Monster Pet Evolution

by Stayrr

Three years ago, the animals and plants on Earth underwent crazy and unexplainable changes that included transformations, reversions, and the addition of otherworldly species. And it was the start of a brand-new type of profession in the new generation of humanity – Monster Trainers, people who specialized in taming monsters. On his 18th birthday, the protagonist of the story, Gao

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Chapter 241: The Opening Ceremony!

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Ever since the Cataclysm, the world had become a much bigger place, making it even more difficult to travel from one corner of the planet to another than before.

This was one of the reasons why not many foreigners could be seen in Huaxia.

Something hissed behind Gao Peng. Turning around, he found himself face to face with a huge black anaconda.

Gao Peng took a few steps back from it.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" said Gao Peng to Jun Moyi.

Jun Moyi was standing beside her Black Anaconda, carrying two bags of drinks and snacks in her hands.

She looked at Gao Peng curiously, wondering how a non-contestant had managed to get in here. Then she decided that it was none of her business and simply walked away.

Gao Peng continued strolling among the mountain villas. Every time he came across a familiar in his path, he would look up its stats in the dataframe and try to memorize its strengths and weaknesses.

I'm just doing this out of curiosity, he thought to himself.

Though familiars were monsters by nature, long-term coexistence with humans had rendered them less savage than monsters in the wild.

Pop! Not far away, a four-foot-tall creature suddenly pounced on a snake-like creature and slapped it in the face, leaving three scratch marks on it.

The snake was more than 26 feet long, its body was green, and it was covered with overlapping scales.

[Monster Name: Mephisto Serpent

[Monster Level: Level 29

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Ability: Toxicity Level 1

[Monster Attribute] Poison

[Monster Weakness: 1. Dark-type 2. The sap of a Jade Spider Plant can cause extreme irritation to its nostrils.

The Mephisto Serpent opened its mouth wide and released a poisonous vapor into the air, then lunged at the honey badger that had attacked it. However, it missed.

The poisonous vapor had condensed into harmless droplets of liquid on the honey badger's fur. A white smoke issued into the air as they dripped onto the ground.

[Monster Name: Golden-backed Honey Badger

[Monster Level: Level 27

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Ability: Poison Immunity Level 2

[Monster Attribute: Gold

Half a minute later, a couple of workers arrived at the scene and tried to put a stop to the fight between the two familiars.

After noticing Gao Peng standing in a corner, one of the workers asked, "Are they your familiars?"

"No," said Gao Peng shaking his head.

Ignoring Gao Peng, the workers ordered their own familiars to try to keep the Honey Badger and the Mephisto Serpent away from each other while they searched for their trainers.

The honey badger was just as ferocious as the legends described it to be.

Gao Peng had seen the four-foot-tall creature attack the serpent first. The serpent had been lazily basking under the sun when suddenly the honey badger had leapt out of the grass and swiped at its face.

Anyone would have been furious if someone had interrupted their sunbathing session by attacking them for no reason at all.

A honey badger's poor vision was said to be the reason behind its aggressive behavior. To a honey badger, a lion would appear as tame as a kitten, while a snake would seem no more dangerous than an earthworm.

Though the honey badger would have a huge advantage over poison-type creatures like the Mephisto Serpent because of its Poison Immunity ability, it would have a hard time dealing with creatures bigger and stronger than it.

Gao Peng left the place when he was done checking the stats of every familiar in the area.

At first, Gao Peng had been hesitant about coming here. There were bound to be a number of dark horses, especially when high school students were concerned. After all, high school students had always been the main characters of stories published in pre-Cataclysm sites like Qidian. However, Gao Peng had only spotted a few, and none of them seemed to pose a threat to him, so he left the mountain villas with a skip in his step.

On the day of the World Youth Trainer Championships, dazzling displays of light shone on the stage, which had only been constructed only six months before.

The entire place was as big as a football field. Eight layers of bulletproof fiberglass walls were erected around the field to ensure the audience's safety. A roof had been set up over the stands. However, the field would be completely exposed to the elements. Any respectable trainer should have been able to adapt themselves to any weather.

Four huge screens had been set up in the air.

The field was covered with tiles made of a mixture of white jade and basalt. This mixture would be sturdy enough to withstand a Commander-tier monster's attacks. Its high density was the reason why it was so difficult and expensive to harvest and mold.

The usage of this material not only represented the wealth and influence of the Huaxia region, but also how much emphasis the Huaxia region placed on this momentous occasion.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the audience had already begun flocking into the arena.

The white jade and basalt tiles gleamed in the early morning light.

The place grew noisier as the audience filled the stands.

Reporters could be seen reporting on the occasion around the place.

"This is Han Yunzhen of Xinan News reporting live from the World Youth Trainer Championships. As you can see, there is a crowd growing in the stands behind me…"

"This is Magical Capital News. The audience is now waiting with bated breath for the main event to begin…"

Half an hour later, huge trucks stopped at the entrance of the stadium. Then, contestants came out of the trucks in brightly-colored uniforms alongside their familiars.

Some seemed fierce, some seemed elegant, and one in particular seemed a bit too free-spirited.

An albino gorilla excitedly entered the arena and removed the cape it was wearing, revealing a rather unsightly part of itself to the public.

"Andrew, we're now on global television. Keep your familiar under control, will you?" a girl said to a blonde boy with freckles.

The boy named Andrew quickly pulled back his familiar and whispered to it, "White King, please behave yourself."

The albino gorilla scratched its head. Did I do something wrong?

The contestants entered the waiting area, which was located on the edge of the field.

The hour hand of electronic clock on the huge screen above the stadium was now finally pointing at the number eight.

A bell chimed overhead, followed by drumrolls and a melodious tune that reverberated across the field.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first ever World Youth Trainer Championships!" said the host, who had appeared on the stage.

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Chapter 242: You're the Referee?!

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

From the stands rose the audience's thunderous cheer and applause. The host continued. "We're pleased to have a new generation of monster trainers participate in our first ever World Youth Trainer Championships today! If you could all just bear with me a little longer and allow me to explain the rules of the tournament…"

In the referees' rest area, Gao Peng yawned.

There were two other referees in there with him. Both of them were top-tier trainers from the Monster Trainer League who each had a Lord-tier familiar of their own.

Gao Peng didn't even bother listening to the rules of the tournament.

The only thing he needed to know about refereeing was making sure that the rules were observed by both parties. Before he left, his grandfather had reminded Gao Peng that he should take the role of referee seriously.

"Show everyone out there that this is how we do things in Huaxia, openly and without resorting to underhanded tricks. Show everyone that we can accept our losses with as much grace and dignity as any other region!"

Gao Peng couldn't find any fault in his grandfather's words. If the Huaxia team lost, they would just have to try again in the next championship.

Also, as a referee, he didn't need to know the rules in detail. He just needed to make sure that the participating familiars weren't injured too badly at the end of a match.

The contestants had entered the waiting area, which was divided according to the regions they represented.

In the Huaxia section, after listening to the rules of the tournament, Han Lei sighed and said to his teammates, "You guys nervous?"

None of them responded. Some chewed on things in their mouths to calm their nerves. Some were simply listening to their headphones on the available sofas. Some had their eyes glued to their phones.

Han Lei felt awkward about this. He knew that the only reason his teammates didn't seem to think too much of him was because he was only a replacement member of the team.

So what if I'm just a replacement? I made it on the team through sheer talent. Though most of you were ranked higher than me, who's to say that luck didn't have anything to do with it?

Han Lei turned his attention to the television, which was now broadcasting what was going on outside on the field.

I'll show you all how much I've changed, Han Lei swore to himself silently.

After Gao Peng had retired from the team, his father, Han Yuanming, had pulled a couple strings to bring Han Lei onto the team. However, it was exactly then that people had begun to whisper unsavory rumors about him.

This had enraged Han Lei. He simply wanted nothing more than to prove himself to the world.

I, Han Lei, am definitely not weaker than Gao Peng. Anything he can do, I can do better!

The door to the resting area suddenly opened. One of the workers came in and announced, "We're going to draw lots for the first round now."

All twelve participants exited the room. Being one of the most populous regions in the world, the Huaxia region was able to turn out a high number of quality Monster Trainers and so had the most representatives in the championship.

Of course, there were exceptions to this rule. For instance, though the Kushan region had a high population density as well, its team only had six members.

"Let's invite our contestants to come up on stage and pick their opponents for the first round," said the host.

All eyes across the globe were now glued to their television sets, computers, and phones as young Monster Trainers of all shapes and sizes walked on the stage.

Someone excitedly nudged his neighbor in the stands. "Look, that's the one representing our region."

"Oh, he's got quite a… personality."

Most of the audience had come from various regions to support their teams.

"Ah Xi, look at how handsome the contestant representing the Goryeo region is!"

"Look at how big Jin Muen's eyes are. He had them done in Lihe Cosmetic Surgery Hospital, just like me!"

"What a coincidence, me too!"

There were 64 participants in total. Only 32 of them would go on to the next round. In the third and final round, the remaining 16 participants would be pitted against each other in order to determine who the strongest Monster Trainer of them all was.

In the first and second rounds, participants could rest assured that they wouldn't be matched against others from the same region. However, there would be no such rule in the third round.

After the lot-drawing process, all the participants left the stage. The results were then displayed on the huge screen above the field.

Han Lei of the Huaxia region would be up against Lucas of the Great Britain region in the first match.

There was no definite rule as to which referee should go out first. Any one of them could choose to referee any match that they wanted.

Aware of the tension between Gao Peng and Han Lei, one of the referees said to him, "Do you want this one?"

He figured that such a gesture would help him be on good terms with a genius like Gao Peng.

The other referee simply let them be.

"Thanks. When all this is over, let's have lobster for dinner tonight. My treat," said Gao Peng.

Han Lei clenched his fist as he came down from the stage. He had wanted to prove himself to the world. However, he hadn't expected such an opportunity to arrive so soon.

Han Lei proceeded to bring out his familiar: a 13-foot-tall, 22-foot-long Skeletal Rhinoceros.

It was a rare Commander-tier Ghoul-type familiar. As a Ghoul-type monster, it would be particularly resistant to physical attacks. Han Lei had seen Lucas' file. In fact, he had read through everyone's files. If he remembered correctly, Lucas's familiar was a gorilla that specialized in close-quarter combat.

Victory is mine, thought Han Lei.

Two metal gates facing each other on the field slowly rose up. The Skeletal Rhinoceros padded heavily through one of them, carrying Han Lei, who was now wearing a red uniform, on its back.

Though Han Lei maintained a calm exterior, deep down he was bursting with excitement. Take a good look at the future champion, everyone!

Just then, what appeared to be a mass of black mud rolled into the field from the other metal gate. Beside it stood a blond-haired boy in a purple uniform. He smiled radiantly as he walked past the metal gate and waved at the cameras and the audience, who burst into uproarious cheers.

Han Lei felt somewhat bitter about this. He had to admit that Lucas was more good-looking than him, if only slightly.

Is the world really that shallow?

The two contestants stood 30 feet from each other. Tension now filled the air between the two.

Another metal gate slowly rose up in a corner of the field. "Let's now welcome our youngest referee to the stage—Gao Peng!" announced the host.

Han Lei was stunned when he heard the name.

Gao Peng?

The name sounded familiar.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat. Could it actually have been him?!

No, of course not, it's probably some guy whose name just happens to be Gao Peng. There must be thousands of Gao Pengs out there. There's no way it's him, thought Han Lei.

Then he turned to look at the referee who had stepped onto the field and couldn't believe his eyes.

Gao Peng! You're our referee?!

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Chapter 243: Thunderstruck

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Han Yuanming's smile froze on his face when he saw Gao Peng on the computer screen in front of him.

He had seen Gao Peng's picture before and was able to recognize him immediately.

His own son was the one who had replaced Gao Peng on the team. That day, when Zhang Xingxing had told him on the phone that the deed was done, Han Yuanming had thought that he wouldn't need to worry about anything else, since the boy named Gao Peng had been put in his place.

It had to be noted here that not many people tended to leave a deep impression on Han Yuanming. After all, he was the mayor of Jinling city. He was much too important a person to go around remembering the names of every person he had ever met.

Didn't this kid retire from the tournament? Why is he out there right now as a referee?!

Han Yuanming wasn't a fool. If he was, he wouldn't have become mayor in the first place.

Talent and background were the two most important requirements one needed to meet in order to become a referee. How on earth had a nameless orphan managed to achieve both?

Han Yuanming took a deep breath. The only possible explanation he could think of was that Gao Peng had fed all of them false information about himself.

However, what he really should have been worrying about was his own son. As one of the referees of the tournament, Gao Peng could intentionally trip Han Lei up.

Han Yuanming picked up the phone and said in a low voice, "Put me through to Director Chen of the Monster Trainer League."

The call was put through almost instantly.

"Mayor Han," said a mature female voice on the other end.

"Director Chen, can I speak to Gao Peng immediately?"

There was silence for a moment, then the woman chuckled. "Mr. Gao is currently busy refereeing the first match of the tournament. Could you call him back after the match?" The woman then hung up.

Han Yuanming slammed the phone back on the receiver, stone-faced.

Gao Peng made his way to the ring and positioned himself between the two contestants. His expression was inscrutable. He only gave Han Lei a glance.

Han Lei's heart began thumping hard on his chest. I can't believe Gao Peng is our referee! What the hell was that look he just gave me? What should I do now?

Lucas didn't know who Gao Peng was. However, he was slightly taken aback by Gao Peng's youthful appearance. At first glance, he had thought that Gao Peng was only a high school student.

Most of the audience were stunned by this as well.

Isn't he a bit too young to be a referee?

Near the eastern corner of the stands, the cheer squad from Yuzhou University's student council could be seen holding up various signs, on which were written slogans like "You Can Do It, Jun Moyi!" or "You're The Best, Wu Jianyu!"

"Is… is that Gao Peng?" one of them stammered.

"Probably not same the Gao Peng we know," said a second-year, chuckling. He blushed when he remembered that they had just talked about Gao Peng retiring from the tournament not too long before.

The ones who were most surprised by this development were the other participants representing the Huaxia region. All of them knew that Gao Peng had retired from the tournament. However, they hadn't paid it any mind. After all, Gao Peng hadn't even made it to the top five. It wouldn't have affected the team at all.

Never would they have imagined that he would actually become one of the tournament's referees.

Gao Peng shook his head, adjusted the microphone set beside his lips, and said into it, "Silence! I'm only eighteen this year, but I can assure all of you that I am without a doubt worthy of being one of the referees chosen to judge today's tournament," said Gao Peng firmly.

Ji Hanwu burst out laughing in front of his television. "Haha, that's my grandson!"

In Yuzhou University's, Xu Qingzhi rubbed her eyes. "Why is my boss out there refereeing today's tournament?"

The audience's surprise soon turned to suspicion. You're only eighteen? The minimum age required to sign a blood contract is eighteen years old. How did a pipsqueak like you manage to become a referee for such an important tournament?

In an instant, the whole place descended into chaos as everyone started calling for Gao Peng to step down.

Gao Peng's expression remained unchanged as he snapped his fingers. Dumby stepped out from behind Gao Peng and let out a deep roar from the depths of his throat.

It threw out its right fist, releasing a powerful burst of wind that shredded the top half of its black robe into pieces. It then stamped his foot on the ground, sending its Lord-tier aura rippling out in every direction.

Silence fell over the arena.

No one dared question Gao Peng's authority anymore. A Lord-tier familiar was the best proof of his legitimacy as a referee.

The more boisterous ones in the stands were quickly cowed into submission.

In the waiting area, the contestants of every region were stunned by what they had just seen.

Most of the foreign contestants let out sighs of relief. "Thank god he's just a referee. There's no way I could beat that," said someone.

"He's only eighteen, and he already has a Lord-tier familiar… The guy must be cheating somehow," said someone else.

Han Lei was the most unnerved by this. Dumby was already a Lord-tier Ghoul-type familiar, while his familiar was only a Commander-tier Ghoul-type familiar.

Dumby's incredible display of power had agitated his Skeletal Rhinoceros so much that it was now shaking uncontrollably.

If Gao Peng wanted to trip him up, he could just order his familiar to release another burst of its aura in his direction and send the Skeletal Rhinoceros running off in fear.

"Here are the rules: both of you will be fighting within the confines of the field. Stepping out of the boundaries of the field is forbidden. There are no restrictions on the battle techniques you use. However, directly attacking your opponent is forbidden. The match is over when one of you admits defeat or when one of your familiars is unable to continue fighting," said Gao Peng before ordering Dumby to move back to the edge of the field. He glanced at the time and announced, "If there are no further questions, let the first match of the tournament begin!"

There was just something off about hearing the rules being uttered by such a young person.

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Chapter 244: The Swamp Monster

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

With just one look at the two contestants' familiars, Gao Peng was already able to determine the outcome of the match. However, as one of the referees of the tournament, it would be unprofessional to spoil everything for the two contestants.

[Monster Name: Skeletal Rhinoceros

[Monster Level: Level 27

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Ghoul/Bone

[Monster Status: Healthy (Afraid)

[Monster Weakness: Holy

[Monster Name: Swamp Monster

[Monster Level: Level 26

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Earth/Mud

[Monster Status: Healthy (Afraid)

[Monster Weakness: 1. Wood 2. Water

Neither familiar seems to be in top form, thought Gao Peng. He patted Dumby's head. "Turn off your Lord-tier aura."

Both familiars loosened up considerably as soon as Dumby did what he was told.

At that moment, everyone in the stands was looking not at the two contestants and their familiars, but at the referee, Gao Peng.

With a Lord-tier familiar, clearing every round of the tournament would definitely not be a problem for him.

Flashes of light appeared from the stands as people took multiple shots of Gao Peng and Dumby with their cameras.

Before, Gao Peng had always liked to sit on Dumby's shoulders. However, ever since a pair of tusk-like protrusions had grown out of its shoulders, he could no longer do so.

The two contestants had each taken a few hundred steps back until they reached the edge of the ring.

Even though the rules had clearly stated that deliberate attacks on one's opponent were forbidden, it was up to both contestants to avoid being caught in the crossfire between their familiars.

White smoke issued from the Skeletal Rhinoceros's nostrils as it stomped on the ground a few times. In the next instant, it rushed at the Swamp Monster in front of it.

The Swamp Monster was a 10-foot-wide mass of living mud. It didn't seem to smell as bad as its revolting appearance suggested.

The Skeletal Rhinoceros rushed at its opponent like a tank, a blue flame burning brightly in its empty eye sockets. As it approached the Swamp Monster, it lifted its forelegs into the air, getting ready to slam its entire weight onto the pile of mud.

The rhinoceros's hooves came down on the Swamp Monster, mud spraying out at the impact. At that moment, the Swamp Monster's body was shattered into pieces.

However, the Swamp Monster didn't seem to have suffered any serious damage. It could still recover from any injury that didn't involve forcibly removing parts of its body.

Mud slowly began pooling around the rhinoceros' hooves.

Realizing what was happening, Han Lei immediately ordered his familiar to step away from the mud.

He had heard of monsters like the Swamp Monster. It could hardly be called unbeatable, as there were ways to counter its unique physiology. Unfortunately, there was nothing the Skeletal Rhinoceros could do against it. His familiar was completely countered by the Swamp Monster.

"Damn it, didn't his file say his familiar was a silver-backed gorilla? Where did this Swamp Monster come from?" Han Lei muttered under his breath. The Skeletal Rhinoceros wasn't his only familiar. However, according to the rules of the tournament, contestants were forbidden from switching out their familiars in the middle of a fight during the first round of the tournament.

The Skeletal Rhinoceros moaned as it struggled to pull its hooves out of the mud. However, the mud continued to gather around its feet, threatening to envelop its entire body.

The blue flames inside the rhinoceros' eyes burned even brighter. Then there was a sound like firecrackers erupting from its spine, as if someone had stepped on the accelerator of a car.

Finally, the Skeletal Rhinoceros managed to pull itself free from the mud. It staggered away from the Swamp Monster and stabilized its posture just in time.

A cheer erupted from the stands at that moment.

Suddenly, the Swamp Monster came crashing down on its head before the Skeletal Rhinoceros even had time to react.

With its sight completely blocked, the Skeletal Rhinoceros stomped madly around the field.

There was a pained expression on Han Lei's face. It was clear to everyone that he was going to lose this match.

Even though his familiar was a Ghoul-type monster, it had yet to awaken the magical abilities most Ghoul-type monsters tended to have. The only thing it could do now was swing its nigh-impenetrable body at the Swamp Monster.

The Swamp Monster had entered the Skeletal Rhinoceros's eye sockets and was now filling up its hollow skull with mud.

"Dumby, what would you do if you had to fight the Swamp Monster?" Gao Peng asked Dumby through his blood contract.

Dumby tilted its head ruminatively, then replied, "I'd cut it into pieces!"

"Then?"

"I'd cut it into even more pieces!" said Dumby firmly.

Han Lei had thought too little of Gao Peng by assuming that he would intentionally trip him up in the middle of the match.

He wasn't someone who would stoop so low as to harass someone else just to resolve a past grievance. Besides, only a fool would do such thing to a contestant representing his own region.

If he had really wanted to, he could kill all of Han Lei's familiars any time he wanted to after the tournament.

Even without Gao Peng's interference, the match's outcome had already been determined. It would only be a matter of time until the Skeletal Rhinoceros succumbed to the Swamp Monster.

It's a shame that you had to go down so early in the tournament, Han Lei, thought Gao Peng.

A terrible cry pierced the air. The Skeletal Rhinoceros had fallen to the ground. It slowly began to lose all its strength as the Swamp Monster continued filling every part of its body with mud.

"You've done quite well. It's just that luck doesn't seem to be on your side today. I do hope that you won't be disheartened by today's defeat," said Gao Peng.

Han Lei simply stared at him, then sighed deeply. Right now, he could only vent his frustration on his own familiar.

He coldly looked at the Skeletal Rhinoceros lying on the ground and said, "Get up."

As if it had heard its master's order, the Skeletal Rhinoceros began struggling against the Swamp Monster once more…

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Chapter 245: The First Day

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Skeletal Rhinoceros continued struggling against the Swamp Monster on the ground. Muffled grunts came from its mouth, which its opponent had filled with mud.

Gao Peng could see the desperation on the rhinoceros' face.

Notwithstanding any differences he had with Han Lei, Gao Peng had to admit that the Skeletal Rhinoceros was a fine familiar.

Like human beings, every familiar had its own personality. In this case, the Skeletal Rhinoceros seemed to be on the bullheaded side.

However, every time the Skeletal Rhinoceros tried to get back to its feet, the Swamp Monster would weigh it back down.

The Skeletal Rhinoceros now had one knee on the ground as it tried to lift its head up. The single white horn on its snout had pierced through the Swamp Monster's body.

After a while, it managed to prop itself up with its other knee.

It then arduously pushed the rest of its body off the ground.

Those who had been cheering for the Swamp Monster from the stands had suddenly gone quiet.

"That's it, Skeletal Rhinoceros, just keep going!" shouted Han Lei, both his hands now curled into tight fists. "If you defeat it, I'll buy you your favorite treat!"

Suddenly, the flames inside the Skeletal Rhinoceros's sockets burned even more brightly. There was now a hint of purple in them.

Suddenly, one of its hooves struck the white jade tiles with a dull thud.

The Skeletal Rhinoceros finally got itself back on its feet, wearing the Swamp Monster on its back like a cape.

It then turned towards its master and let out a triumphant cry, as if proclaiming to Han Lei that it had finally won its battle against the Swamp Monster!

"Now shake off the Swamp Monster on your back and end it quickly," said Han Lei, waving his hand furiously at it.

The Skeletal Rhinoceros seemed slightly disheartened when it didn't receive any praise from its master. However, a resolute look appeared on its face. I have to win this, it thought.

It slammed the Swamp Monster on its back against the protective screen at the edge of the ring. Even though the screen was made of fortified fiberglass, the Skeletal Rhinoceros still managed to leave a small crack in it.

The audience behind the protective screen screamed. Some immediately left their seats in case the whole thing came crashing down on them.

Gao Peng frowned, then ordered Dumby to stop the Skeletal Rhinoceros. Deliberately damaging the area around the ring was strictly against the rules.

"Gao Peng, what the hell are you doing?" said Han Lei furiously.

"It's against the rules," replied Gao Peng calmly.

Han Lei was about to say something rude to him, but then he decided against it.

"Please take the fight to the stone platform in the middle of the field," said Gao Peng tersely.

After receiving Han Lei's order, the Skeletal Rhinoceros obediently headed towards the stone platform.

The Swamp Monster was still weighing it down by clinging steadfastly to its back.

The rhinoceros' fleshless body was completely incapable of sweating. However, drops of yellow liquid could now be seen seeping out from its exposed bones.

Suddenly, the Skeletal Rhinoceros rushed towards the stone platform and collided against it!

It had driven its tusk through the stone platform, which was supposed to have been built with a material capable of withstanding the attacks of any Commander-tier monster.

Mud flew in all directions from the rhinoceros' tusk.

"Good, Skeletal Rhinoceros, just keep attacking it like that! What are you still standing there for?!" said Han Lei when he saw his familiar simply standing there like a statue.

The Swamp Monster's mud had left the rhinoceros' skull, revealing its huge, empty eye sockets.

In them, one could see a pair of faint blue flames which was about to go out at any moment.

All of a sudden, the Skeletal Rhinoceros collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud. It had used up all its strength in its last attack.

It weakly looked at Han Lei and let out a sad moan, as if it wanted to hear some form of consolation from its master.

"Useless," muttered Han Lei, who then turned away and left the field.

He had no need for such a useless familiar. Besides, he could always switch the Skeletal Rhinoceros for a more powerful familiar with his father's help.

When the Skeletal Rhinoceros saw its master turn his back on it, the blue flame in its eyes wavered for a moment. Despair was the only thing it could feel right then.

Then it let out a terrible wail that echoed across the field.

Lucas called its familiar back. Upon seeing the Skeletal Rhinoceros lying motionlessly on the ground, he sighed and left the field as well.

Gao Peng stepped down from the field to allow the next referee to take his place.

Most of the spectators in the stands were now craning their heads to get a better look at the next referee, who had appeared on the field in a white T-shirt and a pair of gray pants.

Li Yu gazed out at the stands with a slightly haughty expression on his face, bracing himself for the audience's excited cheers.

However, only sparse applause greeted him from the stands. Some of the audience even booed at him.

What the hell is wrong with everyone? he thought.

"Why is this referee so old?" muttered some of the spectators.

"He looks way too old to be a referee. He must be at least 30 years old."

These were the comments that Li Yu had managed to pick up from the audience.

I knew I shouldn't have let that little pipsqueak go out there first… Also, I'm only turning 30 this year! How dare you call me old!

The day soon passed by in the blink of an eye.

There were 32 matches in total in the first round of the tournament. Twenty-four matches had been completed that day, which meant that there were still eight matches left. The first elimination round would probably be completed the next morning, which would then be followed by the lot-drawing process for the second round.

Under normal circumstances, only some of the tournament's more promising participants would have been the hot topic of the day's news. However, this time was different.

Every news station was now buzzing excitedly about one of the referees of the tournament.

Gao Peng, a contestant from the Huaxia region, retired, 18 years old, referee, with a Lord-tier familiar.

Individually, these words didn't mean much. However, when put together, they formed an extremely eye-grabbing title on the front page of any newspaper!

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Chapter 246: The Final Match

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng, who was staying at Zhou Tianmin's house temporarily, didn't know what was going on outside at that moment. In truth, even if he had known that everyone in the world was talking about him, he wouldn't have minded in the slightest.

Of course, the Southern Sky Group might have had a hand in spreading his name across every news station in the region.

Now that everyone knew what Gao Peng was capable of, no one would even bat an eyelid when he did something outrageous.

"Zhou Mengmeng, is that Gao Peng really staying at your place?" whispered someone outside the garden.

"Yeah."

"An 18-year-old with a Lord-tier familiar… That's just incredible. If he had signed a blood contract during the Cataclysm's early days, he'd probably have an Emperor-tier familiar by now."

On the east side of the garden was a wide, empty space, over which a waterproof canopy had been set up. Some monster training equipment had been prepared beneath the canopy. For instance, there was a 16-foot-long leg-training equipment in a corner of the empty space which was specially designed to suit any monster's anatomy.

Da Zi was lying flat on its back on the exercise machine. It bent its body upwards, then relaxed, then bent upwards again. Its body was now glistening with sweat.

"Do this for ten more minutes, and I'll give you more food for dinner tonight," said Gao Peng, glancing at the stopwatch in his hand.

Da Zi's black eyeballs gleamed excitedly. "All right!" When Gao Peng looked away, Da Zi's movements slowed down considerably.

Gao Peng then walked towards a butterfly machine beside Da Zi. The piece of equipment was approximately 20 feet tall. As it was way too big for Goldie to use, Gao Peng had asked Flamy to breathe fire at it from time to time in order to keep Goldie at a sufficiently inflated size.

Flamy happily circled around them in the air like a stumpy penguin that could actually fly. Every time Goldie was about to deflate, it would quickly breathe out a jet of fire at it. If this wasn't enough to trigger its passive effect, Flamy would send another jet of fire in its direction.

"Not bad, Goldie. I'll give you a mutated tuna for dinner tonight," said Gao Peng, smiling.

Goldie's movements intensified even more when it heard what Gao Peng said.

"Gao Peng, Gao Peng," said Silly, who was floating above Gao Peng's head and tickling the back of his ear with one of its tentacles.

"What is it?" said Gao Peng, lightly pulling at Silly's tentacle with his fingers.

"Da Zi's slacking off…" said Silly happily.

Gao Peng frowned. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Da Zi was simply lying on the exercise machine, its feelers waggling happily on its head.

"Good job. Three cups of juice for you," said Gao Peng encouragingly.

Silly's eyes lit up as it hugged Gao Peng's head with its tentacles. "Thanks, Gao Peng. You're the best!"

"Da Zi, do 10,000 sets right now. You can only eat when you're done," said Gao Peng coldly.

Da Zi's body froze up. It hadn't expected Gao Peng to turn around so suddenly.

"There's a surveillance camera above you. I'll be checking it to make sure you don't slack off." Gao Peng pointed at a surveillance camera which was installed in a corner of the canopy.

Da Zi gaped at him.

What human thought it was a good idea to invent such an invasive device? What does he or she have against me?!

The right-hand corner of the place was occupied by Stripey.

Ever since a pair of horns had grown out of Dumby's shoulders, Stripey now had the honor of carrying Gao Peng everywhere on its back.

It was doing push-ups with a few tons of weight on its back. A faint white mist issued from its joints and back.

