Read Divine Beast Adventures - Chapter 97 - Effect of Halo online free - Light Novel Full
Chapter 97: Chapter 097 – Effect of Halo
Translator: mianbao Editor: Aelryinth
Edited by RED
"What a horrible start!"
Zhang Che's heart tightened. Since he had no idea how strong the monster that ambushed the Gluttony Monkey was, he didn't dare to get personally involved for safety concerns. Instead, he ordered the Purple Jade Condor in the sky to dive down and check out the situation ahead.
Judging from how the frisky monkey was screaming non-stop, it seemed to have suffered quite an injury. The Fiery Scorpion and Wind Shadow Wolf were probably unable to do a thing to that unknown exotic beast, either.
After receiving Zhang Che's command, the Purple Jade Condor quickly dove down from several hundred meters in the sky to provide reinforcements for the Gluttony Monkey.
However, the frisky monkey suddenly let out another shriek while jumping on one leg and fell on the ground, now grabbing both his legs, rolling about.
Zhang Che was feeling stumped now. Exactly what kind of injury was it that made the frisky monkey act this way, making such exaggerated screams?
He really wanted to go forward to take a look, but he was fearful of that unknown exotic beast's mysterious attack, and chose to stand still in the end.
The Purple Jade Condor finally flew down from the sky. It spread its wings open and streaked past the bushes, but it didn't discover where that strange exotic beast was. Helpless about it, Zhang Che could only order it to rescue the frisky monkey first.
Otherwise, who knew if that glutton's continuous cries would attract any other powerful exotic beasts here?
They were in a dangerous area, after all. Zhang Che didn't wish to experience being mobbed by a group of powerful beasts.
-Ai, it would've been great if I advanced to Tier Four. The Scarlet Flame Drake could just burn everything in its path. No matter what kind of beast it was, it had to show itself before us.
-Speaking of which, it was strange that the Gluttony Monkey's screams stopped the instant the Purple Jade Condor flew down. Perhaps even that glutton knew that he was about to be saved and forgot all about the pain from its relief?-
The Purple Jade Condor streaked over the Gluttony Monkey like a bolt of lightning, swooping the rolling monkey off the ground with its huge talons. After which, it made a beautiful sharp turn in the air, like cars drifting a sharp turn, and flew back towards Zhang Che's direction.
"Oh shit, watch out!" Zhang Che cried out loud to warn the others just as the Purple Jade Condor was changing its direction, Zhang Che suddenly noticed a black silhouette rise into the air, lashing towards the low-flying Purple Jade Condor like a whip.
However, it looked as if the Purple Jade Condor was anticipating that spooky attack from the start. Its huge figure made a sudden twist in the air, easily dodging the whip's lash. After which, it activated its Wing Blade skill. Its wings glowed coldly, diving at the attacker.
The long whip couldn't retract in time, and was cut apart by the Purple Jade Condor's left wing, sliced in two from the middle. Half of it flew aimlessly high in the air and fell in the direction it was lashing out in, which was in Zhang Che's direction. Meanwhile, the other half quickly retracted back into the thick bushes.
As that several meters-long object flew in his direction, Zhang Che finally got a good look before it turned into a streak of light and disappeared. Wasn't it the purplish-brown tentacle-like thing he saw earlier?
-What kind of exotic beast has such a strange tentacle?-
Regrettably, Zhang Che's 'data eyes' were unable to discern the exotic beast's attributes from the torn tentacle. He could only stomach his doubts and wait for the Purple Jade Condor to solve the mystery for him.
After slicing off that mysterious exotic beast's tentacle, the Purple Jade Condor didn't follow up with another attack immediately. Instead, it flew back to Zhang Che's side with the Gluttony Monkey in tow and dropped off that injured pet before drawing another arc in the air, flying back to the bushes.
The Wing Blade skill could last for an entire minute; the Purple Jade Condor had more than enough time to force that unknown exotic beast out, or even slay it in the bushes.
The Wing Blade skill's destructive power was extraordinary, indeed. Branches and leaves flew about, and mud was thrown in the air in all directions. The Purple Jade Condor was akin to a super plowing machine, razing the area flat.
[You Killed a Rotten Ent Prowler. Obtained 12 Points of Soul Force. Obtained Rotten Ent Prowler Card.=
Zhang Che heard the long-awaited mechanical notification sound when the entire area was overturned by the Purple Jade Condor. The unknown exotic beast was finally killed by the terrifying Purple Jade Condor.
"So it's called a Rotten Ent Prowler? No wonder it has such outstanding hiding ability, and the frisky monkey and Purple Jade Condor were unable to discern its position!" Zhang Che realized. This mysterious exotic beast really lived up to its name as a prowler. It truly was like an assassin, catching others off guard!
In the next moment, the Purple Jade Condor picked up a silvery beast card from the soil with its beak, quickly returning to Zhang Che's side.
[Rotten Ent Prowler]
Level: Three Star (Level 28)
Quality: Silver
Type: Weapon-Type
Innate Attribute: Extends and Retracts at Will, Possesses Extremely High Ductility
Characteristics: Tough, Not Easily Cut. Its Barbs Contains Deadly Poison.
Weakness: Vulnerable to High Temperature
Potential: D Rank
Cultivating Directions: …
"Hah, it's actually a weapon-type beast card. Its attribute looks pretty good!"
Zhang Che didn't expect to obtain another weapon-type beast card so soon. It seemed like today was a lucky day for him!
-Though, what kind of a weapon would this thing turn out to be?- A guess came up to Zhang Che's mind. He immediately held the Rotten Ent Prowler card between his palms, triggering a spiritual resonance. After branding it with his spiritual imprint, Zhang Che immediately summoned the weapon.
As expected, what appeared in his hand was a long brown whip, several meters in length. It had sharp, tiny barbs all over it, giving off the feeling of a whip used for torture during ancient times.
"Its innate attribute states that it extends at will. Let's see how effective it is."
With a thought, the long whip twisted for a moment, and condensed into a barbed thick club. It was about half a meter long in this form, and as thick as an adult's calf. The barbs were heavily concentrated, like the hairs on an insect, enough to strike fear into those who saw them.
Next, he experimented with its extendibility. The club quickly shot forward, instantly turning into a rope a few dozen meters long. The gaps between barbs were wider, but it looked rather concentrated now.
-What should this be used for..?-
A vision of a female human figure dressed in revealing leather clothes and killer heels instantly appeared in his mind, wielding a pitch black leather whip…
-What the hell!- Zhang Che hurriedly shook his head. He then recalled that the barbs on this whip-like weapon contained deadly poison!
Now, it was stated in his attributes that the Gluttony Monkey was weak against poison attacks. Why wasn't he showing any signs of being in a poisoned state right now?
Zhang Che's doubtful gaze fell onto the injured frisky monkey's soles. He discovered to his astonishment that this fellow's soles were filled with concentrated tiny holes, and purplish-brown poisoned blood was flowing out at this moment. Its color was rapidly turning red.
-Since when did this glutton turn into a martial arts expert and learned how to purge poison from within his body with internal strength?- Zhang Che was filled with questions. Then, he suddenly recalled that the frisky monkey stopped screaming at the time the Purple Jade Condor swooped down from the sky.
He had originally thought that this fellow realized he was about to be saved and thus endured the pain. From the looks of it now, that wasn't the case.
Right, the Purple Jade Condor's Halo!
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Chapter 98: Chapter 098 – A Whip in One Hand, A Sword in the Other
Translator: mianbao Editor: Aelryinth
Edited by RED
"Right, the Purple Jade Condor's Halo!" Zhang Che's eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a poison resistance Halo in the beast's attributes.
Could it be the effects of the Halo?!
Zhang Che's excited heart was thumping heavily. In order to confirm if his guess was on the mark, he immediately ordered the Purple Jade Condor to get away from where he and the Gluttony Monkey were.
The subdued beast beat its wings violently and took off the ground, soaring up to a hundred meters in the sky.
Right at this moment, the Gluttony Monkey, who was feeling fine up until now, suddenly shrieked and fell to the ground, grabbing its feet.
-I knew it!- Zhang Che's eyes immediately lit up. He didn't expect the dark gold-quality beast's Halo attribute to have such an effect. It could even affect their allies!
Not only that, the poison resistance Halo was shockingly effective!.
The Rotten Ent Prowler, appearance unknown, was a three-star silver-quality beast. It went without saying that the poison contained within the barbs in its tentacles were unusually toxic; he could tell from the continuous screams of the frisky monkey.
-Right, the frisky monkey is still suffering. I'd better get the Purple Jade Condor to come down quickly.-
Zhang Che issued the command to the Purple Jade Condor as he looked down at where the Gluttony Monkey was, rolling on the ground. His soles were swollen to more than twice their normal size, a purplish black wisp of fog quickly spreading upwards to his calves.
Zhang Che jumped up in fright; the poison was actually that potent!
The poison in the frisky monkey's soles were nearly purged completely under the Purple Jade Condor's poison resistance Halo's effects earlier. He didn't expect the tiny bit of poison left in his body would still cause this much harm in just this short amount of time.
If they didn't take care of the poison quickly, this glutton would probably succumb to the poison in a few minutes!
A strong gale swept over. The Purple Jade Condor flew back down, and the Gluttony Monkey immediately stopped crying in pain. After that, he stood up as if nothing had happened, the swollen area quickly recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. Faint purplish blood started dripping out of the tiny, concentrated holes in his soles again.
The Gluttony Monkey stood there silently, looking at his owner resentfully, as if he was a little miss who had been mistreated, leaving Zhang Che smiling uncontrollably.
The latter was really happy. With the Purple Jade Condor, it meant that he and his babies would never have to fear any poisonous exotic beasts in the future. Mostly, it was the fact that he was in a much safer position. After all, as long as his subdued beasts and pets didn't die from any poison they were afflicted with, they could just return to his spiritual sea to recover. On the other hand, if Zhang Che himself was poisoned, the consequences would be dire.
This was simply a huge piece of great news!
Naturally, if the level and quality of the poisonous exotic beast exceeded that of the Purple Jade Condor's, the Halo's effect would probably be much less effective, or even ineffective.
However, those kinds of terrifying poisonous monsters were still rare; they wouldn't be that easy to run into.
After a few minutes, the blood flowing out of the Gluttony Monkey's soles was finally completely red in color. This meant that the poison in his soles was thoroughly purged under the Purple Jade Condor's Halo.
This also made Zhang Che realize how powerful this newly acquired whip-type weapon beast card of his was.
Leaving aside its characteristic of being able to extend and retract at will, which Zhang Che still didn't have a good idea on how to utilize, just the deadly poison on its barbs was a great killing tool.
This thing could extend to a few dozen meters long; if he lashed out the whip suddenly during a confrontation with an enemy and caught them by surprise, it would surely leave them wishing they were dead!
With a whip in one hand and a sword in the other, who could ever hope to stop him?
"Let's set off!" Zhang Che waved his hand in high spirits, continuing his ascent along the valley.
Initially, Zhang Che was most worried about encountering the various kinds of poisonous insects in this mountain range. He was afraid that he'd get caught with his guard down. The consequences would have been unthinkable.
Now, with the Purple Jade Condor's poison resistance Halo, what did he have to fear?
With the lesson learned from the Gluttony Monkey's prior experience, Zhang Che didn't let the Purple Jade Condor fly too high this time. He got it to hover in the sky about a hundred meters up. He had tested it out with the frisky monkey's reaction earlier; the Purple Jade Condor's Halo had an effective range of around a hundred meters.
As things would have it, Zhang Che's caution was very effective.
Perhaps it was due to the high humidity in this valley, but on their way up, Zhang Che actually ran into a few poison-type exotic beasts, one after another. Although they weren't sneaky like the Rotten Ent Prowler, these poisonous insects of various shapes and sizes came crawling out from bushes out of nowhere, more than enough to surprise them.
Humans had a natural fear of poisonous insects, no matter how strong they were.
Thus, Zhang Che definitely wouldn't take action up close and personally. Instead, he relied on the long whip in his hand to lash at these frightening, disgusting insects from a distance.
Even so, Zhang Che obviously wasn't blessed with the attributes of a queen (TL: i.e., a dominatrix) and did not have absolute control of the long whip. He only managed to hurt the flora in the area, not landing a single hit on the poisonous insects. He could only sigh helplessly, and let his subdued beasts do the job.
Although all of the poisonous insects were killed off by his ruthless subdued beasts, Zhang Che didn't obtain a single beast card from them, leaving him feeling disappointed.
These types of poisonous beast cards were priced much higher than ordinary beast cards. If he could acquire more of them, how much money could he earn!?
Harboring the resentment of failing to earn any money, Zhang Che continued ascending along a path filled with twists and turns. When he turned another corner, he couldn't help but be stunned.
The area ahead was actually a straight cliff about hundred meters high; there was no way up!
-What should I do? Do I have to ride my way up on the Purple Jade Condor?-
Zhang Che couldn't resist looking at the Purple Jade Condor up in the sky. That fellow's wingspan was over ten meters wide. It should be more than enough to carry one person, right?
However, Zhang Che was feeling hesitant. This fellow flew too fast. What if his hand slipped and he plummeted down?
"Zhizhi!" the Gluttony Monkey by the side cried out excitedly.
Zhang Che looked over, and it turned out that there were a few small trees intertwined with each other growing out of the cliff. Light yellow dots could be seen between the leaves and branches. It went without saying that these must be fruit trees.
"Go, pick a few and bring them back," Zhang Che waved his hand at the frisky monkey, "Its all rocks up there, there can't be any poisonous insects hiding. Don't worry and go."
However, the Gluttony Monkey rolled his eyes instead, indicating that the cliff was too steep; he had no way of climbing it.
After that, the glutton actually pointed at the long whip in Zhang Che's hand, making a few sounds and pointing at the fruit tree on the cliff. He actually wanted Zhang Che to climb up and pick the fruits!
"Do I freaking owe you or something!?"
How frustrated must Zhang Che be? This glutton actually tried to order his master around!
However, he could give it a try. The whip could extend a few dozen meters long. It was enough to latch onto the fruit tree on the cliff.
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Chapter 99: Chapter 099 – A Head Sticking Out of the Cliff
Translator: mianbao Editor: Aelryinth
Edited by RED
The Purple Jade Condor circled twice in the sky, and confirmed that it was safe.
Zhang Che immediately ran to the foot of the cliff with long strides and looked up. The nearest tree was between thirty to forty meters above him, which the whip was fully capable of reaching.
Zhang Che recalled the Gluttony Monkey back into his spiritual sea first, and pointed the whip that was currently in its club form up towards the tree. With a thought, the club quickly extended, shooting upwards.
However, the whip deviated away from the tree by a dozen meters or so, and struck the cliff lightly. Its sharp barbs scraped a thin layer of powder off the cliff, floating down.
"Achoo!" Zhang Che couldn't avoid the powder in time and took a whiff of it, sneezing violently.
-My aim is a little too crappy!-
One failure would naturally not lower Zhang Che's confidence. He retracted the whip and took aim again, giving it another try.
The phrase 'practice makes perfect' would never be wrong.
Zhang Che made another dozen or so attempts, and finally managed to hook the whip onto the tree's branch. The barbs on the whip pierced deeply into the bark. He tried tugging at it and made sure that it was secured.
"Now, let's take an elevator ride!"
Zhang Che took a deep breath, holding onto the whip's handle with both hands. With a thought, he was pulled up, and ended up hanging directly under the tree.
A streak of bronze light shot out of Zhang Che's spiritual sea. The Gluttony Monkey sat on the fruit tree with an excited look and pulled his master up. After that, he looked up and stared at the fist-sized, fresh yellow-colored exotic fruits shaped like pears.
"My freaking god! If I fell down, wouldn't I turn into a mass of meat paste?"
Zhang Che hugged the branch tightly with both hands, stealing a glance down carefully. He immediately grew apprehensive, feeling as though the tree was shaking.
While Zhang Che was worrying, the frisky monkey successfully picked two fruit off the tree and devoured them. The fresh yellow juice of the fruit was smeared all over his face and chest.
"Damn, this glutton doesn't care about others at all!" Zhang Che's eyelids twitched in frustration. Although the fruits were hanging off the branches within his reach, he didn't dare to let go for even a moment to pick one and try it.
They were dozens of meters off the ground, with only inches of foothold. Not only that, the tree was still gently swaying in the mountain breeze. He might fall if he was ever so slightly careless.
The Gluttony Monkey was devouring the fruits at blinding speed. Both his hands were moving quickly, finishing a fruit in the blink of an eye. After that, he spat out the seed and stuffed another fruit into his mouth.
This glutton ate a few dozen fruits in one go, before remembering that his owner was looking on from the side. He couldn't resist turning his head to take a look, revealing an awkward smile on his ugly face, and brought a fruit over in front of Zhang Che.
Zhang Che was on the verge on weeping; this guy finally remembered him, what a miracle!
As the tree branch was a little too thin for his liking, Zhang Che didn't dare to let go with his hand. He ignored the fruit the frisky monkey brought to him. He looked up, and his eyes lit up.
About a dozen meters away from where he was standing, the branch of another fruit tree was noticeably thicker than the one he was standing on, and had many more branches branching off of the stem. It would make Zhang Che feel much safer standing there without worrying about falling off.
What was there to wait for? Zhang Che slowly released both his grip from the branch and relied on his arm to hug it instead. After that, he used the barbed whip and extended it upwards once more.
This time, his aiming was much better. He managed to coil onto the thicker tree with only one try.
Zhang Che recalled the frisky monkey back to his spiritual sea, ignoring the latter's reluctant cries, and took the 'elevator ride' again, quickly bringing himself further up.
"This didn't come easy; I can finally let go with my hands and see what this fruit tastes like myself!"
Zhang Che sat down stably on a branch, extending his hand to pick a fist-sized fruit and brought it to his mouth, taking a bite of it. The sweet taste of the fruit juice, with a slight acidic taste, immediately filled his mouth, leaving him sighing in satisfaction.
"Xilvlv!" A long neigh rang out from below, scaring Zhang Che. He had thought that some exotic beast was attacking them, but when he looked down, he realized that Hanxue was looking up from the foot of the cliff, his gaze filled with anticipation.
"I mean, didn't I just praise you not long ago? I didn't think you were a glutton as well!"
Zhang Che was speechless. He could only pick another fresh yellow fruit and drop it down.
As the fruit quickly fell towards the ground, Hanxue reared up on his hind legs and opened his mouth wide, catching the fruit. He chewed on it a few times before swallowing it, together with the seed. After that, his gaze at Zhang Che grew even more intense.
-What kind of pets did I take in…-
Zhang Che drooped his head silently. He could only keep plucking the fruits around him and drop them towards Hanxue's open mouth. It was fine if he missed; the horse would adjust himself accordingly and catch them with ease.
"Zhizhi!" The Gluttony Monkey suddenly let out a sharp cry.
Zhang Che turned his head to look at the monkey helplessly. "You little frisky monkey is even jealous now! It's not like you're-"
Zhang Che suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He saw the incredulous look on the Gluttony Monkey's ugly face, and heard the 'shasha' sounds coming from the cliff wall behind him.
-Didn't the Purple Jade Condor just scout things out and make sure that there weren't any exotic beasts nearby?-
Zhang Che felt his scalp going numb, a layer of goosebumps rising out of the skin on his back. He quickly turned around to look, and saw the head of a huge tortoise sticking out of the cliff, leaving a bunch of tiny rocks falling down.
He wasn't unable to accept this absurd reality all of a sudden. How could a head be sticking out of a cliff?
It looked like the opposite cliff's surface had turned watery. Where the huge tortoise head was sticking out of the cliff, there were even ripples around it.
-What the heck is this!?-
The huge tortoise head, about a foot in diameter, extended out fully on its round neck almost instantly. Its grey and white eyes were wide open, staring blankly at Zhang Che standing on the tree.
[Rock Tortoise]
Level: Four Star (Level 39)
Quality: Gold
Characteristics: The Defensive Strength of Its Shell Far Outclasses That of Steel, Its Skin is as Tough as Boulders
Weakness: Slow Movement Speed, Extremely Weak Internal Defenses
Innate Attribute: Rock Assimilation. Able to Traverse Freely Within Bodies of Rocks, Has a Pocket of Space of Within Its Body Usually Filled with Rocks, Shoots Them as Projectiles When Enraged to Overpower Its Enemies
Skill: Rock Bullet Gatling, Able to Spit All The Rocks Stored Within Its Body in One Go, Bringing a Strong and Sustained Destructive Force. Cooldown Time: 20 Minutes
Potential: D Rank
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Chapter 100: Chapter 100 – An Unexpected Kill
Translator: mianbao Editor: Aelryinth
Edited by RED
Four-star tier!
Gold-quality!
And able to shoot rock projectiles!
Zhang Che was stunned!
-The Purple Jade Condor was still a hundred meters up in the air, and there's only the unarmed frisky monkey by my side. How do I handle this?-
As for the Mutated Puffersword and Rotten Ent Prowler whip, even if his weapons were able to wound this Rock Tortoise head in front of him, they were definitely not enough to slay it instantly. If he provoked it, was there any way he could walk out of this alive?
The Rock Tortoise was obviously not the kind of exotic beast with a foul temper. Despite discovering Zhang Che, it remained in a daze, sizing up this unknown creature before it. Its gaze was one of curiosity, as well as observation.
Cold sweat seeped down Zhang Che's back. Only the heavens knew if this fellow would suddenly go on a rampage!
His stiff body shifted backwards slightly to better conceal himself, his eyes staring at the Rock Tortoise ahead. His brain was working at full capacity, yet he had no clue on how he should act.
The Purple Jade Condor would obviously not make it in time if Zhang Che ordered it to come save him. Not only that, if the Rock Tortoise sensed their hostility and shot a few rock projectiles at Zhang Che, he would turn into meat paste all the same.
Using the Rotten Ent Prowler whip to climb back down didn't seem feasible, either.
-Can someone teach me what I should do please? Waiting online, urgent!-
Cold sweat was starting to pour out from even his forehead. His heart was thumping, his legs felt a little weak, sensing the branch he was standing on swaying in the wind.
Suddenly, the Rock Tortoise in front opened its mouth wide.
-Oh shit! I didn't make any hostile moves, did I?- Zhang Che nearly freaked out. The Rotten Ent Prowler whip suddenly appeared in his hand, and he pointed it at the Rock Tortoise without a second thought, activating its extending ability and lengthening it to the limit.
This was purely a move made subconsciously under the threat of danger.
The Rock Tortoise was shocked, too. -I only saw a strange-looking creature and wanted to say hi. Why did he violate my mouth with a whip?-
As the Rotten Ent Prowler whip kept extending, it entered the Rock Tortoise's mouth and reached all the way to the depths of its intestines, the barbs raking up its internal organs.
Leaving aside its tortoise shell, even its skin was able to ignore an attack of this degree, not leaving a single scratch on its body.
However, it just so happened that the Rock Tortoise's internal defenses were extremely weak (Actually, which creature would have strong defenses on the inside?). Being raked up by the whip like this, its vitality faded greatly all of a sudden.
Moreover, the Rotten Ent Prowler whip also contained deadly poison. Now that it was applied on the Rock Tortoise's organs, it further aggravated its injuries.
Under such excruciating pain, the Rock Tortoise couldn't resist letting out a silent roar. It aimed at Zhang Che, who was standing on the opposite branch, and activated its Rock Bullet Gatling skill.
For a short period of time, countless soccer ball-sized rock bullets were fired from the Rock Tortoise's mouth like a machine gun, a powerful momentum behind them, and they slammed into the fruit tree. The trunk of the tree, which was as thick as an adult's thigh, was blown to smithereens, pieces of it flying in all directions.
Zhang Che, who was originally standing on that tree, realized that things were about to go downhill the moment he shot the whip into the Rock Tortoise's mouth. He immediately held onto the whip's handle tightly and jumped off the cliff, without forgetting to recall the frisky monkey back into his spiritual sea.
The Rock Tortoise's skill was activated just as he made his jump. Zhang Che felt a gust of wind blowing above him, followed by a wave of collision sounds. Bits and pieces of wood flew about, as well as leaves and branches. Many of them fell on his head and back, causing him to nearly cry out in pain.
After descending several meters, Zhang Che suddenly felt a tension in his hand, as if he was pulling half of the cliff down, and countless rocks came falling down behind him.
At the same time, Zhang Che also felt his grip loosen, and his figure suddenly plummeted at a faster speed.
"Oh crap, even if I don't fall to my death, I'll be buried alive!"
Zhang Che was on the verge of desperation. Even if he didn't fall to his death, or buried alive, the enraged Rock Tortoise would surely chase him down and turn him to powder.
That was a four-star gold-quality exotic beast; he was no match for it at all!
[You Killed a Rock Tortoise. Obtained 80 Points of Soul Force. Obtained Rock Tortoise Card.=
Zhang Che suddenly fell into a daze. -What situation is this? The Rock Tortoise is dead?
-Is there a mistake? A four-star gold-quality exotic beast could actually die so easily?-
Naturally, Zhang Che had no idea that his whip had torn the Rock Tortoise's innards into a bloody mess. The barb's deadly poison immediately spread throughout its organs. Under such circumstances, was there any way that the Rock Tortoise could survive?
He didn't have the time to consider all this. All he had in mind was that it didn't seem so bad if he fell to his death here. After all, he had managed to kill such a powerful exotic beast by himself. Was there any other low-tier beastmaster who had achieved such a feat?
Suddenly, a red figure leapt high up into the air and positioned itself under Zhang Che, catching his fall, then drew a perfect arc in the air, and landed back on the ground a few dozen meters out, continuing to run about a hundred meters, dissipating most of the force before coming to a stop.
"Hanxue is still the reliable one in times of crisis!" Zhang Che wept excitedly, hugging Hanxue's neck tightly, and celebrating being alive.
Without a doubt, during the most crucial moment, the Golden Elephorse King had activated his Lightning Charge skill and jumped into the air, catching the falling Zhang Che and saving him from an ending of becoming meat paste or being buried alive.
Zhang Che looked back apprehensively when Hanxue came to a stop. He saw that a huge area of the cliff was reduced to broken rocks and fell down, forming a huge rock pile under the cliff.
A golden beast card was slowly falling in the air, leaving Zhang Che's eyes shining brightly.
-I really solo killed a four-star gold-quality exotic beast!-
It was only now that Zhang Che remembered the notification that rang out in his mind earlier. He couldn't resist bursting into laughter, and had Hanxue run back there. He extended his hand out and scooped the falling card out of the air.
[Rock Tortoise]
Level: Four Star (Level 39)
Quality: Gold
Type: Original Combat Body
Characteristics: The Defensive Strength of Its Shell Far Outclasses That of Steel, Its Skin is as Tough as Boulders
Weakness: Slow Movement Speed, Extremely Weak Internal Defenses
Innate Attribute: Rock Assimilation. Able to Traverse Freely Within Bodies of Rocks, Has a Pocket of Space of Within Its Body Usually Filled with Rocks, Shoots Them as Projectiles When Enraged to Overpower Its Enemies
Skill: Rock Bullet Gatling, Able to Spit All The Rocks Stored Within Its Body in One Go, Bringing a Strong and Sustained Destructive Force. Cooldown Time: 20 Minutes
Potential: D Rank
Cultivating Directions: …
-What a pity, I have to wait until I'm Tier Four before I can use this one, as well. I wonder how big this Rock Tortoise is?- Zhang Che shook his head regrettably, his imagination running wild.
