.
In the midst of this splendor, Su Ye looked utterly out of place.
He stood by the registration desk, clad in his patched, stiff hemp tunic. At his feet sat Zhu Zhu (The Void Pig), currently disguised as an exceptionally plump, docile house pet, sleeping on a faded, repurposed sack of rice.
"Next!" barked the Registrar, a thin, severe woman whose gaze skipped over Su Ye as if he were a smudge on the floor.
Su Ye calmly pushed his registration parchment forward.
"Su Ye," the Registrar read the name, her expression twisting into a sneer. "Reassigned from the Twilight Stable. Status: Indentured Servant. Beast: Pig."
She looked pointedly at Zhu Zhu, then back at Su Ye. "Is this a joke? This is the Apprentice Tamer Exam, not a farmer's market. Livestock is not permitted."
"A common mistake," Su Ye replied smoothly, adjusting the collar of his tunic. "The regulation manual, section 3.A, subsection four, defines a valid exam candidate as a creature possessing a Spirit Core or the ability to process and convert external Qi into viable energy. Zhu Zhu, while resembling common livestock, has a unique biology."
He leaned down and whispered to the pig. "Show them your teeth, little guy."
Zhu Zhu's blue eyes snapped open. The pig didn't growl; it simply opened its mouth. For a brief, terrifying instant, the jaw unhinged wider than its tiny skull should allow, revealing a cavernous, dark maw lined with strangely geometric teeth.
The Registrar visibly paled and quickly pushed the papers back. "F-fine. Proceed to the Theory Hall. Room Seven."
A few yards away, leaning against a pillar, stood Zhao Feng, the Outer Disciple Su Ye had humiliated in the trash dump. His ankle was clearly still tender, and he was flanked by his two buddies.
"Enjoy the exam, stable boy," Zhao Feng sneered, loud enough for others to hear. "I hear the penalty for failing the theory portion is three months of latrine duty. It'll feel just like home."
Su Ye ignored him, gently tapping Zhu Zhu forward. "Come on, Zhu Zhu. Let's go prove we can read."
The Theory Exam: Debating with Ghosts
The Theory Hall was quiet, filled with nervous young aspirants anxiously scratching away with charcoal pens. Su Ye took his seat and looked at the exam paper.
Question 1: A Tier-2 Flaming Hyena is suffering from a chaotic Qi flow after consuming a tainted Fire Stone. Describe the proper 1-Star Tamer method for restoring its balance.
Su Ye immediately felt the familiar, jarring Zzzzt in his mind. The Ancestors were awake.
"The answer is simple!" boomed the voice of the Golden-Eyed Heavenly Lion Emperor (who had no connection to hyenas but insisted on giving his opinion).
"You must feed it the blood of a thousand virgins! Then incinerate it with a righteous thunderbolt! If it is worthy, it will survive! If not, it was trash!"
Ignore the Lion, focus, Su Ye mentally sighed, fighting the urge to write down "blood sacrifice."
Question 2: When a Spirit Turtle is refusing to move during combat, what physical stimulation technique is most effective to motivate its speed?
The mental space shifted to the vast, quiet wisdom of the Black Tortoise Ancestor.
"Physical stimulation?" the ancient, gravelly voice grumbled. "Preposterous. The turtle is merely waiting for the proper cosmological alignment. Or perhaps its shoulder is stiff. The only correct answer is to draw a detailed bath map and adjust the buoyancy levels. If you hit it, I will personally curse your lineage with hemorrhoids."
Su Ye rubbed his temples. He needed to find the actual, conventional answer amongst the divine complaining. He knew the Guild textbook answer was to apply a low-level stun current to the tail.
Su Ye wrote: "The 1-Star method requires a low-level, non-lethal electrical charge to the distal caudal vertebrae.
He finished the entire exam by fighting a battle on two fronts: the objective test questions and the subjective, deeply critical voices of the Old Gods in his skull.
When the bell rang, he handed in his paper, certain he had offended half the pantheon of ancient spirits.