"He's already training his familiars at such an early hour. No wonder he was able to train one of his familiars to reach Lord-tier," said a tall, slender girl with shoulder-length hair who was standing beside Zhou Mengmeng. She was wearing a red shirt that revealed her shoulders, a black, ankle-length skirt, and natural makeup on her face.

"An Ningxue, if you're on the lookout for a boyfriend right now, you could always ask your father to let you marry into the Ji family," teased Zhou Mengmeng.

An Ningxue didn't blush at this. She was seriously considering what Zhou Mengmeng had proposed.

Zhou Mengmeng sighed as she looked at Gao Peng. She didn't like the way his grandfather had tried to set her up with him. She didn't hate Gao Peng; she simply disliked the idea of having the grown-ups decide everything for her.

Gao Peng looked at his watch. It was now half past seven in the morning.

The tournament would start at eight, and it would take him at least ten minutes to get to the stadium. He still had plenty of time until then.

Gao Peng had also noticed Zhou Mengmeng and her friend outside the garden. However, he decided not to call them, as he didn't really know them.

When he was done training his familiars, Gao Peng began packing up his things.

Goldie leapt down from the massive butterfly machine and waddled towards the closet, then aggressively opened the closet and took out its yellow coat as carefully as possible.

As it was still in its enlarged form, Goldie simply swung its coat over its shoulder and waddled out of the training area.

When the massive duck passed Zhou Mengmeng and her friend, it simply glanced at them and stretched out its neck haughtily.

"Ew, hairless female humans, how horrid."

Da Zi stared at Gao Peng as it tried to crawl down from the exercise machine.

Gao Peng shot it a warning glance, causing Da Zi to quickly crawl back up on the exercise machine.

"Just wanted to stretch my muscles," said Da Zi glumly. It continued working on the exercise machine.

After breakfast, Gao Peng flew to the stadium in a helicopter with Dumby hanging down from the helicopter's landing skids.

In less than ten minutes, the helicopter arrived at the stadium. The audience and reporters had already filled the stands. The remainder of the elimination matches soon began.

In the afternoon, most of the audience was already exhausted from spending the whole morning cheering for the remaining participants. The excitement in the air had all but died down.

"We'll be starting the last elimination match of the first round shortly!" announced the host.

Taking this as his cue, Gao Peng led Dumby out on the field.

The metal gates on both sides of the field slowly rose up.

In the left-hand corner stood a boy wearing a red uniform and a pair of black pants. A huge black tiger entered the field behind him. Its body was covered with black scales that glistened beneath the sun. The pattern of stripes on its forehead resembled the Chinese character for the word 'king.'

A blonde, blue-eyed boy with long, wavy hair came out from the right-hand corner. A knobbly tree-like creature followed him by slowly pushing itself forward with its serpentine roots.

Some of the audience who had been dozing off suddenly woke up with a start. "The most anticipated battle is about to begin!"

"The champion of the Huaxia region versus the champion of the Yinglie region!"

"Yu Ge will definitely come out victorious."

"But Brandy's not that weak. He's not champion of the Yinglie region for nothing, you know."

"Are you even from Huaxia?!"

Chapter 247: The Final Match (2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On one corner of the field stood Yu Ge, who had come in first place in the Huaxia preliminaries, in a red uniform. He even had his own fan club cheering for him from the stands.

Brandy was also probably just as popular back home as Yu Ge was here. However, now that he was in the Huaxia region, he received less support from the audience than his opponent.

[Monster Name: Black-scaled Tiger

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Monster Level: Level 32

[Monster Attribute: Dark

[Monster Ability: Hardened Scales Level 1, Darkness Mastery Level 1

[Special Characteristics: Eye of Darkness (Passive effect: The Black-scaled Tiger can see perfectly in the dark. Not only are spirits visible to it, it also has a high affinity towards the darkness element. Active effect: It can blind its target by just looking at it.)

[Monster Weakness: The Black-scaled Tiger is extremely averse to light. Its physical condition will deteriorate in response to extremely bright environments.

[Monster Name: Wailing Serpent Tree

[Monster Grade: Epic

[Monster Level: Level 30

[Monster Attribute: Wood

[Monster Ability: Tough Tendrils Level 2, Accelerated Regeneration Level 1

[Special Characteristics: Acidic Sap (Passive Effect 1: Its sap is highly corrosive. It can spray it from a specialized organ on its body to cause corrosive damage to an enemy. Passive Effect 2: It leaves high amounts of acid inside the bodies of its prey. Passive Effect 3: If its acidic sap is left to stew inside for a long time, it will gain additional effects, such as increased acidity or anaesthetic effect.

[Monster Weakness: Fire

Even though the Black-scaled Tiger was two levels higher, its grade was one level lower than the Wailing Tree Serpent. Judging by the two familiar's grades, one might have said that the Wailing Tree Serpent was a bit stronger than the tiger.

The outcome of this match would depend on both familiars' experience, attributes, and unique physiologies.

Gao Peng began weighing the odds of victory.

Neither familiar seemed to be weak against the other's attributes. Also, the Black-scaled Tiger's innate ability probably wouldn't be able to have any huge effect on the Wailing Serpent Tree.

However, the Wailing Serpent Tree had a much wider range of attack than its opponent.

Sometimes, all it would take was one fine detail to send the scales of victory tipping to one side.

Still, it had to be noted that the Wailing Serpent Tree was a Plant-type familiar. Like most Plant-type familiars, its mobility was highly restricted.

It would seem that both familiars had a fair chance of winning this match.

The Black-scaled Tiger suddenly roared and flexed its inky black scales menacingly, then unsheathed its claws, which gleamed with a mysterious light.

The Black-scaled Tiger's eyes were now fixated on its opponent. In an instant, the Wailing Serpent Tree's world went dark.

A moment before, it had been bright and sunny. A moment later, night had fallen around it.

The Wailing Serpent Tree could only see as far as ten feet in front of it now.

Even in the darkness, it could sense the tiger's ravenous eyes watching its every move. In truth, this didn't have much effect on the Wailing Serpent Tree, as it could still feel the warm sun shining down on it, and that was all it needed.

Judging by the fact that its every cell was still photosynthesizing under the sun, it knew that the darkness around it was just an illusion.

More importantly, it was capable of feeling its way through the darkness by picking up on the infrared radiation around it.

The Wailing Serpent Tree's snake-like branches slapped the Black-scaled Tiger away mid-pounce.

A metallic clang sounded in the air when its branches struck the tiger's scales. The Black-scaled Tiger staggered for a bit, then lunged again and sank its teeth into the tree's branch. When it pulled a piece of bark off of the tree, a red liquid squirted out from its wound, like blood.

The Black-scaled Tiger continued its frenzied attack. In just a few seconds, it managed to bite ten more branches off of the tree. A red liquid flowed from the Wailing Serpent Tree's gaping wounds until it had formed a blood-red puddle beneath it. Some of it had also landed on the Black-scaled Tiger's scales. A pungent smell permeated the air.

However, there were just too many branches. Even when the Black-scaled Tiger tore ten branches off the tree, a hundred more took their place and retaliated. A translucent liquid leaked out from some of its branches and fell onto the tiger's body. The Black-scaled Tiger simply ignored it and continued its relentless struggle against the tree's branches.

Seeing that its attack was doing nothing to the tree's defenses, the Black-scaled Tiger decided to look for an opening elsewhere. It slashed through the branches around it with one claw and took a step back.

When it had only taken two steps back, a green smoke suddenly issued from the Black-scaled Tiger's body, causing it to stagger to one side.

Gao Peng narrowed his eyes at it. He could see that the scales around its chest had been corroded away, revealing a bloody patch of flesh.

"Black-scaled Tiger, get away from it, quick," said Yu Ge urgently.

The Black-scaled Tiger let out a deep moan and staggered again when it tried to take a few more steps back from the tree.

Looks like it's over, thought Gao Peng, sighing.

The Black-scaled Tiger was now at a disadvantage. It wasn't a match for the Wailing Tree Serpent and its Accelerated Regeneration ability during a prolonged battle.

The Black-scaled Tiger didn't dare approach the Wailing Serpent Tree directly again. It began prowling around the tree, waiting for an opportunity to pounce on it.

Suddenly, a hole that looked like an eye opened up on the tree's bark.

In the next instant, a jet of transparent liquid flew out from the hole and barely grazed the tiger's nose.

The fight dragged on for at least an hour, until the Black-scaled Tiger finally collapsed to the ground.

The Wailing Serpent Tree had simply waited patiently for its acidic sap to wear the tiger down. The only thing that could have beat it in a contest of patience was a rock.

This Wailing Serpent Tree is… something, thought Gao Peng.

Its patience was truly impressive. It was like a hunter, calmly waiting for its prey to walk into its trap.

Everyone who had been cheering for Yu Ge in the stands seemed disappointed by his loss.

On the other hand, Brandy was now smiling from ear to ear. I won! I defeated Huaxia's strongest!

Then he glanced at Gao Peng…

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Chapter 248:Da Zi the Slacker

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng suddenly sensed that he was being watched.

He turned around and looked the blonde-haired boy straight in the eye.

"You're strong. I hope we get to have a duel one day," said Brandy humbly in English.

Gao Peng, who hadn't scored well in English back in high school, barely managed to understand what he was saying.

He was about to reply that such a day would never come. However, considering that he was representing not only himself, but the entire Huaxia region right then, he decided to simply smile and say in Chinese, "I'll try to let you lose with your dignity intact."

Naturally, Brandy didn't understand what Gao Peng had said. He simply assumed from Gao Peng's smile that he was probably complimenting him. People from Huaxia are so nice, he thought

"I'll do my best!" said Brandy happily.

Gao Peng eyed him quizzically. What?

After losing his match with Brandy, Yu Ge looked crestfallen. Both his fists were clenched tightly. One could only imagine what he was feeling right then.

The lot-drawing process of the tournament's second round was about to begin.

Gao Peng began walking towards the exit. He hesitated for a moment when he saw Yu Ge's shambling figure walking away. Finally, he strode after him.

Yu Ge slowed down when he heard footsteps behind him.

"I lost. That's all there is to it. If you're here to console me, you can save your breath. I don't need it," said Yu Ge glumly.

"I'm not here to console you. By the way, isn't your mother the leader of the Shadowblood Monster Hunter Association?" said Gao Peng.

Yu Ge turned around and eyed Gao Peng warily. "What about her?"

"I would like to discuss something with her."

Yu Ge gave Gao Peng a vague nod, still unsure what all this was about.

"Do you know what the difference is between you and Brandy?" asked Gao Peng with a smile.

Yu Ge frowned as he pondered the question. "I probably have less experience than him. My Black-scaled Tiger was too rash. We probably should have tested his familiar's ability first before going in like that…"

"No, not that. Seems like you still haven't figured it out," said Gao Peng bluntly.

"Your familiar's grade was one level lower than his! His Wailing Serpent Tree was an Epic-grade familiar, which was a grade higher than your Perfect-grade Black-scaled Tiger."

If anyone else had said this to Yu Ge, he would have left with a huff on the spot. However, this was Gao Peng he was talking to. Yu Ge began mulling over his words.

"An Excellent-grade monster would probably have been able to handle two to three Normal-grade monsters, while a Perfect-grade monster would be able to deal with two to three Excellent-grade monsters. An Epic-grade monster, on the other hand, can take on two to five Perfect-grade monsters with ease," explained Gao Peng.

"Brandy's familiar is a plant-type monster, which means that one-on-one fights aren't its specialty. However, despite being a lower level than the Epic-grade Wailing Serpent Tree, your Black-scaled Tiger still managed to keep it at bay!"

Yu Ge was stunned to hear all this. The Wailing Serpent Tree was… an Epic-grade monster? So that's why Brandy chose to send out a plant-type monster against my Black-scaled Tiger.

Plant-type monsters had notoriously restricted mobility, which made them nothing more than sitting ducks in the face of long-range attackers. Most of them were also at an extreme disadvantage against fire-type monsters.

"If your Black-scaled Tiger had reached the Epic grade, it would have had the speed and power necessary to shred the Wailing Serpent Tree into pieces before it even had time to regenerate its limbs."

"I see," said Yu Ge, nodding.

"I've recently discovered a way to evolve your Black-scaled Tiger," said Gao Pen, patting Yu Ge's shoulder. He turned to leave. "Let me know if you're ready to take the next step. You can come find me when all this is over."

Yu Ge stared at Gao Peng incredulously.

Gao Peng returned to the referees' break room and poured himself a cup of water from the dispenser beside the sofa.

"Yesterday's news was all about you. You're famous now, kid," said Li Yu from the sofa.

"Only for a little while. Everyone will forget I even exist after the tournament," said Gao Peng. He put down his disposable cup, took his phone out of his pocket, and opened an app he had installed.

Li Yu smiled. He had only been teasing the youngster. In truth, this didn't bother him at all. He was just way too old to care about fame.

"Da Zi, what are you doing?!" Gao Peng suddenly shouted at the phone.

Li Yu looked at Gao Peng curiously.

At that moment, Da Zi was lazily basking in the sun on the training grounds. When it heard its master's voice, it scrambled to its feet and cautiously surveyed its surroundings. Is Gao Peng here?

Da Zi quickly dismissed the idea. That's impossible. I can smell him from 100 yards away. There's no way he could sneak up on me. I must be imagining things.

It resumed its basking. Its yellow claws clicked lightly against its abdomen as it let out a contented chirrup.

Gao Peng still needs to go to work to feed me, while I'm just here, lying in the sun, thought Da Zi. Poor Gao Peng. Work must be so tiring for him.

Gao Peng smiled coldly at the sight of Da Zi's sleeping figure on his phone.

Don't underestimate the power of technology, he thought.

"I already know that you've been slacking off all this time. I wanted to give you a chance to realize your mistakes, but since that's too tall an order for you, I'm just going to punish you by adding a thousand more sets to your training routine," said Gao Peng.

Da Zi woke up with a start and flew into the air, frantically searching for any sign of Gao Peng in the vicinity.

"I must be going mad! Where is he?!"

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Chapter 249: The Second Round of the Tournament

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"I've been watching you this whole time. You can't hide from me," said Gao Peng's voice. It was coming from one of the surveillance cameras he had installed in the training ground.

Da Zi finally determined where Gao Peng's voice was coming from.

"Gao Peng, let me explain—" said Da Zi, panicking.

"And how do you intend to do that?" asked Gao Peng coldly.

"I-I…" stammered Da Zi as it tried to think of a good excuse.

"I really like you!" it blurted.

Did you honestly think that would work on me? thought Gao Peng, frowning.

"I'll let this one slide," said Gao Peng. "Get all 10,000 sets done by today. I've got my eye on you."

Will Gao Peng really be looking at me all day? thought Da Zi. That doesn't sound very feasible.

Gao Peng turned off his phone when he was done reprimanding the centipede, then looked at the television in the room. The lot-drawing process for the tournament's second round was being broadcast live on it right then.

Even though Huaxia's number one contestant, Yu Ge, had been eliminated from the tournament, the rest of the team had performed quite well.

Out of the 12 contestants, eight of them had managed to get through to the second round.

Gao Peng realized that three of them had lost their matches while he had been acting as referee, including Yu Ge and Han Lei.

He suddenly felt bad about this. Did my awesomeness put too much stress on them? They really should have pulled themselves together, thought Gao Peng.

There were 32 contestants in total in the second round. The Huaxia team made up a quarter of that number. Their red uniforms looked particularly striking out on the field. Some of the contestants from the other regions were now looking at the Huaxia team with a mixture of admiration and apprehension.

Like the first round, contestants from the same region wouldn't be matched with each other.

When the lot-drawing process was done, all the contestants returned to their respective break rooms.

There was no telling what would happen in the tournament. In the first round, those whom people had thought would come out on top ended up losing, while those who were thought to be weak and not worth anyone's time had surprised everyone by emerging victorious.

This was especially true for the contestants from the Southeast Asian and African regions. Most people tended to think that those from less developed regions wouldn't be able to raise powerful familiars.

However, the performances of both regions' contestants so far had been a huge slap in the face to those who had taken them lightly.

The familiars from both regions had also seemed especially vicious. This was perhaps due to the harsh training they had received in an equally harsh environment.

All 13 contestants from both regions were able to move on to the second round.

"The contestants and familiars from the Southeast Asian region seem extremely brutal," said Li Yu.

"I'm from Kunzhou. It's quite near the Southeast Asian region, and let me tell you, they train their familiars by pitting them against each other," said the third referee, Guo Qingshan, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa.

"Really?"

"Yeah. All the major Southeast Asian countries were combined into a single region when the New World Allied Government was formed. A lot of children lost their parents in the early days of the Cataclysm. These orphans were placed in training camps by the government. When they came of age, the government would assign each of them their own familiars and then let them fight it out until only one of them remained…"

"Didn't the government come under fire from all those human rights associations?" said Li Yu, stunned.

"Nope," replied Guo Qingshan. "Most of these orphans voluntarily signed themselves up for this. Anyone who managed to come out of the government's training regiment alive would be able to enter the upper echelons of society in the Southeast Asian region. He or she would be guaranteed access to everything, from money to women, you name it. I don't think they had much of a choice. They would probably have been left for dead if they chose not to participate."

Guo Qingshan then added with a sigh, "It all looks impressive out there until you realize that some of these contestants had to climb over the corpses of others just to get to where they are now. Also, I've heard that a number of monster trainers from the Huaxia region snuck into the Southeast Asian region just to participate in their training camps."

Gao Peng began thinking over Guo Qingshan's words. He could probably set up a similar training camp in his own home with a few details adjusted in order to help his familiars improve their monster grades quickly.

However, he would still have to discuss this matter with his grandfather.

In the tournament's second round, every contestant was allowed to send all of their familiars out on the field.

There was no limit to the number of familiars one could bring in, as the number of blood contracts one had signed was testament to one's own mental fortitude.

There was a half-hour break in the afternoon for the spectators and contestants to eat and rest.

The Monster Trainer League had also provided food for Gao Peng and the other referees. Their meals consisted of top-quality monster meat and exotic fruits. Gao Peng sat on a chair and began stuffing pieces of meat into his mouth while watching a live stream of Da Zi's exercise routine on his phone.

When he was done eating, Gao Peng looked at the time. The first referee to go out on the field would be Li Yu, followed by Guo Qingshan, and finally, Gao Peng. This meant that Gao Peng still had time to take a short nap.

"The third match is between Gang Mu of the Southeast Asian region and Lucas of the Great Britain region."

The gates slowly opened up. Lucas entered the field from one corner with two of his familiars behind him. On his left was a 13-foot-tall gorilla with silver hair lining its arms and spine. On his right slithered the Swamp Monster.

From the other gate emerged a huge monster covered in short yellow fur. It had big round eyes that looked around nervously. Its head made up a third of its body.

A young boy with slightly dark skin and thick, wavy hair was beside it, stroking it gently. He whispered to it, "Calm down, Mom. As soon as we're done here, I'll treat you to your favorite food, crickets."

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The audience couldn't hear what the Southeast Asian contestant was whispering.

Upon hearing its master's calming voice, the massive bug-eyed monster visibly relaxed.

Gang Mu had also brought in his equally massive Rainforest Scorpion with him. It was the same Rainforest Scorpion he had used in the previous round.

[Monster Name: Giant Tarsier

[Monster Level: Level 33

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Monster Attribute: Wood

[Special Characteristics: Enlarged Cranium

(Passive Effect 1: Thanks to its Enlarged Cranium, it is endowed with incredible psychic energy and telekinetic powers.

Active Effect 2: Its Enlarged Cranium also allows it to control low-level monsters that are mentally weaker.

[Monster Ability: Enhanced Mental Powers Level 2

[Monster Weakness: Despite its powerful mind, the Giant Tarsier has an incredibly weak body.

[Monster Name: Rainforest Scorpion

[Monster Level: Level 29

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Water

[Monster Ability: Fortified Exoskeleton Level 1

[Monster Weakness: Earth

Gao Peng curiously looked at the Giant Tarsier.

Tarsiers were native to the Southeast Asian region. They were a shy species which usually fed off crickets and other insects, and they were also emotionally tethered to their habitats. They would die if they were removed from their homes for too long.

This was the reason why one would be hard-pressed to find tarsiers outside the Southeast Asian region. He or she would have to venture into their habitats in order to take a closer look at them.

Of course, the Giant Tarsier's presence in Didu meant that its species had finally overcome its shyness to some extent.

The Giant Tarsier cautiously poked its head out of the iron gates, then extended a bony hand out. Its long, narrow fingers looked as if they were covered with a flimsy layer of skin.

The murmur of the audience seemed to trouble the Giant Tarsier greatly. It hurriedly pulled its head back.

"Mom, let's go. These people won't hurt you," Gang Mu whispered again into the Giant Tarsier's ear.

Mom?

Gao Peng heard what Gang Mu said this time.

He could see that the Giant Tarsier was struggling to overcome its innate shyness. It looked at Gang Mu and affectionately stroked Gang Mu's head with its hand.

Like a mother protecting her child, the Giant Tarsier moved itself in front of Gang Mu.

Gao Peng frowned at this curious scene.

The Giant Tarsier began slowly crawling onto the field, while the Rainforest Scorpion rushed out from its side.

Lucas' eyes flashed past the Rainforest Scorpion and settled on the Giant Tarsier. This was the first time he had seen such a strange-looking creature.

"Swamp Monster, stop that Rainforest Scorpion!"

The Swamp Monster slowly rolled towards the Rainforest Scorpion. The Rainforest Scorpion was now staring back at it.

As it was being controlled by the Giant Tarsier, the Rainforest Scorpion rushed at the Swamp Monster without any trepidation. A cold, wet energy began swirling around its pincers. The scorpion slammed both pincers into the Swamp Monster when it was close enough.

Its black pincers sank into the Swamp Monster, sending mud flying all over the place. However, the Rainforest Scorpion's claws were now trapped in the mud.

The Swamp Monster's mud became even more viscous as it absorbed all the moisture from the Rainforest Scorpion's pincers.

With the Swamp Monster keeping the Rainforest Scorpion busy, the Silverback Ape immediately leapt towards the Giant Tarsier.

The Giant Tarsier stared at the Silverback Ape with its huge, teary eyes. Suddenly, an invisible power exploded out of the Giant Tarsier's massive head. The Silverback Ape began to slow down, as if it was moving through quicksand.

Veins popped out around the Giant Tarsier's eyes, which were now bloodshot.

The Silverback Ape's movements slowed down even more, as if countless invisible spider webs were now holding it back.

"Ah Ma, it's trying to hurt us! Kill it now!" Gang Mu whispered into the Giant Tarsier's ear.

A fierce look crossed the Giant Tarsier's face when it heard Gang Mu's tearful plea.

Without warning, the Silverback Ape's eyeballs exploded in their sockets!

The frightening thing about the Giant Tarsier was that it could wield its telekinetic powers like a whip and attack any part of its enemy's body.

This didn't mean that the Giant Tarsier was completely invincible; its weak physique rendered it extremely vulnerable to physical attacks.

The Giant Tarsier channeled its psychic energy past its opponent's eye sockets and then proceeded to rip its brain into pieces.

The Silverback Ape collapsed on the ground. Blood and brain matter dribbled out of its nostrils and sockets as it continued to spasm on the ground…

"Silverback!" shouted Lucas.

His familiar's death had inflicted massive spiritual damage on Lucas, whose face went pale instantly. He would have to recuperate for a long time in order to recover from this.

The Giant Tarsier looked at Lucas coldly. It began weaving its psychic energy towards him like a pair of feelers.

Suddenly, the Giant Tarsier screeched in pain as it held its head in its hands.

Dumby had conjured a ball of white flame in the air, burning the Giant Tarsier's psychic feelers.

"Directly attacking your opponent is strictly forbidden. This is your first warning," said Gao Peng flatly.

Although the Giant Tarsier had received a penalty, this still didn't change the match's outcome. Lucas looked gratefully at Gao Peng. If the referee hadn't stepped in, he probably would have been killed as well. He still had no idea how his Silverback Ape had been killed. Fearing that the Swamp Monster could suffer the same fate as the Silverback Ape, Lucas decided to forfeit the match.

"The winner is Gang Mu," announced Gao Peng. He looked at the Giant Tarsier, which stared back at him, then shifted its gaze away from him and exited the field with its master.

Back in the break room, Gao Peng asked Guo Qingshan, "That was a weird match. Gang Mu kept calling his Giant Tarsier 'Mom.' Do Southeast Asian people like calling their familiars this way?"

Guo QIngshan stifled a chuckle. "The Southeast Asian contestants might come and mess you up for saying something like that. But I do know this: there's a type of blood contract in the Southeast Asian region that involves pairing young children who have undergone special training with apelike monsters that have recently lost a child.

"Through long-term cohabitation, these monsters gradually come to see these human children as their own child, which would make signing a blood contract with them much easier. The only downside to this is that these human children actually have to become these monsters' foster children."

Gao Peng fell silent, not knowing whether to praise humans' endless ingenuity or feel sorry for the children who had to go through this.

"Does this type of blood contract have a high success rate?" asked Gao Peng.

"No, it's terribly low. Although apelike monsters are known to be gentle creatures, after losing a child, they can be quite sensitive and prone to violent outbursts. A lot of young people were torn to shreds by these monsters," said Guo Qingshan, sighing.

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Chapter 251: A Gamble

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

This seemed like a really primitive way to foster intimacy with one's familiar. It certainly had a Southeast Asian vibe to it.

Of course, it wasn't as immoral as one could imagine.

Gao Peng now knew the pros and cons of the 'adoption' ritual that Guo Qingshan had explained to him.

The downside to it was its high mortality rate. However, getting the chance to have a combat-ready familiar immediately outweighed the risks by far.

Under ordinary circumstances, one would usually sign a blood contract with a familiar when it was still in the early stages of cognitive development. The downside to this was that it would need time to develop into a fighting force to be reckoned with.

The Southeast Asian region's 'adoption' ritual was a way for trainers to immediately sign a blood contract with a fully matured familiar without having to go through the whole growing-up process.

However, it would only work with familiars that had recently lost a child. The loss of a child tended to place them in an emotionally vulnerable state, making it easier to fool them into adopting another child of a different species.

"Mom, we did it. We defeated the bad guys," said Gang Mu, gently stroking the Giant Tarsier's fur. He knew exactly where the Giant Tarsier liked to be rubbed.

Gang Mu looked straight at the Giant Tarsier's eyes. Even though he had signed a blood contract with it, he still had mixed feelings towards it.

The Giant Tarsier had changed his life in so many ways.

He had originally been the child of a fruit farmer, with one older brother, three younger brothers, and two younger sisters.

Life had been hard for him and his family. His parents had barely been able to make ends meet each day. Since childhood, he had never had a full stomach, as he had to share food with the eight other people in the house.

Then, everything had changed on the day of the Cataclysm.

Two of his siblings had been devoured by mutated wild boars when the Cataclysm struck.

The money that had been intended for Gang Mu's betrothal had to be used for their funerals.

His father had been forced to send him to a military training camp in exchange for money, which had then been used for two of his younger brothers' engagements.

Gang Mu hadn't expected to survive the training process. He had even prepared his own will after hearing about the training camp's ridiculously high mortality rate.

Not only had he survived, he had also gained the Giant Tarsier's trust and officially become its 'foster child.'

Once they were close enough, Gang Mu had convinced the Giant Tarsier to sign a blood contract with him and officially became a monster trainer.

With his newfound place in society, he had managed to persuade the farm's owner to let his parents work the easiest jobs on the farm for more money.

He had also signed a contract with his former trainers that allowed him to become a high-level trainer in the training camp as soon as he came back from the tournament.

Ambition tended to grow as one climbed higher up the social ladder.

At first, the only thing he had thought about was survival. Now, he wanted more.

His Giant Tarsier had never met its match, at least not until that day.

Even if they're on the same playing field, my Giant Tarsier would definitely not be able to beat Gao Peng's bag of bones. I need to become stronger, thought Gang Mu. He clenched his fists. Ever since he was a child, he had understood all too well that if he wanted something, he would have to work for it. No one was going to serve it to him on a silver platter.

Gao Peng felt awkward watching the contestants battle it out from the break room.

I only became a referee because I was too powerful. Also, there's money to be made here. There's no way I would pass on such a lucrative opportunity!

After thinking for a while, Gao Peng took out his phone and punched in a number.

A few miles from the stadium, a yellow feathered figure was peeking into a woman's bathroom through a window from a tree branch. Suddenly, the sling bag hanging from its shoulder began vibrating.

Two seconds later, a song began playing from the bag. "One little duck went swimming one day, over the hill and far away…"

Goldie dumbly looked at its vibrating sling bag.

Someone shrieked inside the bathroom. "Who the hell is out there?!"

"Quack?" Startled, Goldie fell from the branch and landed on the ground with a thump.

It scrambled to its feet and waddled off into the nearby woods, where it plopped itself on the ground and stared at nothing in particular.

The phone was still vibrating inside the duck's sling bag.

Back in the break room, Gao Peng muttered to himself, "Pick up, Goldie…"

A well-toned woman emerged from the bathroom fully clothed. She entered the kitchen and took a kitchen knife out of one of the drawers.

"I'm going to carve whoever was watching me in the bathroom like a turkey!"

The woman, who looked just as muscular as Mu Tieying, stepped out of the house and surveyed her surroundings like a hawk. This was where the servants that worked in the mountain villas lived. It was a rather isolated area, especially during the day when it was deserted.

Suddenly, her ears pricked to a familiar sound from the nearby woods. The woman's eyes flashed dangerously as she slowly walked towards the woods…

"Quack?" Pushing past a couple bushes, she finally came face to face with a yellow duck carrying a red sling bag over its shoulder.

The woman, whose name was Li Shanlian, looked around her and saw no other suspicious figures in the vicinity.

She looked back at Goldie.

Goldie dumbly looked back at her. After a long while, it said, "Quack quack quack?"

Li Shanlian felt a bit let down when she realized that her voyeur had been a duck. She spat at it, "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Quack quack quack." Goldie ignored Li Shanlian and waddled off deeper into the woods…

When it had finally left the servants' area, it reached into its bag and took out its phone with its wing. "Quack?"

"What took you so long?" said Gao Peng impatiently. Even though he could communicate with his familiars through their blood contracts, he could only do so within a certain distance.

However, the good thing about signing a blood contact was that he could understand what his familiars were saying.

"I was… busy," stammered Goldie.

"All right, I want you to do something for me. Go help me make a couple of bets," said Gao Peng. "We'll definitely be making a lot of money from this. Do this for me, and I'll give you two more dried fish every day for a whole month!"

"Quack?" Goldie's eyes lit up.

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Chapter 252: Goldie's Gambling Adventure (1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng didn't want Zhou Tianmin and the others to know about this. It just wasn't the sort of thing one would go around telling others.