Just the head of this Rock Tortoise was a foot in diameter. Using that as a reference according to the usual body ratio, shouldn't its body be as big as a compact car?
The defensive strength of this fellow's shell was far better than steel. Even if it didn't possess much offensive capability, it was as good as a heavily armored tank, allowing it to charge forward without a thought among a group of exotic beasts.
"However, given that this fellow's defenses are so outstanding, why isn't it a defensive-type beast card?"
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Chapter 101: Chapter 101 – The Most Arduous Method of Advancement
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Zhang Che's question could only be solved when he advanced to Tier Four, after all.
Thinking about it, so be it if it was an Original Combat Body-type. This was still a gold-quality beast! Even if it was slow, it possessed outstanding defenses. Moreover, it could shoot rock projectiles, which could be counted as a long-distance attack.
As for the Rock Tortoise's skill, the Rock Bullet Gatling, its might didn't have to be mentioned; Zhang Che was nearly unfortunate enough to experience it firsthand. The tree trunk, as thick as his thigh, was reduced to countless bits and pieces in the blink of an eye. It went to show that the force contained in those projectiles was off the charts.
After his feeling of surprise faded, Zhang Che's gaze fell back onto the Rotten Ent Prowler whip, and his heart grew excited again.
He didn't think that this was actually how the whip should be used!
It seemed like no matter how strong an exotic beast was, their internal defenses would always be much more fragile. As long as he found the timing and opportunity and shot the whip into their mouths, there was a high chance of him directly killing them!
"But, this kind of opportunity should be extremely rare. It can't be that every exotic beast would stand in front of me obediently and open their mouths for me to violate with the whip, right?"
After calming down, Zhang Che felt that this was too risky. It wouldn't be that easy to chance upon such a great opportunity.
He collected himself and looked at the cliff.
-This time, there shouldn't be another Rock Tortoise hiding in the cliff, right?-
He made the Purple Jade Condor carefully scout the situation again, before climbing upwards once more. After switching back and forth between the remaining few trees left on the cliff, Zhang Che finally climbed to the top of this hundred-plus meter cliff, arriving at the waist of the mountain range.
The terrain here was much more level, compared to below.
In order to prepare for any unexpected dangers after entering the mountain range officially, Zhang Che summoned all of his subdued beasts. The frisky monkey was armed with the Falling Star Model X, as well. Only Hanxue was kept in his spiritual sea due to his lack of combat strength, and to keep himself from being distracted trying to keep him safe.
As things would have it, Zhang Che's decision was very much necessary.
Not long after he set off from the cliff, he encountered many poisonous insects that came crawling out of bushes or gaps between rocks. Although these beasts weren't strong, they were well concealed. If they didn't move, even the Purple Jade Condor couldn't detect them from the sky.
For the current Zhang Che, there wasn't any pressure for him to deal with these weak insects. The Purple Jade Condor could slice a beast in two with every dive.
Moreover, the frisky monkey was wielding the Falling Star Model X. He could make every shot of his count, be it severely injuring the beast or nailing them to the ground. None of them were able to get near Zhang Che.
After crossing two mountains, Zhang Che harvested several poison insects' beast cards. A pity, however, there weren't any identical cards among them, or he could have fused them into a higher level card using Fusion, and their prices would have doubled.
"It seems like it is no easy feat to rely purely on hunting exotic beasts by myself to level up Fusion…" Zhang Che couldn't help but sigh. Unless he came across some exotic beast species that gathered in groups, it was still too difficult a hurdle to obtain two identical beast cards.
He was considering whether he should check things out in larger cities, to see if he could buy beast cards of the same species and level.
After all, Qian Wei City was a little too small. First, it wasn't easy to buy identical beast cards, and second, it was too easy to attract the attention of others. It might prove problematic when it came time to sell the cards.
The levels of beast cards were common knowledge. If he brought out large amounts of beast cards that were one level higher than usual in one go, what did that imply?
It would be almost impossible for others to not notice it!
A large city was different, however. With a larger population, naturally there would be more beastmasters, and there would be more beast cards circulating in the market every day.
As long as he didn't make any obvious moves and acted cautiously, he shouldn't draw any attention from others. With that, he could level up the Fusion skill much faster.
"Though, what Teacher Han Sheqing said was right. The exotic beasts aren't the most dangerous creatures in this world, but humans. It's best that I advance to Tier Four before heading to those large cities. It should be something to consider only when I'm strong enough to protect myself."
Zhang Che wasn't that afraid of humans in the beast world, however. He could ride on the Purple Jade Condor and fly away if he was no match for others; could mid and low-tier beastmasters stop him?
In the real world, however, there were too many elements of danger.
Let alone other methods, all it would take was a sniper rifle bullet to claim his life.
Zhang Che grew distracted thinking about all this. He suddenly heard the frisky monkey crying out loud from the side. When he came back to himself, he realized that a colorful poisonous snake was pouncing towards him from the bush to the side.
Zhang Che was surprised. Just as he was about to defend himself with his whip, a cold streak flashed by his side. An arrow shot out and entered the snake's mouth, exiting its body from the middle of its body, before digging deeply into the soil.
The Gluttony Monkey was actually a very reliable companion during crucial times!
The poisonous snake died instantly after being penetrated by the arrow, fresh blood flowing out of its corpse.
"Zhizhi!" The frisky monkey shrugged at Zhang Che innocently, indicating that he didn't kill this snake on purpose, but he was too concerned with saving his master's life and forgot about Zhang Che's instructions in the heat of the moment.
Right, in order to obtain more beast cards, Zhang Che instructed the frisky monkey not to aim for the vitals to prevent killing them. Otherwise, only a corpse would be left behind.
What use did Zhang Che have for the corpse of a poison-type exotic beast?
As he was about to sigh, Zhang Che suddenly noticed the Fiery Scorpion rushing up and opened its mouth, biting on the snake's head and starting to eat it.
"Hmm? Don't subdued beasts have no need for food?"
Zhang Che found it strange. Supposedly, subdued beasts only needed to absorb some spiritual energy in his spiritual sea to sustain themselves. Did they actually need to eat?
Of course, devouring the rainbow crystal's energy didn't count. That was unique to Zhang Che alone.
While he wondered about this question, the Fiery Scorpion devoured the entire corpse of the snake, and waved its pincers in satisfaction afterwards.
-Could it be that subdued beasts could advance in level and quality by eating other beasts?- Zhang Che suddenly thought of this possibility. He immediately checked on the Fiery Scorpion's attributes and focused his gaze on 'Cultivating Directions'. As expected, more information was revealed afterwards.
-It really is like this!-
In the Cultivating Directions column, several methods for the subdued beast to advance suddenly appeared.
The best method was, of course, to have the subdued beast consume the natural treasures found in the beast world. The chances of advancing via this method were the greatest. It was like when the Purple Jade Condor consumed the Five-Colored Spiritual Flower and successfully advanced to dark gold-quality.
Next was gathering a few, or even dozens of complementary ingredients according to the attributes and characteristics of different subdued beasts, and concocting a beast card cultivating fluid from them, soaking the beast card in it to absorb the essence of the fluid, achieving the desired result of advancement.
The beast card cultivators on Mercury were doing exactly this.
The most arduous method was also the only method which beastmasters could attempt with their own abilities: devouring the corpse of an exotic beast of similar properties and absorbing the components that were useful to the subdued beast. There was a chance of advancing from that!
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Chapter 102: Chapter 102 – The Advanced Fiery Scorpion
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
-But why is it different from when I looked at the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly's Cultivating Directions back then?- Zhang Che grew even more confused. He used his 'data eyes' and looked at the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly by his side again. He discovered that it was the same as the first time he saw it; there was only one item under the 'Cultivating Directions' column, which required a series of weird-sounding herbs.
Zhang Che finally understood. It was likely that subdued beasts of different species had different methods to advance.
Thus, he looked at the attributes of his other subdued beasts. As expected, he discovered slight differences in each of them.
However, there was a similarity between all of his subdued beasts' Cultivating Directions, and that was an advancement could be achieved via using different herbs to concoct a cultivating fluid and soaking the beast card in it.
So it seemed that beast card cultivators were onto the most reliable method. The decades worth of research were not in vain.
Natural treasures or whatnot were all up to chance. Most people would never come across a single one in their lives. Although the chances of this happening wasn't as exaggerated as striking the lottery, it shouldn't be far from it. Therefore, wanting to rely on such a method to strengthen their subdued beasts in the long run was not recommended.
As for letting their subdued beast consume the corpses of other similar beasts, that had many problems as well.
First, this method was not suitable for every subdued beast. No one could be sure of whether their subdued beast could advance via this method. Second, the exotic beast corpses could only be obtained on Mercury, and you might not find a suitable one. Finally, this was the most arduous method, and most subdued beasts that relied on such a method to advance themselves only managed to raise their levels, it was really difficult to raise their quality.
In conclusion, it wasn't strange that no one held any importance to using such a method to advance their beasts.
"Though, I really want to try and see how many poison-type corpses the Fiery Scorpion needs to consume before advancing to two-star rank."
Since Zhang Che had his 'data eyes', and that the frisky monkey could obtain corpses in the beast world, this wasn't a problem at all.
Moreover, the most troubling problem he had to deal with right now was that his subdued beasts' levels wouldn't increase, which limited the strengths of his beasts to a large degree.
As for their quality?
Oh ho ho, this was the grave problem most people had to face, which happened to be a problem not on Zhang Che's plate.
With the godly item that was the rainbow crystal, Zhang Che could raise all of his beasts to the limits of their potential. All he needed was time.
Now, with the chance to prove whether he could make up for his beasts' shortcomings, why wouldn't Zhang Che give it a try?
As for the matter about beast cards, it wasn't important for now. He wasn't lacking in funds, anyway. When he advanced to a Tier Four beastmaster and could employ the Scarlet Flame Drake, there would be tons of exotic beasts waiting for him to kill them.
The most important point was that Zhang Che could obtain soul force points even if the frisky monkey was the one who killed the exotic beasts. It wouldn't hinder his journey to advancing his beastmaster Tier, so why not?
The best part about this was that despite the small amount of exotic beasts in the outskirts of this mountain range, it was filled with poison-type beasts. Wasn't that right up the alley of the Fiery Scorpion?
If there was anything that made Zhang Che felt dissatisfied with, it would be that he brought too few arrows on this trip to the beast world. There were only a hundred and twenty M-type armor-piercing arrows, and even though he retrieved some of the used arrows, there were barely a hundred of them left.
"But, with this many arrows, it should be enough to hunt until the Fiery Scorpion levels up."
What came afterwards was the Gluttony Monkey's show time.
The defensive strength of poison-type exotic beasts weren't high. Even insects which had carapaces, like scorpions or centipedes, weren't without weaknesses. The frisky monkey's arrows could penetrate areas that weren't covered by the carapaces.
Just like that, with a spider here, a centipede there, the number of insects shot to death by the frisky monkey soon hit double digits. The Fiery Scorpion kept waving its large pincers in joy, stuffing itself.
There wasn't any hint of joy on Zhang Che's face, however.
The Fiery Scorpion ate over a dozen poisonous insects' corpse or poison glands, and yet there was still no signs of it advancing. He realized that this method of advancement was indeed the most arduous one.
The Fiery Scorpion was the subdued beast that had been by Zhang Che's side since the beginning. It was originally at level nine and had risen to level ten some time ago. All it needed right now was an opportunity at breakthrough, and yet it still proved to be so difficult. It really left one in despair.
After killing so many poison-type beasts, even if the drop rate was only twenty percent, Zhang Che would have gotten at least two beast cards. Although their quality was inferior to the Fiery Scorpion's, their level was at least one star tier higher. The prices of their beast cards would be comparable to the Fiery Scorpion's.
Simply put, the investment and its returns were totally off.
No, there wasn't any freaking returns to speak of at all, for now at least!
If it wasn't for the fact that the Fiery Scorpion held some meaning for Zhang Che, he wouldn't have bothered spending any time on it right now. This beast's strength was no longer keeping up with his development. It would be sidelined, even if he didn't sell it.
– Forget it. If this fellow still doesn't advance after eating a couple more exotic beasts, I can only take the loss and move on ,- Zhang Che thought, shaking his head in defeat.
In any case, when he appeared in his real identity, he definitely couldn't let others know that he was already a Tier Three beastmaster. The Fiery Scorpion could still come in useful as his disguise. It wouldn't be as bad as being banished into the Cold Palace.
Sometimes, things happen in such a way that they occur when you were about to give up, catching you by surprise.
The Gluttony Monkey shot another arrow, killing a strange worm with poisonous fur. The Fiery Scorpion rushed forward and ate that disgusting worm. Afterwards, its body suddenly froze on the spot.
"Is it happening!?" Zhang Che's eyes lit up, staring at the stiffened Fiery Scorpion. He saw a faint hue of light being emitted by it, and a wave of crisp crackling sounds coming from the beast's body.
Zhang Che suddenly noticed fissure patterns appearing on the Fiery Scorpion's scarlet carapace through that layer of faint light, expanding quickly.
The light quickly faded from the cracked carapace, and it fell off like broken pottery.
After shedding its old shell, the Fiery Scorpion seemed to become slightly smaller in size. Its new shell initially had a slight milky-white color, but was quickly dyed red, looking even more radiant than before.
[Fiery Scorpion]
Level: Two Star (Level 11)
Quality: Silver
Type: Original Combat Body
Characteristics: Poison Attribute Attacks, Strong Defense
Weakness: Vulnerable to Ice Elemental Attacks
Innate Attribute: Enhanced Fire Attribute Toxin, Able to Destroy Enemy's Physical Body Faster
Potential: D Rank
Cultivating Directions: …
Translator's Note:
1 – Cold Palace refers to the place during the ancient Chinese period where members of the Chinese Emperor's harem who fell out of favor were sent to live in.
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Chapter 103: Chapter 103 – It Ex… ploded…
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Level: Two Star (Level 11)…
Looking at the Fiery Scorpion's new attribute, Zhang Che finally revealed a bright smile on his face.
It really advanced to two-star tier! Despite it being only level 11, and its strength wasn't very different from the peak of one-star, this was a whole new beginning.
That was because, while hunting exotic beasts, subdued beasts could obtain a certain amount of soul force points alongside their beastmaster, and slowly increase their level within a star tier.
This meant that as long as the Fiery Scorpion was given time, it could successfully grow to level twenty, the peak of two-star.
When that time came, the Fiery Scorpion would be twice as strong as it was now!
However, it was unlikely for this fellow to break through to three-star tier by devouring the corpses or poison glands of other poisonous beasts.
After all, this method of advancement was the most arduous one. It should only be a one-time occurence.
Even so, Zhang Che was totally content with this.
According to the Fiery Scorpion's potential, it could advance to dark gold-quality. As long as its skill was a little better than average, and it was fortunate enough to obtain a Halo, a two-star dark gold-quality beast was sufficient to steamroll over a five-star bronze-quality exotic beast.
Even some weaker-than-average five-star silver-quality beasts might not be a match for a two-star dark gold-quality beast.
This also meant that, no matter if Zhang Che was in his real identity or his disguise, he could employ the Fiery Scorpion in the long-term, until his other subdued beasts were stronger than that!
——
It was getting late by the time the Fiery Scorpion successfully advanced.
Zhang Che looked for a safe area, and had his subdued beasts stand guard in all four directions, before taking out dry rations and water from his backpack and started his lunch.
He could obviously not have another barbecue session in this place. Otherwise, he would truly be looking for death by attracting the powerful beasts from all directions.
"Ai, I'm still not strong enough! I could have a barbecue session anywhere I wanted, otherwise! It's really getting hard to swallow these condensed biscuits…"
Chewing on the dry and tough condensed biscuits, Zhang Che's face was as bitter as a gourd. After tasting the delicious barbecued exotic beast, eating these rations really felt like he was suffering hardship.
Even so, he needed absolute power to barbecue meat without any consideration for where he was in the beast world, and that was something not achievable within the near future. It was an important goal, to be achieved in the long term…
——
Meanwhile, Huang Tielan was also thinking that wanting to become a official beast card cultivator wasn't something she could achieve any time soon. However, since she had to pass the Bei Du University's enrollment test for the beast card cultivator major later this year, she had to make good use of every second available to her.
Although it was said that under the support of her family's resources, all she needed was to persevere and it would be no problem for her to become a junior beast card cultivator, but…
Ten thousand years is too long; one should make the best use of their time!
Of course, there was no way Huang Tielan would know about this quote from her Chinese ancestors from Earth. Nonetheless, it didn't stop her from understanding the principle.
Considering the enrolment method for the upcoming batch of students for Bei Du University's beast card cultivator major, if you couldn't pass the practical portion, it was useless no matter how well you memorized the knowledge on the subject.
Therefore, after reviewing for the past two days, Huang Tielan felt that she shouldn't bury herself in books any longer, and should do some hands-on practical work instead.
Thus, she went to look for her father, Huang Juyun, this afternoon, the second-in-charge of Qian Wei City's military, and came to the military's operating base.
Since she was only practicing, Huang Tielan chose to work on an ordinary one-star black iron-quality card, the Sharp-Clawed Hound.
These were the same trash beasts used by Qian Wei City Number Two Secondary School to let their students undergo their beastmaster aptitude test.
This kind of exotic beast gathered in large groups in a certain area behind the spatial gateway in the suburbs of Qian Wei City. They were as abundant as fishes in the sea, and were one of the most common species of exotic beasts in Qian Wei City.
The local beastmasters had the deepest understanding of this exotic beast. In a nutshell, they had several recipes for concocting the cultivating fluid that were more well-developed, with a very high chance of allowing the Sharp Clawed Hound to increase a tier in level.
As for raising the Sharp Clawed Hound's quality?
It was non-existent. Everyone knew that this exotic beast was trash. Being able to raise a tier in level was the limit; how was it possible to increase its quality?
——
It wasn't Huang Tielan's first time in Qian Wei City's military zone. However, this was the first time she was entering the research base.
Although none of the personnel in the research base had seen Huang Tielan before, everyone knew that General Huang Juyun had a princess chubby. Moreover, someone already gave them a heads-up. Therefore, they were all showing friendly smiles on their faces when Huang Tielan showed up.
Although it was impossible to gain favor with General Huang by pleasing his little princess, as long as they weren't sick in the head, no one would be dumb enough to greet this princess chubby with a stern face, would they?
General Huang Juyun might not give you any problem for that, but it was hard to guarantee that your fellow colleagues wouldn't do anything to you in the dark!
Even so, Huang Tielan didn't care if these people were being sincere or otherwise. She came to a lab in the research base under the guidance of a manager, and focused on concocting the cultivating fluid.
Despite using the cheapest recipe available, since these ingredients could only be gathered in the beast worlds, even the ingredients used to concoct the cultivating fluid for a trash beast like the Sharp Clawed Hound was not cheap, costing nearly five thousand dollars, more than the price of the beast itself.
Huang Tielan didn't dare to be careless at all, strictly following every step of the instructions to concoct the fluid, with all her senses focused. She didn't even dare blink her eyes.
However, about a quarter hour after she entered the lab, the people outside suddenly heard an explosion in the lab, followed by the sharp cries of Huang Tielan.
Everyone was shocked; why would there be a freaking explosion?
This was bad. If anything happened to this little princess, every one of them would be in for trouble!
Everyone ran into the lab one after another, and saw a desolate scene. The lab tools were blown to pieces, glass shards were everywhere. A strange-colored, unfinished cultivating fluid was splashed onto the lab's walls, tables, and chairs.
"Oh crap, that little princess wouldn't be disfigured from the explosion, would she?"
Everyone felt a chill, and their hearts tightened.
Although given the medical standards nowadays, any kind of disfigurement could be treated, no one would want to suffer such an accident. None of them would live in peace if General Huang investigated this matter and punished them!
Everyone started searching around, and to their surprises, saw Huang Tielan standing up from behind a sturdy lab table, her face a mask of confusion. She asked the few beast card cultivators within the group of people, "That, er, why didn't anyone told me that explosions might occur during the concocting of cultivating fluid!?"
Translator's Note:
1 – A quote from Chairman Mao Zedong, (一万年太久,只争朝夕). Ten thousand years emphasizes the spirit of perseverance, but one should also have a sense of urgency and make the best use of their time.
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Chapter 104: Chapter 104 – Another Breakthrough
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Evening came again.
A group of men, all of them riding Elephorses, were riding urgently to the west of the beast world.
The man in the frontmost was Zhang Yujie, Zhang-shao of the Ding Feng Corporation.
At this moment, a trace of shock still remained on his face, and at the same time, a hint of joy could be seen.
Over the past few days, he had been paying attention to the matter between the Tian Yin Squad and the mysterious Sun Che, and he sent out a few groups of men to nose around in the beast world. Finally, he had received some actual news on the matter today.
However, the information his subordinates reported back to him left Zhang Yujie in disbelief, leading to him personally making this trip out.
The group of about a dozen men were silent on their journey, their heads lowered as they rode out on their respective Elephorses, leaving the safety zone speedily.
The beastmasters they came across quickly got out of the way before making guesses on their own. -Could it be that the Ding Feng Corporation discovered some high quality beasts again? Otherwise, why would Zhang-dashao be personally making a move?-
After journeying for over half an hour, a broad hilly area gradually entered their sights.
Zhang Yujie asked loudly, "The Tian Yin Squad members were found dead here?"
As the Elephorses were galloping at high speed, it would be hard to hear each other if they didn't speak loudly.
A Tier Four beastmaster who was following closely behind him replied just as loudly, "Yes, Zhang-shao, but I didn't discover their corpses. I reckon they must have been eaten by the exotic beasts in the area. Only a few pieces of clothing were left on the scene, and the crossbow machines I mentioned to you previously."
A hint of bright light shone in Zhang Yujie's eyes. He asked, "Were the crossbow machines hidden properly?"
The Tier Four beastmaster nodded and answered, "Rest assured, Zhang-shao, no one will be able to find them except me!"
Soon, the Tier Four beastmaster guided them to the location where the Purple Jade Condor had massacred the Tian Yin Squad.
Looking at the still-desolate scene, and a huge rock larger than a compact car sliced into two, every beastmaster present, including Zhang Yujie, revealed looks of astonishment.
-Exactly how powerful is this mysterious Sun Che!?-
Zhang Yujie was very glad that he hadn't provoked Sun Che. The Tian Yin Squad was a very good example for those who did!
Very quickly, under the lead of the Tier Four beastmaster, Zhang Yujie and the others found the six hidden Herculean Crossbows. The group couldn't resist sucking in a breath of cold air when they saw these killing machines.
"As expected of the killing machines developed by the Shooting Sun Research Institute with their utmost efforts. I'm afraid even my subdued beast is unable to take on a bolt shot out by this thing!"
Zhang Yujie caressed one of the Herculean Crossbow, his excited eyes narrowing to slits.
With these Herculean Crossbows as research material, perhaps the Ding Feng Corporation could expand their business into crossbow machine manufacturing?
Although imitations could never replicate the full might of the Herculean Crossbow, they didn't have to worry about sales figures if their product were even half as effective. How much money might they earn then?
More importantly, if his people could successfully replicate the Herculean Crossbow, his position in his father's heart would be stabilized. Those two useless brothers of his would have no hope of threatening his position!
Thinking up to this point, Zhang Yujie actually felt grateful to the mysterious Sun Che.
"What a pity. I was actually not around when he came to Ding Feng Corporation to sell off beast cards the last time. Otherwise, I could network with him; he is a huge, valuable ally to have."
Under Zhang Yujie's instructions, the dozen or so men quickly disassembled the six Herculean Crossbows. Each of them were handed a fraction of the parts and quickly made their way back to the safety zone. It was getting late; remaining in the depths of the beast world was too dangerous!
Zhang Yujie didn't find it strange that Sun Che didn't take these Herculean Crossbows away.
With the might Sun Che had displayed, perhaps these machines didn't even catch his interest at all. Moreover, a Herculean Crossbow weighed over a hundred kilograms. Who would be willing to drag these things along when working solo?
——
Unbeknownst to Zhang Yujie, Zhang Che had actually been very interested in these crossbow machines. However, he discovered that these machines were too heavy, and he wouldn't be able to operate a machine by himself. As such, he decided to leave them alone.
Moreover, the Falling Star Model X which the frisky monkey was using was comparable to the Herculean Crossbow in power.
In addition, not only did he get rid of the threat that was the Tian Yin Squad in this battle, he had also gained a three-star dark gold-quality beast card. The value of such an unusable deadweight dropped immensely in his eyes, and in the end, he couldn't even be bothered to destroy them.
He considered whoever discovered these Herculean Crossbows lucky.
———
Four days had passed in the blink of an eye since entering the mountain range.
Zhang Che naturally had no idea that his other identity, Sun Che, had become an unfathomable, mysterious expert in Zhang Yujie's heart. At this moment, he was ordering the Gluttony Monkey to set up his tent under a cliff.
Night was approaching; naturally he could no longer go hunting for exotic beasts.
Considering that there were still powerful beasts hiding within this mountain range, he was very particular about where he set up his camp for the night.
The terrain around the foot of the cliff was very steep. With the Purple Jade Condor and the Gluttony Monkey armed with Falling Star Model X guarding him, it would truly be a high hurdle to overcome to get to Zhang Che, unless it was a powerful beast whose strength far exceeded theirs.
After a whole day of exploring, Zhang Che was tired to the bone, and fell asleep very quickly.
—
Unbeknownst to him, not long after he entered the land of dreams, something happened in his spiritual sea again.
When he woke up the next morning, he discovered, to his surprise, that the bronze-quality Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly had become silver-quality.
"Did it advance in quality while I was asleep?"
Indeed, if he calculated the time, about half a month had passed since the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly's last breakthrough. The time required for advancing from bronze to silver-quality was about that much, too.
Zhang Che blinked a few times in quick succession. This was truly a huge surprise.
The power of the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly's powder were getting less and less effective when faced off against three-star bronze-quality exotic beasts and above, and was gradually losing its value.
Now that it had advanced to silver-quality, its strength had probably increased by a large margin. He didn't dare to conclude whether it would be effective against three-star silver-quality beasts and above, but the powder would definitely be able to put down three-star bronze-quality beasts!
Zhang Che raised his hand up, his palm open. The Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly card appeared in said palm, and the updated data on this card appeared before him.
[Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly]
Level: Two Star (Level 20)
Quality: Silver
Type: Original Combat Body
Characteristics: Able to Disperse Hallucination Powder, Causing Those Affected to Become Mentally Confused
Weakness: Fire Elemental Attacks
Potential: B Rank
Cultivating Directions: …
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Chapter 105: Chapter 105 – Powerful Figure Ahead
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
After looking at the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly's new attributes, Zhang Che's lips curled up slightly into a faint smile.
