Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by Aelryinth
“Zhizhi, zhizhi!” the frisky monkey cried out happily when he finally got the chance to take a breather outside, not hearing Zhang Che’s instructions.
“Hurry, help daddy find spiritual herbs, and I’ll give you snacks tonight!” Zhang Che patted the back of the frisky monkey’s head lightly, directly tempting him with delicious food.
After hearing about getting snacks, the frisky monkey’s eyes were immediately shining with two rays of light. Afterwards, he quickly closed his eyes and activated his skills.
A full minute later, the frisky monkey suddenly opened his eyes again and jumped on the spot. He extended his arm, pointing at the mountain range to the west and cried out excitedly, “Zhizhi, zhi, zhizhizhi!”
Zhang Che raised his brow, then asked in surprise, “What is it? Are there many spiritual herbs over there?”
At the same time, he thought to himself, – I knew it! With how the mountains and rivers are gathered here, there’ll surely be spiritual herbs present! Now that the frisky monkey investigated it, it is indeed so!-
However, the frisky monkey shook his head fiercely and cried out, “Zhizhi!”, then stuck out his middle finger at Zhang Che.
“You freaking..!” Zhang Che was infuriated! -Is this fellow blaming me for not letting him come take a breather outside for so long, and purposefully making a fool out of me?
-Hmm? Not right!-
Zhang Che suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He looked at the frisky monkey with widened eyes and asked anxiously, “You’re saying there’s not many spiritual herbs, but only one?”
“Zhi!” the frisky monkey nodded with a wronged look on his face. -I clearly showed you with my finger. Why won’t you believe me?
-Even if that is the case, forget it. But you even looked like you’re going to hit me! How hurtful!-
Pa! Zhang Che patted the frisky monkey’s head lightly, scolding in jest, “Don’t you know to ‘zhi’ just once to indicate there’s only one spiritual herb? What did you mean with that middle finger gesture? Do you not know it means to curse at someone?”
The frisky monkey nodded understanding. -I can’t speak! Of course I can only gesture to show you! Who knew gesturing my fingers would mean I’m cursing at you? What injustice…-
“Alright, alright, don’t feel wronged. Remember to not make such vulgar gestures anymore.” Although Zhang Che was still suspicious whether that fellow did it on purpose, it wasn’t the time to pursue this matter. After saying some words of consolation, Zhang Che continued, “Go, go, go! Let’s quickly go look for that spiritual herb!”
Given how excited the frisky monkey had acted, that spiritual herb was definitely not low-grade stuff! Perhaps, it was a spiritual herb of a higher grade than the ice or fire lotuses!
If that turned out to be true, he’d really struck it rich!
“Zhizhi, zhizhi!” The frisky monkey grew excited again after Zhang Che steered the topic back to the spiritual herb. He jumped onto the Purple Jade Condor’s back, then pointed in a direction with an impatient look on his face.
Zhang Che was very happy about this. The more excited the frisky monkey seemed, the more it proved that his guess was closer to the truth!
-Exactly what kind of spiritual herb is it?- Zhang Che felt his heartbeat accelerating. He quickly recalled his babies, changed his mount to the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon, and flew towards the mountain range to his west.
A few thousand meters was neither far nor near. Given the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon’s speed, they only needed a few breaths’ time to reach their destination.
In front of them was a seemingly ordinary small mountain. Looking at it from the big picture, and in such terrain, it truly wasn’t anything of note.
However, Zhang Che clearly sensed something about this small mountain seemed to be different than the other places. However, he couldn’t put into words what exactly was different. He wasn’t well-versed in feng shui, either. Naturally he couldn’t tell what was special about this mountain.
Even so, he was sure the spiritual herb on this mountain the frisky monkey had discovered was extraordinary.
The reason was simple: a powerful exotic beast was hiding on this mountain!
Despite it purposefully concealing its aura, Zhang Che’s noticed its presence with the help of the golden vortex.
“It’s a little tricky. Judging from its aura, it seems to be an epic-quality exotic beast. But, ordinary mid-tier epic-quality exotic beasts definitely won’t make me feel this much pressure…”
“Could it be divine-quality?
“Probably not. If it’s a divine-quality beast, it would’ve jumped out and finished me off long ago.
“In other words, this exotic beast isn’t at divine-quality, and it is currently guarding that soon-to-be mature spiritual herb and isn’t willing to come out and fight me. So…”
Just as Zhang Che was hesitating whether to enter the small mountain to scout things out, his sharp senses suddenly noticed some creature seemed to be approaching him from behind.
“What is it?”