If anyone knew what he was doing, they would probably suspect Gao Peng of abusing his position as referee to sway the matches in his favor.

Gao Peng hung up as soon as he told Goldie where to buy lottery tickets.

Goldie put its cell phone back into its bag and absently stood there for a few minutes, then came back to its senses and looked at the stack of crumpled bills inside its bag.

Does master want to steal from me? thought Goldie.

Then it shook its head. That's impossible. Master Gao is the richest person I know! Goldie had always wanted to know how much Gao Peng had in his bank account, but the latter had remained tight-lipped on the subject.

The nearest betting shop was located near the mountain peak on Chinese Redbud Road. Goldie began waddling along the main street until a couple of extravagant-looking manors came into view. As the people living here were extremely rich, the betting shop had little trouble doing business, even during slow hours.

The betting shop was called the Happy Betting Shop, and it was one of the more renowned semi-legal betting shops in the Huaxia region.

To most people in the Huaxia region, everything sounded much better after slapping the word "legal" on it.

The store wasn't huge. However, its interior was extravagantly furnished. There was also a heater running inside, and a wooden screen partitioned the store into two sections. One of them was a break room, where a projector was projecting the World Youth Trainer Championships on the wall.

Gambling would always be involved in any competition.

There were a couple of people watching the tournament right then on the sofa.

"Did you guys know that this Gao Peng boy lives near my place?" said a thick-browed man in a black shirt while pointing at Gao Peng, whose face was currently on the screen.

"Seriously?" someone said.

"Yeah, he lives in the mountains," said the bushy-browed man, chuckling. He picked up his cup of tea from the table, blew on it a few times, and carefully took a few sips from it.

The man then said to the young man sitting behind the cash register, "Brother Chen, there's no tea left in the teapot. Bring me the tea leaves that I left here last time."

The young man put down his phone and hurriedly went to do what the man had asked. The man was He Zong, one of the shop's big spenders. Even though he wasn't the manager, everyone working there treated him like one, even the shop's actual manager.

Just then, Brother Chen heard the curtains rustle near the entrance. A new customer had entered the shop.

Brother Chen turned around and saw a strange-looking child in a feathery yellow coat waddle into the place.

Aren't you a bit too young to come to a place like this? he thought. The shop had a no-minor policy.

Brother Chen was just about to say something when he realized that something wasn't right. He rubbed his eyes and took another look at Goldie.

Wait, you're a… duck?!

He noticed the sling bag on Goldie's shoulder.

It must have been someone's familiar.

There was nothing odd about this. Brother Chen had seen familiars tend to their masters' errands, like buying groceries, cigarettes, and even lottery tickets.

"Could you please wait there? I'll get back to you as soon as I can," said Brother Chen with a smile. He couldn't risk angering an important customer like He Zong by putting off his order.

When he was done serving tea to He Zong, Brother Chen returned to the counter. "Are you here to buy lottery tickets?"

Goldie tilted its head at him, not understanding a word that Brother Chen was saying. It simply took its phone out of its bag and let him see Gao Peng's message.

"Bet on Zhang Yi of the Huaxia region's victory in the seventh match within ten minutes," the message read.

Brother Chen was taken aback by how specific the duck's bet was.

Zhang Yi's opponent was the number one contestant of the Yagyuu Village of the Neon District, and he had performed quite well in the tournament's first round. On the other hand, Zhang Yi had come in ninth place in the Huaxia region's preliminaries and had barely scraped out a victory in the tournament's first round. Almost no one believed that Zhang Yi could win the next match, which was the reason why his betting odds were 16 to 1 and 98 to 1 for a ten-minute victory.

"How much do you want to bet?" asked Brother Chen. After realizing that Goldie didn't understand what he was saying, he took out an Alliance dollar bill and waved it front of the duck.

Goldie swallowed, then took out a stack of Alliance dollar bills from its bag and placed them on the counter.

Suddenly, Goldie put a dollar bill back into its bag. After looking at the stack of bills on the counter longingly, it squeezed its eyes shut and pushed it towards Brother Chen.

Gao Peng told me that one can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I'll be able to eat like a king for the whole month with his winnings. I'll have three pieces of dried fish for every meal: one for my stomach, one to keep for a rainy day, and one to give Silly a good scare.

Brother Chen was stunned to see so much money before him. He began counting it.

After counting the duck's money three times, Brother Chen said, "There's 5,129.70 Alliance dollars here. Is this how much you want to wager?"

Goldie looked dumbly at Brother Chen.

Brother Chen repeated his question a few more times. However, the only response he received from Goldie was an empty stare. In the end, he simply gave up and printed out a lottery ticket for Goldie.

Goldie looked at the lottery ticket with a serious expression. He had no idea what was written on it. After placing the ticket inside its bag, Goldie waddled out of the shop.

The seventh match began at half past four in the afternoon.

Li Yu was refereeing the match, which the audience wasn't particularly excited about.

However, the match's outcome caused many jaws to drop. The match ended before it hit the ten-minute mark.

The contestant from Yagyuu village had lost.

Zhang Yi was truly the dark horse of the tournament. Not only was his familiar an Epic-grade Commander-tier monster, it was also a Fire-type, which countered the Yagyuu Village contestant's Wood-type familiar, thought Gao Peng. He had predicted the match's outcome from the start.

Back in the manor, Gao Peng's familiars were all watching the results of the match on the television.

Goldie didn't have a clue what was going on. However, it happily leapt up from the sofa when it received a call from Gao Peng. "Dried fish! Dried fish! Dried fish!" Goldie began running around the sofa like an excited child.

Silly looked strangely at Goldie. It didn't have the faintest idea what the duck was so excited about. It simply took out a bottle of fruit juice from its portable space and let Stripey bite off the lid. It then skillfully inserted a straw into the packet and began happily drinking its fruit juice.

When Goldie finally calmed down, it took the lottery ticket out of its bag and closely observed it. It's a bit ugly, it thought. Where are its feathers, anyway? Goldie then put the ticket back inside its bag and patted it contentedly. This was its meal ticket!

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Chapter 253: Goldie's Gambling Adventure (2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When Gao Peng returned to the mountain villa, the first thing he saw was a yellow bundle of feathers hurtling towards him. He was immediately flattened to the ground by an excited Goldie.

Gao Peng glared at the duck. "Do you still want your dried fish?!"

Goldie nodded furiously. "Yes!" it said excitedly.

Gao Peng got to his feet and brushed the dust off his pants, muttering irritably, "Come with me."

He then called Stripey over and got on its back. Along with Goldie, all three of them left the mountain villa. Ever since the match's results had been announced, Goldie had been in a constant state of excitement.

Ever since it had been a little duckling, Goldie had understood the fundamental fact of life that anything that was inside its bag belonged solely to it. By this logic, all the insects that could be found in the mountains didn't belong to it, as they could be eaten by other monsters at any time.

When they came to a halt outside the redemption center, Gao Peng said to Goldie, "We won't be going in with you. The lottery ticket was bought with your familiar identification card. Only you can go in and redeem the prize."

Goldie looked at Gao Peng curiously. "Quack?"

"It's your prize. Go in and get it yourself. I'm not coming with you," said Gao Peng, making it as simple as possible for the duck to understand.

Normally, people would wear masks over their faces, and sometimes even animal costumes, to hide their identities as they redeemed prizes in the redemption center.

Incidentally, Goldie, who was just as tall as an average human being and always put on its yellow coat when it went out, looked just like any other person who wanted to redeem their lottery tickets.

There weren't a lot of people in the redemption center at that moment.

A couple of workers rushed towards Goldie when they saw it enter the place.

"Good day. Are you here to redeem your prize?"

"Quack."

"Sir, please speak up."

"Quack."

"Security, security!" One of the workers began calling for security.

Bang. Goldie slammed its lottery ticket on the counter, puffed up its chest, and glared down at the workers.

"Er…" Upon realizing that he had been about to make the greatest mistake of his career, the worker immediately bowed and apologized to Goldie.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding, sir. I'll need to see your identification card first, please," said the worker politely.

After rummaging in its bag for a while, Goldie pulled out its identification card and pressed it into the worker's hand. The worker was caught off guard by how heavy the duck's wing felt. He took a closer look at the card. It read, "First generation familiar identification card. Name: Adamantine Duck. Registration no.: 5811919."

The worker was speechless.

Is this a prank? he thought. Why are you showing me an identification card for a familiar?

"I'm sorry, I need to see your identification card…"

"Quack!" said Goldie, impatiently waving a wing at him.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Soon, the worker realized that before him stood an actual duck, not a person wearing a costume.

After much fuss, Goldie was finally allowed to redeem the prize.

Familiars who gambled were rare, but not altogether nonexistent. Like humans, they too were prone to developing bad gambling habits.

"How did it go? Did you get the money?" asked Gao Peng while glancing at Goldie's bulging sling bag.

Goldie slapped its wing over its bag. "Mine!"

"All right, I know it's yours," said Gao Peng, patting Goldie's head. "Besides, I'm earning way more than what you have right now. I don't need to steal from you."

While giving Gao Peng a perfunctory quack, Goldie opened the bag and stared greedily at the stacks of money in it. It had never seen so much money in its life.

After dinner, Gao Peng sat on the sofa and watched a show on television to kill some time. Just then, Goldie clambered up on the sofa and began massaging Gao Peng's shoulders submissively with its wings.

"What is it, Goldie?"

"Gao Peng, you're the most handsome, featherless thing I've ever seen in my whole life," said Goldie.

Gao Peng chuckled and patted Goldie's wings. "Try to keep that to yourself. It'd be bad form to have you openly praise my good looks outside."

Goldie continued massaging Gao Peng's shoulders. After a while, Goldie asked, "Gao Peng, do you have any intel on the next match?"

"Of course I do. Wait, are you thinking about buying another lottery ticket?" asked Gao Peng, looking at the duck out of the corner of his eye.

Goldie nodded excitedly.

"Gambling's not good, you know," said Gao Peng, shaking his head. "I just let you place that bet for fun. You'd better not get yourself addicted to gambling."

"No, of course not," said Goldie firmly.

"All right then. Get some sleep. And don't start getting any funny ideas inside that head of yours," said Gao Peng, gently patting Goldie's head. Just then, his phone rang. He answered it immediately.

"Hello… Yes, this is Gao Peng speaking."

"Zheng Xiao? Yes, I know him. He's one of the Huaxia region's more promising contestants. Sure, I can make time to have a meal with him after his match." Gao Peng hung up with a faint smile on his face. It had been Zheng Xiao's father on the phone. Judging from his tone, the man seemed to have a great deal of respect for him. He also sounded like he sincerely wanted his son to build a good rapport with Gao Peng.

This was quite normal, seeing that Gao Peng had revealed to the world not too long ago his identity as heir to the Southern Sky Group and a genius monster trainer who would turn nineteen in a month.

Naturally, there was no shortage of people who wanted to get on Gao Peng's good side.

Gao Peng remembered Zheng Xiao as a tall, gangly young man who didn't speak much and was always glued to his cell phone in a corner.

Saying that Zheng Xiao was a promising contestant was a bit of an exaggeration. He was, at best, mediocre as a monster trainer. However, given that he had managed to make it to the tournament's second round, Gao Peng had to admit that he could still be nurtured into an outstanding trainer.

Goldie was still looking at him unblinkingly when he hung up. "What are you still standing there for? Go to sleep."

Goldie begrudgingly waddled back to its room. It turned restlessly in its bed and looked at the moon outside its window the whole night. This was the first time it had experienced insomnia…

The next day, Gao Peng went back to the stadium.

Goldie came out of its room with two heavy bags under its eyes and looked for Stripey around the villa.

"Stripey, I need your help."

Stripey turned away from its elementary math homework. "Chirrup?"

"You're the most educated familiar I know," said Goldie.

Stripey's legs tapped excitedly on the ground when it heard the duck's praise.

Then it looked curiously at Goldie. The duck had rarely talked to anyone when it first joined the team. Like Dumby, it had always preferred to sit in a corner and stare at nothing in particular.

Why is it so talkative now? Stripey wondered.

However, there was truth to Goldie's words. Stripey was indeed the only educated familiar on Gao Peng's team.

It silently thanked Gao Peng for letting it learn so much.

"What kind of help?" In an effort to imitate Gao Peng's dignified posture, Stripey raised its upper body slightly and folded its front legs together.

"Help me write, 'All-in on Zheng Xiao.'" said Goldie as it placed a wooden board before Stripey. Last night, Gao Peng had said that Zheng Xiao was a promising contestant. Only a fool wouldn't bet on him!

Stripey narrowed its eyes at the duck. "Are you going to bet on him?"

"What? No, I'm just a duck. Why would I bet on a human being?" said Goldie nervously.

"Hmph. If Gao Peng finds out about this, leave me out of it," said Stripey.

"All right, I will," said Goldie, thumping its chest with its wing. "I'll treat you to some dried fish when I win!"

Stripey began scratching out the words on the wooden board with one of its legs, sending bits of wood flying all over the place.

In the afternoon, a feathery yellow figure entered the Happy Betting Shop and threw a wooden board on the ground. "Quack!"

Brother Chen widened his eyes at Goldie. You again.

The duck had left a deep impression on him.

Yesterday, it had bet on Zhang Yi's ten-minute victory, which had actually happened! Brother Chen had been completely taken aback by this. He still remembered that the payout percentage was 97 to 1. That's a lot of money, he had found himself thinking back then.

He had also become curious about Goldie's mysterious master. He or she must have been quite the gambling expert to be able to foresee such an outcome.

Brother Chen picked up the wooden board. All-in on Zheng Xiao?

He looked at the second round's schedule. The fourteenth match of the second round was between the Huaxia region's Zheng Xiao and Great Britain's Benoit.

The payout ratio was 1:6, which meant that the betting shop didn't think that Zheng Xiao had a great chance at winning.

Brother Chen couldn't help but respect Goldie's master for taking on such odds.

Goldie placed all of its money on the counter. "Quack!" it said, waving its lottery ticket at Brother Chen. It was now feeling light on its feet, as if it was standing on cotton.

Hmph, I don't need your stupid intel, Gao Peng. I can make lots of money on my own! it thought.

Goldie went back home, feeling like it was now the richest duck on the planet.

When Gao Peng came back home in the evening, Goldie waddled to him and showed him the lottery ticket. "Gao Peng, look at this. How much money can I make with this?"

"What?" Stunned, Gao Peng snatched the lottery ticket from Goldie's wing.

Gao Peng's face twitched when he read what was written on it. "Did you buy this?"

"Yes!" said Goldie happily.

Gao Peng sighed and looked at Goldie sympathetically. "Why did you spend all your winnings on Zheng Xiao… Are you really that daft?"

"What?" said Goldie in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but you won't be getting a cent back," said Gao Peng, patting Goldie's wings consolingly.

"What did you say? I lost?!" said Goldie, its eyes widening in surprise.

"Zheng Xiao lost his match this afternoon. You spent all your money for nothing," said Gao Peng, shaking his head. "No dried fish for you."

He left Goldie standing at the entrance, alone and despondent.

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Chapter 254: The Final Round (1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Goldie waddled back into the house at nightfall.

Flamy swallowed a huge, fat fish from its bucket in one gulp and frowned at Goldie. For some reason, the duck seemed awfully weary.

Goldie plopped down on the ground and stared lifelessly at the food in front of it.

I'm such a dunderhead.

Goldie could feel tears welling up in its eyes. However, it knew that it had to stay strong. Big ducks don't cry, it reminded itself.

Gao Peng decided not to pay Goldie any mind for now. He had already let the duck keep the winnings for his bet on Zhang Yi. Instead of doing the sensible thing, like saving the money for a rainy day, it had gone behind his back and blown all of its money on a losing bet.

"Serves you right!" muttered Gao Peng.

Goldie tearfully looked at Gao Peng, as if it was expecting a word of consolation from him. When it heard what he said, it nearly burst into tears.

"Let me ask you something—how did you get the shop owner to let you place your bet? He shouldn't have been able to understand you," asked Gao Peng curiously.

Not too far away, Stripey shuddered when he heard Gao Peng interrogating the duck.

I knew it, the duck's going to rat me out.

Stripey squirmed uncomfortably as it observed Gao Peng's face, trying to figure out if he had found out about its involvement.

Then it scuttled out of the house before anyone noticed its absence.

"Stripey is smart. Its writing was so beautiful," Goldie stammered.

Outside the house, Stripey nearly fainted when it heard the duck say its name. It quickly dug a hole in the backyard and buried itself inside.

This has nothing to do with me. I'm innocent, thought the spider. Gao Peng would definitely come after it as soon as he was done grilling the duck for information.

"I see, so Stripey helped you," said Gao Peng, nodding. He went into the backyard and stomped on a freshly disturbed patch of dirt a couple of times. He said to it, "Cut the act, Stripey. I know you helped Goldie write the message. Instead of poking your nose in other people's business, why don't you focus more on your studies?"

The next day, Goldie was reading a magazine titled "Finance and Wall Street." It had been reading the magazine for three whole hours. Finally, it stood up and threw the magazine into the trash can.

"Screw this!" grumbled Goldie. It looked down at its puffed-up chest and paused there for a moment, as if it had come to an epiphany. It was me. I was the one who messed up.

The tournament's third round commenced that day. Unlike the first two rounds, all contestants would be matched against each other, regardless of region of origin, in the third round.

Sixteen contestants now remained in the tournament.

Those who managed to make it this far were considered to be the cream of the crop.

On average, every region had three to four finalists advancing to the third round. However, some of the teams had been completely wiped out.

The Huaxia region had four contestants remaining in the tournament: Zhang Yi, Jun Moyi, Gao Leshi, and Long Binyu.

Each finalist had their own ace familiar.

Zhang Yi's strongest familiar was the Fire-type Skyfire Hound, who had been nicknamed "Hellhound Emperor" by fans. However, according to rumors, Zhang Yi didn't like the name.

Jun Moyi's main familiar was the Black Anaconda, while Gao Leshi's was a Perfect-grade Commander-tier Bloodhorn Armor Wolf.

Long Binyu's was a Perfect-grade Polar Scarab.

Only Zhang Yi's Skyfire Hound was an Epic-grade monster. The rest were only Perfect-grade. Even in such a large-scale event, an Epic-grade monster was extremely rare among the contestants.

Apparently luck was on Huaxia region's team, as none of its members were matched against each other.

When their matches were announced, all four of them let out a collective sigh of relief. None of them had Gao Peng as their referee.

Among all eight participants from the Huaxia region who had been disqualified, six of them had matches that had been refereed by Gao Peng.

Of course, all of them had been eliminated from the tournament due to a lack of skill. However, the fact that all the matches that Gao Peng had refereed had ended in Huaxia's defeat was way too unlikely to be a coincidence.

Even the less superstitious ones in the stands had begun whispering about it.

Gao Peng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This had nothing to do with him. He was also a citizen of the Huaxia region. He had no reason to undermine his own region.

In the name of unbiased refereeing, he simply couldn't take matters into his own hands every time a Huaxia contestant lost his or her match.

Gao Peng didn't know what to do about this. In truth, his job as a referee wasn't as exciting as he had been led to believe.

Zhang Yi's opponent was Brandy from the Yinglie region. Brandy was the one who had defeated Huaxia's Yu Ge in the first round, so a lot of people in the stands were eager to watch this match.

The match between an Epic Fire-type familiar and an Epic Wood-type familiar had gone just as everyone had expected. Zhang Yi's Skyfire Hound had the upper hand from the start. Waves of fire billowed from it, roasting the Wailing Serpent Snake alive.

The Wailing Serpent Snake let out a terrible shriek from the hole in its trunk. In the end, Brandy conceded, and his familiar was carted off of the field to have its injuries treated.

Every match ended surprisingly quickly in the third round as the spectators cheered uproariously for their teams from the stands.

Commander-tier familiars were all capable of Elemental Discharge. Despite not being as powerful as Lord-tier familiars, most of their abilities were flashy enough to put on a good show for the audience.

All this reminded Gao Peng of the underground monster fighting rings back home, which weren't too different from this.

One was simply held under an official flag, while the other was illegal.

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Chapter 255: The Diplocoric Sea Dragon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhang Yi soon became the tournament's rising star after his victory over Brandy. Some of the audience began wondering if he was the tournament's strongest contestant.

However, Gao Peng didn't share their opinions. There was someone else who he reckoned had just as much of a chance to win the tournament as Zhang Yi.

Gao Peng flipped through the list of names in his hand to the profile picture of the person he had in mind.

The girl in the picture had blonde hair and emerald eyes. Her freckled cheeks and modest white dress gave him the impression of a homely girl next door.

[Contestant's Name: Daisy

[Region of Origin: Great Britain region

[Contestant's Ranking: Second place in the Great Britain preliminaries

[Name of Familiar: Sea Dragon

The Sea Dragon was an amphibious monster whose long neck and slender limbs were reminiscent of the long-extinct plesiosaur.

However, the Sea Dragon had its weaknesses. It could only bring out its full potential in shallow waters. This was the reason why the other contestants didn't think that it would pose much of a threat to them in the tournament.

The tournament was held on dry land, where the Sea Dragon's mobility was severely impeded.

Beside Daisy's picture was a picture of her Sea Dragon. It was massive, more than 70 feet long. Its thick streamlined neck was covered with blue-green scales. On its head were a pair of yellow piercing eyes with a pair of slit-like pupils in each of them.

[Monster Name: Sea Dragon (Diplocoric variant)

[Monster Grade: Epic

[Monster Level: Level 34

[Monster Ability: Hardened Scales Level 2, Dynamic Visual Acuity Level 2, Water Elemental Mastery Level 2

[Special Characteristics: Diplocoria (Passive Effect 1: Improves overall visual sharpness. Effect 2: ??? (Unactivated) Effect 3: ??? (Unactivated))

Heart of the Beast (Passive Effect 1: Improves overall physical strength. Active Effect 2: Gives itself a burst of power for a short period of time.)

[Monster Attribute: Water

[Monster Weakness: Electricity

[Requirements for Promotion to Legendary: …

I've never seen a monster with double pupils, Gao Peng thought. He had always assumed that this was a purely human condition.

Like Dumby's Blood-Thread Heart, the Sea Dragon's diplocoria had endowed it with extraordinary visual keenness.

However, the Sea Dragon's abilities seemed to tend more toward muscle enhancement.

Gao Peng had noticed a strange trend in the evolution of monsters. He had observed that monsters native to this planet usually followed combat-focused evolutionary routes. He had wondered if it was due to the fact that the planet had only undergone an elemental awakening not long before.

On the other hand, monsters that weren't of this world tended to develop their elemental abilities as they evolved.

I guess we're all products of our own environments, thought Gao Peng.

Despite its unwieldy size, one couldn't say for certain that the Sea Dragon wouldn't be able to beat Zhang Yi's Skyfire Hound on dry land.

If their match was to have been held in a large body of water, Gao Peng would have been able to instantly tell who the victor would be.

Daisy had only sent the Sea Dragon out on the field a few times in order to hide its weakness from the other contestants.

Even though Gao Peng wasn't a contestant, he could still see everything clearly.

Just as Gao Peng had predicted, Daisy was inexorably climbing up the ranks.

In order to excite the audience, she had enthusiastically taken on the role of underdog, making a show of eking out a win in every match.

Huaxia's contestants had also performed quite well, with Jun Moyi in fifth place, Long Binyu in seventh place, and Gao Leshi in eleventh place.

Zhang Yi had made it to the top four.

The contestants in the top four each had their own Epic-grade familiars.

All four of them were the best trainers their regions had to offer.

Right now, these trainers' main priorities were to raise their own familiars' tiers. As long as they were above Perfect-grade, their promotion to subsequent tiers wouldn't be affected. These trainers would probably first focus on raising their familiars' tiers before concentrating on their grades, since increasing a familiar's tier was much easier than the latter.

A 16-foot-long, ten-foot-tall monstrous dog with blazing red fur howled at the sky from atop a stone pillar on the field. Beneath it lay a heavily injured cheetah that was barely breathing.

The Skyfire Hound had sealed up its wounds with the extreme heat it was giving off.

"That Skyfire Hound is so strong, it didn't even shed a drop of blood after its fight with the Stormshadow Cheetah," exclaimed some of the spectators.

"That Skyfire Hound is definitely the strongest familiar in the tournament!" others shouted in agreement.

Unable to stand all this bootlicking, someone shouted back from the crowd, "Are y'all blind? Can't you see that the Skyfire Hound simply sealed up its wounds with its body heat? It's still badly injured from its fight."

"Well, it's not bleeding as much as the cheetah…"

Daisy and Zhang Yi would be facing off against each other in the final match to decide once and for all who the strongest trainer in the tournament was.

As their familiars were all spent and injured, they were allowed a night's rest. Their match was scheduled for the next day.

When Gao Peng came back home, he saw, to his surprise, that Goldie was still working out on the training grounds. It had thrown its yellow feather coat to the ground, and its supple muscles undulated as it lifted a 200-pound dumbbell with its left wing.

"Silly," said Gao Peng, gently stroking Silly's head. "What's wrong with Goldie?"

"Dunno…" said Silly in a singsong voice. It took a sip of its fruit juice and continued, "It's been working out since lunchtime."

Looks like recent events have changed you, Goldie, thought Gao Peng.

Maybe this was a good thing.

"Train well. At this rate, you'll be able to gain seven levels in a month, and I'll give you 300,000 Alliance dollars for your effort. For each level you gain, I'll up your reward," said Gao Peng. "You'll earn way more this way than by gambling."

Goldie paused, then waddled over to the training equipment area and picked up a heavier dumbbell with its wing.

"Gao Peng, I don't want money. I just want to know… Who defeated Zheng Xiao?"

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Chapter 256: Blackthorn Opium Poppy

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"What are you trying to do?" Gao Peng laughed accidentally.

All the familiars were all very young. If they were humans, they would be adolescents. Gao Peng saw them as his own children, all little monsters that were under his care.

"That was a fair match. The person who defeated Zheng Xiao was indeed stronger than Zheng Xiao. Unless they fixed the winner, he didn't do anything wrong," Gao Peng explained to Goldie patiently.

Goldie was going through puberty. It was at this time that it would shape its personality for life. Gao Peng didn't want Goldie to develop an evil personality.

"Quack?" Goldie looked at Gao Peng, feeling extremely wronged. "But I lost all of them. I lost all of my duck treats."

"There, there. Even though you lost all of them, as long as you train hard, you'll have all the duck treats you want. I can guarantee that you will even be able to eat the tastiest duck treats in the world."

Goldie glanced over at Gao Peng, and their eyes met. It trusted Gao Peng's promise. But it still felt like it had been wronged…

However, since Gao Peng had already said what he had, it needed to show respect to Gao Peng, who was the pettiest person Goldie knew. Goldie knew that if it had been Gao Peng who had lost the bet, he wouldn't have been able to let it go so easily.

Goldie had spent enough time with Gao Peng to know his personality.

Gao Peng may have looked to be very amiable on the surface, but he was actually extremely spiteful! If someone wronged him, he couldn't sleep properly at night!

Gao Peng took out a stool and sat beside Goldie to keep educating him. "You need to be a more generous duck. A strong and powerful being needs to be generous."

Gao Peng only stopped when he got tired. He licked his dry lips with his tongue, feeling thirsty.

He looked at Goldie and saw it was already getting impatient. Forget it. I'll just stop here. He won't understand if I say too much anyway.

Gao Peng shook his head, picked up the stool, and left the training grounds. "Young ducks nowadays have no patience."

The next day, Gao Peng was assigned to be the referee for one of the final battles in the competition, but he rejected the position.

There's no friggin' way I'm going to be the referee for such an important match.

There are already a lot of people on the internet accusing me of being against Zhang Yi. If he loses this battle, people will definitely be throwing more sh*t my way.

Excusing himself from the heavy role of being the referee, Gao Peng went and sat at the VIP seats and gave all his attention to the competition.

"You actually personally came to watch the competition," said a bespectacled young man who was sitting next to Gao Peng and laughing.

Gao Peng glanced over at him. What that person had said was extremely dumb, like if someone in the bathroom had said, "Oh, you actually came personally to the bathroom."

"Yeah, just trying to learn about the view of the public," said Gao Peng as he dully nodded without even breaking his gaze at the big screen.

The young man was left in a bit of a daze.

The two gates on both sides of the battleground lifted up, and out came two teams of familiars.

A Fire Hound was leading the team on the right side. It was flanked on either side by a wild boar with golden teeth and a Blackthorn Opium Poppy. The Blackthorn Opium Poppy was crawling on the ground.

The other team was led by a giant Sea Dragon. The Sea Dragon crawled out through the gate, stood up, and looked at the Fire Hound.

Behind the Sea Dragon were two yellow otters. Both otters looked exactly the same.

[Monster Name: Earthen River Otter

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Level: Level 28 (Level 29)

[Monster Attribute: Earth/Water

[Monster Name: Golden Back Wild Boar

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Level: Level 30

[Monster Attribute: Gold

[Monster Name: Blackthorn Opium Poppy

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Level: Level 27

[Monster Attribute: Wood/Illusion

[Monster Skills: Deadly Paralysis Level 1

Only the Blackthorn Opium Poppy was unique. The other familiars were all very normal. The Blackthorn Opium Poppy could emit a type of gas, and any creature that inhaled this gas would go into a hyperactive state and lose their sense of pain.

This was how the Blackthorn Opium Poppy hunted for its prey in the wild. It would get close to its target and start to emit the colorless, odorless gas. The prey would become overly excited and lose their sense of pain.

The plant would then use its long spiky vines to wrap around its prey before killing it.

However, it sounded much scarier than it actually was. In actuality, the Blackthorn Opium Poppy wasn't very strong.

Compared to monsters that were at the same level, it didn't have many advantages, not in terms of physical strength or hit points. Perhaps the only advantage it had was its poisonous gas.

In the last few battles, the Fire Hound had used the effects of the gas to lose its sense of pain and get its opponents into a hyperactive state. It was filled with fighting spirit and able to use the poppy's ability to its advantage.

In a sense, the Blackthorn Opium Poppy did make for a good supporting monster.

The biggest concern was whether or not the other monsters would become addicted to the Blackthorn Opium Poppy's gas.

If they did become addicted and the Blackthorn Opium Poppy suddenly died… It would become a big problem.

The Blackthorn Opium Poppy stood at the back of the battleground. Its vines, which were full of poppy seeds, started to spread out.

When the refereed announced the start of the match, the seeds suddenly started to bloom. Large volumes of pollen could be seen in the air.

Immediately after the pollen spread, the Fire Hound sneezed excitedly. Before, its eyes had looked a bit tired, but now, they were open and shining brightly. It opened its mouth, revealing all of its sharp fangs.

