After getting a million out of Fatty An, Li Qian was ecstatic and sincerely invited him to join in on the research.
Unfortunately, Fatty An refused, using the excuse that he didn't have enough time and needed to meditate to increase his Spiritual Power.
Of course, these were all just excuses. The real reason was probably that he didn't believe him.
He didn't believe that Li Qian could actually figure out the evolution method for a Pet Beast with Dominator-Level potential.
Watching Fatty An drive away in his flashy red sports car, Li Qian smiled to himself.
'Just wait until I get my results. We'll see if I don't shock the hell out of you then.'
Meanwhile, inside the red sports car, Fatty An glanced at his rearview mirror, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Just now, he had promised a million. While it looked like he was being coerced, it was actually a willing transaction on both sides.
Just as Li Qian understood Fatty An, Fatty An also understood Li Qian very well.
Although they were the best of friends and incredibly close, Li Qian had never once shown any improper designs on his money over all these years.
Whether you called it a gentleman's agreement or a case of two peas in a pod, their relationship was remarkably pure.
This was the first time Li Qian had ever taken the initiative to bring up money.
And for such a large sum at that.
Fatty An believed that Li Qian definitely wasn't acting without a purpose.
Whether he had some family emergency, or he was truly researching the evolution method of an Overlord-level Pet Beast, he definitely wasn't just messing around.
Throwing out this million wasn't so much about funding Li Qian's project as it was about investing in him as a person.
He, An Junjie, might look like a fool, but he was actually very shrewd.
After saying goodbye to Fatty An, Li Qian didn't delay and quickly entered the Pet Beast Market.
According to his calculations, the only thing now missing for the Koi Carp's evolution was a potion to activate its Flood Dragon Bloodline.
For this reason, he had only one purpose for coming to the Pet Beast Market this time: to find such a potion.
He headed straight for the Pet Beast Potion Shops.
He entered a shop and glanced around. There were two female clerks inside, but they were busy chatting. They glanced at Li Qian as he came in, but perhaps feeling he didn't have much purchasing power, they showed no intention of coming over to assist him.
Li Qian was happy to be left alone.
He started browsing by himself.
Besides, the potions all had descriptive text on them anyway.
After a quick scan, Li Qian headed straight for the natural herbs section.
A wild Koi Carp that could evolve into a Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon must have, by some twist of fate, eaten some kind of natural treasure. What it could have eaten definitely wouldn't include synthetic potions or pills made by humans.
Although there might be substitute potions or pills with similar effects to this natural treasure, trying to find them without even knowing what the treasure was would be a fool's errand.
Arriving in front of the natural herbs display case, Li Qian began to examine its contents with focus.
There weren't many herbs here, so he decided to look at them one by one.
Cold Heart Grass, an Elite-Level resource. Can be used for the evolution of Pet Beasts like the Frost Spider and Snow Spirit Fox. Price: 35,000 per stalk.
Cloud Smoke Fruit, a Commander-Level resource. Can be used for the evolution of Pet Beasts like the Lark, Gale Wolf, and Golden Feathered Goose. Price: 59,000 per fruit.
...
After looking around and finding nothing, Li Qian left the Pet Beast Potion Shop.
Without delay, he started walking toward a second Pet Beast Potion Shop.
Just then, a stall not far away caught his attention.
On the stall was a large fish tank. Next to the tank stood a wooden sign that read, "Mutated Koi Carp, only 100,000."
Seeing this, Li Qian was quite curious and walked over.
"Young man, this mutated Koi Carp of mine is something special..." Seeing Li Qian approach, the middle-aged, heavily-bearded owner began his sales pitch.
Li Qian held up a hand, waving it dismissively, then pointed to his own eyes. "No need for an introduction. I can see for myself."
He understood a certain principle very well.
Buying a Pet Beast was like buying an antique: listen to fewer stories, and do more looking and observing.
As he activated his Eye of True Sight, the Koi Carp's information appeared before him.
[Name: Koi Carp]
[Attribute: Water]
[Level: Tier Five]
[Potential: Tier Seven]
[Skills: Fish Jump (Perfection), Climbing Waterfall (Skilled)]
Seeing this Koi Carp's information, Li Qian's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
'Talk about a coincidence.'
The appearance of this Koi Carp confirmed something... his previous guess was correct.
The Koi Carp's evolution really did require the Climbing Waterfall Skill, and it was capable of learning it.
Although he had already figured things out, on the surface, Li Qian put on a look of disdain. "Some 'mutated Koi Carp'? What's all the fuss? It just learned one extra skill."
"My young friend, there's something you don't know. The real value of this Koi Carp isn't the skill itself, but its research value."
"You have to understand, one more skill means one more possibility for evolution."
The bearded owner started laying it on thick.
Although in a way, there was some truth to what he was saying, Li Qian knew this was just a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.
"Evolution? Heh. This Koi Carp is a useless Pet Beast. So many Cultivation Masters have studied it and come up with nothing. You think I'm the one who can crack it, boss?" Li Qian started putting on a performance of his own.
"My young friend, maybe you're that one-in-a-million talent..." The bearded owner continued to spout nonsense, pulling out all the stops to make a sale.
"Heh." Li Qian gave a faint smile. "I just saw that it has the Climbing Waterfall skill. I happen to have a pond at home with a new rockery and waterfall. I figure if it can climb waterfalls, it would probably look pretty cool."
"Yes, yes, exactly! It's for the looks! If you raise this Koi Carp in your pond, it can leap from the water and climb against the current. The viewing experience would be absolutely top-notch!" the bearded owner immediately agreed, seizing on Li Qian's words.
Just a moment ago, he'd been struggling with how to find a new selling point since he couldn't use the empty promise of evolution. He never expected the customer to find one for him.
Li Qian fell silent, thinking for a moment before speaking up. "But at the end of the day, this Koi Carp is just an ornamental fish. One hundred thousand is too ridiculous. There's no way I'm buying it."
"A regular Koi Carp costs ten thousand at most. Look, for the sake of its Climbing Waterfall skill, I can add a little extra. Eighteen thousand!" Li Qian said, feigning a pained expression.
Actually, it wasn't entirely an act.
He really felt the pain. If he didn't count the million Fatty An had promised him, all his spending money combined didn't even exceed fifty thousand.
"Young friend, you must be joking! This is a mutated Koi Carp! Eighty thousand, minimum!"
"Twenty thousand!"
"Seventy-five thousand!"
"Twenty-two thousand!"
"..."
Finally, after some intense haggling, they settled on a price of forty-two thousand.
At this price, if one didn't know the secret of the Koi Carp's evolution, it would be a complete rip-off.
But for Li Qian, it was an absolute steal.
What's more, he even managed to haggle for a free Beast Taming Ball.
A Beast Taming Ball cost several thousand at the very least.
It was a piece of equipment developed by the Breeder Association specifically for holding uncontracted Pet Beasts.
Its function was somewhat similar to the Spirit Balls from a certain Japanese anime in his previous life.
It just didn't have functions like restoring stamina or healing injuries.
To put it bluntly, it was just a temporary storage warehouse for Pet Beasts.
After all, some Pet Beasts could be enormous. It would be a very dangerous thing for one to appear openly in the city without a contract.
Even a harmless Pet Beast like a Koi Carp—for instance, his Ah Fu at home was half a meter long, and the bearded owner's was even longer at seventy centimeters—was inconvenient to transport.
If you paraded through the streets carrying a big fish tank, it wouldn't be long before the Public Security Bureau came knocking to "invite you for tea."