It stated In its characteristics that its powder could now confuse those affected, indicating a qualitative upgrade from before.
As for its weakness, it changed from being vulnerable to fire-attribute attacks to being vulnerable to fire elemental attacks. This meant that unless it was an elemental attack from a fire-attributed beast, ordinary flames could barely hurt the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly.
It was regrettable, however, that this fellow actually didn't awaken an innate attribute after advancing to silver-quality. Otherwise, its strength would be even greater!
Although it was a pity, Zhang Che was satisfied with what he got. According to the potential of the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly, this fellow could rise to dark gold quality in the end.
Also, Zhang Che had two four-star black iron-quality Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly cards in his possession. When the Fusion skill rose to level three and his beastmaster tier rose to Tier Five, he could immediately start raising the five-star butterfly.
Mmm, a five-star dark gold-quality subdued beast, born with a crowd control attack. It would surely be extremely useful! Zhang Che couldn't help but envision the future.
"Zhizhi!"
Just as Zhang Che was imagining things in the tent while lying down, the Gluttony Monkey suddenly cried out, warning him of a relatively strong exotic beast breaching the perimeter.
Zhang Che hurriedly crawled out of the tent and looked at the sky. A huge flying beast, resembling a golden pheasant with a wingspan over ten meters wide, its body adorned with tri-colored feathers, was circling in the sky, tangling with the Purple Jade Condor.
Although they were too far apart and Zhang Che was unable to see the attributes of this exotic beast, judging from the Purple Jade Condor's wariness, the level and quality of this beast was certainly not low.
The Gluttony Monkey was holding the Falling Star Model X nervously, a M-type armor-piercing arrow nocked to the bow, ready to fire at any moment.
"Gugu, gugu!"
After circling a few rounds, the golden pheasant-like beast suddenly made a few strange cries at the Purple Jade Condor. It beat its wings violently and flew back to the mountain range.
This fellow probably realized that it wasn't strong enough to defeat the Purple Jade Condor, and gave up at the crucial moment, leaving the area on its own.
"What a pity. Why didn't you man up? I might have gotten another flying-type beast card!" Zhang Che shook his head in regret. He retrieved a water bag and poured himself some water, freshening up.
——
After a simple breakfast, Zhang Che looked deeper into the mountain range. He gathered his beasts and set off slowly.
Zhang Che had covered around a hundred kilometers of ground in the past few days, moving along the edge of the mountain range. He had killed close to a hundred exotic beasts, and obtained around thirty beast cards.
It was probably due to being at the outskirts of the mountain range, but Zhang Che didn't get any beast cards that were four-stars or higher. It wasn't worth mentioning their quality, either. Only three of them were silver quality, while the rest were either bronze, or even black iron quality.
Even so, the total value of these beast cards was enough to shock others.
"A three-star gold-quality card is estimated to be worth a few million dollars. What about mid-tier, or even high-tier cards of high quality? It should be worth hundreds of million, billions, tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions, right?"
Zhang Che was doubtful of this. Would transactions between high-tier beastmasters still be conducted with Alliance dollars as the currency?
After all, money would have lost all meaning to those experts. Who would be willing to sell their hard-earned high-tier beast cards, just like that?
Perhaps, their transactions would be based on barter?
Even so, barter trade would be very troublesome. There would be no value to base their value on, and differences in views between people would occur very easily. You might think your object was worth more, but I might also be of the opinion that my object was worth more. There would be too much argument about it.
"I'm really thinking too much. These things will make themselves clear in the future. Why am I thinking so much about it now?" Zhang Che shook his head in self-mockery. It was hard for him to even figure out the value of a four-star gold-quality beast, and yet he was thinking about the value of high-tier beast cards. He must have had nothing better to do!
It was unlikely that he'd find better loot at the edge of the mountain range. Zhang Che wanted to enter deeper into the mountains to take a look, but he wouldn't be so reckless as to rush in mindlessly. That was no different than looking for death.
Therefore, he decided to climb up a mountain at the outskirts of the mountain range to get a better look at the terrain further in, and let the Purple Jade Condor scout ahead before deciding whether to enter.
If it was too dangerous ahead, naturally Zhang Che wouldn't risk his life needlessly.
After making some comparisons, Zhang Che decided on the relatively taller mountain to his left.
The Purple Jade Condor soared to the skies, and quickly circled around the mountain he set his eyes on. After making sure that there weren't any powerful beasts on it, Zhang Che climbed up the mountain with his beasts.
When he reached the summit, his range of vision suddenly grew much wider.
There were countless mountains in the distance, half hidden in the clouds, extending into the distance as far as he could see.
Then he looked backwards. The hilly area where the Purple Jade Condor wiped out the Tian Yin Squad was fully visible to him.
"As the ancestors said, 'Climbing to a high position broadens one's perspective'. They truly weren't wrong!"
After taking in the majestic view before him, the Purple Jade Condor beat its wings and flew further into the mountain range under Zhang Che's orders.
However, before the Purple Jade Condor flew half a kilometer away, it suddenly changed direction and flew back to Zhang Che at a low altitude, its body nearly touching the ground.
What happened?
Zhang Che blinked a few times in confusion, before his complexion suddenly changed greatly.
-To be able to terrify the Purple Jade Condor into turning tail immediately, exactly what powerful beast appeared ahead?-
Just as Zhang Che concealed himself reflexively and ordered the Purple Jade Condor to fly in another direction to prevent drawing the powerful beast to himself, he saw a huge, flood dragon-like figure flying within the clouds about a kilometer away.
"What the heck, it's actually a flood dragon-like exotic beast! How frighteningly high level or quality of a beast must it be?"
Despite the thousand-meter gap between them, Zhang Che still felt a heavy pressure from that exotic beast weighing on him. Well, that was nonsense. It was only the natural fear born from facing a powerful creature as a weak, puny being.
The flood dragon-like beast seemed to be heading somewhere urgently, and didn't notice Zhang Che. Its body was shrouded by a layer of blurry clouds, and it flew deeper into the mountain range, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Che released his fear with a long sigh. Just as he was about to stand up from his hiding spot, he suddenly noticed from his peripheral vision that another golden figure had appeared among the clouds, chasing in the flood dragon-like beast's direction.
It was an enormous bird, its feather shiny golden, and its wingspan definitely exceeding a hundred meters. Golden snakes of lightning were flashing around its feathers, exuding a divine might!
It seemed to have sensed Zhang Che's gaze on it despite the distance between them. The divine bird suddenly turned its head and glanced towards him.
Zhang Che's entire body froze, his legs gave way and fell to the ground.
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Chapter 106: Chapter 106 – The Divine Bird Returns
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
That glance from the golden bird made Zhang Che feel as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss. Even his heart had stopped for a brief moment.
What kind of might was that? Zhang Che had no words for it.
He only knew that the golden bird didn't even need to make a move to kill him. Just that spiritual pressure alone was sufficient to snuff out his soul.
When Zhang Che came back to himself, he found he was soaked in cold sweat. A series of questions bubbled to the surface of his mind. -What level and quality of a beast is that? Why would it appear so close to the safety zone?-
Looking backwards, he realized that his beasts were all lying on the ground, trembling. Obviously they had yet to recover from the scare.
On the other hand, the Purple Jade Condor was holding up well. It wasn't frightened into prostrating, and could even keep flying. As expected of a dark gold-quality beast!
Considering that, Zhang Che hurriedly gave an order to the Purple Jade Condor, telling it to return here. They would make their way back together, no longer heading further into the mountain range. Who knew how dangerous it would be in there?
A wave of rustling, struggling sounds rang out not far away from Zhang Che. He turned to look, and well, it turned out that the Purple Jade Condor had fallen into a cluster of trees. After receiving his command, it tried hard to start flying from among the branches.
It was all a consequence of how much pressure the golden divine bird was emanating.
Zhang Che couldn't help but feel sorry for that flood dragon-like exotic beast, being hunted like prey by that bird. It would most likely meet its end here; the chances of it surviving wouldn't even reach ten percent.
After gathering all of his subdued beasts, Zhang Che quickly retreated to the outskirts of the mountain range along the path he used coming in. He kept thinking back about that golden bird's figure, fantasizing about owning such a beast in the future. Would there be anywhere he couldn't go then?
Suddenly, Zhang Che came to an abrupt stop, a hint of shock flashed across his face.
He remembered the thunderstorm he experienced some time ago.
Could that flying beast bathing in the thunderstorm that night be this golden divine bird he had just seen? Weren't the golden lightning snakes flashing around its body proof of that?
Zhang Che felt this was more likely the more he thought about it, and his yearning for such an unimaginably powerful flying beast grew even stronger.
-Mmm, I'll own such a beast one day!- Zhang Che cheered himself on inwardly.
~~~~~~
"It's been almost five days. Why isn't there any news from Zhang Che's side?"
Han Sheqing sat in his office, his brow slightly furrowed.
All university registration for beastmaster-focused majors would be cut-off tomorrow. If Zhang Che didn't come back in time to register himself, he would be missing his chance to study at a university.
After thinking for a short while, Han Sheqing opened up his personal terminal and sent a voice call request to a certain number.
Soon, the voice call went through. Sun Lan's slightly fatigued voice rang, "Hello? Is it Teacher Han? May I ask what's the matter?"
"Yes, it's me. Sorry for interrupting you, Madam Sun Lan. May I ask if Zhang Che has returned home in the past few days?"
Sun Lan's heart immediately tightened. She hurriedly replied, "No, Teacher Han. Did something happen to Xiaoche?"
"No, no, it's like this…" Han Sheqing realized that Sun Lan had misunderstood and explained the situation to her. Then, he said, "You see, tomorrow is the last day for registration. If Zhang Che returns soon, please inform him to come to school and register himself. It would be a pity to miss this opportunity."
After a short pause, Han Sheqing suddenly thought of whether Zhang Che had advanced to a Tier Two beastmaster. He hurriedly asked, "Oh, right, Madam Sun Lan, has Zhang Che advanced to a Tier Two beastmaster yet?"
It was Sun Lan's turn to pause for a moment, before answering hesitantly, "I think so. I'm not sure, either. He seemed to have mentioned it when he came back the last time, but I didn't pay attention to it. Don't worry, I'll tell Xiaoche to make a trip to the school if he comes back."
"Alright then. Sorry to disturb you, Madam Sun Lan."
"No, no, no. We've troubled Teacher Han instead."
——
Zhang Che had no idea that Teacher Han was getting all anxious for his matters. Even his mother, Sun Lan, was worrying for his safety.
At this moment, he had just came back to the safety zone alone and crossed the spatial gateway silently. Afterwards, he headed towards the trading hub next to the military camp.
This trip to the beast world had yielded him a few dozen beast cards. Naturally he wouldn't bring them all back. It was the most practical to sell them for money.
Not long after he started making his way over, an unfamiliar man came up to him respectfully, and asked politely, "May I ask if you're Mr. Sun Che?"
"I am. What's the matter?" Zhang Che was confused. Was his identity exposed? Why did someone identify him right as he returned from the beast world?
Or perhaps, there were still remnants of the Tian Yin Squad?
There shouldn't be. Zhang Che remembered clearly that the Purple Jade Condor had killed them. The only one who survived the encounter was shot through the heart by the frisky monkey, and couldn't be any more dead.
-Perhaps, this person is…-
"I'm from the Ding Feng Corporation. Mr Sun must have reaped a great harvest on your return. I wonder if you're willing to sell the beast cards to our corporation? Don't worry. Zhao-shao had left word that Mr Sun is a VIP of our Ding Feng Corporation. We'll surely offer you a price you're satisfied with."
-I knew it. Who else other than Zhang Yujie's men could recognize my transformation?-
Zhang Che nodded. He didn't reject him and followed this man to the Ding Feng Corporation's mall. Who would not like earning a little more money?
As for whether Zhang Yujie was planning to make acquaintances with him… Zhang Che couldn't be happier about it! It would be very convenient for him in the future if he could establish a good relationship with the heir of Ding Feng Corporation.
Zhang Che's guess was on the mark. When he reached the Ding Feng Corporation's mall and was discussing prices with the staff responsible for purchasing beast cards, Zhang Yujie arrived very "coincidentally", and the two hit it off right away. One of them wanted to make friends with a mysterious powerful beastmaster, while the other wanted to have a stable and reliable place to sell his goods. The two very quickly made good "friends" with each other.
——
After waving goodbye to Zhang Yujie, whose face was filled with unwillingness, Zhang Che rented a car and rushed back to Qian Wei City.
The balance in his purple crystal card finally exceeded ten million dollars again after this trade concluded. Zhang Che was smiling as brightly as a newly bloomed flower.
After he returned to Qian Wei City, Zhang Che reemployed the method he used to shake the Tian Yin Squad off his trail and transformed back to his original identity. Afterwards, he opened up his personal terminal as he looked to flag down a taxi to go home.
"I've been out for so long this time. How worried must mom be… Eh? Why did Teacher Han Sheqing leave me a voice message?"
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Chapter 107: Chapter 107 – Registration, First Light
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Zhang Che found it really strange that his homeroom teacher had left a voice message for him.
He had already deferred his studies, and had no plans of continuing anymore. Why would he be looking for him?
-Let's see what matter is it, then.-
"… Zhang Che, I would still recommend that you attend university. It's too hard to look for a healing-type beast by yourself. It's better to broaden your network and knowledge. Perhaps you might find someone with a healing-type beast in some city or school?"
Zhang Che was stunned after hearing Han Sheqing's voice message, and felt deeply touched afterwards.
-Mmm. Teacher Han is right. Only God knows when I'll find a healing-type beast if I'm doing it by myself. It's better to enroll in a university that focuses on nurturing beastmasters and broaden my network. I can try other methods, even if I can't find a healing-type beast.-
Zhang Che had no worries about whether he could pass the beastmaster's practical test.
Just his two-star beasts, the Fiery Scorpion, Wind Shadow Wolf, and Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly, were all silver quality beasts, each with their own specialties, not to mention the golden-quality weapon, the Mutated Puffersword.
If he couldn't pass the test with such strength, there wouldn't be many other students who could.
After making up his mind, Zhang Che immediately sent a reply to his homeroom teacher, stating that he would go register himself at school in the afternoon. Afterwards, he opened the messages sent by his mother and Huang Tielan.
All of them were, without exception, talking about this matter.
He sent replies to them, informing them of his safe return and flagged down a taxi, heading home.
——
When he got home, Sun Lan had prepared a bowl of noodles for him.
"Xiaoche, did Teacher Han tell you the matter about the entrance exams?"
While he helped himself to the noodles, he answered, "He did. I'll go to school to register myself in a while, mom."
"Mmm, that's good, then." Sun Lan sat opposite of Zhang Che, watching him eat. A blissful smile showed on her face. She suddenly said, "Xiaoche, stay at home for some time after you're done registering for enrollment and prepare for the exam. Don't go to the beast world, okay?"
Zhang Che was stunned. His hands stopped moving, and he looked up at Sun Lan. He realized that her complexion seemed to be a little worse than before, and her gaze towards him carried traces of worry.
Zhang Che felt his eyes turning sour, nearly tearing. He said seriously, "Don't worry, mom, I won't be in danger. You don't know this, do you? I'm close to being a Tier Three beastmaster now, and even own a few silver-quality beasts. As long as I don't explore too far away from the safety zone, the beasts in those areas can't hurt me at all."
Sun Lan paused for a moment, before nodding, "Really? That's good, then. Actually, Xiaoche, you don't have to work so hard. It's fine even if my illness isn't cured. Mom is content as long as you're safe-"
Zhang Che directly interrupted her speech, saying resolutely, "Don't think so much, mom. I'll surely find a way to cure you. You have to believe in your son!"
Seeing Zhang Che acting so firmly, Sun Lan stopped saying anything about giving up on treatment. She only prayed in her heart, asking for the gods to bless her son, keeping him safe from any danger.
After finishing his noodles, Zhang Che said his goodbye to his mother and took a transport to his school.
Although the cut-off date for registration was tomorrow, he didn't want to drag it out. Why must he delay something to tomorrow if he could do it today?
——
Qian Wei City military camp's research base, in a certain beast card cultivation lab…
Huang Tielan was following the instructions meticulously, not daring to blink her eyes.
She was holding all kinds of herb essences, following the steps listed on the instruction manual, adding them to the petri dish. At the same time, she was devoting a lot of her attention to the mix. If there were any strange signs, she would immediately hide behind the lab table.
Although there weren't any more explosions while concocting the cultivating fluid in the past few days, she didn't dare to be careless at all.
She had concocted over twenty portions of cultivating fluids for the Sharp-Clawed Hound over the past few days, but none of them were a success. This disappointed her a little, but she didn't give up just because of that.
After adding the last herb essence into the petri dish, Huang Tielan's heart immediately grew nervous. She had failed at this juncture many times before, and didn't want to experience that same failure endlessly.
Next, she paid attention to the temperature, observing the changes in the color of the cultivating fluid. A rare, stern look appeared on her face. As the cultivating fluid in the petri dish continued to rise in temperature, approaching its boiling point, she suddenly turned the heater off and used a pair of pincers to pick the petri dish up, gently shaking it.
Following Huang Tielan's gentle shaking, the murky fluid in the petri dish gradually turned clearer, and its color started turning a pure, faint purple.
After some time, Huang Tielan put down the petri dish carefully, and looked at the faint purple fluid in the dish, revealing a faint smile.
"Ha, I finally succeeded!" Huang Tielan almost started dancing in joy. In order to confirm whether she had truly succeeded, she quickly picked up a Sharp-Clawed Hound card and slowly soaked it in the faint purple cultivating fluid. Afterwards, she quickly covered the dish. She used a vacuum machine to suck out all the air in it, and waited patiently.
Time slowly trickled by. Looking through the transparent petri dish, Huang Tielan suddenly noticed that the beast card soaked in the cultivating fluid was emitting a purple hue. The color grew increasingly brighter, while the cultivating fluid quickly grew fainter, until it was colorless.
Looking at the purple hue, Huang Tielan finally showed an incomparably radiant smile, like the first light of dawn.
——
The university registration for enrolling into the beastmaster major was very simple. After arriving at school, he found his homeroom teacher, Han Sheqing and filled out an electronic form, followed by recording a short video of him employing a two-star subdued beast and uploading it to the registration website. That was it.
Currently nobody was sure how the examination would take place. Han Sheqing only told Zhang Che that he had to make another trip here to the school before the second half of June, and that he mustn't miss it.
Mmm, the current date was 5th June, Year 36 of the New Age. There was still almost half a month before the later half of June. It was sufficient for him to advance to Tier Four.
After leaving the office, Zhang Che estimated that he should be able to successfully advance to Tier Four within the next half a month. All he needed was to find an area with a higher number of three-star beasts, and there wouldn't be any problems achieving that.
When passing by the lecture building, Zhang Che couldn't help but glance over there, unsure whether he should go take a look at his classroom.
While he was hesitating, suddenly there was a voice call request on his personal terminal. Huang Tielan was on the other end.
Just as the call went through, before Zhang Che could speak a word, Huang Tielan broke out in laughter. "Zhang Xiaoche, I did it! I did it!"
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Chapter 108: Chapter 108 – Moved Heartstrings
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
"I did it, I did it, Zhang Xiaoche! I finally succeeded in raising the star tier of a beast card!" Huang Tielan cheered excitedly in a high-pitched voice.
Zhang Che hurriedly brought his personal terminal away from his ear, asking doubtfully, "What are you talking about, Huang Tielan? You managed to raise the level of a beast card?"
Heh, he didn't expect that this extroverted miss chubby was actually capable of studying cultivating beasts quietly. Really, a person cannot be judged by their cover!
"Right, right! Are you surprised!? Amazed, even?"
Even though they were on either ends of their personal terminals, Zhang Che could feel Huang Tielan's excitement in her voice.
"Mmm, I am a little surprised, and shocked, too! Right, so you're not in school now?" Zhang Che asked with a smile.
"Of course! Do you think the school would let me use the beast card cultivating lab freely? Have you registered yourself, Zhang Xiaoche? Wait for me at your neighborhood if you're done. I'll be right there."
Zhang Che blinked his eyes in succession. -This Miss… shouldn't she celebrate at home? Why is she coming to my place?-
He agreed, however. He exited the school gates and flagged down a taxi, rushing back to his neighborhood.
——
Half an hour later, Zhang Che alighted the taxi and saw Huang Tielan's figure standing at the entrance to the neighborhood, like a crane in a flock of chicken. After noticing him, she immediately broke out into a beautiful smile.
-What's wrong with me? Why did I feel that Tienan (Iron Man) is smiling beautifully? – Zhang Che shook his head violently, expelling this strange, unexpected thought from his mind, and strode towards the entrance.
Huang Tielan started shouting from afar, "Hurry, Zhang Xiaoche! Let's go grocery shopping; we're having dinner at your place tonight!"
Her voice was a little loud from her excitement, drawing the attention of others. When they realized she was calling out to the thin Zhang Che, their gazes turned especially strange.
An eighteen-year-old youngster who was neither the overweight type nor the type who trained himself usually looked like a bean sprout; a little too thin.
Moreover, Zhang Che's height was adding insult to the injury. Although he was over 175 cm tall and not considered short among his peers, he looked out of sorts when standing next to the tall and chubby Huang Tielan. It was hard to not be the focus of others' gazes.
Fortunately, Zhang Che only moved to this neighborhood recently. Otherwise, some elderly women who knew him might be pointing fingers and gossiping about him.
"Strange. You successfully became a beast card cultivator; shouldn't you be looking for your parents to celebrate? Why did you come to my place?" As they walked into the district, a certain man whose dignity was hurt asked thoughtlessly.
Huang Tielan looked at Zhang Che with a slightly bitter gaze, answering softly, "Because… this is a celebration for you."
Zhang Che was baffled. -Why did it become a celebration for me?- He blinked, seemingly having understood the situation, and smiled, "What's there to celebrate for me? Although my registration went through, whether I'm accepted into a good university will depend on my exam results afterwards."
"Aiya, you dunce!" Huang Tielan stamped her feet habitually. Dust clouds were raised immediately. "I'll tell you when we reach your place later. Let's hurry and go buy the groceries."
After saying that, Tienan (Iron Man) grabbed Zhang Che's arm and pulled him along to the district supermarket, almost dragging him there.
Zhang Che subconsciously wanted to struggle himself free after being grabbed by Huang Tielan. However, he hesitated for a moment, and let her be. Well, it was mainly the fact that Tienan was very strong. He felt that he couldn't break free even if he tried…
The two ended up buying a few bags' worth of groceries. When it came time to pay, Zhang Che wouldn't cede no matter what.
He was already feeling a little out of place standing next to Huang Tielan. He would lose all face if others were to think that he was living off of her.
~~~~~~
Hearing a knock on the door, Sun Lan revealed a hint of bliss in her smile as she walked towards the door, saying, "You're back, Xiaoche? Did your registration go smoothly? Really, you always forget your keys when you leave the house. What if someday I'm-"
The door was pulled open. Sun Lan's face froze, swallowing whatever inauspicious words she was about to say.
"Hello, Auntie Sun!"
"Aiya, so it's Xiaohuang. Come on in, quickly!" Sun Lan came back to herself and quickly opened the path. Afterwards, she shifted her gaze to her son, who was standing by the side, and asked with her eyes, "What's going on with you two?"
Zhang Che returned a helpless gaze to his mother, and walked into the living room carrying a few large bags, saying, "Mom, Huang Tielan officially became a beast card cultivator today! She's excited about it, and so we decided to celebrate it at our place."
Although Huang Tielan was only following someone else's recipe and successfully strengthened a beast card by luck, by prevailing standards, she was now barely considered as having officially entered the ranks of beast card cultivators. However, she was only at the level of an "intern", not even an "apprentice".
Sun Lan blanked out for a moment after hearing this. She blinked a few times and smiled at Huang Tielan, "Aiya, congratulations then, Xiaohuang!"
"Thank you, Auntie. I was merely lucky, that's all. I had to try concocting the same cultivating fluid a few dozen times before I succeeded. I still have a long way to go," Huang Tielan replied humbly.
It was getting late, and the two had bought a lot of groceries. Sun Lan let the two youngsters rest in the living room while she went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Unexpectedly, Huang Tielan actually learned how to cook, and strongly recommended herself to help out in the kitchen, saving much trouble for Sun Lan.
Looking at Tienan plucking, cutting, and even stir-frying the vegetables expertly in the kitchen, Zhang Che couldn't help but be impressed. -I didn't expect this chubby chick to actually be a proper housewife material!-
-No, what the heck am I thinking today!?-
Zhang Che shook his head violently for the second time today.
——
Almost an hour later, a table full of sumptuous dishes was freshly prepared. The three sat by the dining table, with a bottle of wine opened. Zhang Che was the first to raise his glass, saying, "Here, to Huang Tielan successfully becoming an official beast card cultivator! Cheers!"
"Congratulations again, Xiaohuang!" Sun Lan raised her glass to Huang Tielan with a face full of smiles.
"Thank you!" Huang Tielan cleared her glass in one shot. Afterwards, she took the initiative and refilled their glasses. She raised hers, looking at Sun Lan and said seriously, "I wish you'll find a cure someday soon, Auntie! Don't worry; when I enroll into Bei Du University's beast card cultivator major, I'll surely ask Professor Sun Qilong to help you with his healing-type subdued beast."
-Healing-type beast!- Zhang Che's heart shook. He hurriedly looked towards Huang Tielan, asking, "You're saying that Professor Sun Qilong from Bei Du University's beast card cultivator major has a healing-type beast?"
Huang Tielan nodded, "That's right. I heard from my mom that Professor Sun Qilong succeeded in raising a beast of his to gold-quality recently, and awakened a healing-type ability. So, I'll definitely work hard to enroll into Bei Du University's beast card cultivator major. Once I become his student, I'll have a chance to ask him to help cure Auntie Sun's illness."
At that moment, Zhang Che felt something stir deep in his heart…
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Chapter 109: Chapter 109 – Mom, I Want to Lose Weight!
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
-So, this chubby chick has been working hard on her own for the sake of my mother's illness!-
Looking at Huang Tielan again, Zhang Che noticed that her face seemed to be a little slimmer than usual, with hints of dark circles under her eyes showing.
Relating this to what she had just said about trying a few dozen times before successfully cultivating a beast card, she must have been working so hard that she had foregone rest and meals, dedicating all she had into the study of beast card cultivating.
"Thank you, Tielan!" Zhang Che raised his glass in gratitude, looking at her seriously..
– Ah! Zhang Xiaoche actually called my name directly, without using the 'classmate' suffix!-
Huang Tielan felt a surge of happiness rising from the bottom of her heart. She also noticed a hint of an unfamiliar emotion in Zhang Che's eyes, leaving her blushing. She lowered her head and said shyly in a soft voice, "It's nothing. It's what I should be doing."