A golden, golden-toothed wild boar started to growl and stomped its hooves onto the ground. The ground was very hard, so it actually hurt its hooves, yet the pain started to slowly fade away as its sense of pain also started to disappear.

It suddenly roared to the sky, then lowered its head, pointed its sharp tusks forward, and rushed out like a tank!

The Fire Hound went behind the Golden Back Wild Boar and followed behind.

The two Earthen River Otters stood up, lifted up their claws, and used them to smash the ground.

The white jade basalt on the ground emitted a yellow gas, making the arena look like a sandstorm.

The yellow gas carried the smell of dirt with it and started to slowly condense. In the end, it formed a half-transparent khaki colored wall.

The Golden Back Wild Boar wasn't frightened by this, so it rushed toward it bravely.

The wall shook violently. The spot the Golden Back Wild Boar had rammed had been dented, with cracks all over the dent. There was also a single cracked line that went up to the uppermost part of the wall.

Daisy calmed herself. Thankfully, the white jade basalt was very hard, which meant that the wall that had been created by the otters was also very sturdy. Otherwise, the wall would have been broken by the Golden Back Wild Boar.

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Chapter 257: End

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A red figure jumped from behind the Golden Back Wild Boar and stepped onto the golden colored fur on the back of the boar.

The red figure leapt to the sky, its body starting to burn. A powerful flame suddenly burst out from its body.

Boom!

The hot flames burned wildly, while the flames fluttered. Something suddenly whipped through the air, letting out a screeching sound.

Bang!

The Fire Hound in the air was suddenly sent flying.

The Sea Dragon's eyes were looking down, its long and thick tail still hanging up in the air. After a while, it finally lowered its tail.

The Sea Dragon blew air out of its nostrils and then roared towards the sky.

It moved its huge body forward and carried with it a terrifyingly oppressive aura. The dirt wall collapsed when its body crashed against it.

The Golden Back Wild Boar was still stuck in the wall when the Sea Dragon rushed over. The boar was sent flying when the wall broke.

Since the Golden Back Wild Boar had lost its sense of pain, being tossed around didn't really affect its fighting spirit.

The boar stood up, shook its fur, and then let out a roar. It rushed toward the Sea Dragon, who was many times greater in size.

It was a fearless fighter!

The Sea Dragon felt a bit annoyed. Just as it wanted to turn around the send the boar flying again, a fiery figure came rushing at it from the side.

The fire from the Fire Hound's body burned the air around it. There was a chain of fire around its neck that almost looked like a lion's mane.

Unlike the Golden Back Wild Boar, the Fire Hound actually intimidated the Sea Dragon. The Golden Back Wild Boar was just a toy to it, but the Fire Hound was like a sharp dagger.

Although it was small, it was capable of taking one's life.

Roar!

The Sea Dragon lowered all four of its limbs. The scales on its claws shone brightly, and its muscles started to tense up.

It took a deep breath, causing mist to appear in the air. Water from the air started to add to the mist, creating a large body of water around the Sea Dragon.

The audience members could hear the sounds of water crashing together.

The body of water was split in half, and out came the head of the Sea Dragon!

It rushed through the water, the light reflecting off of its blue-green scales. It opened its mouth, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth. Once it got a hold of anything with its mouth, it wouldn't let go.

The Fire Hound was flying in mid-air, so it wouldn't be able to change its direction. It was obvious that it would be bitten.

The Fire Hound's fur suddenly emitted a large blaze that shot out in all directions. Within moments, the Fire Hound had turned itself into a ball of flames.

Fire and water smashed together. It was a show of two opposite elements battling it out in midair.

Bright red and blue colors danced around in the air. Sometimes they could be seen mixing together, and sometimes they were independent of each other. The two elements were flashing wildly, then both of them exploded!

Boom!!!

The shockwave from the blast tore through the air.

The violent shockwave sent the Fire Hound flying, helping it escape from the Sea Dragon's jaws.

The Sea Dragon still bit down, but it was left with only a mouthful of air. Biting into the air made it upset.

The Fire Hound flipped in the air and landed on the ground, using its back legs to support itself when it landed. It immediately went backward by thirty feet to avoid the massive amount of water splashing down.

The water splashed on the ground, and a few drops of water hit the flames on the Fire Hound's body. Not a single hair on the Fire Hound got wet.

The Sea Dragon was just about to press on with its attack, but it suddenly paused, delaying it.

It looked down and saw the car-sized Golden Back Wild Boar rushing towards it. It was swinging its buttocks as it ran forward.

The Sea Dragon looked furious. It had never been treated this way before!

The boar was only worthy of being its food. How dare it challenge such a majestic dragon?!

The Golden Back Wild Boar seemed a bit tired. When it lifted its head to look at the Sea Dragon, it was already huffing and puffing.

"Golden Back Wild Boar! Come back quickly!" Fear flashed in Zhang Yi's eyes. He suddenly had a very bad thought. But it was too late. The Sea Dragon shook its long neck and descended onto the boar.

The Golden Back Wild Boar was bitten by the Sea Dragon, who then lifted the boar up with its mouth.

The Golden Back Wild Boar was under the influence of the Blackthorn Opium Poppy's gas, still in a hyperactive state. It didn't feel any fear when it was bitten. Instead, it squealed very excitedly, as if it couldn't believe that it could fly.

"Illegal drugs are really harmful," Gao Peng muttered and shook his head. He had completely dropped the idea of cultivating a familiar that was similar to the Blackthorn Opium Poppy. Although inhaling the gas would make one fearless, it would also drastically lower one's IQ.

The familiar would have to depend entirely on its instinct and ferocity.

This wasn't really a viable way to do battle.

The Fire Hound had very good battle instincts, so even under the influence of the gas, it could still perform well. The Golden Back Wild Boar was a completely different case altogether. It was as if its brain had been turned to mush by the gas.

The previous contestants were defeated by this fellow… Gao Peng suddenly felt speechless.

The excitement of the Golden Back Wild Boar came to an abrupt end as Zhang Yi let out a scream. The death of his familiar also caused him physical pain. His soul was traumatized, and it needed rest in order to recover.

This was one of the reasons why many people weren't willing to sign Blood Contracts with too many low-level familiars. According to the Blood Contract, if the familiar wasn't intentionally killed by the monster trainer, the death of the familiar would cause damage to the monster trainer's soul.

If the monster trainer intentionally hurt the familiar, there would be even bigger repercussions.

"Fire Hound! Kill her Earthen River Otter!" Zhang Yi said furiously.

Since you killed one of my familiars, I'll kill one of yours as well!

When the Fire Hound received the order, it turned away from the Sea Dragon and rushed towards one of the Earthen River Otters.

Roar! The Sea Dragon's pupils suddenly moved. Both of its pupils in each eye turned around so they were both looking in the same direction.

The Sea Dragon emitted an even more dangerous aura. Its heart was beating like crazy.

When it swung its massive tail, the scales on the surface started to undulate. The swinging of the tail caused a tremendous amount of wind to be blown.

Boom!

The Fire Hound couldn't avoid the tail. It had actually seen the tail coming towards it, but its limbs hadn't been able to react in time.

Its blood splattered everywhere, leaving wounds all over its body.

It rolled on the ground several times, only stopping when its body hit the edge of the platform.

The Sea Dragon squinted its eyes, giving it a very fierce gaze.

Zhang Yi could feel that the Fire Hound was greatly injured through the Blood Contract. If the Fire Hound tried its best, it could still continue to fight. However, its injuries from the previous attack had not only greatly reduced its fighting capability, but had also affected Zhang Yi's fighting spirit.

Although he was incredibly unwilling, Zhang Yi still had to face facts.

That fact was, his familiar wouldn't be able to beat Daisy's familiar.

It wasn't just Zhang Yi who felt shocked; the audience members were also shocked about what had happened in the battle.

Zhang Yi had been completely destroyed! It was completely one-sided.

Gao Peng shook his head, got up, and left. There was nothing left to watch, since Zhang Yi had lost.

Using the Blackthorn Opium Poppy in this battle had been a mistake.

Although using the Blackthorn Opium Poppy would cause the familiars not to fear death, it would also greatly lower the familiars' intelligence.

Battles were won through intelligence. Just using brute force was a dumb way to fight.

Zhang Yi could've stood a chance to win if he hadn't used the Blackthorn Opium Poppy, but after he used it, he'd had no chance at all.

The Fire Hound's reaction had been dulled by the effect of the gas. It hadn't evaded the Sea Dragon's attacks.

Daisy looked at Zhang Yi. Are you still not going to admit defeat?

The Sea Dragon's head slowly got closer and closer to the Fire Hound. The light kept reflecting off of its scales.

"Wait… I…" Zhang Yi took a deep breath. "I admit defeat."

After he muttered those words, he closed his eyes, feeling helpless. He was like a deflated balloon that flattened to the ground.

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Chapter 258: Please Teach it a Lesson

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhang Yi had lost. At the same exact time, countless reports started to pour out.

The reporters had already prepared two different reports before the competition had even started. One was for if Zhang Yi won, and the other was for if he lost.

Inside one newspaper office, an editor-in-chief took out a blank piece of paper and slammed it on the table, hard. "Quickly! The newsgroup next door has already started printing. Where are our scripts?! Faster! I want to see a complete report by ten o'clock."

"Boss, how should we report it?" A young man wearing black-rimmed glasses pushed up his glasses.

"Just do it! It doesn't matter how! Just throw all the responsibility of this loss on our education system!" The editor-in-chief laughed.

Blaming the education system was a very common tactic. There were no right answers for such situations anyway.

Everyone started to criticize the battle. Trolls started to emerge on the internet and praise the foreign contestants while dumping on the local contestants.

There were also netizens that criticized Gao Peng for not joining the competition as a contestant but choosing to do so as a referee.

There were also those who accused him of being a traitor to his own region and conspiring with the contestants from the other regions.

Ji Hanwu was sitting in front of the computer and reading these posts, his facial expression frozen.

Ten minutes later, a video of the mayor of the city of Jinling, Han Yuanming, warning Gao Peng not to enter the competition started to spread on internet forums.

The general opinion of the netizens completely changed. Those that had criticized Gao Peng at the beginning all suddenly disappeared.

"They're just a bunch of flies." Ji Hanwu laughed.

Gao Peng let out a sigh. Contrary to what people were saying, he actually wanted the contestants from the Huaxia Region to win. There was no reason for this desire other than the fact that he was also from the Huaxia Region.

Gao Peng's expression was normal, but his heart felt a bit empty, as if he regretted something.

What a pity… If it had been me in the competition, the result would have been different.

He pushed open the main door. Outside the door was a small figure wearing a small red bag who was staring at Gao Peng.

Goldie?

Gao Peng was stunned.

He looked around. The place was empty, so Goldie was the only one there.

"Why did you come by yourself?" Gao Peng frowned.

After thinking for a while, Gao Peng's expression changed radically. He looked at Goldie and asked, "You're not actually thinking of getting revenge? You're already so vengeful even though you're so young."

"Quack!" Goldie blinked. I'm not vengeful. I'm full of hate. I'm a warehouse for hatred!

"It's not impossible, but you'll be going by yourself. Dumby is a Lord-tier monster, so if he went, it would just be bullying. No one would agree to that. If you really want to do this, I'll help you." Gao Peng patted Goldie on its wings. Goldie was becoming stronger and stronger.

Goldie opened its eyes wide, its expression very fierce. It shouted, "Go!"

Gao Peng took Goldie to the corner and took off its clothes, then called Dumby over to help activate Goldie's passive ability.

After a minute, Gao Peng was leading a bald, muscular thirteen-foot tall duck onto the battleground.

"Uhhh, I don't think this is proper…"

"What's the problem? If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."

"But…"

"No 'buts!' Just do as I say!"

"Dear audience, the winner of the World Youth Trainer Championship is—"

Clang! The iron door abruptly started to lift up. The sudden sound interrupted the announcer.

The audience members were shocked. Was there another special program?

The event organizers, the members of the Monster Trainer League, and members of the military were all frowning.

One of the workers ran over to the high ranking officials and delivered a message.

"What a farce!"

"You can't say it like that. He's a young man. It's normal to be this impulsive."

They kept discussing the issue, but it seemed that no one intended to stop it.

Bang!

A loud bang was suddenly heard from the iron gate. First, it trembled, then the gate was pushed all the way up in one go.

Right below the gate, a muscular wing could be seen pushing against the iron.

A bald and muscular duck with no expression slowly walked out of the gate.

Goldie looked around. It ignored all of the audience members and set its sights on Daisy.

"You're the one who caused me to lose… stupid hairless woman," Goldie's made a fist with its wing. It looked at Daisy with contempt in its eyes.

It recognized this woman. She was the same one who had defeated Zheng Xiao. She was the one who had caused it to lose money.

Daisy turned around to look at Goldie. She didn't recognize it.

Gao Peng let out a cough. He took a look around and saw Zhou Tianmin, who had a profound look in his face, Li Yu, who looked astonished, and members of the Yuzhou University's student association. He recognized some of them, though he didn't recognize others.

So many people.

And… so lively.

Gao Peng took out a microphone and gave it a few taps. "Hello. Hello. Can anyone hear me?"

Gao Peng smiled. The sound quality of the microphone was good. The organizers didn't cut off his signal.

He moved the microphone closer to his mouth and started to say, "Firstly… I want to congratulate Ms. Daisy for becoming the champion of the World Youth Trainer Championships."

When the audience members heard what Gao Peng said, they all let out sighs of relief, especially the audience from the United Kingdom region.

Gao Peng had recognized Daisy as the winner, which meant he wasn't there to dispute the winner.

"However, my little friend here doesn't feel satisfied with the result," Gao Peng added.

The audience, who had just let out a collective sigh of relief, was suddenly put on edge again.

Gao Peng patted Goldie on the thigh. "This is my little friend.

"Of course, words by little children shouldn't be taken too seriously. This is a very important and serious event, after all.

"But my little friend here came running to me after watching the competition. It said that if it had taken part of the competition, it would have won." Gao Peng maintained the smile on his face. "My little friend just turned one and a half years old. It hasn't been promoted to the Lord-tier yet, since it's still at the midway point of the Commander-tier.

"I don't believe him, of course. The contestants and the familiars that were chosen to come here to compete are the best of the best from their regions. How can a peasant duck from the countryside be comparable?" Gao Peng took a deep breath. "So, our Champion, Ms. Daisy, can you help me and ask your Sea Dragon to teach my little friend a lesson?"

Gao Peng spoke very sincerely. No one would be able to find any fault with his attitude.

According to what Gao Peng had said, this would be a friendly match. It wouldn't affect Daisy's position as the champion.

Daisy was a bit hesitant to agree. She wouldn't gain much benefit if she won this match, as this was just a normal Commander-tier familiar.

However, if she lost, it would greatly affect her prestige. The champion of the World Youth Trainer Championships not being able to defeat a peasant duck from the countryside?

She didn't really want to agree to this match.

However, she looked around and saw the indifferent faces of the high-level officials from the Huaxia Region and all the looks of anticipation from the Huaxia Region audience members.

Daisy took a deep breath. Looks like I won't be able to reject this. It was clear that she had no way of refusing.

"I accept your challenge, but I dare not say I'll be able to teach your duck anything. It's already a normal Commander-tier familiar." Daisy suddenly spoke in fluent Mandarin. She also took a sarcastic dig at Gao Peng.

Gao Peng smiled, feeling excited.

He knew what he was doing wasn't very proper, but he didn't care. He couldn't just let some foreigner come to the Huaxia Region and leave with the championship title.

If it had been because he wasn't strong enough, he would have let it be, but Goldie had already taken the initiative to come to him, so Gao Peng felt it was just as well to go with it.

"Please." Gao Peng bowed and stepped backward.

Goldie moved forward half a step. The muscles on its bald wings were moving crazily. The sounds of firecrackers going off could be heard coming from its wings.

The veins in its body started to thump fiercely. The sound of blood rushing through them could be heard.

Goldie stomped down on the ground roughly with its right foot and let out a roar. It let out a beast-like roar, its eyes red. The white jade basalt floor trembled and Goldie leapt up like a missile!

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"Hehehe!" Goldie's manic laugh filled the entire venue. Wild, brutal, bloodthirsty, and tyrannical!

This was the first time Gao Peng had witnessed Goldie get so worked up. Perhaps this was the power of money.

Boom!

A gust of wind blew through the entire place, creating a loud whizzing sound. Daisy's blonde hair was messed up by the wind, and she had to hold down her skirt to keep it from flying up.

Goldie moved extremely fast, much faster than one would expect from a creature its size. Its eyes were cold, and it rushed forward with the wind.

The Sea Dragon growled and created a tide, flooding the entire place.

It had created an environment that it would be able to thrive in. It was as if a fish had suddenly been thrown from land into water. Its speed quickened considerably.

Its blue-green body could barely be seen swimming under the water.

A killing machine was hiding beneath the water! Not knowing where it might be was the most terrifying thing!

A black and purple figure rushed into the water, and all the water suddenly disappeared. Even the water contained in the air had been cleared out!

The air had suddenly become very clear.

In the blink of an eye, Goldie, with blood pumping in its veins, created a large gust of wind and jumped hundreds of feet over, jumping over the high stone platform.

It was so fast that it left a blur in its trail. Then it threw out a punch.

The sound of the air being ripped through could be heard.

"Ahh!" The giant Sea Dragon stumbled. Its long neck followed along with its head as it moved back. The scales around its eyes had shattered, exposing its flesh and blood. All the water it had worked so hard to gather around itself had been dispersed by a single punch.

Goldie threw another punch, did a 360-degree flip, then threw yet another punch. Both of the punches landed in the same spot. The injury on the Sea Dragon's face grew even bigger. Blood was pouring out! This time, the Sea Dragon couldn't maintain its posture. Its head fell to the floor.

Goldie landed steadily on the ground, its slender body shining brightly. It touched its bald head and squinted its eyes.

"So strong!"

"So amazing!" The audience members couldn't help but exclaim.

The Sea Dragon was the champion familiar, but it had been knocked down just like that.

"Sea Dragon." Daisy's expression changed. She knew very well how strong her Sea Dragon was. There was no way it would go down so quickly.

Daisy felt more assured after learning more about the Sea Dragon's condition through the Blood Contract. Although the Sea Dragon was knocked down, it wasn't really that hurt. The injuries looked much worse than they actually were.

The Sea Dragon gave an angry roar. It swayed its body while it was still on the ground, causing the ground to tremble. It was like a hill was shaking. Its huge body was covered in blood and smoke, and it swung its massive tail.

Goldie didn't try to dodge it. It lifted up its right wing to block the hit.

Bang!

A purple light flashed.

Goldie was thrown to the side like a bowling ball. It smashed against the glass wall, causing cracks to appear. Goldie's body slowly slid down the wall.

The Sea Dragon didn't wait for Goldie to land. A strong stench came rushing towards Goldie. The Sea Dragon opened its mouth, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth. It was a terrifying sight.

Goldie used its left wing to push against the ground and pushed itself to the right to avoid the Sea Dragon's bite.

It was able to avoid the bite, but it wasn't able to avoid being tackled. Goldie was knocked into the air, flying, and its body started to glow purple.

What is this?

Daisy suddenly noticed Goldie's purple glow. She didn't know why, but that purple glow gave her a very bad feeling.

Goldie's passive ability had been activated twice by the two hits. It had already been thirteen feet tall when the battle started, so no one noticed anything different.

However, the two hits had allowed Goldie to double its strength, and not just its strength were affected. Its speed, defense, the toughness of its bones, and its reaction time all improved!

Goldie took a deep breath. Not enough! Not enough! Your attacks aren't enough!

Goldie lifted up its legs and placed them on the Sea Dragon's neck. It shouted, "You haven't eaten yet? You giant cockroach."

The Sea Dragon was choked by Goldie's leg. Its eyes turned white.

Although the Sea Dragon couldn't understand Goldie's words, its tone was enough to make the Sea Dragon furious.

Its tail, huge body, sharp claws, and sharp teeth were all used to attack Goldie. The Sea Dragon was in a frenzy. It had revealed its wild beast instincts.

The entire place was trembling, and the ground was shaking. Rocks started to shoot out from the ground and the entire place was filled with the roars of the dragon.

Most of the audience hadn't witnessed such a wild battle before. Their hands and feet had gone cold, and many of them were holding their breath.

Gao Peng also had some worries in his heart. He didn't know if Goldie was able to endure such a fierce attack.

He communicated with Goldie using the Blood Contract and discovered that Goldie was still in good condition.

The Sea Dragon attacked Goldie continuously for ten minutes. It only stopped when it was tired and had Goldie pinned down with its legs.

This was quite different from normal. The Sea Dragon had used up all its strength, because it had used as much strength as it could in each attack. The originally smooth ground was filled with craters. Although none of the pieces of white jade basalt had broken, they had separated from the ground, and different pieces were scattered all around.

Suddenly, the Sea Dragon felt something pushing up from its leg. Its expression changed immediately.

It still has such strength even after my attack?

A pair of naked wings that were ten feet wide lifted up its legs. It then slowly stood up on its own legs.

There was a gasp from the audience.

The duck… the duck has grown larger!

Goldie, who was kneeling on the ground, slowly lifted up its head. It had muscles all over its body. Every spine on its vertebrae had grown taller, and there were bulging muscles on its shoulders. Its wings had grown several times thicker.

It was almost 24 feet tall. Its height had doubled!

Goldie lifted up its head and smiled, revealing rows and rows of sawtooth-shaped teeth.

"Ultimate Fist of Destruction!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The air exploded, and smoke filled the entire place. There were sharp whistling noises, as if the area was being bombed by missiles.

White smoke was everywhere. The bones of the Sea Dragon were broken. The ground shook, and the entire place trembled.

"I admit defeat! I admit defeat!" Daisy was white in the face as she quickly surrendered.

Just as she spoke, the place went silent. A large figure slowly emerged out from the smoke filling the arena.

As the audience members were crying out in surprise, Goldie walked out from the smoke. At 24 feet tall, it was already as tall as a two-story building. The shadow beneath its feet made it look especially menacing.

Goldie stared at Daisy with cold eyes. It took a deep breath and let out, "That felt good!"

The smoke cleared. The Sea Dragon was lying on the floor, blood gushing out of it. There were bruises everywhere, and some of its broken scales were stuck in its body.

When the audience saw the miserable state the Sea Dragon was in, the audience couldn't help but gasp.

It's pretty much crippled!

Chapter 260: Going Home

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Sea Dragon," Daisy's face was white. However, she knew that the Sea Dragon's condition was better than it seemed. The Sea Dragon wasn't in critical condition.

Gao Peng wanted Goldie to hold back. He had just wanted Goldie to beat it up, not to kill it. If it really died, there would be serious repercussions. A lot of disputes would arise.

Gao Peng massaged Goldie's thigh. "Don't go so overboard next time. It scares people."

Gao Peng immediately walked towards Daisy.

Daisy nervously shuffled backward two steps. She then determined that Gao Peng wouldn't dare to do anything to her in front of so many people. She bravely stared back at Gao Peng. Her posture made it seemed like she was unyielding, but her eyes were filled with tears.

Gao Peng was speechless. Am I that scary?

Gao Peng said apologetically to Daisy, "Ms. Daisy, I'm sorry for what happened. I can give you a voucher to visit my laboratory. If you choose to, you can come join me at my laboratory."

Daisy frowned and looked at Gao Peng in disdain. She came from a rich and powerful family in the United Kingdom. She wouldn't need to go all the way to a laboratory in the Huaxia Region.

Gao Peng smiled mildly and decided not to explain further.

Gao Peng believed that he would be able to turn his laboratory into a world-famous destination within the decade. He had predicted that he would win this battle, but he had never expected it to be so much fun.

Using his level 27 Goldie to fight against a level 34 Sea Dragon was like bullying a small child. Of course, Gao Peng knew that the reason why Goldie had been able to win so easily was because he had activated Goldie's passive ability a few times before the battle started.

This battle gave Gao Peng a very big confidence boost.

As long as he used his abilities properly, he would be able to create top-level, super powerful familiars in his laboratory.

Gao Peng suddenly had an idea. "Perhaps I don't even need to get my hands dirty in the future." As long as he could form a loyal group of followers, he could ask them to help him with various things. They could be used to catch monsters and find precious materials for him.

He would only need to conduct experiments in his laboratory.

One way to gain a loyal group of followers was to train a familiar that had mind controlling abilities, like the Giant Tarsier. He could use it to control monster trainers.

However, that would pose some problems if these monster trainers were able to escape his control. They would definitely want to destroy Gao Peng. At least, that's how it happened in the movies.

Another way was to adopt a group of orphans and train them. He could brainwash them into becoming his loyal followers. When they grew up, they would be willing to die for him. This was a method that had been used since ancient times. During the Qin Dynasty, many of the agents trained by the palace officials had been orphans. This method also had its problems, and one of them was that it required a very long time! It was impossible to get any returns in a short period of time.

The last method was to use his personal charisma to influence others, by making people like him so much that they would be willing to die for him. However, Gao Peng thought that this method was a bit unreliable…

Gao Peng touched his own face. My own charisma… Gao Peng went into deep thought.

All these methods were basically using coercion or emotions to persuade people. The most important thing was that he himself was strong enough in times of danger. This was the safest way.

"Sigh, what a bother." Gao Peng brushed his hair with his hands. He suddenly thought of Huang Ya and the others. They were all willing to sacrifice their lives for Grandpa for one reason or another.

But their loyalty is to Grandpa and not me. Gao Peng was very clear on this distinction.

Gao Peng was at a loss. He scratched his head and decided not to think about this issue for the time being.

Gao Peng arrived at the mountain villa, where he and Zhou Tianmin had a conversation. For Zhou Tianmin, what had happened in the competition was a minor event.

"Stay at my house and rest for another two days. Mengmeng doesn't have class in the next few days. I'll ask her to take you around the city. We have some unique familiars that don't exist in Yuzhou and Chang'an. If you want, you can bring some back," Zhou Tianmin persuaded Gao Peng.

"That won't be necessary. Thank you, Grandpa Zhou, for the generous offer, but my grandpa hasn't seen me for close to a week. He called me yesterday to ask me to come back quickly." Gao Peng laughed.

Zhou Tianmin realized that he wouldn't be able to make Gao Peng stay longer. He could only show Gao Peng his regret.

Gao Peng took a private plane back to Yuzhou City the next day.

When he arrived, a car was there to pick him up and take him back to the Southern Sky Group's villa.

"Master Gao." The security guard who opened the door greeted Gao Peng respectfully.

Gao Peng was a bit astonished. Although the security guards had called him Master Gao in the past, it had always felt a bit forced. He wasn't sure if they were being sincere when they called him that, but now, he could feel that the way they called him Master Gao was completely different from how they had addressed him before.

It's true that one needs to be capable in order to gain other people's respect.

He smiled and nodded towards the security guard. He patted Goldie, who was behind him, on the back. "Okay, go and take a rest. You've been training ever since you got on the plane. Although training hard is important, it's also important to get enough rest."

Goldie shook its head. It stood, dignified, and said, "Master, I want to become stronger."

"Become stronger to…?"

"So that no one can take away my money again."

Gao Peng's return caused quite a stir. Many of the employees at the Southern Sky Group no longer saw him as a privileged little prince, but as a proper Lord-tier monster trainer.

He was still very young, so people expected him to do great things in the future.

An empire couldn't be held together by only one man. If Ji Hanwu had been the only powerful person in the Southern Sky Group, it didn't matter how strong Ji Hanwu was. If he was suddenly gone, the entire company would collapse. This was how the senior officials in the government and military saw it.

It was like the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Shuang of the Qin Dynasty. He was able to conquer and unite six kingdoms into one dynasty. No one had dared to challenge his authority when he was alive. For as long as he lived, the world was his. No one was able to match his might, and he ruled with an iron fist.

However, when he died, the Qin Dynasty fell into turmoil, and it ultimately collapsed.

This was why it was important to have a strong successor.

A successor that wasn't inferior to Ji Hanwu had emerged at the Southern Sky Group. This had greatly strengthened the company's position.

Ji Hanwu was sitting at home waiting for Gao Peng. He had even ordered a cook to make Liangpi, Gao Peng's favorite food. There were also tangerine sweets on the table.

Just as he placed the rice on the table, his private phone rang.

He took out his phone and frowned. There weren't a lot of people who knew this number. People would only call this number if something major happened.

He picked up the call. "Old Ji, there's a situation here… I know that Gao Peng has just come back, but I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't an emergency."

"I knew that there would be trouble when I saw that it was you who was calling me. Tell me, what's the situation?"

"The things in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor… they've come alive."

Ji Hanwu's thick eyebrows raised in shock!

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Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 261 - The Tomb of the First Emperor online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 261: The Tomb of the First Emperor

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Grandpa, what happened?" Gao Peng asked as he put down his bowl and chopsticks.

With a serious look, Ji Hanwu glanced at Gao Peng, shook his head, and said, "You stay at home and wait until I come back."

Then he put on his coat and left.

In a flash, he heard splashing sounds from the lake behind the villa, and the White Dragon took Ji Hanwu high up into the sky.

In the suburbs of the Ling Tong District, northeast of Chang'an City.

The tomb of the first emperor of Qin was located just near the Ling Tong district. After the Cataclysm, it hadn't changed, so no one had paid attention to the place.

Just ten days before, the tomb of the first emperor of Qin had encountered a change. The stars had appeared while it was still daytime, and infinite bright lights had descended from the sky.

By night, starlights had dropped from the sky like drops of dense blood and plasma.

Chang'an City had witnessed the oddities occurring at the tomb since the first day, and they had immediately sent elites to investigate.

Then, they had found out that within ten miles of the tomb of Emperor Qin, there were no traces of birds, beasts, and monsters to be found.

The municipal government of Chang'an City made a prompt decision and withdrew the civilians near the Ling Tong District and entered into a state of emergency.

"It's the tenth day now…." A general who held a pair of binoculars mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, the ground underneath him shook as if there was an earthquake.

Tremble—

The ground shook violently as a powerful tremor exploded at the center of the tomb of the Qin emperor.

Cracks appeared on the ground and sand, and dust fell into the cracks that appeared. A dense smoke rose into the sky!

Several mountains around the area began to collapse and crumble. Boulders from the mountain rolled downwards, while the cracks spread as forests and trees collapsed, swallowed into the gaps in the ground.

Coarse and low growls could be heard from within the depths of the earth, sounding as if the speaker's throat had been scratched by pieces of glass. Then an angry roar sounded, seeming like it came from deep within the soul and chest.

"O' strong warriors of ancient Qin, let us face the difficulties of the nation together;

"O' strong warriors of ancient Qin, restore territories that belong to us;

"Battles shall not cease until every last drop of blood has been spilled!"