The candidates moved to a large central arena for the practical phase. This was the moment of truth: measuring the raw Spiritual Potential of their beasts.
The device was impressive: a ten-foot-tall crystal pillar called the Qi Resonance Column. Candidates directed their beasts to place a paw or horn on the base. The pillar would glow to display the animal's maximum energy tier.
The arena was filled with expensive, pedigree beasts: Sparkling Unicorns, juvenile Earth Dragons, and massive Winged Falcons.
Master Mo stood on a high observation platform, his face a mask of false piety, but his eyes were narrowed on Su Ye.
One by one, the candidates went up. Zhao Feng's Shadow Wolf achieved a respectable Tier 3 glow.
"Su Ye! Next!" the examiner called out, unable to hide his contempt.
Su Ye walked Zhu Zhu forward. The small pink pig looked utterly uninterested, nudging a stray piece of chewing gum on the floor.
"Please place the beast on the activation plate," the examiner instructed stiffly, holding his nose.
Su Ye picked up Zhu Zhu and set him gently on the pedestal.
The moment Zhu Zhu's tiny hooves touched the plate, the pig's expression changed. His head snapped up, eyes fixed on the towering, glowing crystal pillar.
"FOOD! GLOWY FOOD!" The voice of Taotie exploded in Su Ye's mind, sounding like a thousand stomachs roaring for a Thanksgiving turkey. "THAT IS PURE, COMPRESSED SPIRIT ESSENCE! IT IS THE RAREST DELICACY! I MUST CONSUME IT ALL!"
"No, Zhu Zhu, stop!" Su Ye frantically whispered, trying to pull the pig away. "It's a test device! Not a snack!"
But the pig was faster. Before the examiner could even hit the activation rune, Zhu Zhu launched himself at the base of the Qi Resonance Column.
The pig didn't use energy. It used its mouth.
CRUNCH!
Zhu Zhu bit into the clear, crystalline base of the ten-foot pillar. The sound was deafening, like a giant cracking ice. Chunks of pure, glowing quartz—worth thousands of gold coins—shattered into Zhu Zhu's mouth.
The pillar did not glow; it screamed.
The crystal flared violently—not with a measured reading, but with an uncontrolled, catastrophic explosion of energy rushing toward the pig's internal void.
K-K-K-K-BOOOM!
A flash of white light enveloped the arena. The Qi Resonance Column didn't just break; it completely vaporized. Only Zhu Zhu was left standing on the scorched platform, completely unharmed, licking his chops with a look of supreme contentment.
Master Mo, who was watching from the platform, stood up so fast his chair fell over. "The column! The column is gone! That monster has devoured the test! Disqualify him! Arrest him!"
The examiner, whose robes were still smoking slightly, pointed a trembling finger at the smirking pig.
"I-I-I... the rules state... the highest potential beast registered a level that caused the column's failure," the examiner stammered. "We cannot measure its tier, but it certainly exceeded the maximum of Tier 8. Su Ye... passes this stage."
Su Ye picked up Zhu Zhu, who was already falling asleep again, full and happy.
"See?" Su Ye said mildly to the crowd. "A unique biology. He just took his sample internally."
The Final Trial: The Untamable Wolf
The last stage was the practical taming challenge. The candidate must successfully establish a bond with a wild, high-level Spirit Beast within a ten-minute time limit.
As Su Ye waited, Master Mo descended from the platform, his face a horrifying shade of mottled purple.
"You may have cheated your way through the Theory and the Potential test," Mo hissed, grabbing Su Ye's shoulder and digging his nails in. "But I have arranged your final beast. The Iron-Back Wolf. It has bitten the hands off three previous candidates. It is untamable, and when it maims you, the debt for the destroyed column will fall to your family!"
Su Ye shrugged off the grip. "Thank you for the warning, Master Mo. I'll send you the dental bill."
Su Ye entered the large, enclosed iron cage.