Zhang Che sighed inwardly. -Silly miss, which part of this are you supposed to be doing? I should be the one doing all of this.- He suddenly realized that Tienan (Iron Man) was actually really not bad!
After hearing what Huang Tielan said, Sun Lan was also moved beyond words. She stood up, her eyes reddening, and raised her wine glass, saying gratefully, "Miss Xiaohuang, thank you so much, really! Auntie offers you a toast!"
After saying that, Sun Lan raised her head and emptied her glass in one shot.
Huang Tielan suddenly found herself a little flustered. She hurriedly stood up and waved both her hands helplessly, "Auntie, please sit down!"
"Alright, alright. Let's all sit down and start eating, or the dishes will get cold." Sun Lan's face was full of smiles as she started filling Huang Tielan's bowl with food, saying, "Here, here, Miss Xiaohuang, eat more. Don't be polite, treat it like you're home."
——
The sky started to darken as they enjoyed their joyous meal. When Huang Tielan mentioned excusing herself for the night, Sun Lan hurriedly stood up and told Zhang Che to send her out.
The two walked to the common corridor with one leading the other, and entered the elevator. When they arrived at the ground floor, they walked out to the corridor again, also one ahead of the other, without exchanging a word, yet an inexplicable atmosphere was slowly spreading between the two.
When they walked out of the district, just as Zhang Che was flagging down a taxi, Huang Tielan suddenly turned around and looked at him with a burning gaze. "Zhang Xiaoche!"
"Hmm?" Zhang Che looked up at Huang Tielan and nodded, "Go on, remember not to work too hard. It's nothing even if you didn't manage to enroll into Bei Du. I'll surely find some other way." As he spoke, Zhang Che helped open the door for Huang Tielan, but was stopped by her.
"Why don't you take a short walk with me? I ate a little too much earlier; I want to walk a bit to help burn it off."
Zhang Che was a little taken aback. He recovered quickly and nodded with a slight smile afterwards, "Okay."
The two turned to leave. The taxi driver almost hurled out curses at them. -Freaking waste of my time. Are you going to compensate me?-
~~~~~~
"Eh? It's already so late. Is that girl still at the research base? Why isn't she back yet?"
Zhong Yuqing saw the cold dinner on the table. Just as she was about to make a call with her personal terminal, she heard rushed footsteps from below, followed by Huang Tielan's loud voice, "Mom, I'm back! I want to lose weight!"
In the next moment, Huang Tielan came jogging in, her forehead sweating. She ignored the weird looks from her mother and dragged her up, saying, "Mom, I want to lose weight. Teach me about the gym equipments!"
Zhong Yuqing was filled with questions. She stood on the spot, observing Huang Tielan and asked doubtfully, "You're acting really strange. Why do you want to lose weight all of a sudden?"
Huang Tielan's cheeks were burning up from her mother's gaze. She couldn't help but replied shyly, "Aiya, aren't you always saying that I'm too fat? Is it bad that I'm taking the initiative to lose weight? Come on, come on, teach me…"
"Not right; you must be hiding something from me. Is it related to that kid called Zhang Che?"
"Aiya, mom, why are you so talkative…"
——
After accompanying Huang Tielan for a short walk and seeing her off on a taxi, Zhang Che returned home. He saw Sun Lan walking out of the kitchen the moment he pushed the door open.
"You're back, Xiaoche."
Zhang Che nodded, sensing that his mother had something to talk about.
As expected, Sun Lan sat down in the living room and beckoned for him to sit opposite him. She looked at him with a serious face and said, "Xiaoche, Miss Xiaohuang is really not bad. I feel that you have to make things clear with her if you really don't like her, or you'll hurt her feelings in the future. If you do like her, then you must treasure her. It's rare to find such a good lady now."
Zhang Che was stunned for a moment. Afterwards, he nodded heavily, "Mom, I know what to do."
—
Late into the night, Zhang Che sat by his study desk in the room, looking at information on all kinds of exotic herbs from the beast world on the computer screen, his brow creased into a bunch.
"Why don't I have a photographic memory? It seems like it's really difficult to develop in the area of beast card cultivation; it's impossible in a short time. Just these ingredients is blurring my eyes and making me giddy!" Zhang Che let out a long sigh, finally giving up on his short-sighted thoughts.
Originally, he thought that with his 'data eyes' being able to see the required cultivating ingredients, he could easily develop towards being a beast card cultivator, and perhaps even take on the entrance exam for Bei Du University's beast card cultivator major.
From the looks of things now, he was thinking too much. It was impossible for him to familiarize himself with so many exotic herbs in such a short time, not to mention the practical examination portion.
Even if he knew what ingredients were needed to concoct a cultivating fluid for a specific beast card, how would he ensure that he could successfully concoct the fluid?
Moreover, if others were to ask about the characteristics of the herbs, and the reasoning behind choosing the herbs, Zhang Che wouldn't be able to answer them, and it would be troublesome afterwards.
He couldn't possibly say that he just knew what ingredients were needed, and ignore the reasoning behind the mixing of the herbs in question, could he?
"Forget it. This matter can't be rushed. Working on my beastmaster tier is the right path to take. Mmm, looks like I have to 'break through' to Tier Three before the beastmaster exam half a month from now. Otherwise, how do I ensure my enrollment into Bei Du University?"
Originally, Zhang Che just wanted to enroll into any university in a big city. He didn't care what he could learn in school. It was mainly for networking purposes.
However, from the looks of it now, it was necessary to get into Bei Du University!
If Huang Tielan failed to get into Bei Du University's beast card cultivator major, then he had to make sure he got into Bei Du University first and work hard towards beast card cultivation to have a chance to request for a favor from that Professor Sun Qilong, who was rumored to be slightly eccentric.
If he wanted to distinguish himself among the secondary schooler beastmasters in the entire Hua Xia region and be accepted into Bei Du University, the Tier Two beastmaster strength he was originally displaying didn't seem enough.
To make sure things went according to his plans, he had to 'break through' to Tier Three before the exams, and it would be great if he had a few decent three-star subdued beasts.
Of course, if Zhang Che were to show off his strength as a Tier Four beastmaster when the time came, then the various universities would be fighting for him without a doubt; he didn't have to worry about failing the exam.
{Translator's Note: He's not T4 yet, but plans to break through before the exam.}
However, was it really wise to show off the fact that a pauper with no background to speak of had risen from Tier One to Tier Four within the short span of two months?
Definitely not!
Zhang Che was sure that if he really displayed the strength of a Tier Four beastmaster, what awaited him was not the praise of others. Instead, all kinds of snakes and devils would notice him and investigate how he could possibly rise to Tier Four in such a short time.
Thus, it would be a huge problem if Zhang Che dared to display the strength of a Tier Four beastmaster!
Translator's Note:
1 – The novel had been using suffixes when addressing one another. Some of which just don't make sense when translated into English, and have been omitted thus far, like addressing a schoolmate like Student XYZ, Classmate ABC. Only those that actually make sense in English have been included, like titles (Teacher, Professor), or elders (Auntie) etc. In the case of Ding Feng Corp's Zhang Yujie, people have been addressing him as Zhang-shao or Zhang-dashao, which isn't as formal as Young Master, and was left in that form.
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Chapter 110: Chapter 110 – You're Pretty Good, Kid
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
If Zhang Che wanted to enroll into Bei Du University smoothly, he definitely couldn't continue hiding his strength at Tier Two beastmaster.
Even if he had the gold-quality Mutated Puffersword, and a few other silver-quality beasts, it wouldn't guarantee him good results, compared to the other young elites from all over the country.
Of course, he also couldn't show his strength as a Tier Four beastmaster when the time came.
A Tier Four beastmaster would officially be among the ranks of mid-tier beastmasters. If an ordinary kid were to achieve that, wasn't that as good as broadcasting to the world that he had some fortuitous encounter? Only those with deep backgrounds could possibly do such a thing, otherwise…
The most crucial point was that Zhang Che's time as a beastmaster had been too short. If he was in his twenties, or even thirties, being a Tier Four beastmaster wouldn't draw any attention from others at all.
Coming to a conclusion from all this, Zhang Che decided he could only display the strength of a Tier Three beastmaster.
Although him successfully advancing into Tier Three within two months would still draw a little attention, the feat wasn't at the point of being unacceptable. After all, if one's luck was good and they didn't die in the beast world, there were many people who could advance to Tier Three in a short time.
Two-star beasts that were bronze quality or lower weren't considered very difficult to handle. As long as one's foundations were a little better, and they were hard working, even a poor kid had a chance of achieving Tier Three in that time frame.
As such, he expected that Tier Three beastmasters wouldn't be few in number among the examinees. Zhang Che still had some preparations to make if he wished to enroll into Bei Du University smoothly.
——
Thus, he bade his mother farewell the next morning, ready to set off for the beast world once more.
"It's a pity that silver-quality beasts and above are already considered rare, and it would be hard to find another one. Otherwise, I could just go to the trading hub and buy a few identical low-tier silver or even gold-quality beast cards, and fuse them into three-stars…"
In fact, Zhang Che had this idea long ago, but he could only accept reality after scouting around in the market a few times.
It made sense, thinking about it. If high-quality beast cards were as abundant as the low quality ones, silver-quality and above cards wouldn't be sold for such high prices.
Helpless about it, Zhang Che could only choose to enter the beast world again.
The Purple Jade Condor was at dark gold quality and could help him enter Bei Du University easily, but the bird was a little too eye-catching.
It was a dark gold-quality beast! Let alone a poor chap, even those from influential clans wouldn't be able to get one on their hands easily. Zhang Che didn't want others to have any ideas on him because of it.
After comparing the pros and cons, gold-quality beast cards were just right for him. They could ensure that he enrolled into Bei Du University smoothly, yet wouldn't draw too much attention.
Of course, before his departure, Zhang Che wasn't spared from having to convince Sun Lan. He had to assure her that he wouldn't venture too deep into the beast world, and that there wouldn't be much danger, before she felt a little better about it.
Zhang Che didn't tell her that he already owned a three-star dark gold-quality beast, or mention that he was not far away from reaching Tier Four, and that he even had two better beast cards lying in his backpack, waiting for him to reach Tier Four to use them.
It wasn't that he couldn't trust his own mother, but that some secrets were better kept to himself for safety reasons.
——
As usual, Zhang Che boarded an armored coach headed for the military camp in the suburb. He sat back against the seat and shut his eyes, resting, as he tried to recall the exotic herbs he had looked up last night. In the end, he realized that he truly didn't have much talent in memorizing.
The number of exotic herbs he could remember didn't even reach ten!
The coach was really empty today, with only a small handful of people on it. Could it be that every other beastmasters decided to take a rest today?
As he thought about this, the coach suddenly decelerated and stopped by the roadside.
A dozen or so young men boarded the bus silently. They found their seats and sat upright calmly, bringing a subtle atmosphere to the coach.
The coach resumed its journey. Zhang Che shut his eyes once more, wanting to get some rest. There was still about an hour's worth of journey before they arrived at the suburb military camp.
However, a few minutes later, the coach was flagged down again, and another dozen or so men boarded the coach. All of them also found their seats silently, none of them making any sound.
Zhang Che felt something was amiss; -Is there a problem with these two batches of people?-
However, Zhang Che wasn't worried that they would make any strange moves. With his capable beasts, especially the three-star dark gold-quality Purple Jade Condor, he wasn't afraid in the least if these people were to try anything funny.
Would there be anyone here stronger than him?
In a small city like Qian Wei City, a beastmaster of such caliber would have some fame to their name. Which of them would choose to ride a public coach?
The coach didn't make any more stops after this. It kept driving towards the spatial gateway, and soon left the city area, driving into the suburb plains.
After travelling about two-thirds of the way, the coach came to a sudden stop. The driver shouted in shock, "Run! There's a huge group of exotic beasts surrounding us!"
Rattle… Just as the door opened, the thirty-odd passengers jumped out of the vehicle in a well coordinated manner, running in the direction they came from. Their speed even left Zhang Che sweating at the sight of it.
Looking at the huge group of exotic beasts crawling out from both sides of the road, Zhang Che's eyes were filled with doubt.
-Isn't these only the most common Sharp-Clawed Hounds? They were simply trashes among trashes of exotic beasts. You guys are heading to the beast world, after all. If everyone worked together, did they have to be afraid of a mere few dozen Sharp-Clawed Hounds?-
-No, that's not it. Something must be up.-
However, Zhang Che couldn't exactly put his finger on what was so strange. He walked up to the front of the coach with long strides. The driver was nearly scared silly, his face filled with terror, and he even forgot to forsake his vehicle to escape.
"Forget it. This guy seems to be a commoner; I'll just help him out," Zhang Che shook his head. If he ran away by himself, there was no other ending for this driver other than being torn apart by the Sharp-Clawed Hounds.
Although the coach was fitted with a layer of decent armor, it wasn't a real military vehicle, after all. It was hard to tell how long it could last against the claws of the Sharp-Clawed Hounds.
Seeing that Zhang Che didn't run away, the driver felt as if he found the life-saving straw and started pleading, "You have to save me, kid. I have both elders and children at home. If I die here, they wouldn't be able to live on."
Zhang Che nodded, "Just continue driving straight."
"Ah?" The middle-aged driver was baffled. -Shouldn't you use your subdued beasts to get rid of these Sharp-Clawed Hounds before we set off?-
While the middle-aged driver was acting doubtful about this, a two-star gold-quality beast card suddenly appeared in Zhang Che's hand, and turned into a strangely shaped green sword. He aimed it at the swarming Sharp-Clawed Hounds ahead of them.
In the next moment, every Sharp-Clawed Hound was struck by an invisible force. They fell to the ground, bleeding from their orifices, and stopped moving.
The middle-aged driver's mouth was wide open, unable to speak a word.
——
When the driver dropped Zhang Che, the sole passenger, off at the suburb military camp, he waved widely at him, saying, "You're pretty good, kid! Thank you so much for earlier! Forget about the bus fare!"
Zhang Che shook his head firmly. He opened his personal terminal and said calmly, "The money has to be paid. Let alone the bus fare, the performance fee for the group of brother soldiers can't be done without. They can't possibly work for free, can they? Quickly accept the money; I'm still short on time to enter the beast world!"
The middle-aged driver had nothing to say…
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Chapter 111: Chapter 111 – Our Lanlan Has a Good Eye For People
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
After Zhang Che crossed into the beast world and left the safety zone, he chose not to explore in the same direction as he had the previous couple of times. Instead, he chose to head southeast, and was in no hurry to switch identities, either.
Actually, he already had a guess on what was happening earlier. He wouldn't have said what he did otherwise.
Although the two batches of men who boarded the coach earlier didn't speak a word, Zhang Che could tell that they were soldiers from the way they sat and the disciplined way in which they "ran for their lives".
As for that driver, Zhang Che had initially thought that he was indeed an ordinary driver. However, after he went up to the front of the vehicle and observed the fellow, he realized that the driver's acting was a little exaggerated.
Despite his realistic portrayal of fear, Zhang Che didn't notice any uneasiness on his body. His limbs weren't shaking, his breathing was stable, and his heartbeat was also normal. What else could it be, if it wasn't acting?
Without a doubt, the driver was in on it together with the soldiers.
Now, Zhang Che hadn't offended anyone from the army. Who would cause such a situation to observe, or even make a fool out of him?
There was only one answer: Huang Tielan's father.
Although Huang Tielan had never revealed her background to Zhang Che, from what he had seen so far, he was able to make a guess at it.
During his first entrance to the beast world, Tielan was able to pass on a backpack to him silently through the army's security checkpoint. That wasn't something any commoner could do.
Moreover, Huang Tielan had also received news that Bei Du University's Professor Sun Qilong had successfully cultivated a gold-quality beast recently. That was even less likely for a common girl to learn about.
There were also many other small details, like the sword art demonstration video Huang Tielan sent him, and so forth. All of this had shown that this chubby girl's background was not simple.
As for this situation that Huang Tielan's father had fabricated, Zhang Che could totally understand why.
If he had a daughter whose heart was stolen by some random guy, he would surely test him, or even make him suffer a little.
The group of soldiers today had actually been quite friendly. Their original plan was probably to have him partake in a brutal fight against the group of Sharp-Clawed Hounds, but they didn't expect him to own a gold-quality weapon-type beast card with a wide-area attack, leading to the whole observation operation ending in such a shoddy manner.
Even so, Zhang Che didn't dare to be careless at all. What if Huang Tielan's father had something else up his sleeve waiting for him?
Therefore, in order to not expose his dual identities, as well as his true strength, he kept heading southeast after leaving the safety zone. He only transformed into his previous life's appearance after confirming that there was no one tailing him, and began his search for three-star gold-quality beasts.
——
A certain office in Qian Wei City's military camp…
The camp's second-in-charge, Major General Huang Juyun, was standing upright in front of a topographical map with his hands behind him. He had a square face, and a tall, muscular figure, emitting a mighty presence.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in."
Huang Juyun turned to look, and saw his adjutant, Song Yuanhang, walking in with an amused smile.
"Xiaosong, you really went and did it?"
Song Yuanhang lowered his head slightly, smiling in embarrassment, "Sir, I just can't stop worrying, so I went to check out what kind of a guy that kid is."
Huang Juyun smiled slightly, pointing at his trusted assistant helplessly, asking, "So how was it? How do you feel about him?"
"Ugh, that kid saw through the masquerade." Song Yuanhang's expression became even more amused as he continued, "I really didn't expect this kid to be hiding so well; he's completely exceeded my expectations."
After saying that, he recounted the entire event, and lamented in the end, "Who would've thought that this kid was the same guy that relied on a one-star silver-quality card Young Miss gifted him during his first exploration into the beast world? He actually grew to this extent in one month's time, and wields a two-star gold-quality weapon-type beast card!"
"Our Lanlan has a good eye for people. She resembles me in this aspect," Huang Juyun chuckled, showing an interested look. He continued, "However, this kid is really a little surprising, to have grown this fast. In times to come, he might even be a cornerstone of our Hua Xia region's beastmasters."
Song Yuanhang couldn't help but be slightly surprised at Huang Juyun's expectations for Zhang Che.
"Isn't that a little too much, Sir? Although I admit that this kid's potential is not bad, it's not easy reaching that height. There are many dangers on that path; it's not that easy to overcome them."
Huang Juyun chuckled again. He pointed at Song Yuanhang, tapping the air, "I said that our Lanlan has a good eye for people. Trust me!"
He started pacing back and forth in the spacious office, and suddenly looked at Song Yuanhang, saying, "Did you think that that two-star gold-quality beast card is that kid's final ace?"
"Ah? How is that possible?!" Song Yuanhang's expression finally changed. "How long has it been since he became a beastmaster? He's already considered to be a very talented guy, to have a gold-quality weapon-type beast card. How could it be possible that he has an even better card… You're saying, he's actually not a Tier Two beastmaster, but Tier Three?"
Huang Yujun nodded with a slight smile, then shook his head, explaining, "He's a Tier Three beastmaster for sure. No doubt about it. What I meant was, this kid should have an even better subdued beast in his hands. At least, it's stronger than the gold-quality weapon he has. Otherwise, why would he take it out so easily? Take you, for example; would you expose your hand so easily if you weren't in mortal danger?"
Huang Juyun didn't mention to Song Yuanhang that Zhang Che had gifted a similar weapon-type beast card to his daughter previously. Although there was a difference of a star tier, their quality was the same.
Not only that, this kid brought out his weapon-type beast card without hesitation today during Song Yuanhang's crude test. Naturally he had something better, Huang Juyun's instincts told him.
He was also sure that Zhang Che had become a Tier Three beastmaster.
With such a powerful beast card on him, it was impossible for a youngster who was both hardworking and lucky to be only at Tier Two after battling in the beast world for nearly a whole month.
Song Yuanhang was immediately stupefied after hearing Huang Juyun's analysis.
His arbitrary testing of Zhang Che today didn't have any effect at all. Instead, he might have even made a fool of himself before that kid!
-Tsk tsk, the youngsters nowadays are really becoming more and more incredible!-
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Chapter 112: Chapter 112 – Meeting The Lucky Star Again
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Zhang Che naturally had no idea that the test from before wasn't Huang Juyun's idea, but his adjutant, Song Yuanhang, acting on his own.
He was worried that there might be more tricks waiting for him. Although it was unlikely to be malicious, he didn't wish to reveal his hidden trumps.
Therefore, he only summoned the Wind Shadow Wolf to scout the way, while he wore the Maneater Leech King soft armor, and wielded the Mutated Puffersword. He didn't dare to summon Hanxue to use as transportation, either, and kept heading southeast into the beast world with quick steps.
The reason why he didn't summon the Fiery Scorpion and the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly was because he was worried that he might run into the Ding Feng Corporation's men.
Zhang Yujie and the others had seen them by Zhang Che's side when he was in the Sun Che persona.
If they were to see him with such a similar party of subdued beasts, wouldn't they suspect his identity right away?
It was no problem if it was only the Wind Shadow Wolf. After all, within the Qian Wei City, there might not be that many bronze-quality beasts of a certain species, but their numbers were definitely not low. Naturally the Ding Feng Corporation wouldn't be suspicious of it… and others couldn't easily tell that Zhang Che's Wind Shadow Wolf was in fact silver-quality.
Zhang Che was considering not using these low-tier silver-quality beasts, with the exception of the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly from now on, to save the trouble of exposing his identity.
As for the Fiery Scorpion that was a gift from Huang Tielan and held a special meaning to him, he could just keep it as a memento. He didn't necessarily have to have it occupy a slot in his spiritual sea.
"Mmm, since I'll be displaying my skills as a Tier Three beastmaster when I return from this trip, I should take this chance to find a few high quality three-star beasts, and let these two 'senior figures' retire."
The pitiful Wind Shadow Wolf, and the Fiery Scorpion, which was currently laying quietly in Zhang Che's spiritual sea, had no idea that their time was about to pass. They were destined to lay peacefully in their master's collection cabinet, never to see the light again.
The southeast beast world was much lower than the other directions. This area was filled with rivers and swamps, and occupied by various complicated exotic beast species. Very few low-tier beastmasters would choose to explore in this area.
The reason why Zhang Che chose this direction was because the terrain was flatter, allowing him to shake any men sent by Huang Tielan's father, and because various high-quality beasts that might appear here.
From what he knew, silver-quality or higher beasts were more abundant in the swamps in the southeast. If his luck wasn't too bad, half a month was more than enough time for him to obtain two or more three-star gold-quality beast cards.
As for the dangers, Zhang Che wasn't really worried about them.
Since he had no plans of exploring too deep into the swamps, and he had the Purple Jade Condor, there shouldn't be any problems in self-preservation or escaping.
It couldn't be that the stronger beasts in this area could chase down the lightning-fast Purple Jade Condor, could they?
There didn't seem to be any powerful flying-type beasts in this area, either.
After passing through a low, hilly area a few dozen kilometers away from the safety zone, the terrain ahead became increasingly flat, and rivers were more frequent.
After observing multiple times and confirming that there wasn't anyone tailing him, nor any suspicious flying beasts in the sky, Zhang Che concluded that Huang Tielan's father didn't send anyone to follow him into the beast world.
To be on the safe side of things, Zhang Che was thinking of changing his appearance and summoning his strong beasts and pets, when he suddenly discovered a figure behind a low hill, running towards him from the bend in the river ahead.
The figure riding on the back of the Elephorse was very familiar, so much so that Zhang Che recognized him at first sight.
This person was none other than his lucky star- Ugh, no, it should be Wang Dong!
Zhang Che found this amazing. Why would he bump into this guy almost every time he entered the beast world?
-Mmm, it seems like my journey here was the right choice?-
Every time he bumped into Wang Dong, Zhang Che would have tremendous gains in the end. This guy had pretty much become his lucky star. It was hard to not make a fortune off of him; it truly left one helpless.
Looking into the distance, Wang Dong seemed really excited, with an uncontrollable smile showing on his face.
-Hmm? This guy is actually not in danger this time? Not only that, he seems to have discovered something good ahead!-
According to Zhang Che's understanding of this guy, he must have come here to search for high-quality exotic beasts, in order to sell the information for a good price. In that case, could it be that some extraordinary exotic beast had appeared in the direction he came from?
Zhang Che's eyes narrowed slightly. Wasn't his purpose here exactly to look for high quality exotic beasts? He came to just the right place!
Since Zhang Che noticed Wang Dong, the opposite party had naturally noticed him as well.
The Elephorse galloped, and soon closed the distance between them and Zhang Che. Stopping in its tracks, Wang Dong looked at Zhang Che doubtfully, reminding him kindly, "Little Bro, you can't continue forward from here. It's too dangerous- Eh? I seem to have seen you somewhere before? Right, I bought my Maneater Leech armor from you the last time! I didn't expect to bump into you here, Little Bro Zhang Che!"
It had to be mentioned that Wang Dong's memory was really something. It had been about a month since he bought the Maneater Leech card from Zhang Che, and he was still able to recognize him.
"Ah, so it's you! No wonder you seem a little familiar!"
Zhang Che feigned a look of realization, and asked doubtfully, "Oh, right, is there some powerful beast ahead, seeing as you ran here in such a hurry?"
Wang Dong's eyes rolled about, before nodding, "That's right. I wouldn't have said this if it were anyone else, but since it's you, Brother Zhang, I don't mind. A swamp can be found after making a turn through those small hills ahead, filled with huge, crocodile-like exotic beasts. They're really strong. I recommend you not to go there."
Zhang Che couldn't help but feel disappointed. He thought there would be some high-quality beasts ahead, but it turned out to be group-type exotic beasts. Since that was the case, their quality was unlikely to be high.
"Thanks Brother Wang for your reminder, but I'm quite curious about those crocodile-like beasts. It shouldn't be dangerous to take a look at them from a distance, I suppose."
Wang Dong sighed, "To tell you the truth, Brother Zhang, it shouldn't be much of a problem if it were only ordinary crocodile-like beasts, but the key is that there are two big ones within the group. I suspect their quality won't be low; it'd be too dangerous if they set their eyes on you."
Zhang Che's heart was stirred, and started laughing, "It's fine. I'll only be taking a look. I'll definitely not get close to them. Really, thanks so much Brother Wang for your reminder. Let's get in touch when we're outside; I'll buy you a drink sometime!"
"No problem. Thanks in advance, then!" It was only now that Wang Dong remembered adding this little brother's contact information. He waved goodbye, saying, "I still have something on, and will be making a move first. You must be careful out there. Don't get careless!"
After bidding farewell, Wang Dong slapped his Elephorse's neck and dashed off into the distance, toward the safety zone.
Wang Dong didn't regret telling Zhang Che about the information he intended to sell for money in the slightest. Instead, he was thinking, -I hope this kid knows to back off when he realizes the danger, and doesn't die in that swamp. He's a Tier Three beastmaster at best; how could he possibly be a match for that group of crocodiles?-
-Seems like I have to hurry back and sell this piece of information. Otherwise, I'll be suffering a huge loss if some other experts were to discover this place!-
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Chapter 113: Chapter 113 – Unstoppable Force
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Sending Wang Dong off with his gaze, Zhang Che smiled slightly when his figure disappeared from sight. With a wave of his hand, a dark gold flash of light shot to the skies, transforming into the Purple Jade Condor's huge figure and soaring to a thousand meters in the air.
