Worry not juniors, I have not returned to the great wheel of transmigration, I am however battling a stomach bug. So apologies for the wait, but its gonna be a while longer, but I'll tally and write once I no longer feel like reheated dog vomit
>>5678557The highest record thus far is eight evolutions, and you can guess who made that record, its everyones favourite long dead oxen, Niu Bingwen! 9 is the max, but exists only in theory and would require a truly profound cultivation to achieve.
And your guess is correct, the beast core is more or less used as a furnace or the soul it self is altered or the body mutates due to environmental/ magical factors, but the type of evolutions you can access are determined by the Qi/ spiritual energies around you or even materials you consume. Which is why Huan had access to the evolutions that she did, beyond the Wild Princess, Ice nymph was because of her proximity to Monu and her habit of deeply immersing herself into potent Yin Qi, the metal was because of the catacombs dominant Qi being metal before the spring was brought in, and Maogui was because she evolved her soul in hell itself
Wild Princess hence is the "Pure" evolution, as it is just primordial beast essence being gathered and refined, which in Huan's case was done by absorbing ghostly Yin Qi directly into her living soul to strengthen it, which lead to her body and the essence inside of it bolstering and growing to accommodate her now regally refined spirit. Which is why she grew from wolf to Young ox size.
An example would be, say Huili, who is already fire aligned. If he say, went to the forge devil's desolation Feiqing went to gather materials for his breakthrough into foundation establishment, which he hasn't undergone yet, he'd have access to the Pyre Spirit, Maogui, and Wild Prince evolutions if he reached a milestone of magical beast development
Which can be done by numerous ways. Huan's was one of the more, bruteforce methods. Age is one of the more delicate ones.
There's more to it than this, and it gets more complex past the 2nd or 3rd evolutionary level, but I feel lightheaded and like I am about to throw up. Hopefully when I wake up, I'll feel well enough to write
Oh, and funnily enough, Jingyu has undergone a "Artificial" beastial evolution, because in the eyes of the dao and reality itself, he no longer counts as human.
