“Your equipment set is pretty good, but that’s all it is. It’s because the materials that you prepared are too poor…” Ou Yangming tole the antelope. By the time he finished, he flushed a little even though he was thick-faced.
After all, this was the Spiritual Realm—the well-known Spiritual Realm.
The minerals that could be found here were far better than what could be found in the lower realm. In fact, Ou Yangming knew less than 30% of the minerals that were presented by the antelope, or he would not need to carry out a trial run earlier.
When Ou Yangming smithed pieces of equipment for the antelope, he did not give him all, hence there was plenty of room for improvement.
Everything was because of him and had nothing to do with the pieces of equipment.
The antelope blinked and asked in confusion, “Human master, I’m aware that I’m not capable enough to find better materials, but… Why did you ask me to come back?” It made an unrealistic guess, but it was so inconceivable that it dared not be so sure.
Ou Yangming cleared his throat and cut to the chase. “Your fur is rather useful for me, so I’d like to make a deal with you. As long as you’re willing to come with me, not only will I smith pieces of higher-level equipment for you, but I’ll also provide you with better cultivation resources. The Humans have alchemists, where the pills refined by them can help you upgrade your strength as fast as possible.” He was highly-spirited and confident as he spoke.
On the other hand, the antelope kept blinking as though this was its habit whenever it pondered.
‘Follow a human?’
This had never crossed its mind. Nonetheless, it was instantly moved when it lowered its head to look at the equipment set on its body, as well as when it thought about the cruel reality of competing against many spirit beasts on the 10,000 Beasts Ridge.
Even so, it could not get past a certain stage in its heart.
“Honorable human master, I’m extremely touched by your kindness, but I don’t want to be another living being’s pet beast.” The antelope felt troubled as it added, “If you’d like to subdue me, regrettably, I can only reject you.”
Ou Yangming laughed out loud and said, “Ask them what they are to me.”
Big Yellow barked and answered right away, “A friend.”
The big lazy turtle swayed its large neck and wondered, but it could not figure out what kind of special relationship it shared with Ou Yangming. As such, it could only say, “We’re probably friends.”
Perhaps the outcome would be different if Multi-armed King Kong and the goshawk were present. Since the powerful spirit beasts were absent, the statements that were given by Big Yellow and the lazy turtle cleared the antelope’s concern.
It looked around and seemed like it was unwilling to leave the ridge.
Ou Yangming chuckled and immediately added, “Brother Antelope, you might be fully equipped now, but you also have to be careful of possible sneak attacks from covetous mountain lords on the 10,000 Beasts Ridge. On the contrary, if you become a Venerable One someday and return, the ignorant ones won’t even think about attacking you anymore.”
The antelope looked up abruptly and mumbled, “A Venerable One…”
It was evident that the term was a huge stimulation for it.
Ou Yangming nodded sternly. “That’s right. If you come with me, your chances of becoming a Venerable One will definitely be 10 times higher than your chances now.”
A Venerable One was such a formidable being that even Ou Yangming dared not say he could certainly arrive at that boundary. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from deceiving the antelope. In any case, he only said that its chances would increase by 10 times but did not guarantee that it would become a Venerable One for sure.
The antelope’s eyes reddened a little. It would have given a snort of contempt if another human had told him the same thing; it would not believe such a fragile promise. However, the human in front of it was different as he was a great blacksmith among the Humans. More importantly, he did not make a single mistake at all when he smithed the equipment set for it.
It had never heard of such a marvelous control ability in smithing art.
If the antelope missed this human, it would not be able to meet another one.
At last, the antelope stomped its foot and expressed, “Master Ou, since you value me so much, I, Mountain Lord Fat Antelope, am willing to leave the ridge with you!” Once it made up its mind, it addressed the young fellow differently.
“Fat… Fat Antelope?” Ou Yangming was stunned, and he had a strange look on his face.
”This antelope has such a weird name. I wonder if it named itself or was fooled by someone else…’
The antelope was rather embarrassed, but it explained, “Master Ou, before I became successful in cultivation, I was determined to taste all of the delicious and fresh grass in the world to become the fattest antelope ever, which was how my name came about.”
Ou Yangming opened his mouth, then he laughed and remarked, “Nice, that’s a great ambition. Nice, very nice.”
‘Humans and spirit beasts are indeed very different.’
Big Yellow and the big lazy turtle exchanged glances, which was obvious that they did not approve of the antelope’s thinking too.
The fat antelope was surely ludicrous among spirit beasts, but that might be the exact reason its fur mutated.