Zhang Che wouldn't trust Wang Dong's words so easily. He still had to check for himself the situation ahead.
Not only that, he also had to make sure if Wang Dong had truly left. It would be troublesome if he discovered Zhang Che's dual identities.
After a short while, the Purple Jade Condor in the sky informed him that Wang Dong had left the vicinity.
Zhang Che smiled faintly. As he willed it, his face changed rapidly, transforming into the appearance of an ordinary man in his twenties. Even his hair was considerably shorter.
In addition, Zhang Che made slight adjustments to his height and figure. Even if Sun Lan was here at this moment, she wouldn't be able to recognize him.
As for his clothing, Zhang Che thought about that before, too. He wore the most commonly seen combat suit whenever he entered the beast world. At least half of the low-tier beastmasters were wearing this kind of combat suit; no one would be able to see through his disguise.
Of course, if an opportunity arose, Zhang Che hoped to acquire an armor-type beast card. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about not having clothes to change into when he appeared as Sun Che!
"What a pity there is always a shortage of defensive-type beast cards. It's almost impossible to find them in the market. Luck plays too big of a part if you want to obtain one by killing exotic beasts," Zhang Che sighed, dropping all thoughts about that problem.
Exotic beasts with tough armors were rare in the first place. Not only that, they were naturally hard to kill! It truly wasn't easy to obtain a beast armor.
Regrettably, the four-star gold-quality Rock Tortoise was a defensive-type subdued beast, yet the beast card was a Original Combat Body type. It really left one depressed. Zhang Che guessed that it was probably due to this fellow having a offensive technique which decided its beast card type.
However, even if the Rock Tortoise was an armor-type beast card, Zhang Che might not necessarily dare to wear it. What if it had a freaking tortoise shell appearance? How embarrassing would it be?
Pouting, Zhang Che summoned all of his subdued beasts and pets. He crossed the river ahead, riding on Hanxue unhurriedly, heading towards the swamp Wang Dong mentioned.
The Purple Jade Condor had been scouting in the sky for quite some time, but there was still no discoveries for the time being.
It wasn't strange, however. Crocodiles were usually stationary when they were not hunting, not to mention their preference for murky, muddy water. It was within reason that the Purple Jade Condor hadn't discovered anything.
After all, the Purple Jade Condor was somewhat similar to falcon-like flying beasts. Stationary objects went unnoticed to their eyes, but they were extra sensitive to moving objects.
After crossing the river and winding through a few short hills, the terrain ahead suddenly opened up. A huge area of swamp that extended to the horizons filled his whole field of vision.
Although the swamplands wasn't exactly flat, the occasional hills weren't tall, either. They were akin to slightly larger tombs, mere mounds. Even the trees around this area were much shorter than those found elsewhere.
Up on Hanxue, standing at the edge of the swamps, Zhang Che looked around, and saw several huge exotic beasts half-hidden in the murky water a short distance away. These were the crocodile-type exotic beasts Wang Dong had talked about.
However, Zhang Che was seriously doubting how high quality these beasts could be if they were merely residing at the edge of the swamps.
They shouldn't be that powerful, even if it was a king of the crocodiles.
"Judging by that guy's joyful look earlier, this mustn't be all that he discovered. There must be something stronger deeper in the swamps."
Zhang Che didn't mind Wang Dong's withholding of information in the least. After all, he didn't pay the fellow a single cent, so there was no incentive to speak the whole truth.
Moreover, Wang Dong was acting out of goodwill. He guessed that Zhang Che's beastmaster tier wasn't too high, and was afraid that he might get into danger if he went too deep. As such, he exaggerated the strengths of these crocodile beasts.
"Come on, let's go see exactly how strong these crocodile-like beasts are," Zhang Che said, tapping on Hanxue's neck. The Golden Elephorse King immediately ran further into the swampy area, excited.
Not all places were filled with muddy pools in the swamp; there were dry surfaces too, at places with higher elevation. Hanxue's hooves wouldn't sink in.
Feeling the vibrations caused by Hanxue's hooves, the attention of the huge exotic beasts ahead were drawn towards them. Their huge heads rose up slightly, be it from the bushes or the muddy water, looking in Zhang Che's direction.
It was probably due to the distance between them that none of the exotic beasts made any further movements. Each of them were silently waiting for their prey to walk right up to them.
Naturally, they had no idea that it wasn't prey that had shown up, but reapers coming for their lives.
When the first crocodile-like exotic beast came within a hundred meters of Zhang Che, he finally saw its attributes, which led to him shaking his head and pouting.
"I knew it; they're only two-star bronze-quality beasts! Like I suspected, how could these beasts residing at the edge of the swamps be high quality?"
Due to his thrifty nature, thinking that no matter how small an ant's leg was, it was still meat! Zhang Che would obviously not let these exotic beasts known as Swamp Crocodiles off. With a wave of his hand, the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly hovering above him quickly flew forward.
The two-star silver-quality beast's flying speed was not inferior to ordinary birds. With a few flutters of its basket-sized wings, it was already above the head of the nearest Swamp Crocodile.
The Swamp Crocodile realized the impending danger. Its huge body suddenly lurched out of the bushes. Its thick, but short limbs moving quickly, its dozen-meter long body twisted along as it quickly fled to where its companions were.
Alas, this fellow's movements were too clumsy in the eyes of the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly. Poisonous powders as faint as white smoke slowly fell down, covering the entire head of the Swamp Crocodile.
In the next moment, the crawling Swamp Crocodile suddenly came to a stop. Its eyes were filled with confusion, and it started circling around on the spot.
"Eh? It's not directly rendered immobile?" Zhang Che was greatly surprised. After the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly rose to silver-quality, the effects of its powders actually changed. Who knew how they would turn out in the future?
The Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly didn't stop after getting this Swamp Crocodile under control. Instead, it flew towards the group of crocodiles further in the swamp.
Meanwhile, Zhang Che jumped off Hanxue's back and donned the Maneater Leech King armor over his regular clothes, striding towards the first affected Swamp Crocodile.
A streak of green light was drawn in the air, the savage head immediately separated from its body, turning into a glow of light and dissipating.
[You Killed a Swamp Crocodile. Obtained 4 Points of Soul Force.=
The corners of Zhang Che's lips curled up. He continued walking forward with his sword in hand, humming, "The general leads the charge, wearing his unrelenting will as armor, like an unstoppable force. He is invincible, for he destroys all that stands in his path!"
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Chapter 114: Chapter 114 – Like A Cosplay Prop
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
After letting his chuunibyou run wild for a short while, Zhang Che continued walking deeper into the swamp.
Every Swamp Crocodile that could be seen fell before him under the effects of the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly's powder. All he needed to do was step forward and harvest their lives.
The ground ahead was starting to become softer. He might find himself stuck in the mud if he was careless.
Fortunately, Zhang Che had covered his clothing with the Maneater Leech King's soft armor beforehand. Otherwise, he'd find himself stained with mud.
Although his steps sank deeper the further he walked forwards, Zhang Che was enjoying every bit of it. He had no intention of letting his subdued beasts do all the work for him. The feeling of harvesting an exotic beast's life with every swing of the sword was too enjoyable!
When Zhang Che cut down the third Swamp Crocodile's head, he finally obtained the first beast card of the day.
[Swamp Crocodile]
Level: Two Star (Level 18)
Quality: Bronze
Type: Armor Type
Characteristics: Tough Skin, Above Average Defenses
Weakness: Low Resistance to Corrosion
Potential: E Rank
Cultivating Directions: …
"Hmm? I didn't expect it to be an armor-type beast card… but its potential is really trash. There's no value in cultivating them at all," Zhang Che pouted, and put the bronze card away. He wasn't even interested in seeing how it'd look like.
It wasn't even freaking comparable to his Maneater Leech King armor; what need was there to try it on!?
Zhang Che stepped forward again and killed a few more Swamp Crocodiles. After obtaining another two beast cards, Zhang Che had no choice but to stop advancing forward. His legs were now sinking in the mud from the kneecaps down, and he didn't dare to move forward any more.
"Forget it; there's not much sense of accomplishment in killing these kind of trash beasts, anyway. I'll just leave it to the little ones."
Shaking his head, Zhang Che returned in the direction he came from uninterestedly. On the other hand, the Fiery Scorpion and Wind Shadow Wolf quickly pounced at the Swamp Crocodiles affected by the Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly's powder.
However, the two's performance were very contrasting.
The Fiery Scorpion was faring decently. This fiery red scorpion was now a two-star tier beast, its quality one level above the Swamp Crocodile's. All it took was a sting, injecting a little poison into the crocodile's body, and it would kill the exotic beast almost instantly.
On the other hand, the Wind Shadow Wolf's offensive strength wasn't high to begin with. In addition, the Swamp Crocodile's entire body was covered in tough scales. There was nowhere the Wind Shadow Wolf could bite down on. It took quite a bit of effort before it was done with its first kill.
Meanwhile, the Fiery Scorpion was already stinging the fifth Swamp Crocodile, aiming at its eye.
Looking at this scene, Zhang Che couldn't resist letting out a long sigh, "It's about time to phase out this mediocre beast with almost zero redeeming qualities."
Even the Fiery Scorpion was almost at the limits of its potential. In the future, it could only lay quietly in a cabinet as a collection card.
Despite the underwhelming performances of the two two-star beasts, Zhang Che didn't order the Purple Jade Condor to swoop down and finish the job. This fellow was a three-star dark gold-quality beast; what if it scared off the yet-to-appear lords of the Swamp Crocodiles?
The Fiery Scorpion and Wind Shadow Wolf continued harvesting the lives of the Swamp Crocodiles hurriedly. The Psychedelic Ghost-Patterned Butterfly was already finished with its job and fluttered back to Zhang Che, hovering over his head.
Suddenly, ripples started appearing on the muddy water surface about two hundred meters away. Two huge bodies concealed under the water's surface swam towards Zhang Che at high speed.
"So you're finally coming out, huh?" Zhang Che's lips curled up, focusing on them with a narrowed gaze.
Soon two huge, savage figures broke out of the murky water's surface, letting out low roars in unison as they pounced at the Fiery Scorpion and Wind Shadow Wolf separately.
Unlike the ordinary Swamp Crocodiles, these two lord-class Swamp Crocodiles were not only covered in yellowish-brown scales, there were silvery lines on top of them, and their scales were deeper in color, as well.
The most obvious difference was their bodies. They were nearly twice as large as ordinary Swamp Crocodiles. Their long snouts were slightly open, revealing the mouthful of sharp teeth hidden within.
If you threw a small car in their way, these two were able to tear it in half with a single bite!
"Come back!"
Although he couldn't see the attributes of these two huge crocodiles, Zhang Che could sense that the Fiery Scorpion and Wind Shadow Wolf were no match for them at all, and he immediately made the decision to recall them.
After receiving Zhang Che's order, the two subdued beasts immediately stopped their one-sided massacre of the Swamp Crocodiles and changed directions, running back to Zhang Che's side.
Naturally, the two horrifying crocodiles wouldn't let things end just like that. Each of them worked their thick, strong claws rapidly, chasing the two subdued beasts like relentless heavy tanks.
Seeing the two horrifying crocodiles approaching the hundred-meter range, Zhang Che mumbled to himself, "It's about time!"
A purple figure suddenly descended from the skies, covering a thousand meters in a flash, swooping straight down at one of the horrifying crocodiles like a bolt of purple lightning.
Before the crocodile could react to it, the Purple Jade Condor's talons were stabbed deep into its head, followed by a violent tearing that ripped off the top of its skull. Fresh red blood mixed with white brain matter was strewn about, and the crocodile was dead on the spot.
"What a pity, it didn't drop a beast card."
Zhang Che shook his head regrettably as he watched the crocodile's corpse turning into a white glow and dissipating. Afterwards, he shifted his gaze to the other side.
The remaining huge crocodile was scared out of its mind after the sudden demise of its companion. It hurriedly changed directions and crawled towards the nearest pool of water with all its might, running for its life.
Alas, how could its speed be comparable to the Purple Jade Condor's?
In the blink of an eye, the Purple Jade Condor caught up to the huge crocodile. Using the same moves, its sharp talons found their way into the crocodile's skull, ripping it open in the next second.
[You Killed a Swamp Crocodile King. Obtained 24 Points of Soul Force. Obtained Swamp Crocodile King Card!=
The wonderful sound of notification rang in his mind, as Zhang Che watched the Swamp Crocodile King's corpse turning into a shiny golden card. It was caught by the Purple Jade Condor with its beak, and it flew back to his side.
[Swamp Crocodile King]
Level: Three Star (Level 30)
Quality: Gold
Type: Armor Type
Characteristics: Exceptional Defenses, No Defensive Blind Spots
Weakness: Hinders Movement Slightly
Innate Attribute: Sturdy. Provides an Incomparably Heavy Sense of Defense, Guards Extremely Well Against Charge-Type Attacks
Potential: C Rank
Cultivating Directions: …
"Heh, a three-star gold-quality defensive beast card!" Zhang Che's smile was so wide that his eyes narrowed into slits. He finally had a fully defensive armor!
He immediately erased his spiritual imprint from the Wind Shadow Wolf card, and triggered a spiritual resonance with the Swamp Crocodile King card, materializing it.
A layer of golden light quickly enveloped Zhang Che, and turned into a deep brown full-bodied hard armor covering every inch of his body.
"There really is no defensive blind spot… Even the head is a closed full helmet. I wonder what it looks like on the outside…"
Zhang Che was completely covered in the hard armor. Even the eye area was covered in a layer of transparent material, providing a layer of defense.
As for breathing, Zhang Che could tell that there were many tiny holes in this set of hard armor, which didn't affect his defenses. Air could pass through easily, so he wouldn't die of suffocation wearing it.
He tried moving his arms and legs. He discovered that although the joint areas were much softer, there was still a feeling similar to wearing a thick layer of winter clothing, impeding his movements.
It seemed like that was exactly the weakness of the armor, hindering movement slightly. However, it wasn't a huge problem.
Zhang Che looked around and found a pool of water nearby. He strode over, lowering his head slightly and saw the complete outer appearance of the armor.
"Siii… why does this look so much like a freaking cosplay prop?!"
What entered his vision was a savage-looking crocodile head, its design extremely exaggerated.
The armor covering the rest of his body was very thick, as well. The overall appearance resembled a crocodile-turned-demon, leaving Zhang Che relating it to a cosplay prop.
It was indeed a little ugly, although he had no idea how strong its defenses were.
Zhang Che turned to look at Hanxue, who was waiting at the outskirt of the swamp. He wanted to test exactly how sturdy the armor was, as described by its Innate Attribute.
Translator's Note:
1 – A Japanese term, literally meaning Grade 8 Syndrome, typically used to describe people who have delusions of grandeur, imagining themselves as having some sort of hidden knowledge or secret power.
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Chapter 115: Chapter 115 – Frogs Croaking Everywhere
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
"Innate Attribute: Sturdy. Provides an Incomparably Heavy Sense of Defense, Guards Extremely Well Against Charge Attacks."
The gold-quality Swamp Crocodile King's armor seemed to have a really good innate attribute. Zhang Che wanted to try it out for himself.
After studying his subdued beasts and pets, only the Purple Jade Condor and Hanxue were the most suitable choices for charging attacks.
The Purple Jade Condor was obviously out of the question. This fellow was too strong; it was extremely powerful, even if it held back. Zhang Che wouldn't dare take this risk.
The Golden Elephorse King, Hanxue, however, was different. It was much smaller than the Purple Jade Condor, and their strengths were at a completely different level. There wouldn't be any problem if he didn't come charging too fast… probably?
Zhang Che readied himself. Hanxue stared at Zhang Che from a few dozen meters away with his eyes wide, as if asking, "Are we really doing this?"
Zhang Che took a deep breath, beckoning Hanxue with his hand, "Come on!"
Hanxue raised his head, neighing softly, and charged right at Zhang Che with short steps. He took nearly ten seconds to close the few dozen meters between them. Hanxue tilted his head, slamming into Zhang Che's chest with his right shoulder.
Zhang Che's body wavered for a moment, not feeling anything.
"Can't you go harder a little!?" Zhang Che didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw Hanxue, looking like he was afraid to hurt him. He could only order Hanxue to charge at him again.
The truth was, although Hanxue's charge from earlier didn't seem heavy, there was a considerable amount of force behind it. If there wasn't such a heavy armor absorbing most of the force, Zhang Che would surely be lying on the ground.
This light bump was more than enough to show the extraordinariness of this armor.
Seeing his charge not affecting his owner in the least, Hanxue immediately felt assured and doubled his speed for his second charge.
Bam!
Hanxue rammed his shoulder into the armor once more. Zhang Che felt a huge force, causing him to lose balance. He staggered a few steps backward, and fell into the bushes.
"Alright, not bad! One more time, Hanxue. Go twice as hard!" Zhang Che ordered with an amused tone as he struggled to crawl back up on his feet.
Although Hanxue used much more strength than before on his second charge, Zhang Che only felt as if he was pushed by someone. Despite falling to the ground, he didn't feel any impact at all.
The Innate Attribute of this armor was truly wonderful!
Bam! Bam! Bam!…
Hanxue kept increasing the speed of his charge. The final charge directly threw Zhang Che flying into the air, landing several meters back, and the tests finally came to an end.
Zhang Che crawled back up on his feet for the last time, complaining inside, -This armor really hinders my movement. It doesn't pose much of a problem usually, but once I fall to the ground, it's really hard to get back up.-
However, this little flaw didn't affect Zhang Che's fondness for this armor's defensive strength.
Hanxue's final charge contained as much power behind it as a car driving at high speed. If Zhang Che wasn't protected by the armor, his bones would surely have broken, and he would have died on the spot.
However, with the Swamp Crocodile King armor protecting him, all he felt was a little dull pain at the point of impact.
This was simply amazing!
Ordinary beast card armors might provide decent defense against sharp objects, but were barely effective against such blunt trauma, especially high-speed attacks over a large area.
Against this kind of attack, ordinary beast card armors wouldn't suffer much damage, but the beastmaster would surely break their bones. In more serious cases, their organs would suffer damage and they would die from the injury.
"I really picked up a treasure. If I obtain a long spear in the future, I'd immediately turn into an invincible heavy cavalryman!"
Despite his excitement, Zhang Che wasn't left without regrets.
This gold-quality beast card actually didn't come with a skill!
A decisive poor grade!
"Still, why is the potential of the ordinary Swamp Crocodiles merely E rank, while the Swamp Crocodile King card has a C Rank potential? How strange…"
Logically speaking, even if the Swamp Crocodile King's potential was a little higher than the ordinary ones, there shouldn't be that much of a difference.
However, this was obviously a question with no answer. Zhang Che only wondered about this for a brief moment before abandoning the thought. No matter what the reason was, it was still an advantageous attribute for him.
A beast card with C Rank potential could be upgraded three times. This meant that the Swamp Crocodile King armor had boundless potential, and Zhang Che pretty much didn't have to worry about armor-related problems from now on, he could just keep using it for the foreseeable future.
The Swamp Crocodiles in this area were cleaned up thoroughly. Zhang Che set his gaze further into the swamps, anticipating what kind of powerful exotic beasts Wang Dong had discovered.
The terrain ahead was even muddier. Zhang Che didn't ride on Hanxue, instead recalling the elephorse back into his spiritual sea. His hooves would sink deep into the mud with every step he took. He was obviously not suited to travel in such an environment.
After making his way around the body of water which the two Swamp Crocodile Kings had been active in, Zhang Che got the Fiery Scorpion to scout the way ahead. They walked through an area of wild grass about half as tall as humans, carefully advancing forward.
Small bushes were everywhere, obstructing Zhang Che's vision and leaving him unable to see the situation even slightly further ahead. Left without a choice, he could only go at an even slower pace.
The Purple Jade Condor up in the sky was helpless about this situation as well. It was only sensitive towards moving objects; it was very hard for it to detect any exotic beasts that might be hiding within these small bushes, and was unable to provide much help to Zhang Che.
Of course, if any exotic beasts nearby were to suddenly ambush Zhang Che, the Purple Jade Condor was still able to inform him immediately!
After they finally made the whole way around the Swamp Crocodile Kings' habitat, the vegetation ahead grew thicker. Every step Zhang Che took felt like he was stepping into a puddle. His legs sank into muddy water, letting out regular sucking and sloshing sounds.
Before he knew it, his surroundings were filled with lotus-like plants. Their huge leaves were spread wide, emerald green in color, giving off a delightful atmosphere.
"Is this the beast world's lotus? I'm not giving it a like if they're not blooming!"
Zhang Che looked around. He didn't notice any signs of flowers on the stems or leaves of these plants. Perhaps it wasn't the season for them to bloom.
Gugu, gua!…
After walking further in, Zhang Che suddenly heard croaking sounds a short distance ahead. He quickly came to a stop, observing the area around himself.
Gua!…
That croak seemed to have flipped a switch. Countless croaks suddenly rang out in all directions.
Zhang Che's face immediately turned grave.
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Chapter 116: Chapter 116 – Demon Eye Toad
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Something must be up when an anomaly occurs!
The croakings were too sudden. Zhang Che had no choice but to stay alert, ready for any attacks that might come at any moment.
At the same time, he had the Purple Jade Condor give up on scouting the situation in the area and lower its altitude, circling about three hundred meters above him.
If any danger arose, the Purple Jade Condor could cover that much distance in just two breaths' time to provide reinforcement.
Zhang Che decided to keep the frisky monkey in his spiritual sea. The fellow didn't have much combat ability except for his archery skills. In such a complicated situation, where bow and arrows were unable to provide much help, he might even become a burden.
As such, Zhang Che only had one Original Combat Body type beast left other than the Purple Jade Condor, which was the Fiery Scorpion, whose strength was already falling behind the others.
Zhang Che had no choice but to face this issue. Before he reached Tier Four and was able to wield the Scarlet Flame Drake, the strength he could rely on was a little too weak.
His personal safety would become a problem if he got into a situation where flying beasts were rendered useless.
Although he had the Swamp Crocodile King armor now and a qualitative increase in his defenses, he couldn't possibly just act passively as a punching bag.
"No matter what, I have to get myself a few decent Original Combat Body-type beast cards before I return!" Zhang Che resolved inwardly. There was still about half a month's time until the universities' beastmaster examination. He might as well give up on doing this for a living if he couldn't even get his hands on a few decent Original Combat Body-type cards.
Let alone the fact that he already had the three-star dark gold-quality Purple Jade Condor, he also had the terrifying Scarlet Flame Drake waiting to contribute to his cause when he rose to Tier Four. If he still couldn't go on a rampage as he wished around the safety zone, he would simply be losing the face of every Qi Dian protagonist.
{TL: Yes, the author is breaking the Fourth Wall.}
The croaking sounds around him grew increasingly louder, and more concentrated.
However, Zhang Che still hadn't discovered where the strange croaking came from. He only felt like they were everywhere, but he couldn't pinpoint their location despite listening carefully.
"Could these be the powerful exotic beasts Wang Dong discovered? Impossible. If that was the case, given his strength, Wang Dong wouldn't be able to leave this swamp alive."
Zhang Che was suspicious. He had the Mutated Puffersword ready in his hand, and once any danger arose, he'd use the Sonic Wave attack to force open a path and return the way he came.
If all else failed, he could still get the Purple Jade Condor to ferry him away from this area if necessary.
Of course, Zhang Che didn't dare to ride on the Purple Jade Condor's back. If there happened to be a strong wind, he would likely fall into the water and drown.
His plan was to use the Rotten Ent Prowler whip to hang onto the Purple Jade Condor's leg if needed, allowing it to fly him out of here. As long as he held onto the whip tightly, it was unlikely that he'll fall during a short flight.
Gugu, gua! … A croak that was obviously different from the others suddenly belched out. Zhang Che's expression immediately changed.
After that, a wave of soft sizzling sounds rang out in all directions. Pale green water arrows shot out from the surrounding grasses, bushes, and even the lotus-like huge leaves at the same time, all of them flying in Zhang Che's direction.
The water arrows weren't fast; their trajectories could be clearly seen with the eye. There shouldn't be much force behind them, but Zhang Che complexion changed, nonetheless.
He could feel a strong threat coming from those arrows!
Zhang Che's quick wits came into effect in this dangerous situation. He snapped the lotus leaves around him and squatted down, holding these huge leaves over his head as cover.
Despite the water arrows' unimpressive speed, they were nearly upon him just as Zhang Che squat down.
The water arrows struck the wide lotus leaves, letting out a wave of crisp, concentrated splattering sounds.
The water arrows lost their strength as they struck the leaves, turning into ordinary pale green water. Some of the water flowed down, while most of it became water droplets, splashing in all directions, onto the bushes, grasses, or hitting other lotus leaves.
Zhang Che's complexion changed greatly, as he watched the plants' vitality flowing away as the water droplets struck them. The plants became increasing dry, their colors shifting towards a purplish black, leaving Zhang Che trembling from the shock.
-The water arrows are poisonous! And it's the kind that contains strong corrosive properties!-
Zhang Che immediately gave an order to the Purple Jade Condor without pausing to think. Afterwards, he tossed the withered huge lotus leaves away and turned to leave with quick steps.
The bushes rustled for a brief moment. The Fiery Scorpion emerged, its whole body plastered with faint green water droplets. Its carapace was gradually changing color, evidently suffering from serious corrosion!
Zhang Che hurriedly recalled it back to his spiritual sea with a wave of his hand, preventing this fellow from dying to the corrosive water.
The powerful exotic beasts Wang Dong discovered were definitely not these unknown mysterious toads. Not only that, he probably hadn't entered their territory at all. How could he still be alive otherwise?
Zhang Che lurched forward in the mud, nearly falling down a few times.
Actually, he wasn't worried that these water arrows would corrode his armor. In fact, what worried him the most was that unique croak from earlier.
It was obvious that there was a powerful king-figure among the toads, and it had yet to launch an attack on Zhang Che. It was most likely waiting for an opportunity to deal a fatal strike.
After receiving Zhang Che's order, the Purple Jade Condor's huge figure immediately swooped down, ready to rescue its owner from this area.
A fierce-looking long whip appeared in Zhang Che's armor-covered hand. Seeing the Purple Jade Condor closing in at high speed, he prepared himself to lash it at the bird's talons, coiling around them.
However, a sudden situation occurred right at this moment.
A red and black figure suddenly jumped out from a bush, leaping over twenty meters into the air, pouncing towards the descending Purple Jade Condor.
Zhang Che could vaguely tell that it was a toad as big as a bull, its entire body filled with red and black stripes, and concentrated pimple-like bumps on its skin. The bumps had a strange color, leaving anyone who saw them feeling uncomfortable.
