Chapter 575 553: Evolution Failed, but Also Succeeded

「Several days later.」

Lu You stood to the side with Mouse Treasure, completely focused.

Gu Ming extended a wisp of his Divine Sense into the body of the ordinary hamster participating in the experiment, carefully probing the small, unremarkable beast's meridians and Dantian.

The foundation of a One-star hamster was weak. Its meridians were as narrow as hairs, and its Inner Core was only the size of a grain of rice. It hung lazily in the center of its Dantian, taking several breaths to complete a single circulation.

This was the test subject Lu You had personally raised for a week. It also had a foundation in Mouse Treasure's Earth Shifting Technique.

Although this hamster's Talent was mediocre, its practice of the Cultivation Technique was quite decent.

Gu Ming lightly touched the rice-grain-sized Inner Core with his Divine Sense, guiding it to spin faster.

The ordinary hamster shuddered, and a strange light appeared in its black, bean-like eyes.

It had never felt its Inner Core spin so fast.

Immediately after, Gu Ming's Divine Sense Sword Body materialized. It guided the hamster's mental pathways, making it move its own Spiritual Power rapidly along the path of Circulation.

Starting from the Dantian, it traveled through the perineum, past the life gate on its back, up along the spine to the Baihui, and then descended along the front meridian back to the Dantian.

After one complete circuit, the hamster's aura solidified ever so slightly.

It completed nine full Circulations in a row.

The meridians gradually adapted to being repeatedly stretched and soothed, each cycle flowing a little more smoothly than the last.

After nine cycles, the Inner Core's rotation stabilized, and the first truly controllable stream of Spiritual Power appeared in its meridians.

"Hm, you've raised it well. It has about twenty percent of the proficiency of Mouse Treasure's Earth Shifting Technique," Gu Ming said with praise.

Behind him, Lu You let out a soft breath. 'Hearing Gu Ming say that means it's probably reached the standard for injecting the evolution factor.'

As for Mouse Treasure, being the owner of the Earth Dragon Breathing Technique and with the help of Gu Ming's training Space, it had already cultivated to the Perfection Realm and was touching the threshold of the Quasi-Path.

Although not as top-tier as Cyan Treasure, its Skill Level was already remarkably high when compared to other Pet Beasts of the Same-star Level.

This inspection of its Cultivation Technique was precisely to prepare for the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster's Form Evolution.

The subject of this experiment was an ordinary little hamster, a One-star Pet. Although it only possessed rudimentary intelligence, it could understand human speech and seemed to sense that it was experiencing the most important moment of its life.

Gu Ming retracted his Divine Sense and took out a tube of #019 evolution factor with a purity of eight nines.

As the injection needle pierced the nape of its neck, he simultaneously used his Divine Sense to control the little hamster, making it use its Cultivating Technique to envelop the injected Evolution Liquid.

The little hamster simultaneously activated the Earth Dragon Breathing Technique and the Earth Shifting Technique.

Although the Earth Dragon Breathing Technique was not its most compatible innate technique, but one it had learned from Mouse Treasure and Lu You, it was still a considerably High-Level Breathing Technique.

On top of that, the little hamster's own Earth Shifting Technique had also reached the Master Level.

It operated both Cultivation Techniques at the same time, coordinating them with a special method to generate Mana of a specific frequency, which it used to tightly envelop the Evolution Liquid injected into its body.

It cultivated with its whole body, secretly channeling Power into its Earth Shifting Technique, imagining it was moving earth, transporting it rapidly through its meridians, one Circulation after another.

After three Circulations, a change began to manifest.

Its skin CRACKLED as dragon scales emerged from the roots of its fur, gradually covering its spine and the ends of its limbs.

By the fourth Circulation, the bones in its paws thickened and underwent Solidification within a few breaths, and dark gray, keratinous hooks grew from its fingertips.

Its body swelled by a size, and the bluish-gray dragon scales and the outline of a young dragon's claws made it look nothing like a hamster anymore.

Upon entering the fifth Circulation, the #019 factor had entered its bloodstream. After several cycles, its quantity had decreased.

However, thanks to the special method Gu Ming had taught it and the envelopment by specific Mana, the purity of the Evolution Liquid did not decrease.

The hematopoietic stem cells were activated by the evolution factor and began to madly absorb energy, producing new blood cells that carried the genetic information of the Dragon Race.

The hamster was soaking in a bathtub, and the color of the auxiliary evolution liquid rapidly faded.

