Monster Pet Evolution 271 330

Chapter 271: Discovery
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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…
Chapter 272: Wood Peacock

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!
Chapter 273: A Fierce Battle (Part 1)

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.
Chapter 274: A Fierce Battle (Part 2)

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.
Chapter 275: The Mountain Spirit King

“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 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.
Chapter 276: End Of The Rope

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.
Chapter 277: Descent

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.
Chapter 278: Slumber

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…
Chapter 279: Awakening

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.
Chapter 280: Acrophobic Stripey
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…
Chapter 281: Ruler of The Mountains (Spider)
“A Mountain… Mountain Spirit!” he screamed in abject terror.
Screaming his lungs out did little to alleviate the all-consuming despair he felt. He had heard of their
existence, but he had never seen one up close until that point. The sheer presence of the Mountain
Spirit exuded such gravity that looking up at it from the foot of the mountain made him feel like nothing
more than a speck of dust.
“Let’s go!” said the leader of the Monster Hunting Squad as he dragged his motionless squad member
up to his feet. They quickly climbed on the familiar and flew away.
Maybe it was a fear of heights, but Stripey was moving abnormally slowly.
The earth trembled with every step the Mountain Spirit took.
Gao Peng squinted into the distance, motioning for Da Zi and the others to slow down. He saw a giant
figure emerge from behind the mountain in front of them. It left a trail of devastation in its wake, slash
marks gouged deep into the bark of the broken trees and fallen logs.
The giant figure was over 1,500 feet tall, and its body was as round as it was big. It was clad in layers of
jet-black granite, like a suit of armor. Clouds of dark smoke billowed forth from the shell on its back and
coalesced around its head, flashing intermittently with streaks of red. It had 36 spidery legs, each as tall
as a skyscraper. Without much ado, it started moving in Gao Peng’s direction at an alarming speed.
The Mountain Spirit’s aura was simply overwhelming. Birds and beasts alike fled in a frenzy to get out of
its path.
“Uhhhh—” The beast let out a long, plaintive cry that was heard by every living creature in a hundred
mile radius.
“Gao Peng, we need to run now!” Da Zi clamped onto his sleeve and started dragging him away.
Goldie stood rooted to its spot, fists tightly balled up. Its muscles were swelling so quickly it almost
ripped its outfit.
On the verge of tears, Silly grabbed large fistfuls of Gao Peng’s hair in panic. “That thing is huge. We
have to get out of here now!” Instead, Gao Peng grabbed him and turned him in the direction of the
beast. “Tell me. What do you see?”
No response. Silly was as still as a corpse. Gao Peng turned him back around only to find out that Silly
had passed out from fear. He couldn’t help but exclaim in disgust. What a coward!
As he turned around to face the beast, he gasped in shock. Even though he already had an idea of what
to expect, he still wasn’t ready for what he was facing.
[Monster Name]: Disaster Mountain Spider
[Monster Tier]: 51 (Emperor Tier)
[Monster Grade]: Epic
[Monster Attribute]: Earth/Rock/Magma
[Monster Ability]: Giant Body Level 1, Earth Control Level 5, Magma Control Level 2, Harden Rock Level 3
[Special Characteristic]: Heart of Earth (Absorbs elemental energy from the earth, increases the power
of Earth-affinity techniques.)
Passive Effect 1: Earth Control Level increases by a level.
Passive Effect 2: Earth Protection; as long as it’s in contact with the ground, it can indefinitely absorb
Earth elemental energy to form an impenetrable layer of granite armor. This ability is inextricably linked
to its Earth Control ability.
Disaster Cloud (The earth is not its only source of power, nor is the magma flowing deep beneath the
earth. Excess magma energy collected is released in the form of ash-gray smog through the holes on its
back. This smog is known as the Disaster Cloud, and it surrounds its head like a crown.)
Passive Effect 1: These clouds have incredibly powerful magma energy and can absorb these energies
indefinitely.
Active Effect 2: Disaster Cloud Mastery; an incredibly powerful attack that rains magma from the skies.
[Monster Weakness]: Impenetrable defense, impossibly large body; as long as it’s in contact with the
ground, it can raise its defensive power indefinitely. However, mobility is extremely poor, and it has to
be in contact with the earth to maximize its battle potential.
[Monster Introduction]: An Earth Shield Spider that consumed the heart of an evolving Mountain Spirit
King. It was lucky enough to merge and evolve with the Mountain Spirit King to evolve into an extremely
rare Disaster Mountain Spider.
[Requirements for Legendary]: …
Stripey had really hit the jackpot. Even Gao Peng had to marvel at its luck.
Stripey was Epic now. It must have briefly become a Legendary in the process of evolving and gone back
to Epic after hitting Emperor tier.
Unfortunately, that meant that Stripey couldn’t travel with him like it used to. Stripey was basically a
fortress now, only good for defending a particular location.
A whirlwind of emotions was sweeping through Gao Peng. He was overjoyed for Stripey, yet he was also
wracked by an acute sense of loss.
“Stripey.” Gao Peng spread his arms, a huge smile on his face. “Congratulations on making it back.”
Stripey’s enormous body drew closer and closer, uncomfortably so. Gao Peng looked a little nervous. To
be hit by something of that size would be tragic. Even Goldie would be pulverized instantly.
All of a sudden, there Stripey was. It was as if a mountain had landed in front of them, blotting out the
sky. The sheer amount of air its massive body displaced whipped up a violent gale that flattened every
tree in the vicinity.
Head held high, Gao Peng walked up to Stripey with a small smile on his face. Without breaking eye
contact once, he gently stroked the parts of its sandpaper-coarse granite exterior he could reach. It was
warm to the touch.
“Good boy. You’ve grown so big now. You can’t run around like you used to, you know?”
With a huge rumble, a crevasse opened up within the granite. In the inky depths of the crevasse, there
was a single vermillion orb that radiated pulsating waves of immense wisdom and power. It was
Stripey’s eye.
“Master, I want to to hold you again…” Upon seeing Gao Peng, its mind instantly cleared. Its doubts,
fears, and everything in between vanished into the wind.
All it felt was an immense affection for the man in front of him.
“But… I can’t hold you like I used to,” said Stripey wistfully. Its voice was a low, deep, rumble that
seemed to echo and reverberate from the very depths of the mountain.
“You can talk now?” Gao Peng had to pick his jaw up off the floor.
Stripey wasn’t communicating with him through their Blood Contract. Through some organ of its own, it
had an honest-to-goodness voice now!
Gao Peng realized belatedly that this wasn’t the time to focus on that.
The granite rocks on Stripey’s exterior weren’t uniform in size. There were large rocks and little rocks.
Gao Peng picked a small, protruding rock off the surface and gently rolled it between his fingers.
“Why don’t you go to the mountains behind the Southern Sky Group? Don’t worry about anything else.
You’re my familiar, and I’ll see to it that no one gives you trouble.”
“Okay…” Slowly, Stripey blinked. It would go to the ends of the Earth for Gao Peng.
“Since you’ve absorbed the Mountain Spirit’s essence, from now on, you shall be the Ruler of The
Mountains.”
“Ruler of The Mountains? Ruler, of, The, Mountains!” The Spider’s mighty voice was carried by the wind
deep into every nook and cranny of the surrounding mountains…
Chapter 283: Little Monkey
Clank clank…
The sound of the machine whirring and clanking echoed in the carriage. The faintly metallic smell of
blood and the sickly-sweet smell of disinfectant permeated the air.
Clad in black, Dumby slipped out of the bone collection center and bolted the iron doors with well-
practiced ease.
It was already close to 10pm and pitch black outside.
It took out a sixth grade textbook of of his robes and started reading it using the light of the Soul Flames
in its eyes.
Working in the slaughterhouse was a repetitive chore. Every few hours, one had to do the same thing
over and over again, absorbing Soul Flames from the deathly remains sent there.
Soul Flames weren’t souls; they were completely unrelated.
Technically, Soul Flames were the dying vestiges of a soul.
Having worked there for a while, Dumby was bored. Since it wanted to tutor Xiao Hua, it had Gao Peng
buy it a textbook for her so it could familiarize himself with the lessons. Every spare minute it had, it
would go through the textbook.
Absorbing an enormous amount of Soul Flames had not only considerably strengthened its own soul, it
had also enhanced both its memory and its cognitive ability.
Lower-tier monsters had little to no cognitive ability. Only when they improved in tier and grade did they
become more intelligent. The intelligence of Lord-tier monsters was said to be on par with most
humans. All they lacked was common sense and experience.
By chance, Dumby had came across the proverb to “lead by example.” That was why it had wanted to go
through the textbook. It didn’t want Xiao Hua to do this alone, so it wanted to lead by example as her
father.
All too soon, it was almost at the exit. Carefully returning the textbook to its pocket, it bounded out with
a spring in its step, very happy. After all, its master had already promised to brew the evolutionary
potion that Xiao Hua needed in order to evolve.
Red River Apes were good. Dumby had once been a Red River Ape, too. It would never look down upon
them. Yet, it was also a matter of fact that Red River Apes didn’t lead the greatest lives. This was
something that it was always concerned about. As Ghoul-attribute monsters, they had a very long
lifespan, yet this wasn’t necessarily a good thing. To solve this problem, all it needed was for Xiao Hua to
evolve to Commander-tier, or even Lord-tier.
Not knowing if Xiao Hua had actually taken the potion, its mind clouded with worry. It quickened his
footsteps.
“Dumby,” someone called to him from behind.
He turned around only to see Gao Peng waving at him from a small alley.
“Master.” Dumby took a couple of huge steps towards Gao Peng.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already brewed the evolutionary potion that Xiao Hua needs. I have a favor to ask in
return.”
It nodded resolutely. “What is it, Master?”
“There are two souls that I need you to help me harvest.” Gao Peng smiled mysteriously.
Without question, it followed Gao Peng into the woods. Soon enough, they made it to a wide clearing
surrounded by a thicket of trees and bushes. In the moonlight, it could vaguely make out the skeletal
remains of two creatures, one bigger than the other.
The large skeleton was at least ten yards long, with bones as thin as thorns. The sole exception was its
thigh bones, which were particularly thick and powerful. It also had an impressive pair of wings. Perhaps
the most shocking sight of all was the bones in its tail. What should have been an elaborate fan-like
structure of bones was now a haphazard mess. Some of the bones were twisted at impossible angles,
some cracked to the core.
Not far away were the skeletal remains of a far smaller creature, around 13 feet long. It had a powerful
frame, especially its arms, which were shaped like battering rams. It also had a huge bone spur growing
out of its back that appeared to be retractable.
Even in death, the remains of the two creatures released an immense aura, their pearly white bones
gleaming brightly in the moonlight.
Dumby didn’t say a word, nor did it ask about the skeletons. It lifted up its right hand, and a burst of Soul
Flame erupted from its palm.
The flames formed a spinning ring around the larger skeleton and remained that way for quite a while,
but nothing happened. Dumby shook its head. It looked like it wasn’t strong enough to revive this
particular skeleton just yet. It was one level short of the Wooden Peacock and could only revive
monsters that were a lower level than it.
The Level 42 Winged Thunder Ape was a different story, though. The Flames of The Undead flowed like
water into and in between every nook and cranny of its skeleton before engulfing it entirely in a sphere
of white.
The Soul Flames that laid dormant within the skeletal remains of the Winged Thunder Ape were drawn
out and consumed by Dumby’s Flame of the Undead.
Dumby could hear a muted ringing in its ears. At the same time, stray memories appeared in quick
staccato flashes in front of it. It was nothing it hadn’t experienced before. Every Soul Flame it had ever
consumed before had also contained lingering memories just like this. It was imperative that it avoided
absorbing these memories as much as it could to avoid its brain being affected.
With the precision of a surgeon, Dumby sifted through and cut out the unwanted memories like a
cancerous tumor.
These supposedly intangible memories melted like snow near fire upon coming into contact with the
material world, gently coloring the night sky rainbow, like a bubble in sunlight.
In the silvery moonlight, the broken pieces of memory slowly rippled outward, like an ink droplet hitting
the surface of a lake.
In the image, a little brown monkey pranced around, sneaking quick glances at the two-legged creature
in front of it through the bars of its cage.
The leaves rustled soothingly. The sunlight was filtered through the leaves into drops of liquid gold. The
brown monkey, now a little older, tried to catch the light with its hands. The good-natured laughter of
its keeper echoed in the distance…
Then it was the Cataclysm. The animals around it were in uproar. The keeper fumbled with a set of keys
before unlocking a huge metal gate. “Run! All of you, run!”
The other monkeys rushed out of there as quickly as they could. Only the little brown monkey stayed
behind, curiously eyeing the man that fed them every day. It scratched its little head, and after a
moment of thought, flung its arms around the neck of the man in a great hug. Upon seeing him turn
around in shock, the monkey giggled wickedly…
The memory ended there.
This was the Winged Thunder Ape’s most indelible memory. Even in death, it was the one most
important thing left behind.
Gao Peng sighed deeply and closed his eyes.
Chapter 284: Vibration

Every life was an epic story.
To the Winged Thunder Ape, the zoo worker, Jia Lu, was extremely
important. Even in death, memories of Jia Lu were still deeply engraved
into its soul.
As for the Wooden Peacock, which would rather die than submit, it had
already proven its worth as a familiar.
What a shame they had to be enemies.
“Roar!” The corpse of the Winged Thunder Ape let out an explosive yell
as it slowly stood upright. White-hot flames burned brightly in its dark
eye sockets. The sound of the ash-white bones rattling against each
other echoed hauntingly through the forest.
Even though this wasn’t his first time seeing it, Gao Peng was still
amazed nonetheless.
It had the power to bring the dead back to life!
[Monster Name]: Winged Skeletal Ape (Subordinate of Skeletal Tyrant)
[Monster Tier]: Tier 41
[Monster Attribute]: Ghoul/Bone
[Monster Weakness]: Holy/Light
Its grade and tier were one lower compared to before it had been
reincarnated. A reincarnated ghoul wouldn’t be able to access the full
spectrum of its power and abilities from when it was alive. There was a
difference in the strength of all reincarnated ghouls, even though what
affected this difference was yet to be fully understood.
Dumby ordered the Winged Skeletal Ape to carry the remains of the
Wooden Peacock to its master’s lab before going with Gao Peng.
“Xiao Hua already evolved successfully this afternoon. She was still
sleeping in the cottage when I left. Why don’t you go see if she’s awake?
” Gao Peng said with a grin on his face.
Dumby nodded in acknowledgement. It stood motionlessly as it watched
Gao Peng leave. After a few moments, it clenched its right fist in front of
its chest and bowed deeply in the direction of the man who had just left.
Everyone within Yuzhou had received explosive news the day before.
The Southern Sky Group had added to its ranks a Lord-tier familiar—the
Disaster Mountain Spider.
The news swept through the upper echelons of Yuzhou’s society like the
wind, and with frightening speed, it made its way through the other base
cities, then the entire Huaxia region.
Everyone thought it was a joke, until they found out otherwise. Then they
were shocked to the core. Their hearts were torn between feelings of
envy, admiration, and awe.
“I heard that Ji Hanwu already has a Lord-tier White Dragon. Now that
he has another Lord-Tier familiar, isn’t the Southern Sky Group going to
be ridiculously strong?” The mayor of Mo Du Base City could be heard
saying this to anyone who would listen. Somehow, word got out.
That night, the Yuzhou military and the Yuzhou government held an
emergency meeting that lasted a whole three hours.
In the New World Allied Government, the military and the government
had distinct and separate roles. They rarely got along well, so such a
meeting was unheard of.
“Okay. Report our conclusions to the federal government of the Huaxia

region. Let’s not make any sudden moves for now. As long as the
Southern Sky Group doesn’t make any outrageous requests,
accommodate them the best that you can.”
With that, the mayor of Yuzhou Base City concluded their meeting.
The purpose of their meeting wasn’t to oppose the Southern Sky Group
in any way. They’d been forced to have the meeting simply because of
the huge ramifications of this news. Currently, they had no idea whether
or not the other major regions had their own Lord-tier familiars. Even
with the formation of the New World Allied Government, tensions and
secrecy were still high between these regions. Other than a few shared
departments and projects, they were completely in the dark about what
was going on in these regions.
It was common knowledge that there was only one Lord-tier familiar in
the Huaxia region—Ji Hanwu’s White Dragon. Now that he had another
Disaster Mountain Spider, things had to change. Who knew what Ji
Hanwu had planned? It was best to be prepared for anything.
Gao Peng found out the news the following day.
‘Grandfather, you just let the news out like that?” Gao Peng wasn’t used
to being in the limelight. He much preferred doing all of his work in the
shadows.
“I wanted to cover it up for you, but have you seen the size of your
familiar? How am I supposed to hide that? People aren’t blind, y’know?”
Ji Hanwu chuckled.
Gao Peng laughed ruefully. His grandpa had a point. There was no way
to hide Stripey from sight unless they were living among the blind.
“So what if people know?” Ji Hanwu said calmly. “What can they do
about it?”
“Remember. The strong will always prey on the weak! When I first
returned to the Southern Sky Group, we had nothing. The night I came
back, I was ambushed six times by snipers, familiars, and even some
guy who tossed a bomb into my room.” Gao Peng’s ears perked up. This
was the first time his grandfather had ever spoken about his past.
Gao Peng was shocked. “Who would dare do such a thing?!”

Ji Hanwu waved him off. “Because I was gone for a year, they did
whatever they wanted with the group. Naturally, they were pissed when I
came back.” His icy laugh didn’t reach his eyes. “The next day, I took
White Dragon with me and I executed them!”
At this point, he turned around and looked Gao Peng straight in the
eyes. “That put the fear of God in them.”
Gao Peng nodded enthusiastically, looking like a chick pecking at the

ground.
“I was hoping to spare you this for another couple of years or so…” Ji
Hanwu trailed off. He had never thought his grandson would grow so
much so quickly. He smiled wistfully. Who knew that the grandson that
he had wanted to protect so much no longer needed him?
“Grandfather, I’ll take care of you from now on.” Gao Peng’s voice was
like steel.
“Haha. Don’t you worry about me. I still have a couple of tricks up my
sleeve.” Ji Hanwu grinned widely.
The Shifting Constellations Technique had been discovered by Ji Hanwu

in ancient ruins. He had trained in it before, so he knew best just how
powerful it was. He could say for sure now that Gao Peng was definitely
stronger than him and didn’t require his protection any longer.
On the third day, Stripey started moving towards where Gao Peng was.
He eventually settled down in the mountains behind the manor.
The Yuzhou government noticed the gigantic creature, but they turned a
blind eye. The Huaxia region had issued an order earlier—stand down.
This was the Yuzhou government’s official stance. However, the staff at
the Southern Sky Group felt differently. All of a sudden, they felt as
though they were working in the most secure place on Earth…
Chapter 286: The Haunting in The Business District

Gao Peng wasn’t affected by the rumors spreading about him. In fact, he
was rather pleased these days. Even though he didn’t want Da Zi
messing with Stripey, not only did Stripey not seem to mind, it actually
looked like it was enjoying itself.
Now that Da Zi wasn’t there, Stripey was a little antsy. “Gao Peng, where
is Da Zi? Why hasn’t it come to play?” It flopped lazily onto the ground.
Gao Peng was about to tell him the truth, that he had told Da Zi to stay
away, before he caught himself. Damn those large, soulful eyes.
“It is actually preparing a huge surprise for you.”
“Really?” Stripey’s face lit up.
“Yup!”
“Good.” Satisfied, it shot the mansion an expectant glance, as though Da

Zi would show up in front of it if it looked hard enough.
Stripey tried taking a quick nap, but all it could do was roll around
restlessly wondering what surprise Da Zi was cooking up for it.
“I actually thought it didn’t want to play with me anymore.” It smiled

shyly. The earth trembled as it wiggled its massive body.
As Gao Peng descended the mountain, he turned around and looked

tenderly at Stripey, pain written clear on his face.
He finally understood why these huge creatures with enormous lifespans

spent most of their lives asleep. It wasn’t that they cared for it
particularly, it was the fact that there was literally nothing else to do.
Loneliness was the worst.
He wished their dreams would always be free of pain, worry, and

loneliness.
Gao Peng thought of the White Dragon and the Mountain Spirit, and
then it hit him. It was the faintest outline of an idea, but he would
definitely think through it long and hard.
Yuzhou City, Adamantium Bridge Business District.
Before the Cataclysm, this had been where the most prosperous
business district in Yuzhou City was located. Now, it was dotted with
brothels where drinks spread quickly and money flowed easily.
Right in the middle of the district was a 50 foot tall bronze statue of the
Sage King.
Along with a base of around ten feet, the entire sculpture was around 60
feet tall. Wielding a huge crescent blade and atop a scarlet horse, the
striking figure made out of faintly burnished bronze was a landmark of
the area. It caught the eye of the many people who passed through the
area every day. As time went by, however, people grew used to the
majestic sight. They were no longer impressed the way they once had
been.
At dawn, a cool mist flowed through and around the streets, engulfing
the area in a a ghostly cocoon of white. The streets were littered with
stray leaves and empty beer cans.
Clad in blue, the sweeper silently made his way around, cleaning the
streets.
Zheng Changshou wiped the sweat off his brow with a flourish. October
mornings in Yuzhou could get pretty muggy.
Looking up at the majestic statue, his brow furrowed. Was it just him, or
did something look a little strange?
Barely had the thought crossed his mind when he dismissed it. He still
had a lot of the street to cover, and it wasn’t going to clean itself. He did
not want to be caught in the morning rush.
As the morning sun rose ever higher, the sunlight filtering through the
steel jungle cast beautiful designs on the streets below. The statue of the
Sage King was set ablaze as his massive blade was sheathed in golden
light.
“Just like that. Hold that pose. One, two, three, say cheese!”
Tourists loved taking pictures with the statue and they usually did—in
hordes.
“Hmm? Liu Ai, why does this picture look different that the one you
showed me last time?” Lu Feng stabbed an accusing finger at the photo.
“You’re seeing things. The picture was taken from the exact same angle.
Are you questioning my skills?” The woman named Liu Ai wasn’t happy.
“I don’t really know how to explain it…” said Lu Feng as she swiped
through her camera roll at lightning speed. “Look. It’s different, right?”
Liu Ai peered closely. It was the same photo she had taken her first time
at the Adamantium Bridge, from the exact same location.
A chill ran down her spine.
The first picture had been taken a year ago. The Sage King had his head
held high, and he had a slight squint. His left hand stroked his beard,
while he held his crescent blade in the right.
The second picture was very similar, except for the fact that the Sage
King’s head was lowered slightly, staring straight at Lu Feng!
Lu Feng had always been the braver one. She tapped Liu Ai on the
shoulder. “It’s probably just a little loose because of how poorly it has
been maintained.”
Liu Ai said nothing. She turned around to look at the statue of the Sage
King again.
Under the sun, his head was held high, his proud visage a startling sight
to behold.
Lu Feng could tell that Liu Ai wasn’t interested, so she turned around to
look at the Sage King as well.
They were silent. After a beat, they made a beeline out of the place.
“Boss, have you heard? There have been some ghost sightings at the
Adamantium Bridge.” Xu Qingzhi strolled into the lab with materials in
her arms.
“So what? We have two little ghosts right here.” Gao Peng said drily as
he started working with the new materials.
“…”
Upon deeper thought, the boss’ words made sense.
“You’re right, boss.”
“I can’t believe you have time for this. It’s already been three months,
and you still can’t even brew a simple Petrifying Potion? Why don’t you
spend more time on that?” Gao Peng shot her a sharp glance.
She was mad. Who could compare to a freak like her boss?
Having been put down so thoroughly, she didn’t feel like talking to the
jerk anymore.
The very next day, the central area of the Adamantium Bridge Business
District was sealed off. There were several patrol cars stationed by the
yellow police tape.
There were several corpses covered in black cloth lying in the middle of
the sealed off area.
“Where’s the witness?” Police Commander Chang Luoqian could feel a

migraine coming on. To have such a gruesome thing happen under his
watch in the busiest area of the district meant that he was probably
going to hear about it from his superiors.
‘The witness is in the car,” said one of his subordinates as he mumbled

something else.
Luoqian slowly massaged his temples and nodded. “I’ve got it.”
According to the coroner, the victims had been decapitated, their heads
completely severed from their necks. The wound patterns suggested that
it was probably done with a blunt instrument.
Using a blunt weapon to execute someone?
All that told him was that the suspect was monstrously strong.
“This strength is inhuman!”
“Maybe they were murdered by a monster!”
Thus began a lively discussion among the police officers.
“And how did that damn statue vanish? You’re not telling me it ran away
on its own!”
There weren’t any cameras near the scene of the crime, but most of the
surrounding shops did have cameras installed. The forensics team
started examining those videos feverishly to turn up any kind of lead.
The sound of footsteps could be heard outside the conference room.

“Commander, the report is out!”
Chapter 287: Animated Statue

“Hm.” Luo Qian’s face darkened as he flipped through the report.
The black-and-white photo in front of him revealed a huge figure leaving

the crime scene on horseback. If he wasn’t mistaken, that was the huge
bronze statue from the square.
The statue… had come to life?!
Luo Qian was pensive.
If anything, the Cataclysm had numbed him to phenomena of this sort.

He might have been shocked. but it only took him a couple of seconds to
regain his composure.
“Pull all available footage. We need to find that statue!” An assistant

rushed breathlessly into the room. “Sir, its status has been located. It
was spotted at Chengxi Magnet Mouth Plaza.
Luo Qian rubbed his temples slowly. “What? It was found?”
“Sir, it was found at Chengxi Magnet Mouth Plaza. There’s already a

crowd of people around it.”
He drew in a deep breath before issuing a stern command. “Evacuate

the civilians—wait.” What if that alarmed the statue?
He couldn’t figure this statue out. Even though he wasn’t sure the statue
was the murderer, it was highly likely. Why else would the statue have
gone all the way to the Chengxi Magnet Mouth Plaza? Was there any
logic to it?
Luo Qian wasn’t quite sure what to do, but he knew that evacuating
civilians was the top priority. If, for some reason, the statue decided to
go on a killing spree, his job would be on the line.
“Do it quietly, and do it quickly. Don’t alarm the statue. Evacuate the
civilians and bar non-police and non-military personnel from entering
Chengxi Magnet Mouth Plaza.”
“Yes, sir.”
With a grave expression on his face, he quickly made his way to the
garden out back.
The garden was a secret enclosure accessible only to the top figures of
the police department. Shrouded in mystery, rumors started flying
around about it. Some said that it housed an incredibly powerful familiar.
Others said that it housed a squad of elite police officers.
It was actually a spacious clearing with gazebos lining both sides of the
area. He strode directly into an old building at the back of the garden
before making his way downstairs past several secret doors into a room
filled with the latest tech.
Magnet Mouth was a famous commercial district in Yuzhou City. The

difference between this district and the one at Adamantium Bridge was
the fact that Magnet Mouth’s main type of business was trading
creatures and rare materials.
Business didn’t look so good that day. It seemed like businesses there
wasn’t doing very well.
Gao Peng had come here to buy creatures to experiment on. To ensure
that all went as planned, he had decided to do it himself.
For every legitimate shop selling legally sourced creatures, there was an
illegal one doing the exact opposite, where none of the creatures there
had been properly vetted. If one was lucky, it was definitely possible to
walk away with a Perfect-grade creature. Not only did they come a lot
cheaper, but there was an element of chance to it that drew people in
like moths to a flame.
Prices at a legitimate shop were clearly stated. An Obsidian Crystal for

verification purposes, as well as a certification of quality, were included
with the sale of the creature. Obsidian Crystals weren’t cheap, which is
why legitimate creatures cost a lot more.
They also provided a warranty. As long as it was within reason, any

problems one had after the sale would be dealt with very professionally.
Naturally, Gao Peng avoided the legitimate shops like the plague. He
didn’t need the fancy bells and whistles.
After going through several different stores, he was greatly disappointed.

Most of the creatures on sale were Normal-grade or below, and the few
Excellent-grade creatures he came across were ridiculously overpriced.
There wasn’t a single Perfect-grade creature to be seen.
Furthermore, these creatures weren’t in good condition. Many of them

were curled up, motionless, in a corner in their cages. The shyer ones
were actually trembling like leaves.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he could tell what their attributes were, he
would have thought they were sick.
After making a small deposit, Gao Peng left his address and strolled out
into a dark alley. The alley opened out into a vast field, but the entrance
to the field was being blocked off by several police cars.
Not expecting much, he stood on his tiptoes, trying to see what the
commotion was about. He was greeted by the majestic sight of a statue
right in the middle of the field.
It looked very familiar. Wasn’t it the statue of the Sage King from the
Adamantium Bridge Business District?
He did a double take.
As he did, a stream of data faintly started appearing out of the corner of

his eye.
[Monster Name]:…
Hiss—
He closed his eyes in disgust. What the hell was that thing?
Wasn’t it just a regular statue? Why was he getting monster data?

If a mountain could birth a Mountain Spirit, there was no reason why a
statue couldn’t come to life.
[Monster Name]: Animated Bronze Statue (Sage King)
[Monster Level]: 41 (Lord-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Excellent
[Monster Attribute]: Gold
[Monster Ability]: Iron Skin Metal Bones Level 3, Super Durability Level 1
[Monster Weakness]: 1. Earth 2. Electric 3. Items with impurities
[Monster Introduction]: Originally, it was just a normal statue, but it

gained life energy after being infused by the power of wishes. This life
energy was then fully activated by the surrounding spiritual and
elemental energies. Thus, it animated.
The power of wishes? It probably wasn’t faith.
Gao Peng remembered clearly that there were no signs of worship, like
shrines or incense, at the Adamantium Bridge Business District. The
closest it ever came to that was passersby nodding in respect as they
walked past.
If it wasn’t faith, it was probably something else.
His brow furrowed. He was the kind of guy to mind his own business, but
he couldn’t in good conscience allow a monster to run free in the city,
especially when he was in a position to do something about it.
He made a quick call to his grandfather to explain the situation.
“The Yuzhou City Government didn’t tell me about this. They used to,
but not this time.” His grandfather’s tone was calm and measured.
Gao Peng understood what he was trying to say. “But the civilians don’t
know.”
“The Thunder Shell Lord is close to you. It’ll be there as soon as it can.”
This statue couldn’t really cause much trouble in this area, but Gao Peng
was worried for other areas.
He really hoped that there weren’t others like this Animated Statue,
especially in this historical area of Huaxia. That thing that had crawled
out of the royal crypts had already been a handful. He really hoped that
he wasn’t being paranoid.
Slowly, the people gathering around the status started to realize

something was amiss.
The atmosphere turned grim, and some of the more sensitive ones left
the plaza silently.
A group of people in black military garb from the Allied Government

entered the plaza.
Chapter 288: Sage King

The men in black all had a small black insignia on their sleeves. The
insignia was crimson in the middle and embroidered in gold.
“They’re with the Black Flags.” Gao Peng could recognize them right
away.
His grandfather had told him all about the various departments under the
Allied Government, even the secret ones. The Black Flags were a secret
unit under the Allied Government tasked with handling emergencies like
these within the base cities.
With them were scores of jet-black hounds. Each of these hounds was
easily 15 feet long and ten feet tall. Jutting out of each of their backs was
an intimidating row of bone-like protrusions, which tented their skin like
sheer arches.
Their obsidian fur had a glossy sheen to it, and their muscular limbs
hinted at the incredible distances they could cover in a single bound.
[Monster Name]: Obsidian Hound
[Monster Level]: 23-35
[Monster Grade]: Normal (Elite)
[Monster Attribute]: Dark Type
[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Ferocious) (Alert) (Ready)
[Monster Weakness]:…
The level of the hounds ranged from 23 to 35, but not a single one of
them had a grade above Normal. These hounds were obviously well
trained. Not only had they shown no fear in the face of a Lord-tier
monster, they had become even more fired up instead.
Make no mistake, these hounds were an elite combat squad of familiars.
There were at least 50 of them at the scene. That was to say, there were
at least 50 Commander-tier familiars, all of them expertly trained to turn
on a dime. Still, Gao Peng wasn’t quite sure if they could take on the
Lord-tier statue.
After all, this wasn’t a game with offensive and defensive power. If one
couldn’t break through an opponent’s guard, one couldn’t hurt them.
That was why numbers didn’t really matter.
While enough ants could eventually take down an elephant, that, too,
was predicated on the fact that the ants had to actually be able to pierce
through an elephant’s skin.
“Sir, I’m going to need you leave this area,” said a young police officer
politely.
“You should stay away, too. That monster is insanely strong.” Gao Peng
smiled lightly as he turned to leave.
Naturally, he didn’t actually leave. He only backed a few hundred yards
away.
More and more police familiars were being brought into the plaza. He
even spotted a few military personnel there, as well.
They surrounded the statue, eyeing it warily.
In the apartments surrounding the plaza, people gathered on their

balconies to watch the unfolding spectacle.
With all eyes on it, even a dumb brute like the statue could tell
something was amiss.
Amidst the noise in the background,the head of the bronze statue slowly
swiveled around with a creak and let out an ear-splitting cry as it raised
its crescent blade, which gleamed spectacularly in the midday sun, to
the sky.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bronze steed started trampling wildly into the crowd of people
around it, the giant crescent blade letting out a low hum.
A fearsome burst of wind ripped through the air, rattling the bricks on the
ground.
Bang! Another stomp. A ring of dark golden light emanated from the
point where its hoof had struck and slowly radiated outward. The ring
was strangely beautiful in its uniformity, with sharp lances of light
decorating the four cardinal points of the ring.
Nobody really paid attention to this, since they were looking at a Lord-tier
creature after all!
The curious spectators around the plaza quickly drew their windows and
curtains shut, but they still couldn’t help peeking out.
Some of the more cowardly ones left the area altogether.

