Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Da Zi had become accustomed to speaking its mind freely after being separated from Gao Peng for so long, like a child throwing a tantrum when no one was looking.
It’s not like Gao Peng’s around to hear me say these things about him…
Both masters and familiars could communicate with each other through a Blood Contract. The only downside to it was its limited communication range. Both parties needed to be within a certain distance in order to communicate through their Blood Contract.
Gao Peng narrowed his eyes. He was now hearing Da Zi’s voice in his head. It had to be close. After much experimentation, he had discovered that different types of familiars had different communication ranges.
At first, he had assumed that this was largely decided by a familiar’s power level. However, he had later realized that this wasn’t necessarily the case.
One time, one of his familiars had been promoted to a new grade during an experiment, causing him to receive Spiritual Feedback. Later, Gao Peng had found out that the communication range between him and another unpromoted familiar had increased.
The spiritual fortitude of both master and familiar was the determining factor behind this increase in communication range.
After conducting his own experiments on the subject, Gao Peng was able to conclude that communication through a Blood Contract was carried out between the souls of a master and a familiar. The stronger both parties were spiritually, the more ground their mental wavelengths would be able to cover.
Blood Contract communication would be established only when the souls of both parties overlapped with each other. Simply put, the fact that he could now hear Da Zi’s voice in his head meant that their Soul Powers were overlapping right then.
Gao Peng heaved a sigh of relief. Thank god it’s still alive.
Da Zi was still continuing its rant through its Blood Contract. While it was going on about what a terrible master Gao Peng was, the latter suddenly spoke in its head. “Where are you?”
Da Zi stopped short in its rant.
Seconds passed in silence. Then, Da Zi started making odd quacking sounds in Gao Peng’s head, as if it was being grabbed by the neck like a duck.
“Gao, Gao, Gao… Gao Peng?!” Da Zi shouted ecstatically, “Where are you, Gao Peng? I miss you so much!
“Come save me, Gao Peng! There’s been this huge worm chasing after me for the past four days!” it said, sobbing.
Gao Peng didn’t know how to react to this. “Are you out in the ocean right now?” he asked. In spite of its many, many flaws, there was no way Gao Peng would let Da Zi be put in harm’s way.
“Yeah… I thought you were also stranded somewhere in the ocean like me,” it said cheekily. “I didn’t even know there was land here. Which direction should I fly in?”
Gao Peng pondered this for a moment. There were no noticeable landmarks out in the water, nor were there any mountains near the shore. He figured that since he still couldn’t see Da Zi, this had to mean that it was still a long way from shore.
However, this didn’t mean that he was completely out of options.
“Let me ask you something—how long have you been badmouthing me just now?” asked Gao Peng.
Da Zi seemed flustered by the question and began playing coy. “What? I wasn’t talking behind your back just now. How could I? You must have heard wrong. Maybe it was Goldie you’ve been hearing in your head. What did it say about me while I was gone?”
“I’m not going to ask you again. Have you been badmouthing me for the past few days?” asked Gao Peng calmly.
A series of unintelligible sounds came from Da Zi’s end. Then, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, it said in a small voice, “Well, I wasn’t badmouthing you all the time. Sometimes I took breaks from it, you know.”
Gao Peng nodded. “Then just keep flying forward. You should see land soon. Your pursuer, what kind of monster is it? Flying-type? Water-type?”
“It’s a Water-type! A gigantic silver worm!”
“A worm? In the sea?” Gao Peng muttered to himself.
“Then you better fly as fast as you can. Your pursuer’s power level will be considerably limited on dry land. I imagine it won’t be stupid enough to continue its pursuit onshore,” he said to console Da Zi.
Da Zi was starting to feel anxious over the fact that it had been surrounded by nothing but water for the last couple of days with no place in sight to rest. Its wings were starting to feel sore. It had to come to a stop eventually.
Out here in the ocean, it had no chance of taking on its pursuer on its own. However, it might be able to turn the tables against the latter once it reached dry land. Da Zi was no longer as worried as before. Confident in its own speed, it began taunting the silver sea snake behind it.
It would change its speed erratically, at times lowering itself close to the water to do a little spin and dip its feet in the water like a dragonfly. This only made the silver snake angrier.
Gao Peng opened his eyes. Beside him, Stripey said in a low voice, “Master, is it Da Zi?”
“Yeah, it’s Da Zi. We finally found it.”
“That’s great!” Stripey was sincerely happy for its master. “Then let’s go get Da Zi,” it said eagerly.
“Da Zi’s still out in the ocean. I have no idea where it is right now, so I told it to keep flying straight, since it was able to enter my communication range from whatever direction it’s been flying all this time. It’s probably heading towards the shore. All of you, fan out. We’ll find Da Zi quicker this way.”
“Second Baby, keep your eyes peeled. You have the best eyesight out of all of us…” Gao Peng scratched his head. For some reason, this sentence sounded off to him. “In any case, just keep an eye out. You’ve never seen Da Zi before, but I’m sure you’ll be able to recognize it instantly. Just imagine an overgrown centipede with a couple of wings growing out of its back.”
Second Baby nodded. “How many pairs of wings does it have?”
“Er… Probably three,” said Gao Peng uncertainly. “It may have grown a couple more while it was away.”
Gao Peng knew what Da Zi’s body was capable of. It wouldn’t be strange if it had grown a few more pairs of wings at this point.
For the next half hour, Gao Peng maintained contact with Da Zi in order to keep it on the right track.
“Gao Peng, I can see the shoreline!” said Da Zi happily.
“Then come over here, quick,” said Gao Peng. He ordered his familiars to look out for any sign of Da Zi, especially Second Baby.
Second Baby was perched atop Flamy’s back as the latter soared through the air in search of Da Zi. Its front claws were gripping Flamy’s wings tightly, while its eyes were wide like the headlights of a car.
“Master, I see it. On the right, there’s a huge… snake flying in the air,” said Second Baby. Why does it have so many wings on its back? It had no idea how many pairs of wings were growing out from its back. All it knew was that there were a lot of them, and they seemed to be bunched up in untidy clumps.
Flamy spat a huge ball of fire into the air. Da Zi turned around just in time to see Flamy behind an explosion of fire. It quickly flew towards Flamy.
Upon seeing the shoreline up ahead, the silver snake slowed down. It wasn’t used to fighting on dry land. It could still continue its chase in the ocean, but on the shore…
While the silver snake was having second thoughts about continuing its chase onshore, Da Zi finally spotted its master near the beach. Emboldened by the sight of Gao Peng, it sent a cascade of lightning down to the sea with its wings, electrifying the water in a thousand-foot radius around it.
Da Zi’s arrogant show of force only served to rekindle the silver snake’s rage and desire to swallow Da Zi whole.
