43: During the assessment

After a careful examination, Xu Yan felt that this was truly worthy of a General Rank assessment; the problem was indeed quite troublesome.

According to the feedback from Xu Yan's spiritual power, there were currently four different forces existing within the Wind Flame Lion's body.

Two of them were the Wind Flame Lion's own Wind and Fire elemental powers; however, these two forces, which should have been very harmonious and balanced, were not in a good state at the moment.

As for the other two forces, the one that had been there for a longer time was likely forcibly injected into the Wind Flame Lion's body after it was attacked, analogous to the negative effects brought about by skills like the poison or curses of Zhu Yan.

The subsequent force was likely a countermeasure taken by the Wind Flame Lion after the former force invaded its body; clearly, the former was being suppressed by the latter.

Then, the problem lay with this latter force.

That force not only suppressed the foreign, alien power but also suppressed the Wind Flame Lion's original Fire elemental power, causing the Wind elemental power, which was originally a secondary attribute, to begin growing rapidly.

The strengthening of the Wind attribute caused the original Fire attribute to have a stress reaction, as if its territory had been offended. The Fire attribute, which was not very stable to begin with, became even more irritable under this stress, frantically resisting the force that was suppressing it.

It was precisely because of the conflict between the Fire attribute within its body and the force suppressing it that the Wind Flame Lion felt extremely uncomfortable.

Furthermore, with the Wind Flame Lion's own Fire attribute suppressed and its primary attribute shifting from Fire to Wind, the meridians that were accustomed to the flow of Fire elemental power began to show signs of rejection, making its original method of using its internal power no longer applicable.

It wanted to try to regain control of its changing attributes, but due to the conflict of forces within its body and the rejection reaction it was experiencing, it was fundamentally unable to calm down to feel and control the changes in its own power.

When Xu Yan examined it, the four forces within the Wind Flame Lion were in a delicate state of balance—one that would not harm the Wind Flame Lion itself, yet caused it to feel uncomfortable and unable to use any elemental energy.

Therefore, do not be fooled by the Wind Flame Lion's appearance; it didn't seem to have any major issues, at most feeling irritable due to lack of sleep caused by the discomfort within its body.

On the contrary, the irritability it displayed was merely bluster caused by the helplessness and anxiety of being unable to use its own power.

However, this balance seemed to be on the verge of being broken.

The foreign force, which was suspected to be the culprit behind all of this, was not behaving either. As the force suppressing it clashed with the Wind Flame Lion's own Fire elemental power, the suppression on it began to gradually diminish.

It is easy to imagine that if the Wind Flame Lion were allowed to continue like this, once that force completely broke free from suppression, the backlash after such a long period of suppression would definitely cause the Wind Flame Lion to suffer heavy injuries.

Furthermore, as this force erupted, the other three forces that were originally in a delicate balance would also begin to erupt within the Wind Flame Lion's body. The Wind Flame Lion, already heavily injured by the eruption of the foreign force, would simply be unable to withstand the subsequent round of damage.

This was also why, even though Xu Yan's Innate Talent only increased favorability by one stage, that Wind Flame Lion, which had never met Xu Yan before, would actually expose its belly to him—an action only performed in front of someone it trusted extremely deeply.

It was merely a survival instinct after seeing hope.

It was already an extremely thorny problem, and because that foreign force was constantly struggling to break free from suppression, it could erupt at any time, causing the assessment to fail immediately.

This situation, where there was a time limit but no knowledge of how much time remained, placed immense pressure on the examinee.

Regarding the Wind Flame Lion's condition, the method Xu Yan chose was to first resolve the time limit issue, as it could erupt at any moment.

Based on the sensations conveyed by his spiritual power and some changes appearing on the Wind Flame Lion, Xu Yan quickly learned what this foreign force was.

Resentment—a type of curse skill that condenses one's own grievances together to form a curse that erodes the target.

The skill itself did not have much power, but in most cases, the user was someone in a near-death state who used their own hatred and all their life force to cast it, making the duration particularly long; some would even follow the target for a lifetime.

As for the force suppressing the resentment, based on the way it manifested, Xu Yan also had a general range in mind. It possessed purification and dispelling powers, and it suppressed Fire elemental powers.

Most importantly, if it could be obtained and used by a General Rank Wind Flame Lion to have an effect, yet not completely suppress the Wind Flame Lion's Fire elemental power, then it must be a General Rank plant.

Based on the environment where the Wind Flame Lion originally lived, as provided by the information from the Examiner, Xu Yan quickly deduced several possible plants.

Ice Crystal Grass, Water Heart Lotus, Tricolor Flower... a total of seven possible plants.

Filtering down to this point was enough; next, Xu Yan only needed to ensure that the method he used could unravel the resentment on the Wind Flame Lion without triggering a reaction from these seven plants.

In the General Rank pharmacy books released by the Breeder Association, there was a series of potions called "Resentment Dissolution," specifically used to counter skills cast using grievances. Among them, the number seven Resentment Dissolution potion used materials that would not produce any reaction with the seven previously mentioned plants.

Under these circumstances, the Resentment Dissolution No. 7 potion was basically one of the "standard answers" for this assessment.

After thinking this through, Xu Yan picked up the tablet on the table nearby and entered the materials he needed.

Just one minute after Xu Yan put down the tablet, the materials he needed were delivered to him.

Looking at the materials he received, there were three portions in total, and their quality was average.

The meaning was clear: Xu Yan had three chances to make it. If he failed all three times, then Xu Yan would not need to think about dealing with the elemental energy inside the Wind Flame Lion anymore; his journey in this assessment would end right there.

Carrying the delivered materials, he walked to the instrument on the side and began to operate it.

Processing, segmenting, extracting, fusing...

Under Xu Yan's skillful operation, the earthy-yellow medicinal liquid was poured by Xu Yan into a prepared potion bottle, and the quality was excellent.

He handed it to the two Examiners for a look, and then it was fed by Xu Yan into the Wind Flame Lion's mouth.

As the potion was absorbed by the Wind Flame Lion, the Wind Flame Lion, which had been lying on the ground due to physical discomfort and only moving occasionally, began to shake violently.

Afterwards, a mouthful of black blood, mixed with saliva, was spat out directly by it.