Sighing, Li Qian pushed away his mother, Han Yuqing, who was pressing her hand to his forehead. He took out his phone, opened the transfer history, and placed it in front of them.
As they stared at the long string of numbers in the transfer history on Li Qian's phone, both Han Yuqing and Li Chengyang wore expressions of utter disbelief.
Han Yuqing's mind immediately leaped to the worst conclusion. "Son, where did you get all this money? We can't get involved in anything illegal!"
Li Qian wiped away a bead of nonexistent sweat from his brow. "Mom, Dad, you two raised me with your own two hands. Don't you know what kind of person I am?"
"Why would I ever do something that breaks the law?!"
With a wry smile, Li Qian quickly explained, "This is all money I earned from cultivation fees!"
"But didn't you just awaken your Beast Taming Space a short while ago? You said you wanted to learn about cultivation, and that was only about two months ago. You've already produced research results?"
It was no wonder his father, Li Chengyang, was suspicious.
Frankly, the whole thing was just too incredible to believe.
Li Qian laughed, shamelessly taking their skepticism as a compliment. "I've told you before. Your son—me—is a cultivation genius. You just never believed it."
"I never doubted my son was a genius, but a genius of this caliber? I'm starting to wonder if he's even mine!" Li Chengyang blurted out without thinking.
THWACK!
His reward was a sharp rap on the head from Han Yuqing, who brought her little fist right down on his forehead. "Li Chengyang, what's that supposed to mean?"
After taking the hit, his father, Li Chengyang, let out an exaggerated "Ouch!" and quickly tried to explain himself. "Hey, honey, don't get the wrong idea!"
"It just slipped out! I didn't mean it like that."
"Our son is so handsome, he definitely takes after me. How could I ever have any doubts!"
Seeing his father get into deep trouble over one careless comment, Li Qian ducked to the side, covering his mouth to stifle a laugh.
No matter how he tried to explain, his parents continued to eye him with suspicion, leaving Li Qian feeling rather exasperated.
He had no choice. After dinner, he had his father, Li Chengyang, drive them out to the suburbs. Once he confirmed they were alone, he released Qizai.
The moment they saw the majestic, domineering Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon floating in mid-air, both Li Chengyang and Han Yuqing were left completely stunned and speechless.
On the way back, his father, Li Chengyang, still hadn't quite recovered from the shock. "So, son… that… that Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon… you really cultivated it?!"
"That's right."
Li Qian nodded. "The ten million I showed you was the fee I received for helping someone cultivate a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon."
GULP.
Li Chengyang swallowed hard and asked cautiously, "So how much does it cost to cultivate one of those Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragons?"
Li Qian held up one finger. "It depends on the quality of the Koi Carp provided. If the Koi Carp is high-quality, it costs around one million. If the quality isn't great, it might be a little more, but not by much."
"The only tricky part is the specific location required for the evolution."
Li Chengyang caught on immediately. "You have to go to Yunlan City?"
"That's right."
Li Qian sighed in resignation. "Currently, the only place near our Lingshui City that meets the requirements for the evolution is in Yunlan City."
"When Fatty An and I went to Yunlan City yesterday, we were taking care of that."
After he finished explaining the whole story, the car fell into a long, heavy silence.
Just as they were about to arrive home, his mother, Han Yuqing, suddenly spoke up. "Son, your father and I don't really understand this cultivation business."
"But there are some things we do know."
"Your life, your career, your achievements—they're all just beginning. You must not get arrogant or complacent."
Li Qian nodded solemnly at her words. "Mom, don't worry. I'm going to become a Cultivation Master, maybe even a Cultivation Grandmaster. An achievement like this is nowhere near enough to satisfy me!"
"Oh, right, there's one more thing. My classmate, An Junjie—the one I usually call Fatty An—his family wants to partner with me…"
Li Qian then briefly explained Fatty An's partnership proposal to his parents.
Neither his father, Li Chengyang, nor his mother, Han Yuqing, objected to the idea.
They simply told him to make the decision himself.
When they got back home, his father, Li Chengyang, seemed to want to say something but hesitated. Finally, he spoke up. "Son, about that five million…"
Li Qian smiled faintly. He knew they were still reluctant to accept the money, so he put on a magnanimous air and said, "What, are you worried it's not enough?"
"Don't worry about it. Once I make a name for myself, even more Beast Masters will be coming to me to cultivate Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragons!"
"This amount of money will be nothing!"
Seeing how certain Li Qian was, Li Chengyang didn't press the issue any further.
That night, apart from Li Qian himself, neither his father, Li Chengyang, nor his mother, Han Yuqing, got much sleep.
Also losing sleep were An Hou Nian and An Tianyou of the An Family.
The next morning, when Li Qian woke up, he saw that both Li Chengyang and Han Yuqing had dark circles under their eyes.
Knowing why they hadn't slept, Li Qian couldn't help but suppress a laugh.
After quickly eating the breakfast his mother had made, Li Qian headed out the door.
He had been physically and mentally exhausted after just returning from Yunlan City yesterday, so both he and Fatty An had taken the day off from school. He couldn't afford to waste any more time today.
Although there wasn't much left for him to learn at school, this was, after all, his last stretch of high school, and Li Qian didn't want to miss it or have any regrets.
He went downstairs and was walking toward the entrance of his residential complex when a flashy red sports car pulled up right in front of him.
"Hop in, let's go to school!" Fatty An said, lowering the window.
Li Qian didn't stand on ceremony and got right in.
In the car, Fatty An mentioned that his father and grandfather wanted to see the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon for themselves.
"Sure. After school tonight, let's go to the artificial waterfall in the West Suburb," Li Qian agreed without hesitation.
'If we're going to form a partnership, I have to demonstrate my value.'
Li Qian was well aware of this.
He knew that his father and grandfather wouldn't be completely convinced by Fatty An's words alone.
That was only human nature.
Once at school, Li Qian attended all his classes conscientiously, just like any other day.
It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.
Today was Chu Xiran's cultivation class, which Li Qian currently found to be the most helpful, so he paid extra close attention.
"…As you all know, cultivation is the process of using various means, methods, and pathways to help a Pet Beast grow and become stronger. This includes mastering High-Level Skills, evolving, breaking through racial limits, undergoing mutations, and so on…"
"There are many methods to prompt a Pet Beast to master new Skills, evolve, or mutate. These include environmental cultivation, potion-based cultivation, training cultivation, and so on. I've given you a brief overview of this knowledge before. You'll have to wait until you get to a Beast Taming University to encounter more advanced courses. Today, I'm going to talk about a very special cultivation method… Arrays!"
Li Qian was listening to Chu Xiran's lecture when, just as she said the word "Arrays," the task panel, which had been quiet for a long time, suddenly displayed a notification.
[Inspiration Value +5, Current Task Progress: 85%]