His name was Xuyuan, because on the night he was born, his mother made a wish upon a shooting star. She refused to say what she had wished for, right up until the day she died.
Xuyuan, a low-ranking medicine apprentice in Wuxi City, contracted a Thunderlight Marten that had stolen medicine. In his soul sea lay a well, a Candle Dragon pretending to sleep, and a battered book filled with the names of dead beasts. The ancient well south of the city was sealed, then reopened. The lingering memories served as bait, feeding the thing asleep beneath the ground. Relic seekers, the Inspection Bureau, and the three great clans all turned their eyes toward the sinister marten in his arms.
From then on, twelve battle pets entered his soul sea, one by one: the Thunderlight Marten, Stoneback Lizard, Firefeather Crow, Blackshell Tortoise, Green-Scaled Python, Snowfluff Spirit, Lantern Shark, Sword Orchid Vine, Dream Tapir, Dawnlight Butterfly, Shadow Leopard, and Chime Bird. None had mythical bloodlines, and none had escaped being abandoned. He had raised every one of them at the cost of his own life.
The nine pages of the battered Classic of Mountains and Seas each bore a guardian deity: Ershu, Dang Kang, Bo, Xuangui, Chenghuang, Huodou, Baize, and Zhulong. Only the ninth page was blank. They would not obey him or fight on his behalf. They would only use their divine domains to protect the lands he passed through. Each time he awakened a page, it took a memory from him.
His mother said, "Medicine heals the body; companionship heals your fate." Xuyuan said, "It's a fair trade." He contracted beasts into his soul sea, recorded his grudges in a ledger, and brewed his mother's medicine for three years. Only at the very end did he understand: the nameless beasts, the nameless corpses, and the nameless wishes scattered across these mountains and seas were waiting for someone to write them into the record, one by one.
My Breadmaking Skills Can Slay Gods
King of the Arena, Starting as an Online Fighter
Beautiful Aunt, Don't Turn Around! You've Committed a Grave Taboo!
Journey to the West: Summon the Jade Emperor from the Start
Reconstruction After the Plague
Swallowed Star: The Realm of Control
I Am the Demon King of the Sea
The Top Immortal of the College Entrance Exam
A Pair of Living People
The Divine Way of Incense: Beginning as a Village Earth God
Seeking the Dao in the Great Wilderness!
A Cultivation Life That Began with Mountain Foraging
The beginning of this book is like a bowl of cold tea, bitter yet invigorating.
After a long period of book drought, I've seen all sorts of tropes, and what I fear most is when the first three chapters reveal all the secrets. This book is different; the prologue hooked me from the start—Zhou Po's old folk song, "To live, write a contract; to make a pact, exchange memories," four lines, one blank space, unfilled for three hundred years.
It is recommended to study the three golden chapters.
I read two chapters and didn't want to continue. The descriptions of the environment are quite good, and the writing style is good too. The problem is, this is a novel, meant to tell a story. Long paragraphs describe the environment without clearly explaining a single, complete event. The narrative is terrible, disjointed, and the conflicts are inconsistent. And I've already found several errors in just the first two chapters.
The opening is written in a delicate and classical style, with a series of images that depict a vast and mysterious world of mountains and seas, creating a strong sense of immersion.
It has a similar flavor to Pet Charm meal replacements, but it's a different style from the Divine Pet Supplier.
The descriptions of the environment and psychology are very well done, creating a strong sense of immersion. It doesn't jump straight into setting up a system or anything like that; the plot unfolds slowly and comfortably. Those currently experiencing a reading slump in the beast-taming genre are in luck! If you're tired of "The Divine Pet Supplier," give this a try; it has a unique flavor. 😍