What shocked Zhang Che the most was that there was a strange pattern on the toad's back, just below its head. It looked like a slightly narrowed demon's eye, ready to pick its prey.
"Exactly what level and quality is this Demon Eye Toad? It actually dared to challenge the Purple Jade Condor head-on!"
Zhang Che stopped in place. Under the cover of the Swamp Crocodile King armor, his face showed his astonishment…
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Chapter 117: Chapter 117 – Evenly Matched
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
The spot where the Demon Eye Toad jumped up was just slightly over a hundred meters away from Zhang Che, and he wasn't able to see the exotic beast's attributes, leaving him feeling very anxious.
To have the guts to challenge the Purple Jade Condor, one could only imagine how strong the Demon Eye Toad was.
However, this toad actually leapt right up to a bird's territory! Was it thinking that its opponent wouldn't eat it? Or, perhaps someone or something gave it the courage?
Zhang Che was baffled. Even if two beasts were similar in strength, there existed a natural restraint between two different species. Toad-type exotic beasts were not naturally equipped with the strength to go against flying-type beasts.
Moreover, Zhang Che wasn't of the opinion that the mysterious toad's strength was far above the Purple Jade Condor's. If that were the case, he and his beasts would have died to the ugly thing long ago. How could he possibly still be alive at this moment?
Countless thoughts went through Zhang Che's mind, as the Demon Eye Toad was reaching the apex of its jump. There was less than a hundred meters between it and the Purple Jade Condor, and the distance between them was rapidly shrinking.
The Purple Jade Condor originally planned to bring its master away from this area, but now that it was taunted by this damned toad in such a way, how could it possibly sit by and endure? It let out a piercing cry, pecking at the Demon Eye Toad.
With the Purple Jade Condor's strength, even a hard rock would be turned to powder with a single peck. If the toad were to suffer a single blow, a large hole would definitely be punctured into it.
Right at this moment, however, the Demon Eye Toad suddenly lowered its head in mid air, exposing its back to the Purple Jade Condor as if it was throwing away its life.
Zhang Che's face suddenly changed, yelling out subconsciously, "Watch out!"
The pattern on the Demon Eye Toad's back suddenly shone, like a malicious spirit opening its eye. An extremely cold aura suddenly spread. Even Zhang Che, who was over a hundred meters away, shivered, goosebumps rising from his skin.
The Demon Eye Toad was actually a cold-attributed powerful beast!
With the demon eye open, a deep blue beam suddenly shot out following the spreading of the cold aura, striking the Purple Jade Condor's head as it couldn't dodge in time.
The Purple Jade Condor let out a loud cry. Its body seemed like it turned stiff, losing its balance and plummeted down towards the swamp.
Zhang Che's complexion paled. He exclaimed in astonishment, "How is this possible!?"
It was the strongest subdued beast he had in his line-up, a three-star dark gold-quality beast! And it was actually killed instantly by that Demon Eye Toad?!
-No! As my subdued beast, it would turn into a streak of light and dissipate if it's dead. There wouldn't be a corpse left behind!-
Zhang Che felt a little more assured, his sights set on where the Purple Jade Condor was falling.
As expected, just as the Purple Jade Condor's stiffened body was about to hit the ground, it suddenly let out an enraged cry. Its wing spread out mightily, beating furiously, resuming flight close to the ground.
At the same moment, the Demon Eye Toad landed. Its powerful, ugly legs pushed off the ground again, jumping nearly fifty meters forward, pursuing the Purple Jade Condor.
After regaining its ability to fly, the condor made a sharp turn at low altitude, flying straight towards the Demon Eye Toad.
Its dignity as a powerful flying beast was being seriously challenged. The Purple Jade Condor wouldn't let this go just like that. It had to strike back, or it would lose all face as a mighty condor!
Gua!
The Demon Eye Toad wasn't afraid in the least, either. Its figure leapt into the air once more, its mouth opening wide, shooting a ball of gloomy green water about the size of a basketball at the Purple Jade Condor.
It was obvious that the deep blue beam shot from the Demon Eye Toad's back earlier was most likely its offensive skill, and now that it was on cooldown, it could only use the corrosive green water like the rest of its underlings.
However, the Purple Jade Condor was aware that this corrosive water attack wasn't to be underestimated, either. Naturally it wouldn't fly into it stupidly. The Purple Jade Condor tilted its wing slightly, and drew a beautiful arc in the air, reaching the side of the Demon Eye Toad.
As the saying went, it was impolite to only be on the receiving end. The Purple Jade Condor was well aware that this damned toad before its eyes was the strongest foe it had ever encountered, and it didn't dare to hold anything back. It activated its Wing Blade skill, emitting a blinding glow of light on its wings.
In the next moment, the Purple Jade Condor's speed suddenly exploded, becoming over twice as fast. Its figure turned into a purple lightning, diving at the Demon Eye Toad a few dozen meters away.
"Who knows if the Purple Jade Condor can land a hit on this damn toad…"
Zhang Che was standing far away, with the Gluttony Monkey by his side. The latter was wielding his bow, ready to fire a fatal shot at any moment.
The Demon Eye Toad let out another resounding croak. Its nimble body jumped, narrowly dodging the Purple Jade Condor's dive. Its figure flashed, disappearing into the thick bushes.
Naturally, the Purple Jade Condor wouldn't give up just like this. Its Wing Blade skill lasted for an entire minute. Thus, it suddenly changed direction, zeroing in on where the Demon Eye Toad disappeared, cutting down anything in its path, determined to find this ugly toad that made it suffer such a disgraceful loss.
For a short while, the plants in this area were in for a bad time.
The grasses, bushes, branches, as well as the lotus leaves, were shredded to pieces, strewn everywhere.
When the one minute was over, a wide circular area of about a few hundred meters radius was left in a desolate state, with not a stalk of plant remaining standing.
However, Zhang Che didn't see any traces of the Demon Eye Toad. Not only that, not a single regular toad was killed during the Purple Jade Condor's rampage.
The area was filled with pools of water. Facing the Purple Jade Condor's attack, all of the ugly toads, including the Demon Eye Toad, had probably hid themselves in the water, so there weren't any casualties.
This battle ended just as swiftly and abruptly as it started.
Currently, the bitter Purple Jade Condor was still circling around at a low altitude, letting out enraged cries from time to time, like how ancient generals tried to taunt their enemies into showing themselves in historical fiction.
Alas, the Demon Eye Toad seemed to understand that it was merely evenly matched with the Purple Jade Condor. There was no chance of it emerging victorious, and thus it decided to remain hidden.
Zhang Che focused his gaze on the swamplands, finally sighing after a long time. He recalled the Purple Jade Condor to his side, maneuvering around this area as he looked to explore further into the swamp.
It was impossible for his party to kill the Demon Eye Toad today. This area was its territory; they had no advantage to speak of. If they were to remain stubborn, perhaps they might even get ambushed, putting their lives in danger.
"Just you wait, ugly toad. It won't be long before I return. Hopefully you'll still be here waiting for me!"
Before they left, Zhang Che took another longing look at where the Demon Eye Toad disappeared, his gaze deep and cold…
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Chapter 118: Chapter 118 – Are You Trying to Set Me Up?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
After Wang Dong bade farewell to Zhang Che, his Elephorse galloped away at high speed, returning to the safety zone in no time.
He didn't stop to rest after returning. Instead, he directly crossed the spatial gateway and headed right to the trading hub in the military camp with hurried steps.
His encounter with Zhang Che earlier left him feeling a deep sense of crisis. That area wasn't far from the safety zone, nor was the terrain overly complicated. Since Zhang Che could wander there unintentionally, gods knew if there would be another expert beastmaster entering that area?
His information wouldn't be worth a penny if the exotic beast he discovered was killed by others. How huge of a loss would that be!?
Burning with anxiety, Wang Dong directly walked into the Ding Feng Corporation's mall, stating that he had important information regarding a powerful exotic beast's location to sell them.
Seeing the anxious look on Wang Dong, the Ding Feng Corporation's men didn't dare to take it slowly and hurriedly relayed the information to their superiors. Zhang Yujie, who happened to be working here for a few days, immediately received the information.
"Information on a powerful exotic beast?" Zhang Yujie's eyes narrowed slightly. He nodded, "Come, let's go meet that guy. Also, get the members of the hunting team who are here today to get ready immediately."
After meeting Wang Dong, Zhang Yujie directly cut to the chase, asking, "Are you sure that there aren't any others who have discovered the place yet? Also, do you know of the said powerful beast's strength level? You do know that if its level and quality aren't high enough, they might not necessarily drop a beast card. I don't wish to mobilize my men and end up empty handed."
Wang Dong nodded profusely, answering firmly, "There shouldn't be anyone who discovered the place yet!"
Mmm, Zhang Che was directly ignored by Wang Dong. He didn't think that kid who wasn't much stronger than him had the ability to hunt that powerful exotic beast.
"As for that beast's strength, I estimate that it shouldn't be lower than four-stars, while its quality is very likely to be gold, or even one tier higher, because I happened to witness another extremely powerful exotic beast entering its territory unwittingly, and it was shredded to pieces in a few moves."
Zhang Yujie's eyes shone brightly after hearing what Wang Dong said.
According to the data circulated within the Alliance's high society, the chances of a beast card dropping increased along with the beast's level and quality, especially mid-tier gold-quality beasts or higher. They were sure to drop beast cards.
As for dark gold or higher quality beasts, they were also sure to drop beast cards, no matter their star level!
If that exotic beast was truly as powerful as reported by this guy, it would definitely drop a beast card; this was a trip worth making!
Zhang Yujie came to a decision almost instantly. He nodded at Wang Dong, saying, "Alright, we'll accept this deal!"
Wang Dong immediately revealed a bright smile on his face. However, Zhang Yujie spoke up again immediately afterwards, "However, you have to bring us there. The terrain there might not be overly complicated, but there are also considerable hidden dangers in that area. Wouldn't it be dangerous if we went to the wrong place?"
Wang Dong's face sank instantly. However, he was also prepared to go all out for the sake of the million dollar commission. If he had to lead the way, so be it! He wasn't out to cheat them. What was there to be afraid of?
Moreover, it was widely known that Ding Feng Corporation's Zhang Yujie-dashao was already a Tier Five beastmaster, not to mention the strong hunting team under him. With them protecting him, did he have to worry about encountering any danger at the edge of the beast world?
As if having seen through what Wang Dong was thinking, Zhang Yujie added, "Don't worry. As long as we confirm that your information is true, I assure you that the reward of a million dollars would be yours, no matter if we're successful in our endeavor."
Wang Dong was thoroughly assured after hearing this.
Soon, a group of men gathered at the safety zone right by the spatial gateway. Following a loud roar from Zhang Yujie, the group of people sped towards the southeast.
This time, Zhang Yujie gathered every high-end force he could assemble, their numbers totaling over twenty. Each of the beastmasters was at Tier Four or higher.
There were five Tier Five beastmasters present, including himself!
——-
Still feeling a trace of bitterness, Zhang Che received a warning from the Purple Jade Condor in the sky just as he detoured around those ugly toads' territory, that a huge group of people were coming at them at high speed from the safety zone's direction.
In addition, the Purple Jade Condor also specified that the one leading the group was the same person who had left earlier.
"Hm? Wang Dong is moving fast. He brought people here so soon?"
Zhang Che stopped in place. With a thought, the Swamp Crocodile King armor covering him disappeared, and he reactivated the Maneater Leech King soft armor. At the same time, he also summoned Hanxue to his side. After thinking for a moment, Zhang Che recalled the frisky monkey back to his spiritual sea again, and kept the Falling Star Model X bow in its container, placing it on Hanxue's back before looking in the safety zone's direction cautiously.
Soon, the rumbling of hooves were heard, and a party of people quickly entered Zhang Che's vision.
Zhang Che was amazed by the sight when the party got closer. What a case of curious coincidence, indeed! The people Wang Dong was leading was actually Zhang Yujie and his men from the Ding Feng Corporation.
At the same time, Zhang Yujie's group also noticed Zhang Che standing on the opposite side of the river, as if he was waiting for them.
Hanxue's muscular scarlet body was immediately caught by everyone's eyes. The group stopped in place one after another when they saw Hanxue's proud figure.
Zhang Yujie was shocked inwardly. He couldn't help but exclaim, "God damn, why is he here!?"
Wang Dong was similarly shocked. He cried out, "Brother Expert! Why is he here?"
Both of them were taken aback after hearing what the other said, turning to look at each other.
Zhang Yujie sent a curious look to Wang Dong, as many thoughts flashed in his mind. After which, he said slowly, "Say, are you trying to set me up?"
Alas, how could Wang Dong have anticipated such a situation happening? He shook his head profusely, saying, "No, no, no. I wouldn't dare set you up, Zhang-dashao. I really didn't expect Brother Expert to find this place, too! Forget it, Zhang-dashao, count myself unlucky; I won't ask for the commission for this."
-You're still thinking about the freaking commission?- Zhang Yujie resisted his urge to roll his eyes back, focusing his gaze towards Zhang Che.
Zhang Che felt a little relieved after realizing that the party Wang Dong was guiding was Zhang Yujie's men. Everything was fine as long as they weren't some random unknowns. After all, it'd be unpleasant if a dispute sprang up here.
Wearing a smile on his face, Zhang Che mounted Hanxue and crossed the swamp, as well as the river, trotting towards Zhang Yujie's party.
At the same time, the Purple Jade Condor's figure swooped down from the sky, hovering over Zhang Che's head. Its sharp eyes were observing Zhang Yujie's group from time to time, emitting the mighty aura from its entire body, which only powerful beasts possessed.
Hanxue moved with short, light steps, stopping a short distance before the opposite party. Zhang Che greeted them amiably, "Zhang-dashao, Brother Wang Dong, what a coincidence!"
Zhang Che intentionally changed his voice when he bumped into Wang Dong in his original appearance. Even if there were some similarities, he wasn't worried that Wang Dong would recognize his dual personas. After all, he had appeared with two completely different appearances. Even if their voices were similar, Wang Dong would definitely not be suspicious of him.
After all, it was completely unheard of in this world for someone to alter their appearance and figure so thoroughly…
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Chapter 119: Chapter 119 – You're Leaving, Just Like That?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
"Zhang-dashao, Brother Wang Dong, what a coincidence!" Zhang Che greeted amiably on the outside, but he was cursing inwardly.
-Why did Wang Dong have to move so quickly? I haven't even found the exotic beast he discovered, and he is already here with a huge group in tow!-
Now that Zhang Yujie was here with such a big group, each person with respectable strength, it truly was a little troublesome going forward.
Although Zhang Yujie and his men's subdued beasts were only gold-quality at best, their levels were high. A five-star gold-quality beast could knock out a three-star dark gold-quality beast easily. Even if his gold-quality beasts had no skills, the Purple Jade Condor wouldn't be a match for them.
It couldn't be helped; the difference between low-tier and mid-tier wasn't something a single tier of quality could make up for, not to mention there was a difference of two levels between three-stars and five-stars.
"Hur, what a coincidence, indeed! I didn't expect to bump into Brother Sun Che here," Zhang Yujie smiled stiffly, as he was similarly cursing inwardly.
How could he have anticipated that despite rushing here immediately after hearing from Wang Dong, someone would be here before him?
He might act according to the opposite party's strength if it were someone else, to see if they could forcefully snatch away this area.
Alas, the person standing before him right now was Sun Che, who had massacred the Tian Yin Squad effortlessly!
This matter just got complicated!
Zhang Yujie still remembered the desolate scene at the hilly area vividly. An area of a hundred-meter radius looked as if a huge plowing machine had turned the area upside down.
The huge rock was especially of note. It was actually split cleanly in two in the middle, with the cut surface extremely smooth. Obviously it wasn't done with pure brute force.
This struck a little fear in him.
Unlike Zhang Yujie, who had countless thoughts flying through his mind, Wang Dong was showing a dejected expression.
This big shot known as Sun Che arrived here before them, and from the looks of it, he was familiar with Zhang Yujie, too. Wasn't his million dollar information fee as good as gone down the drain?
He squeezed a smile on his face forcefully, nodding at Zhang Che, who was sitting on Hanxue's back, "Hah, it's quite a coincidence, to bump into big brother here."
Each of them had their own thoughts, and fell into an awkward silence.
After a brief moment, it was Zhang Che who spoke up first. He looked at Zhang Yujie, whose expression was constantly changing subtly, and asked, feigning ignorance, "Is Zhang-dashao here to hunt exotic beasts, too? Then, should we partner up? We'll split the beast cards according to our contributions."
-Who the hell would want to partner up with you!?-
Zhang Yujie glanced at the hovering Purple Jade Condor over Zhang Che's head fearfully, stretching his lips into a smile stiffly, shaking his head, "Nah, we better not. How could I fight for exotic beasts with Brother Sun? Not to mention, we're only passing by. It's just that we didn't expect to run into you coincidentally."
After saying that, Zhang Yujie turned to look at Wang Dong, asking him seriously, "Oh, right, how much further is the place you were talking about? We'd better hurry. It'd be bad if someone else was there before us."
Wang Dong was taken aback, before reacting swiftly, "Ah? Oh, there's still quite a distance to go. We'd better set off soon, Zhang-shao." He looked around seriously, then pointed in a direction.
"Then we better hurry up!" Zhang Yujie responded with a grave expression, before revealing a faint smile and nodding at Zhang Che, saying, "Then, Brother Sun, we'll excuse ourselves here."
After bidding farewell, Zhang Yujie took the lead and sped off in the direction Wang Dong indicated, the group of twenty following closely behind him.
Wang Dong waved briefly at Sun Che, before giving chase in a hurry.
——
-They left, just like that?- Zhang Che was stunned, not understanding what Zhang Yujie was playing at.
Originally, he was considering what he should do if Zhang Yujie tried to force him to cede this area to them. Should he refuse resolutely, or should he give in to them and find another place to hunt exotic beasts?
Who would've thought that Zhang Yujie would play such an unconventional card? They were obviously much stronger than him, and reasonably speaking, Wang Dong was the first to discover this place. Even so, they actually left, just like that!
How baffling!
If we really had to talk about how modest Zhang Yujie was, him going to search another area just because Zhang Che arrived here first was obviously impossible!…
So, what was he afraid of?
Zhang Che naturally had no idea that Zhang Yujie's estimation of his strength was ridiculously off, so he chose to leave immediately.
In Zhang Yujie's opinion, destroying his relationship with Zhang Che for the sake of an exotic beast whose strength was unclear wasn't worth it. Moreover, the beast world was such a vast place. Did he have to worry about not finding other high quality beasts? There was no need to risk his relationship with Zhang Che.
"They're gone, so be it. That's for the best."
Zhang Che shook his head and tapped Hanxue's neck, wanting to find the exotic beast Wang Dong discovered as soon as possible.
Although Zhang Yujie had left for unknown reasons, there might be other powerful beastmasters passing by here. It'd be really bad if they interfered while he was battling the exotic beast.
——
"Dashao, we're leaving, just like that?"
"Yeah, dashao, that kid doesn't look very powerful. Why do we have to pass up on such a good opportunity?"
Zhang Yujie's group travelled quite some distance, and some of the beastmasters started discussing things softly.
"What do you know? Does dashao have to seek your agreement before doing anything?"
Before Zhang Yujie could put a word in, Xiaoru, the fierce-looking man by his side all the time, stared at them, roaring, "You haven't seen how fearsome that kid is! Do you know of the Tian Yin Squad-"
"Silence, Xiaoru!" Zhang Yujie turned to glare at him. Other than those who made the trip with him then, no one else knew of the matter regarding the Tian Yin Squad.
After all, acquiring the Herculean Crossbow machines was a huge matter. The fewer people who knew about it the better, before they got any results from their research!
After stopping Xiaoru, Zhang Yujie immediately halted in place, sweeping his gaze across everyone, saying sternly, "Keep this in mind: That Sun Che from before holds unfathomable strength, and has some friendly ties with me. You'd better be polite to him if you see him in the future. Don't ever have any conflict with him. Understand!?"
The group came to a sudden realization. – So it was like that! I knew it; someone as influential as dashao wouldn't have left silently just like that!-
The group nodded one after another in acknowledgement. Zhang Yujie was a respected figure within the Ding Feng Corporation, and also the successor to the corporation. No one would challenge his authority mindlessly.
"Good. Going forward, we'll search around this area. Since we're already out here, we can't possibly return empty-handed," Zhang Yujie nodded in satisfaction. He shifted his gaze to Wang Dong, who was standing by the side awkwardly.
Before he could say a word, Wang Dong took the initiative and said, "Hah, erm… it really is an accident this time. I didn't expect that Sun Che to arrive here before us. Zhang-dashao, and everyone here, I'll… excuse myself first?"
Wang Dong felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off his chest when Zhang Yujie waved his hand somewhat impatiently. He rode his Elephorse in another direction, cursing inwardly, -That freaking Sun Che is like my jinx! Nothing good ever happens whenever I bump into him!-
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Chapter 120: Chapter 120 – What A Big Mouth!
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
If Zhang Che knew what Wang Dong was thinking at this moment, he'd surely reply cheerfully, "Brother, I'm just the opposite! Something good will happen whenever I bump into you!"
Of course, it was impossible for Zhang Che to know what Wang Dong was thinking, nor was he interested.
Zhang Che didn't return to the swamplands immediately after Zhang Yujie's party left. Instead, he remained on the opposite shore of the river, waiting for the Purple Jade Condor to scout ahead.
After some time, the Purple Jade Condor's figure came into vision. Zhang Che had Hanxue start moving, heading into the swamplands once more.
This time, Zhang Che wasn't returning to the area where the ugly toads resided. The Demon Eye Toad's strength was a little too unfathomable, and even the Purple Jade Condor was helpless against it. Not only that, it even suffered a loss against it. Naturally he wouldn't be returning for another bitter pill.
As the saying went, it wasn't too late for a gentleman to take his revenge ten years later. He'll just let it go free for now…
Travelling along the dry lands around the swamp, Zhang Che soon crossed a few small hills, and a cluster of lakes entered his vision. Well, referring them as lakes was giving them a little too much face. They were slightly larger ponds, at best.
Even so, Hanxue was unable to cross them.
Naturally, Hanxue had nothing to fear if it was mere water. The problem was that there was still mud underneath, which left the Golden Elephorse King helpless.
Zhang Che was helpless about it, too. He could only dismount from Hanxue's back and put on the incomparably eye-catching Swamp Crocodile King hide armor. Turning the huge crocodile head helm, Zhang Che scanned his surroundings.
He didn't discover anything after looking all around.
On the other hand, the airborne Purple Jade Condor did.
Following the Purple Jade Condor's guidance, Zhang Che set his sights on a lone island located in the middle of the ponds. Despite looking as hard as he could, he didn't see the exotic beast the Purple Jade Condor was referring to.
It couldn't be helped. The lone island, about as big as a soccer field, was too covered with plants. Let alone the bushes everywhere, grasses as tall as adult men covered his entire field of vision.
"Could this be the place Wang Dong discovered?" Zhang Che suspected. There didn't seem to be any possibilities other than this.
If he wanted to travel past this area, he had no choice but to cross these ponds to head further into the swamp. With Wang Dong's strength, this was the furthest he could get; could he make any other discoveries?
However, what should he do now?
He couldn't possibly take off his clothing and jump into the pond, swimming over. It would be like throwing a meat bun to a dog if there were any water-type exotic beasts in there, a one-way trip.
All this time, Zhang Che felt that his beasts and pets were really strong, despite not being a Tier Four beastmaster, and not being able to wield the Scarlet Flame Drake, with no equal match within the same level as him.
Today, when he came to this area he realized how glaring a weakness he had.
Even if he became a Tier Four beastmaster, the Scarlet Flame Drake wasn't suitable for water combat, either. Not only that, that fellow's weakness happened to be exactly this, water!
As for the Rock Tortoise, there was no point thinking about it. It was a tortoise, not a turtle, and so wasn't a water-type beast, either. It was also huge and slow, fated to be a punching bag in the water.
Zhang Che smacked his lips, murmuring to himself with furrowed brow, "Other than advancing to Tier Four, it seems like getting myself a powerful water-type beast is also a priority…"
The Purple Jade Condor could sense that the exotic beast on that lone island wasn't weak. Naturally Zhang Che wouldn't let it go, but reaching it was posing quite the problem.
Swimming across was out of the question. Despite knowing how to swim, he would never get into the water.
Then, there was only one solution left.
Zhang Che took out the Rotten Ent Prowler card silently, transforming it into a huge club filled with barbs. After that, he sent an order to the Purple Jade Condor, telling it to come down quickly.
He couldn't travel by water, and there was no land connecting to his destination. Flying over was the only option left.
Quickly, the Purple Jade Condor swooped down from the sky like a bolt of purple lightning, violently beating its wings a few dozen meters above Zhang Che's head and hovering there. The generated wind swept over all the surrounding grasses around Zhang Che, blowing them to the side.
Zhang Che was unfazed by this, raising the thick club up calmly. After that, the club suddenly extended up at a slight forward angle, reaching a length of several dozen meters, coiling around the Purple Jade Condor's talons.
He held onto the whip's handle with both hands tightly, tugging it. After that, he nodded in satisfaction, ready for the Purple Jade Condor to take flight once more, carrying him towards the lone island ahead.
At this moment, Zhang Che suddenly noticed from his peripheral vision that ripples were spreading from a few spots around the lone island. Five strange water creatures suddenly emerged from the water surface, crawling towards the island.
The water creatures were quite ugly. Their fish-like bodies were covered with sharp thorns, with four strong, thick crooked limbs growing under their abdomens. At the end of each limb were three sharp claws.
The ugliest part of these creatures were their big heads, nearly a third of their body size, and their eyes were located above their skulls. Despite being over a hundred meters away from them, Zhang Che could see the ominous glint in their eyes.
That was not the end of their ugliness, however.
Their freakishly huge heads looked as if they had been cleaved by a huge axe, their mouths were able to open so wide that they extended back to where their skulls and their bodies met, with rows of sharp teeth hidden within, striking fear into anyone who saw them.
As if sensing Zhang Che's gaze, all of them stopped in place at the same time and turned to look in his direction with eyes as big as a car's headlights. After glaring at Zhang Che for a moment, all of them turned their heads back, their bent limbs quickly crawling forward towards to the island, crushing huge patches of grasses in their way.
It was obvious that there was something on that island that was attracting these ugly creatures, causing them to have zero interest in Zhang Che.
Of course, it could also be that the Purple Jade Condor above him was pressuring them, and they didn't dare to cause any trouble easily.
Zhang Che knew for sure that he wasn't in any danger after being glared at by those exotic beasts. However, he could resist feeling the shivers. Those huge mouths were too terrifying, leaving him thinking that he would doubtlessly be easily swallowed by them, and turned into meat paste by those sharp, concentrated teeth.
"Interesting… Perhaps the exotic beast on that island is the sworn enemy of these ugly things?"
Zhang Che narrowed his eyes, waiting for the ugly creatures to disappear from the edge of the island before ordering the Purple Jade Condor to ferry him ahead.