“Control the situation, and let it be known that a Lord-tier familiar has
appeared in the city! Hurry!” Upon seeing the ring of light that burst forth
from the statue, Luo Qian’s face paled. His immediate concern wasn’t
damage control, but how to save his job. “Evacuate everyone in the
vicinity as well! This part of the city is now a Red Zone!”
Anger bloomed in his chest. What are you stupid people gawking at?
Don’t you realize you’re all about to die?
The battle at the center of the plaza was already underway!
With a mighty sweep of its crescent blade, the statue cleared a path
through the hounds surrounding it and immediately attempted to break
through.
‘Woof!” The hound closest to the statue lunged out, a whirling dervish of
fangs and claws.
It managed to catch the back of the horse, but its claws, which were
strong enough to crush iron, could only leave the merest of scratches.
Thud!
In a flash, the hound was struck down by the crescent blade with an ugly
thud. The creature slumped onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Blood and froth oozed from its nose and mouth, its arched back broken
clean in two.
Enraged, the pack of hounds surged forward to avenge their fallen

comrade.
That did it. The fleeing statue slowed and turned around to face the pack
of hounds, its left hand casually stroking its beard.
“Die!”
Such was its speed that the ghostly afterimages of the crescent blade
slicing and dicing through the hounds lingered on even after the hounds
fell.
While its technique weren’t overly impressive, it was effective
nonetheless. Factored in with its god-like strength, and the fight was
over before it had even begun.
“Tell them to stand down. Stand down!” Luo Qian was beside himself
while watching his familiars being swatted down like flies.
Under orders, those hounds that could still move stood down, but there
were only 30 of them left at that point.
The rest were lying motionlessly on the ground. Some of them were
distorted beyond recognition, a blood-curdling mess of bone and flesh.
The worst of them were barely breathing, their insides leaking out of the
gaping holes in their bellies.
All of a sudden, Gao Peng felt the earth rumble beneath him, and a
manhole cover shot up into the sky. The ground trembled violently,
rough cracks radiating outwards from the epicenter.
There was another huge rumble. A drill of midnight purple emerged from
the ground. Intricate patterns of lightning could be seen on the drill,
which was crackling with violent electricity.
There was a brief moment of silence before the ground erupted, causing
debris to fly in all directions. It was a good thing that the civilians had
already evacuated. Other than Gao Peng, there were no civilians in
sight.
Somewhere far away, Stripey felt a little itch on its back, almost like a
mosquito sting.
Chapter 289: Sage King vs. the Thunder Shell Lord

There was an enormous breach in the ground. The faint odor of rotting
sewage wafted through it.
The Thunder Shell Lord emerged slowly from the breach, lightning
dancing around it. Maybe it was the sunlight, but the lightning didn’t look
particularly intimidating. However, it was enough to catch the attention of
the surrounding officers.
“Hold it!”
“Who goes there?”
“Have your familiar stand down!”
Several armed officers, along with their familiars, circled the Thunder
Shell Lord cautiously.
“Officers, I’m merely a law-abiding citizen of the Alliance. Please, hold

your fire.” Gao Peng raised both his arms in what he hoped was a non-
threatening manner.
“What is it this time?” Luo Qian could hear the commotion. He already
had his hands full with the current situation, and he simply didn’t have
the time for this. He really wanted to throw the troublemaker into jail for a
couple of months, just because he could.
“Sir, someone with a familiar from the Dark Alley wants to see you.”
“Who could this person be?” he mused. “Send him over.” He had already
made up his mind. If this person was here just to waste his time, he
would throw the guy in jail for a couple of months.
As soon as Gao Peng made his way over, Luo Qian couldn’t keep his
eyes off of the Thunder Shell Lord. It felt very familiar, as though they
might have met long before this.
“Wait. Isn’t this…” His eyes widened. Joy surged through him. He
remembered the familiar now.
Talk about a timely entrance.
“And you are…?” Luo Qian rarely watched TV. He had no time to watch
competitions and the like, so he had no idea who he was talking to.
“Mr. Gao is fine,” Gao Peng said modestly.
“Oh, I see. Mr. Gao.” He knew it was just an alias, but he didn’t care.
“Mr. Gao, please lend us your assistance in subduing this rampaging
monster. For the sake of the city and all its people, I implore you.”
“Naturally.” Gao Peng nodded. “This is my civic duty for the Alliance.”
‘Thunder Shell Lord.” Gao Peng turned around to face it.
Hearing that name confirmed what Luo Qian knew, that this familiar did
indeed belong to that renowned person. At the same time, he couldn’t
help but wonder just who exactly this “Mr. Gao” was.
Just because he didn’t watch TV didn’t mean that his officers didn’t.
Quite a few of them recognized Gao Peng and quietly told him who he
was.
Upon hearing that he was a Lord-tier monster trainer and the grandson
of that famous person, Luo Qian’s eyes lit up.
He immediately grasped both of Gao Peng’s hands. “Thank you, Gao

Peng.”
“Mr. Gao is fine.” Gao Peng waved his hand airily.
Luo Qian was curious. If news of this got out, it would only improve his
reputation, and immensely so. Why was he going to such lengths to
keep his identity a secret?
“Right now, I’m merely a civic-minded citizen. Naturally, all credit for the
subduing of this Lord-tier monster will go to you, Commander Luo.”
That didn’t make Luo Qian happy at all. If anything, it gave him a bad
feeling. Gao Peng was obviously after something much bigger than this.
However, Luo Qian didn’t have a choice. He waved his officers away so
he could speak with Gao Peng privately. “If there’s anything you need
from me, please feel free—”
“You want the glory, I want the reward. I don’t want the credit for this, but
I will be claiming the spoils of victory for myself. I hope we can come to
an understanding on this.”
Luo Qian was conflicted, yet he had no choice but to agree. “Very well.
Is there anything else?”
“Not at the moment, but I’ll reach out if I need anything from your side.”
Gao Peng knew that this bronze Sage King statue was weak to lightning,
but he wisely said nothing about it.
Having cut down those who had tried to stop it, the statue turned to
leave.
All of a sudden, it heard the tell-tale crackle of electricity behind it. A

streak of lightning screamed through the air and blew open a smoking
crater right by its feet.
The statue turned around slowly to face the Thunder Shell Lord. It had
run out of patience and didn’t plan on leaving just yet.
Without warning, it charged straight at the Thunder Shell Lord. Dragging

the crescent blade through the ground, it ripped a huge trench in the
ground as sparks rained down. Going ever faster, it bore down on the
Thunder Shell Lord like a hurricane. As the wind roared, debris started
flying with greater intensity.
The Thunder Shell Lord calmly extended two long, delicate laws into the
air, reminding Gao Peng of a lightning rod. The next moment, a sphere
of pure lightning started forming around its claws. Even the air current
surrounding it started swirling. Arcs of electricity flickered and flashed as
power surged through its body.
With sickening speed, it unleashed a ferocious attack. Streams of

lightning energy slithered along the ground like snakes toward the
statue.
Just before the Sage King was struck, its steed leapt more than 30 feet
straight into the air. All that could be seen of it was its shadow.
The electric snakes on the ground shot straight into the air in hot pursuit,
as though drawn together by magnets. Within seconds, they had latched
onto the horse’s legs.
In a flash, the leg disintegrated.
The electric snakes then gathered and created a web, ensnaring and
immobilizing the statue instantly.
Once the statue was fully trapped, the Thunder Shell Lord yanked it back
to the ground with a mighty pull.
It landed in the middle of the plaza with a resounding boom.
As the smoke cleared, the statue was rolling around the ground and
trying to escape, looking rather undignified as it did so.
The Thunder Shell Lord amped up its power. Countless webs of lightning
started materializing around the statue, entombing it in a grisly cocoon of
pure energy.
No matter how strong it was, it could barely move now. The Sage King
statue was basically a beached whale at this point.
Mustering one final attempt, it tried to raise its crescent blade. It barely
got the blade halfway up before its arm snapped violently and fell limply
onto the ground.
“The battle is over.”
Gao Peng was amazed. He’d had no idea that elemental submission
could be so violent.
Chapter 290: Suppression

Bronze was an extremely good conductor of electricity. The statue was

racked with painful jolts of electricity as it laid motionless. The arcs of
lightning were so incredibly dense and powerful that they materialized as
thick, golden chains that bound the statue to the ground.
The battle was over before Luo Qian could carry out even one of the
many strategies he had thought of before the skirmish.
Staring at Gao Peng and the Thunder Shell Lord in disbelief, he opened
his mouth to say something but wisely decided against it.
This had all seemed too easy to him, over in a flash.
Deep down, though, he knew. It wasn’t that the statue was weak. The
Thunder Shell Lord was just that strong. As expected of that man’s
familiar, to be able to take down a reincarnated Sage King in the blink of
an eye.
[Monster Name]: Animated Bronze Statue (Sage King)
[Monster Condition]: Slightly Hurt (Paralyzed)
A close subordinate whispered slyly in his ear, “Commander, is it

possible that the statue expended too much strength against our men
earlier and is running on fumes now?”
Luo Qian smiled humorlessly. “Why don’t you take Mr. Gao’s place?”
The man grinned bashfully. He could tell the difference in their abilities,
so he took the hint and shut his mouth.
Gao Peng had extraordinary hearing. Even though Luo Qian was at least
65 feet away from him, he heard their little exchange as clear as day.
He had a growing respect for Luo Qian, the clever man. If he had wanted
to burn bridges, Gao Peng would have had no problem playing along.
The minute the Thunder Shell Lord stopped releasing its electricity, the
bronze statue would instantly spring to life and decimate every officer
present.
Gao Peng couldn’t help but admire the statue’s incredible defense. Even
after being subjected to countless lightning-based attacks, there was
barely a scratch on it. Given that it was actually weak to lightning, its
physical defense must have been even more formidable.
It wasn’t without weaknesses, though. The lightning attacks had

basically rendered it helpless. If its other weak points had been exposed
at the same time, it wouldn’t have been able to last as long as it had.
Gao Peng wasn’t really too impressed with a Lord-tier creature with such
an obvious weakness.
To evolve a Lord-tier creature into an Emperor-tier one would take too

much time. If statues like this one were reanimating all over the world,
there were surely better ones he could work with.
It would be a huge hassle to transport the statue back to the Southern

Sky group. Because it needed to be constantly suppressed with
lightning, a normal truck wouldn’t do. Even if the truck could handle the
lightning, there was no way a normal human driver could.
Eventually, Southern Sky deployed a heavily modified truck to bring the

statue back. The container was made of a special insulated material,
and the inside was also lined with a special kind of bark that had strong
insulating properties.
Once the statue was loaded into the container, the Thunder Shell Lord
laid quietly behind it, suppressing it with a constant flow of electrical
energy.
After an hour, they were almost home. At this point, the dark purple shell
on the Thunder Shell Lord’s back had paled considerably. With it’s fine
claws, it tapped the floor lightly, as though saying, “I need a break.”
Gao Peng could tell how exhausted it was. After all, it couldn’t have been
easy suppressing a Lord-tier creature, whether it was weak to lightning
or not.
Once they reached the Southern Sky Group, they entered through the
side. The statue, which was still putting up a rather spirited fight, quieted
suddenly.
Finally, the statue was unloaded by the lake. The truck driver looked
quizzically at the statue before flooring it out of there.
Now that they were there, the Thunder Shell Lord could finally take a
break.
Feeling the chains of lightning keeping it captive dissipating, the statue

slowly got to its feet. It looked like a centaur the way its legs seemed
glued to the sides of its horse.
Flourishing its crescent blade, it shot a quick glance at the Thunder Shell
Lord. Narrowing its eyes, it turned around abruptly and took a mighty
swing at Gao Peng!
Gao Peng casually intercepted the blade with his left hand.
Raising his eyebrows, Gao Peng flicked the blade away violently,
causing the statue to stumble backwards.
The statue was just about to try again when an ear-splitting roar rocked
them both. The roar echoed in the mountains and out into the distance.
The bronze statue went limp, and its skin rippled furiously. It felt weak all
of a sudden, as though someone had just ripped off its skin.
From between the mountains, an enormous head poked out, its gaze
fixed upon the statue.
An enormous fissure opened up beneath the statue’s feet. It couldn’t

escape in time and was swallowed up by the ground from the waist
down. Layers of earth started enveloping the statue. It formed what
looked like a giant meatball.
Cracks started appearing in the earth, but just as quickly as they

appeared, they were plastered over by even more layers of earth.
Eventually, the statue was fully entombed in a 60 foot wide ball of earth.
The ball started rolling towards Stripey and eventually landed
somewhere near his rump. Stripey then rather unceremoniously sat on
the ball, like a hen warming its eggs.
Under the careful manipulation of both the Allied Government and the
Southern Sky Group, this situation was quickly brought under wraps.
Naturally, the Allied Government didn’t want people finding out about this
crisis, while the Southern Sky Group was perfectly content adding a
Lord-tier creature to their ranks in secret.
After all, the news about the two Emperor-tier familiars was still
spreading like wildfire. Something like this would barely register in the
collective consciousness of the people.
After some digging, Gao Peng found out that statues were animating all
over the world. Depending on the material of the statues, their abilities
were all vastly different.
Gao Peng had noe huge concern—the statue of the Huan Shan Buddha
had yet to show signs of life. The Huan Shan Buddha statue was located
in Ba Shu, which was rather close to both the Yuzhou and Suzhou base
cities.
Although the Huan Shan Buddha statue wasn’t the largest in the Huaxia
region, it was definitely in the top five. More importantly, it had a wealth
of history that no other buddha statue had. It had been built in the Tang
Dynasty and been the destination of pilgrims and travellers alike for
thousands of years.
According to reports, the Huan Shan Buddha was located where three
rivers met, specifically the Min River, the Qing Yi River, and the Da Du
River.
Legend had it that before the statue was built, the place was constantly
afflicted by terrible floods. After the statue was built, the floods stopped
occurring as often as they once had.
“Young Master Gao, this was a photo taken recently somewhere near
the Huan Shan Buddha.” Huang Ya slid Gao Peng a couple of pictures.
In the pictures, the Huan Shan Buddha had a benevolent smile on its
face. The raging rivers were as smooth as a mirror, with not a ripple in
sight…
Chapter 291: What Does A Statue Like?

(Author’s note: Just to clarify, the story is set in a parallel world where
Emperor Taizu and other historical figures from our world never existed.)
Gao Peng frowned. No matter how hard he tried to look at the picture of
the Huan Shan Buddha statue, he still couldn’t bring up its stats sheet.
There was a chance that the Buddha statue was, in all respects, still an
ordinary stone statue.
The region’s geography had changed drastically when the Cataclysm

struck. The Yangtze river had became even more turbulent, while the
mountains were even steeper and less hospitable to other life forms.
Even the waters of the Min and Da Du rivers had grown more violent
after the Cataclysm.
The calm waters of the three rivers depicted in the picture seemed
almost unreal to Gao Peng.
He put away the picture and continued his research.
The Huan Shan Buddha statue’s awakening was a clear sign that a
certain event had caused a ripple effect that had spread across the
entire Huaxia region.
The occurrence had taken place in the Yuncheng base city in the Bing
province. Yuncheng City was located to the north of the capital,
Jingyang, and was one of the smaller base cities in the Huaxia region.
There was a rather popular spot called the Yungang Grottoes located a
few miles west of Yuncheng City.
The Yungang Grottoes were renowned for their majestic Buddha

statues.
There were 53 caves in total that housed at least 50,001 Buddha

statues.
In just one night, all the Buddha statues had come to life.
A golden light shone out from the Grottoes for miles. Arcane chanting
filled the caves when the statues came to life.
No one knew for sure what had happened there. However, this
mysterious phenomenon had certainly shaken the entire Huaxia region.
According to the information that Gao Peng had received, the Allied
Government’s Huaxia branch had already dispatched a team to
investigate the new life-forms in the Yungang Grottoes.
As the other regions were also swamped with similar troubles, the
Huaxia region had no choice but to deal with this alone.
Statues had reportedly come to life all over the world, specifically in
places with long and rich histories, like Rome and Egypt.
The Allied Government is losing control of the situation, thought Gao

Peng. Even though every nation in the world had decided to come
together to form the New World Allied Government in order to prevent
humanity from falling too far behind in the evolutionary race, the truth
remained that the world was evolving way too quickly.
Humanity had long been booted from the top of the food chain. Its
position grew more precarious by the day as the world continued to
evolve around it.
Gao Peng shuddered at the thought of humanity faltering in the

evolutionary race.
“This is madness… Why have the statues come to life?” muttered Gao
Peng as he rubbed his temples.
There was no point complaining about it now. The only thing Gao Peng
could do was accept it and focus his efforts on becoming even stronger.
As long as he kept himself ahead of the evolutionary race, he would

always have the power to protect his loved ones.
“Bring it on. Let’s see if my familiars can evolve faster than you, world…”
mumbled Gao Peng.
Gao Peng had never performed an experiment on a Lord-tier monster. A

bronze statue of Guan Gong would be his first subject.
Despite its intimidating appearance, the Guan Gong bronze statue

wasn’t terribly strong.
It wouldn’t attack any other life form unless provoked. Its Buddha-like
stoicism was what had intrigued Gao Peng in the first place.
After doing his research, Gao Peng found out that it had killed someone
in the commercial district near Jingang Bridge and later been found in a
porcelain shop.
This was all that Gao Peng had gathered so far about the statue. Luo
Qian had also warned him that it was extremely aggressive and a Lord-
tier monster to boot. “If you can’t handle it at your place, you can always
hand it over to the police,” suggested Luo Qian.
“Thanks, I’ll think about it,” said Gao Peng before hanging up the phone.
Then he turned around and looked at the stone cottage that was
designed to hold the Guan Gong bronze statue.
He didn’t need to assign a guard to it. He had Stripey stay with the
statue every day. Every time the spider felt bored, Gao Peng would let it
play with the statue.
Inside the building, the Guan Gong bronze statue stood rooted to the
ground, as if it had accepted its fate as Gao Peng’s prisoner.
[Monster Name]: Animated Bronze Statue (Guan Gong)
[Monster Status]: Healthy (Calm)
[Likes]: 1. Standing motionless on the ground, pretending to be an

ordinary statue 2. Decapitating evildoers.
Huh, an animated statue that likes standing still all day like an ordinary
statue. Nothing wrong with that, thought Gao Peng.
Gao Peng entered the stone cottage and looked the Animated Bronze
Statue up and down, from its feet to its head.
The Animated Statue didn’t seem to have heard him come in. It had an
imperious expression on its face while holding its spear to its side. The
horse it was riding was frozen in place with both its front hooves up in
the air.
“Can you hear me?” asked Gao Peng.
“…”
Gao Peng shook his head. Even though it was just a statue that was
made in Guan Gong’s likeness, he was quite impressed that it had the
imperial air of one of the greatest figures in Chinese history down pat.
“I’ll just let you do your thing,” said Gao Peng before leaving the building.
The next day, Gao Peng sent someone to bring a couple of chickens into
the stone cottage. He also had someone set up a watering trough and
some chicken coops there.
The bronze statue remained standing there without showing any signs of
life.
In less than a day, the ground was already littered with chicken
droppings.
The stench of the droppings became unbearable after a few days. Some
of the chickens had even taken dumps on the statue’s feet.
A week later, the ground was caked with a layer of droppings. The
chickens had left poop tracks all over the statue’s feet. Gao Peng
noticed that all the chickens were still alive.
The bronze statue had remained completely motionless for the whole
week.
“There’s no way I can beat a statue in a patience contest,” muttered Gao

Peng.
He ordered someone to bring out all the chickens and clean up the stone
cottage.
Gao Peng then brought his laboratory equipment into the stone cottage.
He had decided to stay alongside the statue for the next few days to
continue his experiment.
Naturally, Stripey was ecstatic about this.
“So black dog blood can’t corrupt it…” Gao Peng frowned. He had
gathered quite a lot of information about the statue during his
experiment, including its hardness, defense, and elemental resistances.
He had also discovered that all awakened statues shared the same
weakness: the propensity to be corrupted.
If he could figure out what the Animated Bronze Statue’s corrupting

agent was, he would be able to break it.
Chapter 292: The Yungang Buddha Statues

There’s a chance that its corrupting agent isn’t something that can
usually be found in this world. Maybe it’s something that the Cataclysm
brought into existence, thought Gao Peng.
He put away his laboratory equipment and said to Stripey, “Stripey, I’ll
leave you here with the statue. Go play with it if you’re feeling bored.”
Stripey nodded and watched as Gao Peng left the stone cottage.
Poke, poke.
When Gao Peng was finally gone, Stripey began playfully prodding at
the statue.
This new toy that Gao Peng had given it was quite sturdy. No matter
how much Stripey played with it, it still remained intact.
As tolerant as the Guan Gong statue seemed, it wouldn’t let just anyone
or anything touch it like that.
The bronze statue glared at Stripey as it silently judged its own size
against the mountain-sized spider.
Don’t test me, spider!
Still having too much fun with its new toy, Stripey poked it gently with
one of its massive legs and sent it tumbling to the ground.
“Hey, have you ever heard of me?” asked Stripey happily.
Monsters of the same species were usually capable of communicating

with one another.
Even though Stripey was a spider, it was able to communicate with other
rock-type monsters, an ability it had obtained after absorbing the
Mountain Spirit King’s essence.
The Guan Gong statue simply didn’t want to engage with the spider.
“I think you have heard of me. I’ve been getting a lot of praise from the
humans outside recently. They’ve been talking about how I’m the
greatest familiar in the world. Can’t blame them; it’s the truth!” Stripey
was overjoyed to have finally found someone to talk to. It crawled to the
Guan Gong statue’s side and began talking excitedly to it.
However, the conversation was mostly one-sided, as the bronze statue
didn’t say a word to it.
“Metal man, did you know? That was probably one of my coolest
moments ever,” Stripey gushed enthusiastically while tapping on the
Guan Gong statue’s head with its leg.
The Guan Gong statue remained mute.
“Hey, did you know? I think that the mealworms that Gao Peng bought
for me in Chang’an City were the tastiest things I’ve ever tasted. I
haven’t had anything tastier since,” continued Stripey, sounding
somewhat disappointed.
“Have you eaten mealworms? Oh, I completely forgot that you’re a metal
man. You probably don’t need to eat, do you? It’s a shame. You
probably don’t even know what it’s like to taste.”
The Guan Gong statue continued to say nothing.
“Have you ever been to Chang’an City? You’ve probably never been
there. It’s almost as big as Yuzhou City,” Stripey went on.
Finally, the Guan Gong statue blurted out, “Could you please stop
talking?”
Stripey looked at the bronze statue in surprise. “You can talk?”
That night, Gao Peng was searching for information on recently

discovered monsters from other regions when suddenly, he heard
Spidey’s voice in his head. “Gao Peng, I finally cracked the statue.”
“How did you do it?” Gao Peng was taken aback. It had only taken
Stripey a day to accomplish what he had been trying to do for a week.
“Nothing, we just chatted for a bit,” said Stripey happily. “It probably just
wanted to be my friend.”
“All right. Did you ask it why it killed someone that day?”
“It said that it saw a couple of hooligans causing trouble in the

neighborhood that night, so it decided to step in.”
Gao Peng nodded to himself. “So why didn’t it flee from Yuzhou City
immediately after killing them? Why did it hide in a porcelain shop
instead?”
Stripey fell silent for a moment, then it said, “The statue said that it
wanted to leave Yuzhou City by following the western side of the city, but
it got lost, so it decided to rest in the store during the day and resume its
journey at night.”
At first, Gao Peng had assumed that the statue was searching for an
elemental artifact or some sacrificial offering in the city to help it evolve.
Hearing that it had only gotten lost and stopped at the porcelain store to
rest somewhat diminished the mystery around the statue.
However, despite its cold, impassive exterior, the bronze statue was still
a monster.
Every news outlet in the Huaxia region was abuzz about the Yungang
Grottoes.
Although the Huaxia Government issued quick responses to silence the

matter, news about the grottoes still managed to leak, making everyone
antsy.
Every news channel had captured footage of the grottoes from various
angles.
In them, one could see that the grottoes’ walls, which had once been a
dull gray, were now awash with a golden light. Small stone statues were
caught peeking out from their shrines and staring curiously at the
reporters. Some of them were a bit shy and timidly hid from the cameras.
They appeared to be a new species of monsters that had evolved from
stone statues. The short Buddha statues seemed like children, filled with
curiosity and wonder about the world around them. On the other hand,
the adult-sized statues appeared more mature and dignified.
Some of the Buddha statues sat cross-legged in the grottoes and

generally ignored the reporters as they chanted their Buddhist verses.
It was as if a whole new world had popped up out of nowhere.
“These Buddha statues are actually alive. That’s just incredible. I

remember visiting the Yungang Grottoes once. Back then, they were all
just inanimate mounds of stone.”
“Really gets you thinking. Will we become extinct one day?”
“Man, this world really has it out for us humans…”
Everyone began expressing their wonder and fears about this after
watching the news.
Some even began discussing the possibility of taming these statues to

become their familiars.
“In accordance to the agreement made between the Allied Government

and the Buddha Statues of the Yungang Grottoes, the Allied
Government has agreed to delineate the 20-mile area around the
Yungang Grottoes as the statues’ critical habitat and has forbidden
anyone or any organization from entering the place to capture these
creatures for their own means. In exchange, the Buddha statues of the
Yungang Grottoes will be providing their assistance to the base city of
Bingzhou in their efforts to curb the monster invasion that has troubled
the city for weeks…”
Gao Peng turned off the television.
He had seen the monsters’ stats in the news.
[Monster Name]: Yungang Buddha Statue

[Monster Level]: Level 6-40
[Monster Grade]: Normal, Excellent, Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Earth, Rock
The news footages had captured mostly Normal-tier to Commander-tier

Buddha statues. The highest monster grade among them was Perfect.
Gao Peng hadn’t seen any Epic-level monsters, but then again, the
reporters hadn’t ventured that far into the grottoes.
Even though Gao Peng hadn’t seen any Lord-tier Buddha statues on the
news, he had a feeling that they did exist in the caves. Otherwise, the
Huaxia government wouldn’t have been so secretive about the whole
affair.
Chapter 293: Stripey’s Back

A few days later, the furor around the awakened stone statues gradually
died down.
This was because most people soon found that it was extremely difficult
to sign a blood contract with them.
Some had even captured these statues by force and tried to coerce
them into signing a blood contract, but their efforts were all in vain.
These stone statues were a remarkably resolute species.
They would have rather had their bodies shattered into a million pieces
than submit to anyone else.
Most trainers trained their familiars with the carrot-and-stick approach.

Some even chose to raise their familiars from a young age so that they
could grow more intimate with each other. Doing so would also make it
easier to sign a blood contract with their familiars.
It was also noted that more intelligent monsters were easier to train, as
they were more receptive to fear.
After dinner, Gao Peng and his grandfather sat by the lake while
enjoying the peace and quiet outside.
After hesitating for a while, Gao Peng finally said to his grandfather,
“Grandpa, I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s going to work.”
“Well, if you think it’s a good idea, just do it,” said Ji Hanwu with a warm
smile.
“Yeah…” said Gao Peng, nodding.
He began explaining his idea to his grandfather. “There are countless

treasures still waiting to be found in the mountains outside Yuzhou City.
There’s a chance we might strike gold in this endeavor, but I also think
that we wouldn’t be able to cover enough area with the Southern Sky
Group’s influence alone. Instead of just having the whole cake for
ourselves, I think it would be better to split the cake for everyone to eat.”
“Go on,” said Ji Hanwu.
“After absorbing the Mountain Spirit King’s essence, Stripey now has a
bit of Mountain Spirit aura in it. I’m thinking about letting it bring the
Mountain Spirits together and possibly establishing a Mountain Spirit
outpost of sorts in the wild.
“The wild has always been a dangerous place to explore, especially at

night. For the past few years, Yuzhou’s Monster Hunter Association has
stripped the forest area near the city of its valuable resources, while only
an intrepid few have dared to venture into the depths of the wild. You’ve
probably noticed that the overexploitation of these resources has caused
their prices to go up a lot.
“I think that we could provide a safe place for organizations or

adventurous individuals to rest in the wild by building an outpost in the
mountains. We could also set up living spaces on the Mountain Spirits
and maybe even a commercial area where we can sell supplies at five
times the market price. I think that’s quite reasonable, seeing that we
would be the ones handling their transportation. We could also charge
our guests for accommodation, maybe even a fixed amount per hour in
the morning…”
“Not a bad idea. Have you tried reaching out to the Mountain Spirits? I
don’t think this idea of yours would require too much finessing. The only
hard part about it would be to persuade the native Mountain Spirits to
help you with your plan.”
After thinking for a while, Gao Peng replied, “I’ll try.”
In a manner of speaking, Stripey had become a Mountain Spirit King,

albeit an unofficial one. This could work, thought Gao Peng.
If Stripey could convince the other Mountain Spirit Kings to help him, he
would be able to proceed with the rest of his plan.
The next day, Gao Peng headed out to the mountains alongside Stripey.
Despite its increase in size, Stripey’s speed hadn’t diminished in the

slightest. Each of its steps was equal to 100 steps made by any other
monster. However, Stripey had grown too big to ride on an airplane or a
helicopter. The only way Stripey could move from one point to another
now was by putting one foot in front of the other.
Gao Peng and his familiars were all riding on Stripey’s back, which was
covered with lines of ravines and hills. Only a small portion of it was flat.
Gnarled tangerine trees had sprouted from some of the ravines. Their
leaves were yellowing, and some of the oranges on them seemed small
and shriveled.
These trees had all been planted by Da Zi.
There were rows of holes near the trees. Columns of black smoke
issued out of the holes and into the dark clouds overhead. Streaks of red
flashed across the clouds at times, as if a malevolent entity was spying
on them from the sky.
“Whew, it’s kinda hot here.” Gao Peng wiped some of the sweat off his
face.
The heat from the black smoke was coming from beneath the Earth’s
crust. Gao Peng figured that he could probably smoke meat with it if he
wanted to.
“Next time, don’t put anything on Stripey’s back without its permission.
It’s not polite,” said Gao Peng, flicking a finger on Da Zi’s head.
“All right… But Gao Peng, didn’t you build a house on Stripey’s back as
well?” asked Da Zi, pointing at the little cottage behind Gao Peng. It had
a black roof, white walls, and a huge umbrella in front of its entrance.
Gao Peng coughed. “Well, I asked for Stripey’s permission first!”
“I did too…”
Gao Peng quickly clasped a hand over its mouth and said, “Have you
completed today’s drills?”
Upon hearing this, Da Zi’s head drooped slightly, and it obediently

scuttled towards the training equipment area.
“Stripey, are we making you feel uncomfortable with the things we’ve
built on your back?” asked Gao Peng.
Stripey happily replied, “Not at all, Gao Peng. My back’s literally made of
stone. I can’t feel anything there. Also, this way, you can all live on my
back and keep me company all day.”
All of a sudden, a crack appeared on the ground, where a pair of eyes

blinked at Gao Peng mischievously.
Gao Peng couldn’t help but smile at this. “Brat.”

Stripey had a steady gait. Even when it was walking over a bumpy area,
Gao Peng didn’t feel the ground sway beneath his feet.
Gao Peng poured himself a cup of tea and lazily watched his familiars
work out diligently in the training area.
They really take after their master! thought Gao Peng with pride.
Suddenly, Gao Peng heard a sharp cry overhead. A crane gracefully

landed on Stripey’s back with a fish thrashing about wildly in its beak.
“Gao Peng, you’ll never guess what I found just now!”
Chapter 294: A Collaboration

Flamy swallowed its catch and said, “I just saw a huge whale flying in the
sky. It was flying north.”
“A whale?” Silly startled from its sleep on Gao Peng’s head and looked
around in panic. “Where? Where is it?”
“It flew away,” said Gao Peng, pinching Silly’s head.
“Oh, thank god,” it said, sighing in relief.
It then sprawled across Gao Peng’s head, rumpling his hair in the
process.
Out of the corner of its eye, Flamy saw a pillar of black smoke rising from
a hole. Being a fire-type familiar, it was quite drawn to the heat that was
being given off by the smoke.
When it breathed in the black smoke, it started coughing uncontrollably

and immediately covered its nostrils with its wings.
Suddenly, a bony black hand clasped Flamy’s shoulder. Dumby had

appeared out of nowhere behind Flamy with a compassionate look on its
face.
“It’s not healthy to breathe in smoke like that,” said Dumby, fierce flames
crackling in its eye sockets.
Silly stared back at it dumbly.
Dumby let go of the bird and plodded towards the black smoke.
Suddenly, the fire in its eye sockets burned even more fiercely as
Dumby breathed in deeply, sucking in the black smoke through its
nostrils.
Dumby turned to Flamy and said, “The smell’s a bit difficult to handle,
especially for a beginner like you. Come with me.”
Flamy’s jaw dropped. There must be some sort of misunderstanding

here, it thought.
When Dumby saw that Flamy was still standing there, it waved a hand at
the bird and said gently, “Relax. I’m not addicted to this stuff. It’s just that
friends who like the same things I do are so hard to come by these
days.”
Before it realized what was happening, Flamy found itself staggering

over to Dumby’s side.
Dumby bent down to open a wooden crate on the ground that was filled
with rows of two-foot-long, seven-inch-wide packets. Each packet was
mounted with strips of silver and felt rough to the touch.
Dumby took a packet from the crate and shook a small rod-shaped
object out of it.
“Here, take a puff of this. It’s made from powdered Yin cedar needles
mixed with Spirit Fruit juice. Long-term use of it can help sharpen your
senses and calm your nerves. Go on, try it,” said Dumby, handing the
rod-shaped object to Flamy.
Flamy blinked a few at times at it and shook its head furiously.

Dumby didn’t try to push the bird to take the joint. “It’s cool. I never
smoke at home. I only smoke two of these at a time when I’m outside.”
“Why don’t you smoke at home?” asked Flamy curiously.
“Xiao Hua doesn’t like the smell,” replied Dumby as it patted a bit of dust
off itself. “Sorry, can you help me light this thing?”
With a shrill cry, Flamy spat a small fire at the cylindrical object in
Dumby’s hand.
Soon, green smoke filled the air.
Dumby leaned back on a stone wall, its black robe billowing in the wind.
It leisurely breathed in the smoke while taking in the scenery around
them.
“Goldie, why aren’t you wearing your feather coat?” asked Flamy when it
saw the naked duck passing by.
The seven-foot-tall duck coldly looked at it and patted the prayer beads it
was wearing around its neck. “I don’t need it!” Then it walked away with
a humph.
Has it outgrown its coat? thought Flamy.
A Mountain Spirit was standing motionlessly on an empty patch of

ground before Stripey.
The Mountain Spirit stirred from its sleep when it sensed Stripey’s heavy
footfalls. One by one, the black empty holes on its body flickered to life.
“Say, traveler, what brings you here?” said the Mountain Spirit slowly.
Stripey remained silent for a long while.
Gao Peng was growing restless. “Say something, Stripey.”

