Chen Guan was slightly taken aback; this wasn’t quite the script he had in mind. Initially, he thought that after hearing about his talent, Qin Ziyu and the others would look down on him, and then he could take the opportunity to leave.
Chen Guan, unwilling to resign himself to fate, looked towards Qin Ziyu and the others. Qin Ziyu shrugged and said, "Don’t worry, just do what you can with us, and leave the rest to us."
The others also expressed goodwill and sympathy towards Chen Guan, leaving him a bit bewildered. The words he had rehearsed to leave and go solo circled his tongue but wouldn’t come out.
On second thought, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The highest-level Secret Spirit on the island was only Level 10. Without a higher-level Secret Spirit, there couldn’t be a higher-level Secret Technique, making the Second Awakening impossible. No matter how strong a cultivator, they would be stuck at Level 10, unable to advance further.
After reaching Level 10, cultivators must complete their Second Awakening to continue leveling up. The Second Awakening requires a Secret Spirit and a Secret Technique that are both above Level 10, nothing can be missing.
The group of cultivators that included Lao Niao had been here for a year already, yet no one had broken past Level 10 because of this reason.
Perhaps someone had brought a high-level Secret Technique here, but without a high-level Secret Spirit, they still couldn’t achieve a Second Awakening. This was an unsolvable problem on the island.
The reason Ji Nanhong gathered so many elites to battle various bosses was probably with the real intention of finding a Secret Spirit above level 10 to accomplish the Second Awakening.
Reaching Level 10 was only a matter of time, but no one’s power is unlimited. Even if there are Secret Spirits above Level 10 on the island, they are probably boss-level entities. Trying to slay them alone is not easy; group combat would be ideal. Moreover, Chen Guan’s Lifebound Talent also requires team cooperation to achieve the best effect.
Chen Guan wasn’t in a hurry to show his ability now; he wanted to observe how Qin Ziyu and the others were going, even if he had no teammates, he didn’t want to be in league with someone like Lao Niao.
After hearing about various peacocks with spiritual eyes in the Peacock Forest, Qin Ziyu and the others were very interested and decided to take Chen Guan with them into the Peacock Forest to hunt these peacocks.
From their conversation, Chen Guan learned that everyone had already reached Level 6, with Qin Ziyu even higher at Level 7, which was beyond Chen Guan’s level.
Besides their awakened Lifebound Talents being better, it was mainly because their families had prepared many items that could be used with the First Awakening before they came in, such as Secret Techniques and Secret Treasures.
If it weren’t difficult to carry Secret Spirit Pets, they would probably be at an even higher level.
Especially Qin Ziyu. The Qin family is a descendant of one of the Ten Great Celestial Kings, which has been prosperous for over 800 years, and is undoubtedly one of the Divine Land’s Ten Great Families.
Even if Qin Ziyu wasn’t a child of the main family line, he would still have abundant resources. Even without bringing in the Unparalleled Secret Technique Core and Secret Skill Core, he probably possesses some top-quality Secret Skill amongst isolated items. Combined with his outstanding talent and ability, such achievements are not surprising.
Though Lu Teng, Gongsun Zhuo, Wang Lian, Hua Yun, and Huacai didn’t have backgrounds as prominent as Qin Ziyu, they still brought plenty of good stuff with them—not like Chen Guan, who only had a Warring States with him empty-handed.
Chen Guan didn’t bring anything mainly due to family reasons; ordinary families couldn’t get good Secret Techniques and Secret Skills, and Chen Guan looked down on mediocre ones, so he didn’t prepare anything. He planned to quietly develop after entering the Blessed Land, never expecting such a change.
Nearing the Peacock Forest, Qin Ziyu and the others each summoned their pets, and surprisingly, they were all Ghost-headed Sheep, with Qin Ziyu’s being of rare quality.
The Ghost-headed Sheep were at least Level 5, and the rare quality ones must be Level 7. Considering how they could slay a large number of Ghost-headed Sheep, Qin Ziyu and the others must possess formidable combat strength.
"Chen Guan, I have an extra Ghost-headed Sheep Secret Spirit Pet here for you. Use it for now and return it when you get a better Secret Spirit Pet." Seeing that Chen Guan only had a Five Red Dogs pet with him, Qin Ziyu assumed he didn’t have any powerful pets and directly gave him two Ghost-headed Sheep Secret Spirits.
Chen Guan hesitated briefly but said nothing, accepting the Ghost-headed Sheep pets Qin Ziyu offered.
Chen Guan was somewhat surprised, unsure how Qin Ziyu and the others acquired so many Ghost-headed Sheep pets. The fact that Qin Ziyu gave him two Ghost-headed Sheep wasn’t because he only had those two; it was because cultivators below Level 10 could summon only two Secret Spirit Pets into battle at a time—having more was useless.
Wang Lian, being perceptive, noticed the expression in Chen Guan’s eyes and guessed his thoughts, saying with a smile, "Ziyu’s awakened Lifebound Talent is Pet Charm. Whenever he kills a Secret Spirit, the conversion rate into a Secret Spirit Pet is much higher, which is why we have so many Ghost-headed Sheep pets."
Chen Guan couldn’t help but glance at Qin Ziyu. Lifebound Talent is something extremely private, usually considered the biggest secret of a cultivator. Qin Ziyu’s Lifebound Talent was so special and valuable, yet he revealed it.
On second thought, Qin Ziyu’s own abilities were strong enough, his family background was good, and others probably wouldn’t dare to target him. Knowing he had such talent, they would only beg to team up with him, so it had its advantages.
Each person rode a Ghost-headed Sheep, Chen Guan included. The academy taught riding skills, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.
They also summoned another Ghost-headed Sheep each to lead the way. After entering the Peacock Forest, they encountered Spiritual-eyed Peacocks, and the Ghost-headed Sheep beat them to death without much effort from the group.
However, Qin Ziyu always dealt the final blow. Qin Ziyu’s Pet Charm Lifebound Talent was indeed extraordinary; Chen Guan had previously slain many Spiritual-eyed Peacocks but hadn’t gotten a single pet. In contrast, Qin Ziyu and the others had only killed about a dozen Spiritual-eyed Peacocks, yet one blue Spiritual-eyed Peacock underwent Petification and was absorbed into Qin Ziyu’s body.
"The skills and talents are not practical, nothing much, who wants it?" After reviewing the peacock’s information, Qin Ziyu directly displayed its attributes.
Having learned about the Spiritual-eyed Peacock’s information, the group shook their heads, agreeing it wasn’t of much use and that the versatile Ghost-headed Sheep were more practical.
"There’s no point in killing Spiritual-eyed Peacocks; let’s change locations." Qin Ziyu proposed leaving the Peacock Forest, unwilling to waste time in such a place.
"We’ve all leveled up quite a bit recently, and we have quite a few pets now. Why don’t we go back and check that spring of water?" Wang Lian suddenly suggested.
Hearing Wang Lian’s proposal, Qin Ziyu’s eyes immediately lit up, and Hua Yun and Huacai were in complete agreement.
However, Gongsun Zhuo frowned and said, "The place is too dangerous; we should wait until we all reach Level 10 before going."
"We could wait before, but now we know there are others on the island who arrived a year before us, and we might miss the opportunity," Wang Lian replied.
"We could try. We can use the pets to test it first, and if it’s not right, we can retreat immediately. After all, that thing can’t leave the spring," Lu Teng added.
Listening for a while, Chen Guan finally figured out what was going on.