Chapter 569 - 548: Arrival at the Border

Gu Ming saw this and opened the journal again, reading it carefully from the beginning.

He didn’t stop until a faint, subtle sense of déjà vu—the feeling that he had ’read this in the future’—surfaced in his mind.

As he mulled it over, he felt that the stream of knowledge he’d gained from this trigger was still limited.

’It seems that to make full use of the system’s displacement characteristic, I’ll need to find more related sources of information.’

"Teacher Tang, are there any other papers on the Dragon Transformation Pool you’d recommend for a deep read? I want to understand it better," Gu Ming asked.

Teacher Tang didn’t give it much thought, simply assuming Gu Ming was eager to learn. He casually listed a few influential and rigorously argued papers from the academic community.

Gu Ming immediately logged into the national Beast Taming academic database and paid to subscribe to those papers.

Reading online, however, couldn’t compare to holding a physical copy of *Peak*, which had allowed him to directly perceive the profound Dao Charm within its diagrams.

It took Gu Ming considerable mental effort to finish his studies. Afterward, he closed his eyes and focused, carefully sorting through the text and data he had just absorbed.

[You have read multiple documents related to the "Dragon Transformation Pool evolution factor" and reaped great rewards.]

The system prompt appeared as expected.

Immediately after, Gu Ming felt the memories in his mind begin to undergo a strange "displacement."

Soon, arguments that were significantly different from—and even more in-depth and advanced than—what he had just read began to surface from the depths of his consciousness.

He steadied his mind, repeatedly comparing and "chewing over" the information, carefully piecing together and refining the fragments from the "future."

Gradually, a vague picture of the research progress on the Dragon Transformation Pool over the next thirty years began to clarify in his mind.

It turned out that the "019 induction factor" in the Dragon Transformation Pool was actually fragments of life essence left behind after the fall of a certain Dragon Lord from a previous era.

Each factor particle possessed extreme aggression and a desire to transform. It could crudely "pollute" and reconstruct the cellular foundation of an Alien Race Spirit Beast, forcibly converting them into stem cells carrying the Dragon Race’s genetic traits.

It was worth noting that this incredibly domineering transformation only worked on Pet Beasts that had maintained their "native form"—

that is, Pet Beasts that had never undergone any active evolutionary programming.

Because their cellular frameworks had not yet been solidified and locked in by any evolutionary path, they still retained a base-code level of plasticity, allowing them to withstand such a near-total reconstruction.

For Pet Beasts that had already evolved, however, their life forms were already set. Forcibly injecting the 019 factor would only trigger a violent rejection response and genetic collapse.

If the subject already possessed a trace of Dragon Qi, the effects were even more profound.

The 019 factor, being of the Dragon Race itself, would be stimulated by and attracted to the Dragon Qi. This not only drastically lowered the risk of rejection and mental pollution during the transformation but also guided the evolution toward a specific, deeper path, greatly increasing the probability of awakening powerful draconic traits or even an ancient legacy.

This was precisely why the Third Prince had placed so much importance on the fledgling wisp of Earth Dragon Qi inside Mouse Treasure.

It was the key medium for progressing from an effective evolution to a "perfect evolution."

However, originating from the "Inner World," a negative plane, the factor naturally carried a strong demonic dragon Attribute. It would endlessly devour matter and energy from the real world, converting it into demonized cellular tissue.

This was a concern for Beastmasters both in the present and the future.

But from another perspective, compared to the immense danger, the results of a successful transformation were well worth the price.

The "019 factor injection," created through a special purification process, could give Pet Beasts of ordinary species the chance to evolve beyond their inherent racial barriers.

The Demonization problem that the scholar in the *Peak* journal had warned about had a solution in the future—an extreme yet viable one.

The solution was to have the Pet Beast first master an absolutely stable Spiritual Domain Cultivation Technique.

By doing so, when receiving the factor injection, the Pet Beast could maintain its mental clarity and control the violent transformative Power, achieving a directed evolution to "demonize the body, but not the mind."

’Demonization Evolution...’

Gu Ming silently repeated the term born in the future.

This was undoubtedly a heaven-defying method for ordinary species to break their innate limitations.

According to the future literature, thirty years from now, the success rate of this technology would stabilize at around 60%, with the remainder resulting in failed evolutions or a loss of sanity.

The vast majority of successful subjects would comprehend a unique "Liberation Form" transformation ability.

Normally, they could maintain their original appearance, appearing completely harmless.

But upon entering their Liberation Form, their bodies would exhibit some characteristics of an Inner World Demon Fiend, gaining explosive Power corresponding to that Attribute.

Even in the future, this was considered a fairly cutting-edge combat ability.

Gu Ming learned from the fragments he read that this semi-demonized state provided a natural immunity to some mind-control Skills that targeted conventional Spirit Beasts, achieving a "Mind Barrier" effect of sorts.

Of course, a Pet Beast capable of mastering the required "absolute Heart Method" would already have extremely high Spiritual Resistance, so this was more like a unique bonus—the icing on the cake.

As Gu Ming thought of this, an idea began to form.

"Teacher Tang, on this trip to the front lines, will we have a chance to see the Dragon Transformation Pool?" Gu Ming asked.

Having read several papers, Gu Ming had developed a strong interest in the Inner World’s Dragon Transformation Pool.

It was, after all, a source of advanced future knowledge brought to him by the system from thirty years in the future.

All three of Gu Ming’s current Pet Beasts had already completed their Form Evolution and no longer had purely native bodies.

He couldn’t use it himself.

But Lu You’s Pet Beast could.

And if Gu Ming contracted a new Pet Beast in the future, he might be able to use it then.

Besides, it was such a pivotal area of research that any breakthrough could benefit the entire academic world, and perhaps even all of humanity.

For both public and private reasons, he felt he should do something with his advanced knowledge.

Upon hearing this, Tang Tianyi, as calm and steady as ever, didn’t even bat an eye. He simply said:

"Alright."

He hadn’t planned on visiting the Dragon Transformation Pool on this trip to the front lines. His only goal had been to visit a friend’s research post, collect data, and study a few differences between Inner World Demon Fiends and real-world Pet Beasts.

’Gu Ming suddenly showed such a desire for the Dragon Transformation Pool... No, perhaps it’s to help Lu You’s Pet Beast evolve.’

That thought alone made it impossible for Tang Tianyi to refuse.

And having read the materials himself, he also felt the Dragon Transformation Pool was very promising.

It was just that the dangers were too great, and a lot of research was needed to overcome the difficulties.

Thinking of this, Tang Tianyi looked toward Lu You.

Lu You froze, stunned. She looked at Gu Ming, thinking he was doing this for her.

...

After the Sky-Seat Heavenly Whale slowly landed, the group stepped out into the world through a long, tongue-like ramp that extended from it.

The first thing to consume their vision was an indescribable, colossal object.

A pitch-black energy shield reached up to the heavy cloud layer and down to cover the vast sea, stretching endlessly to the left and right, far beyond the limits of their sight.

Merely standing there and witnessing this dark silhouette that enveloped the world was enough to send a chill down one’s spine.

The Cloud Country being wiped off the map was no metaphor.

In the most literal sense, the entire nation had been swallowed by this abyssal Inner World.