The Iron-Back Wolf was a magnificent, terrifying beast. It was the size of a pony, covered in thick, bristling grey fur that was as hard as armor. It prowled the cage floor, its eyes burning with predatory intelligence and pain.
Su Ye gently set Zhu Zhu down. The pig immediately found a patch of soft dirt and began to burrow, oblivious to the danger.
The Iron-Back Wolf instantly focused its rage on Su Ye. It crouched low, letting out a deep, guttural growl that promised violence.
Su Ye ignored the growl. He simply walked toward the wolf.
Zzzzt.
The mental link snapped into place. Su Ye was transported to a vast, frozen tundra. Standing on a peak was the Wolf Ancestor—a colossal, silent figure with eyes like chips of ice, looking down with cold contempt.
"Leave," the Ancestor's voice was a mournful howl, full of deep, ancient sorrow. "Humans only bring pain and enslavement.
My descendant is suffering. Do not touch him."
"I'm not here to enslave him," Su Ye projected his thoughts calmly. "I'm here to help him. Why is he suffering? He seems healthy."
"Healthy?" The Wolf Ancestor pointed a spectral claw at the real Wolf's snout. "Look closely, fool! Five days ago, he defended his territory against a Bone-Eating Hyena. He won, but a fragment of the hyena's skull is lodged deep between his upper two canines. Every time he bites or even shifts his jaw, the bone grinds into his gums! He is starving and enraged by constant pain!"
Su Ye peered at the wolf's mouth. To the naked eye, the teeth looked perfect.
"The pain is driving him mad," the Ancestor whispered. "The examiners see rage. I see agony. If you can relieve the pain, I will pledge his loyalty to you."
Su Ye pulled out of the connection. The time limit had begun.
Master Mo was shouting instructions from outside: "Hit its flank! Break its will! Subdue it!"
Su Ye ignored him. He took off his tunic and tossed it aside. He raised his hands slowly, palms open, approaching the wolf.
"Easy, big guy," Su Ye murmured, keeping his voice low and soothing. "I know it hurts. I'm not here to hurt you more. I'm here to floss."
The Iron-Back Wolf, expecting the crack of a whip, was thrown off balance. It lunged, snapping its jaws in a terrifying display of force.
Su Ye didn't flinch. He used the Black Tortoise Breathing to stabilize himself, and the speed gained from the practice allowed him to dart his hand forward in a blur—not toward the wolf's neck, but directly into its mouth.
His fingers pressed against the canine teeth. He felt the minute, splinter-sharp bone fragment lodged tightly between the enormous teeth.
The wolf froze, rigid with shock and pain. Su Ye pressed his thumb against the bone and pulled.
Pop!
A small, ivory shard—half an inch long—came loose.
Su Ye quickly pulled his hand back, blood welling up from a superficial scratch. He held up the bone shard.
The Iron-Back Wolf let out a strange sound—not a growl, but a long, shuddering sigh of relief. The rage melted from its eyes, replaced by dazed gratitude. It collapsed onto the cage floor.
It looked at Su Ye. Slowly, hesitantly, the massive wolf lowered its head and licked the blood from Su Ye's hand.
Ding!
[Mission Complete: Dental Surgery]
[Target: Iron-Back Wolf (Cured of chronic pain)]
[Affection Level: Eternal Devotion]
[Iron-Back Wolf agrees to form an Equal Contract.]
The ten-minute timer stopped at 7:58.
The arena was silent. The crowd stared. Master Mo was trembling violently on the platform. Zhao Feng looked like his brain had short-circuited.
Su Ye tied a simple rope—not a binding contract—around the wolf's neck. He clipped the rope to Zhu Zhu's tiny collar.
He looked up at Master Mo.
"Examiner," Su Ye said calmly. "I believe I passed. And congratulations, Master Mo. The debt for the Qi Column is clear. I have replaced it with two Tier-3 Spirit Beasts and a Void-Swallowing Pig."
Su Ye then led the terrifying, enormous wolf and the still-sleeping piglet out of the arena.
The newest Apprentice Tamer had arrived.