Despite that, they could not understand why Ou Yangming valued the soft and almost useless fur so much.
Ou Yangming was somewhat delighted after receiving the antelope’s promise. He turned to look at the unconscious Silver Ridge Giant Leopard, which was still lying on the ground. The leopard was quite pitiful; it should have woken up long ago based on its physical quality, but every time it made some movements while still being in a daze, the lazy turtle would lift its front limb to slam it hard.
The lazy turtle controlled its power so perfectly that the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard simply fainted again but was not harmed. Having said that, the leopard was in quite a poor state.
After noticing the look in Ou Yangming’s eyes, the lazy turtle knew what he had to do. It opened its mouth to shoot a water arrow on the giant leopard’s head.
The water arrow did not contain too much power, but it carried an intense chill. Consequently, the spirit leopard shivered and woke up at once.
As it blinked, it had a splitting headache, so much so that it could not remember what happened.
This was the aftereffect of being knocked out by the big lazy turtle multiple times. Fortunately, the leopard was an incredibly strong creature, or it would have been killed by the turtle long ago.
After a brief moment, the humongous leopard stared at Ou Yangming. It finally awoke and widened its eyes as it wanted to roar.
It was then when Ou Yangming turned his wrist to retrieve a black badge, which was the Restraining Badge given by the lazy turtle. With a flash of thought, he channeled his mental power into the badge and understood how the item should be used. By sending a conception into the badge, it shone slightly, causing the noisy leopard to jump. Moreover, its roar turned into a mournful wail.
The spirit leopard suffered an indescribable pain in its head, and the pain was so intense that it almost passed out again.
That said, the pain happened fast but went away faster; it disappeared right after the leopard landed.
The Spirit Ridge Giant Leopard was not a fool, thus it spotted the badge on Ou Yangming’s hand. It had a ghastly look on its face as it yelled, “You—how dare you restrain me!”
Ou Yangming grinned. “Since you wanted to attack me, why couldn’t I restrain you?”
The spirit leopard was startled, then it smiled hideously and commented, “How dare a human like you come to the 10,000 Beasts Ridge and… Awoo!” It suddenly stopped talking and let out a shrill scream.
“You’re quite unyielding. Let’s see how long you can endure this.” Ou Yangming crossed his hands in front of his chest and smirked. He was quite curious about the lazy turtle’s skill, and he wondered if the leopard would surrender to him.
The lazy turtle was unperturbed as if it did not pay any attention to this. This was because it was confident about the restraining order that it made.
Sure enough, it took only a short while before the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard roared, “Stop, stop, I surrender, I surrender…”
Ou Yangming did not stop right away; he only stopped 15 minutes after the leopard wailed.
The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard sprawled on the ground like a pile of mud. It perspired so much that the ground beneath it turned wet.
Fat Antelope’s eyes flickered. It had mixed feelings after seeing the gigantic leopard’s situation.
It was happy to see the fellow being punished, but it also thought about itself. ‘If I hadn’t accepted this human blacksmith’s invitation, would I have ended like this leopard too?’
Ou Yangming waved the black badge in his hand at the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard. The paralyzed leopard shrieked and begged, “Human powerhouse, be the bigger person and spare me!”
“You surrender?” Ou Yangming laughed.
“I surrender—I definitely surrender.”
“Okay, then I’ll make a deal with you. Send us back to the Humans’ boundary, and I’ll let you go,” Ou Yangming noted.
“As you wish,” The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard responded without any hesitation. When it looked away, it finally noticed Fat Antelope, which was standing somewhere behind Ou Yangming. It could not help but blink as it was puzzled.
Fat Antelope knew it could not keep it a secret from the leopard, hence it simply told it the truth, “Silver Ridge, I’ve decided to leave the Silver Ridge Boundary with Master Ou, so I won’t be fighting for this territory with you anymore.”
Back then, it would have hoped that the massive leopard never returned. Ever since it decided to follow Ou Yangming, it started thinking differently.
‘I’ll let Silver Ridge have this worthless place…’
“What Master Ou?” Silver Ridge asked after it gasped for breath. It suddenly fixed its gaze on the antelope and questioned, “Where did you get those pieces of equipment from?”
It had fought the antelope countless times for the Silver Ridge Boundary. Though it was always victorious, it could not eliminate its opponent, hence they knew each other very well.
The leopard’s heart thumped after it noticed the antelope’s equipment set, and it thought, ‘If that fella’s equipment set isn’t just for show, I might not be its match anymore in the future.’