“M-me? Why do I have to…” Stripey sounded nervous.
“Aren’t you the one who goes around telling people that you’re my
bravest familiar?”
“I’ll let Da Zi have that title. I’ll settle with second bravest familiar,”
stammered Stripey.
Why bring me into this? thought Da Zi, who was curled up in a corner. I
would kick your massive behind for stabbing me in the back like that if
you weren’t already so massive.
“Just repeat what I say,” said Gao Peng.
The Mountain Spirit seemed apprehensive at first about Stripey’s

proposition. It didn’t think that it would have anything to talk about with
the other Mountain Spirits.
Mountain Spirits never needed to make deals with anyone or anything.
“We can help you solve your Armadrillo problem,” said Stripey.
The Mountain Spirit hesitated for a moment.
“We can also provide blood offerings for you. That way, you won’t have
to look for food every day, and you can just sleep there to your heart’s
content.
“We have two Emperor-tier familiars with us. We’ve also convinced ten
other Mountain Spirits of our plan, so you don’t need to worry about
being attacked by others, and you can concentrate only on your
evolution.”
The Mountain Spirit nodded slowly. It had finally decided to take part in
Gao Peng’s plan. Of course, Stripey’s Mountain King Spirit aura had
played a huge role in convincing it to agree.
“Okay, I’m in,” said the Mountain Spirit moodily. “However, if you don’t
keep your end of the bargain, I’ll be very angry.”
“You have my word,” said Stripey.
Later, Gao Peng had Stripey go around convincing two other Mountain
Spirits in the area to join their cause.
Gao Peng frowned at the setting sun. This is taking way too long, he
thought.
In truth, the whole process had gone quite smoothly. Stripey’s presence
had also greatly contributed to this.
However, the Mountain Spirits were all scattered in different areas. They
had wasted too much time going from one Mountain Spirit to the next.
“Stripey, can you sense where the nearest Mountain Spirit is?”
Stripey closed its eyes as it began feeling the earth’s pulse beneath its
feet.
Suddenly, it sensed a powerful throbbing in the ground not too far away.
It was as if someone was striking the ground with a huge mallet.
“Master, I have a lead on one,” it said.
“Then let’s get a move on. We’re going to be here for a while,” muttered
Gao Peng.
Chapter 295: The Bladed Bees

Gao Peng finally managed to hammer out a deal with a fourth Mountain
Spirit when night time came. He took out his solar-powered tablet from
his backpack and began jotting down the Mountain Spirits’ coordinates
on it. It would be quite embarrassing to forget where they all were when
it came time to carry out his plan.
Gao Peng had tried to come up with a more efficient way to bring the
Mountain Spirits together. However, as none of the Mountain Spirits had
cell phones on them, he had no choice but to go to each of them
personally.
Gao Peng went around negotiating with Mountain Spirits for a whole
month.
He had already told his grandfather about this over the phone.
In that time, Gao Peng’s skin had darkened considerably. He had also
lost a lot of weight.
While Da Zi, Goldie, and Stripey had also slimmed down quite a bit,
Flamy was the only who had become even rounder during their time in
the wild.
“So we’ve been thinking about making soup out of you, Flamy,” said Gao
Peng.
“Why?” asked Flamy, startled.
“Well, you’re the only one who gained a lot of weight this past month.”
After thinking for a while, Flamy said flatly, “I think there’s some sort of
misunderstanding here. I get fat easily. Even drinking water makes me
fat.”
“That’s no excuse. Look at Da Zi. He’s been training all day and night so
that he won’t be too much of a burden to Stripey, who had to carry all of
us every day on its back,” said Gao Peng, pointing at Da Zi, who was
sound asleep in a corner.
“Aren’t you the one who’s always making Da Zi train his butt off?” said
Flamy.
“Don’t start talking back to me now,” said Gao Peng warningly.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on Flamy. “Gao Peng, why don’t I bring back
food for you to eat every day?”
Flamy was always the first to fly off somewhere every morning and
always came back happy and full.
Whatever it had been snacking on, it had certainly made its flesh and
feathers fuller.
“All right then. Bring back some fruits for me. I’m tired of eating meat
every day,” said Gao Peng, nodding.
“Got it!” said Flamy happily.
Woken up by the commotion, Da Zi scuttled towards Gao Peng and

grabbed his ankle. “Gao Peng, Gao Peng, when we get back, you have
to let me eat as much as I want to make up for lost time.”
“All right. Since you’ve been working so hard, I’ll let you eat anything you
want when we get back,” said Gao Peng, stroking Da Zi’s head gently.
“Stripey, let’s move on to our next destination,” said Gao Peng, patting a
nearby rock protrusion.
For the past month, even though most of the familiars had lost a lot of
weight, they had gained much in terms of level.
Flamy, Da Zi, and Goldie had each reached level 39 or 40. They were
now one step away from reaching Lord-tier.
If everything went as planned, all three of them would be able to make a

breakthrough before they returned home.
If all three of them reached the next stage of their evolution, Gao Peng
would have four Lord-tier familiars and one Emperor-tier familiar.
Due to its massive size, Stripey wouldn’t be able to accompany Gao

Peng on his escapades. He would have to stay behind in the Southern
Sky Group.
However, with four Lord-tier familiars by his side, Gao Peng would be all
but unstoppable. He would be able to take the next step in his plan to
explore the rest of the world!
As soon as he had amassed enough power for himself, he would

probably work on becoming a world-renowned hunter, exploring every
corner of the post-Cataclysm world.
Still, in order to achieve one’s ambitions, one first had to have both feet
firmly grounded in reality.
Hum…
Gao Peng’s ears pricked up at an unusual humming sound in the air.
It sounded like millions of wings beating feverishly in the air.
Suddenly, the sky darkened as a dark buzzing cloud appeared, blotting

out the sun.
[Monster Name]: Bladed Bees (Swarm)
[Monster Level]: Level 11-20
[Monster Grade]: Normal, Excellent, Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Gold/Poison/Wind
[Monster Ability]: Armor-piercing Stinger Level 2, Anesthetic Poison

Level 1
[Special Characteristics]: Soundwave (Can only be activated when their

swarm number reaches at least 100,000. Effect: Causes auditory
discomfort to nearby monsters.)
[Monster Weakness]: A Bladed Bee is weak by itself.
[Description]: As descendants of the bumblebee, Bladed Bees are a

vicious and bloodthirsty species. They tend to shy away from others
when alone. However, as a swarm, they fear nothing and would even try
to take on a dragon.
Gao Peng had heard of these critters. There were two things to look out
for in the mountains: the Mountain Wolf Bird and the Bladed Bees.
As swarming monsters, both usually compensated for their low levels

with their numbers.
A Bladed Bee’s stinger was usually laced with an anesthetic poison that
was capable of immobilizing its victims. The last thing they would see
would be the sight of their bodies being devoured by a swarm of
bloodthirsty Bladed Bees. It was said to be one of the worst ways to go.
The noise grew louder as the Bladed Bee swarm closed in on Gao Peng
and his companions.
Normally, low-level monsters would flee fearfully in the face of such a

vicious swarm.
Goldie glared at the incoming onslaught of bees, ready to take them on.
“Stripey, if you would be so kind,” said Gao Peng.
Stripey stopped in its tracks and turned towards the angry dark cloud.
The next instant, a fissure opened up on its massive back, from which a
fiery red light shone out.
Boom!
A sound like thunder shook the heavens as lava and black smoke
spewed forth from the giant spider’s back.
Chapter 296: Revival

The dark clouds moved abruptly towards the swarm of Bladed Bees.
Blazing with infernal heat, the clouds engulfed the swarm of bees like a
slow-moving avalanche of magma.
With a sharp crackle, the same kind one would hear when one lowering
tempura into a wok of hot oil, could be heard as charred bees dropped
like dumplings unsticking from the sides of a pan onto the ground below.
Boom!
The fallen bees were charred to a golden crisp. Their clear wings
shriveled up like worms, and the fine white feathery fluff on their backs
was a burnt mess.
They had been charred alive.
Even from a considerable distance, he could vaguely smell the fragrance

of something being deep fried.
Gao Peng looked on at the massacre with a tinge of regret in his eyes.
What a shame…
Within moments, small, dark shadows could be seen flying out of the
cloud in twos and threes.It was funny how desperately they were trying
to get away when they had been swarming angrily at them just minutes
before.
After taking care of the bees, he motioned Flamy over and climbed onto
him. “Let’s head on over.”
There should have been a couple of Monster Core Crystals lying around.
Actually, given the fact that these bees were Elite-tier, there would
definitely be more than a few Monster Core Crystals.
He couldn’t have cared less about the odd core, but this was thousands
they were talking about.
With a flap of his massive wings, Flamy took to the skies.

The forest rippled beneath its feet as they soared across the towering
canopies. The gentle fragrance of nature tickled his nose.
As it rounded a small valley, it saw the blackened corpses of the bees

strewn across the ground, some caught in the trees.
From up close, it could clearly see what these bees actually looked like.
They were around three feet long, with a rather swollen abdomen that
was marked with red and yellow stripes. There was a fine layer of down
on its body, but it had already been burnt to a crisp. From its rear
extended a long, silvery blade. Gleaming coldly in the night, such was
the quality of the blade that it had remained intact under such extreme
heat.
Kneeling down in front of a dead bee, Gao Peng gently ran his fingers
across its surface. It was prickly to the touch, and when he exerted just a
tiny bit of pressure, his palm was covered in black ash.
Flamy’s tummy rumbled. These bees smelled absolutely mouthwatering.

It could definitely see itself eating a couple of them.
Flamy couldn’t wait any more. It sank his fangs into the divine-smelling
charred bees and ripped off a huge chunk of meat.
Flamy’s eyes lit up. Delicious!
Gao Peng summoned Dumby. From the mountain behind him, a

shadowy blur could be seen leaping and bounding towards him, black
robes whipping furiously in the wind.
“Master.” The Soul Flames in Dumby’s eyes burned brightly.
“Try resurrecting the bees.” Gao Peng pointed at the dead creatures.
“Yes!”
Dumby raised his right hand and flames spewed forth, going deep into
the midsection of the dead Bladed Bee by his feet.
The corpse of the Bladed Bee writhed uncontrollably on the ground.
Yellow ooze with streaks of black gushed out of its numerous orifices. Its
swollen belly shriveled rapidly, like a deflated balloon. Its eyes exploded,
as though they were being crushed by an invisible vice. In the hollow
sockets where its eyes once were, a white flame burned brightly.
As the corpse started to vibrate, layers of blood and flesh started sliding
off its body until only its pearly-white skull remained. Immediately after, it
levitated eerily in mid-air for a few seconds before exploding with a bang.
What remained of the skull clattered to the ground, spinning around for a
bit before slowly coming to a stop.
The Soul Flames flowed out of its eyes and back into Dumby.
“Master, this monster’s remains are incomplete. I cannot resurrect it…”
Gao Peng frowned. This was a shame indeed.
“Then just revive every dead creature buried in the earth here.”
Dumby took a single step forward and spread his arms. A ring of light
slowly emanated from the soles of his feet outward into the ground.
The forest was fairly deserted. Without a caretaker, the fallen leaves had
formed layers of brown-speckled green on the floor. The leaves now
trembled as a bony hand thrust its way out of the ground, grasping wildly
at the mossy roots around it. Slowly but surely, the rest of its skeletal
body followed suit.
All around the forest nearby, similar scenes were unfolding.
In the damp, shadowy forest, skeletal remains of men and beasts alike
were crawling out of the ground ablaze with pale white Soul Flames.
The humanoid skeleton was still clad in an old garment with a yellow
flask attached to his hip. It swayed to and fro unsteadily, like it could fall
at the drop of a hat.
“I think we should let this one just rest in peace.” It had probably been an
adventurer in a past life.
The next second, the skeleton collapsed into a heap of bone.
The revived ghouls numbered in the hundreds and came in a variety of

sizes. The largest one was a 1,600-foot-long Earthen Lizard.
Under Dumby’s orders, these ghouls gathered the dead bees lying
around and put them in the middle of a large clearing.
Very soon, it was the size of a small mountain.
Suddenly, there was a loud commotion in the distance, interspersed with

the angry roars of his little ghoul army.
Dumby turned his head. “Master, something has happened. The ghouls
have encountered a monster.”
As the other ghouls made their way towards the commotion, the area of
the encounter grew more and more crowded.
Whoosh!
A golden figure burst out into the clearing. Upon seeing Gao Peng and
Dumby, it spun around rather violently and immediately fled as fast as it
could in the opposite direction.
Gao Peng glanced at the figure and did a double take.
“Dumby, Flamy, get it!”
Without hesitation, Dumby charged at the golden figure with startling

speed. On all fours, it flew like the wind, its body nearly pressed flat to
the ground. The stray leaves on the ground were swept violently up into
the air.
Flamy unleashed a huge ball of flame right into the path of the golden
figure, which immediately erupted into a fiery wall after making contact
with the ground.
The golden figure screeched to a halt while trying to turn around, but it
was too late.
Dumby had already caught up at this point. It easily grabbed the figure,
who struggled desperately in attempts to escape, in its left hand.
A slender, golden tail covered in delicate scales gleamed brightly in the

sun. Two tiny ears twitched mischievously as its doe-like eyes flickered
curiously in all directions.
Chapter 297: Prosperity Mouse

The slightly oversized mouse squeaked indignantly in Dumby’s hands as

it scrabbled wildly in the air.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Gao Peng said cheerfully as Dumby passed

him the mouse.
Although the mouse looked tiny in Dumby’s hands, it could barely fit in
Gao Peng’s.
It was actually the size of a cat. Its fur was raised stiffly, making it almost
like a tiny porcupine. Staring ferociously at Gao Peng, it bit down hard.
A quick cuff from Gao Peng was enough to make the mouse see stars.
[Monster Name]: Prosperity Mouse
[Monster Level]: 18
[Monster Attribute]: Mystic
[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Fearful)
[Ways of Evolving to Elite-grade]: 3

This little mouse had a very old-fashioned name. It’s level wasn’t very
impressive, either. The only thing that caught Gao Peng’s eye was the
fact that it was a never-before-seen Mystic type.
Statistically speaking, this type was almost impossible to find. In fact, this
mouse was possibly the only one of its kind in the world.
Its low grade was something Gao Peng could work with.
The mouse struggled mightily after being captured by Gao Pengall the
while snarling and growling to seem as menacing as it could. When Gao
Peng didn’t react, it started whimpering and begging pitifully to be let go.
Emotionless, Gao Peng tossed the mouse high into the air. It was
promptly caught by a swooping Flamy and brought over to where Stripey
was.
It looked like there were quite a lot of goodies to be found in the wild.
Unfortunately, first dibs would go to the Monster Hunting Squad’s own
familiars should they have found these goodies. Only the second-tier or
unusable items would be sold in the market.
Take this Prosperity Mouse, for example. Gao Peng could tell how
special it was just from the name alone. If a Monster Hunting Squad got
ahold of it instead, they probably wouldn’t know enough about it to do
business and would end up keeping it. If Gao Peng hadn’t come
personally, he wouldn’t have encountered this mouse.
After an hour or so, all the Bladed Bees were collected and placed in a
giant heap in the middle of a huge clearing.
Flamy incinerated the mountain of corpses with a gigantic flame.
In the piles of ash left behind, scores of golden Core Crystals glowed
brightly. After another giant gust of air cleared the ash, a veritable trove
of Core Crystals was left.
While the corpses of the Bladed Bees were indeed flammable, their Core
Crystals were not. In fact, they were naturally resistant to any element,
not just fire.
Even though these were relatively low-level Elite-tier Core Crystals, the
sheer volume of them meant that he would still be walking away with a
handsome profit.
Gao Peng was struck with the realization of just how easy it was to
become rich if one had power.
No wonder Core Crystals were used as the official currency in high-value

transactions. The market economy would have been too easily disrupted
if that wasn’t the case.
In a year, becoming a monster trainer had become the hottest job in the
world.
Before, maybe half of the student population had wanted to become a

monster trainer after they graduated. Now, that number was closer to
nine in ten.
Wealth, social status, proving your strength—this job would allow you
fulfill all three desires and more.
More importantly, the requirements to becoming a monster trainer

weren’t exactly strict. Anyone could do it as long as they had the passion
and grit for it. Even though the mortality rate for trainers who didn’t
undergo proper training was incredibly high, there was no shortage of
new trainers every month.
People fantasized all the time about hitting the jackpot—coming across
two Lord-tier monsters fighting each other to the death, collecting their
corpses for loot, picking up their young as a bonus after. These stories
could be heard being peddled to potential new trainers every day.
In reality, they would probably be destroyed by the baby.

As he collected his thoughts, he stashed the Core Crystals in a pit in
Stripey’s back. They glittered brightly, the honey-golden hue a startling
splash of color in the otherwise drab surroundings.
After a few minutes, a tiny shadow flitted into the pit. It was Silly.
Even though Silly’s eyes were closed, its tentacles were still actively in
tune with its surroundings. As it wiggled around in the air, it eventually
came to lay on the pile of Core Crystals. It felt so good that its body
almost went numb.
Silly had never seen so many Core Crystals before in its life. It didn’t
know what they were, but it did feel extremely good lying on a bed of
them.
After a while, it couldn’t help but consume a Core Crystal using its
tentacles.
Its eyes were shut during the entire duration of the heist.
If I close my eyes, it doesn’t count as me taking Gao Peng’s things. Silly

chuckled happily.
Having just completed his training, Goldie came sauntering by, too, and
caught sight of the Core Crystals.
Slowing down, it grabbed a handful of the Cores and popped them into
its mouth.
It shook its head in disgust as it ate. How bitter!
Then he grabbed another handful.
Ugh! How bitter!
With less than half a month to go on his current expedition, Gao Peng
managed to convince the final Mountain Spirit to join his coalition of
Mountain Spirits.
He was overwhelmed by a sudden sense of accomplishment as he
traced his fingers along the map in front of him. The map was filled with
a sea of red dots, each indicating the location of a Mountain Spirit.
Besides these red dots, Gao Peng had discovered quite a few new
areas as well, some still untouched by human civilization.
Of course, with Stripey escorting them, they encountered no trouble at

all.
“Looks like these mountains are pretty safe after all,” Gao Peng said
rather reluctantly.
“Come, let’s go back.” Gao Peng squinted toward the east, in the
direction of Yuzhou City.
Underneath him, a mountain-sized creature grunted in response. The

clouds roiled as it slowly made its way eastwards.
“Hm. I clearly recall putting the Core Crystals here, though.” Gao Peng
wracked his brains. Was he missing something?
Gao Peng stood at the edge of the pit, wondering where in the world he
could have put them. He was quite positive that he had put all the Core
Crystals in the pit here.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Silly looking at the pit rather
guiltily. Then it hit him.
“Did someone steal them?” Gao Peng wondered aloud.
Silly trembled like a leaf.
“If I ever found out who did this, I’m going to skin them alive!”
Silly fainted…
Chapter 298: Ancestral Viridian Crocodile

After landing a solid punch on a certain jellyfish, Gao Peng dropped the
the issue.
While those Core Crystals were indeed valuable, they had actually been
pretty useless just sitting there anyways. Absorbing the essence of the
crystals to grow stronger might have actually been a better use for them.
The moment they set foot in the Southern Sky Group, Silly, who was still
perched on Gao Peng’s head, let out a string of unintelligible sounds that
sounded like, “Fish, fish!”
Right next to the lake, a new pool the size of a soccer field had been
built. Within the pool lay an enormous creature, silent and unmoving.
Nasty-looking spikes could be seen growing out of its electric blue skin,
like the teeth of a chainsaw.
The moment Flamy caught sight of the creature, it started snarling

violently, every feather on its body quivering in rage.
Sensing the disturbance, the creature’s enormous tail swished gracefully

through the water as it swept a lazy glance in their direction.
“Where did Grandfather find this crocodile?” Gao Peng was puzzled.
It looked like something out of the Jurassic era. It was a 65-foot-long

crocodile with electric-blue scales. It’s yellow eyes were clear and
serene.
There was a lake not far from there that was the White Dragon’s
territory.
If the White Dragon could accept the presence of this creature, that must
have meant that the crocodile was Grandfather’s latest acquisition.
This wasn’t surprising, to be honest. Ever since the White Dragon had
evolved to Emperor-tier, Grandfather’s soul strength had to have
increased considerably. Taming a few more creatures like this one was
hardly a difficult task.
“He’s back.” Upon hearing the commotion from the mountain out back, Ji
Hanwu knew.
Seeing how thin Gao Peng had become, Ji Hanwu was proud and
sympathetic all at once. “You got a tan.”
Ji Hanwu pointed at the crocodile by way of introduction. “A month ago,

there was a huge flood at the Pearl River Delta that unearthed an
enormous underwater cavern. That’s where it crawled out from. I was
just feeling like training a new familiar, so I caught it and brought it home
with me.”
“I didn’t know there were crocodiles in the Pearl River Delta…” Gao
Peng couldn’t quite hide his confusion.
“Crocodile remains have been found there before, so it’s not entirely
impossible. Maybe this one escaped from a zoo? Or some rich family’s
private collection?” Ji Hanwu didn’t really care where it had come from.
All that mattered was that it was his now.
“This crocodile is majestic.” Gao Peng sighed in admiration.
His grandfather’s familiars were all so dang cool. A regal dragon and a
ferocious crocodile. Just their appearances alone exuded a sense of
absolute, indomitable strength.
He couldn’t help but notice that his grandfather’s familiars were all
amphibious. The White Dragon, the Thunder Shell Lord, and now this
crocodile.
[Monster Name]: Ancestral Viridian Crocodile (Ancestral Variant)
[Monster Level]: 46 (Lord-tier)
[Monster Attribute]: Water

[Monster Ability]: Water Control Level 3, Harden Level 3, Explosive
Crunch Level 4
[Special Ability]: Berserker Blood (Blood undergoes violent mutation.

High chance of inducing bloodrage.)
Effect 1 (Passive): Gains a violent bloodlust proportional to the severity

of the damage taken, which increases strength and explosiveness for a
short period of time.
[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Calm)
[Requirements for Epic grade]: (The Ancestral Viridian Crocodile is

currently in the process of reversing its mutation. This is an irreversible
process, and it will not be able to evolve until the process is completed.)
Needs to consume Water-type treasures. The more it consumes, the
faster its blood will reverse the mutation, and the purer it will become.
As an Ancestral Variant, all it needed to evolve was to consume Water-

type treasures. Even though it was unable to evolve before completing
its mutation, it actually wasn’t the worst thing in the world. One wouldn’t
need to find any rare materials for it to evolve. All one needed was
money!
“This kind of familiar really suits you well,” he said to his grandfather.
“Oh!” Flamy let out a loud cry as it flapped his way into the shade of a
large tree.
Then it wrapped its wings around itself and tucked its head in. Wisps of
flame rose and coalesced around it like a cocoon.
The swirling flames gradually dissipated, leaving behind a blood-red egg

carved with intricate feather-like markings.
Flamy had already hit level 40 half a month earlier. It had been waiting
all this time for the right place to commence its evolution.
Evolution wasn’t an easy process. It was best done in a quiet
environment without being disturbed.
Da Zi could feel the strength leaving his body. It started to itch all over
and was overcome by a sudden wave of fatigue. Just as it plopped down
on the ground for a quick nap, Gao Peng abruptly hauled it off towards
the research lab.
As they entered the research lab, Gao Peng threw it into a silver glass
container as tall as him and sealed it shut. The container was filled with
a liquid that was charged with Electric-energy.
Still groggy, Da Zi looked around in a daze. “Why did he throw me in

here? What’s going on?”
“I made this Electric-energy charged formula for you. Be a good boy and
evolve well in there,” Gao Peng told him.
Da Zi pressed its claws to the glass wall as it tenderly watched Gao

Peng’s figure slowly disappear from sight.
“Boss, the creatures you bought the last time have been trapped in
storage for almost a month now. I’ve had to feed and clean them every
day.” Xu Qingzhi glared balefully at Gao Peng.
Could he have been any more irresponsible? He would spend less than
a third of his time in the lab, then disappear mysteriously somewhere.
This time, he had been gone for nearly a month and a half. Sometimes,
she felt less like an assistant and more like a janitor.
“Have you mastered the Petrochemical drug I taught you last time?” he
asked suddenly.
“Yeah… Around 70 percent of the time?” She sounded unsure.
“Too slow. If it’s taking you this long to master such a simple drug, then it
looks like you still have a ways to go before you can take on the mantle.”
He shook his head. “Since you’ve already got most of the petrochemical
drug down, I’ll teach you another formula first. However, I’ll still check on
your progress periodically.”
“Got it…” she said weakly.
Even though these low-level drugs could be mass produced in any

decent factory, there was still value in learning how to create them
personally.
Only low-level drugs could be made in one shot, because they weren’t
hard to make. All one needed to do was mix certain pre-set ingredients
in a certain ratio. The higher the level of the drug, the more complicated
it became. Even the size and weight of the materials could affect the
process by adding or subtracting several seconds needed. Those few
seconds could be the difference between failure and success.
Chapter 299: The Explorer’s Union

Machines were precise, but they lacked a human’s touch. Creating drugs
wasn’t easy, and problems could arise at any stage of the process. A
machine programmed a certain way wouldn’t be able to react to
problems as they happened and could ultimately ruin the whole process.
Gao Peng really wanted to mentor Xu Qingzhi. Even though she wasn’t
the sharpest tool in the shed, she was diligent and never gave up. As
long as she kept putting in the work, there was still plenty of room for
growth.
She kept on working and finally called it a night around eleven. In the
afternoon, Gao Peng guided her through the process three times and
taught her some extra tips and tricks to boot.
She had a pretty good memory, memorizing it all after seeing it only a
couple of times.
All that was left was for her to practice and practice until she could do it
in her sleep. Talk was cheap, and there were lessons to be learned in
failure, too.
Gao Peng had already stocked the lab with plenty of materials and
ingredients for her to practice with, including the creature essence she
needed to make the Blood Drug.
The effectiveness of a drug could not solely be determined from

appearance. What happened after taking the drug is what mattered the
most.
When night fell, Gao Peng handed his grandfather a tablet containing
the locations of the Mountain Spirits. “I found 168 of them that were
willing to work with us.”
His grandfather put down the tablet and steepled his fingers under his
chin. “Are you only on planning on setting up a network of outposts, or
do you have something else in mind? If that’s all you plan on doing, all
you need to do is to fork over the initial capital and watch the cash roll
in.” Ji Hanwu shot Gao Peng a quizzical glance.
Gao Peng sighed deeply. “I need your advice, grandfather.”
“The fact that the Mountain Spirits are willing to join you is all due to
Stripey. It’s the key to all your plans. With it by your side, no one will
dare make a move against you. It has its pride, after all.” His tone was
somber.
“Using the Mountain Spirits only to make a quick buck would be

incredibly crass.” His grandfather paused. “On the other hand, I believe
that the hunters who depend on these outposts for their livelihood should
be fair game.”
His brow furrowed. “Are we taking a cut from the hunter’s loot?”
Ji Hanwu burst out in laughter. “That’s pretty bold of you, going after
their loot like that. Honestly, doing that won’t end well for anyone.”
Gao Peng smiled bashfully.
“The key is to gather these hunters and make them your customers. No
matter what it takes, you must. ” His grandfather’s tone grew serious.
Hearing it said so starkly, Gao Peng finally understood what his

grandfather was trying to say. While his plan was certainly risky, it was
possible.
Now that he had a renewed perspective on the issue, he started

engaging his grandfather in a lively discussion to hammer out the kinks
in their plan.
After a night of consideration, they decided to name their new group the
“Explorer’s Union.”
The Mountain Spirit outposts would be the flagship offering of the

Explorer’s Union. Members would enjoy a fifty percent discount on
lodging.
Naturally, Gao Peng marked up the prices twofold before offering the
discount.
Because of how close the outposts were to Yuzhou Base City, thirty
percent of the profits would go to the Yu Zhou government. Wealth had
to be spread around; no one liked a miser. Sharing the profits this way
would mean less bureaucratic hassle and help them avoid any
unexpected headaches.
This arrangement wasn’t limited to just the outposts. Any future business
venture under the Explorer’s Union would split thirty percent of their
profits with the nearest base city.
The union would be led by Ji Hanwu.

Ji Hanwu was initially reluctant to take up the post, thinking that Gao
Peng should be the one to do it. Gao Peng steadfastly refused.
“Such a busy and important job can only be handled by you. I’m fine
being second-in-command,” Gao Peng insisted sternly.
In addition, twenty percent of the profits would be distributed as a year-

end bonus to the staff of the union. Their share of the bonus would
depend on factors like their performance and rank.
The remainder of the profit would be pocketed directly by Gao Peng…
Another benefit that came with being a member of the union was a ten
percent member discount anytime one purchased anything under the
Southern Sky Group brand.
It may not have sounded like much, but those credits added up. It would
definitely come in handy, not only for the buyer, but also for the
merchants carrying Southern Sky products.
Once this initial venture took off and stabilized, Gao Peng would open
chapters of the Explorer’s Union all over the world.
Places like the Dong Ting Recreational Zone, the Sky Villa, the Amazon
Hall, and the Baimu Delta Recreational Zone were all within the realm of
possibility…
Ever since the Cataclysm, these areas had been strictly off limits.
Yet myth and legend had swirled around these places since ancient
times. Who knew? It could have been possible to evolve a rare and
powerful creature in these places.
The Explorer’s Union was a separate entity from the Southern Sky
Group.
Of course, anyone who was privy to the truth would know that the two
entities were led by the same person.
Half a month had passed since the union had been established.
Business had been slow at first, but it had kind of exploded towards the
end.
The union was established in the western outskirts of Yuzhou City, not
too far away from the Southern Sky Group.
The gates to the union were framed by a massive wall, around 100 feet
tall. The wall was made of pure dragon granite that Stripey had called
forth from the earth using its ability. Obsidian and menacing, the rough,
jagged wall was topped with deadly spikes.
The pure dragon granite that Stripey had manipulated out of the earth
was nigh impenetrable.
From the lobby to the front gate, trainers were lining up in droves to sign
up.
At first, there had only been a couple of Monster Hunting Squads who
signed up out of curiosity. Then they started hunting and brought in
double the amount of their normal loot. News started spreading like
wildfire.
As more and more squads found out about the Explorer’s Union and the
legion of Mountain Spirits under their control, they were struck
speechless. What kind of union had the power to man a network of
outposts with freaking Lord-tier Mountain Spirits?
Another factor that drove the trainers to sign up with the union, besides
the increased loot and the perceived strength of the union, was the cost
of renting a Mountain Spirit. While it was indeed an invaluable service,
the disgusting prices all but ensured that the name Gao Peng was, to put
it mildly, soundly cursed by trainers, rich and poor alike.
It was a good thing that members of the Explorer’s Union received a fifty
percent discount on the use of the Mountain Spirits.
For this discount alone, teams were driven to join the union.
The outposts were only a platform to attract talent. Those who dared to
venture into the deep mountains where the outposts were located had to
be trainers of a certain caliber. Half a month in, more than ninety percent
of the high-level trainers in Yuzhou City had already signed up to join the
Explorer’s Union.
As a result, a new powerhouse was born in Yuzhou City.
Chapter 300: Spring Scar Beast

The Monster Trainer League caught wind of what was happening with
the Explorer’s Union, but they didn’t think too much of it, since there
wasn’t any direct conflict between them for now. Furthermore,
organizations similar to the Explorer’s Union had been sprouting up like
weeds in the past year all around the world, so it wasn’t really a big deal.
All the league wanted was to be the official authority when it came to the
world of monster training. Whether it was the official rating of a trainer,
the administration of the Monster Trainer Examination, or the issuing of
official Monster Trainer IDs, it was all only a part of their limitless
ambition.
To them. organizations like the Explorer’s Union were a community that

posed no threat at all. To even engage with them would look bad.
However, they considered working with a few of these community
groups.
Unfortunately, while this idea of using Mountain Spirits to form a network

of outposts was well-received by most, there was a small pocket of
resistance among the higher ranking officials, who thought it was a
colossal waste.
“These are Lord-tier Mountain Spirits. Having them in the wild as security
is such an incredible waste!” said a high-ranking official angrily in the
Huaxia branch of the Monster Trainer League.
These were Lord-tier creatures, for crying out loud! Not to mention that
there were hundreds of them!
Even he didn’t own one, but he wished he did.
The official was well aware of his capabilities. He wouldn’t make it back
alive if he tried. If he had the backing of the Monster Trainer League
though, that would be a different story entirely.
With so many Lord-tier creatures out there, he knew he wasn’t the only
one who was tempted to do something about it.
“It’s rather a waste to have hundreds of Lord-tier creatures just roaming

free in the wild like that,” Cao Xuansheng agreed. He was the branch
head of the Huaxia region.
He wouldn’t have cared if it was a hundred Commander-tier creatures,

but this was Lord-tier creatures they were talking about for God’s sake.
There was also a good chance that these creatures hadn’t yet signed
Blood Contracts, which really spurred his greed.
If he could find some way to get these Lord-tier creatures on the side of
the Monster Trainer League… The Huaxia region would instantly
become the most influential region in the world.
“Do you take people for fools? You think they would allow Lord-tier
creatures without contracts to just roam around freely?” Zhou Tianmin
strode through the front door, an icy look on his face.
Cao Xuansheng was furious, but when he realized it was Zhou Tianmin
reproaching him, his face flushed in embarrassment. Even though
leading the Huaxia branch of the Monster Trainer League, Zhou Tianmin
was one of the Twelve Elders.
Zhou Tianmin held a special rank. He could very well relieve him of his
duties at the Council of Elders.
“I’ve never seen a Mountain Spirit, but I’ve heard enough about them…
As the head of this branch, you should be well aware of their
temperament, right?” Zhou Tianmin shook his head in disgust.
Cao Xuansheng was silent.
Ever since the statues had come to life a few months before, people had
been desperately trying to sign Blood Contracts with them. After all, not
only were these statues already fairly high profile before their
reanimation, their level, grade, and abilities were very strong, too.
However, these animated statues were incredibly stubborn and almost

impossible to tame.
There were only a few people alive in the world that had the ability to
sign a Blood Contract with these statues. That led to these people being
labeled somewhat mockingly as “Heaven’s Chosen.”
It was all in good fun, but it also illustrated just how hard it was to sign a
contract with these once inanimate creatures.
“I know what you guys are thinking, but think about this. Let’s assume by
some miracle that these Mountain Spirits have yet to sign a Blood
Contract, and by some other miracle, you manage to sign one to a
contract. You know who owns the only two Emperor-tier familiars in the
Huaxia region.” Zhou Tianmin let out a short, humorless laugh. “If you
get on his bad side, Elder Ye and I won’t intervene on your behalf.”
In the end, this half-baked plot died before it ever saw the light of day.
Da Zi had completed its evolution and was now Gao Peng’s second
Lord-tier familiar.
Flamy was still evolving. Goldie just started his evolution two days
earlier.
That meant that only Silly, Da Zi, and the golden mouse he had captured
before were with him at that moment.
He wanted to let the Prosperity Mouse ride on his shoulder, but Silly
objected vehemently.
Nipping furiously at Gao Peng’s hair, he was resolute. “If you let it ride
on your shoulder, I’ll make you as bald as Goldie.”
“If Goldie heard that, you’d be in trouble,” said Gao Peng with a straight
face.
Silly looked torn…
Due to Silly’s objections, Gao Peng eventually decided against letting

the Prosperity Mouse ride on his shoulder. Instead, he put it in a cage
made of pure gold and carried it along with him.
Here he was trying to keep a low profile, and what did his employee get
him? A golden cage that made him look like a sleazy pimp.
The Prosperity Mouse’s level and grade were both pretty mediocre.
Being in the presence of several Lord-tier creatures, it was the very
picture of docility without Gao Peng even having to lift a single finger.
After signing the Blood Contract, Gao Peng realized that the mouse
wasn’t very intelligent. In fact, it was probably at the level Da Zi had been
when Gao Peng first met it. It had the intelligence of a four year old, and
it could only express simple emotions like anger, joy, and sadness.
“Big brother, big brother. There’s treasure. So much treasure—” the

Prosperity Mouse squeaked feverishly. Its eyes were literally bulging out
of their sockets.
It had never seen so much treasure before in its life. God! Did humans
just leave their treasure out in the open like this?
The Prosperity Mouse was bouncing off the walls of the cage in
excitement.
Maybe it was because it had been out in the wild for the long time, but
the Mouse really liked calling Gao Peng “Big Brother.”
“You’ll get used to it.” Gao Peng chuckled softly.
Hearing the Prosperity Mouse talk like a country bumpkin, Da Zi snorted

coldly.
I was clearly the first one to be with Gao Peng, but I see him picking up
more and more strays now!
Out of sight, out of mind. With a flap of his mighty wings, Da Zi

disappeared in a flash of purple lightning.
“Will the beautiful couple help me out with my research here?” Gao Peng
could hear an earnest plea from somewhere close by.
A woman dressed in black work attire was aggressively jabbing a

microphone at a young couple. Behind her, her assistant had a pink
creature with an extraordinarily large nose on a leash. The creature had
freakishly smooth skin and was prowling, sniffing around on all fours.
At the very back was a guy holding a huge camera.
“Uh…” The young couple appeared to be engaged and in the middle of

taking their wedding photos.
“What kind of research?” the bride asked curiously.
The groom stood mutely by her side.
“Our company is gathering data on our latest invention, a new breed of

creature called the Spring Scar Beast.”
It was a strange name, and both the bride and the groom seemed
nonplussed.
“The Spring Scar Beast is extremely sensitive to hormones and

pheromones. It can detect how many times you’ve been intimate with
both the opposite and the same sex in the past week. That’s why I think
that…”
“Let’s go take our photos.” The bride turned abruptly towards the groom.
“Huh?” The groom was taken aback.
“We’re not done taking photos, and we’re on a tight schedule. Let’s not
waste any more time.”
“But… this will only take a couple of minutes, right?” The groom
hesitated.
“Yes. It will only take 10 minutes at most,” said the woman in black
hurriedly.
Upon hearing this, the bride looked somewhat uneasy. Shooting the
groom a quick look, her voice hardened. “Let’s continue with our
photoshoot.”
Even an idiot would have known something was wrong by then. The
groom had a very ugly look on his face. It was a nasty cocktail of
humiliation and resignation.
“Are we taking the photos or not!” Seeing that the groom was still rooted
to the ground, her voice took on a steely edge.
The groom’s chest rose and fell as he drew in a couple of deep breaths.
Then he turned to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going?!” The bride paled.
“We’re not taking the photos anymore.”
Chapter 301: The Journey Back

