Zhong Chenghuai went to buy Mortal Beast carcasses for Zhong Yi, while Zhong Ling held a glass of water and gazed eagerly at Zhong Yi, the joyful surprise in her eyes still lingering.
But beyond her surprise, a hint of nervousness and restraint flickered in Zhong Ling's eyes.
The old Zhong Yi had truly treated Zhong Ling like a big brother, but for the past few years, she had grown accustomed to being around a vacant and simple-minded Zhong Yi.
Now that Zhong Yi was lucid again, Zhong Ling found herself worrying that she might do something wrong and earn his disapproval.
Zhong Yi easily saw through Zhong Ling's thoughts. For one, as someone with more life experience, it wasn't hard for him to understand a young girl's mind.
For another, thanks to the Soul-Controlling Flower, his perception of the world around him had become much sharper.
"Xiaolingdang, if I remember correctly, your fourteenth birthday was six months ago. It's about time you activated your Soul Base and tried to awaken a Lifebound Guardian Beast."
"Tomorrow, I'll take you to the Beastmaster Association for your Soul Awakening."
As he spoke, Zhong Yi gently reached out and ruffled Zhong Ling's hair, smoothing down a few stray strands that were sticking up.
Zhong Ling felt her nose tingle again, on the verge of tears. This long-absent affection made her feel like a child again, and the nervousness that had just surfaced in her eyes vanished completely.
As someone who had been brought from the Lower City District to the Upper City District, even at such a young age, Zhong Ling had realized just how perilous and cruel this world was.
Over the years of running the shop with Zhong Chenghuai, she had also encountered plenty of trouble.
The principle that strength was the only way to solve problems had been deeply etched into Zhong Ling's heart.
Previously, because of Zhong Yi's vacant state, not only could he not go to the Beastmaster Association to activate his Soul Base through the Soul Awakening Ceremony, but Zhong Ling, as his Servant, had no such opportunity without her master's accompaniment.
Zhong Yi's recovery filled Zhong Ling's eyes with fighting spirit. She secretly resolved to become a powerful individual.
'Powerful enough to protect my young master, to make sure he never suffers another accident or gets bullied again.'
"Young Master, it's been over ten hours since you collapsed. You must be hungry."
"The Healer who came by also said you need plenty of nourishment. I'll have Big Bell go buy groceries, and then I'll make you something to eat."
As she spoke, a figure a head taller than Zhong Ling knocked on the door before entering the room.
Zhong Ling spoke to the male figure, who bore a strong resemblance to her.
"Big Bell, go buy plenty of ingredients. Make sure to pick a Yellow Croaker that's at least two pounds—the Young Master loves fish."
Zhong Ling clearly remembered Zhong Yi's old favorite foods.
Upon hearing Zhong Ling's command, the male figure who strongly resembled her immediately set off for the market.
The moment Zhong Yi saw this figure, he recognized it as an extremely common Demon Spirit Guardian Beast called a Substitute Puppet.
A Substitute Puppet is a type of Guardian Beast that can be contracted without needing an awakened Soul Base. One only needs to drip their blood onto it to form a Contract.
A contracted Substitute Puppet is essentially a second body for its Contractor. It possesses a degree of independent consciousness and has the intelligence of a nine-year-old human.
It can perform many tasks on command and is one of the three types of Household Beasts in the Xin Xia Federation designed to improve people's lives.
Zhong Yi's own Guardian Beast Shop sold Substitute Puppets. An uncontracted one cost around thirty thousand Federation Coins.
Zhong Yi had also been planning to form a Contract with a Substitute Puppet before his Soul Awakening.
The Substitute Puppet, a type of Demon Spirit Guardian Beast, was quite interesting. While genderless by nature, upon absorbing a Contractor's blood, it would become the opposite gender of its Contractor.
A male Contractor's Substitute Puppet would take on a female appearance, while Zhong Ling's, for example, had become male.
While Zhong Ling was in the kitchen cooking, Zhong Yi took a hot bath.
After his bath, Zhong Yi changed into clean clothes and walked out to the shop's display area to have a look around.
The shop sold many types of Guardian Beasts, but they were all Mortal Beasts.
Among the items on display, the only truly valuable ones were the seven or eight potted, plant-type Guardian Beasts.
In this world, plants were exceedingly rare due to the harsh climate.
In the wild, various fungi and lichens had taken over the ecological niche of plants.
The four pots of Ice Crystal Flowers on the display rack were each priced at over 50,000 Federation Coins.
While a Mortal Beast Level Ice Crystal Flower was essentially just an indoor air conditioner for hot days, if contracted by a Guardian Beast Master, nurtured, and developed, it could become an Ice Element Guardian Beast with decent combat capabilities.
The other three pots contained Curled Leaf Vines, which were growing vigorously. The Curled Leaf Vine was a production-type plant Guardian Beast; the vines from each pot could grow four to five meters every day.
Harvested once in the morning and again in the evening, they yielded nearly 30 jin—about 33 pounds—a day, making these Curled Leaf Vines the best possible fodder for non-carnivorous, Mortal Beast Level Guardian Beasts.
But in Zhong Yi's eyes, neither the Curled Leaf Vine nor the Ice Crystal Flower was particularly valuable.
To increase the Guardian Beast Shop's profits, Zhong Yi needed to find some Guardian Beasts with real potential for development.
As the compiler of the game data for this world, Zhong Yi knew the various Evolution paths for Guardian Beasts like the back of his hand.
Many of these were special Evolution paths that Zhong Yi had included in the game as easter eggs.
Not many players had discovered these easter eggs while the game was live, but now, they could be of real help to Zhong Yi.
Even before he had fully awakened, Zhong Yi had figured out exactly what that figure in the golden-green robe, imprisoned by the roots of the Soul-Controlling Flower, truly was.
Zhong Yi knew exactly what a Celestial Destiny Seeker meant to a city or an entire Federation.
Rather than laying low and developing his strength slowly, revealing his identity and taking the path of a genius was undoubtedly the better choice.
A Celestial Destiny Seeker was a city's cornerstone. Once he revealed his identity as one, his safety would be guaranteed, whether in the Upper City District or the Lower City District.
After looking around the shop, Zhong Yi took a wooden case from a display cabinet.
He opened the wooden case. Inside was an exquisite, faceless doll.
Zhong Yi reached out and touched the Substitute Puppet. It felt incredibly soft and smooth, just like stroking real human skin.
Zhong Yi pricked his finger, and a crimson bead of blood dripped onto the center of the Substitute Puppet's forehead.
After absorbing the crimson blood from Zhong Yi's fingertip, the Substitute Puppet seemed to activate, leaping out of the wooden case and rapidly expanding before his eyes.
Zhong Yi was sixteen years old and stood at 1.78 meters—about five-foot-ten. The Substitute Puppet gradually transformed into a female figure about 1.7 meters tall, or around five-foot-seven.
She bore a strong resemblance to Zhong Yi—if not for her slightly wooden expression and movements, the Substitute Puppet would have been virtually indistinguishable from a living person.