Zhong Yi had just made a new discovery inside the Beastmaster Association.
He discovered that when he used Investigation of All Things, the skill granted to him by the Soul-Controlling Flower, to probe his surroundings, he was able to clearly perceive Zhong Ling's Beastmaster Talent.
Zhong Ling's Beastmaster Talent was named Mother's Cocoon Room.
[Mother's Cocoon Room]: Anchor one creature of the same species as one's own Lifebound Guardian Beast, designating it as a Cocoon Room that shares its soul. Through this Cocoon Room, one-way Contracts can be formed with other similar creatures. This type of Contract does not consume the soul within the Talent user's Soul Base.
A Guardian Beast Master's Talent has always been their trump card, but once other Guardian Beast Masters awakened their Soul Base Talents, they would have nowhere to hide from Zhong Yi.
Zhong Yi could describe Zhong Ling's Beastmaster Talent in a single word.
Powerful!
A Guardian Beast Master doesn't contract many Guardian Beasts in their lifetime because contracting them consumes Soul Energy from their Soul Base.
A Guardian Beast Master needs to expend Soul Power to command their Guardian Beasts in battle. A reduction in the Energy within their Soul Base will significantly shorten the time they can command their Guardian Beasts to fight.
It would also reduce the recovery speed of the Guardian Beast's Energy within the Soul Base.
But with her Talent, Mother's Cocoon Room, Zhong Ling could anchor a butterfly creature with strong Soul Power, and through that butterfly, she could contract a large number of other Butterfly Guardian Beasts.
Moreover, this was a one-way Contract. As long as Zhong Ling wished, she could command the butterfly creature serving as the Cocoon Room to sever the Contracts with the other Butterfly Guardian Beasts at any time.
This meant that in the future, Zhong Ling could customize the Skills and Exclusive Traits of the Butterfly Guardian Beasts contracted one-way by the Cocoon Room.
Normal Guardian Beast Masters start cultivating their Contracted Guardian Beasts from the Mortal Beast stage. If the Skills and Exclusive Traits go awry during cultivation, they have no choice but to make do with it because of the Contract.
But Zhong Ling, with her Cocoon Room's one-way Contracts for other Butterfly Guardian Beasts, could replace her Contracted Guardian Beasts at will.
If the anchored butterfly creature acting as the Cocoon Room was compared to a gun, then the one-way contracted Butterfly Guardian Beasts, whose Skills and Exclusive Traits could be selected, were like the bullets for that gun.
A weapon that Zhong Ling could replace at her leisure!
Although the Butterfly Guardian Beasts used as weapons would also need to be contracted and cultivated from the Mortal Beast Level, replacing them would consume a great deal of resources.
But this consumption of resources was nothing compared to the increase in Zhong Ling's combat effectiveness.
Besides, Zhong Yi could afford this consumption of resources.
Zhong Yi planned to help Zhong Ling choose the most suitable Butterfly Guardian Beast to serve as her Cocoon Room before they headed to the Secret Realm.
While Zhong Yi was lost in thought, Zhong Ling eagerly began telling him about her Lifebound Guardian Beast and Beastmaster Talent.
As she spoke about her Lifebound Guardian Beast, she even summoned her Wangyu Butterfly.
A dark, ink-colored butterfly, no bigger than her palm, was summoned as Zhong Ling activated her Soul Base.
Faintly shimmering on the ink-colored butterfly's body was a dark flame, even blacker than its wings—a unique characteristic of Netherworld Butterfly Species Guardian Beasts.
At the tips of its inky wings were four large, purplish-black spots, like eyes peeking out from a pitch-black night, guiding the souls of the dead.
After being summoned, the ink-colored butterfly obediently landed on Zhong Ling's finger, allowing her other hand to gently stroke its wings.
Zhong Yi had already investigated the data of Zhong Ling's Lifebound Guardian Beast.