As Gao Peng looked at the back of the groom, he wanted to lend Silly to
him so that he could wear it.
Gao Peng took another glance at the Spring Scar Beast. The monster’s
body surface was very unique, but Gao Peng felt a sense of familiarity.
However, Gao Peng knew that he had definitely not seen this monster
before. If he had read about it in a book somewhere, he definitely
wouldn’t have forgotten it.
A row of data continued to flash within Gao Peng’s field of vision.
[Monster Name]: Spring Scar Beast
[Monster Attribute]: Wind
[Monster Weakness]: Very weak resistance to strong irritating odors.
[Monster Introduction]: A variant of the Sniffing Beast. It has lost the

sense of smell of the Sniffing Beast, but it’s very good at distinguishing
different hormones. It’s very cowardly and dislikes battle.
Sniffing Beast… Gao Peng had heard of this monster before. After he
looked at the data, he looked at the Spring Scar Beast again, and no
matter how he looked at it, he could see traces of the Sniffing Beast on
the Spring Scar Beast.
No wonder I felt weird when I looked at it.
Gao Peng knew that some companies were conducting very cruel
experiments on monsters. They commonly believed that cruel
experiments could better stimulate the potential of the monsters.
In truth, basically every laboratory had conducted its own experiments

on monsters before. It was human nature to want to become stronger
and strive for progress. In an environment where there were no clear
laws that dealt with experimenting on monsters, it was natural that such
a situation would occur.
However, the experiments carried out by large-scale laboratories were
usually bound by strict requirements and procedures. At the very least,
with the condition of reaching their experiment objectives as the
prerequisite, they would guarantee the test subject wouldn’t be in too
much pain.
Gao Peng carried the Prosperity Mouse and walked forward. The rodent
became excited about everything it saw.
Gao Peng felt embarrassed by it and was left speechless.
The things that got the Prosperity Mouse excited were just everyday
items, like the Elite-tier monster Core Crystal, body parts of Elite-tier
monsters, and other items in the laboratory that Gao Peng used all the
time.
“This Prosperity Mouse sure is… a little low-class, huh…” Gao Peng
whispered to himself.
Naturally, the Prosperity Mouse didn’t realize that Gao Peng was already
complaining about it on its first day as Gao Peng’s familiar.
“I can only hope that it’ll improve once its grade is promoted.” Gao Peng
felt frustrated. The Prosperity Mouse’s level was too low. It thought that
everything it saw was a treasure. With its level, it would be easier to
make money doing nothing compared to what it was currently doing.
“Boss, boss, I haven’t seen enough. Does the human world have this
many treasures?” The Prosperity Mouse leaned into the gap of the cage,
its eyes looking eagerly at the shops on both sides of the road.
“Treasures…” Gao Peng was truly at a loss for words.
This ugly rat actually likes treasure?! Silly suddenly became more alert
and secretly held its fruit juice tighter.
When the Prosperity Mouse looked over at it, Silly suddenly grew
nervous. “I’m warning you; I know Gao Peng.”
It could sense the presence of treasure. As long as there was a treasure
that attracted it nearby, its senses would be activated.
The last time it had felt this excited was two winters before. It didn’t know
the exact time, since the concept of time was too complex for a small rat
like it.
When it heard the master say he was bringing it back home, it became
visibly disappointed. It turned out the treasures didn’t belong to him, and
they had just been out for a walk.
It placed its claws on its teeth and used its teeth to scratch its claws. It
did this to get rid of any unwanted particles on its claws and sharpen
them, and to grind down the size of its teeth.
Its teeth grew very quickly, by two inches a week.
The Prosperity Mouse has three evolution paths… Gao Peng thought in
silence. Among all the monsters Gao Peng had seen, it was one of the
monsters with the smallest number of evolutionary paths.
Perhaps it was because it was a Mystic-type monster, or maybe

because it was a rat.
However, no matter the reason, Gao Peng decided to promote the

Prosperity Mouse’s grade before making any further decisions.
Gao Peng was able to accurately predict the ability of the Prosperity
Mouse. It could detect the general direction of a treasure, so the closer it
was to the treasure, the stronger its senses would be.
Gao Peng whistled, and Da Zi flew over from afar. It looked at Gao Peng
proudly. “Did you miss me?”
“…”
“Oh, you don’t need to explain. I know that you missed me.” Da Zi lifted
up its head.
It glanced over at the Prosperity Mouse. It’s just a small little rat. It poses
no threat to me. Nothing will be left of it after just one bite.
“Gao Peng, I want to eat roasted rat for dinner!” Da Zi intentionally said
in a very sinister tone.
The Prosperity Mouse in the cage let out a whimper and looked at Da Zi
with terrified eyes.
“Stop messing around.” Gao Peng shook his head, gathered his
familiars, and headed back.
They passed by a shop, and Gao Peng decided to walk in. He lifted his
head and looked at the name of the store.
Oh, it’s one of ours.
The shop was very spacious, and the floor was made with a special kind
of glass. It shone brightly when the white lights from the ceiling hit it.
Golden sand that looked like the kind one would find on a beach was
visible beneath the glass floor.
There was a display counter every ten feet. The display counters used
glass covers, and precious materials were encased in them.
“Hello, sir. May I ask what kind of materials you’re looking for? We at the
Southern Water Store carry ninety-nine percent of the materials
available in the market.”
Gao Peng waved his hands and said, “Call your manager.”
The beautiful young worker was slightly taken aback. However, due to
her gentle nature, she just smiled sweetly and said, “As you wish, sir.”
She turned around and went to the back to get the manager.
Gao Peng knew that if he were to order materials when he got back, the
order would still have to be processed there, so he decided to just get
the materials he needed while he was already there.
The shop manager walked out wearing a white shirt with a blue tie. He
recognized Gao Peng immediately.
Perhaps Gao Peng didn’t know the lower-level employees, but almost
every one of the lower-level employees recognized him.
They only needed one look to know it was Gao Peng.
The manager tidied up his clothes, made sure he looked respectful, and
then quickly walked closer to Gao Peng.
Gao Peng shook his head. “We’ll talk inside.”
The manager nodded to show he understood.
The young female worker who had attended Gao Peng at the beginning
threw a few more secret glances at Gao Peng.
Although she didn’t know who Gao Peng was, the manager’s attitude
toward him showed that he was important.
She felt that it was a pity that Gao Peng had just walked by her. She
kept staring at him.
This made her feel a bit depressed.
Da Zi gave her a glimpse and swung its head upwards.
“Hmph!”
The worker saw the centipede walk past her. She thought she saw…
contempt in its eyes?
“Do you have golden silver fruits, huangming flowers, lingxinzi, king
grass, nine-clawed peacock top feathers…” Gao Peng mentioned a list
of names of different materials.
He mentioned all the materials that were needed for all three
evolutionary paths of the Prosperity Mouse at once. He also included
materials that were good for kidneys for him to heal his body later that
night.
The manager was very familiar with all the materials. He only needed to
think for a while before replying smoothly, “We have all of the materials
you mentioned at the start, but we don’t have any nine-clawed peacock
top feathers. We do, however, have quite a few six-clawed peacock top
feathers. We still have three blue heart solanum nigrum…”
Since he could get all of the materials he needed for all of the future
evolutionary paths, he decided to just buy all of them at once. He
informed the manager of the materials he needed and waited for half an
hour. Half an hour later, he went back to the Southern Sky Group along
with the materials.
Chapter 302: The Return of the Iron Pot Technique

In the laboratory, Xu Qingzhi carefully threw the Bloody Butcher reagent

in her hands into a room. There was a clunk when the bottle of
bloodthirsty reagent shattered on the floor.
The smashing of the bottle was like a signal.
The Black Raging Kong that was lazing around the house suddenly got
up and rushed over hurriedly, throwing itself over the shattered bottle of
Bloody Butcher reagent and starting to rapidly lick it off the ground.
After licking for a while, it was as if the reagent wasn’t strong enough. It
used its arms to push itself up, the fur on its chest sticky with bits of
glass stuck all over it.
The Black Raging Kong’s breathing grew heavier, and its eyes turned
red. It started to growl furiously…
Bang! Gao Peng smacked the door with his left hand, and Xu Qingzhi
turned around in shock.
“Help me deal with the ingredients.” Gao Peng turned and left after
speaking.
Xu Qingzhi turned and looked at the commotion the Black Raging Kong
was causing. She didn’t know whether or not her experiment had been
successful.
Since the boss had already told her to help him, she could only take her
things back into the laboratory obediently.
Soon, she arrived at the laboratory. Having two people deal with the
ingredients increased the speed of the process considerably.
It didn’t take more than half an hour for them to process all of the
ingredients.
Gao Peng couldn’t help but sigh when he saw the steps of the method
on the data frame.
Is it true that all rodent types monsters have to get past this stage?! I
can’t help but feel hesitant about this step.
Gao Peng took a deep breath and motioned for Xu Qingzhi to leave,
then he walked to a big cabinet, bent down, opened the cabinet, and
took out a large pot.
All the ingredients were already prepared. He simply put the correct
measurements into the pot at the correct time.
The liquid in the pot boiled.
Gao Peng shook his head violently. I shouldn’t imagine things! This is
just a pot of the reagent.
The liquid in the pot boiled even more, and a strange aroma filled the
laboratory. It smelled like overcooked pumpkins. A sweet scent drifted
into Gao Peng’s nose.
Gao Peng waved to the Prosperity Mouse.

The Prosperity Mouse looked over obediently. It nodded towards Gao
Peng and lightly hopped onto the table.
“Nice rat.” Gao Peng patted the Prosperity Mouse gently on its back.
He then pointed towards the pot and said, “Jump inside.”
Questioning him, the Prosperity Mouse looked up, stunned. It stared into
Gao Peng’s cold and emotionless eyes.
“Well, jump inside.”
The Prosperity Mouse gulped. It kept widening its bean-sized eyes. Even
if its eyes had been wide enough to see through flowers, it couldn’t see
anything at that moment.
The pot was filled with a thick yellow liquid.
It might have tasted a little strange, but everything else about it was fine.
Gao Peng saw that the Prosperity Mouse wasn’t very brave, so he
decided to give it a little help. He lifted his right hand, aimed it at the
Prosperity Mouse, and gave it a light push.
Before the Prosperity Mouse could react, it had already fallen into the
pot like a dumpling falling into a pot of soup.
With a bang, Gao Peng slammed the lid shut.
Only miserable howls and squeals could vaguely be heard.
Gao Peng lifted up the lid after ten minutes, then used a pair of long
glass sticks to grab the Prosperity Mouse and keep stirring it inside the
pot.
A strange fragrance filled the air…
The Prosperity Mouse’s eyes turned white, its belly became round, and
its tail pointed upwards. Gao Peng took it out of the pot, aimed at its
belly, and gave it a tap. The reagent gushed out of its mouth like a
fountain.
Before the Prosperity Mouse could rest, Gao Peng threw it back into the
pot again.
The sound of miserable howls reverberated in the laboratory…
The cooking lasted half an hour this time. It was boiled until the yellow
liquid became clear and transparent, like water.
The Prosperity Mouse changed drastically; its body went from being all
gold to all yellow. It had become much thinner and lost quite a bit of
mass.
So ugly… Gao Peng squinted his eyes. Why is this b*stard getting uglier
as it evolves?
The Prosperity Mouse that had just come out of the pot was soaked. Its
fur was clumped together, and its tail laid on the floor listlessly.
It exerted great effort to lie on the table, looking at Gao Peng with a
degree of fear in its eyes.
[Monster Name]: Treasure Sniffing Rodent
[Monster Attribute]: Mystic
[Monster State]: Healthy (Dispirited)
[Monster Introduction]: Evolved from the Prosperity Mouse. It’s extremely

sensitive to the smell of treasure. It’s able to sniff out the odor of treasure
that it passes by.
[Requirements for Promotion to Perfect Grade]: …

It only went up to the Excellent grade. There’s still a lot of room for
growth. The increase shouldn’t have been too huge.
Gao Peng looked at the pathways for it to reach the Perfect grade. This
time, there were only two left.
The last time he had checked, there had been three pathways for its
evolution, but now there were only two left. Is it possible that Mystic
types are that rare? Even the evolution pathways are so limited.
One of the evolutionary pathways this time was to strengthen the

treasure finding ability of the Treasure Sniffing Rodent. The other was to
evolve it into a Treasure Swallowing Rodent that could grow by eating
treasure. The latter option would give it a slew of Mystic-type abilities.
Both routes sounded good, so Gao Peng began to use the method of
exclusion.
His family was rich, and he had a lot of treasure at home, so of course
he would choose to strengthen its treasure hunting ability.
He didn’t need to rely on the creature to be able to attack. He only

needed it for its treasure hunting abilities. Moreover, the Treasure
Swallowing Rodent… One glance and one would know that it was a
loser, which didn’t suit Gao Peng’s taste.
He took his phone out of his pocket, called the logistics department, and
asked them to send a batch of materials to him from the warehouse.
This batch had all the materials, except for the blood of an Emperor-tier
monster, which wasn’t a big problem.
Gao Peng asked the logistics department to send the other materials
over. He would collect the blood of an Emperor-tier monster himself.
He first thought of Stripey. Since Stripey was his own familiar, it would
be easier. However, after thinking about it, he realized that it would be
quite difficult to get Stripey’s blood.
That left the White Dragon.
“White Dragon!” Gao Peng shouted by the lake.
The tranquil water started to rumble, then half of a white head emerged
from the lake. It looked at Gao Peng suspiciously.
“White Dragon, come here. I want to borrow something from you.” Gao
Peng waved his hands.
“Fuuuuu—”
A giant beast slowly flew out from the lake, its snow white claws shining
brightly under the sun. The White Dragon looked down at Gao Peng
from above and spat water out of its nostrils, which created a rainbow
under the sunlight.
Gao Peng stepped forward and lifted a large bucket in his hands.
“Brother dragon, I need to borrow some of your blood. I only need one
bucket.”
The White Dragon widened its eyes and growled threateningly with its
throat.
“Okay, okay. I already told Grandpa. Didn’t Grandpa already talk to

you?”
In the end, the White Dragon reluctantly lifted up its left arm, then used
the claws on its right hand to create a small wound on itself.
Fresh blood gushed out of the wound. Some of the blood splashed
outside the bucket and hit Gao Peng’s hands.
The White Dragon’s blood was hot, and Gao Peng was able to initially
feel warmth on his hands, but the temperature suddenly dropped down.
The back of his hands felt colder and colder, as if ice had formed on
them. A bitter chill started to spread inwards and quickly, his hands
became stiffer and stiffer.
Chapter 303: Tiange Academy
Is this legendary dragon blood?
This was Gao Peng’s first thought after his hands were frozen.
But this blood is really, really cold. It is after all an Emperor-tier familiar…
This was Gao Peng’s second thought.
The White Dragon’s wounds started to heal inwardly. The flesh on both
sides of the scratched muscle moved toward each other and, relying on
the strong muscles, they were forcefully sealed together.
The muscles that had forcefully met kept rubbing against each other,
and strips of new flesh started to grow and form… The wound healed
completely within ten minutes. The only thing that could be seen was a
shallow scratch on the surface.
The bucket of blood was as heavy as mercury and much heavier than
water. When Gao Peng lifted the bucket, there wasn’t even the tiniest bit
of a tremble on the surface. It was calm even though there was shaking.
It remained as smooth as a mirror.
Is this really blood? Gao Peng was stunned.
Gao Peng happily left the side of the lake with the bucket of blood, and
the White Dragon turned around and returned to the lake.
The Primitive Jade Armored Crocodile looked over suspiciously from a

nearby puddle. From its understanding, the White Dragon was very
strong, the most powerful monster it had ever seen. That was the reason
why it had been willing to become Ji Hanwu’s familiar.
The weak had to yield to the strong. This was in its nature.
The only thing that confused it was why such a powerful White Dragon
would give its blood to a weak human.
It was too weird.
It just couldn’t figure out the answer to this question, even after thinking
about it for a while. As it continued to mutter to itself while laying in the
puddle, enjoying the cooling water and the surrounding heat, it didn’t
take long for it to fall asleep.
Gao Peng returned to the laboratory and continued with his experiment.
Half an hour later, the experiment was finished.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s appearance had changed completely,

though its name was still the same. This meant that it hadn’t evolved into
another creature, but its grade had gone from Excellent to Perfect.
Its color also went from yellow to a light yellow, including shades of
white.
Its eyes became smaller, shrinking from the size of soybeans to the size
of green beans. A few black whiskers hung on both sides of its nose.
It went up two grades in a row. Its treasure sensing ability should’ve

improved significantly, right?
Gao Peng took an Elite-tier monster core crystal and circled it front of the
Treasure Sniffing Rodent. Its reaction was very tame. It just looked at it
in disinterest.
Huh! This fella.
Gao Peng felt amused. Before its grade had been promoted, the
Treasure Sniffing Rodent would become extremely excited when it saw
an Elite-tier monster core crystal.
But now, it had learned to act cold and condescending.
“Do you want to take a look? You really don’t want to take a look?” Gao
Peng placed the core crystal right beneath the Treasure Sniffing
Rodent’s nose.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent took a breath and placed its right claw on
Gao Peng’s finger, then bit down on the core crystal reluctantly.
Actually, I really don’t want to eat it… The Treasure Sniffing Rodent lifted
up its eyes. Why is Master not letting go?
“I only asked you if you wanted to take a look at it, not eat it,” Gao Peng
said seriously.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent was blank.
Its claw held on very tightly, not willing to let go. However, Gao Peng
pulled it away forcefully.
Gao Peng set aside the Elite-tier monster core crystal and took out a
Commander-tier monster core crystal.
This time, there was a slight reaction in the Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s
face. Its tiny eyes kept staring at the Commander-tier monster core
crystal in Gao Peng’s hand. However, when it remembered how Gao
Peng had treated it just now, its expression turned dark. It turned its
head around and stopped looking at the core crystal.
It seems that the Commander-tier core crystal can only attract the
Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s attention, but is unable to excite it.
Gao Peng thought for a while. At least I now have a yardstick.
Not bad. Moreover, the Treasure Sniffing Rodent will reach the
Commander tier soon. Once it reaches the Commander tier, its ability
will improve by quite a bit.
I won’t ever have to experience another unfortunate situation where I

spend half a day searching tirelessly in the forest only to find a readily
available material that costs ten measly Alliance credits.
…
After he finished with the Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s evolution, Gao
Peng lifted his head to look at the clock. It was only three o’clock in the
afternoon.
He suddenly remembered that Huang Ya’s school day was already over.
The school was already preparing matters related to recruitment. Huang
Ya had even asked him at noon if Gao Peng would be able to attend the
opening ceremony of the school.
Of course, he had to attend the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony was the next day at ten o’clock in the morning.
Gao Peng was preparing to go to the school.
It wasn’t far from the Southern Sky Group. Because of special

circumstances, the school had been built in the middle of a mountain in
the suburbs.
The inside was spacious, while the building was simple. In front of the
school’s main entrance, there was a round stage that was three stories
high, and in front of the podium was a big incense bowl. There was dirt
in the incense bowl so that people could light their incense sticks.
The stage was reserved for the Guan Yu Statue.
After spending a period of time with Stripey, the Guan Yu Statue had
gradually gotten used to life at the Southern Sky Group.
Thus, Gao Peng wanted to ask the Guan Yu Statue to become the
gatekeeper of the school, although the Southern Sky Group didn’t need
a gatekeeper there. As far as the monsters of the world were concerned,
the entrance to the Southern Sky Group’s headquarters was the gate to
a cave full of tigers and dragons.
Although this suburb had been cleared before, low-level monsters would
still sometimes appear. If the Guan Yu Statue was present, it would be
able to protect the school.
Gao Peng went around to the dorm, cafeteria, gym, field, classrooms,
and offices to take a look. He was satisfied with what he saw.
This school had been hastily built in two months. It was unrealistic to
expect it to look exquisite, but there were no problems with the quality.
Gao Peng’s impression of it was that it was clean and simple.
There were already students living in the dormitories. There were three
types of students at the school.
The first kind were orphans who had lost their parents and were living
hard lives alone. The second were students who had been
recommended because of the cooperation between the school and the
orphanage. Of course, it wasn’t compulsory. The last kind were the
children of Southern Sky Group employees.
The school utilized a full-time boarding school model. They would have a
field trip once a month. At the same time, the students could freely
choose to work part-time at any of the factories and departments under
the Southern Sky Group during the winter and summer holidays. Those
who didn’t have homes to return to could stay at the school during the
winter and summer holidays, as well. The school wouldn’t arrange for
classes during those times, but it would offer many interesting
extracurricular activities.
The school was a combination of middle and high school, since it had
both. Once students graduated, they would be able to sign a Blood
Contract to become a monster trainer straightaway.
An elementary school was also planned, but it was still in the midst of
construction. Moreover, it wouldn’t be combined with the school for
middle and high school students; it would be independent.
On the second day, Gao Peng stood on Tiange Academy’s stage and
gave a speech wearing a brown suit and a bow tie. His hairstyle was that
of an adult, and his face was solemn and serious, so he looked very
stern.
Gao Peng, dressed up this way, no longer looked young. He looked like
he was around 26 or 27 years old.
“Greetings, everyone. I am your principal, Gao Peng. You can call me

Principal Gao. Today is the day we found Tiange Academy. This is a
very special day, one worth remembering. I believe that many years in
the future, you’ll feel very proud of the fact that you were once a student
at Tiange Academy…” Gao Peng had prepared a 30,000-word long
script for his speech.
Gao Peng read the script word by word. It took him an hour to read out
the whole thing.
“…So I want to welcome all of you! We’ll definitely start a new era!”
Clap, clap, clap! Loud applause rang out.
The new students who had been standing below the platform under the
sun for an hour clapped loudly.
Gao Peng smiled. He turned around and said to Huang Ya, “These
students are good young pupils! So enthusiastic! So positive! So
generous! Most importantly, they understand gratitude.”
Who knew that being loved by students was such a happy feeling? Gao
Peng licked his somewhat dried out lips, feeling like he hadn’t said
enough.
Forget it. I’ll continue next time.
“Okay, my speech ends here. We will now welcome Dean Huang Ya to

say a few words!” Gao Peng laughed heartily and gave way for Huang
Ya to step forward.
The applause of the new students below the platform became slower
and slower, softer and softer. They looked dumbfoundedly at the thick
script in Huang Ya’s hands as he walked towards the microphone…
Chapter 304: Phone Call from Chang’an

The speech lasted for two hours before it ended, and the legs of the
students below the podium had already gone numb.
After they made sure that the speech was really finished, they clapped
their hands feebly.
Today was the day classes officially began. A big car was parked in front
of the school gate, and behind it, there was a huge 50-foot bronze
statue.
The Guan Yu Statue walked down from the back of the car by itself and
surveyed its surroundings. The scenery was wonderful, the place wasn’t
crowded, and the platform built for it was to the side of the school gate.
Maybe it was because it had grown used to it on the busy street, but
when it saw the platform, it stood on it habitually. Then, after standing on
it, it found the platform suited it, and it was also very comfortable, so it
just stood on the platform with ease and acted as the gatekeeper of the
school.
“You must burn incense for it every day, and the incense should never
be extinguished, okay?” Gao Peng instructed them strictly.
“Yes, understood.”
“Don’t worry, Principal Gao. We’ll definitely give it the incense every
day.”
“From now on, don’t say ‘it.’ That isn’t polite.” Gao Peng went silent for a
while. “Call it Teacher Guan from now on.”
Huang Ya and the other teachers of the faculty nodded, then they
exclaimed loudly to the Guan Yu Statue, “Teacher Guan.”
The Guan Yu Statue’s gaze was fixed to the front.
Gao Peng laughed, turned, and left.

By night, the trees in between the mountains swayed and rustled. A big
fat honey badger peered its head out of the bushes. This fat honey
badger was different from ordinary honey badgers. Its pupils were
crimson, and its fur was thick and long, as if countless pine-like needles
grew out from under its skin. It dragged a large furry tail on the ground,
and with its nostrils pointed high in the air, it assessed its surroundings
cautiously.
Then it raised its head and looked into the school,. There seemed to be
a lot of delicious food inside. Transparent saliva started dripping from the
edge of the honey badger’s lips. It crawled carefully towards the school’s
main gate, then it suddenly stopped moving halfway.
It turned and crawled to the wall on the side.
Hmph, there’s definitely something wrong with such a big entrance. I’m
too smart to enter from here.
When it went past the Guan Yu Statue, the honey badger monster
glanced at the bronze statue. It relaxed after it made sure it wasn’t alive.
It thought for a while before moving towards the leg of the bronze statue
and peeing on it.
After it finished peeing, its body trembled a little. Just as it turned around,
a dark gold-colored crescent descended from the sky above its head.
Puchk!
The head flew into the sky.
It rolled on the ground twice, covered in dust, as its eyes continued to

stare at the Guan Yu Statue even as it died.
Two guards in the guard house heard the commotion and ran out. After
seeing the body of the honey badger monster on the ground, they
sucked in cold air.
“With such a big honey badger, the meat must be oh so very tender. The
school cafeteria can add something extra to their menu.”
“The principal said that every animal caught by Teacher Guan would be
handled by the school’s cafeteria. It looks like we’ll have a good meal
tomorrow.”
Compared to being called Master Gao, a title that kind of implied being
the son of a rich and wealthy family, Gao Peng preferred to be called
Principal Gao by others, as it gave him a sense of accomplishment and
satisfaction in teaching and educating people.
He was a noble person who was above vulgar interests.
His phone, which had been left on the table, rang. Gao Peng grabbed
the phone, and the display showed that it was Director Chen, the director
of Chang’an Monster Breeder Association. Of course, one had to add an
“ex” in front of the title.
Gao Peng accepted the call. “Director Chen.”
“Hey. I haven’t been the director of Chang’an Monster Breeder

Association for a long time. It’s not like you don’t know that I’ve joined
the military, Master Gao. You can just call me Chen Xuehe,” said
Director Chen jokingly from the other side of the phone.
“Then you should also just call me Gao Peng, like before. Master Gao is
too unfamiliar,” said Gao Peng, smiling.
“Actually, I’m quite embarrassed to ask for you this time, but I really have
something that I need to bother you with,” said Chen Xuehe on the other
side with a sigh.
“Just say it straight out, Director Chen.” Gao Peng was certain that Chen
Xuehe needed something from him. Unfortunately, it was more like the
Chang’ an Military District behind Chen Xuehe needed something from
him.
“I knew I couldn’t hide it from you. The Desert Ruler in Dali Desert hasn’t
been quiet recently,” Chen Xuehe said seriously.
Gao Peng frowned. He remembered that the Shatuoman Man-eating

Earthworm Lord had successfully evolved last time. Two mighty beasts
had competed against each other, so even if the Desert Ruler had won,
it wasn’t possible for it to have healed that soon.
“The Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworm Lord…. It surrendered to the

Desert Ruler.” Over the phone, Chen Xuehe’s voice was very low. “Its
power has expanded further. Although it suffered some injuries in the
battle with the Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworm Lord, the injury has
already completely healed by now, and with the help of the Shatuoman
Man-eating Earthworm Lord, it has become even more powerful.”
The Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworm Lord had successfully evolved.

After successfully evolving into a Lord-tier monster, it would bring its
entire clan back to their territory, the Dali Desert. After all, they had been
driven out of the Dali Desert by the Desert Ruler in the first place. Now,
since it had the strength, of course it was going to fight back.
No one was willing to be driven from their home.
Now, the two Lord-tier monsters were on the same side. That was a
frightening power.
“You can’t be asking me to take care of these two monsters, right?

You’re overestimating me. We’re talking about two Lord-tier monsters. If
you want to find someone, shouldn’t it be my Grandpa?” Gao Peng
refused Chen Xuehe’s plan.
Although Chen Xuehe was still considered a close acquaintance, it didn’t

mean that Gao Peng would use his Grandpa’s strength and forces to
help someone just because he knew them.
This was a different matter. If he had the ability to do it, then so be it.
However, even if Gao Peng were to personally go there, there was no
guarantee that he could take care of these two Lord-tier monsters,
especially when the two monsters were located in their favorite
environment. If he were to go there, the most likely situation would be
meat dumplings trying to fight a dog.
If he could take Stripey there, then it definitely wouldn’t have been a

problem. Even if their number doubled, the Lord-tier monsters still
wouldn’t be able to do anything.
Stripey would be able to send those two monsters into the ground with
just one slap, easy, casual, and maybe with a yawn.
But the problem was that Dali Desert was at least 1,800 miles away from
Yuzhou City… After the Cataclysm, the distance had increased even
further. Stripey’s body was too big to get it into any kind of
transportation, so it could only walk there, step by step.
“You’ve misunderstood. Of course, I’m not just asking you to handle

them. This time, it’s not just you—the Golden Deity will also personally
head out. At the same time, we’ll try our best to get those two monsters
out of the desert. We only want you to delay the Desert Ruler while the
Golden Deity deals with the Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworm Lord.
After he deals with the Earthworm Lord, then we’ll all finish off the Desert
Ruler together.”
The plan sounded good, however, actually executing it wouldn’t be that

easy.
“Why do you need to kill these two Lord-tier monsters?” Gao Peng asked
sharply. Lord-tier monsters didn’t have low IQs. Unless humans really
threatened their existence, they wouldn’t attack human base cities on
purpose.
The other side of the phone went silent for a while, then Chen Xuehe
said, “A grandson of one of the heads of the military region was attacked
by the Desert Ruler during his mission in the Dali Desert, and
unfortunately, he died on duty.”
Chapter 305: Returning to Chang’an City

In the end, Gao Peng rejected Chen Xuehe’s invitation.
From the moment that Chen Xuehe had uttered that sentence, Gao
Peng had roughly understood its cause and effect.
From the Chang’an military district, a high ranking senior military officer
sacrificed his life while on a mission in the Dali Desert. Of course, the
authenticity of the task and sacrifice was subject to discretion.
The high ranking officer wasn’t well acquainted with Grandpa, otherwise
he wouldn’t have needed to contact Gao Peng through Chen Xuehe. He
could have contacted Grandpa directly.
Looking him up was just a ruse. Taking advantage of his relationship

with his grandpa and getting Ji Hanwu to act was the real intention.
If Gao Peng had acted to help, whether it was fake or not, Grandpa
would definitely follow him secretly to ensure his safety.
Gao Peng resented being taken advantage of by others. He despised

this behavior.
With the arrival of numerous large trucks along the roads, the air
became dusty and smoky. The trucks finally stopped beside the lake.
When the rear iron doors of the big trucks were unbolted, huge boxes in
the compartment were being slid down the ramps onto the ground, and
when they were opened, there were rows and rows of fresh meat.
Firetail Monkeys wearing white gloves served as movers. They carried

the boxes down, took out all the meat, and placed it by the lakeside.
Very quickly, the meat piled up in small mountains.
After that, the Firetail Monkeys sat on the top of the trucks and exited via
the other end of the villa. The atmosphere was filled with furious
humming and the vigorous roars and rumbles of the trucks.
The surface of the lake started to ripple. A strong, rough white claw
appeared from the lake and gently took aim at the mountain of meat,
forming a large wave in the lake’s surface, resulting in a large quantity of
meat dropping into the dragon’s mouth. On the other end, the Primitive
Jade Armored Crocodile crawled out of the water. It opened its mouth
and started sucking as if it were whizzing into the void, inhaling the pile
of meat on the ground into its mouth like a gust of strong wind.
“Do you want to go back to Chang’an City after a while?” asked Ji

Hanwu as he was cutting up the steak on his plate.
Gao Peng thought about his own home. Although he was living with
Grandpa, he still considered the small house in Chang’an City his real
home.
It wasn’t very big, but it was cozy and warm.
“I want to go back and tidy up the old place.” Gao Peng didn’t lift his
head as he forked a cherry into his mouth.
“Did the Chang’an military district call you?” Ji Hanwu placed a piece of
well-cut steak into his mouth.
His glistening teeth were like two rows of saws, chewing and smashing
the beef, then swallowing it down his throat and into his stomach.
“I rejected them.” Gao Peng knew what Grandpa was talking about.
“Oh… If you’re going there and it’s convenient, just help them out.”
Surprised, Gao Peng lifted up his head to look at Grandpa.
Grandpa let out a cough. “Someone approached me for a favor. Once

you’re there, you can assess the situation. If you can help, then help. If
it’s too inconvenient for you to help, then just turn around and leave!”
“Okay!” Gao Peng smiled.
…
Gao Peng was preparing to go back home to Chang’an City two days
later. His main purpose was to tidy up the place, although there wouldn’t
be much dust in his house, because he had closed all the windows when
he left.
Secondly, he would go to Dali Desert to assess the situation. Grandpa

had already made an agreement with the military that if Gao Peng
eventually had to help, he would be entitled the priority of selecting the
final reward.
He rested a day before heading out. The best surprise was that Flamy,
who had remained quiet for a month, evolved successfully on the final
day.
Flames rose from the surface of the eggshell, and the red flame ignited
the surrounding trees, making the fire larger and larger.
It looked like a great fire was about to happen. Unknowingly, the sky
turned dark and gloomy, and a sudden storm extinguished the fire.
The giant burning egg in the forest was particularly eye-catching in the
downpour.
The rainwater evaporated before it could even touch the giant egg, so
there was a thick mist surrounding the surface of it. The combination of
the light from the fire and the mist created a yellow glow around the egg.
A green-black beak poked out from the top of the giant egg as if a sword
had been thrust straight into the sky.
The red egg suddenly burst into pieces, creating a red smokey haze in
the air. A bright flare shot high up into the sky and turned the dark clouds
in the sky a slight red color.
Screech—
The rainfall started to get lighter and lighter, with rainwater hitting the
grass gently.
Gao Peng was watching the rain from the house. Behind him was a 13-
foot-tall giant crane that was stretching its wings. Its white feathers were
slightly mixed with green feathers. There were also a few red feathers at
the tips of its wings.
Its scarlet eyes were like jewels, while its slender legs were as black as
ink. White rings covered much of its legs. Its four sharp claws were like
silver hooks. Its feathers looked bright and shiny, without any trace of
being soaked by the rain.
It was November, and the weather had started to become cold, however,
the inside of the house wasn’t cold at all.
A slight warmth exuded from its body. There wasn’t even any need to
turn on the house heater; the temperature just rose automatically.
“I thought that I would only be going with Da Zi and Dumby to Chang’an