Starting from the central region, everything started to collapse and sink. Blood and smoke mixed with the dust storm and formed a dark red cloud from inside out!

Rumble, rumble, rumble. Bolts of blood red lightning exploded from within the dark cloud.

"Kill!" A thunderous shout for blood shook the entire earth.

From afar, spectators widened their eyes. Just what was that!?

An arm sculpted from mud tore through the dusty smoke as two glowing red lights penetrated the smog. Brown mud armor stuck on the back of its hand, and the right hand was holding the handle of a sword, while the left held the sheath of the sword.

Clang!

A crisp metallic sound rang out as the stone sword was drawn out of the sheath.

One, two, three… Countless shadowy figures covered by the dark smoke rushed out of the area one after another.

The terracotta warriors were alive!!

Bang!

The bottle on the table was knocked down. A general with four stars on his shoulder stood up abruptly with both his hands on the table, his chest heaving up and down quickly.

"Just what are those researchers doing? Why are the terracottas alive?!"

The spectacled researcher on his side murmured, "This is the first time in all my years of research to learn that there are living terracottas."

Ten miles away, pitch black barrels turned into a steel jungle, prepared for battle.

One by one, bodies made of dirt rushed through the layers of smoke and dust, finally arriving in their entirety under the sun.

One could even smell the smoke and dust from their bodies.

Multiple mud statues stood on the spacious and empty plain without moving an inch, swords hanging beside their waists while their right hands held spears.

A murderous and threatening aura filled the air.

Standing in the middle among the statues was a chariot. Four horses were tied together to move it, and the reins were held by a warrior seated on the chariot, while on the platform of the chariot, two warriors holding spears stood on either side.

The mountain peak suddenly collapsed. A dark golden casket was brought out from the mountainside by two black single-horned and crimson-hooved monsters.

The giant casket was covered in rich gold, with dragons and a phoenix sculpted on it. Although it hadn't been opened yet, a vague but tremendously frightening Qi emanated from inside.

The giant casket was protected by countless terracottas surrounding it.

"Caw!" A giant golden condor in the sky shrieked while its Lord-tier aura shone, its mighty Qi locked on to the casket below. If anyone dared to infiltrate the casket in the slightest, it would immediately send down an irresistible force to attack.

A huge crackle sounded from the bright and clear sky. It sounded as if the thunder had cracked open the doors to the heavens.

"Hmph!" From within the casket came a cold snort, clearly showing its strong dissatisfaction.

"We unintentionally became the enemies of the first Emperor, and we unintentionally dishonored your majesty. However, right now, Chang'an City is a holy and impregnable place of the Alliance government. If your majesty really wants to infiltrate our alliance government, our alliance government will also not shy away from war!" said a general from far away through the loudspeaker.

There was a momentary silence.

The roar of a dragon suddenly came from somewhere in the sky, and a white-haired figure broke through the clouds as clouds were torn apart, a long tail trailing behind.

The giant Aquatic Dragon had first been owned by the emperor. Ji Hanwu looked down while riding his White Dragon.

"Aih…" A surprised sound came from the casket, as if a child had just seen his favorite toy.

There had never been an emperor who didn't like dragons, for dragons had almost become the representative of emperors. If they were ever given a chance to ride a dragon, none of these emperors would ever let the chance go.

The mysterious being inside the casket also became interested in the biological beings called dragons.

"Dragons, huh…" Immediately after that, the expanding terracotta army stopped their march and began to retreat slowly.

"If your highness is willing to ally with us, we are willing to provide your highness with the latest information in the current world," the representative of the military said loudly.

After a while, a cold and calm voice came from within the casket. "Granted."

Could it really have been Ying Zheng? In the sky, Ji Hanwu's eyes flashed. The words of the military representative were also misleading in some ways, so if the person within the casket wasn't the first Emperor Qin and instead a particular general or prince under him, they wouldn't have responded.

Perhaps it was due to the terrorizing effect of the White Dragon and the Golden Deity, but in the end, the terracotta army retreated to the mountainside. At the same time, the area within a ten-mile radius became a prohibited area that was locked down by the military; no one was allowed to enter without authorization.

Back at the Chang'an military camp, a white-haired general with five stars on his shoulder showed a smile on his face as he soon as he saw Ji Hanwu. He made a fist and lightly punched Ji Hanwu's shoulder.

"You old b*stard, you're getting tougher as you age. I'd believe it if you said you were going to live for another 100 years." The white-haired general laughed.

Ji Hanwu smirked. "Isn't that right. I still want to hold my Little Peng's grandchild after all."

"That does sound pretty good. If that day comes, remember to invite me to the celebration."

"We'll talk about it if you live to that day."

"Then I'll definitely live longer than you."

The two highly respected old men chatted with each other like two children.

The old veteran from the military was called Sun Zhang. He was an old friend of Ji Hanwu, as they had grown up together in the same courtyard.

After they grew up, one went overseas for business while the other enlisted in the army, each embarking on a different life journey.

Although they had each gone their own way, the feeling between them had never waned. The two of them had continued to communicate through letters, and as time went on, their relationship became even stronger and better.

One of the reasons Ji Hanwu rested assured in leaving Gao Peng in Chang'an was because Sun Zhang was a general in the Chang'an military base, and he had also specifically asked Sun Zhang to take care of Gao Peng.

"All right. I know that you miss your grandson," Sun Zhang said snappily as he waved his hands. "You should hurry back."

"You take care over here. The thing inside the tomb of the first emperor feels a bit evil… Call me if anything happens." Ji Hanwu nodded and left on the White Dragon.

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Chapter 262: Gao Peng's Wild Hope

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The grass by the lakeside moved gently. There were a few water plants on the lake, but the whole lake was as tranquil as it could be.

The sounds of a bird flapping started to come from the center of the lake. A white crane flew very close to the surface, then laid down comfortably on the water.

Flamy closed its eyes and made a sound with its throat to show how comfortable it felt at that moment.

"Kwa! Kwa!"

How comfortable it was!

Not allowing a beautiful white crane such as me to swim in such a beautiful lake is simply torture.

That big fat dragon has finally left for a while. I shall be the king of this lake for a few hours!

Flamy dove into the bottom of the lake and then soared out, creating a beautiful trace of water behind it.

Gao Peng suddenly thought, With the White Dragon absent, the fat crane is pretending to be king!

A sudden boom came from afar, then a long white figure descended from the clouds.

Within moments, the White Dragon was just three centimeters away from Flamy's head. This happened just as Flamy had started to flap its wings to fly up into the air. Flamy's entire body was paralyzed with shock.

The White Dragon huffed a strong gust of air from its nostrils, and Flamy was sent flying backward.

"I-I… I was just checking the temperature of the water for you…" Flammy stuttered.

The White Dragon closed its eyes and huffed a few more gusts of wind to blow Flamy away, then it dove deep into the lake.

Flamy's entire body spun two full circles. Its wings flapped all about, causing the water in the lake to fly everywhere. Finally, it landed by the side of the lake.

Goldie, with a barbell in one of its hands, stared at Flamy. Flamy shot it a look of annoyance. "What are you looking at?"

Goldie dropped the barbell in its hands. The barbell landed and made a hole on the ground, then Goldie walked forward and said with no expression on its face, "Me, Goldie, money!"

Flamy felt very confused.

In the end, Flamy had to give Goldie ten dollars to make Goldie leave. It cursed as it walked away, "Stupid duck. One of these days, I'm going to shove money right into your eyeballs!"

Ever since Goldie had lost its last bet, it had become more and more money hungry.

Flamy said to itself that it wasn't because it was afraid of that stupid duck, but that it pitied it since it didn't have any feathers.

Gao Peng saw that Grandpa had come back safely. He let out a sigh of relief.

The only thing that mattered was that Grandpa was safe. Nothing else mattered.

Every time something came up, Grandpa would have to personally go deal with it. Gao Peng knew that this was one of the reasons why the Southern Sky Group was as successful as it was. Grandpa was very useful to the Monster Trainer League. They needed Grandpa's strength, so they allowed the Southern Sky Group to grow powerful. However, from his perspective, he would have preferred it if his Grandpa didn't get involved in dangerous situations.

It was because he didn't know when Grandpa would meet someone who was stronger than him.

Maybe he could find a trustworthy Lord-tier monster trainer for the Southern Sky Group. This would reduce the number of times Grandpa had to be sent out.

Gao Peng closed his eyes and thought up a list of names.

The person, first of all, had to be trustworthy. There was no use to train someone who was strong but disloyal. It would be stupid to train someone just to have them betray the Southern Sky Group.

They didn't have to be loyal to Gao Peng himself, as those that were loyal to Grandpa were also worthy of consideration.

There weren't a lot of people who met this criteria. After thinking for a while, Gao Peng decided on Huang Ya.

Although Huang Ya's Red Blood War Horse was only at level 32, it would be able to get promoted to Perfect-grade if it used Gao Peng's drugs. Its Soul Strength would also become strong enough.

Since it would take time to train the Red Blood War Horse, Gao Peng had another, even more daring idea.

After Gao Peng finished bathing and changing into his pajamas, he went into the living room. Grandpa was sitting on the sofa. There was a yellow lamp next to the sofa, and the light from the lamp let out a warmth. Grandpa had a book in his hands that was being illuminated by the yellow light from the lamp.

When he saw Gao Peng walk over, Ji Hanwu closed the book and poured a cup of tea for Gao Peng.

"Not going to bed?"

"Can't fall asleep," Gao Peng replied. He lifted up the teacup and drank it in one gulp. For him, tea was only meant to quench his thirst. He didn't know how to appreciate its other qualities.

"Grandpa, do you remember the Horrifying Violent Female Spider I caught in Chang'an?"

"That female spider?" Ji Hanwu thought for a while. "Oh, I remember. You're finally interested in it now. Although it failed to advance to the Lord-tier, it's still a half Lord-tier monster, meaning it still has value. I left it at a laboratory to be experimented on."

Gao Peng became momentarily stunned. "Left at a laboratory? It hasn't been dissected, right?"

Ji Hanwu shook his head lightly, "If you want it, take it. A half Lord-tier monster still has value. Killing it would be the most wasteful way of using of it. It's definitely still alive."

"Phew," Gao Peng let out a sigh of relief.

"Grandpa, I also want to borrow someone from you."

"Who?"

"Huang Ya."

Ji Hanwu was slightly stunned. Then he nodded lightly. "That's fine. I'll make it even easier. I'll just tell Huang Ya that he'll be taking orders from you from now on."

Gao Peng wanted to reject his grandpa, but before he could, Ji Hanwu had already made the decision. "It's decided then. You need someone who can take orders from you. If you find someone more suitable in the future, just return Huang Ya to me."

The next day, on the outskirts of the city, in a completely isolated laboratory located in a mountain, a group of people came to deliver an order. There was a large truck parked outside and many workers in the vicinity wearing blue uniforms with white undershirts.

The head of the laboratory looked very dissatisfied, "You're taking away such a good specimen. We were making such good progress on a few of our projects. Just you wait, I'm going to give Chairman Ji a call."

"Head Jiang, there's no use in making that phone call."

Head Jiang didn't believe him. He ran Chairman Ji's most trusted laboratory, and he was one of his trusted aides. It was impossible for his words to have no use.

"Do you not know where this familiar is headed? This familiar is going to Head Gao's laboratory. And this familiar was a gift given to Chairman Ji by Head Gao, so it's just being returned to its original owner."

Just as he was about to make the call, Head Jiang's hand froze in mid-air. Him?

He let out a bitter smile, Why does it have to be him?

Forget it. I can't afford to wrong him.

Head Jiang waved his hands helplessly. "Just take this female spider away. But you guys have to remember to take the necessary safety precautions. If it breaks free, the consequences will be deadly."

The wall on the mountain slowly split open. A truck carrying out a familiar slowly drove out. The giant familiar was transferred to a larger truck. A very heavy rope went around its body many times. It was also given a heavy dose of drugs to paralyze it, and its limbs had also been damaged so to reduce its fighting capacity.

This female spider was, after all, still half a Lord-tier monster! The danger it would pose when it went crazy was unimaginable.

Elsewhere, Gao Peng prepared the ingredients to make a drug. This Horrifying Violent Female Spider was quite unlucky. After it had failed to be promoted to the Lord-tier, it only had one way to be promoted to the Lord-tier. Its potential had also been reduced. This was the reason why Gao Peng didn't want to sign a Blood Contract with it.

One of the precious materials needed was a Lord-tier Earth type monster's Core Crystal, an extremely rare material. A Lord-tier Earth-type monster could only produce one Core Crystal in its entire lifetime, which could only be used on a monster that shared the same attribute.

Grandpa had obtained this material not too long ago by killing a Mountain Spirit. It was what the Horrifying Violent Female Spider needed the most for its promotion.

Although he himself had no interest in this damaged Horrifying Violent Female Spider, others would be clamoring to get their hands on a half Lord-tier familiar.

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Chapter 263: Negotiation

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Even if it was injured, there would still be people who would get on their knees to beg for it.

The main reason was that he already had Stripey. There was no need to sign a Blood Contract with another spider type, and it was also a spider type that was damaged. Although Stripey wasn't very brave, it was still a force to be reckoned with if it got jealous.

Huang Ya was called over by Gao Peng early in the morning. He didn't specify what it was for, only that it was a good thing.

If Master Gao said it was a good thing, then it must mean it was good.

Ever since Gao Peng had given him that magical drug for his Red Blood War Horse, Huang Ya's opinion of him had greatly improved.

After using the drug, his Red Blood War Horse had evolved and become even more magical. Its fur became even redder, plus its figure grew bigger. The most obvious change was Huang Ya's increase in strength from the Feedback he received from his familiar.

The only way to become stronger through Feedback besides leveling up one's familiar was to promote the familiar's grade.

This was also one of the simplest methods people used to figure out what grade their familiars were.

He received instructions from Chairman Ji that he would be under Gao Peng's command from now on. When he heard that order, he had very mixed feelings.

He owed Chairman Ji his life, and he also owed him a big favor, which was why he was willing to give his life to Chairman Ji. He knew that if it hadn't been for Chairman Ji, he would've been long gone, and his child would have been calling some other man his father.

Although he had only graduated high school, he knew one very important fact. It was something that his late mother had taught him.

It was to repay those who had helped you.

He owed Chairman Ji his life, so he was willing to give his life for the chairman.

However, he was still just a human with human emotions. Even though Ji Hanwu had spoken very courteously when he told him to take care of Gao Peng, it didn't feel good to be given away like an object.

These weren't ancient times. People's personalities were shaped by their surroundings.

Huang Ya wasn't a very cultured person, but even he valued the modern values of personal freedom.

Huang Ya gathered his thoughts and focused his mind. He turned towards the laboratory, walked forward, and opened the door. The light in the room was already on. It was evident that Gao Peng came in very early in the morning.

After a while, a very large truck came from the distance. That truck carried a very large spider.

One of the workers jumped out of the truck and said curiously, "Huh, how strange. This female spider was struggling so hard just now, but now that we're here, it stopped struggling." The other workers also started to mutter. It was a bit unbelievable.

"Maybe this big spider sensed Master Gao's presence," one of the workers suddenly said.

"Shut your mouth. Sensed his presence? What nonsense are you talking about? If Gao Peng heard what you said he might fire your *ss." One of the older workers didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even if you want to grovel, you don't need to go overboard.

The laboratory's door opened and Gao Peng walked out. After talking with the workers, they started to bring the Horrifying Violent Female Spider out from the back of the truck.

"Master Gao." When Huang Ya saw Gao Peng, he felt a bit shaken. Although he felt emotionally conflicted at that moment, he steadied himself and walked towards Gao Peng.

Behind him was his Red Blood War Horse.

The Red Blood War Horse's eyes sparkled when he saw Gao Peng. It remembered this man, the man who had given it that tasty drink, that drink that made it felt stronger after it drank it.

This was a very magical man!

The Red Blood War Horse walked forward and looked at Gao Peng eagerly, then lowered its head and rubbed against Gao Peng's shoulder.

Huang Ya's mouth started to twitch. You… you don't even let me touch you.

"Old Huang… Is it okay to call you Old Huang?" Gao Peng thought for a while and decided to be direct. "Do you want a Lord-tier familiar?"

Huang Ya visibly pulled back. "What… what are you talking about?"

"I can give you a Lord-tier familiar… of course, you know that there are no guarantees, but if you work hard, you'll better your chances."

"Of course I do!" Huang Ya took a deep breath to calm himself. He turned to look at the Horrifying Violent Female Spider. Is this giant spider type familiar the Lord-tier familiar Master Gao is talking about?"

Although the Horrifying Violent Female Spider didn't release a Lord-tier aura, its extreme size still seemed intimidating to other creatures around it.

"I'm not giving it to you for free. After I give you this Lord-tier familiar, you'll need to bear some responsibilities," Gao Peng muttered. "Signing a Blood Contract with a Lord-tier familiar doesn't make you invincible. You need to work hard to train it. You cannot slack off."

"That's a given!" Huang Ya nodded enthusiastically.

This was a basic requirement. He would definitely not slack off.

"In addition, you'll also need to step up as the Southern Sky Group's new hero. You will be sent out to deal with trouble, and you will be acting on our behalf."

Huang Ya was silent for a while, but then he nodded furiously.

There were no free lunches in the world. He was able to understand this simple concept.

"I hope you won't disappoint my grandfather." Gao Peng smiled mildly, then immediately turned over to look at the tied down Horrifying Violent Female Spider.

"Do you recognize me?" Gao Peng walked two steps forward. He did so to let the Horrifying Violent Female Spider take a closer look at him.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider on the floor was shocked for a short while, its eyes turning red, and it started to roar furiously. It remembered! It remembered that this man had been there on the day it had been captured!

"You've failed in promoting in the past. If nothing changes, you'll be stuck at your current level for your whole life," Gao Peng said calmly. He patted Stripey on the head and asked it to translate for him.

Eagerly, Stripey started to translate for its master. It did so while looking very vicious.

They didn't have any trouble communicating, since they were both spiders.

What Gao Peng said seemed to strike a nerve. After it finished listening to Stripey's translation, the Horrifying Violent Female Spider gave off an ominous glint from its eyes. It looked at Gao Peng angrily.

Gao Peng gave a light laugh. "Don't look at me like that. You need me if you want to evolve. Only I can help you finish your evolution."

Stripey lifted up his legs and kicked at the grass as it spoke. It looked at the Horrifying Violent Female Spider with ferocity.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider first grew angry, but then it stayed still. A red light flashed in its eyes, revealing deep desire and endless greed. It immediately responded.

"Master, it said if you could help it evolve, it would promise not to eat you. It will also forgive you for capturing it."

After it finished translating, Stripey become even more furious. "This spider is too much. It dares to speak to Master like that! Master, let me eat it!"

Gao Peng waved his hands. With a smile on his face, he looked at this tied up Horrifying Violent Female Spider. "It seems this beautiful lady spider doesn't understand the situation it's in right now."

When Stripey heard what Gao Peng said, it gleefully clasped its hands together. Its eyes were full of anticipation.

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Chapter 264: Blood Contract

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider gave a warning with its eyes. It looked at Stripey with ferocious eyes. "What are you guys doing?"

Before Gao Peng could speak, Stripey was already smiling gleefully. It used its legs to touch the female spider's face, its eyes sparkling. "What do you think, you big spider?"

Stripey climbed on the Horrifying Violent Female Spider's back eagerly. "Such a fat spider. One look and I can tell you're going to taste good."

He took a big bite out of the Horrifying Violent Female Spider's thigh. Although the Horrifying Violent Female Spider was a half Lord-tier monster, Stripey was still able to bite through its gray outer shell.

While it chewed, Stripey muttered, "The meat is too old. It's not pleasant to chew, but it still has plenty of nutrition."

The Violent Female Spider became so angry that white smoke almost came out of its ears! It made all sort of threatening noises.

Stripey didn't pay those sounds any mind. In fact, it was happily enjoying his meal. "It's always the female spider that eats the male spider, but I need to tell you that us male spiders are also capable of eating female spiders!"

The Violent Female Spider was in pain from being eaten. It kept making a lot of noise and struggling intensely.

The chains around it were shaking, making rattling noises. The spider moved so much that some of the chains were pulled taut.

Stripey was spooked, and all of the hair on its body stood up. It was like a bald hedgehog who was scared. A hedgehog would run away if it heard the grass being blown by the wind.

When Gao Peng saw how cowardly this spider was, he was speechless. He waved his hands to call Dumby over.

Dumby was sitting nearby with its daughter on a tree by the lakeside, and they were reading a book. When it heard his master calling him, it touched its daughter's head gently and said softly, "You go on and keep reading. Daddy has to go for a while."

It jumped off the tree, its body bent over. Its boney toes piercing into the dirt.

Boom! Dumby was gone, and all that was left was a puff of white smoke.

Dumby ran at a terrifying speed. It took it less than three seconds to cover hundreds of feet to arrive at Gao Peng's side. "Master!" Dumby bowed down to its knees. The fire in its eyes was very calm.

Dumby didn't let out his Lord-tier aura or anything that would show its Lord-tier status. That was why the Horrifying Violent Female Spider couldn't tell what Dumby's level was. However, it was still able to feel that Dumby was very powerful. The danger it sensed from Dumby made it stop struggling and look at Dumby vigilantly.

"I'm not very patient, and I'm not interested in reasoning with you. You can choose to give in and live, and maybe even become a full Lord-tier monster, or you can continue to resist and die. I don't mind adding the Core Crystal of a half Lord-tier monster to my collection."

Stripey jumped off of the female spider's back, its eyes looking very happy. It translated what Gao Peng had said to the female spider.

The female spider was silent. It looked humiliated, but it couldn't help but to lower its head and give in. "Fine."

Gao Peng nodded and asked Huang Ya to step forward and sign a Blood Contract with the female spider.

"You're not the one who's signing the Blood Contract?!" The female spider was shocked.

"When did I say it was me? I don't sign with just any familiars." Gao Peng was dumbfounded.

The female spider was stunned, then said angrily, "What do you mean by that?!"

Stripey used its legs to touch the female spider's face. "Wake up sister. My master already has me, a handsome spider, so why would he want you?"

After he received Gao Peng's instructions, Huang Ya walked forward to sign the Blood Contract with the female spider.

The female spider was at least 30 yards long.

There were many traces of scars on its head, and its stiff hair emitted a tinge of coldness.

Huang Ya placed his bloodied thumb on the female spider's head, and a glimpse of light started to shine.

Huang Ya closed his eyes. After a while, he opened his eyes with a strange expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Gao Peng frowned.

"Master Gao… Give me some time. This female spider is a bit resistant. I need to try a few more times." Huang Ya smiled awkwardly.

Gao Peng turned to look at Stripey. Stripey walked forward to tap the female spider on the head, "Hurry up and sign the Blood Contract. Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on." Stripey's legs looked pathetically small when next to the female spider.

When Stripey saw the female spider turn to look at him, it couldn't help but back up a couple steps. When it remembered the female spider was tied down, it grew embarrassed, then that embarrassment turned to anger.

"F*ck you for scaring me!" Stripey cursed, slapping the female spider with its legs.

The female spider just looked at Stripey and paid it no mind.

Huang Ya rested for a while, then continued on with signing the Blood Contract. Moments later, his face started to squirm, and his teeth clenched hard.

After ten minutes, Huang Ya opened his eyes and let out a long sigh of relief. His forehead was covered in sweat. He was exhausted, but his face still showed a hint of joy. "Master Gao, I've successfully signed the Blood Contract."

Gao Peng nodded. "Good."

He ordered Dumby to loosen the chains on the female spider.

With Dumby by his side and the White Dragon in the lake nearby, Gao Peng actually wanted the female spider to start trouble. That way, he would have an excuse to punish it.

The chains were loosened by Dumby, and the Horrifying Violent Female Spider started to shake. It stood up slowly and let out a yawn.

The spider's sharp, spear-like legs pierced deep into the dirt. The Horrifying Violent Female Spider let out a growl.

It looked in the direction of the lake in fear. The Horrifying Violent Female Spider then started to stretch. Its movements had been restricted for too long, so it was still not used to being able to move around.

It stretched its eight giant legs, then stretched its back. Its enormous body cast a huge shadow on the ground.

Stripey was so astonished that all of his eyes were about to pop out of his head! The female spider looked big, but not too huge, when it was lying down on the ground. Now that it stood up, Stripey felt like the female spider was taller than the horizon!

How is it possible to be such a big spider?!

When it thought of what he had done just before, Stripey couldn't help but go quiet. It also started to ponder.

While pondering, it slowly started to move backward and unconsciously moved behind Gao Peng.

It lifted up his head and let out a sigh. Forget it. I'll just simply not talk to this female spider anymore.

Gao Peng said, "You guys wait for me here for half an hour."

Gao Peng went to the laboratory and started preparing the drug.

Half an hour later, Gao Peng walked over with a beaker in his hand. There was yellow liquid in it. The liquid was similar to a gel and looked like solidified butter.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider kept staring at the beaker in Gao Peng's hand. It was standing still, but it could feel its blood and Core Crystals going crazy.

It was an instinct that was coded into its blood. It couldn't help but want to eat whatever was inside that beaker. It consciously lowered its body, its eyes staring at the beaker. At the same time, it opened its mouth and started salivating.

As Gao Peng moved the beaker to the left, its head started to move to the left. Gao Peng moved the beaker to the right, and its head moved to the right.

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Chapter 265: Horrifying Murderous Female Spider

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Do you want to eat it?" Gao Peng asked.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider nodded. It drooled so much that it created a river.

After teasing the Horrifying Violent Female Spider for a while, Gao Peng moved the beaker in his hands upwards.

The spider took a big bite with its enormous mouth. The movement from its body created a strong wind. The grass nearby was all flattened by the wind.

The spider moved its body around. The grass it stepped over was squashed into flatlands.

Perhaps this was one of the disadvantages of having big familiars.

Such problems would often arise if a familiar was a huge size. It was like if a human lived in a house built for dwarves. No matter how careful the human was, it was still easy to cause accidents due to the human's size.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider took one big gulp and drank the contents of the beaker. Immediately after, it started to swerve around like it was drunk. After swerving around for a while, it finally fell down on the ground.

The female spider fell asleep very quickly. It would even lick its mouth with its tongue from time to time.

"So ugly." Stripey looked at the female spider in disdain.

*It actually snores when it sleeps! I've never seen such an ugly spider before. Even Da Zi is cuter than this female spider!

Stripey then quickly left. Nobody knew where it went off to.

Of all of Gao Peng's familiars, Stripey was the laziest. It was also the one who knew how to enjoy life the most.

The other familiars had to work hard to improve both their physical strength and their control over their elemental abilities, but Stripey didn't need to.

It only had to improve its hit points and its physical condition.

In its mind, the reason Gao Peng wanted him to train was because he wanted Stripey to be able to run away faster in a fight.

In the mountainous area at the outskirts of Yuzhou City.

There was a group of people gathered at the mountain peak. They were all wearing white head scarves on their heads.

They removed their headscarves, revealing that the one leading them was blonde. His wavy hair stopped at his shoulders, and he also had a tiny mustache above his lips. He looked down towards the foot of the mountain. The entire place was extremely dark. The surface of the mountains were dotted with holes. The mountains looked very strange.

"It's here." The blonde spoke in the Jinsha language.

The Jinsha region was a large region in Eastern Europe. Religion played a big part in the lives of the people there. Most of the people there were adherents of the Holy Lotian religion.

The Holy Lotian religion was a religion that believed the world had been created by the Holy Lotian. They believed that when the world was created, it was clean, but it had since been corrupted by mankind. Only the Holy Lotian could cleanse the world of corruption. Cleansing the earth was the main goal of the religion. In addition, they would also be returned to the Holy Lotian's embrace when they died.

Of course, this was just a short description of the entire religion. Religions always had their own stories, backgrounds, and various other commandments.

For the most part, people of the Jinsha region were followers of the Holy Lotian. As with every other religion, there were those who were just casual believers, those who were moderate believers, and those who were extremists.

"We've finally found it." A few of the people at the back removed their head scarves. They looked down at the Mountain Spirit and let out sighs of relief.

"These are the Mountain Spirits that were mentioned in the Lotian Bible, right?" a red-haired freckled face girl said joyously.

"It should be. Who knew the mythical Mountain Spirits would appear."

"There's nothing to be shocked about. Haven't you guys seen Uncle Jerry's Griffin?" said a short and pasty skinned blonde-haired boy calmly.

"It isn't the same. Griffins are mythological creatures, whereas the Mountain Spirits are monsters that have been recorded in the Lotian Bible."

"That's enough!" the leader of the group shouted, frowning.

He looked down at the Mountain Spirit at the foot of the mountain, and his excitement grew. *If the Mountain Spirits are real, does that mean all the other creatures recorded in the Lotian Bible are also real?"

There was a Lotian Bible in the headquarters of the Holy Lotian religion that was different from other bibles. It had extensive records of many different things, the Mountain Spirits being one of them. The man had learned something very interesting about the Mountain Spirits in that bible.

"Let's go down and have a talk with this Mountain Spirit." The blonde haired man waved his hands, and a familiar came flying over. It had a blue body with purple wings and was 13 feet tall.

The blonde haired man got on the beast's back, and the beast let out a growl, then opened its wings and flew down the mountain.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider had gone into a deep sleep.

A grayish white Lord aura slowly started to emerge underneath it. The aura was extremely big, but it was incomplete. There were some rough edges at the edge of it that made it look like a big grayish-white rock.

The female spider started to toss and turn on the ground. After a while, its aura had completely engulfed the female spider.

"The evolution will take some time. If you feel worried, you can just wait here until its evolution finishes."

Huang Ya nodded gratefully towards Gao Peng. "Thank you Master Gao!"

If Huang Ya had held any reservations towards Gao Peng before, he wouldn't now.

He had received a Lord-tier familiar right after he became Gao Peng's subordinate.

It was a Lord-tier familiar!

Even the head of the security department, Xu Heti, only had a high-level Commander-tier monster.

Gao Peng asked Huang Ya to stay for lunch at the villa.

In the afternoon, Huang Ya stayed beside the evolving female spider.

At night, he erected a small tent beside the female spider so he could sleep beside it.

After one night, the aura engulfing the female spider started to crack. The cracks became more and more obvious, like an egg that was about to be hatched.

Gao Peng was about to go to school but decided to stay for a while. He wanted to personally witness the successful evolution of the female spider.

Some more time passed…

Crack!

A long, silver, spear-like object pierced out of the aura. The rock-like aura crumbled as easily as tofu.

Then a second one came out, then a third…

All of its legs emerged. It had no trouble cracking open the aura. Its newly evolved body bathed in the early morning light.