[Guardian Beast Name]: Wangyu Butterfly
[Guardian Beast Species]: Nymphalidae/Netherworld Butterfly Species
[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Level (1/10)
[Guardian Beast Type]: Undead Element
[Guardian Beast Quality]: Unranked
Skills:
[Death Speech Passage]: Emits a death speech by vibrating its antennae. The death speech can activate the lingering soul within a corpse, guiding the corpse to fight for it for a short period.
The Wangyu Butterfly was a very pure Undead Element Guardian Beast. It was currently an Unranked, First Level Mortal Beast with only a single skill: Death Speech Passage.
Death Speech Passage was a skill that controlled corpses to fight for it by activating the souls within them.
Although uncommon among Undead Element Guardian Beasts and considered a rather rare skill, it fit the public's perception of Undead Element Guardian Beasts perfectly.
This Wangyu Butterfly was like a blank slate right now; the choice of its future development path was crucial.
"Xiaolingdang, we're not far from the Zhenchong Commerce Association. Before we go to the Secret Realm, I want you to first anchor a Guardian Beast using your Talent, Mother's Cocoon Room."
"I think that out of all the Guardian Beasts, a Soul Element Butterfly Guardian Beast would be the most suitable to become your anchored Cocoon Room."
Zhong Ling had previously been just Zhong Yi's servant. Although she was literate and well-mannered, she had never studied any courses related to Guardian Beast Masters.
Now that she had just awakened her Soul Base and obtained her Lifebound Guardian Beast and Beastmaster Talent, Zhong Ling didn't have many ideas about her future path.
Hearing Zhong Yi's words, Zhong Ling's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Young Master, if I choose to anchor a Soul Element Butterfly Guardian Beast as the Cocoon Room, doesn't that mean I'll be able to command many Butterfly Guardian Beasts in battle through the Cocoon Room!"
Zhong Ling was very smart; upon hearing Zhong Yi mention anchoring a Soul Element Butterfly Guardian Beast, she immediately understood his idea.
Zhong Yi said with a smile.
"Of course. The Butterfly Guardian Beasts you contract through the Cocoon Room are on one-way Contracts, so you can replace them at any time. We can get you equipped with these Butterfly Guardian Beasts just before we enter the Secret Realm."
"As for your Lifebound Guardian Beast, the Wangyu Butterfly, it has multiple Evolution paths. The path you choose will affect its future development."
Hearing this, the expression on Zhong Ling's face immediately became conflicted.
Just now in the Awakening Room, Su Ya had already told Zhong Ling about the possible development paths for the Wangyu Butterfly.
But right now, Zhong Ling didn't know which to choose. However, whenever she was faced with a problem, she would subconsciously rely on Zhong Yi.
"Young Master, why don't you help me choose the Wangyu Butterfly's development path!"
Zhong Yi spoke to Zhong Ling with a rare seriousness in his tone.
"Xiaolingdang, as a Guardian Beast Master, you need to independently and firmly choose the path you will walk in the future."
"Don't get too hung up on it. In any case, we won't be upgrading your Wangyu Butterfly until after we come back from the Secret Realm. I'm sure you'll know your choice by then."
In fact, Zhong Yi had already decided which First Level Secret Realm they were going to explore.
Zhong Yi's main purpose for entering the First Level Secret Realm was to help the Soul-Controlling Flower obtain flesh and Soul Energy, thereby providing materials for Hong Ji.
Raising the Guardian Beasts' levels was just a secondary objective.
And among all the open First Level Secret Realms within the Starlight City area, the Horned Demon Secret Realm in the North City Suburbs was undoubtedly the most suitable choice.
So far, the Horned Demon Secret Realm had only been 65% explored. It was said that quite a few Guardian Beast Masters had perished within it.
There were even stories of entire Guardian Beast Master teams being wiped out in the Horned Demon Secret Realm.
This had once caused the Horned Demon Secret Realm to land on the list of Starlight City's top ten most dangerous First Level Secret Realms.