Every Guardian Beast at the Mortal Beast Level has a Basic Skill granted by its Race and Bloodline.
This skill strengthens as the Guardian Beast's power grows.
If its bloodline transforms during a Quality upgrade, this Basic Skill will also change accordingly.
For example, the Skill of a Household Beast like the Substitute Puppet is called Memory Deepening. This Skill prevents the Substitute Puppet from forgetting anything it has seen or done.
In daily life, it can be used as a memo for its Contractor and has no combat capabilities whatsoever.
However, the Skill it acquired after transforming into a Fusion Secret Puppet—Battle Skill Mastery—allows it to absorb the combat techniques of other creatures simply by observing them, integrating them into its own fighting style and converting them into combat strength.
Creatures have vastly different fighting styles. In perilous environments, it's not just refined combat techniques that allow them to defeat their enemies, but more importantly, their innate combat instincts.
And Hong Ji could learn these combat instincts through observation as well.
With the Skill Battle Skill Mastery, Hong Ji could become a combat master, integrating the strengths of hundreds, even thousands of different creatures.
Every time a Guardian Beast increases its Quality, regardless of whether it evolves or not, it can obtain an Exclusive Trait.
Unlike Basic Skills, Exclusive Traits vary even among Guardian Beasts of the same species that have undergone a Quality upgrade.
The Exclusive Trait Hong Ji obtained when she reached Bronze Quality was Material Absorption, which turned her body into a great melting pot.
It allows her to absorb materials from various Guardian Beasts, as well as metals, and make them part of her own body.
And the Exclusive Trait obtained upon advancing to Silver Quality, Body Deconstruction, allows Hong Ji to use the absorbed materials to reconstruct her body during battle, making her fighting style more versatile.
Zhong Yi looked at the corpses strewn across the ground, their Life and Soul Energy absorbed by the Soul-Controlling Flower, and a smile appeared on his face.
Corpses drained of their Life and Soul Energy could no longer be food for other Guardian Beasts, but they were perfect materials for Hong Ji to use in constructing her body.
"Hong Ji, use your Exclusive Trait, Material Absorption, and sweep up all the Spiritual Materials here."
Zhong Yi noticed that Hong Ji's gaze was fixed on the over two-meter-long Luminous Flame Scorpion not far away, her eyes lingering on the red, crystalline Scale Armor covering its body.
Zhong Yi added with a smile.
"The corpse of this Luminous Flame Scorpion is yours, too."
Upon receiving Zhong Yi's command, Hong Ji remained outwardly impassive, but she raised her hands a fraction faster than usual.
The palms of Hong Ji's hands cracked open, forming two large, external mouths. With incredible speed, these mouths devoured all the materials scattered across the ground, swallowing them into Hong Ji's body.
After swallowing over two thousand pounds of materials, Hong Ji's body showed no visible change, but her movements became sluggish.
Her body was like a giant spatial pouch. She was currently sorting and absorbing all the materials she had just ingested.
It would take Hong Ji some time to sort and process the materials, so Zhong Yi stepped forward and picked up the potted Insect-Catching Hibiscus, which was on the verge of a Quality transformation. He placed the separated venom gland and cavity from the Red Pit Viper directly into the pot.
Normally, to induce a Guardian Beast to absorb materials, the materials need to be meticulously processed and prepared.
Ideally, the materials would be concocted into a Potion, a task that falls under the purview of a Creator.
However, thanks to the Flowing Soul Soil, it could act as a direct medium between the materials and the Guardian Beast.
Not only could it facilitate a Guardian Beast's Evolution during a Quality transformation, but it also allowed the beast to perfectly absorb unprocessed materials.
Zhong Yi took out a drop of Flowing Soul Soil. The drop had a mercury-like texture in his palm.
The ink-black Flowing Soul Soil seemed to be absorbing the light in the room!
Unlike the splendid beauty of the Soul-Controlling Flower, the Flowing Soul Soil had a sinister, almost evil appearance.
Zhong Yi dripped the Flowing Soul Soil from his palm into the flowerpot containing the Insect-Catching Hibiscus. The Flowing Soul Soil instantly dissolved the Red Pit Viper's venom gland and cavity, making the soil boil.
A viscous liquid formed from the Red Pit Viper's venom gland, cavity, and the Flowing Soul Soil enveloped the Insect-Catching Hibiscus.
The Insect-Catching Hibiscus's original six or seven palm-sized leaves withered at an extremely fast rate upon contact with the viscous liquid created by the Flowing Soul Soil.
In just two short minutes, the Insect-Catching Hibiscus turned into a pot of withered grass.
But withering only precedes rebirth!
Three or four tender leaves emerged from the boiling soil. These leaves quickly grew to the size of a washbasin.
Winding, dark-red, snake-like patterns appeared on the dark-green leaves.
In less than five minutes, new leaves continued to sprout, and a dozen or so washbasin-sized leaves completely covered the flowerpot.
Two flower stalks, like Spiritual Snakes, emerged from within the leaves. After growing nearly a meter tall, they produced two flower buds larger than Zhong Yi's fist.
Once these two buds bloomed, each Red-Faced Hibiscus flower would likely have a diameter of no less than eighty centimeters.
Having achieved a Quality promotion, the Red-Faced Hibiscus possessed formidable combat abilities. Its cavity inherited the toughness of the Red Pit Viper's.
Even if it was slightly less durable than the Red Pit Viper's cavity, the difference wouldn't be significant.
However, Zhong Yi's decision to use the precious Flowing Soul Soil to cultivate the Insect-Catching Hibiscus and guide its Evolution into a Red-Faced Hibiscus had nothing to do with the latter's actual combat strength.
After all, the Soul-Controlling Flower's root system didn't secrete much Flowing Soul Soil.
The reason Zhong Yi was willing to expend Flowing Soul Soil to cultivate the Red-Faced Hibiscus was because the Red-Faced Hibiscus was considered a high-quality Production-type Guardian Beast that yielded Poison Element materials.
First, the Red-Faced Hibiscus's daily output of Digestive Fluid was enormous. After this fluid was used, the Red-Faced Hibiscus only needed to consume flesh and blood to secrete it again.
The secreted Digestive Fluid was not only highly acidic but also possessed a toxicity identical to that of the Red Pit Viper.
Every fifty milliliters of the Red Pit Viper's venom could be sold for nearly twenty thousand Federation Coins.
The Red-Faced Hibiscus that Zhong Yi was currently cultivating was living up to his expectations. Zhong Yi had just inspected the Red-Faced Hibiscus's data.
[Guardian Beast Name]: Red-Faced Hibiscus
[Guardian Beast Species]: Malvaceae/Hibiscus
[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Level (9/10)
[Guardian Beast Type]: Wood/Poison Element
[Guardian Beast Quality]: Bronze
Skills:
[Acidic Saliva Spray]: Compresses acid within its powerful calyx-cavity before spraying it all at once in a designated direction.
Exclusive Traits:
[Concentrated Acid Liquid]: Concentrates the toxic acid produced within its body, increasing both the concentration of toxins and its overall acidity.
The Exclusive Trait this Red-Faced Hibiscus obtained upon its promotion to Bronze Quality was Concentrated Acid Liquid. By concentrating the toxins within its Digestive Fluid, the hibiscus produced a liquid whose potency was not only on par with the venom from a Red Pit Viper of the same level and quality, but it might even be slightly more toxic!