City. The timing of your breakthrough was just right,” Gao Peng said to
Flamy.
Flamy laughed and lifted up its neck with pride.
Ever since its evolution, Flamy’s body had become more attractive, slim
and streamlined. It no longer gave others the impression that it was a
penguin. It looked like a proper one-legged crane. However, it was still a
bit fat.
The color of its feathers was peculiar. There was a mixture of green and
red among the white feathers that looked rather dazzling.
The result of this evolution was really something that Gao Peng hadn’t
expected.
[Monster Name]: Forest Flame Spirit Crane (Ancestral blood veins

reawaken)

[Monster Attribute]: Fire/Wood
[Monster Skills]: Flame Mastery Level 4, Flame Resistance Level 4
[Special Characteristics]: Fire feathers (…)
[Monster Introduction]: It has awakened a new kind of blood veins in its

body. It only needs to devour fire spirits to continue to promote its
grade…
Gao Peng didn’t know what kind of blood veins had been reawakened in
Flamy. He didn’t want to come to any conclusions before Flamy
completed all of its evolution.
“It’s been raining non-stop in Yuzhou City since two days ago. The
temperature has dropped considerably, as well. However, it’s still bright
and sunny here in Chang’an City.” Gao Peng looked at the sun above
him. Da Zi, Flamy, Dumby, Silly, and the Treasure Sniffing Rodent were
beside him.
Bringing the Treasure Sniffing Rodent along was a decision made at the
spur of the moment by Gao Peng.
There were no major changes in the old courtyard at home. The mottled
courtyard wall was covered with vines. Gao Peng heard the sound of
children playing in the yard from a distance.
There were a few elders chatting on chairs in the courtyard, but a few
familiar faces were missing.
When Gao Peng walked by, he didn’t attract any attention. However,
Flamy and Dumby, who were walking behind, attracted the attention of
others.
“That looks like… the boy from the Gao family?” one of the elders asked.
“Huh? I heard that he moved away a long time ago. Why did he come
back all of a sudden?”
“The familiars behind him look quite imposing.”
“The crane looks quite good.”
“Fleshy.”
Chapter 306: The Tout

Both Dumby and Flamy were far too big to take the stairs.
Gao Peng led the rest of his familiars up the stairs, leaving those two
beneath him.
A couple of heads poked out from the top of the stairs, curiously
observing Dumby.
Dumby naturally noticed the little pipsqueaks taking a peek at it in the

distance. However, it didn’t pay them any mind.
“That’s a walking skeleton,” muttered one of them.
“It’s a monster,” one of his friends corrected him.
“An ugly-looking one.”
“Ugh, it’s so ugly. It doesn’t even have any flesh!”
“What does a walking skeleton need flesh for?”
“I once picked on this pile of bones,” one of the bigger boys loudly
proclaimed.
“Rubbish. There’s no way you would dare do such a thing…”
“What’s there to be afraid of?” The boy picked up a stone and threw it at
Dumby.
The stone spun a few times through the air until it landed at Dumby’s
feet.
Dumby slowly looked down at the stone, then raised its right foot and
stamped down on the stone.
The stone was instantly reduced to dust!
Dumby turned towards the boy who had thrown the stone at it, cold white
flames now burning fiercely in its eye sockets.
The boy shuddered. His eyes soon began to redden, and he exploded
into tears. Some of the children quickly fled the place.
Ten minutes later, the children came back.
A stocky-looking child walked in front of the group. He must have been

their leader. He was holding a rope in his hands, the other end of which
was bound around the neck of a 13-foot-tall, 22-foot-long dog.
The huge dog didn’t seem to have any fur on it. Blood vessels could be
seen crisscrossing the surface of its body. Its bloodshot eyes were fixed
steadfastly on Dumby.
The children threw Dumby dirty looks. Some of them still had tears in
their eyes.
“Sic ’em, boy!”
As soon as the leader loosened his grip on the rope, the huge dog
immediately barrelled towards Dumby.
Some of the elders had heard the commotion.
“Hey, Lee, isn’t that Wang Cai’s barking?” asked one of them.
“Yeah, it is…” The old woman named Lee quickly got to her feet and
shouted, “Wang Cai…”
Suddenly, the dog’s barking stopped.
A moment later, a naked dog came bolting around the corner with its tail
tucked between its legs, as if something had scared the living daylights
out of it.
“Wahhh…” A child came running after the dog, screaming his lungs out
until his voice went hoarse.
After dusting the entire room, Gao Peng came down the stairs, only to
find Dumby surrounded by a crowd of angry-looking old people.
Upon seeing Gao Peng come down from his room, an old woman strode
over to him and said, “Little Gao, we’ve watched you grow up.”
“That’s right. Even if your parents aren’t around, you should at least call
me ‘Auntie.'”
Gao Peng frowned. He didn’t know what was going on. He looked at
Dumby for an answer.
Through their Blood Contract, Dumby told him what had happened. After
hearing Dumby’s side of the story, Gao Peng nodded to himself.
“My grandson was only fooling around with your…”
An old man helped her complete her sentence. “Familiar.”
“That’s right, familiar. He was only playing around with it. Did it have to
give him such a fright?” said the old woman, stroking her grandson’s
head as if fearing that Dumby had done something to it.
“My grandson’s a smart and obedient boy. I’m not saying this is your
fault, but there’s no reason for you to bring that pile of bones around in
public.”
“I’m so sorry. Please do excuse me. I still have other matters to attend
to,” said Gao Peng flatly.
He left the place with his familiars.

Nobody else tried to stop him. They simply watched him walk away into
the distance.
After leaving the house, Gao Peng stopped by a travel agency and
asked about any trips bound for Dali Desert. However, the only answer
he received was a resounding no from every travel agency and
adventuring party in the agency.
“No, we’re not going to Dali Desert any time soon. That place is way too
dangerous. A lot of people have died there. Also, I hear that the army
has locked down the place. Anyone wishing to enter the desert will have
to register for a special pass. However, if you’re thinking about going
anywhere else, I’m at your service,” said one of the travel agents that
Gao Peng had approached.
Gao Peng frowned when he heard that a lot of people had died in Dali
Desert. It would seem that things were a lot more complicated than the
military in Chang’an had let on.
Gao Peng had no choice but to dismiss the idea of entering Dali Desert
via official means. However, he still had to see what was going on there
for himself without exposing himself to the people in the military.
After leaving the travel agency, Gao Peng saw a couple of shady-looking
people loitering outside the agency. Every time someone came out of
the agency, they would try to chat him or her up. If the other party had no
interest in continuing the conversation, they would simply back off and
wait for their next customer.
These people were scalpers, hyenas fighting over scraps left behind by
travel agencies outside their doorsteps. Due to the shady nature of their
business, these people had to do things with the utmost discretion.
Gao Peng waved a hand at a man in a black jacket who was standing
not far away from him.
The man took a long drag on his cigar and blew the smoke out through
his nostrils, then threw what remained of his cigar to the ground and
stepped on it before walking briskly towards Gao Peng.
Gao Peng took out his wallet and threw a stack of Alliance dollar bills at
the man.
“I’m looking to join a group that’s headed for Dali Desert. I’m planning to
go there today,” he said.
The man in the black jacket swiftly inserted the stack of dollar bills inside
his pocket.
Looking left and right to make sure that no one was looking at them, the
man nodded and said, “Follow me.”
Gao Peng followed the man into an alley until they reached a shabby-
looking building. The man walked straight into it.
Not at all worried that he might be entering a trap, Gao Peng followed
the man into the house.
Suddenly, a black figure streaked past him, barely grazing his hair. Gao
Peng was not at all shaken by this. He didn’t even stop to see where it
went.
On a shelf on the far end of the corridor, a black snail was coldly staring
at Gao Peng.
The snail stretched its neck out from its shell, which was covered entirely
with spikes.
Gao Peng looked at it indifferently.
The snail widened its eyes at him. Then it withdrew its head into its shell.
The snail seemed to be shuddering inside it…
Chapter 307: Dali Desert

From the depths of the house echoed the sound of breaking glass.
After leading Gao Peng through three corridors and two courtyards, the
man in the black leather jacket finally came to a stop.
The man didn’t turn around. He simply stood there with his back to Gao
Peng.
Lines of sweat trickled down his forehead and onto his collar.
The man had set his familiar, the Black Spiked Snail, on Gao Peng as
his first test. Even though it wasn’t terribly powerful, it was still an Elite-
tier monster.
However, all it took was a casual look from Gao Peng, and the snail was
instantly cowed into submission. Even the man in the black jacket had
felt the snail’s terror the moment it locked eyes with Gao Peng through
their Blood Contract.
He could tell that this boy was the real deal.
“I’ve already made a few calls to prepare for your trip to Dali Desert.
We’ll be leaving tonight at ten,” said the man in a low voice.
Gao Peng nodded. There was bamboo all around him, each plant
wedged into the walls just above his head. All kinds of junk cluttered the
place.
“Why don’t you rest for a bit? I’ve already made the necessary
arrangements. Just remember that we’ll be departing tonight at ten. Any
later than that and we’ll leave you behind,” said the man.
Gao Peng narrowed his eyes, then slowly nodded at the man.
Night soon came.
A group of people came into the building from the other side.
There were six of them in total. Behind them stood a couple of shadowy
figures completely enshrouded in layers of thick black cloth.
“Since every checkpoint on the main road is being guarded by the army,
we’ll be taking a lesser-known route leading out of Chang’an city,”
explained a black-robed girl at the front of the group. Her black hair was
tied into a ponytail. Her eyebrows were slender, and her movements
were agile and refined.
Considering how big Chang’an City was, there was no way the army had
its men stationed at the city’s every exit.
They began walking towards the outskirts of the city. They could hear
the occasional wail of car horns from a highway in the distance.
Without an experienced guide, they would definitely not have been able
to make much headway in the dark.
After walking for two hours, they finally reached the other side of a small
mountain. Under the cover of darkness, they could see the outline of a
huge truck parked on the side of the road.
The black-robed girl produced a whistle from her backpack. She then let
out one long whistle and two short ones.
The truck roared to life.
“Let’s go,” said the girl urgently as she rushed towards the truck.
All of them climbed into the truck’s cab, while the compartment at the
back was reserved for their familiars.
Gao Peng didn’t get a good look at any of their familiars, as most of
them were covered under a thick black cloth. He could only see a
number of huge figures being ushered into the truck’s back
compartment. One of them suddenly cried out and bumped into another
familiar.
The latter shook its head and let out a deep growl.
It seemed like a fight was about to break out between the two familiars.
Suddenly, a pair of bony arms pierced through the black cloth and
touched the two familiars’ heads.
In an instant, both of them calmed down.
The two familiars now stood stock still in the back compartment.
In the cab, Gao Peng sat in the middle. On his right was a woman in a
dark red dress, her exposed shoulders round and smooth. She had let
down her black, curly hair. Her slender legs were folded over each other
to complete this picture of feminine appeal.
Realizing that Gao Peng was looking at her, the woman turned to Gao
Peng and smiled at him. Her lips were painted red, two alluring arcs
glistening in the darkness.
Gao Peng hastily looked away, realizing how rude it was to ogle at a
woman.
The other two in the cab seemed to be acquaintances. He tried to

remember what they looked like.
They were a couple. Judging from their appearances, Gao Peng figured
that they didn’t look like they were in desperate need of money.
Perhaps they were just looking to have some fun and excitement in Dali
Desert.
They drove along the road for around three hours. The truck jolted a bit
from time to time. This wasn’t surprising, seeing that the road they were
on had fallen into disrepair through years of neglect. They had to drive
slowly, as there were potholes in certain parts of the road.
“Awooo!”
Suddenly, there was a chilling howl outside the truck.
Gao Peng looked out the window and saw green dots of light floating in
the darkness by the roadside.
He soon made out the outlines of huge wolf-like creatures that were now
chasing after the truck in rabid excitement.
No matter how fast the truck was moving, they couldn’t seem to shake
off these terrifying creatures.
“I’m already driving at top speed!” cursed the driver. “We are so dead!”
With how fast the truck was moving, the wolves on both sides of the road
grew more and more excited. They let out another chilling howl.
“Stop the truck,” said the black-robed girl.
The driver switched gears and slowed down the truck. Finally, it came to
a complete stop.
The wolves now surrounded the truck in every direction. Their green
eyes were especially unsettling.
In the back compartment, Flamy’s Lord-tier aura spread out from the
bottom of its feet.
The wolves, which were slowly approaching their prey from all sides,
suddenly froze up. In the next instant, all of them scampered away from
the truck, yelping in fright.
“Awooo!”
“What the…” The black-robed girl, who had already braced herself for a
confrontation, looked at the wolves incredulously. She then looked down
silently at the unsheathed machete that she had in her hands…
“Let’s keep going,” said Gao Peng, breaking the awkward silence in the
cab.
The black-robed girl blinked and looked at Gao Peng, then said to the
driver, “Drive on.”
She didn’t believe that she had scared off the wolves by unsheathing her
machete. She also didn’t believe that her familiar, which had only
recently been promoted to Commander-tier, would be able to intimidate
a pack of Elite-tier wolves.
However, she decided not to dwell on it. Her job now was to get these
people safely to the edge of Dali Desert. Anything else wasn’t her
concern.
After driving for half an hour, the scenery outside gradually looked even
more desolate, while the plants on the roadside looked even more
stunted and sparse. Under the dim moonlight, Gao Peng could only
make out their misshapen shadows scattered across the barren
landscape.
“We’re here. Up ahead is Dali Desert. Follow that small trail branching
out of the main road, and you’ll reach a gathering spot for mercenaries
and other lovely folk. It’s just outside the army’s jurisdiction,” said the
black-robed girl before returning to the truck and leaving Gao Peng and
the others on the road.
The earth beneath their feet was soft. A light, dry breeze blew past them.
Looking out into the distance, Gao Peng could see a vast expanse of
sand with a tinge of silver stretching out to the horizon.
Dali Desert lay just ahead of them.
Chapter 308: The Desert Mamba

The woman in the red dress turned around and beckoned to one of the
monsters squirming under the black drapes.
A silver-gray serpentine shape tore through the drapes like an arrow into
the open air.
A huge cobra reared its head at least three stories above the ground. Its
tail was tipped with a silver point that flashed dangerously like a dagger
behind it. There were also faint yellow bands around the dagger-like tip
of the tail.
A faint rattling sound could be heard every time the snake shook its tail.
[Monster Name]: Desert Mamba
[Monster Level]: Level 36 (Commander-tier)
[Monster Ability]: Sand Immunity Level 2
[Monster Attribute]: Sand type
[Description]: The Desert Mamba is an extremely aggressive monster

that can usually be found in the desert. Sand is its primary food source.
Level 36… Not bad.
While the market was becoming even more saturated with Commander-
tier monsters as everyone gradually acclimatized to the post-Cataclysm
world, a late-stage Commander-tier familiar was still a rarity. The woman
in the red dress flashed a smile at Gao Peng, then began walking
towards Dali Desert with her familiar.
After whispering something to each other for a moment, the couple took
one of the small paths branching off of the main road and disappeared
into the night.
Da Zi, who had been cooped up under the black cloth for so long,
squirmed out of it and began circling around Gao Peng like an excited
puppy.
“Thought I was gonna suffocate in there,” chirped Da Zi.
“Let’s look for a place at the gathering spot to turn in for the night,” said
Gao Peng. He breathed in the sandy air and hastily rubbed his nose.
Being on the road the whole night was a tiring affair. The only thing Gao
Peng wanted to do now was lie on a soft, warm bed.
Even though they were wiped out from their night-long drive, Gao Peng
and his familiars still had enough energy to continue the rest of their
journey. A few minutes later, Gao Peng could make out the vague
outline of buildings behind a hill in the distance that looked like a small
town. However, as it was already three in the morning, there probably
wouldn’t be anyone out on the streets at this hour.
A flag on a wooden post fluttered in the bleak wind in front of one of the
buildings.
An earthen wall surrounded the small town. There was a guard on

lookout duty right now with a hunting dog by his side. Suddenly, the dog
began barking at something in the darkness.
The guard, who was moments away from dozing off, woke up with a
start. He took his gun out of his backpack and strained his eyes at
whatever his dog was barking at. In the distance, he could see a few
blurry outlines approaching the town. They didn’t look human.
Just when he was about to report this, he heard a voice calling out in the
distance. “Do you have any places to stay there?”
A human?
The guard put away his gun. No monster could possibly speak a human
tongue that fluently.
A few minutes later, a young man came into view. He looked to be about
20 years old and had quite handsome features—clear skin, a high nose
bridge… Damn, how is he so handsome?
The guard was beginning to feel a bit jealous.
“Why are you still out at such a late hour? The Dali Desert can be quite
dangerous at night, you know,” said the guard.
“I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the nocturnal monsters in the desert,”
said Gao Peng, casually raising his right hand to show a recently
deceased Night Sand Scorpion.
“Well, you can still come in,” the guard mumbled. “However, it’s already
late, so most of the inns are already sold out. You should know that we
have a hard time accommodating all our visitors, even during the day.”
“I can pay more,” said Gao Peng without any hesitation.
A toothy smile spread across the guard’s face. “Let me ask around.”
He began exchanging a few words with someone else on his walkie-

talkie.
Ten minutes later, someone came out to bring Gao Peng to his sleeping
quarters.
Setting up an inn near a desert was no easy task. Gao Peng was lucky
that there was even a place to stay in the middle of nowhere.
After settling his familiars down, he finally went to bed.
The next day, Gao Peng was woken up by the blinding sunlight and the
bustle of the street outside. It took most of his willpower to pull himself
out of bed. For a moment, he thought that he had been completely
pinned to his bed by an unseen force.
Gao Peng shielded his eyes from the blinding sunlight as he looked out
the window.
Outside, he could see buildings shaped like cow sheds lining the street.
Between them stood a few low-rise buildings.
The shoddy brick walls made Gao Peng think of a primitive civilization.
They looked as if they had been built using a familiar’s Earth Mastery
ability.
People filled the streets like schools of fish.

Most of them were either wearing a hat or a mask over their faces. Some
of them were even walking their familiars out on the street. On both
sides of the street, besides a few stalls selling street food, there were
also others selling all kinds of materials.
On the surface, it seemed like there were all kinds of materials being
sold. However, thanks to his enhanced eyesight, Gao Peng could see
that there was little variety in the merchandise being sold.
He was able to make out some of the more ubiquitous items currently
out on display in every stall.
[Material Name]: Exploding Cactus
[Description]: It can be applied directly to any wound to achieve a

cauterization effect. It can also used as a medicinal ingredient.
[Material Name]: Normal Sand-Type Monster Core
[Description]: A crystal core formed from the residual energy inside a

Sand-type monster’s body. Can be used on a familiar to increase its
elemental power. Is most effective when used on a Sand-type monster.
[Material Name]: Sand Soul Stone
[Description]: A stone that’s saturated with Sand-type and Earth-type

elemental energy.
These were the three most popular items being sold in every stall.
Gao Peng figured that said items wouldn’t be hard to find here.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been for sale in every corner of the street.
The second, third, and fourth floors of the inn that Gao Peng was staying
in were rooms for guests, while the first floor was a dining room. Gao
Peng went down to the first floor and ordered a couple of dishes for
himself. Then he poured himself a cup of water and quietly listened to
the chatter around him.
Just then, Silly slid off Gao Peng’s head and dipped one of its tentacles
into the soy sauce, then slurped up the sauce.
It was revolting. A wave of nausea washed over Silly all of a sudden.

That’s not right, it thought.
“The army had the entire Dali Desert locked down. Now, they’re only
letting their own people in.”
“Those army people are just trying to hog the good stuff for themselves,”
grumbled someone else after downing two cups of wine.
“You speak—” He hiccuped. “The truth, brother.”
Gao Peng didn’t hear any useful information from the crowd. For the
most part, all of it was idle chatter.
It seemed that the army held quite a lot of influence over the public in
Chang’an City, as most of the people there didn’t dare bad-mouth the
army, at least in public.
However, the fact that the army had locked down the Dali Desert and
forbidden anyone from entering meant that something big was about to
go down there.
After breakfast, Gao Peng got up and headed out to the Dali Desert with
his familiars.
The desert was situated in the northeastern region of Chang’an City.

Before the Cataclysm, it had once been a popular tourist spot. Since
then, the desertization problem had grown worse. The desert began
encroaching upon the area around it. Eventually, the place had become
a wasteland with no signs of human life.
Ever since someone had discovered the existence of Shatuoman Man-

eating Earthworms in the Dali Desert, the place had been branded a
dangerous area that wasn’t for the faint of heart. The desert gained even
more notoriety when the Desert Ruler came in and chased the
Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworms out of th domain.
Chapter 309: A Sand Monster’s Weakness

When Dumby placed one foot on the desert’s surface, it sank into the
sand almost instantly.
It was as if it had stepped into a pit. Sand began flowing into the
depression created by Dumby’s foot, threatening to swallow it whole like,
a whirlpool.
Dumby viciously stamped its left foot on the sand, raising a huge plume
of it into the air.
Both its feet were now stuck in the sand.
Flamy hovered down and hooked its claws into Dumby’s shoulder
blades. With all its might, it flew up and plucked Dumby out of the sand.
Dumby looked at the desert that had almost swallowed it alive in

bewilderment.
“The desert’s not the same as solid ground. You’ll need some time to get
used to it,” said Gao Peng, trying to stifle a chuckle.
The desert sand was loose and almost fluidlike. In order to avoid sinking
into the flowing sand, some level of control over one’s weight distribution
beneath one’s feet was necessary, even more so for familiars of a wider
girth.
Flamy circled overhead, cackling in the air as it watched Dumby flounder

on the sand.
Da Zi had also taken off and was now zipping to and fro through the air,
like a purple streak of lightning.
After a few tries, Dumby gradually learned how to properly walk across
the desert surface. The trick was to bend its body slightly forward and
tiptoe each step.
Suddenly, a gray sand snake slithered out from the sand beneath its
feet.
It lunged at Dumby with lightning speed and sank its fangs into Dumby’s
ankle!
After writhing about in the air for a few moments, the snake slunk back
into the sand, leaving one of its broken fangs behind…
It was noteworthy that the Desert Ruler was a monster composed purely
of sand. Its movements wouldn’t be impeded in the desert.
While Dumby could still walk normally across the desert, it would have a
hard time maintaining its balance on the loose sand if it tried to exert
itself.
As Dumby was now a Lord-tier monster, it could unleash a lot of

destructive power with every move. Dumby also had a rather slender
physique. It would probably sink itself into the flowing sand if it so much
as sneezed.
A confrontation with the Desert Ruler was the last thing they needed
right then.
Gao Peng’s face grew solemn. “Let’s not go too deep into the desert.
We’ll just walk around here for a bit.”
Gao Peng and the others turned back and began walking along the
desert’s periphery.
Gao Peng had been to the Dali Desert once before. However, the desert
of back then was a lot different from the one they were walking through
right now.
The air smelled of sand. From time to time, clumps of sand particles
would hit them out of nowhere. Even though it was already November,
the sun still shone high in the sky. The desert heat was almost
unbearable.
“The sand here is… angry,” said Dumby slowly as it came to a halt.
“Angry?” asked Gao Peng.
“When a Lord-tier monster has been in a place long enough, its

presence have an effect on the environment around it, including the air,”
explained Dumby.
Gao Peng nodded. He remembered how cool and clean the White
Dragon’s lake had seemed. At first, he had chalked it up to natural
causes. Thanks to Dumby’s explanation, he now knew that this had
been brought about by the White Dragon’s presence.
Sand was regarded by most as a flexible element. However, Gao Peng

had never heard anyone call it angry.
He figured that whatever Lord-tier monster was in the depths of the

desert, it must have been an ill-tempered entity.
Suddenly, the sounds of clashing could be heard somewhere in front of

them. As sound couldn’t travel far in the desert air, the fight couldn’t be
too far away from them.
Flamy flew higher up into the air and said, “Gao Peng, someone’s
fighting off monsters up ahead.”
Gao Peng quickly led his familiars up a sand dune. On the other side of
the dune, he could see someone clashing against a pack of wild
monsters with his familiars.
These wild monsters didn’t share one unifying feature other than the fact
that they were all brown and made of moving sand. Some of them
looked like misshapen porcupines with sand spines squirming across
their backs. Others looked like snakes slithering across the sand. A few
of them had even sprouted seven arms on the sides of their bodies,
baring fangs and claws at their prey.
There were at least 40 of these Sand Monsters in total.
The Sand Monsters had surrounded a ten-man party and their 20 or so

familiars, who were now backing away slowly from the sand creatures.
Standing at the head of the party were their more defensive familiars,
which were able to absorb the Sand Monsters’ attacks without sustaining
too much damage thanks to their thick skin and muscle. It was thanks to
their familiars’ line of defense that the party was still able to hold out
against the Sand Monsters’ attacks.
A couple of cactus-like familiars were standing close to the party. They

were around 16 feet tall and had their spine-covered arms stretched out
in front of them defensively.
[Monster Name]: Savage Toothpick Cactus
[Monster Attribute]: Wood
[Monster Weakness]: Fire
They swung their arms out like baseball bats and sent a flurry of spines
flying towards the Sand Monsters.
When the spines landed on the Sand Monsters’ bodies, they froze for a
moment. Then they regained control of their bodies and continued
advancing towards their prey.
Evidently, piercing-type attacks had little to no effect on Sand Monsters.

Gao Peng gazed coldly at the fight below. What he had now was an
opportunity to observe the Sand Monsters’ collective behavior in a fight
and their reactions to various attacks up close.
He had noticed that the cactus’ spine attacks had only caused the Sand
Monsters to itch. He figured that only blunt attacks would have any effect
on them.
A Black Steel Rhinoceros viciously charged at the Sand Monsters, its

feet sinking into the sand with every step. When it collided against one of
the Sand Monsters, the single tusk on its snout pierced through the Sand
Monster and knocked what appeared to be a yellow heart out of its body.
The Sand Monster trembled for a moment, then it collapsed to the
ground.
Sand particles were now undulating around the yellow heart on the
ground…
[Monster Name]: Sand Monster
[Monster State]: Mortally injured (Unconscious)
[Monster Attribute]: Sand
[Monster Weakness]: 1. Ice 2. The sand core in its body can be

destroyed. 3. Chopping off any part of its body will considerably reduce
its overall power. It needs a lot of time to heal itself, which is done by
absorbing sand from its surroundings.
The heart-like object must have been the Sand Monster’s core. A Sand
Monster could be rendered unconscious if one forcibly removed its core
from its body.
Gao Peng made a mental note of this.
Some of the Sand Monsters had gotten their arms ripped off during the
battle. They picked their dismembered appendages up from the ground
and slowly backed away from their prey. Then they held their arms to the
stumps on their bodies.
A few minutes later, their arms were reconnected to their bodies.

However, their movements now seemed even more rigid.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on Gao Peng. He willed Dumby, who was

standing beside him, to touch his Heart of the Bloodseeker through the
gaps of his ribcage.
Dumby’s heart began throbbing against his fingers…
This strange rhythm was pulling on every Sand Monster’s sand core,
causing them to shrink inward!
Thump, thump, thump.
The Sand Monsters were slowing down.
The Sand Monsters’ bodies began to twist and turn as Dumby’s heart
throbbed even more quickly. Their limbs were bent at impossible angles,
as if they were all trying to do a robot dance at the same time.
Then there was the sound of breaking glass in the air.
All the Sand Monsters beneath Gao Peng had exploded into plumes of
sand!
Chapter 310: The Sandstorm

Dumby pulled back its right hand. The scene beneath it was now one of
chaos, as the Sand Monsters exploded spontaneously into clouds of
sand around the people at the foot of the sand dune. The members of
the group looked at each other in bewilderment, trying to wrap their
heads around what had just happened.
Gao Peng silently gazed down at them for a moment before turning
around and leaving the place alongside Dumby and the others.
“Someone’s on the other side of the sand dune,” said one of them who
had managed to catch a glimpse of Gao Peng’s back disappearing
behind the sand dune.
“He must have helped us,” said an older gentleman in the party
pensively. “Should we go thank him?”
“Seeing how quickly he walked away, I don’t think he wants to be

thanked,” said a woman.
“Tch, shows how much you know,” muttered the woman’s husband. “We
should always remember to thank those who’ve helped us in life,
regardless of whether they want to be thanked or not.”
When the party climbed up the sand dune, Gao Peng was nowhere to be
seen. Some of them seemed a bit disappointed.
“Would have been nice to have an Ice-type familiar here with me,”
muttered Gao Peng.
There was still too little diversity in the familiars he had right now. He
could probably overcome any obstacle in his path if he had a powerful
familiar for each element on his team.
He had once ran a couple of experiments on Sand Monsters and had

been able to gather substantial information on them.
Sand Monsters were generally resistant to Electric-type attacks. While

Dumby could take on the Desert Ruler on its own, there was no way it
would be able to do so out here in the desert.
Then there was Flamy…
Gao Peng had noted in his most recent experiment that a Sand Monster
would experience an increase in speed and agility when exposed to
extreme heat. It would also not receive any noticeable damage from
Fire-type attacks.
“Let’s hope we don’t run into the Desert Ruler out here,” muttered Gao
Peng. This was the first time he felt the inconvenience of being at an
elemental disadvantage so acutely.
When all this is over, I’m definitely going to catch an Ice-type familiar,
decided Gao Peng.
Gao Peng spent the next three days in the gathering spot, trying to gain
a better grasp of the current situation there.
“The Chang’an government has ordered everyone to evacuate from the

Beihekou gathering spot before ten in the morning tomorrow. It won’t be
responsible for anything that happens to those who fail to comply,”
announced a megaphone that was attached to the roof of an army jeep.
The announcement echoed across the area. Everyone in the gathering

spot heard it loud and clear.
After hearing the announcement, some of the people hurriedly packed

up their things, ready to leave the place as soon as possible.
Others huddled together in a corner as they began planning their next

moves.
After broadcasting the announcement around the gathering spot for half
an hour, the jeep finally left the place.
The army was now about to make their move.
Back in Chang’an City’s military base…
“Still no news of Gao Peng?”
“Sir, according to our sources, Gao Peng was last seen asking around
for a tour group that was headed for the Dali Desert. However, it would
seem that he may have resorted to less legitimate means of travel, as no
travel agencies in the region are currently offering that service, in
compliance with the government’s travel ban.”
“Have you searched all the possible places he could be?”
“Sir, we’ve checked every inn in Chang’an. There’s just no sign of him.”
The senior commanding officer in a dark green uniform who had been
lying on the sofa got to his feet. His hooked nose flared.
“Forget it then. Does anyone seriously think we can’t handle even two
Lord-tier monsters without him?”
The subordinate officer sighed inwardly. If they were dealing with any
other type of monster, his superior officer’s confidence wouldn’t have
seemed so out of place. However, this was the Desert Ruler they were
talking about. No one in this world had ever faced a Lord-tier elemental-
type monster before and lived to tell the tale. According to the
calculations made by the military statisticians, their chances of victory
weren’t terribly high.
“Go make the announcement. Tomorrow at ten, we’ll be setting off a

huge explosion in the middle of the desert. We’re gonna drive the sand
b*stard out of its hole!”
“Sir, we won’t be able to evacuate everyone from the Beihekou gathering

spot in time—”
“Yeah, that’s not what I want to hear. We’ve already issued the
evacuation order. The people have more than enough time to pack up
and leave. Anyone who’s still there when the bombs go off will just have
to face the music,” interrupted the commanding officer with the hooked
nose.
After a moment’s silence, the subordinate officer nodded. “Understood.”
Yang Lin was one of the rising stars in Chang’an’s military. He had a firm
way of doing things and a rather tyrannical way of dealing with monsters.
His boss, who had recently lost his grandson, had asked him to be in
charge of this operation.
At first, he had been averse to the idea of recruiting Gao Peng. If it

weren’t for his boss’s orders, Yang Lin wouldn’t be going through all this
trouble to seek him out.
Another reason why he wasn’t that excited at the prospect of Gao Peng
joining him in his operation was the possibility that he might take all the
credit for vanquishing the Desert Ruler.
The youngest Lord-tier monster trainer in the world, whose only Lord-tier
familiar was a walking bag of bones…
He didn’t think that a walking skeleton would be of much help here, even
if it was a Lord-tier monster. His boss only wanted to use Gao Peng to
draw his grandfather, Ji Hanwu, out into the open.
Will Ji Hanwu take the bait, though? wondered Yang Lin.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Missiles fell from the sky toward the far reaches of the desert in quick
succession.
The resulting explosions could be heard even from the edge of the
desert.
“Look at all those mushrooms,” said Da Zi in the air hungrily.
Gao Peng was speechless. Just how hungry can you be, you gluttonous
centipede?
Three bombs were then detonated consecutively in the desert, setting off
an explosion that covered 70 percent of the region.
The resulting heat from the explosion was capable of burning all the
oxygen in the region.
An oxygenless vacuum was formed in the blast zone, causing anything
that hadn’t already died from the explosion to suffocate within seconds.
However, Gao Peng didn’t think that this would be enough to damage
the Sand Monsters or the Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworms.
The former was a creature made entirely of sand, while the latter could
simply dive back into the ground. Gao Peng remembered from his
experiments that Sand Monsters didn’t seem to need oxygen to sustain
themselves.
An airless vacuum hung above the Dali Desert as soon as the explosion
died down.
Silence reigned over sky and sand. Not a single sound could be heard
from the desert. Suddenly, a wind howled angrily from the depths of the
desert!
Gao Peng strained his eyes in the direction of the desert and saw that a
sandstorm was now brewing on the horizon, completely blocking out the
sun in the sky. Even though it was still morning, an unnatural twilight
seemed to have descended upon the desert at that moment.
Chapter 311: The Gengjin Eagle

The Desert Ruler’s power was at its peak in the desert.
A sandstorm was now brewing in the desert. Suddenly, a terrible roar

echoed from afar. In the distance, a human shape could be seen
resolutely trudging towards the missile through the growing swirl of sand.
[Monster Name]: Desert Ruler
[Monster Status]: Slightly injured (Angry)

As the missile was coming from a different direction, there was still some
distance between the Desert Ruler and the place Gao Peng was
standing at now.
The Desert Ruler was at least 30 feet tall, its form obscured by the sand
swirling around it. The only thing one could see outside the sandstorm
was a dark shape moving through it.
There also seemed to be a huge rope-like object wrapped around the

