Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gao Peng was someone who respected the rules, and he definitely wasn’t one to break them recklessly. The aforementioned rules didn’t refer to those that governed the outside world, but rather the values he abided to that were deeply engraved in his soul.
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
The Red-Eyed Crocodile King of Greenwood Swamp was burned alive by Flamy in settlement of the personal vendetta between them. Gao Peng would give his all to support Flamy in seeking revenge, going as far as to decide that even if Flamy lost, at the cost of tarnishing his pride and honor, he would still have allowed Dumby and Goldie to attack the Crocodile King immediately.
Fortunately, Flamy had been victorious in the end. It was truly a familiar worthy of being brought up by Gao Peng himself.
On the grasslands, after fulfilling its life-consuming quest for revenge, Flamy stood there in a daze, its eyes staring at something far away, gaze dark with melancholy.
Goldie waddled its way to Flamy and started to sniff it all over.
It even reached out to pluck the feathers on Flamy’s back, staring at them with its big round eyes.
“Stop messing around,” muttered Flamy as it whacked the back of Goldie’s hand with a wing. Can’t you see I’m brooding in peace.
Goldie jumped and stared at Flamy for a few seconds before declaring, “I think you’re bald.”
The silence that fell after that declaration was worse than death.
A fireball smashed into Goldie’s face. “GO AWAY!”
Goldie brushed off some of the sparks that were still smoldering on its face and left while shaking its head in bemusement. “Such a bad temper.”
That night, Gao Peng called a meeting of the heads of the three remaining major families, successfully signing a partnership agreement with them. While there was that, they also agreed to let the local division of the Southern Sky Group take control of the Crocodile Spirit Swamp, at the same time, established a branch of the Explorer’s Union there to fix up the swamp as the next project for their members.
Unfortunately, under Gao Peng’s assessment, it seemed that the Crocodile Spirit Swamp didn’t really measure up to the standards of the Mountain Spirit Station. The level of safety there was also fairly lacking in comparison.
The Mountain Spirit Station had numerous Chief Mountain Spirits as guardians, leading to a guaranteed level of safety. In contrast, after the death of the Crocodile King, no one could say how safe the swamp would be.
It wasn’t like no one had considered this, but the ‘safe zone’ that would be created in this particular area would create serious concerns regarding how safe it would actually be.
“Mr. Chairman, the group has fulfilled your request to send relevant personnel to check on the Flaming Phoenixes’ living conditions at regular intervals.”
Gao Peng nodded. He was already aware of this, as it was a decision that he had made after gaining Flamy’s approval.
Flamy didn’t return to visit its ex-tribe. “Gao Peng, you being able to assist me in my revenge has already made me happier than ever. I cannot be too selfish, as they, too, have their own way of life. Without my intervention, it’s possible that one day, they’ll evolve into their own unique colors. I can aid them for now, but I wouldn’t be able to support them for life. Their paths to evolution can only be forged by themselves.”
Upon hearing that, Gao Peng decided to respect Flamy’s opinion and didn’t send anyone to intervene.
However, what Gao Peng didn’t expect was that… after the news of this battle spread to the outside world, the phoenixes that lived in the Crocodile Spirit Swamp became an overnight internet sensation in the base city of Jiangnan. At the start, there were people who were afraid that they would attract Gao Peng’s wrath, thus they tried to capture them as discreetly as possible. After realizing that Gao Peng wasn’t stopping them, people practically stampeded over each other to capture the Flaming Phoenixes.
When the number of phoenixes captured went overboard, Gao Peng had no choice but to allocate some manpower to that area to protect and maintain the balance of the phoenix population.
Many people labeled these phoenixes Lord-tier familiars, as they were a species capable of evolving into Lord-tiers, causing their popularity to skyrocket among the masses.
After several days, Gao Peng received word that the Qian family had gradually moved away from the base city of Jiangnan, relocating to the base city of Yuhang, which was on the southern side.
The Qian family already owned property in the base city of Yuhang, so they were just transferring their remaining property that was in Jiangnan to Yuhang.
After resolving Flamy’s issues, Gao Peng wasn’t in a hurry to return to Yuzhou. After all, the flight home would take quite a few hours, and since they were already there, they decided to call it a vacation and tour Jiangnan for a couple of days. The scenery at Taihu Lake was breathtaking, unlike the ocean that resembled a volatile little girl. Taihu Lake was like a graceful, gentle Jiangnan maiden whose breathing breezed warmly by their ears.
“Taihu lake must have increased in depth since the Cataclysm,” mused Gao Peng as he leaned on the fence encircling the lake, admiring the serene expanse of water near his feet. Gao Peng recalled that Taihu Lake hadn’t been as deep pre-Cataclysm, as the deepest area was thirteen feet at most, and the average depth was eight feet… With such a wide expanse and so little depth, it did give off a pretty adorable impression.
“Might be several times deeper than before,” answered the tour guide, the same one as before. Today, he was wearing a high-collared blue sweater. “No one specifically went and measured the depth of Taihu Lake, but it’s definitely a lot deeper than it was,” he said with a laugh.
Splash! A jet of water hit Goldie, who ended up with a faceful of water.
Looking down, there was a gigantic white-silvery fish that had floated to the surface of the water, giving the whole entourage an unimpressed stare. It seemed pretty pissed off.
After seeing that Goldie had noticed it, the fish took a deep breath and started to flip around in the water, its wide puffy eyes locked onto them unblinkingly.
The tour guide hastily withdrew a fistful of fish food from a hip pouch and tossed it into the water.
The fish immediately chased after the food.
Goldie touched its damp face, glaring irritatedly at the fat fish in the lake.
How dare it spray me with water!
Goldie destroyed the stone fence with a single kick and dove into the water.
The fat fish avoided Goldie with a mere sweep of its gigantic tail.
Goldie splashed into the water, its wings flailing frantically. It started to sink like a rock, straight to the bottom of the lake…
“Flamy, please rescue this hopeless beast that can’t swim to save its life.” Gao Peng facepalmed.
A distance away, the calm surface of the lake was disturbed by a series of waves. It was like an invisible hand was guiding the water. The next moment, the water surged upwards, increasing the size and ferocity of the waves.
The concentrated sound of rushing water flowed towards them from far away. A line of silver started to close the distance between them, a ray of silverish light gleaming among the waves.
It resembled a silver nugget zooming through the water.
As it approached, Gao Peng started to make out how the monster looked. Its appearance would remind people of a silver mirror. As it came even closer, Gao Peng finally saw it clearly—it was a silvery white turtle.
It was about the size of a house, rising and sinking with the waves, its silver shell shimmering hazily and reflecting the sun’s rays.
“A spirit turtle,” breathed the tour guide, not at all afraid. His eyes were shining with admiration.
“The spirit turtle is a majestic beast of this great lake. Every year in the spring, Taihu Lake becomes terribly foggy, so there are many monster trainers that get lost along the surface of the lake. The spirit turtle often guides them to their destinations safely.”
As the enormous turtle loomed before them, Gao Peng could finally identify its attributes.
[Monster Name]: Mystical Mirror Diviner Turtle
[Monster Level]: Level 46
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Mystic
[Monster Ability]: Reflective Mirror Armor Level 4 Jade Skeleton Level 3 Water Manipulation Level 3
[Special Characteristics]: Mystical Shell Armor (An extraordinary shell that developed over the years and may be used to divine prosperity or misfortune.
Passive Ability: Has a strong sense of danger and will avoid once any is detected. It also has a sense for good fortune, which it will then approach.)