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Chapter 121: Chapter 121 – Chancing Upon Another Spiritual Flower
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Flying had always been a dream of people, even if they were hanging off of something.
When he encountered those mysterious toads earlier, Zhang Che had almost realized this dream, if it wasn't for the Demon Eye Toad suddenly jumping out and attacking the Purple Jade Condor.
It was fine now; the ugly fish creatures in the pond obviously didn't have the ability to jump, so Zhang Che could hang under the Purple Jade Condor's talons without worry and see what was going on at the lone island ahead.
Since that unknown exotic beast chose to live on this island, there must be some reason behind it. On the other hand, the strange creatures wanting to attack it must be because either they had a grudge against it, or they were coveting something that the exotic beast was guarding.
It was unlikely that they had a feud. Exotic beasts weren't human. What long-standing grudge could they possibly harbor?
Other than the relationship between the predator and the prey, there could only be conflicts over some object. It was the simple, naked truth of the bloody law of the jungle.
Zhang Che suddenly realized that actually he had potential to be a fisherman who reaps benefits from the side!
As he was flying via holding onto the whip's handle, Zhang Che didn't dare to let the Purple Jade Condor fly too fast, afraid that he might slip and fall into pond below.
These freaking ponds were home to those savage, horrifying big-mouthed creatures. If he fell down, they didn't even have to open their mouths to their limit to swallow him whole.
Although those ugly fish creatures weren't capable of jumping, Zhang Che was still afraid of them regardless, and he had the Purple Jade Condor fly at an altitude of a hundred meters to ensure his safety.
It wouldn't hurt to be cautious. What if these ugly creatures were like the Mutated Puffersword, able to shoot out from the water?
Zhang Che wouldn't take such a risk.
Flying at a high altitude, naturally his scope of vision was wider.
"Oh shit, what a huge flower!"
Zhang Che immediately noticed that on the island were a bunch of vine-like strange plants coiling together, with an incomparably huge, breathtakingly beautiful flower in the middle of them.
Zhang Che's gaze was deeply attracted by it from the first glance.
He had no fitting word to describe it. The only thought in his head for the beauty of this flower was, -How could there be such a beautiful flower in this world?-
The flower was over a meter wide, its petals in full bloom. The colors on each petal came together to form a bewitching picture, yet didn't give off a feeling of disharmony.
Zhang Che's mind nearly sank into it fully.
"Could it be another nature's treasure?"
After coming back to himself, Zhang Che's eyes were beaming with light, thinking to himself, -This flower looks so extraordinary, it's very likely to be a type of nature's treasure!-
He'd really struck gold on this trip!
Well, it had been written in countless novels: treasures were always guarded by beasts, waiting to consume them when they fully matured, whether it was to increase their strength, or to attain a breakthrough.
This strange flower was closely guarded by an exotic beast, as well; it must be extraordinary!
Zhang Che shifted his gaze slightly to the side. Wasn't a remarkable-looking exotic beast standing guard right beside it?
The exotic beast's body resembled a tiger, with alternating black and white patterns on its fur, a pair of deer antlers growing out of its head, and a pair of folded wings on its back. The feathers on the wings were shining gold, looking truly mighty.
At this moment, the exotic beast was standing in front of the flower, its shining bright eyes staring at the ugly fish creatures positioned in a straight line before it, emitting a killing aura.
Due to the striking resemblance to a tiger, Zhang Che casually referred to the exotic beast as a flying tiger, asking the Purple Jade Condor via their spiritual link, "Ah Zi, what do you think of that flying tiger's strength?"
{TL: Ah is a term to express familiarity, Zi just means purple, referring to the condor.}
The Purple Jade Condor replied to its master very quickly, causing Zhang Che's eyes to widen.
"What? It's not weaker than you, and might even be above you?!" Zhang Che's heart shook. He hurriedly issued a command to the Purple Jade Condor, "Don't fly to the island for now. Just circle around the edge."
Since that flying tiger might be even stronger than the Purple Jade Condor, how could Zhang Che still possibly have the guts to land on that island so easily? If it suddenly launched an attack while he was still hanging under the Purple Jade Condor, wouldn't he be the perfect target to practice on?
Since the ugly fish creatures that came crawling out of the pond were facing off against the flying tiger, why not continue exercising the spirit of a fisherman and watch the show by the side?
Mmm, Zhang Che made his decision. If the ugly creatures weren't a match for the flying tiger, he'd get the Purple Jade Condor to ferry him away from this area immediately.
However, from what he'd seen thus far, this possibility was unlikely, as the flying tiger-like exotic beast was unwilling to move even a step away from the flower, afraid that another beast would snatch it away.
Even when the handful of ugly fish creatures charged up onto the island, the flying tiger didn't take the initiative to strike. Instead, it chose to guard by the huge flower's side. That went to show how much it valued the flower.
After a short standoff, the five strange fishes could no longer stay still and advanced with a crawl towards the middle of the island in a cautious arc. They bared their teeth at the flying tiger in the center from time to time, trying their best to intimidate it.
Zhang Che nearly burst out in laughter.
It truly was that ugly people- uh, no, it should be ugly creatures, would do all kinds of weird things to garner attention. Did those ugly fellows really think they could scare off the flying tiger, just like that?
Seeing the ugly creatures' slow advance, the flying tiger suddenly arched its body, letting out a low warning roar, but it showed no intentions of charging forward.
Zhang Che's eyes shone even brighter.
It seemed like that huge flower was certain to be a treasure!
Thus, Zhang Che hung under the Purple Jade Condor just like that, ready to enjoy a huge battle while waiting for an opportunity to benefit from the sidelines, getting his hands on the huge flower.
Perhaps, it might even be beneficial for his mother's illness?
The ugly fish creatures didn't care about the flying tiger's warning at all. They suddenly increased their speed, wriggling their bodies like lizards as they sped up to attack.
"Fight, you ugly freaks. It's best that you clip that flying tiger's wings!"
Naturally, Zhang Che could tell that the ugly fish creatures' strength was far beneath that of the flying tiger. That was why he was cheering them on so hard, hoping for them to man up for once.
However, Zhang Che's mouth sprang wide open in the next moment.
The flying tiger, originally guarding the huge flower, suddenly spread its wings, and its slim, long figure suddenly disappeared from its spot, leaving only an afterimage, vanishing completely from Zhang Che's sight.
In the next moment, the flying tiger's slim figure appeared right in front of one of the ugly fish creatures.
Although the creature was astonished, its reaction wasn't delayed in the least. It opened its mouth wide, biting down to attack instantly.
However, only the crisp sound of teeth slamming together was heard. The flying tiger had vanished once more.
Before it could turn to search for its foe again, it felt tremendous pain from its neck, so painful that its mouth opened wide uncontrollably, like a fish deprived of oxygen.
Witnessing all of this from over a hundred meters away, Zhang Che's face became gravely still.
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Chapter 122: Chapter 122 – An Exotic Beast That Knows How to Grow Flowers
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
In the eyes of that ugly fish creature, the flying tiger seemed to be truly capable of flight, disappearing before its eyes and inflicting a severe wound on its body in the next second.
However, from what Zhang Che had seen, it didn't seem like the tiger was flying, but more of a teleporting kind of ability.
Of course, it was impossible for an exotic beast whose strength was comparable to the Purple Jade Condor to have an overpowered ability like teleportation, not even as a skill.
The only explanation was that the flying tiger was too fast!
So fast that even Zhang Che, who was in the sky over a hundred meters away, wasn't able to capture its movements clearly.
A dragon rides the clouds, while a tiger rides the wind. This flying tiger was obviously a wind-attributed exotic beast. Otherwise, how could it have such astonishing speed?
Zhang Che looked on with a grave expression. The flying tiger, having arrived at the ugly fish creature's side in an instant, swiped its claws across the ugly fish creature's body like lightning, ripping a huge opening on the creature's neck like cutting tofu. Fresh red blood shot out from its body, but not even a single drop landed on the flying tiger.
This vigorous beast had long disappeared again, appearing at the side of another ugly fish creature. Its front paw swiped out like lightning again, clawing violently at the second creature's body.
It was the same move, but the result was unexpectedly good.
The huge wounds nearly decapitated the ugly fish creatures. The severe injuries directly rendered them immobile, only able to struggle on the ground. Their mouths kept opening and shutting, like fishes on the verge of death.
Both their bodies and heads were extremely similar to fishes. Referring them as fishes seemed to be valid.
-The Purple Jade Condor's speed can't compare to this, even if its Wing Blade skill is activated!- Zhang Che noted to himself in shock, hesitating whether to leave this scary place.
With such a powerful beast guarding that beautiful flower, he shouldn't be able to lay his hands on it.
The three remaining ugly fish creatures were deeply enraged after losing almost half of their numbers in the blink of an eye. They quickly turned their bodies, each facing a different direction, and opened their big mouths, belching out a fan-shaped mist at the same time.
The flying tiger was obviously very apprehensive of the water mist, and didn't rush up immediately to maul the ugly fish creatures to death. It quickly retreated a few dozen meters like lightning, its murderous eyes void of any color or emotion, only staring ahead coldly.
The three fans of water mist shrouded almost the entire area around the three creatures, covering a circle over thirty meters wide.
As the water mist fell, the plants on the lonely island that was only about sixty meters across started collapsing inwardly, rotting at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally turning into gloomy green pools of thick water.
Zhang Che stared with his mouth agape, -Is this freaking swampland filled with poison? Why is every other exotic beast able to spit out such corrosive stuff?-
The ugly toads from before were like that, and now even these ugly fish creatures! They were causing too much damage to the environment!
As he cursed in his heart, Zhang Che's gaze was still fixed on the battle on the island.
Before the corrosive mist cleared, the three ugly creatures turned around at the same time, pouncing towards the flying tiger at the huge flower's side, seemingly having sworn to fight to the bitter end, leaving Zhang Che feeling suspicious.
-Are they sick in the head?-
It was clear that they were no match for the tiger, and yet they were adamant in heading for their deaths. Could it be that they were not only ugly, but also had issues with their brains?
The flying tiger beast cared for none of that, however. Seeing the three creatures pouncing at it, its figure disappeared from sight again, instantly appearing at the side of the leftmost ugly fish creature. Its sharp claws accurately swiped at the base of that ugly fish creature's head like a surgical knife, scarlet blood flowing out like spring water.
Seeing this, Zhang Che sighed inwardly, and ordered the Purple Jade Condor to get further away from the island. "Ah Zi, back off a little more."
Looking at the situation, there wouldn't be any further suspense in this battle.
Once the flying tiger got rid of the two remaining ugly fish creatures, Zhang Che had no guarantee that it wouldn't come chasing after him. Thus, it was better to stay further away, buying a little more time if he had to escape.
The battle developed as expected. The remaining two ugly fish creatures couldn't run from the flying tiger's attacks. Their heads were swiped open, and the creatures fell to the ground, struggling for their final breaths.
After eliminating all its foes, the flying tiger let out a low, proud roar. After that, it actually walked leisurely up to the corpse of an ugly fish creature, extending one of its paws, and started dissecting it.
Zhang Che's mouth was wide open as he watched the act.
-Is there a deep grudge between you two? That you had to tear its corpse to pieces?-
Zhang Che was sure that the flying tiger wasn't doing it for food, because that fellow's eyes showed zero signs of emotion, as if it was doing a normal task. Its shockingly sharp claws cut the ugly fish creature's head to pieces, allowing the dark red blood to splatter everywhere.
Zhang Che's hairs were all standing on end!
– I'd better leave this freaking gods-damned place! If that flying tiger thinks that I'm a threat looking to snatch that bewitching flower in the middle and kills me off, then cuts me into pieces like that, I'd really be dying without a burial, countless times worse than being torn from limb to limb!-
"Eh? Wait a minute!"
The Purple Jade Condor had received Zhang Che's order and was already turning to leave, beating its wings furiously when Zhang Che suddenly called it to a halt.
To Zhang Che's shock, he noticed in his peripheral vision that the flying tiger actually picked up a piece of the ugly fish creature's corpse and flashed back to the center of the island, throwing the meat at the intertwining vines with a devout look.
In the next moment, it looked as if the stacked up vines had come to life, reaching for the huge piece of meat and coiling around it. When they finally stopped moving, Zhang Che discovered, to his astonishment, that the meat was completely gone, only a few pieces of pale white bones left on the ground.
"Th-th-this is freaking incredible!"
Zhang Che felt a gust of demonic wind blowing. His entire body felt cold, and couldn't resist shivering. His eyes were filled with fear.
That wasn't the end to the flying tiger's actions. It kept going back and forth between the center of the island and the ugly fish creatures' corpses, tossing them piece by piece to the vines. The vines would gather at once, seemingly afraid of falling behind, and devour the corpses cleanly, leaving only a small, broken pile of white bones.
– Could it be that this huge flower is being grown by this flying tiger?- Zhang Che now suspected, after watching this strange scene unfold.
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Chapter 123: Chapter 123 – It's Time to Pick Up Scraps!
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
The flying tiger was like a hardworking gardener, going back and forth as it transported pieces of meat to the side of the huge vines. Even with its astonishing speed, it spent several minutes before delivering all of them.
The huge vines seemed to be cheering as a huge amount of flesh and blood was offered to them. Each of the vines crawled over quickly, devouring the food almost instantly the moment it was delivered.
Zhang Che was unsure whether he was imagining things, but he felt like the huge flower seemed like someone who had been starved for three days and nights suddenly given food, giving off a satisfied response.
"I must be seeing things!" Zhang Che shook his head, expelling this bizarre thought from his mind. However, in the next moment he saw that the bewitching flower had blossomed even more beautifully. The flower was obviously larger than before, and the mysterious patterns on the petals looked as if they could suck a person's soul in.
While he was distracted, Zhang Che felt an extremely attractive mysterious wave emanating from the bewitching flower.
The mysterious wave was so obvious that even Zhang Che could sense it from several hundred meters away, and was tempted to go over and admire the flower.
"No, I have to leave this cursed place immediately!" Zhang Che shook his head violently, his heart filled with fear.
This scene was truly too shocking. A flower could actually evolve by consuming the corpses of exotic beasts, and even had a powerful exotic beast by its side, silently offering food to it. No matter how you looked at it, it would strike fear in anyone.
Another thought entered Zhang Che's mind, too. That flower had to be extraordinary, for the flying tiger to feed it so diligently. Once it fully matured, it was sure to be an exceptional treasure.
However, he knew fully well that his subdued beasts were no match for that flying tiger. If he grew greedy and harbored thoughts of snatching away that bewitching flower, he might even lose his life if he was careless, turning into a pile of fertilizer.
Seeing the Purple Jade Condor flying further away with Zhang Che hanging under it, the flying tiger only raised its head to take a short glance before sitting down on the ground silently a short distance away from the flower, as if waiting for new prey to walk up to its doorstep.
——–
In the end, Zhang Che still didn't leave that place.
That was because when the Purple Jade Condor flew several hundred meters away, Zhang Che clearly saw ripples spreading out from everywhere around the lone island. After that, a bunch of ugly fish creatures of various sizes crawled out of the pond one after another, surrounding the center of the island.
It was akin to an army coming ashore, attacking their enemies' fort, a grand visual experience.
With a show to watch, and nearly zero risk to himself, naturally Zhang Che wasn't willing to leave.
Perhaps, he might even find the opportunity to become a fisherman again!
Since such a possibility existed, Zhang Che was, of course, unwilling to leave so easily.
That bewitching flower was too attractive to him. Being a treasure that was able to consume the flesh of exotic beasts to evolve, the prospect of using its life essence to cure his mother's illness was a hopeful prospect.
Although Professor Sun Qilong from Bei Di University's beast card cultivation major had a subdued beast with a rare healing-type skill, Zhang Che couldn't possibly pin all his hopes on that.
Not to mention, whether Huang Tielan could successfully pass the examination, and whether Professor Sun Qilong's subdued beast could cure his mother's illness, were still uncertainties.
How many senior high schoolers were there in the entire Hua Xia region? Even if there weren't many people with talent in this area, with such a huge population, the number of students would still be shockingly high. Naturally, everyone would want to enroll into the best school. One could imagine how tough the competition was.
Many thoughts flashed through his mind, as close to a hundred ugly fish creatures came ashore onto the lone island, hurriedly crawling towards the center of the island.
Despite the distance between Zhang Che and the creatures, he could sense their thirst and desire for the huge flower in the center of the island.
-This is certainly an extremely rare treasure!- Zhang Che ascertained the quality of this bewitching flower almost instantly. It was surely several grades higher than the Five-Colored Spiritual Flower consumed by the Purple Jade Condor!
"I must get my hands on this flower; it is sure to cure mother's illness!"
Zhang Che looked at the bewitching flower in the center of the island, his eyes red with greed. He almost couldn't hold it in and wanted to order the Purple Jade Condor to fly over, involving himself in the impending bitter fight.
Fortunately, Zhang Che was still relatively clear-headed, forcefully suppressing that urge. He got the Purple Jade Condor to circle around the island, waiting for an opportunity to enter the stage.
With almost a hundred ugly fish creatures swarming towards their goal, even if there was a qualitative difference in their strength against the flying tiger, numbers could close the gap. Perhaps there was a chance of them defeating the flying tiger?
No matter how bad they were, they should be able to injure that powerful beast!
Looking at the hundred ugly fish creatures approaching from all directions, the flying tiger who had been extremely calm all this time was finally enraged. It suddenly opened its mouth wide, letting out an extremely angered roar. It finally left the bewitching flower's side, its figure suddenly disappearing from where it stood, lightning fast as it moved between the ugly fish creatures at blinding speed.
Every momentary pause the flying tiger took would be immediately accompanied by a streak of splattering blood, without exception. The ugly fish creatures it struck would gain a huge, deep cut on their bodies and lose their ability to fight, collapsing and struggling in their own pools of blood.
In just the blink of an eye, over a dozen ugly fish creatures were gravely injured.
The remaining ugly fish creatures' huge eyes turned fully red. They opened their mouths wide one after another, shooting out fans of water mist, enveloping almost half of the island.
Even if the flying tiger was as fast as lightning, it was unable to avoid such a wide area attack completely, moreso since it had to protect the bewitching flower in the center of the island and was unable to leave.
A deep roar came from the flying tiger's mouth like the rumbling of thunder. Its gold-and-green wings that had never been fully spread all this time suddenly opened wide, and the surrounding air currents suddenly started flowing faster, forming multiple tiny air vortexes that quickly spread out in all directions.
Zhang Che watched with great pleasure, almost wanting to cheer out loud!
Without a doubt, the flying tiger was an exotic beast at the gold quality, or even higher. These air vortexes were its attack skill.
After the air vortexes flew out, not only were the surrounding ugly fish creatures injured all over, the corrosive water mist they shot out was blown away, making it extremely hard to harm the flying tiger.
Even so, the air vortexes were very small, and those water mists covered nearly everything, drenching the flying tiger in the end.
Against this corrosive poisonous attack, no matter how strong the flying tiger's defenses were, they would barely slow the mist down.
Zhang Che could see that the black and white fur on the flying tiger's body instantly changed colors, turning a charred black color. The shining gold-green wings dulled, the feathers turned into burnt ash as they fell down.
Under the excruciating pain, the flying tiger let out a pained, angry roar. Its figure shot out once more like lightning, tearing at the ugly fish creatures that weren't killed by the air vortexes with its teeth like a mad demon.
Countless ugly fish creatures were quickly killed in this manner, and less than half of them remained. However, the injuries on the flying tiger grew increasingly severe.
The surface of its skin and flesh was thoroughly corroded by the poisonous water and turned into tiny pools of thick ichor. With every one of the flying tiger's violent movements, the viscous goo quickly slid off its body, revealing the red muscles and white bones underneath.
In the end, the flying tiger's wings were only left with two rows of white, harrowed bones, drooping down to the sides weakly. The previously murderous, shining eyes were now spiritless.
Zhang Che was wild with joy, his eyes beaming. He immediately ordered the Purple Jade Condor to fly to the island.
"It's time to pick up scraps!"
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Chapter 124: Chapter 124 – Like Returning To Mother's Embrace
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Zhang Che hadn't realized how abnormal his thoughts were.
Everything that had happened on the island was outrageous to such a degree; anyone with average intelligence who witnessed it would feel that something was amiss, and might even feel their blood run cold, their hair standing on end.
Even so, the current Zhang Che wasn't thinking straight. All he had in mind was to snatch the bewitching flower on the island, wanting to see if it could be used to cure his mother's illness.
Before the Purple Jade Condor reached the island, every single ugly fish creature was annihilated by the severely injured flying tiger. After which, this walking corpse-like exotic beast turned into a diligent gardener once more, grabbing and throwing the corpses of the ugly fish creature towards the center of the island.
It was likely that the flying tiger realized its days were numbered, or that the digestive powers of the huge bewitching flower's vines had grown stronger. This time, the flying tiger didn't dissect the corpses of the ugly fish creatures. Instead, it directly threw them close to the center of the island.
Following the tossing of the corpses, countless vines shot out, extending like tentacles and coiled around the corpse of an ugly fish creature, withdrawing back to the rest of the flower and quickly devouring it.
At this moment, it looked as if the bewitching flower had turned into a terrifying tentacle monster, sending a chill down any witnesses' spine.
However, Zhang Che didn't sense anything amiss. At this moment, his pupils were completely red, having only a single thought in his head, and that was to get his hands on the flower!
Near the end of its life, the flying tiger burst into motion. Its figure flashed about, rushing to throw all the corpses to the center before the Purple Jade Condor reached the island.
After completing the task, the flying tiger actually threw its body into the bunch of vines, allowing the countless glistening emerald green leaves to completely envelope it.
Zhang Che, finally stepping foot on this island, treated as if none of that strange scene had happened, walking further into the center of the island, his eyes confused.
All of the vines were cheering. The hundred corpses of the ugly fish creatures allowed them to have a full meal, the leaves on the vines looked full of life, like a crystal clear jade, emanating a faint layer of glow.
"Haha, this flower is finally mine!" Zhang Che mumbled unconsciously as he got closer and closer to the center of the island.
Suddenly, the petals on the huge bewitching flower on top of the vines, which had grown to over two meters in length, moved by themselves without any wind. They resembled a gentle female dancer, dancing a soft dance, giving off a sense of mysterious beauty.
A stronger mysterious wave than before spread out from the flower, causing the nearing Zhang Che to thoroughly lose his awareness.
The Purple Jade Condor hovering in the sky suddenly let out a sharp cry, but was directly recalled back into the spiritual sea by Zhang Che with a wave of his hand.
The Swamp Crocodile King armor enveloping him was in his way as well, and turned into a streak of light, returning to the middle of his brow.
Facing the beckoning of the huge flower, Zhang Che even stripped off his combat suit. When he finally came in front of the flower, he was no longer wearing a single piece of clothing, standing fully naked before it, like just being born into the world from his mother's womb.
Come… come, child. Return to your mother's embrace…
In his muddled state, it seemed as if a comforting call found its way directly into Zhang Che's soul, and he continued taking steps forward. He stepped past the lush vines, walking straight up to the fully bloomed bewitching flower.
Zhang Che's gaze was completely blurred. He stopped in front of the huge flower, looking at the petals with a devout expression. The pattern on each of the petals formed a smiling face. Zhang Che shut his eyes lightly, his expression calm as water as he raised his left foot lightly, stepping on the fragile-looking, yet incomparably tenacious petal.
The heart of the flower was fully blooming for Zhang Che, opening the way for him to walk into. After that, he slowly squatted down and curled himself into a ball like an unborn baby, the corners of his lips raised gently into an infatuated smile.
The heart of the flower gradually closed up, enveloping Zhang Che entirely.
On the outer petals, the creepy human-faced patterns were showing bright smiles, as if a wave of silent, unrestrained laughter was spreading. The petals closed in towards the middle one after another, forming a huge flower bud in the end.
If anyone were to witness this incomparably strange scene, they would surely scream out in shock.
However, no other living creature saw any of this.
Every creature who was involved in this was dead without a corpse remaining, including the terrifyingly powerful flying tiger… except for Zhang Che, who was enveloped in the heart of the flower.
The bloomed flower stopped going with the law of nature, and returned to a round flower bud. The lush vines underneath it started emitting streaks of emerald green light, which poured madly into the flower bud.
Not long afterwards, the verdant leaves on the vines started withering, turning into ashes in the end, and scattering all over the ground.
After that, the originally vigorous vines started turning yellow, gradually withering. In the end, they looked like a piece of rotten wood that was covered in dust for an immeasurably long time, and were suddenly assaulted by a gust of wind, silently turning into piles of ash.
The center of the island was left with only the extremely round flower bud standing straight in place silently, not fitting in with its surroundings.
Ever since entering the heart of the flower, Zhang Che felt like a baby who had returned to his mother's womb, surrounded by an incomparable sense of comfort, waves of warm vitality gushing into his body.
As the warm energy surged violently, Zhang Che felt like he had truly turned into an infant, absorbing that energy crazily, his body growing stronger.
After an indeterminate amount of time passed, the energy entering his body started to lessen, and Zhang Che felt as if he had grown into a giant. His entire body was filled with limitless energy, able to reach for the stars and the moon!
Right at this moment, a sudden change occurred.
A huge mass of pure spiritual energy suddenly surged into Zhang Che's spiritual sea. The spiritual energy contained an extremely pure, yet devious consciousness, which began devouring Zhang Che's soul!
At this moment, Zhang Che was finally jolted awake!
He had no idea what happened. He subconsciously knew he had to avoid the pursuit of that forceful spiritual energy, but rapidly realized that his spiritual sea had become its home ground. No matter where he tried to run, the invading consciousness could surround him from all sides.
Zhang Che tried to move his body, but discovered, to his astonishment, that his mind was detached from his physical body, and he couldn't move.
A deep sense of powerlessness permeated him, but his natural will for survival pushed him to continue avoiding the pursuit of that spiritual energy.
The path available to him grew increasingly narrow. The area around his mind was fully occupied by that mass of spiritual energy… when suddenly, the rainbow crystal silently hanging in the air above his spiritual sea began to emit strong rays of rainbow light.
It was like snow meeting sunlight. The invading mind trying to devour Zhang Che's soul suddenly let out a soundless, desperate shriek after the boundless rainbow rays shone down on it, rapidly disintegrating, and was gone in an instant from Zhang Che's spiritual sea.
At that moment, Zhang Che fell into a timeless sleep…
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Chapter 125: Chapter 125 – Remodeled Into A Non-Human?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
In the beast world behind the spatial gateway in Qian Wei City's suburbs…
A golden light flashed across the skies extremely high in the air, like a golden bolt of lightning, appearing a few hundred meters away in the next instant.
If there were a witness to this event, they would have realized that the golden light was actually an enormous golden bird. Its wingspan was over a hundred meters, and its entire body was flashing with tiny lightning snakes.
This golden bird was flying at such a high altitude that few would be able to discover anything strange if they looked up from the ground.