A faint golden marrow fluid seeped from the inner walls of the bone marrow cavity, permeated along the trabeculae, and the bone density skyrocketed.

Its muscle fibers were torn and restructured, one by one.

Each new myofibril was coated in a layer of bluish-gray membrane.

That was a Dragon Tendon sheath, which could generate extra elastic force upon contraction, providing explosive power far beyond that of an ordinary body.

During the sixth Circulation, the faint golden marrow fluid and the residual factor simultaneously surged into the Dantian, enveloping the rice-grain-sized Inner Core.

The Inner Core began to actively practice Devouring these foreign substances, pulsing greedily as it sucked them in.

Its volume swelled with each pulse, and its color deepened shade by shade.

It went from a pale earth tone, to a gray earth tone, then to an earthy black, and finally, faint, dark-gold Dragon Race patterns appeared.

A quarter of an hour later, the grain of rice had grown to the size of a grape, occupying a third of its abdominal cavity's Space.

But a problem soon followed.

During the Evolution, too much energy had surged in, and the meridians that had been widened by the initial nine Circulations were no longer sufficient.

Energy stagnated and clumped up in the Dantian. The Inner Core swelled tautly, and its rotation speed suddenly slowed.

The dark golden luster began to fade, as if something was stuck inside it.

Gu Ming's reaction was extremely fast.

He once again sent his Divine Sense in, directly pressing down on the swelling Inner Core and using even greater Power to pull it into a spin.

At the same time, he had Cyan Treasure use the Power of its Quasi-Path Level Breathing Technique to create vibrations through the abdominal cavity. Relying on its understanding of the way of breathing, it remotely controlled the Spiritual Qi inside the hamster's body.

This wisp of Spiritual Qi vibrated continuously at a specific frequency, faintly carrying the aura of a Dragon Clan Daoist Skill, and gradually formed a Dragon Pattern Tripod.

The tripod appeared, and the Inner Core trembled.

The excess energy finally found an outlet, surging along the meridians to the Inner Core. There, it combined with the Dragon Pattern Tripod formed by Cyan Treasure's remote control, forging the illusory body of a qi tripod.

The scales on the hamster's surface began to glow, resembling those of a sub-adult dragon whelp.

It opened its eyes. A very faint, golden liner now traced its mousy eyes, resembling the outline of a dragon's eyes.

Lu You's breathing suddenly grew heavier.

She had watched the entire process of this ordinary hamster undergoing Form Evolution by consuming the Evolution Liquid.

In her opinion, this hamster's Skill Level, whether in its grasp of the Cultivation Technique or its control over Spiritual Power, was far inferior to her own Mouse Treasure.

Its foundation was simply too poor.

'If it had been Mouse Treasure handling that #019 evolution factor, it probably would have been as easy as eating and drinking.'

'Besides, Mouse Treasure has a Dragon Pattern Tripod in its body and has already nurtured a wisp of pure Dragon Qi. Turning it into a Dragon Race creature wouldn't take much effort at all.'

However, there was one thing she didn't understand.

Lu You asked:

"Didn't you say that consuming the Evolution Liquid would cause the body to undergo demonization? I'm not seeing any signs of it now."

"Because the Evolution isn't complete yet."

Gu Ming said after carefully inspecting it twice.

Previously, Gu Ming had mentioned a key point:

The #019 factor would demonize the Pet Beast's body, and a Spiritual Technique was needed to suppress and absorb it.

Just now, Cyan Treasure's assistance with the Quasi-Path Breathing Method helped the hamster reduce the energy pressure in its abdomen, meaning the burden on its own Spiritual Technique was not great.

Secondly, the hamster's cells were simply too weak.

The energy it absorbed from the Evolution Liquid was insufficient to allow the demonized cells to fully develop.

Therefore, the Demonization Evolution within its body only proceeded halfway, resulting in a half-evolved state. It did not complete the final Demonization Evolution, which spared the Pet Beast from too much mental stress.

However, it was precisely this unexpected experimental result—getting stuck halfway—that made the usually calm Teacher Tang raise his eyebrows slightly.

"The Evolution was halted, so in theory, it's a failure.

"But it has already evolved Dragon Race stem cells. Its potential ceiling has been raised, so it's impossible for it to remain a One-star forever."

Teacher Tang said, his eyes burning with intensity.

Right now, this "failed" experimental result had turned out to be the exact kind of safe and reliable solution that the vast majority of ordinary Pet Beasts could only dream of.