Unfortunately, there was no one here capable of fighting him. The only one who could possibly match him was Little Lightning in the cage, but the little creature was far too venomous and dangerous.

"I shouldn't have given it the spirit medicine so soon!"

Looking at Little Lightning, who was equally energized, Zhang Yang showed a hint of helplessness. This little fellow, just like him, had consumed the Immortal Fruit Pill and absorbed most of its medicinal power. Even before, Zhang Yang hadn't been confident in handling it, let alone now.

The spirit beast derived far greater benefit from the spirit medicine than he did.

Zhang Yang had to suppress the thought for now; sparring with the little creature would likely just lead to him getting beaten up.

Besides, releasing this little one was easy, but recalling it was incredibly difficult. If it hadn't ended up in a mutual crippling fight with the Black Iron Spider last time, Zhang Yang wouldn't have been lucky enough to capture it.

With a touch of regret, Zhang Yang slowly got off the bed.

As he stepped down, he felt a difference compared to before. While he hadn't achieved the lightness of a swallow, his body's agility was noticeably stronger than before.

Such a clear improvement was something he had never experienced before. Just one pill brought him close to the feeling of regaining his peak state.

"Little fellow, why are you looking at me like that?"

Zhang Yang turned back, a slight smile playing on his lips. Little Lightning, positioned by the glass cage on the bedside, was propped up on its forepaws, watching Zhang Yang motionlessly.

The little creature's eyes looked strange; they lacked the previous liveliness and sparkling spirit, appearing somewhat vacant.

This made Zhang Yang's brow twitch slightly. Could the spirit medicine have caused some problem for the little one?

Zhang Yang carefully re-examined his own body; everything felt fine, which finally eased his mind as he looked inexplicably at the little fox-tailed sable.

Ding-dong!

A crisp sound suddenly rang directly inside Zhang Yang's mind. Zhang Yang’s eyes snapped wide open, and he quickly looked ahead.

He was very familiar with this sound. The Sacred Hand System, which had vanished for a long time and hadn't reappeared, was finally here. Zhang Yang had countless questions he wanted to ask it.

"Congratulations to the Host for completing the Special Mission 'The Fox-Tailed Sable's Allegiance.' This is a five-level mission that crosses ranks. The Host's level has been forcibly advanced to Level Three, and the system is currently upgrading..."

The voice sounded, but Zhang Yang was dumbfounded. The system, after such a long absence, was automatically upgrading upon its return.

It seemed the last upgrade was passive; he had agreed to it after multiple inquiries. This time, it upgraded without saying a word, not even asking him once.

This made Zhang Yang somewhat displeased. He was the master; everything should obey him. Unfortunately, he had no control over this system; if the system needed to upgrade, he could only wait.

Fortunately, the system upgrade didn't take long. Before long, the long-unseen main interface appeared before Zhang Yang.

The green virtual screen showed every sub-panel flashing with green light. What surprised Zhang Yang most was that the 'Pet' column, which had always been dim, was now brightly illuminated.

"System upgrade complete. Congratulations again to the Host on the upgrade. All data has been readjusted!"

The mechanical female voice was just as it always was. Zhang Yang sensed it sounded rather cheerful, as if it had finally emerged after being suppressed for a long time.

"What about the Special Mission?"

Zhang Yang asked inwardly, casually beginning to open the various sub-menus to check the situation inside.

With no one else around this time, he could finally get a thorough understanding of this system. The system had disappeared too quickly last time, preventing him from asking some important questions.

"A Special Mission is one that was not originally within the scope of missions. Such missions appear suddenly, usually when the Host has done something entirely unforeseen and unexpected by the system, adding an extra reward structure!"

The mechanical female voice spoke slowly, its explanation clear enough.

Zhang Yang nodded and asked again, "What about 'The Fox-Tailed Sable's Allegiance'?"

The mechanical female voice spoke softly, "You previously administered a spirit medicine to the fox-tailed sable. Because of this, the sable developed a desire to follow you. In other words, the fox-tailed sable is now willing to submit to you as its master and follow you henceforth!"

"By giving it a spirit medicine, it acknowledges me and is willing to follow me?"

Zhang Yang knitted his brows together. He found the system's words hard to believe. Spirit beasts of heaven and earth are inherently wild; few people can directly subdue them.

To tame a spirit beast, one usually has to raise it from infancy, and even then, success is only a possibility. Moreover, spirit beasts are inherently rare, and their unweaned young are closely guarded—capturing such a cub is extremely difficult, at least with human strength.

This was why no spirit beast had ever willingly followed a human.

Perhaps in history, there were instances of humans successfully taming heaven and earth spirit beasts, but Zhang Yang was unaware of these events. In his understanding, such things simply did not happen.

"Correct. The fox-tailed sable has voluntarily chosen to follow you. Its current Loyalty Rating is 68!"

The mechanical female voice spoke softly, and the screen before Zhang Yang automatically opened the 'Pet' column.

Within the Pet column was a small icon, clearly a miniature fox-tailed sable, with the name 'Lightning' displayed above its head.