Desert Ruler’s body.
[Monster Name]: King Sandworm
[Monster Status]: Healthy (Alert)
The Desert Ruler came to a halt at the edge of the desert. The trees
outside the desert were now swaying violently in the wind, their leaves
rustling noisily against each other.
Sand had pooled beneath the trees and piled on their leaves at an
incredible rate. Their stems were now drooping under the weight of the
sand.
The Desert Ruler’s presence had transformed its surroundings into a

desert. Rings of white light slowly spread out from it, somewhat different
from Dumby’s Lord-tier aura in that they seemed to be made of smaller
particles.
The monster’s Lord-tier aura also seemed to have a desertizing effect on

the areas it came into contact with…
There was a ripping sound in the air as the burning missile hurtled
towards its mark.
The Desert Ruler lifted its right hand. In an instant, a geyser of sand
erupted from the ground, intercepting the missile mid-flight and causing it
to explode in the air before it could even reach its target.
The resulting explosion merely left a dent on the Desert Ruler’s body.
The monster then waved its hand. From the seemingly endless desert
expanse behind it, Sand Monsters popped out one by one and swarmed
behind the Desert Ruler like an army of formless soldiers who were
ready to act according to their general’s whims.
The army of Sand Monsters was growing without any sign of stopping.
The human soldiers were now starting to grow uneasy. A barrage of

missiles were unleashed upon the growing sand army. Even though the
Desert Ruler was able to intercept a portion of the missiles in the air,
some of them still managed to get through and land on the Sand
Monsters behind it.
Gao Peng’s hands immediately flew up to his ears as deafening

explosions filled the air.
Some of the Sand Monsters were completely torn apart by the

explosions. Even the sand cores in their bodies weren’t spared.
At that moment, the sandstorm around the Desert Ruler gradually

subsided.
Suddenly, a yellow arm emerged from the sandstorm and closed its
hand tightly into a fist.
Sand particles flew up from the desert and swirled into the shape of a
spear in the Desert Ruler’s hand. The spear grew larger and larger until
it looked more like a mace than a spear.
The swirling sand around the Desert Ruler gradually solidified into a
sturdy armor. On its face was a single empty eye socket that was fixated
on something in the distance.
A mouth cracked open across its face. Sand dribbled from the upper half
of its mouth down to the ground. The mouth-like hole on the Desert
Ruler’s face contorted into a snarl.
“Hu… mans!” it roared. The King Sandworm wrapped around its body
and slithered down from it to wriggle into the ground, raising a geyser of
sand behind it.
“All of you… must die!” The Desert Ruler let out another roar, then
rushed forward, each step covering at least 100 feet across the ground.
It had retracted its aura back into its body, as the extent to which a Lord-
tier monster let out its aura could significantly affect its power output.
As the Desert Ruler rushed forward, a violent wind whipped against the
trees in its wake.
Suddenly, a golden eagle descended from the mountains in the

distance.
Then it unleashed a golden beam of light from its beak at the Desert
Ruler! Its attack left a smouldering six-foot-wide hole on the Desert
Ruler’s shoulder.
The Desert Ruler looked up angrily at its assailant, then pulled back its
spear, getting ready to throw it at the golden eagle.
The huge sand spear flew out of the Desert Ruler’s hand, leaving a
sandy trail in its wake.
The golden eagle simply dodged the incoming spear by twisting its body
to the side. Dodging an attack that had been coming from such a long
distance wasn’t a difficult task for it.
The golden eagle then dove towards the Desert Ruler with its wings
spread out on both sides, making it resemble a golden boomerang.
The Desert Ruler simply stood rooted to the ground as the golden eagle
dove towards it. Just when the eagle’s wings were about to touch it, part
of the Desert Ruler’s body exploded into a cloud of sand.
The golden eagle’s wings passed harmlessly through its opponent. It

was noteworthy that with the speed the eagle used to dive towards the
Desert Ruler, its wings could cut through solid steel with ease.
All of this had taken place in the span of a mere second.
Gao Peng, who had a good view of all the action from a safe distance on
top of a sand dune, couldn’t help but gasp at how quickly the Desert
Ruler had reacted to the golden eagle’s attack by dispersing part of its
own body into a cloud of sand.
It’d had to time it perfectly in order to avoid being hit by the golden
eagle’s wings.
If the Desert Ruler’s reaction had been a second too late, it would
definitely have taken a hit from the golden eagle. If it had been a second
too soon, its opponent would have been able to pull back and come at it
from another angle.
Gao Peng strained its eyes at the golden eagle that was now circling the
sky above the Desert Ruler.
[Monster Name]: Gengjin Eagle
[Monster Status]: Healthy (Calm)
[Monster Attribute]: Metal
[Monster Ability]: Hard Feathers Level 3, Sharp Feathers Level 3,

Elemental Gold Mastery Level 4
[Special Characteristics]: Gengjin Divine Feathers (Its feathers were

tempered to be as hard as steel. Passive Effect 1: Feather hardness +1,
Feather sharpness +1. Active Effect 2: It has a certain level of resistance
against other elemental attacks.)
[Monster Weakness]: …
The Gengjin Eagle’s passive effect could be used in conjunction with its
Monster Ability, which meant that its feathers’ hardness and sharpness
were, in fact, a good Level 4.
Chapter 312: The Desert Ruler

The Desert Ruler suddenly stopped. A metal forest of missile launchers

and tanks laid before it.
The metal forest slowly edged away from it as it took a step forward.
Out of nowhere, the Gengjin Eagle came at it with its metallic wings.
However, the Desert Ruler was able to dodge the attack with unnatural
agility. It swung an enlarged arm at the eagle and struck its tail feather,
causing it to falter in its ascent.
The Desert Ruler let out a roar as it grabbed ahold of one of the eagle’s
feet, then swung the eagle down so hard that it created a huge crater in
the soft soil!
The Gengjin Eagle was disorientated by the impact for a moment. Before
it even had the chance to regain its senses, the Desert Ruler viciously
stamped its foot on the eagle’s abdomen.
A golden energy barrier had formed around the Gengjin Eagle’s body as
a layer of protection. However, the Desert Ruler’s foot broke through the
barrier easily.
A clanging sound echoed in the air as the Desert Ruler’s foot struck the
eagle’s golden metallic feathers, which overlapped one another like
armor plates. However, this didn’t completely cushion the foot’s impact.
The Gengjin Eagle squawked in pain. It swung its wings at the Desert
Ruler, leaving two deep grooves on its body.
The eagle had left a bit of its golden energy residue on its opponent,
preventing the injuries from healing.
Not at all fazed by the eagle’s attack, the Desert Ruler proceeded to
grab the Gengjin Eagle’s wings.
Suddenly, there was a golden flash of light. A smoking hole could be

seen on the Desert Ruler’s hand.
The Gengjin Eagle was glaring at it coldly, its beak glowing with a golden
light.
“Sir, the Golden Deity is still engaged with the Desert Ruler. Should we
continue firing at it?”
Yang Lin shook his head somberly. “No, let’s stop for now.”
Not only was the Golden Deity the most powerful Lord-tier familiar in the
Chang’an army, it was also the city’s symbol of hope.
With the Golden Deity’s help, the Chang’an base city had been able to
expand its borders.
If the Golden Deity were to perish here, the city’s military strength and
the morale of its people would take a huge hit.
“Get ready, people. As soon as the Golden Deity pulls out, take your
shot at the Desert Ruler immediately!”
Suddenly, the earth shook beneath his feet as a couple of tanks sank
into the ground. Then a huge head emerged from the ground and bit a
gigantic chunk of metal off of one of the tanks.
The creature then stuffed its head inside the tank, as if it was trying to
squeeze out every bit of its contents.
The Shatuoman Man-eating Earthworms emerged from the ground one

after another, disrupting the army’s formation.
One of the Man-eating Earthworms’ notable features was its physiology.

The tip of its head would open up like a flower, revealing a long tongue
lined with sharp teeth inside.
Its tongue was equipped with thermoreceptors capable of sensing body

heat in its vicinity. It would wrap its tongue around its prey and drag it
into its digestive tract, where it would then be digested by a powerful
acid.
Close-range weapons wouldn’t be able to do much damage to it, while

the collateral damage caused by weapons of mass destruction had
never made them an enticing option to take these creatures down.
“Tanks, scatter out. All familiars move in,” commanded Yang Lin. He had
already done his homework on the monsters that lived in the desert.
One by one, the army’s avian familiars swooped down and snatched the
Man-eating Earthworms out of the ground.
A chicken-like familiar with green scales covering its neck rushed at one
of the earthworms while flapping its wings wildly. It snapped its beak
shut around the earthworm, splitting it in two.
“Gao Peng, should we help?” asked Flamy, stretching its neck out.
“Not yet… If they look like they’re about to lose, then we’ll go in,” said
Gao Peng. These people must have had a contingency plan up their
sleeves. There was no way they would take on the Dali Desert with only
this much firepower.
Gao Peng suddenly noticed a strange figure clad in black from head to
toe beside Yang Lin.
One had to be either foolish or mad to be dressed entirely in black under

the scorching desert sun.
Gao Peng strained his eyes at the black figure. However, he couldn’t
read anything useful about them. He would have to personally remove
the person’s attire in order to more accurately appraise him or her.
The Desert Ruler was now in a frenzy.
The Gengjin Eagle tried to fly away from it, but every time it opened up
its wings, its opponent simply forced it back down.
The Desert Ruler grabbed the eagle by its neck and pinned it to the
ground.
The Gengjin Eagle frantically beat at the Desert Ruler with its wings and
dug out a gruesome hole in its abdomen with its claws. However, this
seemed to have little to no effect on the Desert Ruler. As long as its core
remained undamaged, it would still be able to regrow any part of itself.
As the Desert Ruler approached the desert, strings of sand flew out from
the ground, refilling the gaping hole in the monster’s abdomen.
It seemed to be growing stronger and stronger as more and more sand

filled up its body.
Gao Peng was impressed by this. The Desert Ruler was evidently in its
element. On a scale from one to five, with one being its combat power
outside the desert, the monster’s combat power was a solid five in the
desert.
In the next instant, countless Sand Monsters from the desert began
moving in tandem towards the Desert Ruler. They melted into its body,
causing it to increase in size!
The Desert Ruler’s eyes were now filled with rage.
The Gengjin Eagle was completely immobilized by its opponent. Two

rows of sand protrusions emerged from Desert Ruler’s back. One could
see the distorted faces of the Sand Monsters that had merged with the
Desert Ruler on its massive arms.
Suddenly, a sandstorm began brewing around the Desert Ruler…
Chapter 313: The Terracotta Soldier

The Desert Ruler had the Gengjin Eagle pinned to the ground at the
edge of the desert, and its appearance had changed drastically.
Its massive arms had expanded twofold, while sand spikes now lined its
back. It swept its sturdy tail past the desert surface, whipping up a fierce
wind.
The muscles in its shoulders were now so accentuated that its deltoids
had become solid triangular shapes.
The distorted faces of the Sand Monsters that had merged with the
Desert Ruler could be seen moaning on its shoulders. The Desert Ruler
was now a monstrous sight to behold.
In terms of level, the Desert Ruler was still inferior to the Gengjin Eagle.
However, warfare was all about the struggle between life and death,
which hinged on many other factors, such as the battlefield’s geography,
the participants’ battle experience, and physical conditions. Anything
could happen in a fight between two monsters.
In an environment far away from the desert, the Gengjin Eagle could
slowly chip away at the Desert Ruler, which would have no sand to
replenish itself.
However, they were now near the desert, where the Desert Ruler
reigned supreme. The only highlight of this fight was the Desert Ruler
knocking the Gengjin Eagle out of the sky and essentially subverting its
air superiority.
With its unique ability, Sand Combination, the Desert Ruler was able to
absorb any number of Sand Monsters and receive a huge boost to its
power for a short period of time.
“Get ready to attack…” muttered Gao Peng. The Gengjin Eagle was
Chang’an city’s guardian deity. There was no way he would let it perish
here.
Before he could finish his sentence, the dark figure beside Yang Lin
suddenly tore its black shroud into pieces and leapt into action!
The figure was clad in a battle robe and holding a sword in its left hand.
On its head was a swallow-tailed crown and a hair bun.
[Monster Name]: Terracotta Soldier (Meng Tian)
[Monster Attribute]: Corpse/Dark
[Monster Ability]: Divine Power Level 2, Reinforced Armor Level 4
[Special Characteristics]: Sarcophagus (Originally a receptacle

containing a human corpse, it mysteriously evolved into a monster.
Passive Effect 1: Its armor is reinforced by the fumes released from the
decomposing corpse inside its body.
Active Effect 2: It absorbs all the fumes inside its body to give itself a
boost. There are no negative side effects to this. However, the effect
only lasts for a short while.)
[Description]: The body inside it used to belong to a distinguished human

general who was unfortunately poisoned and stuffed inside a terracotta
soldier, where its soul has remained ever since.
The Terracotta Soldier’s body was now letting out puffs of gray vapor.
Some thought that it was naturally letting out the fumes that had been
building up inside it.
However, Gao Peng could clearly see that it was part of its
Sarcophagus’ ability, which allowed it to momentarily boost all of its
statistics.
The Terracotta Soldier leapt towards the Desert Ruler, letting its fumes
carry it through the air.
At that moment, the Desert Ruler took a deep breath and stuck one of its
hand into the sand beneath it.
Rumble…
Hand-shaped geysers of sand erupted from the ground and reached for
the Terracotta Soldier.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Terracotta Soldier easily penetrated the disembodied hands like a

comet.
“Um?” The Desert Ruler’s right hand suddenly slipped as it felt a

powerful energy building up beneath it.
Even though the Gengjin Eagle was no match for the Desert Ruler in
terms of sheer strength, it was still three levels higher than the latter, and
a Lord-tier familiar to boot!
Screech!
A golden light exploded from the ground, scattering a huge chunk of

sand from the Desert Ruler.
The Gengjin Eagle rose, its feathers now giving off a brilliant golden
light.
The Desert Ruler staggered back. Its opponent’s attack had caught it
completely by surprise.
The Gengjin Eagle quickly launched itself into the air, not giving the
Desert Ruler any chance to pin it back on the ground.
Upon seeing this, the Terracotta Soldier immediately pulled back from
the Dali Desert. A conspiratorial smile was now playing on its face.
Its thousand-year-long sleep hadn’t dulled its mind one bit. The
strategies it had learned when it was still alive were still fresh in its
memory. Instinctively, it knew that the monster before it was way too
much for it too handle.
However, it didn’t believe that the Desert Ruler would be able to remain
in this state indefinitely. Also, its only purpose here was to help His
Highness hold up his end of the bargain with the humans. It had no
intention of getting on the Desert Ruler’s bad side.
It had already fulfilled its mission by freeing the Golden Deity from the
Desert Ruler’s clutches.
The Desert Ruler looked up at the Golden Deity, who was now soaring
high in the air, and then looked down at the Terracotta Soldier, which
was fleeing from it.
There was no way of telling from its distorted face what it was feeling
right then.
However, there was a pretty good chance that it was angry.
Yang Lin sighed in relief when it saw that the Golden Deity had managed
to escape. Then his face darkened. He had to admit that he had severely
underestimated the Desert Ruler.
It was a shame that the Desert Ruler didn’t want to be too far away from
the desert. Otherwise, he would definitely have been able to give it the
surprise of a lifetime.
He also hadn’t expected the Golden Deity to lose so badly to it…
He had even been forced to use his trump card against the Desert Ruler.
Damn it, Yang Lin cursed silently.
He wasn’t at all satisfied with this outcome.

“Let’s retreat,” said Yang Lin.
From the sand dune, Gao Peng silently watched the army slowly
withdraw from the desert.
At the sight of the retreating army, the Desert Ruler lumbered heavily
back towards the desert.
“That’s my grandson… My son gave his life to protect the people during
the early years of the Cataclysm, leaving me with one grandson…. I’ll
leave this world someday. I only wished that once I was gone, my
grandson would be able to protect himself from anything. But now he’s
gone too,” said an old general mournfully in an underground room back
in Chang’an City’s army base.
Another elderly general sat opposite him.
“My only wish now is to send that monster to hell,” said the old general
softly. “This is something I’ll have to do alone.”
Silence fell over the room…
I’ll try to capture an Ice-type Lord-tier familiar. With it, I’ll definitely be
able to bring the Desert Ruler to its knees, thought Gao Peng.
He had no intention of picking a fight with the Desert Ruler in its domain.
Suddenly, a growing sense of danger crept up on Gao Peng. Dumby

immediately threw itself on Gao Peng.
On the ground, Gao Peng could see a black object hurtling in the air
towards the desert through the gaps in Dumby’s ribcage.
What was that?
Before Gao Peng had time to come up with an answer, a huge explosion
of light burst forth from the depths of the desert.
“That’s a big mushroom,” muttered Silly, who was sitting on Gao Peng’s
head at that moment.
Chapter 314: White Jade
An enormous mushroom cloud rose on the horizon before Gao Peng.
His heart was now pounding hard against his chest. He couldn’t believe
that he had just witnessed a nuclear bomb detonate with his own eyes.
Before the Cataclysm, the nuclear bomb had been mankind’s deadliest
weapon.
This knowledge had been deeply ingrained inside humanity’s

subconscious since the weapon’s conception. Nothing could compare to
the sheer horror of one watching a nuclear bomb blowing up in front of
him or her.
A white pillar of light pierced through the sky as a monstrous mushroom

cloud slowly rose into the air.
The white light then gradually subsided, giving way to a murky shade of
red, which made Gao Peng think of boiling lava.
White-gold rings of light spread out in the air from the center of the
explosion.
The murky shade of red gradually dissolved inside the gray cloud.
Countless sand particles were swept up into the air, making the
mushroom cloud in the air seem even thicker and heavier than before.
A few hundred miles away, in the Dark Ember Forest, a gorilla woke up
with a start from its sleep on a tree branch and looked towards the Dali
Desert, panicked.
Its jaw fell at the sight of the mushroom cloud in the distance.
“Ook, ook.” It thumped its chest with its fists and dropped from the tree
branch to the ground. After grabbing a bamboo shoot from the ground
and stuffing it inside its mouth, the gorilla quickly left the place.
Three minutes earlier, the Desert Ruler had seen a mysterious object
falling from the sky. Instinctively, it waved a hand at it and sent a jet of
sand hurtling towards the object.
In the next instant, an incredible explosion of heat and energy engulfed

the Desert Ruler completely. The explosion lasted for a full minute.
When it finally subsided, a huge crater could be seen in the middle of the
desert through the swirl of sand in the air.
All that was left of the Desert Ruler were strange crystalline fragments
that were a result of subjecting the sand to extreme heat.
A deathly silence had fallen over the area. There was no sign of life for
miles. The explosion had turned the area into a literal dead zone.
A breeze blew past the explosion site, sweeping the glittering crystalline
fragments up into the air.
Suddenly, the sand in the crater stirred. A mysterious glow could be

seen emanating from it…
Like they always say, if you haven’t been through hell, you get nothing,
thought Gao Peng.
As the nuclear bomb had detonated far away from him, there had been
no risk of him being exposed to the blast wave of the explosion or any
lingering radiation in the area.
A nuclear bomb might have been able to seriously injure a Lord-tier

monster, but that didn’t mean that it would be able to kill it.
While a Lord-tier monster would instantly evaporate at the center of a
nuclear explosion, it would still be sturdy enough to survive the blast at
its periphery.
There were, in fact, people who had considered the possibility of

mutating their familiars via nuclear radiation.
However, after much experimentation, it had been found out that such a
process was extremely difficult. As it turned out, the higher a familiar’s
level was, the more resistant its cells would be to radiation.
On the other hand, while one might be able to mutate low-level monsters
via radiation, their potential for further growth would be severely affected
as a result.
Consequently, radiation was no longer considered a viable agent to

mutate one’s familiars.
“Not only is the Desert Ruler a Lord-tier monster, it’s also an extremely
hardy creature. There’s just no way it would be killed so easily in its own
domain,” Gao Peng explained to Dumby as they headed towards the
explosion site.
Da Zi simply said, “That mushroom doesn’t look edible.”
A huge empty crater slowly came into view before them. As Gao Peng
approached it, all the damage he could have received from the radiation
in the air was absorbed by Dumby, who didn’t seem to mind this at all.
Squinting at the crater, Gao Peng saw a set of footprints walking away
from the crater’s edge and towards a sand dune in the distance.
At the base of the sand dune was a gaping hole.
Gao Peng ran his hand across the sand around the hole. It was still a bit
warm. It was like touching a smooth glass surface.
“Chirp!” squeaked the Treasure Sniffing Rodent inside Dumby’s

skeleton. “Treasure!!” It poked its strangely misshapen head out of
Dumby’s bones, its eyes almost popping out of its sockets. Its claws
thrashed about madly in the air.
“Oh, everything is treasure to you,” said Gao Peng, rolling his eyes.
Even though he didn’t believe that the Treasure Sniffing Rodent had
detected any real treasure in the area, since they had already come this
far, he decided to indulge the rodent for a few minutes.
An hour passed.
“Are you sure there’s anything beneath the sand?” asked Gao Peng,
wiping sweat off his forehead.
They had been shoveling sand out of the hole for a full hour. So far, they
had found nothing more than sand in it.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s eyes were still fixed on the hole, its tail
wagging excitedly behind it.
“Almost there, almost there,” it squeaked.
“Dumby, let’s keep digging,” said Gao Peng, who was now endowed with
a portion of Stripey’s power, making him even stronger than Dumby.
The hole in the ground grew wider and deeper as the two continued
digging it.
Suddenly, there was a dull thud in the air. Gao Peng had struck
something hard in the sand.
He quickly swept away a layer of loose sand to reveal what appeared to

be a block of white jade embedded in the ground. Gao Peng quickly
cleared away the sand around it.
Finally, the block of white jade was dug out of the sand. It was
approximately 10 feet long and somewhat jagged around its edges.
Intricate markings covered its surface.
While it was mostly white, there were strange red spots scattered at its
cross sections.
As Gao Peng touched the red spots, a sharp pang of pain pricked his
fingers. Ever since mastering the Shifting Constellations technique, he
had almost forgotten what it was like to feel pain.
Beside him, Dumby’s bone fingers suddenly turned crimson and began
issuing a greenish smoke.
Gao Peng hurriedly pulled his hand away from the white jade and looked
at it strangely.
For some reason, he thought that the object resembled a huge piece of
bone.
“Chirp!” The Treasure Sniffing Rodent leapt towards the piece of white
jade as soon as it was unearthed from the sand.
Gao Peng immediately grabbed it by the tail and pulled it away before it
could reach its prize. It seemed that the white jade was what the rodent
had detected.
Gao Peng took Silly off of his head and gave it the white jade.
Silly easily slid the piece of white jade into its portable space, which had
grown as big as a small room.
“Let’s go home,” said Gao Peng.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent had certainly served him well this time.
Chapter 315: The Nuclear Ruler

Gao Peng brought the block of white jade back to Chang’an city for
further studying.
[Item name]: @%#% Bone

Damn it, cursed Gao Peng under his breath. What’s with this garbled
nonsense?!
This was the first time something like this had happened since he had
awoken his stat-reading ability.
This could mean that it still had room for improvement.
Gao Peng scratched his head. There was no denying that what he had
stumbled upon was no ordinary object.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s reaction to it and the fact that its
properties were simply beyond his stat-reading ability was proof enough
of this.
Also, the word ‘bone’ in its name confirmed Gao Peng’s initial
suspicions, that the object was in fact a piece of bone.
I wonder what would happen if I let Dumby take it with him? thought Gao
Peng.
Dumby picked it up and swung it around a few times. It tried to place the
bone in its chest. However, it didn’t seem to fit.
Then Dumby snapped one of its exposed bones in two and inserted the
curious bone-like object between the two broken bone fragments.
The bone fragments immediately fused with the object. The cracks in the
newly-formed bone glowed with an intense red light as white smoke
billowed out from them.
Dumby let out a roar and fell to the ground, half kneeling. At that
moment, the curious runes etched across the white jade bone seemed to
have come to life.
A thunderous sound filled the air around Gao Peng. However, every time
Gao Peng tried to focus on it, the sound immediately gave way to
silence.
A spectacular display of light and colors swirled around him.

He saw the huge black figure before him cocking its head back and
letting out a monstrous roar again.
It spread its wings out behind it, completely blocking out the sky.
The only thing that remained of the sky was a dim red outline around the
figure’s wings. In the next instant, the monstrous figure folded back its
wings, revealing the twinkling stars in the sky overhead.
Finally, the illusion ended, and the white jade bone that Dumby had
inserted in its rib cage fell to the ground with a clatter.
Dumby fell forward with both hands planted on the ground.
Gao Peng frowned at the mysterious markings that had appeared on

both of its arms before vanishing almost instantly. If he wasn’t mistaken,
they looked a lot like the ones etched across the white jade bone.
“Are you all right, Dumby?”
“I’m fine,” mumbled Dumby, shaking its head. It waggled its arms around
to show that there was nothing wrong with it.
Gao Peng checked Dumby’s stats and noticed that a new ability had
appeared in the familiar’s “Ability” section.
[Dark Flame Mastery Level 2]
He asked Dumby to try and use its new ability. At first, Dumby fumbled
with it clumsily. However, after a few tries, it finally got the hang of it. It
was now able to conjure a dark red flame at the center of its palm that
could engulf both of its arms.
With both arms ablaze, Dumby looked like a demon that had clawed its
way out of hell to reach the mortal plane.
Strangely enough, the dark red flames that had engulfed Dumby’s arms
didn’t seem capable of burning anything, as Dumby’s black robe was still
intact in the flames.
Gao Peng then asked Dumby to put out the flames as he gazed at the
white jade bone thoughtfully.
On the outskirts of Chang’an City, a strange figure was slowly lumbering

towards the city.
“Something’s coming toward us.”
“We need to stop it.”
“That’s not good. It’s picking up speed!”
The soldiers stationed at the sentry towers outside Chang’an City were
now panicking at the sight of the lumbering creature.
They left their posts, armed to the teeth. A couple of familiars had
emerged from the nearby forest as well, ready to cut off the intruder.
The creature looked up at them and simply lifted its glittering right hand,
then pushed its hand out, and what followed was a powerful shockwave
in the air that managed to knock down all the trees around it.
The sentry towers, too, were instantly blown to pieces by the monster’s
attack.
Every soldier and familiar was wiped out instantly.
The monster pulled back its right arm and looked up at the clouds in the
air, then it continued trudging forward.
Alarms were now blaring throughout the eastern side of Chang’an City.
Helicopters and fighter jets streaked across the sky towards the edge of
the city.
Every person from a secret organization in other parts of the city had
begun their exodus towards the city’s eastern side.
A couple of powerful trainers had also answered the call to defend the
city from the incoming threat.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on Gao Peng’s door outside his hotel room.
Two uniformed figures greeted him when he opened the door. “Are you
Mr. Gao Peng?” asked one of them solemnly.
“Yes, that’s me. Is something wrong? I don’t remember committing any

crimes recently,” said Gao Peng with a frown.
“We’re currently in a state of emergency. We’ve begun enlisting all

available trainers to defend the city against an unknown threat.” One of
them handed him a small red book.
Gao Peng had heard of such a thing before. However, back then, he still
wasn’t a full-fledged monster trainer, so he had simply forgotten about it.
“Hold on. Let me just grab my things,” he said.
Half an hour later, Gao Peng had reached Chang’an City’s eastern city
walls. He looked out into the distance.
On the horizon, a dark figure could be seen edging closer and closer to
the city.
It was at least 30 feet tall and human-shaped. Its entire body seemed to
be made of transparent crystal.
However, it wasn’t completely transparent. The creature’s body had an

iridescent shine to it.
All of a sudden, a sense of deja vu washed over Gao Peng. The

creature’s material reminded him of the crystal that he had dug out of the
desert not too long ago.
[Monster Name]: Nuclear Ruler (Radiation variant)

[Monster Attribute]: Earth
[Monster Ability]: Hard Body Level 3, Elemental Resistance Level 3,

Gravitational Mastery Level 4
[Special Characteristics]: Nuclear Core (In order to survive the nuclear

radiation, its sand core developed the ability to absorb nuclear radiation.
Passive Effect 1: It can strengthen itself using nuclear radiation. Active
Effect 2: It can tap into the nuclear energy contained within its core in
order to give itself a temporary power boost.)
[Monster Weakness]: Its hard body is now as brittle as glass.
[Description]: After being exposed to extreme heat and terrifying levels of

radiation in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, the Desert Ruler has
evolved into the Nuclear Ruler.
The Desert Ruler’s abilities had undergone a major change after being
exposed to nuclear radiation. Even its physiology had changed
completely. Gao Peng had no idea if this was a good or bad thing.
Its defenses and elemental resistances seemed to have increased

considerably. However, it probably couldn’t heal its wounds as quickly as
before, seeing that nuclear energy was a bit harder to come by in nature
than sand.
The Golden Deity was now hovering in the air, carefully assessing the
Nuclear Ruler in the distance.
The Nuclear Ruler looked up. Its eyes burned with rage when it saw its
sworn enemy, the Golden Deity, flying high and mighty in the air!
Chapter 316: Salted Fishman

“What is this monster? Why hasn’t anyone ever heard of it?” a trainer on
the city walls asked rather gravely.
“I’m not sure, but I know that we’ve never heard of it or where it came
from.”
“It started attacking the base city almost immediately. Looks like it isn’t
too fond of humans. We need to exterminate it!” said another trainer
coldly.
The trainers on top of the city walls were humans, after all. They weren’t
going to waste time thinking about why this creature was attacking their
city.
Gao Peng knew exactly why the creature was attacking, but he chose to
stay silent instead of embarrassing the Chang’an military.
A ring of ethereal light emanated from the Nuclear Ruler and slowly
rippled outwards. Every single tree that the light touched snapped like a
twig. The ring of light petered out a few hundred yards away from the city
walls. Fortunately, it seemed as though the recently evolved Nuclear
Ruler hadn’t fully grasped the extent of its own power.
The Nuclear Ruler paused for a second before lowering its raised arm
and proceeding to advance rather nonchalantly.
The Golden Eagle wasn’t going to stand idly by. With a flap of its
massive wings, every feather on its wings started glowing brightly.
Intricate markings could be seen weaving and curling their way across
the eagle.
The sky was now positively blinding. Every feather on the eagle was a
lance of golden light, hovering over the Nuclear Ruler like the Sword of
Damocles.
A quick flicker, and the next moment—
Like a mythical waterfall, a deluge of light rained on the Nuclear Ruler

with devastating force.
Rumble.
The force of the attack reduced the area to rubble and whipped up a
huge cloud of dust that streams of residual light leaked through.
“Is it dead?”
“It should be.”
The trainers on the city walls chattered lightly among themselves.
Gao Peng squinted a little, then tapped Dumby on the thigh.
“Go and slow him down. Try to avoid direct contact if you can.”
Even though the Nuclear Ruler had indeed seen an explosive growth in
its level and grade, there was still a limit to how much it could grow. Gao
Peng had originally planned to capture an Ice-type familiar before taking
on the Desert Ruler, so it was a shame…
Nothing ever went as he intended.
He understood. That was just how life worked.
The radiation of the nuclear core had been so deadly that the Desert
Ruler had been forced to evolve just to survive. While this evolution
might have increased its battle power immensely for a short time, it had
also sapped a considerable amount of energy from the Desert Ruler.
The Desert Ruler was in no shape to engage in a war of wearing each
other down.
It was like an army being cut off from their rations.
Right by the edges of the city walls were a group of young teenagers.
“Hey, beansprout. That creature down there looks pretty scary. Do you
think your dad’s familiar can take him on?”
“Don’t call me that!” said a skinny boy at the back of the group. “Hmph.
My dad’s Golden Deity is invincible. He’ll take care of that beast with no
problems!”
The skinny boy was pretty good looking. He was young, but he had great
features. His eyes were clear, and he had a great smile.
“Huang, that guy over that is sending in his familiar.” A pimply-faced

youth jabbed his finger repeatedly at Gao Peng.
Gao Peng was deployed right in the center of the of the city walls, a
location that gave him the widest field of vision—and also drew the most
attention from the crowd below.
Another lad with a mole on his brow sneered, “He’s probably going in to
finish what your dad started and steal all the credit.”
“It’s okay. My dad is too generous to fight that man for credit,” Huang
Quan said rather pompously.
Gao Peng, who appeared to have heard them, turned around to shoot
them a quick glance.
They instantly fell silent while steadfastly trying to avoid his gaze.
Only after Gao Peng turned away did someone pipe up, although
somewhat hesitantly. “He looked so fierce. I thought he was coming over
to kick our a*ses.”
“Who’s that? Why does he look so familiar?” Mole Lad wondered aloud.
“He looks like the Salted Fishman!” another teenager exclaimed loudly.
“What? The Salted Fishman?! I have his trading card in my bag!” The
Salted Fishman had quite the reputation among these youth. Since Gao
Peng was originally from Chang’an, he was always a source of pride for
these locals.
Huang Quan muttered rather nastily under his breath about how the
Salted Fishman was all talk and could never beat his father in a straight
fight.
“You’re sending in your familiar now?” asked an officer quizzically.
“If not now, when?” Gao Peng was speechless.
As the dust cleared, the Nuclear Ruler could be seen standing in the
same spot, seemingly unscathed. It craned its neck lightly to peer at the
microscopic cracks on its chest before blowing lightly over them. The
wound started bubbling like mercury.
All of a sudden, it could feel its movements slowing down, as though it

was being restrained by an invisible force.
Rooted to the ground, the creature slowly turned its head around, only to
see a shadowy figure in black robes rapidly closing in on it. Two orbs of
white flames could be seen flickering in the depths of its attacker’s hood.
Dumby raised its right arm and clenched its fist in the Nuclear Ruler’s
direction.
A small ball of white flames seeped slowly into the ground.
Immediately, the ground underneath the Nuclear Ruler started trembling

violently.
Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.
Hordes of skeletons erupted from the ground to the surface.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!!” The skeletal remains of a 100-foot-long centipede

roared majestically as it unleashed a putrefying wave of decay.
“That was the Elder King Centipede that was slain by the Golden Deity
six months ago!” someone on the castle wall exclaimed.
The earth beneath Chang’an City was teeming with skeletal remains due
to its history of successfully repelling waves of hostile creatures before.
Once these creatures were stripped of everything useful, they were
thrown into a huge pyre, and any remains left were buried in the land
around the city.
The weaker creatures were usually burned to ash. Only the bones of the
strong remained.
These bones now came pouring out of the earth like an army of angry
ants.
The witnesses on the wall couldn’t help but feel chills run down their
spines. This wasn’t their first time seeing the undead summoned, but it
was their first time seeing it in such a high volume.
It was an unstoppable tide of ghouls.
Dumby walked slowly towards the Nuclear Ruler. Ghouls parted like the
Red Sea, creating a path for it. They nodded their heads in deference as
it passed, like a vassal would to his liege.
Huang Quan was beside himself now. My dad is being completely

upstaged by this no-name, but damn if that guy doesn’t look incredibly
cool right now!
I’m so jealous!
On the wall stood a dark-skinned behemoth of a man. His eyes

narrowed. This was his chance!
“Golden Deity, now is the time! Wing Slash! Take its head!”
Chapter 317: Fall Of A Tyrant

Soaring majestically in the skies above, the Golden Deity was seething.
It had never been humiliated by any other creature like this before.
With icy rage in its eyes, it flared its mighty wings. A golden blade of
pure light materialized and seemingly split the heavens in two before
fracturing apart into millions and millions of microscopic blades.
There was a brief moment of calm before the blades started raining
down torrentially. The Nuclear Ruler tried to evade the deadly deluge,
but found its path blocked by an enormous creature. Even though the
Nuclear Ruler managed to send the creature flying with a single blow, it
was momentarily slowed down, and that was all it took.
The wings of the Golden Deity flashed, aiming a vicious swipe at the
Nuclear Ruler.
With a ferocious roar, the Nuclear Ruler raised its right arm to block the
strike.
It might as well not have even tried. The wings of the Golden Deity bit
deeply into its arm like a cleaver, narrowly lopping the entire arm off!
Well and truly enraged, the Nuclear Ruler lashed out with its left arm and
struck the Golden Deity with a sickening crack. The feathers on the
Golden Deity were twisted and broken, some of them hanging limply at
awkward angles.
Wounded, the Golden Deity tried to disengage but was sent crashing to
the ground in a heap by another powerful strike.
Bang!
The Elder King Centipede rushed the Nuclear Ruler with a bone-
crunching tackle. Clamping onto the legs of the Nuclear Ruler with its
pincers, the centipede slithered and coiled its way around the creature,
strangulating it like a cobra.
As large as the Nuclear Ruler was, it struggled to break free.
“Roar!”
The Nuclear Ruler was even more furious now, if that was even
possible. Every time it wanted to exert its strength, the flow of blood in its
body would be slowed down by an invisible force, rendering its
monstrous rength impotent.
Grabbing on to the centipede, the mercury-like blood in the Nuclear

Ruler began pumping at double speed as it activated its nuclear core
ability. It sounded like the roar of a rushing river. From the body of the
Nuclear Ruler, a massive cloud of silvery-white fog slowly rolled out.
With both arms gripping on to the pincers of the centipede like a vise, the
Nuclear Ruler slowly started ripping them apart, like a baker stretching
dough.
Bang!
The pincers were easily ripped in two. The Nuclear Ruler landed another
ferocious blow to the centipede’s head.
The skull shattered, revealing weakly burning Soul Flames within.
Boom! A dragon made of pure fire crashed into the Nuclear Ruler,
engulfing it in a gigantic prison of flames.
The Elder King Centipede retreated, picking up a few bones that were
lying around. Placing those bones around its head, they quickly fused
with what was left of its skull to become whole again.
Wreathed in scarlet fire, Flamy spread its wings and took to the skies
again.
Even if the Nuclear Ruler had increased resistance across the board,
taking an attack from a Fire-type Lord-tier familiar was never pleasant.
With the merest of thoughts, the Nuclear Ruler struck back. Flamy could
feel an incredible pressure weighing it down, almost like there was a
mountain on its back. Struggling to stay aloft, it was futile and he sank
like a stone.
Boom! Dumby was a blur. Vanishing and reappearing behind the
Nuclear Ruler, he threw a powerful haymaker right at the back of its
head.
The Nuclear Ruler’s head whipped forward violently. Looking slightly

disoriented, the pressure on Flamy also dissipated.
Sensing an opening, the Golden Deity unleashed another hail of golden

blades from its mouth, right at the Ruler’s knees. The Ruler roared in
agony as every one of those blades found its mark. Unable to withstand
the stress, its knees buckled and sent the Nuclear Ruler crashing to the
ground.
As it slowly and agonizingly turned around to face the Golden Deity, the
Golden Deity simply took off, refusing to engage the Nuclear Ruler in
direct combat.
While the Ruler’s head was turned, Dumby’s Heart of The Bloodseeker
started throbbing explosively. As a surge of incredible power coursed
through every fiber of its being, its robes simply exploded. Dark, blood-
red flames sprung to life and gathered around its fist. Quick as lightning,
it landed a flame-enhanced strike on the Nuclear Ruler’s back.
Boom!
The Ruler was sent flying.
A rather terrifying crack emerged on its back that started spreading

outward. The Nuclear Ruler could sense that things weren’t going well.
Along with the revived Elder King Centipede, it was surrounded by four
Lord-tier creatures. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, given the fact
that its defensive and offensive firepower were off the charts, but
worryingly, it could sense that its regenerative abilities were failing.
Things would get dicey very quickly.
Discretion was the better part of valor, people said.

