The second stage of the college entrance exams was over. After a few days, Su Hao finally managed to push the Water Spirit Steed to the entry level. Without delay, he brought his spirit and headed to an evolution site he had selected from several special environments—the New World. In the Qinglan Town region, there was the Cold Water Pool. In the distance, visible through the treetops, a waterfall cascaded down the mountain like a white ribbon, its splashing water echoing through the air. White mist swirled, making this Cold Water Pool nestled in the forest seem dreamlike and picturesque.
The spirit tamer serving as Su Hao's guide and bodyguard was Zhou Wenrui... Honestly, the Cold Water Pool wasn't dangerous, and it wasn't far from Qinglan Town. Plus, Su Hao now had a bit of self-defense capability. Originally, he only planned to hire an ordinary elite-level guide. But the head of the town's mission center seemed to recognize him... Su Hao thought the guy looked vaguely familiar too—probably one of the passersby who had greeted King Zhou that day. That head insisted on assigning him a strong guard. Most importantly, it was free. Hiring even a regular elite-level wasn't cheap! After mulling it over and failing to decline, Su Hao naturally agreed.
Zhou Wenrui's main spirit was a Guardian Lion, at the peak of elite level. Evolved from a stone lion, it looked like a sturdy male lion—made of stone. This stone lion spirit was peculiar, with two very similar evolution paths. One led to the Guardian Lion, the other to the Evil-Repelling Lion, which had a pair of small wings on its front legs. Both paths had high cultivation potential.
Few people came to the Cold Water Pool, so there was no path. The Guardian Lion led the way, clearing obstacles like bushes as it went... It even used its earth-based abilities to pave a simple dirt road. Soon, they reached the edge of the pool. Whoosh—Su Hao's breath turned into white mist, and he couldn't help but shiver. Only then did he realize why the Cold Water Pool had "cold" in its name. It was freezing. Even though Qinglan Town's climate was only like a southern winter-spring transition. Just then, a patch of white mist drifted over the pool. A translucent barrier involuntarily formed around Su Hao's body, blocking the mist. "Is this... the Cold Water Pool's chill this strong?" He looked around. Frost had formed on the trees, and some were even frozen into ice sculptures. Yet the pool itself was a clear blue-green, with no sign of freezing.
Zhou Wenrui glanced at Su Hao's Water Spirit Steed and asked, "Are you sure you want your spirit to evolve here? Others have tried before, but it only hurt their spirits, and they needed a long rest to recover." Seeing Su Hao nod, he didn't press further. He was curious too—could Su Hao, who had already nurtured excellent Dream Moths and Fire Crows at such a young age and caught his uncle's attention, succeed in evolving the Water Spirit Steed? If so, the benefits would be huge.
"Go ahead." "Xilu~ Xilu~" The Water Spirit Steed glanced at him and cautiously stepped forward. Its hoof lightly tapped the water's surface, then it jerked back with a "Xilu!!" But feeling Su Hao's encouragement through their bond—"Go for it, you got this!"—its courage shot up by 100. Fearless now, the Water Spirit Steed raised its hoof and stepped onto the lake, walking all the way to the center. Its small figure flickered in and out of view through the white mist. A basket hung around its neck, containing the materials needed for evolution. It crunched down ten portions of water essence. Moments later, a bright blue light burst from its body. Blue threads appeared, wrapping around it layer by layer, weaving into a cocoon. Dense spiritual energy surged in from around the Cold Water Pool, slowly absorbing the essence from the auxiliary materials. The evolution cocoon blazed with light, like a sky-blue gem, then slowly sank downward.
Time ticked by. Half an hour passed, then an hour. Zhou Wenrui couldn't help asking, "Is it okay?" He saw Su Hao still calm, but normally, spirit evolution only took half an hour. "My Water Spirit Steed is a second-generation spirit." Su Hao didn't elaborate, leaving Zhou Wenrui to fill in the blanks. And Zhou Wenrui got it. Second-generation spirits—greater potential meant longer evolution time. But this was dragging on. Two hours, three hours, and still no movement from under the pool. Occasionally, wild spirits came to bother them, but the Guardian Lion scared them off. The Dream Moth, feeling it had no chance to act, quietly pulled out the playing cards from Su Hao's pocket. "Gunuo? (Wanna play cards?)" Su Hao flatly refused. "Gunuo?" It asked the Guardian Lion. The lion hesitated, then nodded. The Fire Crow, bored, was roped in to make a three-player card game. Zhou Wenrui watched the Dream Moth play cards with practiced ease, his mouth twitching slightly. "Your spirits... uh, have a rich entertainment life."
By the pool, time passed. Su Hao appeared to do nothing, but in reality, he was monitoring the Water Spirit Steed's data. Its status matched the evolution plan's estimates. 'It'll take six hours. Relying on the Cold Water Pool's stimulation to awaken its hidden bloodline needs a long time.' Finally... "Ding! Your spirit, Water Spirit Steed, has successfully blood-evolved into a new form: Water Scale Beast." "Ding! Your spirit, Water Scale Beast's data is updating..." As the voice echoed in his mind, ripples spread across the calm water. The Guardian Lion saw this, dropped its cards, and stood up, darting to the pool's edge to pretend it was working. The Dream Moth stared at the royal flush in its hand, lost in thought.
"It's coming out!" Zhou Wenrui watched. The pool's ripples grew violent, and suddenly a water column burst up, stirring the white mist. Through the watery haze, a blue figure shot out. It was a warhorse with water-blue fur, its mane flying. The horse charged into the air, then slowly descended. Its hooves stepped on the air, and visible, biting cold spread outward, with rings of white mist and frost forming around them—like stepping on ice. "Clop, clop, clop," it sounded as it walked forward. The figure in the mist grew clear. "Wait, are those scales?" Zhou Wenrui spotted the key detail. He remembered that the Water Cloud Horse's trait was gathering water vapor around it—but it had no scales. This Water Cloud Horse, however, had densely packed, gleaming water-blue scales like fish scales. He thought for two seconds. Then he got it. "An inheritance from the previous generation?" Su Hao nodded, saving him from having to explain. The Water Scale Beast wasn't too different from the Water Cloud Horse, so he planned to keep it under wraps for now, to avoid attracting spirit hunters again.
The Water Scale Beast came up to him, "Xilu xilu," it called, lowering its head. Su Hao touched the scales on its body—cool like an ice-cold soda on a scorching summer day. He glanced around at the Water Scale Beast, whose shoulder height now exceeded two meters. The dream of being a mounted warrior had finally... come true today. Su Hao's face lit up with joy. He immediately wanted to try galloping. Grabbing the Water Scale Beast, he tried to swing up... but found it too high to mount. He patted its back and gave it a spirit tamer's focused stare. Stare— The Water Scale Beast looked back, shook its head, then glanced away. It lifted and set down its hooves, lifting and setting down, utterly fascinated by its new form, with no intention of crouching down. Su Hao: "..." You're narrowing your options!