Faint killing intent was concealed under that slow approaching aura. Zhang Che couldn’t help but feel his chest tighten. He immediately focus his mind onto the golden vortex, observing his surroundings within three hundred meters from a godly perspective.
In that profound state, Zhang Che discovered a faint silhouette in the woods about two hundred meters behind slowly approaching in his direction.
It might be impossible to notice this silhouette with the naked eye, but Zhang Che could clearly see that it was a middle-aged man riding a bird-type subdued beast with a peculiar appearance. They were carefully flying in his direction with very faint killing intent. It felt like an uncontrollable beast about to erupt at anytime.
“Hmm? That man looks a little familiar!” Zhang Che felt a trace of surprise. Afterwards, he recalled that middle-aged man was the one who had bumped into him in the safety zone when he was returning from the beast world in Cang Long City.
He also quickly remembered that the little beast in that middle-aged man’s arms covered him in its stinky breath yesterday, nearly suffocating him.
Looking back at it now, that fellow had long planned to use such a method to track him!
Indeed, nothing was too bizarre in the beast world. There was actually an exotic beast that was that proficient at tracking! It had already been a full day, not to mention Zhang Che had showered and changed his clothing, and yet it could still follow his trail all the way here based on scent. It was truly terrifying!
-This man is a high-tier beastmaster!- Zhang Che quickly realized the middle-aged man’s strength after feeling out his suppressed aura. -Since when did I offend such a powerful high-tier beastmaster?-
Zhang Che immediately thought of the Zhen family. He cursed inside, -The Zhen family are indeed unresigned. They actually sent out a high-tier beastmaster skilled in tracking to assassinate me! When I return, I’ll definitely settle the scores with them!-
“Ha, little fellow, are you sure there’s a high-grade spiritual herb in here?” Zhang Che suddenly laughed excitedly, caressing the frisky monkey’s head lovingly. Riding on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon, they flew towards the small mountain ahead.
—
Behind them, Miyazaki Musashi, who had originally closed in to a hundred-some meters from Zhang Che and was ready to strike, suddenly froze for a moment. Afterwards, the corners of his lips curled up, his eyes narrowed into slits.
“Fine. I’ll let you live a little longer. Later I’ll snatch your spiritual herb before killing you. I’ll have you die in desperation and pain!”
His silhouette flashed, entering the small mountain, trailing Zhang Che from a safe distance…
—
It had been described as a small mountain, but that was only relative to the nearby mountains. Actually, the mountain wasn’t small by any means, standing several hundred meters high, and occupied kilometers of ground.
As the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon flew into the mountain, they immediately angered the exotic beast guarding the spiritual herb.
A furious roar immediately rang out from inside the mountain, seemingly warning the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon who had intruded upon its territory. The loud noise shook the lands and trees, causing some half-withered leaves to fall.
“Hmph, hmph, you want to kill I, Fisherman Zhang? Not so easy!” Zhang Che’s lips drew back into a mischievous smile when he heard the extremely furious roar. Taking the opportunity of when the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon entered the dense mountain forest, Zhang Che quickly recalled both the dragon and the frisky monkey. Afterwards, he transformed into a face basin-sized green frog, and disappeared into the dense forest.
Since a powerful exotic beast was guarding the spiritual herb, there definitely wouldn’t be any other exotic beasts around. Although the green frog Zhang Che had transformed into was a little too weak, he didn’t have to worry about encountering other dangers.
Also, after his transformation, he didn’t have to worry that the powerful exotic beast would notice the negligible signs of life he emitted. For the same reason, he should also fool that high-tier beastmaster from the Zhen family!
—
Indeed, after Zhang Che transformed into a green frog, Miyazaki Musashi immediately lost track of him.
However, he wasn’t concerned about this right now. Instead, he looked deep into the small mountain with a grave expression. He finally revealed his powerful aura, its intensity increasing bit by bit.
“A high-tier epic-quality exotic beast, huh? Perfect. Looks like today is my lucky day. Not only can I take down our sworn enemy, I can also obtain a high-grade spiritual herb and a high-tier epic-quality beast card. I’m truly blessed by Amaterasu-omikami!” (TLN: Japanese Sun Goddess)
As the strongest beastmaster of the Miyazaki Clan, he knew that a high-tier epic-quality exotic beast wouldn’t be easy to deal with, especially an eight-starred epic-quality exotic beast or higher. They were extremely terrifying! However, Miyazaki Musashi had his own tricks. He wasn’t afraid at all.
—
Just as Miyazaki Musashi fully revealed his high-tier beastmaster aura, the exotic beast inside was finally thoroughly enraged.
-Bloody hell, you think I’m easy target and formed a team to snatch my spiritual herb, huh!?