Its body was a silver color. It gave off a very metallic feeling. Its legs were sharp as spears, and its top was covered with sharp crescent barbs. It was slender and elegant. If its pre-evolved body had been that of a lady running around with a butcher knife, its evolved form was a professional assassin.

[Monster Name: Horrifying Murderous Female Spider (Lord-tier)

[Monster Level: Level 41

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Rock

[Monster State: Healthy (Happy)

[Monster Weakness: 1. Wood type monsters. 2. Platinum King Radish

[Monster Skills: Spider Silk Strengthening Level 2, Harden Skin Level 2, Sharpen Spider Claws Level 1

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Chapter 266: Traveling to the West on a Crane

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When Huang Ya learned that the female spider had successfully evolved to the Lord-tier, he felt like he was dreaming. I've actually become a monster trainer with a Lord-tier familiar?

He was still in a daze.

"Train it well. If you want, you can go to the areas near Yuzhou City," Gao Peng said with a smile. He could understand what Huang Ya was feeling. He hadn't been able to sleep the night Dumby had evolved to Lord-tier.

"I understand." Huang Ya nodded towards Gao Peng in gratitude.

Being given a Lord-tier familiar was akin to being gifted a new car. One would definitely want to take it out for a spin.

Gao Peng had thought about taking a break from school and just studying at home.

If a person had the desire to learn, he or she could do so anywhere. The advantage of a school was the learning atmosphere.

Perhaps he could apply to graduate early or complete a few courses early.

Gao Peng called out to his familiars, "I'm going to school today. Who wants to come with me?"

Dumby looked at Gao Peng apologetically. "Master, I want to spend more time with Xiao Hua."

Xiao Hua was the nickname of the red jellyfish. This time, it wasn't Gao Peng who had given it its name. It was Dumby's daughter, so it was only appropriate for Dumby to name it.

However, Dumby's skill at giving names had really exceeded his expectations. Dumby was even worse at it than Gao Peng!

"That's fine, but you need to remember to go to the slaughterhouse to absorb some spirits. Although it doesn't help in helping you level up as much as it did, it will still help if you do it enough. Leveling up has never been an easy thing anyway," Gao Peng said patiently. He knew that Dumby was very mature. He had never needed to worry about it.

"Three thousand six hundred ninety-five, three thousand six hundred ninety-six…" Goldie did squats while lifting a heavy piece of metal with its wings.

Gao Peng was very satisfied with what he saw, so he decided not to interrupt Goldie.

"One, three, five…" Stripey looked at Gao Peng surreptitiously. No one knew when Stripey had come over to start training.

This fella…

Gao Peng didn't even want to bother with this creature. If it wanted to pretend, it didn't need to start at one, right?

"I'll go! I'll go!" Da Zi quickly flew over and kept flying around Gao Peng.

"You can't. You need to stay at home and train, understand?" Gao Peng patted Da Zi's small head to comfort it.

Gao Peng had learned a whole new way to train his familiars from Zhou Tianmin while he was in the capital.

Every group, company, laboratory, and research institute was frantically trying to figure out the fastest way to make a monster evolve faster.

Nowadays, the evolution of monsters could be compared to a race track. The monsters were the cars on the track, and evolving was akin to improving the capabilities of the car. From a bicycle to a motorcycle. From a motorcycle to a sedan. From a sedan to a truck, and from a truck to a sports car.

And the further in the monsters traveled on this track, the longer it would take for a monster to evolve.

Finding a way for the monsters to evolve faster would be like finding a shortcut on the track. The monsters would be able to overtake other monsters that were ahead of them.

Someday, somewhere, a random genius would discover a way to drastically increase the speed of evolution for monsters.

Gao Peng held the key to improving a monster's grade. In other words, Gao Peng had the key to improving the capabilities of a car. However, he didn't know how to increase the speed of evolution for monsters.

Even though Gao Peng was a genius, he still needed time to conduct experiments before he could find out ways to increase the speed of monsters' evolution.

In one of the Monster Trainer League's laboratories in the capital, the researchers had found a way to speed up the rate of evolution for certain Electric-type monsters.

It was still kept a secret and not offered commercially to the public. Put more accurately, it was still an unproven science.

Naturally, as Zhou Tianmin was one of the twelve founding members of the Monster Trainer League, it wasn't a secret to him. He had taught this to Gao Peng as a gift and told him to only use it himself or for his grandpa, and never to share it with anyone else.

A strange looking building was built on the other side of the lake. Black electric rings were deployed three feet above the ground. Below the electric rings were spears.

The installation covered an area larger than dozens of square yards. There were also several high-powered generators next to it.

The generators had just been turned on, causing bright blue lights to appear on the electric rings.

The electric rings started to absorb the electricity from the air around them. The electricity turned the black rings into a translucent blue, so it looked like electricity was being funneled through a tube.

The Thunder Shell Lord was located nearby, absorbing the electrical elements into its body. Thunder and lightning were coming out of Its huge spiral shell, as it was communicating with the electrical device nearby.

According to Zhou Tianmin, this device would be able to increase the speed of evolution of an electric type monster by 50 percent.

As Da Zi was the first familiar Gao Peng had signed a Blood Contract with, he would naturally want Da Zi to become stronger. It didn't have to become the strongest of all his familiars, but it had to be one of the stronger ones, at least.

"Don't just always complain about me not being the same anymore. I've created all the right conditions for you. You need to quickly become stronger, understand? Look at Goldie. It came much later than you, but it has already surpassed you. Goldie trains for 16 hours a day. Besides sleeping and eating, all it ever does is train. You need to learn from Goldie." Gao Peng patted Da Zi on its head.

Da Zi nodded, feeling a bit wronged. "I understand."

"Pu zi, pu zi. Lazy Da Zi, very lazy," Silly came out from nowhere, clearly taking joy in Da Zi's misery.

Gao Peng looked at Silly with an indifferent gaze. "Grandpa bought a bunch of expensive space metals to build you that nest! Even my house isn't as expensive as that nest! But you still act so naughtily every day! Have you no shame? Go back and train immediately!"

When it heard Gao Peng's scolding, Silly felt so wrong that it almost cried. It wanted to leave quickly, but in its haste, it accidentally tangled all of its tentacles. Thankfully, it didn't fall down.

Chirp! A fat, happy crane was relaxing on the lake in leisure. Gao Peng suddenly had a thought. "Flamy, come over here," Gao Peng said as he waved his hands towards Flamy.

Flamy flew over and landed on the grass in front of Gao Peng, its feathers shining brightly. There was a faint hint of cyan color on its feathers.

Gao Peng patted Flamy on its fat tummy and started to praise it. "Good crane! I should definitely bring this handsome crane to show off to my classmates."

Flamy thought that Gao Peng was genuinely praising it, so it lifted up its head proudly. "Chirp, chirp, chirp. Gao Peng, I'm not fat, just big boned."

Flamy had grown to be very tall. When it stood up, it was almost seven feet tall. Its wingspan was about fifteen feet wide.

"Hahaha, fine. You're big boned." Gao Peng laughed heartily, then climbed on Flamy's back. "We'll be flying to school today."

Flamy started to flap its wings and flew Gao Peng into the air.

"Traveling west on a crane… Hmm, this reminds me of an old saying… Something feels off for some reason."

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Chapter 267: Soul Chain

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A single-legged white figure with faint hints of cyan was flying through the air along the clouds above the city.

Gao Peng's legs were squeezing against Flamy's throat tightly, as he was holding on with all his might. His hair had become messy from the wind. He didn't look like any sort of nobleman.

Gao Peng suddenly remembered that he had two abilities he hadn't tried out yet.

He slapped himself in the forehead. He had been so busy that he had forgotten such an important thing!

When a monster trainer got their first Commander-tier familiar, they would gain a life-saving ability themselves.

When a monster trainer got their first Lord-tier familiar, they would gain their second life-saving ability. The abilities built up.

The first life-saving ability he had gained when he received his first Command-tier familiar was the Elemental Barrier. This was an ability that was common among monster trainers, and Gao Peng had tried out this ability before.

The Elemental Barrier was an ability that used the elemental energy of the familiars to form a barrier around the monster trainer. The more energy the familiar used, the stronger the barrier would be.

When Dumby evolved to the Lord-tier, Gao Peng had gained another new life-saving ability, Soul Chain.

The Soul Chain ability allowed Gao Peng to chain his soul to a familiar that he had signed a Blood Contract with. The contract could not be changed within the first month of it being signed.

If an enemy wanted to attack Gao Peng's soul, the Soul Chain would be activated. The enemy would then be facing the combined Soul Strength of both Gao Peng and the familiar he had cast the Soul Chain ability on.

After a period of time, it would also increase Gao Peng's own personal Soul Strength. It was akin to feeding Gao Peng's soul to help it grow.

This was quite a strong ability. As for other abilities that monster trainers received with their first Lord-tier monsters, Gao Peng was unsure. This was, after all, a personal secret for all monster trainers. It wasn't something they would share with anyone.

Gao Peng was quite satisfied with this ability, not for its defensive capabilities, but for its ability to grow his own Soul Strength.

Gao Peng took a look at Flamy and decided to try the Soul Chain on it.

"Ow!" Flamy suddenly trembled. It almost fell from the sky and gave Gao Peng a fright.

"What the hell happened? It felt like I was suddenly hit in the head by someone while I was flying."

"Gao Peng, why are you looking at me like that? I didn't do it on purpose. It felt like some idiot suddenly punched me in the head. I felt a sharp pain," Flamy explained frantically.

Gao Peng didn't show any expression on his face. "Okay, I understand."

There were tons of people going in and out of Yuzhou University. Once in a while, students brought their familiars in and out of the school. This had become a common sight.

Four years had passed since the Cataclysm. People couldn't accept the change at first, but eventually, everyone came around to it. The adaptability of humans was amazing, especially after something big happened.

Two years earlier, there had been many people who were anti-monster. They insisted on believing it had been the monsters who brought about the Cataclysm, so they refused to sign Blood Contracts.

However, one could easily find the same people posing for selfies with their beloved familiars on the internet nowadays…

Screech— A long, sharp cry cut through the air.

A shadow appeared on the ground right in front of the Yuzhou University gates. Then a large one-legged crane appeared. Seated on it was a blurry figure.

The figure of the person was blurry because his body was covered by a light red barrier. The red barrier only started to disappear when the crane landed.

Gao Peng jumped off the crane's back and wiped the sweat off of his face. He had formed an elemental barrier around him to keep the winds from his body.

Flamy's fire element had been used to create the barrier so Gao Peng would be able to keep warm within the barrier. He hadn't felt cold at all, even though he was hundreds of feet in the sky.

"Wow, he's riding a crane. That's just too cool," a passing student said in envy.

"It's actually a single-legged crane. It isn't Bi Fang, is it?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Bi Fang isn't real. That's just a mythological creature."

"Just because it doesn't exist now doesn't mean it won't exist in the future!"

Passing students started to argue among themselves.

Gao Peng ordered Flamy to go to the guard post to register before entering the school.

"Gao Peng," someone called from behind him.

Gao Peng turned around and saw a girl in a white dress looking at him in surprise. After thinking for a few seconds, Gao Peng still couldn't figure out who she was.

"Hello. I saw you at the competition. You looked super cool in the ring."

"You're just exaggerating. It was normal," Gao Peng smiled shyly.

"Yo, boss. You finally came to school." Xu Qingzhi happened to pass by just then and saw Gao Peng. She walked over and gave the girl in the white dress a smile.

Gao Peng would ask Xu Qingzhi to help him feed his familiars from time to time, since he would sometimes forget to feed his familiars when he was doing his experiments. After a while, Xu Qingzhi had become familiar with Gao Peng's familiars.

Oh it's this girl… Flamy glanced at her. Why is this girl acting like she's so familiar with master? But she has helped me clean the toilets a few times, so I guess I'll forgive her.

The girl in the white dress wanted to continue to speak, but Xu Qingzhi turned her head to Gao Peng and said, "Boss, you might not know this, but after the competition ended, a lot of your juniors became your fans. A lot of the female juniors in my department are asking me to give them your contact information."

Do they want me to help train their familiars? Gao Peng frowned. "You didn't just give my number to anyone, right?"

"No, no. I wouldn't dare give out your number without your consent." Xu Qingzhi was smiling. They both started to leave while chatting.

"That's good." Gao Peng's expression became calm again. He said goodbye to the girl in the white dress and walked towards the monster trainer department.

"Oh yeah, one of my good friends wants me to introduce her to you. She's also in the monster trainer department…"

"Lin Xinrui?"

Xu Qingzhi was shocked, "You know her?"

"No."

Xu Qingzhi let out a sigh of relief. She glanced at Gao Peng's face secretly and admitted, "She knows that my family is in the Southern Sky Group, and she also knows your identity, so she asked me to introduce the two of you."

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Chapter 268: Transaction

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Let's make an appointment in the next two days. You come along, as well," Gao Peng replied. His words were very vague. Due to his introverted nature, he was actually uninterested in these kinds of meetings. Even if she was one of the so-called "four stars of Yuzhou," she was just a monster trainer who was slightly above average. To prevent himself from feeling awkward in the meeting with Lin Xinrui, he had to bring along Xu Qingzhi to act as a buffer.

Lin Xinrui was a World Hunter. Being a World Hunter was a very special profession.

They traveled in deep uninhabited mountains and explored unknown wastelands. They were all very talented individuals. If the Southern Sky Group could recruit one of them, it would benefit the company greatly.

After all, the most valuable materials were in the wilderness. The fact that Lin Xinrui could make a name for herself in this field meant that she was the real deal.

Recruiting Lin Xinrui was Gao Peng's personal desire. It wasn't something that could be achieved with just a few words.

The lesson they were attending was Biology of Mythological Beasts. The teacher was an experienced history professor at Yuzhou University who had done extensive research on the biology of mythological creatures and ancient mythological books.

"During the last lesson, we talked about the relationship between the qingluan and the phoenixes in myths. The lesson today will focus on another bird deity called the Omen, the Bi Fang Bird…" Professor Li Changhe was very knowledgeable, but at the same time, he was also very humorous. As a result, his classes were very well liked by the students in the monster trainer college.

"The legend states that the Bi Fang Bird's arrival was always accompanied by powerful flames. When the Yellow Emperor rode on his war chariot and gathered supernatural beings at Taishan, the Bi Fang Bird was right next to him. Afterward, the Bi Fang Bird became the God of Fire's pet. It's most unique characteristics were that it was single-legged, it had green wings, and it could withstand extremely hot flames…"

Gao Peng was completely drawn into the lesson, still yearning to know more even after it was over.

When Gao Peng arrived at the area behind the building where the familiars were placed, he saw a group of people gathered there. It was extremely rowdy.

There was a sudden exclamation from the crowd, and they quickly scattered. A few people's clothes were on fire. They quickly stopped, dropped, and rolled to extinguish the fire, but parts of their clothes had been burnt to ash.

"Whose familiar is this? It's too wild!"

"It really does look like the Bi Fang Bird though. Will it evolve into Bi Fang in the future?"

"How is that possible? The Bi Fang Bird is a mythological creature. If you think this thing will evolve into it, you have too big an imagination. The professor said the Bi Fang Bird was a crane! A CRANE! This is clearly a goose."

The atmosphere started to turn lively. Flamy didn't understand what the people were discussing, so it just stood there angrily.

"Gao Peng is here," said someone in the crowd.

The crowd suddenly went silent and looked over at Gao Peng quietly.

They had seen Gao Peng on television before, but looking at him up close was a totally different experience.

They had actually seen him in person before, but they hadn't paid him any mind. He had just been treated like just another student.

That day, however, he felt like a different person, even though he was exactly the same as before.

"Why do I feel a gust of air when he walks?"

"Because he walks very quickly."

When Gao Peng walked over, Flamy quickly flew towards him. It used its leg to suddenly brake when it was just an inch away from Gao Peng, then it proceeded to lick Gao Peng in affection.

After Gao Peng left with Flamy, someone said, "It turns out that this one-legged bird belongs to Gao Peng. If that's the case, it really isn't that much of a surprise."

Gao Peng started to understand what it meant to be famous. No matter where he went in Yuzhou University, there would be people who recognized him. It was as if they had seen a monkey. They would get their smartphones out and start to snap pictures.

No one would look good in candid photos! Why would you guys take photos of me if they don't look good?!

He felt a bit angry as he climbed on Flamy and left Yuzhou University.

I guess I won't be able to return to school for the next few days. I need to wait for things to return to normal before coming back.

Gao Peng didn't go to school the next day. He had made an appointment with Lin Xinrui and Xu Qingzhi at a fancy restaurant in the downtown area.

The Southern Sky Group had shares in this restaurant, so Gao Peng could eat there for free. It was also a very safe location to dine in.

"Ms. Lin, Ms. Xu, welcome." Gao Peng stood up and greeted the two girls.

Mountainous cities always produced a lot of good looking girls. This was because of their geological features and culture. All girls who grew up in a mountainous city had one thing in common, no matter if they were short or tall: they all had very firm legs. There were many stairs in mountainous cities, so it was common for them to have to climb often. The constant climbing made their legs into works of art.

Ms. Lin had carried on this great tradition.

She had sleek black hair, perfectly shaped eyebrows, moon-shaped eyes, and perfect lips. She was wearing a black sundress, exposing much of her perfect skin.

Lin Xinrui exuded a sense of fierceness to those around her, perhaps because she was always out in the forest. It was a complete contrast to her graceful name. Lin Xinrui was not at all shy. When she entered the restaurant, she went to sit directly opposite Gao Peng, and said, "This is one of Southern Sky Group's restaurants, right? Tell the manager to just bring us any dishes. I'm not here for the food anyway."

Gao Peng nodded. He called the manager over and said a few words. The manager nodded, then left the private room, closing the door as he did.

"I've told the manager not to let anyone come in for the next 20 minutes. You can relax and say anything you want to say. The room is soundproof."

Lin Xinrui nodded and started to speak.

After Gao Peng finished listening to Lin Xinrui, he nodded and started to ponder.

"I think… maybe… if what you said is true, then what are you aiming to achieve? To put it in more directly, what do you hope to gain from me?" Gao Peng squinted his eyes.

Gao Peng was willing to admit that Lin Xinrui was very beautiful. She had a wild look that would attract most men. That fact gave her an advantage when negotiating, but not with Gao Peng.

"First, those people are outsiders. They dress like members of the fanatical group the Golden Hands. I don't like the Golden Hands. They're always too extreme in their actions, so I don't like dealing with them.

"Second, I hope the Southern Sky Group can help to promote one of my familiar's grades. I can provide the materials required. Any materials that aren't available on the market, I can get myself in the forest," Lin Xingrui said, sounding very serious.

"Why did you approach me?" Gao Peng frowned. At the same time, he glanced over at Xu Qingzhi. Had she leaked his secret?

When Xu Qingzhi saw Gao Peng looking at her, she started to panic. She wasn't an idiot. She wouldn't tell Gao Peng's ability to outsiders. She would never dare to do such a thing.

"Because I trust in the ability of the Southern Sky Group. You guys, after all, have the most laboratories in Yuzhou," Ling Xingrui smiled.

Turns out she wanted help from the company. I was mistaken. Gao Peng nodded. "Your request isn't unreasonable, but I hope we can change some of the terms of our agreement."

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Chapter 269: The Golden Hands

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"I want the details." Lin Xinrui nodded.

"It's quite straightforward. We at the Southern Sky Group can help to promote your familiar's grade. And not just one, but all of your familiars' grades. We can even provide some of the materials." Gao Peng and Lin Xinrui were staring face to face.

Lin Xinrui let out an involuntary laugh.

"What an offer. What do I need to give in exchange? Let me make myself clear, I only like girls."

"You only need to sign an employment contract with us. You'll even get a well-paid job," Gao Peng smiled, putting down the cup of tea in his hands.

Become an employee at the Southern Sky Group? Lin Xinrui stared blankly at him. She went silent for a while.

"The government has also requested that I join them, but I rejected them. I don't like to be tied down." Lin Xinrui looked out of the window. "I like to explore the wilderness freely, without any restrictions placed on me."

"Joining us won't affect your right to do that. The Southern Sky Group doesn't impose as many conditions as the government. We're very relaxed towards geniuses." Gao Peng smiled. "Because we know geniuses are rare. Being somewhat of a character is to be expected… Just don't go overboard."

Gao Peng leaned back on his chair and looked at Lin Xinrui leisurely. "If you can't decide now, why don't we just sign a temporary contract first? We'll only sign an official contract after your first familiar has successfully evolved."

So far, there were only three World Hunters in the base city of Yuzhou, which was why Lin Xinrui was so valuable.

After a short period of silence, Lin Xinrui nodded.

After he arrived home, Gao Peng tried to digest the information that Lin Xinrui had just given him.

While she was out in the wilderness, she had discovered a group of Golden Hands members. Their outfits had been very unique, so it was unlikely that someone had been posing as them.

Those Golden Hands had colluded with a large number of Mountain Spirits, as if they were planning something suspicious.

The Golden Hands had always had a notorious reputation. It wasn't simply that Gao Peng and Lin Xinrui were biased against them.

Gao Peng had already ordered someone to gather information on the Golden Hands. He sat at the balcony and read the information while enjoying the sunlight.

The Golden Hands were made up of fanatic followers of the Holy Lotian religion.

Most Holy Lotian followers didn't recognize the Golden Hands members as one of them. They saw them as radical extremists.

The reputation of the Golden Hands was bad in every part of the world. Even before the Cataclysm, the Golden Hands had always caused trouble. An independence movement had occurred in the Jinsha Nation in the past. Quite a few numbers of cities in the eastern region of the Jinsha Nation had declared independence.

The whole thing had been orchestrated by the Golden Hands. The cities hadn't had their own armies, so they were quickly recaptured, and many of the Golden Hand members were immediately apprehended.

Afterward, some of the more fanatic members of the Golden Hands had started to adopt suicide bombing and human shield tactics. This caused quite a bit of trouble.

However, the law in the Jinsha Nation was a bit unique. Even though the Golden Hands had been designated a terrorist organization by most countries, the country decided the Golden Hands members who had not committed any crimes weren't guilty and were let free.

The Jinsha Nation of the past was the current Jinsha Region. Only those who had committed crimes had been given sentences by the court.

After the Cataclysm and the establishment of the New World Allied Government, the Golden Hands had started to become even more daring. Because of the Cataclysm, each region didn't have resources to deal with even their own problems, let alone issues in the Jinsha Region.

By the time the New World Allied Government became organized and strong enough, the Golden Hands had already grown considerably stronger and more influential than ever before. However, they had also become more low-profile in their actions.

In order to maintain the stability of the new government, the New World Allied Government had chosen to ignore the Golden Hands.

So that's how it is…

Gao Peng gently massaged his temples.

According to the information he'd gathered, the Golden Hands was a big organization with a very strict hierarchy. Because of the distance between the two regions, even the Southern Sky Group would have difficulties in acquiring information about the Golden Hands after the Cataclysm.

The only thing they knew was that the Golden Hands had increased their power considerably by recruiting many of the orphans who had lost their families during the Cataclysm.

Gao Peng wasn't the type that wanted to rid the world of evil. He also didn't have that much free time. However, the Golden Hands were very extreme in their methods. Innocents would always be hurt by their actions. Most importantly, Golden Hands had traveled far and wide to get to Yuzhou. They were even collaborating with the Mountain Spirits in the base city of Yuzhou. This forced Gao Peng to give them more of his attention.

As the Southern Sky Group was located in the base city of Yuzhou, and those Mountain Spirits possessed considerable destructive powers, if he was even somewhat unattentive, Yuzhou could suffer a catastrophe.

"Really now, why can't you guys just stay in the Jinsha Region? Why do you guys have to come all the way to Yuzhou?" Gao Peng felt helpless. He really didn't want to deal with this. "Can you crazy people really work with those destructive Mountain Spirits?"

It felt like he was just minding his own business in his house, and out of nowhere, a group of crazy people had rushed into his house carrying a bomb.

Why would they do that?

The most important fact was that there were quite a considerable number of Mountain Spirits. No one knew the exact number, but Gao Peng estimated it to be at least a hundred. The weakest Mountain Spirit had the power of a Lord-tier monster. Each one was a force to be reckoned with, enough to be a threat to the status quo of the world.

If the Mountain Spirits were riled up by the Golden Hands, Yuzhou City would be crushed flat in an instant!

Gao Peng was able to picture this in his head.

That was why he needed to take action fast. If they were really scheming with the Mountain Spirits, then he would have to take care of the Golden Hands, no matter what the cost. Gao Peng suddenly had an idea. He had control over something that had a similar destructive power to the one possessed by the Mountain Spirits.

He didn't know when, but Gao Peng had grown out of his high schooler mentality.

Grandpa was currently at the Southern Sky Group's headquarters. Gao Peng remembered Grandpa saying he was busy during this time. The company was preparing to expand to Xiangxi and Xiangbei, so most of Grandpa's attention was on that.

He couldn't ask his Grandpa to personally deal with each issue that came up. Ji Hanwu was his grandfather, not his nanny.

If he always hid behind the protection of his grandfather's wings, he would stay a young bird that never learned to fly.

Gao Peng let out a long sigh, thought for a while, and then started to dial a number.

"Old Huang, where are you? Xiaoyanshan? Okay. Go to the North Road exit and wait for me there."

After he hung up the phone, Gao Peng squinted his eyes and looked towards the mountains.

So far, he hadn't heard of anyone possessing an Emperor-tier familiar. If the Golden Hands had an Emperor-tier familiar, they probably wouldn't have had to hide like they were.

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Chapter 270: Footprints

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng squinted his eyes, jumped down from the rooftop of the first floor, wiped the dust off of his clothes, and called his nearby familiars. "Dumby, Stripey, Flamy, Goldie! Come here."

Flamy was needed when Gao Peng had to travel a long distance. Dumby was the strongest familiar on Gao Peng's team. Stripey acted as a mount when traveling and a tank during battles. Goldie was somewhat limited in its abilities, but as long as it tried its best, it could also do very well.

As for Da Zi….

It saw Gao Peng leaving with the other familiars. Only it and Silly had been left behind.

Da Zi protested and kept rolling around in front of Gao Peng like a spoiled child. "Not fair! Not fair!"

Gao Peng knelt down and held down the restless Da Zi. "Are you as strong as Dumby?"

Da Zi was momentarily stunned, then it silently shook its head.

"Can you fly as fast as Flamy?" Da Zi shook its head again.

"Can you withstand beatings like Stripey?" Da Zi was about to cry.

"I'll take you along on the condition that you defeat Goldie."

Da Zi glanced at Goldie, who was about to evolve to a Muscular Adamantine Duck. Da Zi dropped its head sorrowfully.

Gao Peng sighed, tried to calm Da Zi down, and said, "This is why you must remain at home and train further…"

Looking at Da Zi's back, Gao Peng murmured, "That was really too close."

Half an hour later, Gao Peng arrived at the North Road exit of Yuzhou City.

The exit led to the outskirts of Yuzhou City. It was a straight road that led to the mountains. However, the road was collapsed ten feet in. If one were to try to drive through it, they would fall into a bottomless gorge.

The gorge was dozens of feet wide, and several thick trunks were placed on the broken part of the road to serve as a suspension bridge. There were still a small number of people who walked through this road. Most of them were leaving for the mountains, and they usually came from the smaller roads that connected to the North Road.

Looking down on it from above, it looked like a tree that had been chopped off at the trunk and fallen to the ground. Countless branches extended from the broken body of the tree in all directions, connecting the millions of mountains together.

Outside the North Road exit stood a huge monster quietly, attracting the attention of all the travelers there.

Its huge scale dominated the scene. All of the other familiars who passed by the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider would slow down and shiver in fear.

"Lucky guy, this must be a Lord-tier familiar," said a soldier on the barrier who worked for the military in front of the North Road in amazement. He was stationed there every day, so he had seen his fair share of familiars. It wasn't even the first time he had seen a Lord-tier familiar.

However, no matter how many times he saw a Lord-tier familiar, he would still always be extremely envious.

Although the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider wasn't releasing its Lord-tier aura, its huge size and the terrifying atmosphere it created were more than enough for the soldier to come to the conclusion that it was a Lord-tier familiar.

Although not all Lord-tier familiars were large, large familiars were usually Lord-tier familiars. This was because when a monster's body was large, it would inevitably contain an extremely terrifying power. Their huge bodies were like big killing machines!

Sitting on the back of the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider, Huang Ya saw Gao Peng coming out from the exit of the North Road. He stood up and said, "Master Gao, you arrived."

The Horrifying Murderous Female Spider spit a large number of spiderwebs onto the floor. The spiderweb solidified, forming a slide leading from the mouth of the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider to the ground.

Huang Ya jumped onto the spiderweb and slid down.

When Huang Ya landed, the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider closed its mouth and immediately, the spiderweb was sucked back into its mouth like a bunch of noodles.

"Let's go look for a friend." Gao Peng sat on Stripey, and Huang Ya also returned to the back of the female spider before both of them rushed into the forest. One was riding on a big spider, and the other on a smaller spider.

"Is the small spider the son of the big spider?"

"I'm guessing so."

"But one is silver, while the other one is black."

"Do you know anything about how genetics work?"

There were sounds of discussions behind them.

Gao Peng's facial expression was unchanged.

The mountain road was very steep. Fortunately, they were riding on spiders. It was convenient for spiders to move around the mountains, as the spiders' slender legs could easily pass through the trees. The mountainous terrain didn't affect the speed of the female spider.

On the contrary, Stripey's relatively smaller size meant he had to move slower on the same terrain.

They passed through a river, the sounds of the stream sounding closer to them. The winding stream passed through the mountain, and the surrounding scenery changed rapidly. This stream looks familiar… Before Gao Peng could think further, a Giant Leech suddenly appeared from the bottom!

The dark body of the Giant Leech was translucent in the water, but the part exposed to the air was pure black. The silvery leg of a spider swung through the air, like a knife slashing through it.

The Giant Leech was instantly cut into two pieces and fell into the water.

Then Gao Peng remembered. He had passed by this stream before. A type of strange leech monster that could turn invisible when they were in water inhabited this stream.

It seemed that the act of Horrifying Murderous Female Spider had severely shocked the other Giant Leeches. They all felt intimidated, and thus, the rest of the Giant Leech monsters hid in the stream and looked on as Gao Peng and his team left.

It was only after Gao Peng had traveled a great distance that they floated up from the bottom of the water, gulping for breath.

After moving forward for two hours, Gao Peng stopped.

"This is the area where that Mountain Spirit lives."

The area was deep in the mountains, where the forest's vegetation was dense and thick. Stout trees were pulled up from the depths of the earth. The dense canopy covered the clouds above, forming large shadows on the ground.