The Nuclear Ruler may have been enraged, but it wasn’t stupid.
Swallowing its pride, it turned to escape with no hesitation.
“We held off the Nuclear Ruler,” a rather nondescript lad cheered.
Huang Quan stared at the unfolding scene in disbelief. Although he had

always been proud of his father, he wasn’t stupid. He had always
believed in his own two eyes over empty boasts and unwarranted hype.
That was why he had always believed that his father was the strongest
trainer alive, which was a point of pride for him.
Now, doubts were creeping in. This confused him.
Two Lord-tier familiars.
Even though Flamy hadn’t released its Lord-tier aura, its presence was
unmistakable.
How was that even possible? How had he done it? For a normal human
being, raising even a single Lord-tier familiar would take an insane
amount of time and effort, be it raising their level or their grade. And he
had two?
While Huang Quan was mulling over this, the Golden Deity and a few
other familiars had already caught up to the Nuclear Ruler.
There was no way a wounded, bipedal creature like the Nuclear Ruler
could outrun a couple of flying familiars.
Raining hell from above, Flamy and the Golden Deity made sure that the
Nuclear Ruler had to fight for every inch of distance that it covered.
“Let’s go.” Gao Peng hopped on Da Zi. “We need to catch up.”
In a streak of purple lightning, Da Zi surged forth from the city walls.
The other trainers on the city walls eyed one another rather uneasily.
Reluctantly, trainers with Flying-type familiars followed suit.
One of Huang Quan’s friends tapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go.
How often do you get to see a Lord-tier creature being brought down?”
The pursuit of the Nuclear Ruler lasted nearly 30 minutes. Flamy was
complaining noisily through the Blood Contract. “Gao Peng, my throat is
all dried out. I’m exhausted!”
“Just hold on a little longer. If you’re thirsty, I have some juice here,” he
gently placated Flamy.
Silly wasn’t happy. Pulling on Gao Peng’s hair, he muttered under his
breath. “That’s my juice though. Give him three cups… No, two cups at
most.”
Flamy rolled its eyes. It’d rather go thirsty if it meant having Silly nagging
it about juice for the next month.
The Nuclear Ruler was clearly on its last legs. It’s crystalline exterior was
marked with scores of slash wounds and scorch marks. It was even
melting in some parts.
The Nuclear Ruler finally came to a stop. Glaring at both Flamy and the
Golden Deity, its eyes barely flickered to Dumby and the Elder King
Centipede, which was a little further away, before charging madly at
Dumby with a bestial howl.
The flames in Dumby’s eye sockets danced a little more brightly than
usual. Heeding Gao Peng’s orders, it suppressed its bloodlust and
retreated.
Boom, boom, boom—
Light and flames bombarded the entire area.
When the dust had cleared, the Nuclear Ruler was kneeling on the
ground, motionless, its heartbeat faintly but perceptibly slowing down
until it stopped beating entirely.
The Nuclear Ruler had been defeated.

Chapter 318: Flesh Enhancing Tablet (Part 1)
“It’s finally dead. It’s finally dead…” In an underground base, an old

general kept muttering to himself as he watched the scene unfold on a
grimy screen.
Vengeance was finally his, but all he felt was a deep sense of loss.
He clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. Finally, he let out a

long sigh.
As he stood up, he started removing his military garb, piece by piece,

before laying it neatly on the table in front of him.
After a moment of silence, he bowed deeply to his garments.
As he strode out of the room, there was already a group of people

waiting silently for him.
“General.” A soldier to his left had an apologetic look on his face.”I hope
you can understand.”
He nodded, a calm expression on his face. He had been preparing for

this moment ever since he had given the order.
After a momentary pause, he said, “Please help me apologize to Yang

Lin and the other heroes who conquered the desert. I owe it to them.”
“Roger that.”
“When I was younger, I had it all. Now, I’m left with nothing and no one.
Maybe this is fate,” the old general mused sadly.
Already, crowds of people were surrounding the corpse of the Nuclear

Ruler.
Most of them were apprehensively sizing up the corpse, trying to decide
if it was safe to approach. Such was its presence that even in death, it
struck a healthy amount of fear into those around it. As though fearing
that the Nuclear Ruler was only taking a nap and could wake up at any
moment, only a few brave souls actually stepped up to it.
“We had an agreement. I was supposed to have first rights of selection

when it came to the spoils of war. You’re all the same. Lying, dishonest
scoundrels who have no regard for the law at all.” Gao Peng shook his
head disapprovingly. He threw himself onto the Nuclear Ruler and
refused to let go.
The military representative didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Taking

down the Nuclear Ruler had been a collaborative effort, after all.
“How about this? I have three Lord-tier familiars here, and you have one.
That’s a three to one ratio. Let’s split the loot that way. I’ll take seventy-
five percent, and the rest is yours. What do you think?” Gao Peng said
rather magnanimously as he made a sweeping gesture with his arm.
Gao Peng could tell that the military representative was still uneasy.
Winking at him, Gao Peng said, “I know what you people plan on doing
with this corpse. You’re trying to figure out a way to revive it and harness
the nuclear technology, right?”
The military representative paled. How had he known?
“Yes. The Chang’an military has numerous state-of the-art research

facilities, as well as five high-level monster breeders working for us.
We’re willing to share those resources with the Southern Sky Group and
work on this together.” An olive branch was extended.
Honestly, Gao Peng didn’t really care much for the Nuclear Ruler’s
corpse. It was too much effort for too little return. However, Gao Peng
was just about to turn down the offer when he hesitated. Just because
he knew about the Nuclear Ruler’s potential (or lack thereof) didn’t mean
that other people did. One on one, not a single one of their familiars
could take the Nuclear Ruler on.
Such immense power could be dangerous.
Ever since the Cataclysm, it felt as though human technology had hit a
dead end. They could only turn to their familiars. The presence of the
Nuclear Ruler could lead some of the more conservative into thinking
that human technology wasn’t entire obsolete, that it was a still a viable
option.
If he really insisted on taking the Nuclear Ruler’s corpse back with him
as his right, it would be missed by quite a number of people.
He made up his mind. “You can have the corpse, but I want a cut of
whatever research you derive from it.”
The eyes of the military representatives lit up with joy, as hard as they
tried to hide it. Trying to look as reluctant as possible, one of them
sighed. “You should know this… but we don’t really have the authority to
promise you that right now.”
Another representative chimed in, “We’ll definitely try our best to get you
those terms. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” The rep chuckled lightly.
Enough with the good cop, bad cop routine already! Gao Peng thought
to himself. It might have worked on someone else, but not on his
strengthened sixth sense.
“I do have two additional requests. If you agree to them, you can take
this mid-level, Perfect-grade, Lord-tier creature away this very instant.”
“Name your terms.”
“I want the Nuclear Ruler’s core crystal. I’m also aware that you have
two Flesh-Enhancing Tablets in your possession. I want one.”
Their expressions turned ugly. The core crystal alone held half the value
of the entire creature. It wasn’t simply the concentrated essence of the
creature. There was something else, something mysterious in there that
was still beyond the comprehension of human technology. However, the
fact that familiars could gain levels and grades by consuming other core
crystals left no doubt as to their market value.
The Flesh Enhancing Tablet was a tool that could enhance the latent
nutritional values of monster flesh to incredible levels… It was extremely
valuable and belonged to a highly-ranked lab manager in the military.
“I’m only asking for one. That’s a fairly reasonable item to ask for in
return for this magnificent corpse, no?” Gao Peng grinned widely.
The reps laughed bitterly. This gentleman had probably had his eye on
these items the entire time. The corpse had merely been bait to reel
them in.
In the end, they agreed to his terms. After collecting the two items, Gao
Peng left for Yuzhou without much fanfare.
Gao Peng fiddled idly with the tablet, a foot-long slab of solid rock.
So, this was the Flesh Enhancing Tablet.
How had they gotten their hands on this item? If it hadn’t been for his
conversation with Chen Xuehe, he would never have thought to search
for such a priceless treasure in the military.
At first, he sent some men to negotiate with the Chang’an military, but
they were soundly rejected, the reason being that the military didn’t
actually own it. It was a personal item belonging to a high-level monster
breeder working for the Chang’an military.
For the right to research the Nuclear Ruler’s corpse, that person had
been willing to offer up this tablet.
Gao Peng put a piece of fresh meat on the the tablet. Instantly, the
grayish tablet started absorbing the blood from the meat. As the blood
slowly seeped into the stone tablet, the color of it slowly turned a pale
red.
Something viscous started dripping out of the tablet. It was bloody and
had the consistency of minced meat. Was this the processed meat?
The slab of meat he put on the tablet was the size of his palm, but after
the process, he was left with a sliver of meat only the size of his
thumbnail.
The moment he popped it into his mouth, his taste buds were
overwhelmed by what tasted like the distilled essence of meat. The taste
was incredibly powerful without being overly gamey. In fact, it had a
refreshing hint of sweetness to it that Gao Peng quite enjoyed.
As he felt the meat gently settling into his belly, a surge of warmth
suffused him that made him curl his toes in contentment.
“Finally, I have what I need to evolve the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture.”
Gently stroking the tablet, he left the airport.
Chapter 319: A Bloated Goldie

In a tightly sealed basement somewhere in the Southern Sky Group,

Goldie, who had been hibernating for the past month, woke up.
As it stretched and unfurled itself, a clear liquid dripped off its back.
Underneath its wings, it slowly rotated and stretched its arms, trying to
shake off some the numbness that came with a month of inactivity. Its
faintly yellowish skin was still a little wrinkled, as though it was withering.
The intricate blue markings on its body had grown even more intricate,
but the markings on its neck seemed to have lessened somewhat. There
also appeared to be a crown of similar blue markings around its bald
head. As it wrapped its wings around itself, it felt like a reborn hero.
I’ve become stronger.
There are even fewer people now that can bully me.
Its eyes narrowed as it jabbed at the air a couple of times, each punch
seemingly faster than the last.
Bam!
As it made a fist with its right hand, the air slipped through its fingers like
water. To be more accurate, it literally crushed the air in its hands,
releasing an explosive barrage of air bullets. The skin on its human-like
arm was taut and shiny.
An unknown emotion bubbled up inside it, warming it from top to toe.

This had to be happiness.
No, what I’m feeling inside my chest isn’t happiness. It’s the universe!
Goldie thought of a movie it had watched a while ago. A bunch of

humans in armor had talked about exploding universes and stuff like
that. I must have a universe inside me right now. Look how strong I am!
Goldie thought to itself.
As it walked up the stairs, it encountered a great set of doors that were

bolted shut with an iron rod.
Without breaking a sweat, it unleashed a mighty blow. The iron door

caved easily at the point of impact. It might as well have punched
through paper. With a creaking groan, the door exploded.
Goldie attempted to leave the room, but it kept bumping its forehead
against the doorway because it was so tall. Without so much as a blink,
it violently headbutted the doorway, leaving a nice head-sized gap to
pass through.
Huang Ya, who just happened to be passing by, saw everything. He was
concerned with Goldie’s increasing level of violence.
As soon as Goldie left the basement, it noticed that Gao Peng was gone.
It could hardly detect Gao Peng’s scent anywhere in the mansion, which
meant that he must have been gone for at least a week or so, or else
there would have been a stronger scent in the air.
It wasn’t too concerned, though. It could tell through their Blood Contract
that Gao Peng was still alive.
Goldie was bored out of its skin though, with no idea what to do. Then its
eyes lit up.
The entrance to the Gao family mansion was extraordinarily grand and
spacious. Pushing open the doors, Goldie made its way to the living
room and plopped down onto the sofa, which squeaked gently in protest.
It then started surfing the TV channels with a well-practiced ease.
If Gao Peng could have seen Goldie’s status right then, he would have
noticed that Goldie was extremely bloated.
Goldie wiggled his butt contentedly. So this was Gao Peng’s sofa.
“Today, I, too, am sitting down!
“Hmph. Who knows when Gao Peng will be back? I’ll keep his seat
warm for now.” Leaning back on the sofa, it felt like it was being
embraced by a huge, fluffy cloud.
Goldie closed its eyes in pleasure. No wonder Gao Peng liked sitting on
the sofa.
Spying a mug that Gao Peng often used out of the corner of its eye, its
eyes sparkled mischievously. It was already sitting on Gao Peng’s sofa,
after all… Why not go all the way and…
At this moment, the television lit up. The slightly distorted sound caught
Goldie’s attention.
There was no way a mug was more interesting than a movie, except that
this movie wasn’t the kind he was familiar with. There were three men
standing together. One of them had a cigarette dangling from his fingers
as he said, “To succeed and win big in life, you need three things: cash,
cash, and cash!”
Goldie’s eyes grew as round as saucers. The man made perfect sense!
Goldie had been about to change the channel, but it changed his mind.
“It’s all about your word. You have to be able to walk the walk. If you say
you’re going to kill his entire family, then you better damn well kill his
entire family!
“You think this money came easy? We lost some good men out there,
you know?”
These tired old lines had Goldie hanging onto every word. It didn’t even
notice that Gao Peng had already returned.
Gao Peng couldn’t bring himself to interrupt the spell-bound Goldie. Out
of curiosity, Gao Peng glanced quickly at the TV, trying to figure out what
had captured Goldie’s attention.
Upon seeing the title of the film, a strange expression crossed his face.
He immediately snatched up the nearby remote and switched it to the
children’s channel.
Surprised, Goldie turned around to face Gao Peng. “Huh?”
“What are you doing watching these gangster movies? Back to the
children’s channel for you!” Gao Peng reprimanded him sternly.
A few dolls were chasing each other merrily on screen. One of them
wiggled its butt at the camera before shyly uttering “Miku miku?”
“…”
“Master Liu, I have the full treatment ready for the Blood Eyed Bearded
Vulture,” said Gao Peng into the phone.
Master Liu was rather surprised by the news, but he was well aware of
Gao Peng’s talents. If he said he had the “full treatment” ready, that must
have been the case. “Understood. I’ll summon the vulture back right
now. It should be training in the mountains at the moment.”
On a mountain peak not too far away from Southern Sky, a powerful
looking creature that was essentially a super-sized Goldie was standing
upright on a single wing.
It’s other wing was lifting a block of granite twice its size. Up, down, up,
down. Its blood-red eyes had a steely determination to them.
Suddenly, it slowed down. With a casual flick, it sent the block of granite
hurtling down the mountain. Both claws gripping the mountainside tightly
as it drew a deep breath before letting out a long, piercing screech.
With a mighty flap of its wings, it shot off into the sky like a rocket!
The vulture looked skeptical as Master Liu stood by apprehensively.
As its owner, Master Liu had tried to improve the vulture’s grade
repeatedly over the years, but he had never succeeded.
Evolving the vulture was tricky. Only by undergoing a torturous, Spartan-

like kind of strength training could it actually grow, so much so that
anyone who came across the vulture training would think it was a form of
self-torture.
Even though this made the vulture incredibly powerful, it also made it
extremely hard for the vulture to evolve.
Breeders who had studied the vulture were often shocked. To them, it
was a miracle that the vulture could be as strong as it was.
“Trust me. This is the best evolution path it can take,” Gao Peng said
confidently.
He raised his head respectfully to meet the Vulture’s proud gaze.
“Are you ready?”
The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture closed its eyes for a long moment
before slowly reopening them. It nodded.
Chapter 320: Blood Evolution!
Thinking of the Blood Drug he had concocted before, he couldn’t confirm

if there would be a relationship between it and the Blood Eye Bearded
Vulture.
Their names were similar enough that there was a chance. Anyhow,
there was no way to tell until the vulture finished evolving.
Master Liu saw Gao Peng take out a slab of rock before pouring some
kind of concoction onto it.
The color of the rock shimmered and shifted from ash-white to an ever
darkening shade of green that ranged from chartreuse to dark forest
green, the color deep and rich.
Master Liu had no idea what Gao Peng was up to. Maybe there was
something special about this rock? Could it have been a vessel of sorts?
After tinkering with it for another 30 minutes, Gao Peng carefully picked
up the rock and held it in front of the vulture. “Swallow it.”
Master Liu looked extremely confused.
Without a sound, the vulture swallowed the Flesh Enhancing Tablet in a

single gulp.
Its iron stomach could even digest steel. A small slab of rock like that
might as well have been a block of tofu.
There were quite a few ways the vulture could have evolved, but Gao
Peng had selected the Blood Evolution path for no other reason than the
fact that he only had the materials required for that path…
Other than a few necessary ingredients, he would still need at least a

hundred tons of fresh meat, the higher the level, the better.
Erring on the side of caution, he had prepared over 200 tons of
Commander-tier meat, fresh from the slaughterhouse that afternoon.
There were quite a few large Commander-tier creatures, so even though
200 tons may have sounded like a lot, it was probably ten to twenty
creatures at most.
The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture’s eyes flew open. There was a burning
sensation in its guts, as though it had swallowed a ball of fire. It felt…
exhilarated?
It felt like it could do a thousand single wing push-ups and go on a six-

mile sprint with weights on its back.
Thunk!
The vulture sank to its knees, propping itself up on its wings. Even in a
moment of weakness, it had to look good. Lifting its trembling wings, it
laboriously smoothed down a few stray feathers on its head.
The pain was now causing it to draw breaths in ragged gasps. It felt like
it was going to explode as agony lanced through every fiber of its being.
This wasn’t the ordinary soreness after a long workout; it was a whole
new level of pain. It left the vulture writhing in agony, its eyes bloodshot
and strands of drool dripping off its beak.
Even though it was extremely painful, the vulture could also feel an
unexpected wave of pleasure at the same time.
This strange feeling lasted close to 30 minutes before it finally receded.
Before the vulture even had time to process the events, it was wracked
with intense pangs of hunger and an all-consuming desire to devour
everything in sight.
Without being prompted, it started tossing slabs of meat into its mouth.
Since this was too slow for its liking, it dove headfirst into the pile of
meat, ferociously ripping out huge chunks and inhaling them like air.
Blood smeared across its face as it continued working through the
mountain of meat, devouring it with blinding speed until it was all gone.
Two hundred tons of meat was rapidly digested by its powerful stomach,
and the nutrients were absorbed just like that. That would explain why it
was in a constant state of hunger—it would stay that way until it ate
something it was unable to digest.
After finishing all the meat, the vulture could feel its bones and muscles
tingle and itch, as though they were being tickled by a feather.
The vulture’s muscles could be seen growing and expanding explosively.
A row of data labeled [Evolution Successful] flashed before Gao Peng’s

eyes.
[Monster Name]: Blood Eye Bearded Vulture
[Monster Level]: 43
[Monster Attribute]: Wind
[Monster Ability]: Gale Force Level 3 Savage Claw Level 1
[Specialty]: Blood Enhancing Stomach (After evolving, its stomach will

be able to convert any material into the nutrients it needs to evolve. Side
effects include a state of permanent and insatiable hunger…)
Effect 1 (Passive Effect): The Blood Enhancing Stomach will absorb and
digest anything inside it and convert it into valuable nutrients.
[Monster Weaknesses]: 1. Electric-type 2. Fire-type 3. Metal-type
[Epic Requirements]: Ten tons of Stomach Soothing Fruit, five tons of

Hidden Gold Flower, 3,000 Breaths of Frost, 3,000 Breaths of Flame,
3,000 Breaths of Lightning, 3,000 Breaths of Darkness…
Now that the vulture had finally reached a higher level, it meant that the
vulture had smashed past its previous limits and was now capable of
growing even more.
Nonetheless, Gao Peng thought that this self-imposed limit was only
temporary. Even without his help, it would only be a matter of time until
the vulture overcame it.
For a creature who trained as hard as the vulture, there was no such
thing as limits.
Of his familiars, only Goldie was equal to the vulture when it came to
work ethic. Da Zi and the rest couldn’t even be considered. It was too
bad they had never learned to work hard the way he did.
Gao Peng also recalled that a non-Epic creature could rarely develop a
special ability, and those that did had a pre-existing unique talent, like
the Water Bear Worm.
Its Blood Enhancing Stomach would allow it to absorb the monstrous

amounts of energy it needed to evolve. That, combined with its insane
work ethic, would allow it to maximize its ability.
Now, the vulture finally had all the tools it needed. The rest was up to it.
The vulture could feel an incredible wave of energy surging through its
body. It had never felt this way before, not even with its maniacal
training. All it had taken was 200 tons of meat?
The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture was ecstatic.
Turning around to face Gao Peng, it swept a wing across its chest and
lowered its head in a stately bow, a gentleman’s thank you.
The thing was…
It looked rather terrifying with flecks of blood and bone marrow still
smeared across its face.
As the vulture grew stronger, so did Master Liu, both spiritually and
physically.
“It worked.” The smile on Master Liu’s face could have brightened the
entire city.
Chapter 321: An Invitation from Yang Cheng

“It only needs to keep eating fresh meat in order to improve its strength,”
Gao Peng said to Uncle Liu. “Of course, if it could train, the effects would
be more obvious.”
Uncle Liu took each and every word that Gao Peng said to heart.
“It’s currently at the Excellent grade right now, but I have a few ideas on
how to evolve it to the Perfect grade,” Gao Peng continued.
Uncle Liu nodded emotionally. “You’re concerned. Excellent grade is fine
at the moment. As long as it doesn’t have any problems, it’ll be able to
have breakthroughs constantly.”
Gao Peng nodded. However, at the same time, he had some doubts.
The book said that it needed to be at the Perfect grade in order for it to
move up to another tier, but the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture had broken
this magical curse.
Perhaps what was written in the book wasn’t accurate. Books were, after
all, written by people. It was normal for them to have errors.
Gao Peng looked up the material required for the Blood Eye Bearded
Vulture’s next evolution—Frost Breaths. Frost Breaths only appeared in
areas with extremely cold temperatures. The other respective Breaths
also only existed in their respective extreme climates. That meant they
would be scattered all over. Another important fact was that these
materials were hard to conserve, which meant that they needed to be
used in the area in which they were found.
Gao Peng was now very experienced in conducting experiments, no
longer the newbie that he once was.
Perhaps the requirement for the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture to be at the
Perfect grade was for its stomach to be stronger?

The process of the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture’s evolution was for it to
constantly consume all sorts of Breaths, then consume nourishing
materials that would nurse and warm its stomach.
It was similar to how the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture trained every day. It
would go through a series of exercises that would damage its muscles,
then heal itself through its self-healing ability. Once its muscles were
healed, they would be stronger than before.
It was the same principle for its stomach. However, this wasn’t a method
that most creatures would be able to mimic.
Gao Peng directly told Uncle Liu his method. This would include how to
use these materials to nurse the stomach. The methods weren’t difficult,
but looking up different types of Breaths could be time-consuming, and
Uncle Liu would be required to do it himself. Luckily, it only required the
Blood Eye Bearded Vulture to swallow these Breaths, followed by the
nourishing ingredients for the stomach.
This was something that needed to be done constantly over a long
period of time.
To complete the evolution of the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture would be to
settle one of Gao Peng’s worries. Initially, Uncle Liu had been kind to
him, and Gao Peng had always wanted to repay his kindness. It was a
shame that he couldn’t complete the collection of materials for the Blood
Eye Bearded Vulture, but he couldn’t possibly conjure the materials out
of nowhere.
Gao Peng suddenly remembered something. During his return, he had
been so focused on the materials needed for the Blood Eye Bearded
Vultures evolution that he didn’t notice that Goldie was sitting on the
custom-made sofa that he himself had ordered.
Now that he remembered, Gao Peng’s expression suddenly changed.
He rushed back to the villa. When he pushed opened the door, he could
hear the sound of the television. “There’s only one Haonan in Causeway
Bay, and that Haonan is I, Chen Haonan!”
As if Goldie had heard the door opening, sounds of someone frantically
fumbling came from the living room. The sound from the television
suddenly changed. “First, never act hastily. Second, never turn a blind
eye to evil. Third, I, the beautiful Robot Judge who always upholds
absolute justice, the captain Praying Mantis, is here to see you!”
Gao Peng smirked. He changed into sandals and calmly walked down
the hallway to the living room.
Seated on the sofa, Goldie was staring at the television seriously without
blinking its eyes. Its body was stiff and hard, with its back as straight as
ever.
When Goldie saw Gao Peng walk in, its eyes didn’t even move. Gao
Peng laughed coldly. This fella is quite the actor. If it weren’t for the fact
that I also used to pretend to study in front of my parents while I was
playing computer games, I would’ve believed it.
Standing beside Goldie, Gao Peng patted the sofa so that it sunk under
his hands. “So, isn’t this sofa quite comfortable?”
Goldie was stunned. Oh no! I forgot about that.
“Stand up.”
Goldie obeyed and stood up.
The cushion on the sofa sunk deeply with many wrinkles on the sides.
Gao Peng’s face twitched. There used to be an elasticity to this sofa…
“Didn’t I warn you not to sit on my sofa?” Gao Peng said with a dark
expression on his face. “Take out your pocket money. You’re going to
buy me another one.”
Goldie turned around and pretended that it hadn’t heard him. After Gao
Peng repeated himself a few times, Goldie angrily took out a few
crumpled notes from its sling shoulder bag and threw them on the sofa.
It held on to its small bag, not willing to throw even one cent more.
The number of people who can take money from me in this world has
been reduced.
The same sentence that Goldie had uttered not long before reverberated
in its mind.
Goldie’s eyes reddened. It tilted its head up 45 degrees, trying very hard
to stop the tears from rolling out of its eyes.

Leaving the bungalow, Goldie found a deserted place and opened its
bag secretively, then it took out the rest of the money and counted it a
few times.
Finally, it rolled the paper money into a stack and put the stack in its bag.
Rolling the stack didn’t carry any significance; its size would simply make
it look like there were more bills.
Gao Peng took the money Goldie gave him and placed it into an iron box
that was full of old and crumpled up notes. Gao Peng placed the iron box
back under his bed and headed downstairs.
When he came back, he brought along the King Centipede Skeleton.
Although it was a Normal-grade monster, it was still a Lord-tier monster.
It was sufficient for the present environment, or at least enough to scare
most people.
There was also the Winged Thunder Monkey Skeleton and Wood
Peacock Skeleton. Dumby had so far brought three skeleton Lord-tier
familiars to life. Its terrifying ability was starting to show its strength.
Given enough time, Dumby could bring about a terrible, deadly
catastrophe.
Being at the Legendary grade meant that it had an imposing presence to
produce a magnificent reputation for itself, whereby its name would be
sung and praised for generations to come. People who encountered it
would spread the word around, making it a living legend. This was what
being at the Legendary grade meant.
Dumby’s current default grade was the Legendary grade. However, its
growth in level had caused it to be downgraded to Epic. As long as it
consumed enough Ghoul-type treasures, it would be able to get back to
the Legendary grade.
If Dumby had been a wild monster, by its power alone, it would have
been able to set off a terrible and deadly natural disaster. Given enough
time, it would be able to summon a ghoul army and easily destroy a
base city.
But that was only if…

Gao Peng looked over to the treehouse by the lake. Dumby was sitting
there with elegant posture, patiently studying with its daughter.
Crazy. Gao Peng shook his head.
Gao Peng wouldn’t permit Dumby to let his ghouls roam around freely.
He decided that he would build a special area for them in the mountains
behind the villa. That way, if there were guests, they wouldn’t be
frightened by the ghouls.
“Master Gao, the Yang Cheng broadcast station is asking you to attend
one of their events as a guest of honor,” Huang Ya said to Gao Peng on
the phone.
Chapter 322: Understanding Monsters Class

“I’m not interested.” Gao Peng had zero interest in participating in this
kind of television show. He also didn’t like the feeling of being exposed
after he became a celebrity.
“Yang Cheng’s broadcasting station is willing to give out a Lei Yinluo as

a reward,” Huang Ya whispered.
Gao Peng, who was stroking Da Zi, was silent for two seconds, then said
reluctantly, “Okay then. When does their show start?”
“It will start recording in Yang Cheng next Monday.”

There are still four days left. It’s not very urgent. Gao Peng nodded in
agreement.
Lei Yinluo was just a name called that these people used. Actually, Gao
Peng once saw a picture of Lei Yinluo through his data frame. Its original
name was Stone of Thor, and this Stone of Thor was the material
needed for the Thunder Shell Lord to evolve to the Epic grade. To
evolve, the Thunder Shell Lord would need two materials, and one of
them was the Stone of Thor, while the other was 30 tons of Yu Spirit
Water.
A spirit lake on Sky Mountain was filled with Yu Spirit Water, but Yu
Spirit Water couldn’t be kept for very long. After being away from the
Spirit Lake for a long time, it would lose its spiritual essence. But now,
with the Stone of Thor in hand, the Thunder Shell Lord could proceed
with its evolution.
Gao Peng found out that the materials that the Lord and Emperor-tier
familiars needed to evolve were becoming harder to find. They were
basically the best materials currently circulating the market of human
society, and for most of them, there was only demand without sufficient
supply.
If the level of demand continued to rise, one could only head into
unexplored forbidden zones on Earth to gather materials of a higher
grade, or perhaps… head to the other worlds through Spatial Rifts.
Gao Peng had already heard of someone who was lucky enough to
travel to another world, then brought back treasures and familiars that
belonged to that world.
But it was just through a temporary Spatial Rift, and it had disappeared
after a few days.
Spatial Rifts that appeared on Earth mostly had time limits, so Spatial
Rifts that were permanent were incredibly rare. Currently, the number of
permanent Spatial Rifts that had been discovered on Earth was only
three.
“Pa!” Da Zi patted Gao Peng’s leg angrily.
This guy isn’t even focused while he’s stroking me. Just what is he
thinking? Which familiar is he thinking about?
Gao Peng was speechless, but after seeing that Da Zi was angry again,
he continued to stroke its two tentacles.
Da Zi closed its eyes, satisfied, and made happy snoring sounds from its
throat.
After stroking for a while, Da Zi felt sleepy. Gao Peng put it on the bed
carefully, then got up and left the room, closing the door quietly.
One minute after Gao Peng left, Da Zi opened its eyes cautiously. It
crept down from the bed, then went to the window to personally see Gao
Peng climbing in a car before leaving.
Since Da Zi felt suspicious, it climbed up the window. As soon as its

wings spread, it turned into a flash of purple-golden lightning and flew
into the sky.
Gao Peng was going to the Tiange Academy. After all, he was the
principal of this school… Except besides the first day, he hadn’t gone to
the school even once.
At the school gate, two security guards were dragging the body of a
monster over the ground with great familiarity.
Another person was washing away blood stains with a mop and a
bucket.
They slowed down when they saw a car coming towards them.
“Principal.”
“Principal Gao.”
They put down their work and quickly greeted Gao Peng.
“Just keep doing your thing. There’s no need to worry about me.” Gao
Peng smiled and waved. After he saw the monster’s body, he couldn’t
help but say, “Looks like there’s more for tonight’s dinner.”
“Hehe.”
The group of people couldn’t contain their laughter. The rule that stated
any edible monster killed by Teacher Guan would be provided as extra
food for the faculty and student body had actually been suggested by
Principal Gao.
“I’ll stay here tonight to have a taste of our school chef’s skills. Truth be
told, I haven’t tasted the food yet,” Gao Peng said.
“It tastes really good!” The security guard gave a thumbs up. “Principal,
you’ll see once you’ve tried it. Well, we should get going.”
“Go ahead.” Gao Peng nodded.
After the security guards returned to their work, Gao Peng walked to the
Guan Yu statue in front of the school’s entrance.
“Teacher Guan, you’ve worked hard,” said Gao Peng as he bowed a

little.
The statue didn’t move at all. Its eyes were half open and half closed,
but it didn’t bother to pay attention to this shameless human.
Gao Peng wasn’t angry. He took three sticks of incense from the
platform, then put them into the copper bowl after he lit it.
The smoke of the incense rose, whirling around the bronze Guan Yu
statue.
Gao Peng suddenly stopped his footsteps. The Guan Yu statue had
secretly leveled up to Level 42.
When Gao Peng told all of the students to light incense for Teacher
Guan, thousands of students in the school had done exactly as they
were instructed according to their class schedule. It was impossible to
know whether the increase in level was a result of the incense.
In the requirements for grade improvement, Gao Peng had seen

something about incense, which was how he came up with the idea.
Now, it seemed like it had probably had a certain degree of effect.
To the current Gao Peng, a simple Lord-tier Normal-grade monster no

longer interested him.
With Dumby’s ability, Ghoul-type monsters that were at the Lord-tier

could be mass produced.
If I’m lucky, maybe one day, a student in this school will sign a Blood
Contract with the Guan Yu statue? That would be like ascending to the
heavens in a single step.
Looking up at the academy, Gao Peng lamented, Ah, dear children, this
is the treasure that I, Principal Gao, will leave for you all. Let’s see which
lucky child will become the one to be protected by the Goddess of Luck.
Ding ding ding.
The recess bell rang, and the quiet building gradually became noisier.
The sound of children running and playing in the corridors could be
heard.
Some students who had physical education and Understanding

Monsters classes came out of the building and went to the field.
A small figure walked out of the building. He suddenly saw Gao Peng
standing not far away, but hesitated a while before walking towards him.
“Big brother.” A boy wearing a sophomore uniform came and looked up

at Gao Peng.
Gao Peng thought the boy looked familiar, then he thought for a while
and remembered his name.
“Li Junzong, I remember! Are you used to school life?”