The miniature sable image was squinting and smiling at him. Beside it were various stats for Lightning: Speed, Toxicity, Strength, etc. The largest number displayed was 68.

This number, 68, represented the Loyalty Rating.

"What does this Loyalty Rating mean? Is 68 high or low?" Zhang Yang asked again.

"Loyalty Rating indicates the degree of faithfulness a pet has toward the Host. Generally, a loyalty rating above 60 signifies genuine allegiance, making such a pet reliable and posing no risk of harm to the master. However, if the loyalty is not high enough, the pet might decrease its loyalty or even leave if the Host pushes things too far.

"If the Loyalty Rating reaches 70, such a pet will not contemplate leaving unless the Host drives them away or the Host suffers misfortune. If the rating reaches 80, such a pet will sacrifice itself for the Host, willing to lay down its life in a critical moment—this is true devotion!"

The mechanical female voice explained continuously until Zhang Yang finally understood what Loyalty Rating signified.

This number represented the pet’s mindset towards its master. The fox-tailed sable was captured by Zhang Yang and caged for a long time; receiving this level of loyalty was already surprising to Zhang Yang.

A loyalty rating of 68 was enough to show that the fox-tailed sable was wholeheartedly willing to follow him.

After some thought, Zhang Yang asked again, "What is the highest possible Loyalty Rating?"

"The highest Loyalty Rating is 100. Once a pet’s loyalty reaches above 90, it will never leave its master, even following the master's descendants generation after generation, guarding them, if the master passes away. If the loyalty reaches the absolute peak of 100, and the master dies, the pet will also pass away, refusing to live on alone in this world!"

The mechanical female voice elaborated, and Zhang Yang nodded again.

Zhang Yang understood the mechanical voice's words quite well. This fox-tailed sable was a spirit beast of heaven and earth; generally, their lifespans far exceed that of humans. Little Lightning, despite its small size, was likely over a hundred years old. It was an adult fox-tailed sable; typically, reaching adulthood takes dozens of years, so being over a hundred years old with such agility and power was trivial for it.

Spirit beasts are most drawn to heaven and earth spirit medicines and rare treasures; their frequent consumption of these substances causes their bodies to differ from other animals, granting them extended lifespans, which is not surprising. Humans live for a mere few decades, while spirit beasts often live for hundreds of years. In this light, if a spirit beast truly followed a human, the human would certainly depart first while the beast remained alive.

For a surviving spirit beast to still be willing to guard the master's descendants was already rare; to be willing to die alongside the master truly meant its loyalty had reached its zenith.

The system's answer was satisfactory to Zhang Yang.

"Why is this fox-tailed sable willingly following me?"

Zhang Yang suddenly asked another question that he couldn't quite decipher. This was an adult spirit beast, and their first meeting had been unpleasant—they even fought. Afterward, he took its Three-Colored Fruit and kept it caged. Zhang Yang could believe the sable hated him; the idea that it wanted to follow him seemed utterly dreamlike.

"Please wait, Host, I will check!"

The mechanical female voice sounded. Zhang Yang noticed that the fox-tailed sable in the nearby glass cage suddenly fixed its gaze, looking around in astonishment, even with a hint of fear in its eyes.

"I have found the information. The fox-tailed sable grew up in the deep mountains, handling everything on its own. The Host often caught delicious venomous snakes, which created a prior sense of gratitude in the sable's heart. Furthermore, the spirit medicine it consumed was a treasure it had never experienced before. This caused it to develop a sense of recognition toward the Host!"

"Because the Host possesses treasures and treats it well, the fox-tailed sable formed the intention to follow. After careful consideration, it made this decision!"

The mechanical female voice spoke slowly, and Zhang Yang’s eyes widened again.

This little fox-tailed sable was too naive! He caged it, so naturally, he had to feed it; he couldn't let it starve to death—and this was interpreted as Zhang Yang treating it well. Moreover, the Three-Colored Fruit fell into Zhang Yang’s hands because of it; sharing one seemed fair, but surprisingly, the sable remembered this too, viewing it as a kindness bestowed.

The thoughts of these animals are indeed simpler and more direct than those of humans. Gratitude and reciprocation seemed to be Little Lightning's current mindset.

Zhang Yang then recalled the sable's strange expression earlier; at that time, it was likely hesitating, contemplating whether or not to follow Zhang Yang.

"How do you know all this?" Zhang Yang immediately thought of another question and hastily inquired.

"I probed its thoughts within its brain. Host, your pet is extremely intelligent; it already possesses basic judgment and awareness, knowing what actions are permissible and what are not. Such a clever pet will be of great assistance to you!"

The mechanical female voice spoke slowly, and Zhang Yang’s eyes suddenly snapped wide open as he stared blankly at the system interface before him.

"You—you can directly probe what others are thinking inside their heads?"

After a moment, Zhang Yang asked with difficulty. This was not good news for him; he had always been wary of this system, always feeling its appearance was inexplicably abrupt.

End of the fifth update! (To be continued)