{Editor's Note: Riiiight. Passenger planes can be seen miles up in the sky, and this thing is bigger and putting on a light show.}
It kept flying east from the extreme depths of the beast world, drawing a blurry golden streak across the sky, seemingly searching hard for something. It beat its huge wings with all its might, swirling the air into chaotic currents about it.
After a brief moment, the huge golden bird's eyes, glowing with divine light, suddenly emitted two beams of light so strong they looked like they had actual substance, aimed at the southeast of the beast world.
In the next instant, its heading changed, drawing a slight arc in the sky as it shot towards the southeast.
Mountains and rivers streaked past like a blur under it, the huge golden bird showing no signs of stopping.
It finally flew out of the western region of the beast world, getting closer and closer to the safety zone.
The beastmasters working hard on the ground had no idea that an exotic beast so powerful it could send them into desperate straits was flying over their heads at an extreme altitude.
As it approached the safety zone, the huge golden bird still showed no intention of stopping. It continued flying southeast at blinding speed.
However, a hint of shock flashed in its eyes in the next moment. After that, its gaze was one of doubt. The miracle that had suddenly appeared existed for less than half an hour before disappearing without a trace.
Although the huge golden bird's heart was filled with doubt, it didn't stop flying in that direction. It flew past the sky above the safety zone in an instant, heading directly southeast. It circled in the sky above a wide area there for a long time before leaving unwillingly.
——
After an indeterminate amount of time, Zhang Che slowly regained consciousness.
"Where am I? Why can't I move?"
Zhang Che's body was all curled up together, as if he was forcefully squeezed into a huge eggshell. This kind of extreme constraint made him very uncomfortable suddenly.
He suddenly pushed out with all his strength, and stood up.
With a loud bang, a huge chicken egg… Ugh, no, a mass of dry, withered objects shaped like an egg shell broke apart, falling everywhere around him.
Blinding light suddenly assaulted his eyes, and Zhang Che couldn't help but quickly shut his eyes again, tears rolling out uncontrollably.
Zhang Che squeezed his eyelids shut several times in quick succession before slowly opening his eyes, looking around him as his vision cleared.
-Where is this?-
What entered his sight was a strange land.
Within a rough radius of a hundred meters, all the plants had disappeared without a trace, leaving a bunch of dark green spots on the naked ground, like the scribbles of children.
On the other hand, the wild grass and bushes just outside this circular area were overgrown. Comparing the two areas, they looked extremely strange.
Looking down, Zhang Che realized the desolate area for about a dozen meters or so around himself was also covered in a layer of brownish-black ash. Countless bone remains were mixed within, scattered about, resembling a scene taken straight from Hell.
Zhang Che couldn't help but shiver at the sight of such a creepy scene, feeling goosebumps raising all over his body. A slight breeze blew, assaulting his skin directly, as if he wasn't wearing any clothing.
-This is not right…-
Zhang Che lowered his head. Looking at himself, he almost cried out from shock. -I'm actually not wearing any freaking clothing! What the heck is going on!?-
Zhang Che hurriedly covered his vitals area with both hands from shock, before realizing that there were no one else around. Was there any need for such pretense?
A real man would bare all courageously, while the little ones would hide their chicks…
Confucius said, a real gentleman should be free. Who cares about the restrictions of the vulgar world!?
Thus, Zhang Che just stood his ground freely, his head slightly tilted, his eyes narrowed, thinking about what had happened previously.
Right now, Zhang Che was like a drunkard who had just woke up, feeling a hangover. His memory was a little fuzzy; he wouldn't know what had happened unless he tried hard to recall it.
After thinking hard for a long time, Zhang Che finally remembered what had happened to him before.
From his thinking being influenced by the bewitching flower, and mistakenly ordering the Purple Jade Condor to fly to the island; then walking into the heart of the flower, and the life and death struggle with the entity born from the demonic flower in his spiritual sea; until finally the rainbow crystal emitted the blinding light at the last moment, illuminating his entire spiritual sea.
After recalling everything that had happened before he fell asleep, Zhang Che felt cold sweat seeping out of his forehead.
Exactly what kind of a mysterious thing was that demonic flower, to actually be capable of influencing the surrounding exotic beasts to kill one another, providing it food to grow? In the end, even he was confused and nearly fell victim to it!
No, that wasn't right. He had indeed fallen victim to it, but the rainbow crystal saved his life at the last second!
"The beast world is truly fraught with danger everywhere, possibly dying a dog's death if one was ever so slightly careless!" Zhang Che lamented, still feeling fear in the aftermath. If the mysterious rainbow crystal hadn't made a move at the crucial moment, wouldn't his body be under the control of some other strange entity now?
Zhang Che got the shivers just thinking about it.
However, this could also be considered a blessing in disguise. Upon checking his spiritual sea, Zhang Che discovered that it had expanded by almost fifty percent!
Didn't that mean that the number of beast cards his spiritual sea could contain had also increased by half?
If that were true, the number of subdued beasts Zhang Che could employ from now on would be thrice as many as other ordinary beastmasters of the same tier! Other Tier Three beastmasters could only employ four subdued beasts, but Zhang Che could employ a total of twelve!
-Is building an overpowering army the way to go?-
His lips widened into a smile. Being able to roll over others with sheer numbers was the most pleasurable thing to do. Moreover, he had the rainbow crystal! In times to come, the quality of his subdued beasts were similarly be able to overpower everyone else!
After his excitement died down, Zhang Che wanted to leave this crazy island immediately. The heavens knew what other hidden dangers were lurking on this island. It was best if he got as far away as possible!
Looking around himself, Zhang Che finally found his clothes not far away. He hurriedly ran over to them.
Well, although a gentleman should be free from any bindings… he was used to being bound, after all. He would still wear clothes when they were needed!
However, as Zhang Che took his first steps, he felt like he was flying ahead. He immediately lost his balance, awkwardly crashing to the ground about a dozen meters out.
-Do I have freaking springs fitted under my legs or something? Why does it feel like there isn't any gravity pulling down on me when I start moving?- Zhang Che wondered. He pushed off from the ground with his hands, trying to get back on his feet. Alas, he overdid it again and fell over backwards to the ground, leaving palm prints in the hard earth.
He finally realized what might be going on. It seemed… like his body had absorbed all of the demonic flower's vitality. His constitution had been thoroughly remodeled, and this display of herculean strength was probably one of the changes?
– I'm not turned into a freaking monster now, am I? – Zhang Che shuddered. He scrambled back to his feet with all four limbs, making a mess of the ground. He cautiously increased his pace, walking to the edge of the island. He wanted to look into the pond and see if his face or any other blind spots had any changes.
If he was transformed into a non-human, how was he supposed to live on!?
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Chapter 126: Chapter 126 – I Grew Taller, And Stronger
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
Zhang Che took slow and cautious steps. Although it felt like his movements were very uncoordinated, he didn't fall down any more.
It took him several minutes to walk about a hundred meters, finally reaching the shore of the island with much difficulty.
Just as he was about to stick his head out a little to look at his reflection on the water, he quickly retreated a few steps and summoned the Purple Jade Condor with a wave of his hand. He had it stand by his side and approached the shore once more.
If there were more exotic beasts in this pond, it'd spell trouble if they were to jump out and bite him while he was checking out his reflection!
After experiencing this transformation, Zhang Che became even more cautious.
The calm surface of the pond was like a giant mirror, reflecting all of Zhang Che's bare body.
He checked out every corner of his body several times in detail, and even stuck out his tongue to look at it. In the end, he realized, to his gratification, that there weren't any changes to his body… externally, at least. His face was still as handsome as before, and his skin was still a healthy color.
No, that wasn't right. There were definitely changes.
Based on the water's reflection, he discovered that he had grown taller, and more muscular. His originally skinny figure was now a first-rate slim, muscular body, containing explosive strength.
{TL: We Captain America now!}
"This is good… I don't need to stand on a stool or the stairs when we kiss in the future…"
Zhang Che revealed a pleased smile as he thought of Tielan's intimidating height. At the very least, he definitely wasn't shorter than her now!
Very good! With his only weakness compensated for, he could stand proud from now on!
After taking another look at his majestic, golden-ratio body, Zhang Che turned around in satisfaction, walking back to the backpack he'd left on the ground.
The clothes he was wearing before were stained with dust and dirt, unsuitable for wearing any more.
Zhang Che took out a set of spare clothing from his backpack. First, he picked out a pair of boxer briefs and put them on with difficulty. They were tight, and felt pretty uncomfortable.
That was still bearable, however. The key part was that when he tried to put on his spare clothes, he discovered, to his dismay, that his clothes were two sizes smaller than his body, and he couldn't wear them.
He exerted a little strength subconsciously, and tearing sounds rang out. The t-shirt in his hands was directly torn in two, like it was made of wet paper, unable to withstand the slightest effort.
Zhang Che's brow furrowed deeply. He had suddenly became so much stronger and was unable to adapt to it at all, causing such troubles so easily the moment he wasn't paying attention.
Forget it; he was going to remain in the beast world for another ten days or so. This much time was probably enough for him to get used to his new body after he was altered by the demonic flower.
Zhang Che broke out in laughter, shaking his head as he looked at the torn t-shirt in his hand. Such an experience had nearly turned him silly, forgetting that the Myriad Transformation Lizard card could adjust his physique by about five percent.
Mmm, now that his height was close to 1.9m, and his body was about two sizes bigger than before, although he would still be a little taller than his original height after the five percent modification, his old clothes could definitely fit him.
As for whether his close ones would discover his changes after returning from the beast world…
He was only eighteen years old! His body was still developing; wasn't it normal for him to grow a little taller and a little more muscular!?
With a thought, the Myriad Transformation Lizard card's ability was activated. Zhang Che's handsome, childish face was the first to transform into the ordinary appearance of his previous life. After which, his tall, muscular body shrank like a deflating balloon, becoming one size smaller. His height decreased to about 1.8m, and his figure became thinner.
"Mmm, that's more like it." Zhang Che nodded in satisfaction after transforming into Sun Che. He retrieved another set of clothing from his backpack and put it on. Although they still felt a little tight, he was able to fit into them.
After packing his things, Zhang Che was about to summon the Rotten Ent Prowler whip and get the Purple Jade Condor to bring him away from his creepy island when his gaze suddenly fell on the bow container by his backpack.
-I wonder if I'm able to draw this bow now…-
The moment this idea came to him, it was like a spark landing on the grassfield, slowly spreading, and turned into a blazing flame.
Zhang Che picked up the bow container and opened it, taking the Falling Star Model X out. He felt like he was only holding onto a stalk of wheat, totally different from the heavy, sinking feeling from before.
He grew even more excited. He held the bow up with one hand, drawing out an arrow from the quiver in the other, nocking it on the bowstring and drawing it back.
There wasn't much stress to it; he actually drew this bow with a 500kg draw weight with ease! If he hadn't held back more than half his strength at the last moment, this bow, which cost him several million, might have been pulled apart!
– Si… what kind of a monster have I become?!-
Zhang Che felt shocked, then wonderfully surprised.
From what he felt when he drew the Falling Star Model X, wouldn't he be able to fully draw a bow with a thousand kilograms draw weight!?
Zhang Che had no doubt that if he punched out with all his strength, he could directly punch through a human skull!
How incredible was that? If he got his hands on a powerful long weapon-type beast card and equipped the Swamp Crocodile King armor, and rode the Golden Elephorse King Hanxue, he'd look like a fierce knight!
No matter if it was Li Yuanba, the Conqueror of Western Chu, Yuwen Chengdu, or whoever, they were nothing compared to Zhang Che if it was simply a contest of strength!
{TL: 1 – Third son of the founding emperor of Tang Dynasty, commonly appearing in literature works and theatrical plays, 2 – Xiang Yu, a warlord from late Qin Dynasty, 3 – A general from late Sui Dynasty in literature. All of them were said to possess inhuman strength.}
After fantasizing a bunch of stuff, Zhang Che felt his right hand, which had been keeping the bowstring drawn, starting to get sore. He hurriedly kept his thoughts in check and aimed at a rock a short distance away, loosening his grip.
Pew… Bam!
A sharp whistle rang out. The M-type armor-piercing arrow directly drilled deep into the mountain rock, followed by an explosion. The mountain rock was blasted apart into a pile of tiny rocks, flying out in all directions.
"Not bad! My archery is still passable when shooting stationary targets. It looks like I have to practice more in the future, and get myself a strong bow. With a bow in the hands of both the frisky monkey and me, our long-distance offensive strength would be really solid!"
Zhang Che felt a little headache after his happiness died down. Other than practicing his swordsmanship, he still had to practice archery. It seemed like his days would become even busier from now on.
Even so, what did it matter if he could become even stronger!?
After packing his things, Zhang Che whistled out, and the Purple Jade Condor circling above after quickly scouting the area descended, standing at his side silently.
"How exciting… I'm really about to fly!"
Now that his physical strength far exceeded that of ordinary people's, Zhang Che no longer had to hang under the Purple Jade Condor's talons pitifully. Instead, he could sit on its back, experiencing the joy of flying in the sky.
He secured both the backpack and the bow container on his back, and jumped up onto the Purple Jade Condor's wide back. Zhang Che tightened his legs around the bird's waist, his hands holding tightly onto a tuft of the strong purple feathers,and ordered, "Come on, let's take off!"
The Purple Jade Condor's talons bent and pushed against the ground. Its massive body immediately bounced up, its huge wings spreading open at the same time. With just a few beats, a strong current was generated, lifting the Purple Jade Condor into the air.
Zhang Che held on tightly to the Purple Jade Condor's back with both his arms and legs, feeling the strong wind blowing across his face. However, his body didn't move in the slightest, and he let out a radiant smile.
From now on, his travel speed would be countless times faster than before!
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Chapter 127: Chapter 127 – High Altitude Diving
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
In the end, Zhang Che didn't dare let the Purple Jade Condor fly its fastest. Otherwise, there was a chance of him slipping and falling no matter how hard he was holding onto it.
Moreover, there was no shield on this biological airplane. Once the speed reached a certain limit, the strong wind wasn't something Zhang Che could endure. Even breathing would become a problem.
After experimenting for a bit, Zhang Che discovered that he could barely take it if the Purple Jade Condor was flying at about five hundred kilometers per hour. If it went a little faster, the wind would become too strong for him to breathe properly.
{Editor's Note: FYI, a normal human finds it very hard to breathe at 120 mph, and he's going about 300 mph…}
Of course, this number wasn't very accurate; Zhang Che had no way to calculate this on his own. His personal terminal had such a function, but it was unusable in the beast world.
The reason why Zhang Che could still barely breathe at such high speed was naturally because his body was altered by the demonic flower. No ordinary people would be able to withstand it.
"Five hundred kilometers per hour it is, then. This speed is already unthinkable, moving at over a hundred meters per second!"
Of course, Zhang Che didn't dare to keep flying at such a high speed, either. After all, breathing was proving to be difficult. It was easy to hurt himself if he were under such stress for long periods of time. Unless it was an emergency, Zhang Che wouldn't fly at such speeds normally.
"It'd be great if I could find myself a flying beast that provided wind cover. I could fly however fast I wanted then, without having to worry about breathing problems…" Zhang Che fantasized fondly.
However, he knew that a beast with such capability would be one of incredibly high level and quality. without saying. They would be really rare, too. Finding one would be entirely up to chance, and had to be when he had the capability to hunt an exotic beast of that caliber. Otherwise, looking would be all he could do.
Zhang Che thought of the flying tiger controlled by the demonic flower on the lone island. He had no idea what level and quality that exotic beast was. It was probably no weaker than the Purple Jade Condor, or even stronger.
Its terrifying speed and powerful offensive capabilities were especially noteworthy, leaving a strong impression on him.
Alas, nothing was perfect in this world. That flying tiger ended up being devoured by that demonic flower…
Of course, Zhang Che was only lamenting for a bit. Even if the gravely injured flying tiger wasn't devoured by the demonic flower, his own mind was basically controlled by the demonic flower, and wouldn't care about what was going on around him.
The Purple Flying Condor was flying in the sky, maintaining a speed of over a hundred kilometers per hour. Meanwhile, Zhang Che narrowed his eyes, observing the situation below, looking out for any exotic beasts that he might need.
He had made up his mind that he had to get his hands on a powerful water-type beast on this trip, no matter what. That was his biggest weakness right now. If he didn't compensate for it as soon as possible, perhaps he might suffer a huge loss in the future because of it.
Although he had a wide range of vision while sitting on the Purple Jade Condor's back, Zhang Che realized that it was a little too difficult to find an exotic beast that satisfied his requirements.
Since he was looking for a water-type beast, it would surely be living in the water. How could he possibly find them when he was up high in the sky?
Zhang Che realized, to his dismay, that flying on the Purple Jade Condor's back was only useful for travelling. If he wanted to search for exotic beasts or whatever, he still had to rely on his legs to do the job on the ground!
——
At this moment, he was already dozens of kilometers away from the lonely island from before, and was soaring over the depths of the swamp in the southeast of the beast world.
Looking down from the sky, this area was mostly covered in water, with lakes everywhere. There wouldn't be any lack of water-type exotic beasts; obtaining a powerful water-type beast would only be a matter of time.
However, Zhang Che didn't see any powerful water-type exotic beasts. Instead, what he found was a party of beastmasters being chased down by a group of exotic beasts, running in panic through this complicated swampland.
There were six people in this party, four men and two women, and about a dozen subdued beasts around them. The subdued beasts were holding back the attacks of a group of insect-like exotic beasts, while the beastmasters were running towards a hill.
These insect-like exotic beasts were obviously stronger than the subdued beasts of those beastmasters, and were moving very quickly in the muddy swampland. There was no way for the beastmasters to shake them off.
Zhang Che could tell the situation from the sky that their ending would be the same even if these people successfully ran up the hill, because this hill was surrounded by water; a dead end.
– Should I save them? – The thought flashed through Zhang Che's mind. He decided to have the Purple Jade Condor fly down after thinking for a moment.
Since they were fellow humans, he decided to help out if he could.
After all, the group of water insects didn't seem very strong, the Purple Jade Condor should be able to take care of them. Of course, if Zhang Che discovered that these insects were too much for him, he would just leave them alone.
Seeing the Purple Jade Condor's sudden descent, the beastmasters' faces turned desperate.
"We're finished… We couldn't even handle these damned insects, and now an obviously powerful flying beast is coming. We're dead for sure!"
A female beastmaster in this party originally had a determined look on her face, but her complexion had turned ghostly pale at this moment, looking at the Purple Jade Condor flying towards them. Her eyes were almost devoid of any color.
Just as the female beastmaster was feeling absolute despair and helplessness, a young man at her side suddenly widened his eyes, shouting out excitedly, "Qiqi, look! There seems to be someone on it!"
The rest of them focused their gazes, and discovered that a young man was riding on that purple flying beast!
It wasn't an exotic beast, but the subdued beast of a beastmaster!
Suddenly, the waning fire of hope in their hearts burned brighter, and they started commanding their subdued beasts to defend against the attacks of the group of insects to the best of their abilities.
At this moment, Zhang Che could see the attributes of these insects already. He discovered that they were only a bunch of three-star bronze-quality beasts, and let out a sigh of relief, before yelling at the group of people below, "Hold on, I'm coming to save you guys!"
"It really is a beastmaster! We're saved!"
The beastmasters on the ground finally confirmed that the person riding on the purple flying beast had happened to pass by here and was here to save them. Every one of them nearly wept in happiness as they cheered out loud.
However, their situation had reached an extremely dangerous point.
As they were still in the swamps, the water insects had the field advantage and were swarming them. In only a few breaths' time, about half of the subdued beasts were taken down, and the remaining subdued beasts were about to fall, too!
-I have to help them right now!-
Zhang Che's eyes turned cold. There was no time to let the Purple Jade Condor put him down safely.
With a thought, a ray of golden light shot out from the middle of Zhang Che's brow and turned into the ferocious-looking Swamp Crocodile King armor, covering his entire body. With several dozen meters still between him and the surface, Zhang Che aimed at a deep pond below and jumped off the condor.
Although he was jumping from several dozen meters high, Zhang Che had no worries that he might be in danger.
He had already used Hanxue to test the Swamp Crocodile King armor's defensive capabilities previously. It was simply outstanding, not to mention that he was jumping into an obviously deeper body of water. There was nothing to worry after the water dissipated some of the impact.
Moreover, Zhang Che's body was no longer comparable to that of a normal human's after being altered by the demonic flower's energy. The amount of force he could withstand was way higher than before, and he had the protection of the Swamp Crocodile King armor. There wouldn't be any danger diving into the water from such a height.
However, the beastmasters' faces changed at the sight of this. In their eyes, the sliver of hope that had born in their heart was just thoroughly extinguished.
"We're done for… that person accidentally fell off…"
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Chapter 128: Chapter 128 – Pulling a Radish Out of the Soil
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
God, why did you have to extinguish the fire of hope right after you gave us one!?
The six beastmasters watched blankly as Zhang Che "slipped" and fell off his flying mount, plunging into the pond several dozen meters below. Their faces turned ghastly pale, their hearts ashen.
There was no way he'd survived from falling from such a height, even if it was falling into water.
The six of them had given up on resisting, since they were all going to die anyway. It was only a matter of time.
Of course, it'd be useless even if they tried to resist the ferocious attacks of the water insects. The remaining subdued beasts turned into streaks of light and dissipated one after another, and their fragile, paper-like defenses were finally broken through.
The flat-bodied water insects at the forefront of the assault were floating on the muddy water. Their sharp legs paddled quickly, like they were in a dragon boat race, rushing towards the group of beastmasters ahead of them.
They could see the open mouths of the water insects were filled with several sharp, thin fangs, moving to the rhythm of their muscles, giving them the shivers.
"Ahh! I don't want to be eaten by them!" The female beastmaster who originally had a determined look, referred to as "Qiqi" by her companions, finally couldn't hold on any longer and crumbled. She whipped out her dagger, bringing it to her throat.
Rather than being eaten alive by these exotic beasts, she'd prefer ending it herself!
"Qiqi, don't!"
The young man at her side quickly noticed this and slapped the dagger from Qiqi's right hand. He held her tightly with both arms, turning her around and said with a firm gaze, "I don't want to see you die before my eyes. If these insects want to hurt you, they have to get past my dead body first!"
However, Qiqi didn't see the resolute look on his face. Her mouth was agape, looking ahead incredulously, as if she just saw something unthinkable.
"Qiqi, I have always wanted to tell you this-"
Feeling their impending deaths approaching, the man finally mustered his courage and was about to tell her those three words that he never had the courage to, but Qiqi suddenly pushed him away, cheering, "We're saved, we're saved!"
It was like having to clench his butt tight at the crucial moment just as a big number two was coming. The man's face experienced multiple changes as he turned around stiffly and saw a bolt of purple lightning shuttling back and forth around them. Every time it flew by, the ferocious water insects rushing towards them were cut in half, green juices splattering everywhere.
-What happened? Is someone else coming to save us?-
"Gods! That person is fine, we're saved!"
"I'm alive… I'm alive!" someone sobbed
A couple of the beastmasters cheered excitedly, while some others wept in happiness. On the other hand, the man's face was strangely mournful… -The confession that I finally had the courage to say… It's gone, just like that…-
Before Zhang Che made the jump, he had already given the order to the Purple Jade Condor, telling it to save these beastmasters as quickly as possible. As such, it activated the Wing Blade skill while it was still diving, aiming at the bunch of water insects and beginning a one-sided slaughter.
Before the one-minute limit was up, the group of beastmasters discovered, to their astonishment, that the dozens of water insects around them had been wiped out, shredded to pieces, and their carcasses were strewn everywhere in the swamp.
Even though they realized beforehand that this ferocious purple flying beast was strong, they didn't expect it to be so powerful.
This group of powerful water insects that had chased them to no end was actually wiped out within a minute!
After venting the happiness from pulling their feet out of their own graves, the beastmasters suddenly felt something was amiss.
"Shit, that person still hasn't surfaced after falling into the pond! Save him, quick!"
It was Qiqi who reacted to the situation first, and she immediately ran towards where Zhang Che landed.
It was only then that the others realized. No wonder it felt weird; so that was it!
Even so, the purple bird was much faster than them.
Right after completing its rescue mission, the Purple Jade Condor immediately received another command from Zhang Che to give him a hand… uh, no, to give him a talon!
Zhang Che was depressed! He clearly calculated that he wouldn't be in any danger, and thus jumped down without a care to let the Purple Jade Condor save the others as soon as possible. That was indeed the case, too. Although the pond wasn't very deep, only about five meters, and was able to dissipate some of the impact, allowing the Swamp Crocodile King armor to protect Zhang Che from any injury.
{Editor's Note: The record for a human surviving an impact on water is about 200 feet. High divers routinely do 100 foot dives. Our hero was in no danger even if he was human.}
Alas, Zhang Che didn't anticipate that there was actually this much mud accumulated at the bottom of the pond!
When Zhang Che made the jump, although his feet were facing down, he couldn't avoid sinking into the mud when he fell into the pond, leaving only his head above the mud.
There's that, and then coupled with the fact that Swamp Crocodile King armor inhibited his movements, it became impossible for Zhang Che to pull himself out of the mud!
Thus, he could only wait for a while to make sure that the pond was safe, before taking in a deep breath and unequipping his armor, trying to pull himself out of the mud.
As things would have it, once he was stuck in the mud, it didn't matter how much strength he had.
Zhang Che stirred the bottom of the pond, making a mess out of it, before realizing to his dismay that he couldn't get himself free!
Fortunately, his body was now different from ordinary people. He wouldn't feel suffocated even if he had to hold his breath for a few minutes. Otherwise, he might really suffocate to death in the water.
Left without a choice, Zhang Che could only stop moving and allow the mud to settle down, while he commanded the Purple Jade Condor to pull him out immediately after rescuing the others.
Zhang Che had thought of using the Rotten Ent Prowler whip to save himself, but before he made the jump, he remembered that the pond was surrounding by a flat swampland. There was nothing for him to anchor the whip, and thus this method wasn't feasible.
With Qiqi at the fore, the beastmasters were relieved after seeing the Purple Jade Condor flying to the pond, knowing that the beastmaster who came to save them would probably be fine.
However, they still ran over. They could still express their gratitude if that person needed a helping hand.
Moreover, this benefactor had just pulled them back from the gates of Hell. How could they stand by and watch in such a situation?
The Purple Jade Condor soon flew over to the pond. A brief moment later, Qiqi and the others saw a purplish-brown whip shoot out of the water, reaching a few dozen meters into the air.
Before the long whip fell down, the Purple Jade Condor flashed and caught it with a talon. It beat its wings furiously, rising into the sky.
Pop!
Qiqi and the others heard a sound similar to the opening of a bottle ring out clearly, followed by a dark figure being pulled out of the pond by the Purple Jade Condor, with lumps of mud falling off him.
The scene was exactly like pulling a radish out of the soil!
For some unknown reasons, they felt an urge to laugh out loud at the sight of this. However, considering that would be very impolite, they could only force themselves to hold it in, their pale faces quickly turning red.
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