-Fine, I’ll show you if my spiritual herb is so easy to snatch!-
Although it lost track of Zhang Che’s aura all of a sudden, the exotic beast didn’t care. It sensed that the more powerful aura behind was much more difficult to deal with than Zhang Che. If it wanted to protect the spiritual herb, it had to get rid of the stronger invader.
In the next moment, a deeper, more furious roar was heard. Deep in the dense forest of the small mountain, an exotic beast resembling a qilin, covered in green fur from head to tail, suddenly rose to the skies. It was surrounded by a clear wind, and flew in Miyazaki Musashi’s direction. (TLN: Qilin/Kylin/Kirin is a mythical Chinese animal.)
—
Hiding in the grasses in the woods, Zhang Che felt that dense innate wind element, his eyes shining with light.
-It’s actually a wind-attributed high-tier epic-quality exotic beast!
-If I can get any of my pets to kill it, then feed its corpse to the Umbra Wind God Leopard, will it enable that little thing to directly get through its newborn phase, let him start absorbing the rainbow crystal’s energy and quickly mature?-
Of course, it was impossible for Zhang Che’s pets to slay such a creature by themselves. However, that didn’t matter. His Fisherman Zhang alias wasn’t just for show!
When he thought up until that point, a sink-sized green frog suddenly jumped nimbly onto a tree and continued jumping away.
—
Outside the small mountain, Miyazaki Musashi already had his aerial beast stop in place. He looked at the qilin-like high-tier epic-quality exotic beast flying up from the mountain with a grave expression, his aura erupting with no reservation.
He knew that this exotic beast wasn’t simple. A fierce battle would probably ensue.
-Regrettably, unless this fellow is at divine-quality, there’s no way it can win against me.-
However, when he recalled Zhang Che was probably spying from somewhere in the mountain forest, Miyazaki Musashi couldn’t help but crease his brow slightly.
That kid must have seen him after all the commotion. Perhaps he was hiding somewhere waiting to watch a good show…
In order to prevent that kid from becoming a fisherman and fishing in his troubled waters, Miyazaki Musashi decided to end this battle quickly and decisively.
Thinking of that, he looked at the exotic beast approaching from afar, his eyes emitting a thick killing intent.
The qilin-like exotic beast was even more furious when it felt Miyazaki Musashi’s unconcealed killing intent. It let out another roar and manipulated the wind elements, directly charging at him.
When it came within seven hundred meters from Miyazaki Musashi, many high-speed chaotic air currents suddenly swept around its body.
Miyazaki Musashi immediately felt the powers of a False Domain closing in on him. His pupils contracted slightly.
“Its False Domain is actually able to envelope an area close to seven hundred meters radius. That thing is at least at eight-stars!”
In the mountain forest below, a wide spread of area was within the terrifying exotic beast’s False Domain. However, that fellow seemed to be worried about affecting the spiritual herb behind it. As such, the strength of its False Domain was being controlled perfectly, not hurting a single tree or blade of grass of the mountain forest.
However, the intense pressure of the False Domain couldn’t be held back. The limbs of a certain green frog jumping around below turned stiff, and it fell from the tree branches.
Zhang Che tumbled a few rounds in the grass, cursing inside, -Luckily your daddy didn’t climb too high, or I would’ve fallen to my death!-
At this moment, the qilin-like exotic beast’s False Domain had thoroughly enveloped Miyazaki Musashi. Gusts of clear wind nearly invisible to the naked eye blew over. They seemed pretty harmless, but Miyazaki Musashi’s face darkened slightly. A rainbow light shot out from his brow, turning into a set of armor that covered him fully.
At the same time, he recalled the little subdued beast in his arms. That little fellow wasn’t strong; it wouldn’t be able to withstand the ripples of the upcoming battle.
Dang dang dang dang!
The near-invisible clear winds suddenly swept against Miyazaki Musashi’s armor, producing a concentrated wave of crisp noises. Wave after wave of force slammed into him, knocking him about and causing him to waver slightly.
“I can’t wait any longer!”
A cold glint flashed in Miyazaki Musashi’s eyes. Spurring the strange-looking bird, he actually charged directly towards the exotic beast, ignoring the attacks from the False Domain’s powers.
When they got within a hundred meters of that exotic beast, a white streak of light emitting a sharp aura suddenly flew out from Miyazaki Musashi’ brow, slashing at the exotic beast like a bolt of lightning.
At present, Zhang Che had already gotten away from the area affected by the exotic beast’s False Domain and climbed to the top of another tree. His eyes were agape, staring at the fight from several hundred meters away. His two headlight-like eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets.
“Spiritual sword fragment! This man actually possesses a spiritual sword fragment, too!”