Gao Peng found a high ground to survey the area. He was certain that the Mountain Spirit could be easily found, because the Mountain Spirit's characteristics and its huge size were extremely recognizable.

Nevertheless, after numerous thorough searches, he still couldn't find the Mountain Spirit. He only found traces of footprints left behind by it.

Strips of soil were dug out of the ground, and some of the roots that were set in the soil were exposed.

There had been heavy rain the evening before. The holes left by the Mountain Spirit were still full of rainwater. A few dead leaves were swirling, floating quietly above the surface of the rainwater.

Gao Peng frowned. Then suddenly, without any reason, he thought of the Golden Hands.

The Mountain Spirits are relatively lazy, and by right, they wouldn't move without valid reason.

Recently, the Golden Hands just happened to come to this forest. Is there any correlation between these two facts?

"We need to catch them," Gao Peng said. He paused and said to Flamy, "Flamy, I want you to fly into the sky. Alert us if you find any traces of Mountain Spirits or human activities."

"Old Huang, we should take the narrow road and not walk out in the open."

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Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 271 - Discovery online for free - AllNovelFull

A narrow path…

Old Huang glanced at the female spider beneath him. Just what kind of narrow path are we passing through?

Although the female spider was big in size, its actual height didn't even reach 30 feet. It was only around 25 feet tall.

On a plain, this height might've been considered high, but inside a dense indigenous forest like this, it was no longer considered tall. Trees towering over dozens of feet were everywhere.

If one didn't observe carefully, it would be impossible to discover the female spider walking through the forest.

After ten minutes, Gao Peng heard the sound of Flamy.

"Gao Peng, I saw them. So many, so many…"

"So many what?"

"So many mountains!"

Gao Peng was speechless. *What's so rare about mountains? We're already walking on a mountain, and we're surrounded by them!"

In a place like Yuzhou, seeing no mountains was a rare thing.

"No, it's many, many Mountain Spirits!"

Gao Peng's heart tightened. If there were many Mountain Spirits in front of them, then it was highly likely that people from the Golden Hands were already nearby.

"Flamy, don't expose the fact that you're a familiar. Immediately, right now, act as if you're a monster in the wild that sensed a lot of Mountain Spirits in front of you, so you panicked and fell from the sky."

Flamy was stunned for a while, then it looked towards the group of Mountain Spirits that weren't far ahead. Both of its wings flapped downward twice, and with eyes filled with panic and fear, it tried to fly backward.

Then, like a kite with a broken string, it fell twisting and turning from the sky.

"Is that one-horned bird a familiar? Normal monsters would definitely not dare to come closer after sensing so many Lord-tier monsters around here, but it flew so close." A group of people stood on top of a mountain peak not far away.

"Maybe it's just dumb." A teenage girl with hair the color of red wine glanced at Flamy. "Don't you guys think that the pose it took when it fell looked like its brain hadn't developed fully?"

"You're right. Only a monster whose brain didn't fully develop would continue to come closer after detecting the aura of so many Lord-tier monsters." A blonde young man nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Naturally, Flamy wasn't aware that, unintentionally, it had already been recognized as an idiot by the group of people.

The people from the Golden Hands gazed towards the Mountain Spirits gathered together beneath their feet, feeling something hot flowing within their hearts.

The leader of the pack mumbled to himself enthusiastically, "Almost, almost."

A deep pit lay beneath their feet. Surrounding the pit were humongous mountains reaching to the sky.

It evoked the feeling of loneliness and helplessness that came from being surrounded by thousands of mountains for ten thousand rens. The terrain of the valley was steep, and in the deepest region, there was a crater that looked like the mouth of a gourd.

Countless Mountain Spirits gathered and squeezed together, like dumplings in a hot pot.

Boiling white mist covered the mountains and flowed quickly. Through it, the tops of the Mountain Spirits could vaguely be seen appearing.

The sound of movement came from afar. If one were to look down from the sky, one would see smoke rolling, wild and sandy fog permeating everywhere, and tree after tree being broken and sucked into the valley. Even more, one would see Mountain Spirits rushing toward them after!

It was as if something was driving the spirits crazy.

In the mountains, Gao Peng heard the sound produced by the movement of Mountain Spirits from afar. He frowned and looked forward. "Indeed, the Golden Hands have a method to attract the Mountain Spirits. If they use this in the city of Yuzhou…" Gao Peng suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air. He didn't even dare to imagine it.

The Mountain Spirits squeezed together like they were going insane. However, due to the denseness of the white mist, one couldn't clearly see the details of what was happening. They could only vaguely sense the intensity of it.

Growl!! Suddenly, a Mountain Spirit let out a booming sound. The sound lasted very long, like the sound of a horn, and it reverberated in the air of the forest.

Rumble. The ground shook violently. A Mountain Spirit slowly climbed higher, red-colored lava-like liquid appearing from the dark cracks of its body.

From the foot of the mountain, an odd gray-colored insect the size of a person's palm extended its wings and slowly flew to the peak of the mountain, then landed on the back of the blonde man.

The surface of the blonde man's shirt suddenly tore open, and two golden lights that looked like wheels tore through his shirt on the back, exposing a giant golden beetle. The golden lights that looked like wheels were the wings of the golden beetle.

The golden beetle was deeply ingrained in the back of the blonde man, sharp claw after sharp claw punctured deep into his flesh. Its mouth pierced inside along the vertebra, as if it was a parasite feasting on the back of the blonde man.

The golden beetle opened its big mouth, and the weird gray insect that was the size of a palm was swallowed whole by it. Then its eyes scanned its surroundings before it gathered its wings and continued its slumber.

Another person behind him took out a black robe from his bag and placed it on the blonde man.

"Didn't think there was a group of tiny insects." The wavy-haired blonde man's face darkened. He turned his gaze towards Gao Peng.

"Was almost tricked by these tiny insects."

Roar! A giant beast that moved like an ape and was entirely blue with two wings on its back walked slowly to the front and stood on the edge. It ferociously bared its teeth while also showing arrogance, staring straight down.

After taking a deep breath, a dense ray of lightning slowly began to condense inside the mouth of this huge beast. Electric sparks flashed on the side of the thunderball, creating huge arcs in the air.

Boom!

There was a thunderous boom. Bright light and roaring thunder covered the sky.

Flamy, who had just found Gao Peng after hiding in the dense forest, suddenly felt a malicious aura from afar locked on itself.

*Oh no!

Flamy's feathers puffed out. Its feathers were like cotton, and its eyes stared straight toward the mountain peak. Through the dense branches and trees, it could vaguely see a blue light that couldn't be dodged bursting from the mountaintop!

"Ah!!!"

Every feather on Flamy's body burst out, disconnecting from the skin. Then, with the push of a red flame, they flew off of its body. Since the amount of feathers that fell off was too much, at that moment, Flamy looked as if it burst into a bloody light.

All of its feathers had left its body and flown out.

Multiple white feathers with tinges of red carrying a dim green light intertwined in the air. They layered against each other and turned into a thick shield.

The next moment—

Boom!

Violent flames tore through the space, lighting the leaves on fire. The trees and branches within 30 feet were instantly turned to dust by that powerful and violent force.

At almost the same moment as the explosion, a thunderous light came from the sky with the force of a thunderbolt. Through thunder and fire, the area was turned into hell.

Dumby sidestepped, instantly putting Gao Peng behind him, and he hugged Gao Peng as if his life depended on it.

The Horrifying Murderous Female Spider squealed and instinctively leaped backward to escape.

Huang Ya reacted quickly. "Elemental Shield!"

The Earth element inside the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider was extracted in high volume before condensing around his body to form an earthy yellow shield.

The aftermath of the attacks came, and the earthy yellow shield covering Huang Ya's body rippled, but in the end, it made it through and didn't break.

Goldie only started to react when the aftermath of the attacks came. It raised its head dumbly and was instantly blown into a tree. A purple light flashed by, and its body doubled in size.

Goldie stood up in a daze and saw a naked crane without feathers standing not too far away.

Eh? That crane sure looks familiar…

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Chapter 272: Wood Peacock

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Flamy was flustered and exasperated. It lowered its head only to see its feathers floating off, as well as its bare stomach.

My prettiest feathers!!! Flamy lamented in agony, almost spitting out blood in grief.

It hadn't seen itself so bare since it was young. It currently looked the same as a golden roasted duck fresh that was from the oven.

I've actually become as naked as Goldie!

Flamy knelt down as it repeatedly punched the ground with its wings.

One of the main reasons it didn't like to use its fire feather skill was because if the rate of use was fast enough, it would become bald for a short period.

The situation had been dire just now, so it hadn't thought too much and had directly released all the feathers on its body.

Goldie ran over. Flamy turned its head to the other side, ashamed and resentful. This damned bald duck… It is here to mock me?

Goldie rushed over and looked curiously at Flamy, then took off the small yellow jacket it was wearing and handed it over to Flamy. "Here! Don't catch a cold."

Flamy suddenly trembled and looked at Goldie in disbelief.

After a minute of standing there stunned, its face suddenly flushed red as it glared at Goldie. "Hmph, I don't need your help!"

As it finished speaking, it waved its wings before expanding them to prepare to fly away.

However, in that instant, it had forgotten that it had no feathers on its body, and it didn't like flying by only relying on its meaty wings. It flopped in the air and dropped violently, crashing into Goldie.

Goldie rolled on the ground twice, and a purple light flashed…

"Since you've seen it, just stay here permanently. You have only yourselves to blame for seeing something that you shouldn't have seen," a voice said from behind a tree. "In your next life, remember—see less, listen more!"

Jia Ru noticed that pure long-range attacks seemed unable to threaten this group, so he quickly and quietly descended the mountain while Goldie and Flamy were arguing.

A giant blue beast leapt through the forest with great speed like an agile ape. Its left arm hung on a thick and strong branch, and the strong inertia allowed it to fly away with a whistling sound. Then its right arm accurately grabbed onto the thick and strong branch of another tree over a hundred yards below it.

The branch sunk violently and suddenly as the leaves rustled.

The forest shook violently, and a ray of lightning burst out, piercing through dense leaves and landing on Goldie's back.

The dense runes on Goldie's skin shone and let off a chilly light. The power of the lightning was halved instantaneously. Goldie, who had just stood up, staggered. It was sent flying horizontally into the air before crashing into a tree.

Another purple light flashed…

Although Goldie's back looked black, as if it had been roasted, its injury wasn't serious, only a flesh wound.

Assuming by himself that he had eliminated one of his enemies, Jia Ru didn't think that a duck that wasn't even at the Commander-tier would be able to withstand such an attack.

"How unexpected. There are actually two more Lord-tier familiars. Looks like you aren't pushovers." Jia Ru noticed the existence of Dumby and the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider, but he still wasn't nervous at all.

It was as if these two weren't Lord-tier familiars, but two Commander-tier familiars.

He snapped his fingers.

A dark shadow descended from the sky, and a strong and pressuring Lord-tier aura covered the area. The dark green Lord-tier aura was overwhelming, and it dyed the entire space green.

"Gugugu…"

Boom!

A humongous beast landed in the middle of the scene, sending smoke and dust into the air.

Strong tremors and noises shook the air. Immediately after that, like a giant formless hand slapping the ground, it quickly landed on the ground.

Finally, the full picture of the huge, ferocious beast appeared.

The huge beast stood proudly with its chest puffed out in the middle of the empty space. Its dark green body sparkled under the sunlight. The tips of its dark green feathers had connecting gold flower patterns, like strands upon strands of golden threads were embedded on a large piece of emerald.

A small dark green sapling on its head danced along with the wind while a tall banyan tree dragged behind it.

It waved its tail lightly, and in the next moment, it suddenly expanded!

The banyan tree like tail that dragged behind its body suddenly shot straight up. Roots crisscrossed against each other horizontally while its branches and leaves expanded. The dense tree covering completely blocked the sunlight coming through the trees in the forest!

The dark green Lord-tier aura took the form of a round tree, while faint green light seeped into the earth beneath their feet.

[Monster Name: Wood Peacock

[Monster Level: Level 44

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Monster Attribute: Wood

[Monster Skills: Level three Plant Manipulation; Level two Quick Recovery

[Special Characteristic: Live Tree (Effect One—Passive Effect: Increases the host's manipulation on plant type monsters by one.

Effect Two—Active Effect: Fully activates the recovery effect of the live tree. Can create a life domain within a certain range. All life forms recognized by the Wood Peacock within range will obtain a recovery effect equivalent to one-third of the Wood Peacock.

Effect Three—Active Effect: Fully activates the life force of all wood types. All large plants will receive life activation within a certain range; however, within a certain time frame after use, effect two will be unusable.)

This was a Lord-tier familiar at the Perfect grade! Moreover, it was a healing and support type.

Gao Peng couldn't help but turn serious. Now this is going to be troublesome.

Looking at the attributes of the Wood Peacock, one might guess that it was probably promoted to the Lord-tier when it was an Epic-grade Commander-tier, and now, its lowered grade still hadn't recovered yet.

Although for Gao Peng, recovering grades was easy, since, after all, he could directly see the materials required. However, for other people, it was a rather difficult task.

Two Lord-tier familiars, this was what emboldened Jia Ru!

One Lord-tier familiar was enough for a person to conquer an area and become a small overlord, so, two Lord-tier familiars were even more frightening.

"To allow you to repent for the sins you've committed in front of the almighty Saint Luotian after you die, I feel I have to let you know exactly who the Saint Luotian you're about to meet is."

Jia Ru shook his black robe, clearly thinking that victory was within his grasp.

In a situation where he was guaranteed victory, he didn't mind showing off his classy demeanor, especially in front of two Lord-tier familiars.

This sort of feeling was really…

Jia Ru was completely engrossed with himself.

No wonder so many people liked to show off their classy demeanors in front of losers. It turned out that this feeling was rather satisfying.

"Remember, the person sending you to repent in front of Saint Luotian is the greatest bishop in the Golden Hands Order, the Forest of Life, Bishop Jia Ru!" Jia Ru spread his hands with great fervor.

Gao Peng paused.

Huang Ya did the same.

Do all fanatics act like eighth-graders?

Who would bullsh*t so much before a fight…?

Is he crazy?!

"Pooh!" When enemies went face to face against each other, their eyes were exceptionally red. Flamy became furious as it saw the Winged Thunder Monkey, so it opened its mouth and spat out a flaming red ball of fire!

The scorching heat condensed and transformed into a ball of red flames that flew crashing towards the Winged Thunder Monkey.

As if once wasn't enough to satiate its anger, Flamy continuously spat several times in a row!

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Chapter 273: A Fierce Battle (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Balls of fire sailed across the air towards Jia Ru, interrupting him before he could finish his monologue.

The Winged Thunder Ape roared, its loglike arms now crackling with electricity.

It reached for the incoming balls of fire and simply popped them like balloons as soon as they came into contact with the electrical barrier around its arms.

Wisps of flames hissed through its fingers harmlessly. The WInged Thunder Ape threw a condescending look at Flamy. Weakling, it thought.

"Attack!" shouted Gao Peng and Huang Ya in unison.

Dumby and the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider rushed forward at the same time, their massive bodies whipping up a powerful gust of wind behind them.

A powerful aura exploded from the spider. At that moment, the wail of the wind around it sounded like the cries of restless spirits trying to claw their way out of the pits of hell.

The Winged Thunder Ape let out another roar. The ground beneath its feet cracked as it sprang out, driving an electric fist towards the spider's head. If the spider had taken such a hit from the Winged Thunder Ape, it would probably have been killed on the spot.

As both of them were on the same level, either one of them could have landed a fatal blow on the other's weak spot.

The Horrifying Murderous Female Spider lowered its head instinctively and swiped at its opponent with its deadly claws.

The Winged Thunder Ape twisted its body away and slammed both its arms into the ground, stopping itself before it ran itself into the spider's claws.

Its fur stirred in the wind that the spider had whipped up. It glared at the spider, its yellow eyes filled with deep hatred.

Dumby's Heart of the Bloodseeker was now beating wildly against its chest as the Winged Thunder Ape rushed towards the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider. The blood-red heart shrank and swelled rhythmically, pulsating.

Its heart was beating so loudly that everything around it was vibrating at the same frequency. It now seemed to be resonating deeply with the souls of everyone listening to it.

Boom!

Dumby had transformed.

At that moment, the Wood Peacock took a step to the left and let its thick canopy hang low to the ground. Vines rolled out of it, barring Dumby's path.

However, Dumby was able to tear through the vines without much difficulty.

It was about to reach its mark when it began slowing down…

No matter how easily Dumby was able to rip through them, the tree's vines were still able to slow Dumby's speed.

Suddenly, there was a sharp cry from overhead. Dumby immediately stopped in its tracks. A huge brown tree fell from the skies and landed in front of it, its gnarled bark reminiscent of dragon scales.

If Dumby's reaction time had been a few seconds slower, it would have been crushed beneath the tree.

The white flames in Dumby's sockets burned fiercely when it saw the 15-foot-wide crater created by the tree's landing.

It slowly reached behind itself with its right hand.

With a low moan, it pulled out its tail bone, which looked like a long, ivory sword, and held it in its hand. A crimson thread was bound around the bone, straightening it as much as possible.

Dumby sprang forward, slashing through the endless vines before it. When it finally came out on the other side of the vines, Jia Ru was nowhere to be found.

"Above you," said Gao Peng through his blood contract. He could see a human shape perched atop the Wood Peacock's canopy.

Dumby looked up at the monster's thick canopy.

As the canopy was a part of the Wood Peacock's tail, it had both animalistic and plantlike properties. Dealing with it wouldn't be an easy task.

There was a sudden movement in the bushes beside Gao Peng. Before he had time to react, branches came out of it and entwined around his ankle.

Gao Peng instinctively lifted his other foot and stamped on the branches.

So it can manipulate all plant life around it, he thought, frowning.

This was bad. They were now in the middle of a forest, where all the trees around them could turn on them at the Wood Peacock's whim.

Things would be a lot of easier if we were in a desert…

Desert?

"Flamy, burn the trees down!" ordered Gao Peng.

Environmental protection was a thing of the past. Ever since the Cataclysm, the trees had grown hardier. Even if they were all burned down, they would grow back in a matter of weeks, as if nothing had happened during that time.

Flamy took a few steps back and spewed fire at the surrounding plant life.

The undergrowth seemed to be somewhat resistant to fire. However, thanks to the levels it had gained, Flamy's firepower had also received a huge boost. Burning the forest to the ground wouldn't be a problem for it.

Jia Ru immediately knew what Gao Peng was trying to do. "Oh, you poor, naive child, do you really think that's going to work? Wood Peacock, send in the burning trees to attack both of them."

In the next instant, Huang Ya saw a tree brandish one of its burning branches at him.

His face flushed as a gust of hot wind hit him.

Bam!

Huang Ya was sent flying in the opposite direction by the tree's branch. There was a flash of yellow light as he conjured a barrier over his body just in time to soften the blow.

The yellow barrier had shielded him from the flames, yet he could still feel the branch slamming heavily into him.

Another tree brandished its branches at Huang Ya, who immediately ran away from it.

Dumby and the Wood Peacock entered a stalemate. Even though the Wood Peacock was weaker than Dumby, it had a complex attack pattern and a high regeneration rate. The vines that were torn down by Dumby grew back almost instantly.

On the other side of the forest, the flashes of lightning and sound of thunder intensified as the the Winged Thunder Ape backed the Horrifying Murderous Female Spider into a corner with its attacks.

"Fight's over," said Jia Ru with a smirk.

He had managed to restrain his opponents' strongest familiars all by himself.

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Chapter 274: A Fierce Battle (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Jia Ru had to admit that he had underestimated the two Lord-tier familiars.

While the Wood Peacock wasn't particularly suited for close-range combat, it had won battles in the past by wearing its opponents down with its high regenerative ability and never-ending vines. Unless it was matched against an opponent that heavily countered its Wood element, the Wood Peacock would rarely be put at a disadvantage in any battle.

However, right then, it was being backed into a corner by the skeletal-looking monster. It would seem that the latter was a much more powerful Lord-tier monster than the Wood Peacock.

"I remember now. You're that young referee from the World Youth Trainer Championships," said Jia Ru, recognizing Gao Peng. He was also aware of Gao Peng's identity as heir to the Southern Sky Group.

"Haha, such a shame, to lose a genius like you in a place like this," Jia Ru continued. He let out a mirthless laugh. "Kill them all. Leave none of them alive."

An unseen force suddenly kicked the grime and dirt on the ground up into the air, forming a freak sandstorm in the middle of the forest.

There were other ways of putting out a fire besides aiming a hose at it. A sandstorm was one of them.

As the sandstorm began to rage around him, Gao Peng suddenly heard footsteps behind them. Three figures were ambling towards them from behind, effectively blocking their escape route.

Gao Peng turned around. Standing on his left was a freckle-faced girl in a black robe with flaming red hair. In the middle stood a six-foot-tall man whose body rippled with muscles, and beside him stood a gangly blonde-haired man with a serene look on his face.

Eight familiars were standing at the ready behind them.

Huang Ya scowled at the sight of the newcomers. "Young master, it's a good thing we're not too far away from Yuzhou City. Through our blood contract, I've ordered my Red Blood War Horse to tell Chairman Ji what's going on here. Chairman Ji will send reinforcements to our location, and these fools won't even know what hit them."

Gao Peng slowly nodded.

Then Huang Ya said through gritted teeth, "Young master, as soon as you see an opportunity, make a break for it. Don't worry about me. Just make sure that you leave these jokers' heads on my grave. That way, I'll have some company in hell."

Gao Peng squeezed his eyes shut.

Stripey.

Stripey, who had remained underground all this time, crawled out of the earth before its master. "Gao Peng, I did some recon just now. The right side is clear. We can make our escape there!"

Suddenly, one of the enemy familiars fired a jet of water at Flamy, striking it down from the air.

Flamy clambered to its feet. Dirt and dried leaves were stuck to its feathers uncomfortably. It gazed at the enemy side and saw its assailant: a blue-scaled crocodile whose mouth was still bubbling with water elemental energy.

Flamy shuddered as memories of its deceased mother came rushing back to it at the sight of the crocodile.

The sight of hundreds of crocodile teeth tearing everything it had ever held dear into pieces on the day of the Cataclysm was still fresh in its mind.

There was a flash of anger in Flamy's eyes.

The Red Blood War Horse was calmly grazing on a wide field. Suddenly, a troubled look appeared on its face. Then it began to panic.

It let out a sharp neigh, which echoed across the field.

In the next instant, it transformed into a ball of fire and hurtled at top speed towards the Southern Sky Group's headquarters.

"Chairman Ji, we've already hammered out the details concerning Xiangxi's development with the local government. We just need—"

"Hey, what's the big idea? Someone stop that horse!" There were sounds of shouting and glass breaking outside the meeting room.

Xu Heti walked out of the room, his Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo following close behind.

A sudden sense of unease crept up on Ji Hanwu.

A moment later, Xu Heti reentered the room and said, "Chairman Ji, it's Huang Ya's Red Blood War Horse."

While most people in the Southern Sky Group weren't aware of Huang Ya's existence at all, as Ji Hanwu's personal aide, Xu Heti had come into contact with Huang Ya and his Red Blood War Horse multiple times.

Why has it come here? thought Ji Hanwu.

"Meeting adjourned," he announced. Then he walked out of the meeting room and saw the Red Blood War Horse lying on the ground and letting out a low moan.

Ji Hanwu's heart skipped a beat. "Has something happened to Huang Ya?"

He wasn't sure if the Red Blood War Horse had understood him, as it continued moaning and swaying its head heavily from side to side.

Ji Hanwu took out his phone and tried to call Gao Peng. However, the mechanical voice in his phone simply stated that Gao Peng was currently out of signal.

Ji Hanwu was now growing even more uneasy…

At that moment, Gao Peng was completely surrounded by the enemy's eight familiars.

Most of the fire in the forest had been put out. Only a curious-looking ball of fire was left flickering in the wind among the dried leaves.

Goldie, who had been lying unconscious on the ground, suddenly woke up with a start.

It was so warm just now, like a hot spring. Where did the hot spring go? thought Goldie.

It groggily got up and noticed that the sky had gone dark. "Quack?"

"What the hell is that?" said one of Gao Peng's assailants. They hadn't noticed the featherless 20-foot-tall duck lying on the ground amid the fire and swirling ash.

"Goldie, they're laughing at how ridiculous you look without your feathers," Gao Peng said to the duck through his blood contract.

Goldie, who was still looking absently at its surroundings, suddenly froze up and shot an incredulous look at Gao Peng, as if to convey that they were taking the joke too far. However, Gao Peng looked straight back at it, as if to say that he had no reason to joke about this.

"Quack?!" Goldie glared at the three trainers surrounding Gao Peng. It was now livid.

How dare you laugh at me!

Goldie rushed towards the crowd like a bull who had seen red. The golden lion that was closest to the duck let out a roar and rushed at it.

Goldie swung a muscular wing at the lion and sent it flying away as if it didn't weigh anything. Next came the blue-scaled crocodile, ready to sink its teeth into Goldie's right leg.

Bam!

Goldie kicked it in its snout, sending it flying through the air as well.

"Don't rush at it head-on," shouted the skinny blonde-haired young man. "We just need to restrain it!"

They had dealt with brutish monsters like Goldie before and knew all too well that one of the most effective ways to handle it was by impeding its movements.

A Tiger-striped Giant Carnivorous Spider stepped forth and spewed huge amounts of spider silk at Goldie, until it was encased in a tight cocoon. Some of its silk was stuck fast to the surrounding trees, forming a huge spider web around Goldie.

Goldie tried to take a step forward. However, the spider web tightened and pulled the duck back.

It would need to have the strength to uproot the trees around it in order to break free from the spiderweb.

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Chapter 275: The Mountain Spirit King

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Let's just get this over with," said the burly man in the middle.

The red-haired girl nodded, and a translucent mantis stepped forth from behind her. It was almost as tall as a human being and seemed to be made of a glass-like material.

[Monster Name: Glass Mantis

[Monster Level: Level 28

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Light

[Monster Ability: Light-bending Camouflage Level 1

[Monster Weakness: 1. Dark-type attacks 2. Dirty water 3. Despite being a formidable Assassin-type creature, it's quite susceptible to extreme pressure.

The Glass Mantis' form rippled under the sun, before it turned completely transparent on the spot. The only hint of its existence was an iridescent blur in the air.

Gao Peng instinctively took a step to the side, placing himself in front of Huang Ya.

Bam!

Gao Peng was sent flying in the opposite direction by the Glass Mantis.

Goldie's body suddenly gleamed with a flash of purple light… It began to panic when it saw Gao Peng being attacked by the mantis.

"Quack, quack, quack!"

Its muscles began to bulge, its veins now as thick as water pipes. When it took a step forward, the ground gave way beneath its foot.

The trees around Goldie were all slanting towards it as it strained against the spider web. However, no matter how hard Goldie pulled against it, the white spider web was still stuck fast to the duck.

At that moment, Goldie looked like a rickshaw puller driving an extremely heavy passenger as it arduously placed one foot after another towards Gao Peng.

The ground began to crack beneath Goldie. The trees creaked dangerously around it.

The duck was now growing angrier. A purple light strobed across the surface of its body as it began sinking into the earth with each step.

Gao Peng has given all this to me. I can't let him down now! it thought.

It was now gaining more and more muscle mass with each passing minute…

Realizing what was going on with the strange-looking duck, Jia Ru barked at the others, "Don't attack the duck and its master. We can deal with them later. Just focus your attacks on his other familiars."

Jia Ru refused to believe that the duck's ability didn't have any drawbacks. It must have some sort of weakness. Maybe it has a time limit, he thought.

There was a ripping sound from the spider web, which was starting to give way.

Goldie sank even deeper into the ground, sending huge slabs of earth flying into the air. The trees finally snapped and fell to the ground.

The duck let out an enraged roar and rushed at its enemies.

At its current size, it could now cover at least 16 feet with each step. It was able to reach the Glass Mantis in a few long strides.

The duck then drove a huge fist towards it, and the Glass Mantis shattered into a million pieces upon impact.

The red-haired girl went pale and almost collapsed to the ground as her knees wobbled dangerously beneath her.

Goldie slowly pulled its massive wing out of the ground and straightened itself before its enemies.

Bits of glass fragments and viscous fluid fell from its wing.

It swiveled around to face the red-haired girl and her two other companions, its face completely devoid of feeling.

To these people, the duck had become a monster in the truest sense of the word. Their hearts were now thumping hard against their chests. Can we even beat this monster?

Gao Peng massaged his stomach. While his familiars could absorb any damage he received, he had still had to endure the pain of being struck in the stomach.

These people had been under the impression that Dumby and the female spider were his trump cards, when in fact, it had been Goldie this whole time.

Gao Peng had ordered Flamy to spray out flames seemingly at random in order to hide the fact that he was trying to trigger Goldie's passive ability.

The earth beneath them trembled. The resounding booms in the distance seemed to be moving closer.

Jia Ru frowned.

He wasn't going to let anyone ruin his plans. If everything went as planned, they would be able to give birth to a powerful Mountain Spirit King, the true ruler of the mountains!

They had reached the most critical moment of its evolution process. All the monsters in the forest were now at their most sensitive. Every Mountain Spirit in the area had descended into a frenzy.

Right now, the Mountain Spirits were only driven by instinct. They must have been drawn to the commotion the fight had stirred up.

"I didn't expect these two to be this strong." Jia Ru's brows furrowed even more as he gazed down at the others. He had thought that they would be able to subdue both Gao Peng and Huang Ya with eight familiars, since Gao Peng only had one Lord-tier familiar with him. They should have been able to handle his other Commander-tier familiars with ease.

Jia Ru shouted at the others, "Delay them. Once the Mountain Spirit King's evolution is complete, these people will be buried here alongside their familiars!"

Ji Hanwu was now certain that his grandson was in trouble. However, he still didn't know where Gao Peng was at that moment.

While a blood contract could allow a trainer to communicate with their familiar telepathically within a certain range, neither party could sense where the other was through this psychic connection.

Ji Hanwu hurriedly made a few calls and soon learned that Gao Peng had left the city via the northern exit. Without any further delay, he left Yuzhou City on his White Dragon.

Seconds turned into minutes as the other seven familiars gazed at Goldie warily from a safe distance.

Gao Peng didn't dare send Goldie away to help Dumby out, as Stripey alone wouldn't be enough to stave off all seven familiars. While he might have been able to survive their onslaught, the same couldn't be said for Huang Ya.

Gao Peng wasn't too concerned about their attempt to hold him off, as his grandfather was definitely on his way to his location with reinforcements. He would be able to turn the tables against his aggressors as soon as Ji Hanwu was there.

For some reason, the air had become extremely hot. Gao Peng looked to the east and saw a lava-like fluid bleeding out of a blackened mountain in the distance. Everything it touched melted away instantly.

There was a huge gaping hole at the base of the Mountain Spirit King. Smoke was billowing out of it.

[Monster Name: Mountain Spirit King (in the middle of an evolution)

[Monster Level: Level 50.5 (?)

[Monster Attribute: Earth

[Monster Grade: Epic (Perfect?)

[Description: A herd of Mountain Spirits has gathered around one of its own in an attempt to stimulate its evolution.

"Haha! The Mountain Spirit King's evolution cannot be stopped at this point! Rejoice, you lowly beings, for you are about to witness the birth of the most powerful Mountain Spirit King in the world! We will officially begin our plans for world domination once its evolution process is complete. I'll let your precious Yuzhou City be the first to taste my wrath!" said Jia Ru gleefully.

The black Mountain Spirit King was extraordinarily massive.

An ordinary Mountain Spirit usually stood at a few thousand feet tall. However, the evolving Mountain Spirit King was now at least 3,000 feet tall.

"Mountain Spirit King, I order you to capture these two!" shouted Jia Ru at the Mountain Spirit.

The black mountain trembled.

In the next instant, three huge black walls rose up around Gao Peng and Huang Ya. The walls gleamed with a curious black light and continued to rise up until they formed a roof above them.

The walls then extended towards the hole on the Mountain Spirit King's base.

The world around Gao Peng had gone dark. The only light he could see in the tunnel was from the red embers that the Mountain Spirit King was breathing out of its gaping mouth.

Gao Peng and Huang Ya felt as if they had been shoved inside a bottle, where the only way out was via the Mountain Spirit King's mouth.

Heat washed over them in waves from the Mountain Spirit King's mouth, which seemed to be rimmed with a red-hot tinge.

"No, what are you doing…" Jia Ru cried out in surprise. The Mountain Spirit King had also trapped him inside the tunnel.

The air inside was now heating up as the Mountain Spirit King drew towards them.

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Chapter 276: End Of The Rope

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

With the sudden heat wave, the air was unbearably dry.

Gao Peng couldn't help but lick his lips.

The fighting also quieted down. Now that there was a common enemy, a ceasefire was only logical. Even so, they were still in an extremely precarious situation.

The mountain spirit wasn't done evolving, so there was no way to tell what kind of abilities it had.

However…

The puddles of water beneath his feet were evaporating at an alarming rate. Even the few lucky plants in the surrounding that had survived the inferno before were wilting quickly.

Stripey couldn't tear his gaze away from the cavern, which loomed closer and closer…

The acrid smell of sulphur permeated the air.

Stripey suddenly started fidgeting with anxiety.

The Winged Thunder Ape who had been silently observing from the side exploded in a blur of movement. Glowing with purple lightning, he delivered a mighty blow to the rock wall.

Boom…

Nothing happened.

A couple of large rocks were jarred loose and came tumbling down from above.

How hard was this thing? This was a Commander-tier familiar, for crying out loud! Would a Lord-tier familiar even be able to put a dent in it?

After seeing this, Gao Peng gave up on the idea of breaking through the wall.

The Mountain Spirit King wasn't a fool. There was no way it would let its prey tunnel out from under his nose. They couldn't break down the walls any faster than the Mountain Spirit King could create them.

As the cavern drew closer and closer, rock, stones and even dirt were swallowed whole by the Mountain Spirit King. As the cavern flared a blinding crimson, it rumbled for a bit before unleashing a scorching wave of heat.

Behind Gao Peng, Flamy was furiously pecking away at Goldie.

Goldie flashed with purple light at odd intervals, and his body kept growing and growing…

Because Flamy stood on two feet, it couldn't grow much even after being attacked.

Flamy unleashed a flurry of punches against the wall to no avail. Every time it seemed like it had made a breakthrough, it was still greeted by a dark wall of granite.

The cavern was almost upon them. The waves of heat felt like the Devil was fanning them himself.

The Wooden Peacock didn't feel so good. Its crown transformed into a giant tree and backed as far away from the heat as it could, but to no avail. The withering tree cut a sad sight that was exacerbated by the plaintive cries of the Wooden Peacock. It was barely recognizable as the magnificent figure it had been in combat before.

The Winged Thunder Ape continued unleashing a rain of frenzied blows at the wall. The closer the Mountain Spirit King drew, the faster his punches seemed to be.

Stripey closed his eyes and laid silently on the ground. His jet-black shell glowed faintly red in the light.

Huang Ya was terrified. Why wasn't Director Ji there yet…?

Any longer and Director Ji would be picking up their corpses… or their ashes.

"Young master Gao, let's go all the way to the back. We might stand a chance there." Huang Ya's teeth were chattering as he spoke.

Stripey looked up at Gao Peng and Huang Ya as if he was about to say something before lowering his head quietly.

At the very back of the cave, Jia Lu and her men were standing. Seeing the both of them come over, mischief glinted in some of the men's eyes, but Jia Lu held a hand up. "Keep your guard up."

Turning around, she spoke to Gao Peng in fluent Mandarin. "We need to work together. If we have our familiars attack the wall at the same time, we might have a chance."

In the face of death, Jia Lu chose the path of cooperation. There was no point in beating Gao Peng if they all ended up dead.

"What we need is time." Jia Lu's tone was grave.

"I know that, but how can we buy more time?" This whole mess was her fault to begin with, so she might have actually had a useful idea. However, she was still an enemy. They might have agreed on a truce, but the moment they resolved the situation, they would start fighting again.

"A sacrifice." Her voice brooked no argument.

"A sacrifice?" Gao Peng looked at her suspiciously. Was she trying to pull a fast one?

"Now that the Mountain Spirit King is evolving, it needs an insane amount of energy. That's why it's been after us this whole time. We're a damn feast for it!"

"Where are we going to find a sacrifice—" Gao Peng paused and eyed her warily.

"Relax. We can't afford to fight among ourselves right now." She said hurriedly.

"How about this? We'll take turns sending in our familiars as a sacrifice to buy us some time. How does that sound?"

"I refuse."

He would rather die than agree to those terms.

Jia Lu smiled. "As proof of my sincerity, let me go first." A familiar stood out from behind her and charged right into the cavern.

After consuming it, the Mountain Spirit King slowed down a little.

"I have proven myself." Jia Lu shot Gao Peng an intense look.

"I'm sorry. They're all my friends. I would never sell them out just so that I could live a little longer." Gao Peng turned his back on her.

Suddenly, a dark shadow slipped out from their midst and shot straight at the cavern like a bullet before anyone could react in time.

"Stripey, what are you doing?!" Gao Peng was furious once he identified the shadow.

"Gao peng, let me slow down this big chunk of rock… I'll be back in a sec."

Swallowed by the black mist, Stripey gradually disappeared into the inky darkness of the cavern.

The girl with wine-red hair snorted derisively. "You Huaxia people are really something else. Acting like you care so much when you were actually planning to sacrifice that crab all along."

Trembling slightly, he turned around to face her, his eyes bloodshot. "It wasn't a crab… It was a spider."

"I don't give a sh*t whether it's a crab or a spider…" Thud!

As quick as lightning, an enraged Gao Peng unleashed a vicious right hook on the girl.

The girl collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut with a loud wail. Her right cheek swelled to the size of an apple and mottled an ugly shade of purplish-black. Blood ran down her face in tiny rivulets.

"Another word out of your mouth and I will kill you." His voice was pure ice.

He turned towards the cavern entrance. It was still belching out clouds of thick smoke.

The only solace Gao Peng could find was the fact that Stripey was still alive. He could still feel Stripey's strong and steady heartbeat through their Blood Contract.

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Drawing in a deep breath, he made up his mind.

"Goldie, let's go!"

"Huh?" Goldie cocked his head and eyed Gao Peng. Silently, he plodded up the mountain behind Gao Peng.

Crackle—

The closer they got to the cavern, the drier the earth beneath their feet seemed to be. In fact, the earth was so dry in some parts that it was basically hardened clay.

Under these extreme conditions, a normal human being would have been roasted alive. However, any heat that Gao Peng felt was transferred to Goldie. He was unharmed, but unfortunately, it made Goldie feel twice as hot.

Rumble— The earth-splitting roar of a dragon reverberated through the rock wall and echoed in the confined space. The wall rumbled and let out a series of loud explosions.

A large section of the wall behind them crumbled. Rays of light could be seen filtering through the cracks.

Through the light, Gao Peng could vaguely see an enormous dragon claw with bands of black cloth wrapped tightly around it.

In a flash, the claws ripped through the rocks holding them captive as though they were paper.

"Stripey, come out." Through their Blood Contract, Gao Peng's voice was frantic.

Silence.

Then, a faint whisper. "So… painful…"

More silence.

As he made his way towards the dragon, he glanced at the depths of the cave. Jia Lu and her men were huddled there, eyeing Gao Peng and his party warily.

Gao Peng chuckled. Those people weren't making it out anytime soon. The White Dragon was exerting such an immense aura that even the rock wall between them couldn't mask what appeared to be the heat of the sun itself.

As Gao Peng felt his way out along the cracks, the White Dragon was waiting outside with his head held high, snow-white whiskers fluttering proudly in the wind. His golden eyes were locked on the Mountain Spirit King.

The Mountain Spirit King stopped moving. The magma flowing out of its body slowed to a trickle, a sure sign that it was on high alert around the White Dragon.

At the same time, a huge rumble could be heard from behind. Other mountain spirits were gathering around the Mountain Spirit King, forming a line of defense against the White Dragon.

There was no room for all of these mountain spirits. All the shifting and grinding between the enormous creatures resulted in thunderous booms periodically puncturing the stillness of air.

"Grandfather, there are still people from the Golden Hands inside. They're our enemies!" Gao Peng yelled.

It took Ji Hanwu quite a while to find Gao Peng. Luckily, the White Dragon was pretty fast.

Upon seeing so many mountain spirits gathered, Ji Hanwu did a double take. There were at least ten of them there, which was to say, there were at least ten Lord-tier Mountain Spirits in addition to the giant Mountain Spirit closest to him, which was basically a mountain range on its own.

The White Dragon peered into the blocked cave. So these were the members of the Golden Hands…

As quick as a flash, the White Dragon aimed its claws at the blockage and unleashed a furious blow.

Rumble!

This time, Gao Peng could clearly see just how the White Dragon smashed through the blockage obstructing the cave. His claws slashed through the wall of rock like a hot knife through butter and reached all the way into the depths of the cave. The wall of rock simply exploded, debris flying in every direction as a result.

The dragon's claw flashed with lightning, but resistance proved futile!

The earth shuddered violently, and blood slowly oozed from the White Dragon's claws…

Gao Peng was taken aback. Was it dead, just like that?

Even though he had already been expecting it, he was still shocked. Even though both he and Huang Ya had gone all out with their familiars, they had only been able to fight Jia Lu and her men to a draw.

In other words, if their places had been switched, his own familiar would have been just as squashed by those claws…

Was there really that big of a difference in their strength?

Maybe it was because he was used to having his familiars fight against higher-level monsters that he had slowly come to value only grade, not levels.

As long as one could improve his or her grade, one could beat monsters tens of levels higher, maybe even a whole tier above.

Monsters in this world grew stronger exponentially. The stronger they were, the bigger the difference in strength there was between an incredibly strong monster and a regular monster.

Whether it was the Mountain Spirit's King Rock Wall Trap or the White Dragon's Emperor Claw, the difference between Emperor-tier and Lord-tier monsters was as clear as day.

Gao Peng felt a tinge of regret looking at the carnage in front of him. This Wooden Peacock was actually an opponent whose strength he admired. It was too bad it already had an owner.

A Blood Contract was unbreakable by both master and familiar. It could only be broken upon the death of one or both parties. A Blood Contract bound their souls together, forming a bond that transcended comprehension, which is why it was nigh impossible to steal a familiar just by killing their master.

As the White Dragon slowly lifted its claws, there was nothing left but a puddle of blood. Gao Peng suddenly squinted.

[Monster Name: Wooden Peacock

[Monster Condition: Fatal Injury (Agony)

The blackish-red words flickered in and out of focus. From the rubble, a severely wounded Wooden Peacock dragged itself up painfully. Its tail feathers were broken and askew, green blood gushing from the wounds like a fountain.

"Ugh…"

A long plaintive cry echoed into the night from the caverns on the Mountain Spirit King. The magma flowing on the surface slowed to a trickle before hardening, even though the faint glow of the embers could still be seen.

The Mountain Spirit King gradually stopped moving. The light from the cavern at the foot of the mountain started dimming, and its vitality was slowly weakening, too…

[Monster Name: Mountain Spirit King (Evolving) (Weak)

[Monster Condition: About to hibernate forever… (Not enough energy)

The Mountain Spirit King's vitality grew weaker and weaker, as did Stripey's lifeforce!

Gao Peng couldn't breathe. All he could think about was the first time he had met Stripey. It had been a small, gray-striped spider snoozing idly on the ceiling, and Gao Peng had thrown a crumpled wad of paper at it out of boredom. It had been so startled that it fell unceremoniously from the ceiling.

In the dimming twilight, a lone spider trotted silently on the ground. It was probably only able to process simple emotions, like happiness, anger, or sadness.

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This was the first time Gao Peng had actually lost a familiar.

While it wasn't quite as painful as losing say, a family member, they had spent more than half a year together. What they'd had was real, and all he could think of now were memories of them together.

All of a sudden, Gao Peng had a thought. "Grandfather, can you send the White Dragon to go kill a couple of Mountain Spirits?"

"Kill them?" Ji Hanwu raised an eyebrow. There were quite a few of them there.

It wasn't that he couldn't; even before the White Dragon hit Emperor-tier, he had already been able to take down Mountain Spirits with ease. Now, it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel. It was just that with so many of them there, it was possible Gao Peng and the others could get caught up in the clash and hurt.

"Let's go." Knowing that they would only be in the way, Gao Peng motioned at Huang Ya to leave.

Before he left, he told his grandfather, "If you do kill the Mountain Spirits, please throw their hearts into the Mountain Spirit King." This was all he could do for Stripey. The rest was in God's hands. Then he strapped the dying Wooden Peacock and the corpse of the Winged Thunder Ape to the back of the Female Spider and left.

He didn't bring the rest of the Commander-tier corpses with him, because it would lower the effectiveness of what he was about to do.

The White Dragon unleashed a thick cloud of white fog on the Mountain Spirits that gradually engulfed them all. There was zero visibility.

A long shadow could be seen flickering in and out of the fog, each flicker accompanied by a crack of lightning. The sound of Mountain Spirits slowly crumbling into the ground followed.

The fog lingered for another 30 minutes or so before fully dissipating.

Some of the spirits tried escaping somewhat awkwardly, but it wasn't meant to be.

As chunks of them fell off amidst the slaughter, smaller mountains formed.

Sweeping over the remains of the Mountain Spirits with his razor sharp eyes, the White Dragon quickly picked eight nuggets of gold the size of ostrich eggs out from the rubble and threw them onto the slumbering Mountain Spirit King.

Strangely, the moment that the hearts of the Mountain Spirits landed on the Mountain Spirit King, the surface opened up where they landed, and they were swallowed into the depths of the Mountain Spirit King, who rumbled mildly before settling back down…

After a while, Gao Peng had to turn back for Stripey. He couldn't just leave like this. He told Huang Ya to head back to the Southern Sky Group ahead of him. He motioned for Dumby to stick close to him while they went back to check on Stripey one last time.

It was hard to let go, after all…

When he got back there, his grandfather had already left. All that was left was a mountain of black granite towering imposingly across the landscape. As he craned his neck to look at the peak, he noticed that most of the entrances to the cavern that had been there before were now sealed off. If it wasn't for the fact that he had incurred this mountain's wrath earlier, he would have thought it was a perfectly normal mountain.

Upon a closer look, Gao Peng was struck with a strange sensation. He could feel something growing within the mountain. It was barely existent, but he could feel a tiny yet crystal-clear pulse of energy crying out, alive.

Was it Stripey? He couldn't tell.

All he knew was that Stripey was alive…

But whether he was trapped within some part of the Mountain Spirit King or somewhere else, Gao Peng couldn't tell. Sighing, he turned to leave. His face darkened.

"If you die, I'll kill every last Mountain Spirit here to avenge you."

Back in Yuzhou, Gao Peng was still glum. He blamed himself for what had happened to Stripey. He had grown cocky and paid the price.

Then Gao Peng had a sudden realization.

Didn't he pride himself on keeping a low profile? He hadn't been himself lately when it came to that.

"Gao Peng, where's the big crab?" Back at the mansion, Da Zi wasn't used to not having Stripey around.

Gao Peng didn't know what to say, so he forced a smile as he gently stroked Da Zi's head.

Da Zi's antennae twitched in pleasure. It could tell that Gao Peng was unhappy, so it dropped the subject.

When Da Zi couldn't find Stripey around the next day, it stared wistfully in the distance as it rested before resuming its training.

The third day after Gao Peng had returned, it still saw no sign of Stripey. Sitting by itself on the swing, it was bored out of its mind.

"Gao Peng, will the crab be back?"

"Yes, it will."

"When is it coming back?"

"In a bit."

"Oh… But I miss him."

"Gao Peng, I promise not to steal his food anymore. Can you bring him back?"

Half a month came and went in the blink of an eye. Gao Peng was slowly returning to normal, even though he preferred to be alone way more than he had before. He would rarely do anything with others, instead spending all his time either training his familiars or brewing potions.

His familiars were training with startling intensity. Maybe it was the shock of losing Stripey, but Goldie was training even harder than the others. It had even cut its own rest time from eight hours to six hours a day.

Even though Stripey had been quiet and sometimes lazy by nature, it had gotten along very well with the other familiars. They were all good friends. Losing him may have galvanized the other familiars to work harder in honor of his memory.

He had thought that this might be just be a flash in the pan, but he was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was not.

On the outskirts of Yuzhou, a Monster Hunting Squad was on the prowl.

"Captain, a Commander-tier monster is approaching us from the northeast."

"Avoid it. Our mission this time is to capture the Golden Dire Wolf. Let's not cause any unnecessary trouble." The captain was a woman in her thirties, which was very rare, as there weren't many female captains. Even though they were more sensitive and had better observational skills than men, they were also more apt to let their judgment be clouded by emotion.

Avoiding the monster, they cut through a thick group of trees before they saw a majestic mountain of pure black rising up in front of them…

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Chapter 279: Awakening

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

As jet-black and barren as the moon itself, the mountain was enormous. Gleaming menacingly in the sun, there wasn't a single living being to be seen within a 300 yard radius. Every tree was as dead as ash.The branches wilted tiredly and the yellowing leaves would crumble at the slightest of touches.

It was a scene of desolation and death.

"Are we really going there?" a bald man in the team piped up. He could feel a strange coldness in the depths of his soul.

Anything could happen in these woods. One misstep and one could stumble into a hunter's trap.

"Do you want to pick a fight with that Commander-tier monster?" The eyes of the broad-shouldered female captain darted around alertly.

Taking in the vast swathe of dead plants in front of her, she noted that there were no signs of an unusual conflict. There were no corpses, no bones lying around.The biggest danger was having their life forces surreptitiously drained.

"We're going," said the captain slowly.

On their way, they held their breath as they brushed past the Commander-tier monster. As soon as they were a safe distance from the monster, they collectively exhaled in relief.

A monster who wandered around freely like this was either Lord-tier, or at the very least, a very high-level Commander-tier.

After the monster had left, someone in the team suggested rather abruptly, "Why don't we go see what's on top of the mountain?" His suggestion was greeted with curt silence. Nobody was keen on taking additional risks in this kind of place.

"This place is rather strange. It could be dangerous, too, but what if there's treasure to be found?"

Quite a few ears perked up at the sound of the word "treasure." Everyone knew the pitfalls of greed well, but not many people could withstand the lure of it.

In the end, half of the party set forth for the mountain in search of treasure.

This mountain was huge, but the layout was quite simple. Because the mountain was essentially a pile of huge, uneven boulders, there were a lot of footholds that made climbing it relatively easy.

All of a sudden, the mountain shuddered violently.

Everyone was shaken.

"What's going on?"

"Is it an earthquake?"

"Are you an idiot? How could there possibly be an earthquake here? Other than the early days of the Cataclysm, has there ever been an earthquake here?"

"So you're saying there's a possibility…"

Once their argument petered down, they noticed something strange happening with their familiars. They were lying on the ground, motionless, with their tails between their legs, lightly trembling as they whimpered pitifully.

They exchanged looks with a silent understanding. Without a word, they left the mountain as quickly as they had come.

The next day, another squad came across the slumbering Mountain Spirit King.

This squad was much more professional than the one that had come before it. They could tell with a glance what the mountain actually was, which scared them out of their wits. They knew that Mountain Spirits were the sizes of small hills, but they hadn't expected a terrifyingly large one the size of an actual mountain.

Gradually, this place became known as a forbidden place. No one wanted to accidentally incur the wrath of a Mountain Spirit, so people tended to stay away. However, quite a few people would come watch the Mountain Spirit from afar, as though they expected something to happen.

In the lab, Gao Peng was working on one of his usual experiments when suddenly, he could feel a rush of Soul Energy rush through his mind. At the same time, a different but equally powerful wave of energy was coursing through his body, altering his physiology in ways he couldn't quite understand.

He wasn't able to control the sudden influx of strength in his body. Bang!

The test tube in his hands was crushed into smithereens.

He took a step forward, his left foot going straight through the metal floor. His expression changed and he froze.

What's going on with me?

Trembling slightly, he reached for the edge of the lab table to steady himself. He might as well have been ripping an envelope; he tore off a huge chunk of the table with disturbing ease.

Bang—

The sound echoed loudly in the lab.

His eyes flickering between the chunk of metal in his hand and the broken table, Gao Peng was speechless.

"Knock knock." It was Xu Qingzhi. "Are you okay, boss? Do you need me to come in?"

"I'm good. No need for that," Gao Peng replied quickly.

He didn't know what was going on, but he did know that he would hate to accidentally crush Xu Qingzhi into paste.

Gao Peng was extremely confused now. Had he accidentally unlocked "Bridge of Heaven and Earth"?

Carrying out an experiment could make him this strong?

"Gao Peng, I'm so tired…" A faint voice echoed in the deepest recesses of his mind. Was he going crazy?

After a few seconds, the voice spoke again, louder this time. "Where are you, Gao Peng? I'm scared of heights…"

It was Stripey!

Gao Peng was overcome with a rush of emotion.

That was Stripey. There was no mistaking it!

"Stripey, you're awake? Where are you?" Gao Peng tried reaching out to Stripey.

"I don't know… I'm so tired… Yawn…" Gao Peng didn't hear another word from it after that.

Gao Peng's eyes sparkled. Maybe he was still at the same place they had left him. It was possible that Stripey had successfully absorbed the Mountain Spirit King.

That was the only explanation for his monstrous strength. He wanted to go find Stripey right away, but he had his own situation to deal with.

This strength was truly both a blessing and a curse.

To him, his surroundings might as well have been a soapy little bubble like the kind kids blew out of plastic wands. A little flick of his finger, and he could potentially lay waste to anything in a fifteen-foot radius.

Under these circumstances, he didn't dare come into contact with his grandfather or others.

He had always thought that it was unfair that trainers could only access one percent of their familiar's physical strength and none of their abilities.

Now, he was forced to change his mind. Maybe to real Emperor-tier monsters, Gao Peng's strength was still insignificant.

All of sudden, a vision flashed in his mind. He shut his eyes and took a long, deep breath before slowly reopening them.

Cocking his ears, he could hear a faint heartbeat through the thick metal doors…

"Xu Qingzhi!" Gao Peng bellowed abruptly.

"Ah—" He could hear the frantic sound of her running away, followed by the sound of something crashing onto the ground after she tripped.

"Speak of the devil…" He sighed lightly.

This was the awakening of his familiar's third ability—Extrasensory.

Not only did it grant him incredible powers of premonition, it allowed him to control his new-found strength almost perfectly.

As he contemplated this explosive strength within him, he had a sobering thought.

One percent of a monster's power and I can already do this? Just how strong are Emperor-tier monsters?

Not only that, but those monsters also had loads of wondrous and powerful abilities to offer.

This strength had merely granted him the ability to witness a clash between Emperor-tier monsters without being affected by the aftermath of their abilities…

In a battle between tigers, ants had no right to spectate.

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Chapter 280: Acrophobic Stripey

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

With his Extrasensory ability, Gao Peng slowly became used to his incredible strength. That being said, it did still take him nearly 30 minutes to do so. Even then, he still had to tread carefully, in case he put a hole through the ground with his foot again.

He pushed open the door of his lab and was greeted by the sight of Xu Qingzhi gingerly rubbing her knee as she shot him a baleful look.

Nonchalantly, he chided her, "How are you going to be my assistant if you're so clumsy?"

With that, he strode away from his lab. He was walking a little funny, like a cat walking on its tiptoes.

Dumby was still harvesting souls at the slaughterhouse. The only ones around the mansion now were Da Zi, Goldie, Flamy, and Silly.

He waved his familiars over. "Let's go. We're bringing Stripey back."

Stripey?

Da Zi's eyes lit up. Like a bolt of lightning, it streaked across the lake to meet Gao Peng.

"Gao Peng, was Stripey secretly eating yummy food out there on his own?" Da Zi asked.

"In a way, I guess."

"That's no good. I want to eat fried spider skin!" Da Zi wasn't happy. How could its underling have been eating something yummy behind its back?!

"…Why don't you go get it from Stripey yourself?" Gao Peng chuckled.

"Great!" Da Zi was overjoyed. The gears in its head whirred as it started scheming ways to take more spider skin from Stripey. To think it had ever worried about that big goof. All Stripey did was secretly eat yummy food by himself.

The Thunder Shell Lord stuck his head out and peered around inquisitively before withdrawing into its shell. Lightning danced around it as it resumed absorbing electricity from the device.

The Thunder Shell Lord was growing at startling speeds. Ever since it had started using the device, it had been working nonstop, and as a result, had grown a whole two levels.

Just to put into context how impressive that was, the Thunder Shell Lord was a Lord-tier familiar. To grow even a level would require preposterous amounts of energy.

"Whoa!" Flamy screeched to a stop in front of Gao Peng, wings beating furiously.

After half a month, Flamy had almost completely regrown his feathers. Even though they weren't as thick as before, it didn't really affect its ability to fly.

Goldie was despondent when it found out that Flamy's feathers had regrown.

How could you possibly have grown them back? Didn't we say we would be featherless together??

Goldie was experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions at that point. It was happy for Flamy, but at the same time, it had trained so hard, too… It had even cut its daily rest from five hours to four hours.

Goldie glared angrily at the feathers on Flamy, as though they had each done him a great personal wrong.

Acting like it didn't care, it turned away from Flamy, yet it couldn't help but sneak one more look at those feathers.

Gulp.

Hideous!

"Gao Peng, why don't you get on my back?" Da Zi flew circles around Gao Peng lazily.

"I'm good. In fact, why don't we have a race?" Gao Peng chuckled.

Da Zi was taken aback. It hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before asking hesitantly. "Are you sure…?"

"Dead serious! Are you in or not?" Gao Peng nodded confidently.

"…Will you get me something yummy to eat if you win?"

Gao Peng snorted. "I'll buy you something yummy if I lose! If I win, you get nothing!"

"Silly Gao Peng. You're going down!" Da Zi puffed his chest out proudly.

"Okay… Let's go!" The second he uttered "go," he was off like a cannonball!

Boom—

He was so blindingly fast that he left a vacuum in his wake, whipping up a gale-force wind as he ran.The ground exploded into huge clouds of mud and dirt where he tread, little craters forming where he stepped.

Da Zi stared dumbly at Gao Peng's rapidly vanishing figure.

That couldn't have been Dumby dressed as Gao Peng, could it?

"Wait for me, Dumby…" yelled Da Zi as he gave chase furiously.

Goldie had the cutest reaction. Its eyes were bugging out, and it was as still as a statue as it stared in Gao Peng's wake.

In the forest, Da Zi stealthily made its way behind Gao Peng and bit down hard on his butt with a vicious gleam in its eyes.

I'll get you this time, you cheater!

Bang! "Argh!"

Gao Peng's face darkened as he gently nursed his aching butt. Da Zi had a nice purple shiner on his left eye to show for its efforts, its wings also throbbing in pain.

"You've changed, Gao Peng. You never hit me before."

"Who asked you to bite my butt?"

Even though most of the pain was transferred to Goldie, surprisingly, it still hurt.

"Oh…" Da Zi's head drooped dejectedly. Who knew what was going on in its head?

"Gao Peng, have some juice!" Silly whipped out a bottle of fruit juice from God knows where and passed it carefully to Gao Peng.

Gao Peng emptied the bottle in one gulp.

Silly was heartbroken. All it could do was stare sadly at the empty bottle as it collapsed into a motionless heap on top of Gao Peng's head.

"Roar!" A thunderous roar cut through the stillness of the forest as a yellow blur launched itself menacingly at Gao Peng.

Gao Peng quickly took cover behind Goldie. "Goldie, protect me!"

Goldie looked up, only to have its head nearly chewed off by an enormous jaw. Out of pure reflex, it countered with a lightning-fast punch.

Bang!

Goldie was forced to retreat a few steps back, but so was the giant tiger.

As the tiger sized up Goldie, realization dawned on it. It wasn't worth it. All it wanted was to feast on easy prey, not get drawn out into a long fight. Without a sound, the tiger turned around and slunk away into the shadows of the forest.

"Let it go. Let's hurry up and find Stripey." Goldie, who had flown into a murderous rage, had to be held back by Gao Peng. Goldie had become more and more violent recently. He had ripped apart scores of monsters that Gao Peng had bought for him to train with.

All of a sudden, Gao Peng thought of when they had first met. Back then, Goldie had been just a silly, feathered duck, and now…

Stripey yawned as he slowly opened his eyes.

Oh God, I'm way too high up!

He quickly shut his eyes.

If anyone had taken a closer look at the mountain, they would have seen it trembling gently, like a leaf in the breeze.

"Stripey, I'm here for you." Gao Peng's gentle voice echoed within him.

Is Gao Peng here with me?

Stripey opened his eyes eagerly only to see…

Rumble—

Suddenly, a monster hunting squad in the midst of a hunt nearby felt the ground shudder violently beneath their feet.

"Steady! Steady!"

"Was that an earthquake?"

"I don't know. Just be careful."

Before they even had a chance to catch their breath, the sky darkened ominously as a powerful gale split the very clouds apart. A strange, keening wail could also be heard in the direction of the forest.

As they were enveloped by a giant shadow, a hunter raised his head, only to witness a mountain come to life…

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