After hearing that Gao Peng remembered his name, Li Junzong’s face
turned red. He seemed excited.
“I like it very much. Me and the few friends I have all like it here.” Li
Junzong nodded nonstop.
The statuses of everyone there were nearly the same. The children of
the Southern Sky Group employees and orphans were divided into
separate classes. The status of every student in a given class was
exactly the same, so no one could look down on anyone else.
Moreover, because they had the same experiences, these students

became friends more easily.
At the same time, the school had strict regulations. They were strictly
forbidden from insulting other students. There may have been competing
in the school, but it had to be justified and benevolent. For good results
in various subjects, they competed in practice competitions!
This school was similar to a semi-closed state, so in terms of

management, it met Gao Peng’s standards.
“Okay. That’s good. Are you going to physical education now or

Understanding Monsters class?”
“It’s Understanding Monsters,” Li Junzong said honestly.
From afar, it was still okay, but now that he was in close contact with his
big brother, Li Junzong felt a strong pressure coming from Principal Gao,
who was in front of him, just like the Commander-tier monster he had
seen in the last Understanding Monsters class.
“I’ll go and listen in for a while.” Gao Peng thought that since he had
already come to the school, he should go and listen to a class.
The physical education class was to train students’ physical fitness and
at the same time, to teach combat and outdoor survival skills.
Gao Peng built a simulated wild area in the school that contained a small
number of Level 1 monsters. Moreover, the claws and teeth of these
monsters were removed, and teachers and school security guards were
also supervising from the side.
It mainly trained students’ survival skills in the wild; it wasn’t meant to

cultivate greenhouse flowers.
The Understanding Monsters class was held to bring in living or dead

monsters to explain the monsters’ weaknesses and fighting habits.
After all, the things that could be learned from a book were separated by
a piece of paper. In the end, what could be seen in real life was more
informative, and the memory would be more profound.
Chapter 323: Principal Gao’s Lecture

Understanding Monsters was an uncommon class. It was rare to find

such a class, even in the entire Huaxia Region.
The main reason was that such a class required a lot of human
resources, as well as financial capital.
The bodies of dead monsters were still relatively easy to get. However, it
was hard to acquire a variety of monsters that were still alive. Only the
best public universities were able to offer such classes.
A private high school offering such a class would be considered a luxury.
In a spacious field, there were iron cages that were covered with black
cloths. The angry growls of monsters were coming out from some of the
iron cages.
Three classes were taking the class together, as Understanding

Monsters was a major subject. Many of the students were sitting on their
benches quietly, waiting for the teacher to arrive.
A middle-aged man wearing spectacles, a blue down jacket, and black
trousers walked over from the field. He was carrying a thermos cup in his
hands.
When he saw Gao Peng, he waved his hands and smiled. “Class has
already started, student. Please go and take a seat.”
“…”
The security guards who were walking with the middle-aged man
recognized Gao Peng and immediately shouted out, “Greetings Principal
Gao!”
The middle-aged man was a foreign teacher. He had heard of Gao

Peng, but he had never seen him personally. When he heard the guards
calling Gao Peng “principal,” he pushed up his glasses and took another
look at him. This principal is way too young!
He thought that Gao Peng was a senior.
The middle-aged teacher smiled awkwardly. “Sorry, Principal Gao. I

didn’t recognize you just now.”
“It’s fine. It’s normal to misunderstand. I know I look young.” Gao Peng
laughed.
The middle-aged teacher nodded and prepared to begin the class. Gao
Peng suddenly had an idea. “How about I take over for this period of the
class?”
The middle-aged teacher was taken aback. He thought that maybe he

might’ve offended the principal just now. The reason he had come here
as a teacher was because his wife had just given birth to a pair of
fraternal twins. He had left his job at a university to come here. At that
moment, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. If he lost this job, too…
“I’m not such a petty person that I would do that. It’s just because these
students remind me of my own time in school, and I suddenly feel
inspired. Don’t worry. After this lesson, you’ll still be teaching them,” Gao
Peng comforted the teacher.
The teacher let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. In that case, I’ll head back
first.”
Gao Peng went on stage and clapped his hands, gaining the attention of
the children.
Li Junzong recognized Gao Peng. Isn’t this Teacher Wang’s class?
“Teacher Wang has some business to attend to at home. I’ll be

substituting for him today.”
The students started to discuss among themselves. Some of them had

forgotten what Gao Peng looked like, while others recognized him. After
a while, all of them knew that the person who was standing on stage was
Principal Gao.
All of the students were grateful for what Gao Peng had done for them,
so they all respected him.
“This is the first time I’m teaching Understanding Monsters. Please

forgive me if my lecture is lacking in any way.”
The students were very accommodating and gave him a big round of
applause.
Gao Peng nodded happily and smiled kindly. He took the black cloth off
the farthest iron cage on the left. The sudden light from the sun shocked
the white Red Spiked Claw Boar inside the cage. It bent its hooves and
knelt on the floor, making all sorts of whining noises.
“Students, what do we have here?” Gao Peng pointed towards the

monster inside the cage and said, “We’ve discovered a gentle Red
Spiked Claw Boar. It’s even one of the rare white species.”
As he spoke, he opened the cage.

The students immediately screamed. Those sitting in the first row even
got up and ran to the back. Li Junzong, who was sitting in the first row,
also wanted to get up and run, but his trust in Gao Peng convinced him
to suppress his fear and stay put.
The guards nearby were so terrified that they almost went crazy.
Principal Gao’s familiars weren’t there. They couldn’t let anything
happen to Principal Gao, otherwise, it would be disastrous!
The guards’ familiars roared and rushed to the stage.
The previously tame Red Spiked Claw Boar suddenly extended the
sharp spikes on its body when it became startled by the familiars’ roars.
Its spikes pricked up as it rushed towards Gao Peng like a giant
hedgehog.
“Remember students, a Red Spiked Claw Boar will extend its steel
spikes when startled, just like a hedgehog.” Gao Peng extended his
hands and used two fingers to grab the boar’s nostrils, then lifted up
forcefully.
“Ahh!” The Red Spiked Claw Boar squealed pitifully. Its legs softened as
it fell down where Gao Peng pushed it.
“The nostrils are its weakness. Everyone should pay attention to this. As
long as its nostrils can be attacked, aim and hit them directly.” Gao Peng
turned his head around as he spoke.
The guards’ familiars had just made it onstage. Gao Peng looked at
them and shouted, “Get down!”
The familiars all went down the stage obediently.
“Mother of God!” The guards were in disbelief. The Red Spiked Claw
Boar was an Elite-tier monster. It was very strong and stout, so the force
generated from its tackle would be more than a few tons. However,
Principal Gao had been able to deal with it using one hand, like an adult
bullying a child.
Stunned, the group of students looked at the slender figure on the stage
as if they were watching a myth.
The “iron law” that humans weren’t able to fight against monsters and
win was something that everyone knew.
Of course, Lord-tier monster trainers could depend on the strength that

they gained from the Feedback from their familiars to subdue Normal-tier
monsters. However, these were exceptions and certainly weren’t
common. Most Lord-tier monster trainers wouldn’t go around showing off
that they were able to defeat a Normal-tier monster with their own
hands…
“Has… has Principal Gao been swapped with a monster?” a student

said, frightened.
Once that sentence was uttered, there was a commotion among the
students!
Clang! Gao Peng knocked on the iron cage. The iron cage railing was
dented by his punch. “I’m a human, not a monster! Pay attention to the
lesson and go back to your seats!” Gao Peng pointed to a female
student as he said, “You, girl, let go of that boy. You’re suffocating him.”
The girl blushed and let go of the boy, then quickly went back to her
seat.
“Okay. We’ll continue with our lesson.” Gao Peng became calm again.
He used his left hand to pull a spike out of the Red Spiked Claw Boar
forcefully.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow—” the Red Spiked Claw Boar let out a mournful cry.
Some students couldn’t bear to watch. This was the first time they were
seeing a monster in such a pitiful state. The whole scene felt very
surreal.
“The Red Spiked Claw Boar’s weaknesses are here, here, and here…”
The room was filled with echoes of the boar on the ground that kept
crying out in pain.
After 20 minutes, Gao Peng returned the worn out Red Spiked Claw
Boar to the iron cage. He then covered the cage with the black cloth and
lifted the black cloth of the iron cage next to it. In the corner of the cage,
a Blue-tailed Double-headed Wolf was trembling…
The class ended after two hours with Gao Peng feeling extremely
satisfied.
Gao Peng ate dinner at the school canteen. He felt that the school’s
cook wasn’t as good as Grandpa, so he left the school with a tinge of
regret.
After that day, all sorts of rumors about Principal Gao circulated
throughout the school. Some said that he was a god, others said he was
a human-shaped familiar, and some even said he was a human and
familiar hybrid.
Chapter 324: Any Eye for Talent

As Gao Peng left the school, he saw a faint purple trace in the sky,
flashing away.
Why does that seem so familiar… Maybe I’m just imagining things.
He shook his head and drove his car down the mountain and back to the
villa.
There were two yellow figures sparring and challenging each other by
the side of the lake at the villa.
On the left was a yellow shadow, and on the right was a golden-yellow
phantom.
The sounds of flesh being punched could be heard constantly.
“Master Gao,” Xu Heti greeted Gao Peng as he got out of his car.
“Uncle Xu.” Gao Peng nodded. Xu Heti was always busy with work so he
didn’t come to the villa often. After all, working for the Southern Sky
Group’s security department wasn’t a leisurely job.
The security department at the Southern Sky Group in Yuzhou always

had to be responsible for matters that needed to be done every day.
Thus, Xu Heti was always busy. Basically, he got home late into the
night. Xu Qingzhi mentioned this to Gao Peng when they chatted.
“You brought your Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo to

spar with Goldie. How long have they been sparring?” Gao Peng looked
over to the two shadows by the lakeside.
“Just ten minute.” Xu Heti looked at the eight-foot-tall giant duck on the
left and couldn’t help but laugh wryly. “Master Gao, this familiar of yours
is just too abnormal. There’s no way to beat it.”
Although both Goldie and the Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion
Kangaroo were both Level 41 Lord-tier familiars, in reality, Goldie was
two grades above the Boxing Champion Kangaroo.
Punches from the Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo

didn’t affect Goldie at all. In fact, they accidentally triggered Goldie’s
ability to develop and grow bigger.
Though they were supposed to be sparring, Goldie was actually playing

with the Kangaroo.
When Goldie saw that Gao Peng had returned, its eyes lit up. It didn’t
want to waste time on the kangaroo anymore, so it threw an accurate
and fast punch directly.
Bang!
The punch landed precisely on the Golden Dazzling Light Boxing
Champion Kangaroo’s nose. Its eyes turned red, with tears coming out.
The nose was a sensitive organ for kangaroos and also a fragile spot for
most monsters.
This punch almost knocked out the kangaroo. It covered its nose as it
looked at the merciless Goldie with resentment.
Goldie was relentless. Turning around, it sped 300 yards per seconds to
where Gao Peng stood. Throwing itself in front of him onto the ground, it
started doing push-ups.
While doing its push-ups, it lifted up its head and said, “Gao Peng. I’ve
already done 3,966 push-ups today. Aren’t I great?”
Gao Peng nodded and encouraged Goldie.
“Then can I get a raise for next month’s allowance?” Goldie looked at
Gao Peng expectantly.
“It’ll go up by 50.” Gao Peng held up five fingers.
Goldie’s eyes lit up, and it did its push-ups even more vigorously.
The Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo got up, feeling a
bit lost. It would rather do push-ups than challenge me… The Golden
Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo felt a great sense of loss.
Is it trying to test my will?! The idea dawned on the Golden Dazzling

Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo. Then it rushed to Goldie’s front and
started doing push-ups as well.
Goldie who was working on its push-ups, looked at the Boxing

Champion Kangaroo mockingly, as if it was crazy.
“Sorry, Uncle Xu. Goldie doesn’t really know what’s important,” Gao
Peng said apologetically.
“Never mind. Goldie has spent much time playing with my house’s
kangaroo. They’re actually very far apart in strength,” Xu Heti expressed
his understandings. From what he had seen just then, it was clear that
his Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo had taken the
initiative to attack, while conversely, Goldie hadn’t really retaliated much.
They were in completely different leagues.
Xu Heti was there to report company affairs to Grandpa. After he went in

and talked with Grandpa for a while, he took the kangaroo and left.
When the kangaroo was leaving, It jumped on its toes, raised its
eyebrows, and left.
At night, the mountains outside the windows seemed to have been

swallowed by darkness. Only the foot of the mountain had a street light
to illuminate a small area.
For the past few days, Flamy had been flying out early in the morning
and coming back late at night. Gao Peng didn’t know what it was doing.
Most of the time, it was optimistic and cheerful, but it had seemed a bit
depressed lately. While going to the toilet, Gao Peng saw it perching on
the branches, looking far into the distance.
Gao Peng flushed the toilet, pulled up his pants, opened the door, and
went to the lawn. Flamy heard Gao Peng and turned around. “Gao
Peng?”
“Yes. Is something bothering you lately?” Gao Peng sat beneath the
tree. Flamy flew down from the tree, tilted its head, and looked at Gao
Peng, then turned its gaze back to the lake blankly without answering.
“Are you worried that you’re not losing weight?” Gao Peng couldn’t help
but laugh.
Flamy shot Gao Peng a look and then angrily pecked at his arm. “Gao
Peng, I’m going to bite you to death!”
Gao Peng pinched Flamy’s beak to stop it from moving further.

Gao Peng suddenly thought of Flamy’s background. He gently patted
Flamy’s back and said, “After we come back from Yang Cheng, I’ll bring
you back to your birthplace.”
Flamy suddenly stopped pecking. Its eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Really. I don’t lie.” Gao Peng smiled.
Flamy nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
“All right. It’s getting late; you should return to the tree to rest,” Gao Peng
patted Flamy’s head.
“Mr. Gao, you’re here.” There was someone there to greet Gao Peng
when he got off the private plane.
The back of the private plane started to open, and Gao Peng’s familiars
came out.
After all, Yang Cheng wasn’t part of the Southern Sky Group’s turf.
Although the Southern Sky Group had a branch there, it had no
dominance over the city. For the sake of safety, Gao Peng decided to
bring all of his familiars except Stripey.
Having four Lord-tier familiars around him gave him a sense of security.
If it weren’t for the fact that the plane wasn’t very big, he might’ve even
brought the Wood Peacock Skeleton and other ghouls with him.
“My name is Wang Muzi, and I’m the assistant program director for ‘An
Eye for Talent.’ You can just call me Old Wang.” A 40-year-old middle-
aged man with a black hat and goatee walked over and shook Gao
Peng’s hand enthusiastically. “We’ve already prepared a car for you.
We’ll send you to your hotel first.”
“That isn’t necessary. I have a villa here in Yang Cheng. Just send me
there directly,” Gao Peng declined.
“…”
In the car, Wang Muzi took the initiative to talk to Gao Peng
enthusiastically. “We’ve invited a total of four guests. You’re the
youngest among them.”
“Our program is different from other, previous programs. It’s something

new that we’ve never done before. Actually, we heard that you were the
youngest mid-level Monster Breeder in Chang’an City. The present
program is definitely related to Monster Breeders. I’m sure you already
know that we’re the official television channel of Yang Cheng, so we’ve
gathered a lot of materials and monsters, most of which are unfamiliar to
the public; there are also some species that are completely new and
have never been seen by anyone before.
“Our selling point for this program is that we’ll be identifying the attributes
and characteristics of the materials and monsters. It’ll be both
entertaining and educational. This type of show is very popular. Of
course, for all the materials used, we’ve invited high-end laboratories to
examine their attributes beforehand. You guys only need to perform
according to the scripts.”
Gao Peng nodded thoughtfully.
Chapter 325: Yin Yang Calendula

Wang Muzi sent the show’s script to Gao Peng that night through the
Penguin messaging app.
Gao Peng opened the message, and inside was a list of names. On the
list were the pictures of the materials and their attributes.
He looked at the photos, and rows of data appeared in his vision. He

compared the data in his vision with what was listed. Most of the data on
the monsters and materials were correct, but some were wrong. The
attributes written on the list were very rough.
When he saw one of the photos on the list, he suddenly paused.
The photo was of a dandelion that was only four inches tall. The fuzzy
fur on top was as white as a snow lotus on the Tianshan Mountain. It
was so white that it hurt his eyes, and beneath it was a black stalk.
It was categorized as a material: Dalingshan Dandelion. Effects: Its fur

has healing effects. Attention: A new species.
However, the data that was shown in Gao Peng’s vision was different.
[Monster Name]: Yin Yang Calendula
[Monster Attribute]: Radiant/Dark
[Monster State]: Healthy (Trembling)
[Monster Introduction]: It’s a brave and fearless Plant-type monster that

likes to explore. It has the ability to heal and weaken the abilities of other
monsters. As it’s still at a low level right now, it can only use the seeds
on its head to make soup. This may be a good choice for it to make right
now.
Brave? Trembling?
Gao Peng was in deep thought for two seconds. Things weren’t as clear
cut as they seemed.
Gao Peng flipped to the back of the script. There was nothing fresh
about it. It was similar to most of the popular entertainment shows on the
market. The lines they had given were all very awkward and had been
seen a million times. Reading it almost gave him cancer from the
awkwardness.
However, he decided to just ignore it for the sake of Lei Yinluo.

Forget it. It’s just an entertainment program. Gao Peng wasn’t interested
in calling out their mistakes and making himself look good. He would just
go through the whole thing honestly, go home, and continue to promote
the Thunder Shell Lord’s grade.
Gao Peng thought for a while and decided to give Wang Muzi a call.
“Old Wang, do all of the materials and monsters on the show belong to
you?”
Old Wang was slightly taken aback. “Well, I wouldn’t say they belong to
us. The money we used came from the higher-ups, after all. All of the
expenses were accounted for… but if anything catches your eyes, I can
throw in a word or two…”
Old Wang was very perceptive. He understood that Gao Peng hadn’t
called him this late at night to chat with a middle-aged man about his life
story.
Gao Peng didn’t feel embarrassed and spoke frankly. “I’ve looked
through the information you sent me. There’s one particular material that
I really like. The Dalingshan Dandelion. I like its color and style.
Moreover, I think it isn’t as simple as it looks. Just name a price.”
Wang Muzi was dumbfounded. Since Gao Peng had already asked so
directly, he wouldn’t be able to reject him. Although the Dalingshan
Dandelion was one of a kind, it didn’t have much medicinal value. The
results from the laboratory also stated that it was just an average
medicinal ingredient.
Under such circumstances, he naturally couldn’t really reject Gao Peng.

However, he was just an assistant director. He still needed to run things
through the main director in a situation like this.
“It should be no problem. I’ll inform the main director and producer. As
for the payment, for such a small amount, forget it,” Wang Muzi said
hurriedly. Gao Peng wasn’t just a Lord-tier monster trainer or mid-level
monster breeder. More importantly, he was the grandson of the
chairman of the Southern Sky Group, the beloved grandson of the White
Dragon, Ji Hanwu.
The two latter identities were the most important factor in Wang Muzi’s
decision.
Wang Muzi usually wouldn’t have the chance to interact with someone of
Gao Peng’s stature. Now that he had the chance, he wouldn’t let it go so
easily.
Gao Peng didn’t reject him. People needed to have relationships with
other people. Not taking their money was a favor that he did for them. If
he took their money, they could start to worry.
The dandelion, packaged in a golden wooden box, was quickly sent over
to Gao Peng. The box looked very antique, the carvings on it exquisite. It
was obvious that the carvings had been done by hand.
He opened the box. Red silk covered the bottom of it. There was a layer
of velvet on the bottom. On top of it was a foot-long dandelion. Its stem,
which was black, took up two-thirds of the length. Only the petals at the
top were pure white.
Gao Peng lifted up the Yin Yang Calendula. It looked like any normal
plant.
Gao Peng blew at it. If it had just been a normal dandelion, the petals
would have been blown away by his breath. However, the petals swayed
and struggled to stay put when Gao Peng blew on them. Not one of the
petals was blown away.
Gao Peng flicked it with his finger. Nothing happened.
He threw it against the wall. There was still no reaction.
No wonder those people had only regarded it like a normal plant and not
a Plant-type monster.
What Gao Peng found interesting was that as he played with it, its status
kept changing. It changed from trembling to fearful and anxious.
Gao Peng thought for a while and took out a Radiant-type monster’s
core crystal from Silly’s portable space. He placed it on top of the Yin
Yang Calendula petals.
It was rather strange. The Radiant-type monster core crystal wasn’t light
compared to the Yin Yang Calendula. However, when it was placed on
top of the petals, it didn’t move at all. It was as if it had been glued on.
He extended his fingers to lift the core crystal, but he could feel that the
Yin Yang Calendula didn’t want to let go. Gao Peng found this quite
funny.
It was like when children stared angrily at adults who took away their
candy.
Gao Peng took away the core crystal and then took a Commander-tier
dark type monster core crystal from Silly’s portable space. He placed it
on the petals.
Immediately, a very pleased mood spread out from the Yin Yang
Calendula’s body.
Such an easy creature to please.
Gao Peng took out a disposable blood collection device to draw some
blood. However, when the needle pricked his finger, it was as if it was
pushing against a rhino’s skin.
Gao Peng had not only gained strength from the Feedback but also an
all-around improvement to his physical attributes. In order to withstand
such a huge amount of power, his bones, skin, and internal organs all
needed corresponding strength.
Gao Peng asked Flamy to help him create a wound on his finger, then
he placed his bloodied finger on the Yin Yang Calendula’s petals.
Fresh blood dyed the white petals red. The Yin Yang Calendula trembled
a bit.
Just then, a weak soul connected to Gao Peng through his

consciousness.
It was like a flower that swayed in a storm, sensitive and strong.
Gao Peng patiently encouraged it to come to him. He made threats and

promises. He was like a perverted man trying to lure a child with candy.
The simple Yin Yang Calendula didn’t have the ability to discern right
from wrong. In the end, it was in the clutches of a certain Mr. Gao.
This was Gao Peng’s first Plant-type familiar. Compared to Silly’s

lackluster healing ability, this Yin Yang Calendula was much more
professional.
Chapter 326: End of The Program

The dandelion was listed in Ancient Herbs and Where To Find Them as
the Golden Calendula.
How a flower as white as snow came to be known as the Golden

Calendula was beyond Gao Peng’s comprehension.
After signing the Blood Contract, the Yin Yang Calendula was noticeably
warmer towards Gao Peng. Even though it was still kind of aloof, at least
it had stopped ignoring Gao Peng by pretending to be an inanimate
object.
It was just about to nestle into Gao Peng’s hair when Silly smacked it on
the head with a tentacle. That was a no-fly zone.
Trembling lightly, the Calendula found another spot right on top of

Dumby’s shiny bald head.
They created a hilarious figure. A white dandelion on a scary, cloaked
figure with enormous spikes jutting out of its shoulder blades and white
Soul Flames burning in the depths of the hood where eyes should have
been.
He felt bad for laughing and tried to stop himself.
“Dumby, I’m leaving Xiao Hua to you.”
That was the nickname that Gao Peng had given the Calendula.
He had actually asked the Calendula if it liked the nickname. “If you don’t
say anything, I’m going to assume you like it,” said Gao Peng. That
elicited the barest twitch of its leaves. “I guess you do like it, then.”
Deep in the night, towering waves crashed upon a nameless shore in

explosive bursts of spray 50 miles away from Yang Cheng. The
mesmerizing ebb and flow of the inky black water did little to hint at the
horrors that lurked within.
The ocean was the one place that mankind had yet to fully explore, pre
or post-Cataclysm.
As the tides receded, a large amount of strange, white fluid was left on
the beach. It was dripping out of a number of snow white eggs.
As the sun rose, its dazzling rays seemed to coat the eggs in liquid gold.
The sun’s warmth seemed to have triggered some kind of reaction within
the eggs.
There was a small, nameless village not too far from this beach. Ever
since one of their own had sold a gem he had picked up on the beach
and found himself a wife, the villagers loved combing the beach for
treasure on their leisurely strolls. Even though his wife came with a kid, it
was still good that he had someone to carry on his family name. Some of
the more unkind villagers would make fun of him, though, by yelling “buy
one get one free” and similar insults.
The few remaining unmarried men would gaze at the beach wistfully
every day, as though hoping that a good wife would walk right out of the
ocean and into their arms.
Needless to say, the beach was a popular hangout spot for the villagers.
“Eggs, eggs! There’s a ton of eggs on the beach…” The excited chatter
of the kids echoed throughout the poor village.
After a night of rest, Gao Peng went back to the recording studio at
around two that afternoon. There were already quite a few people
backstage by the time he got there. Even though he had left quite early,
there had still been some traffic on the way there.
A wave of noise washed over him as he navigated the crowd. Tools

were scattered all over the floor, which made his route all the more
treacherous.
Wang Mu Zi was clutching on to a battered white document as he paced

frenetically around.
“Light guy, I need you to adjust the stage lights.
“The group in charge of props, are y’all ready? Y’all look like you have
time to kill. Go and practice again. There can’t be any mistakes later!
“Audio, something is wrong with the system there. Can’t hear it clearly
from the backstage storage area.”
As soon as he saw Gao Peng, he tossed the document aside and went
to greet him.
“You seem busy.” Gao Peng nodded in greeting.
Wang Muzi smiled gingerly. That was a gross oversimplification if

anything. Even though he was only an assistant director, the fact that the
director was a pampered, well-connected young hotshot meant that he
was the one doing most of the grunt work.
He really had no choice in the matter. If he wasn’t in the director’s good

books, funding for this program would dry up in the blink of an eye.
Gao Peng could tell that Muzi wasn’t really happy with his current
situation, so he didn’t say much. “Could you point me to the waiting
area? You do your thing, and I’ll head there first.”
“I’ll take you there.” Wang Muzi grinned affably.
It was a lot nicer back there. The well-lit room was comfortably spacious
and had air-conditioning to boot. Some light refreshments had already
been laid out in a corner.
There were already two people sitting in the room. There was an old
man with a shock of white hair and piercing blue eyes. He had a strong
presence and seemed to be sizing up everyone who walked in.
After exchanging some pleasantries with Gao Peng, he nodded

approvingly.
“I heard about an impressive lad in Chang’an. The future of monster

breeding, some people say. I thought Chen Xuehe was just full of it, but
it seems like he wasn’t lying to me after all.”
Gao Peng was stunned. When had word of his exploits gotten out? And
how had it spread all the way to Yang Cheng?
After a beat, the old man’s expression relaxed. Smiling, he waved Gao
peng over. “Sit.”
Gao Peng acquiesced. Chuckling loudly, the old man said, “That was
just a line the assistant director had me say. Don’t worry about it.”
He pointed to the cameras in the room. “It’ll all be edited in a bit.”
Gao Peng remained blank. He didn’t know how to feel. This was
showbusiness, he guessed.
After a while, the final VIP arrived.
Wang Muzi then went around the room introducing them to each other.
He introduced Gao Peng as a Lord-tier trainer and a genius breeder.
A few of them immediately connected the dots. One of them became

noticeably warmer towards Gao Peng once he realized.
The rest of them played it cool, with no discernible changes in the way
they spoke to him. Anyone who could make it into this room was no fool.
Even if they didn’t like one another, nobody wanted to make enemies
here.
The recording was done in two and a half hours. Gao Peng had to stifle
a yawn.
Halfway through the show, he had realized that some of the numbers
were off. There was that really embarrassing line. Too… For the sake of
Lei Yinluo and the Yin Yang Calendula, he gritted his teeth and toughed
his way through the whole thing.
As he left the stage, he went back for his belongings. Flipping through
his phone, he was quite surprised to see more than ten missed calls.
His brows furrowed.
There was Grandfather and Xu Hedi, but there were also a couple of
unknown numbers.
His phone lit up—it was Lao Ji.
Chapter 327: Support

His grandfather’s voice rang loud and clear. “You’re still in Yang
Cheng?”
“I just finished shooting the program. What’s up?”

“Southern Sky has just been attacked. Our communications are down.
Go down there and handle it the best that you can. I’ll be there as soon
as possible.”
Gao Peng chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll have it all taken care of
before you get here.”
Hanging up the phone, Gao Peng quickly assessed the situation. There
were probably a couple of Lord-tier monsters in the wave, but no
Emperor-tier ones. He knew that if there had actually been an Emperor-
tier monster, the branch would have been long finished by then.
Why wasn’t the Yang Cheng military doing anything though? They
should have been on top of the situation.
Gao Peng was rather puzzled.
The military should have stepped in… unless the wave of monsters was
hitting several spots at once.
The Southern Sky Group’s branch in Yang Cheng was located in the
outskirts. In fact, every Southern Sky Group branch was located on the
outskirts of whatever city they were in. Unfortunately, as cheap as it was
to build and expand, being in the outskirts also meant that there was a
higher risk of being overrun by waves of monsters.
As he mused about it, he made his way to where his car was in the
basement and released his familiars.
“Let’s go to the southeastern area. Flamy, take Goldie with you. We’re
going on ahead. Dumby and Da Zi, meet us there.”
The Southern Sky Group was located in the southern part of Yang
Cheng’s new area.
Right now, the new area was a hodge-podge collection of branch offices,
similar to the Southern Sky Group, and a couple of grimy, old factories. It
was rather sparsely populated, so it was only served by a single police
station with less than 100 officers. Because it was home to enormous
groups like the Southern Sky Group, who already owned pretty
formidable security forces on their own, these police officers rarely had
anything to do besides patrol and taking care of the occasional wild
monster.
The police station was completely trashed. The door swung creakily on
its hinges. Blood and gore were splattered all over the floor. The
shattered windows rattled eerily in the wind. Even in bright daylight, a
sense of foreboding permeated the place.
Boom!
An ear-splitting noise could be heard throughout the entire area.
The sounds of footsteps slapping against the concrete could be heard as

someone or something drew closer to the station’s exit.
Bang!
The half-closed door flew open to reveal a dripping wet silhouette that
brimmed with malice and venom. The figure fixed its gaze in the
direction of the loud noise before licking its ruby-red lips in anticipation.
“Roar!”
It was off in a flash!
The front gate of the Southern Sky’s branch office was in shambles. A
horde of monsters was straining and scrabbling against the concrete
walls trying to get in. Roaring in fury and frustration, they were a
fearsome sight to behold.
Some of the monsters tried scaling the walls, leaving deep gouges as
they went. Unfortunately, they were greeted by an electrified fence at the
top that sent them tumbling down in violent convulsions.
“Roar!” A giant, humanoid monster with jet-black skin and seaweed-like

hair who looked eight months pregnant bellowed ferociously. Black mist
started rolling into the streets out of nowhere. In the depths of the mist,
countless pairs of demonic scarlet eyes could be seen.
In the black mist, the tiny monsters seemed even quicker and more agile
than before.
“Don’t be afraid. The cavalry will be here soon. We can’t let them
through even if we have to die trying. Our families are back there, for
God’s sake!” A security officer roared.
Whoosh! Some of the black mist solidified into a deadly arrow and
hurtled towards the officer at a blinding speed.
A crimson barrier materialized in front of him to deflect the arrow. The

barrier then engulfed the arrow in a blaze of flames and absorbed it.
Zheng Tiezhuang’s right eye twitched nervously. That had been much
too close for comfort.
A sleek, scarlet fox emerged silently from behind him. Its crimson fur
resembled dancing flames, and its eyes glittered like rubies. It’s three
bushy tails swished through the air lazily, shooting off colorful sparks at
random intervals.
“Hold on. Only another ten more minutes!” Zheng Tiezhuang roared.
“Another ten minutes? We’ve been waiting for almost two hours,” a
security officer said despondently.
Upon hearing this, morale dropped visibly. The winds had clearly been
taken out of their sails.
“God damn it!” Zheng Tiezhuang swore. “Three-tails, give them hell!”
The Three-tailed Firefox leaped into the air in a blur of movement,
leaving a trail of flames in its wake. Baring its jaws, it launched a
devastating stream of fireballs at the hostile creatures.
Boom!!
The monsters at the front couldn’t dodge the fiery deluge in time and
were instantly vaporized.
“Believe me. I’m serious…”
“Roar!” Black shadows flew out of the mist like a hail of arrows.
Countless black creatures landed on the Three-tailed Firefox and started

ripping away chunks of flesh with their powerful jaws.
The Three-tailed Firefox let out a heart-rending cry of agony. Those little
buggers had extremely sharp fangs, like serrated saws.
Shrapnels of bone and tiny chunks of flesh flew, leaving a bloody mess
on the ground!
Snarling loudly, a burst of flame erupted from the firefox, incinerating the
black creatures that were latched onto it into ash.
Before it even had the chance to catch its breath, a four-armed kelpie
thundered out of the mist, fists whirling.
Its fist coated in blue energy, the kelpie easily broke through the firefox’s
defenses with a flurry of punches. The firefox was thrown back several
feet and landed on the ground with a sickening thud.
Blood streamed from its mouth and nostrils.
“Three-tails!” Zheng Tiezhuang was furious.
Powered by an initial burst of adrenaline and courage, the officers

leading the charge started to falter. Some of them even turned to flee.
“It’s too strong…” someone sobbed.

The four-armed kelpie grinned wickedly. As quick as lightning, it charged
at the retreating trainers and their familiars.
Bang!
A spray of blood spewed out.
The four-armed kelpie staggered a few steps before crumpling to the

ground in a heap, a gaping hole where its brains should have been.
Behind it stood an emotionless Goldie, arms akimbo.
“You cowards!” yelled Gao Peng. Wreathed in flames, Flamy circled the
crowd from high above, with Gao Peng watching them alertly from the
side.
Chapter 328: A Negative Attitude

Some people’s expressions darkened. It was clear that those words had
hit a sore spot.
Some merely looked up, expressionless, and others balled their fists.
“What else are you all, if not spineless weaklings? Or should I be

praising your courage? You were protected by a stronghold, had several
hundred Elite-tier familiars and a considerable number of Commander-
tier familiars, were equipped with guns and grenades and the very best
electronic gadgets; you had the geographical advantage, and I wasn’t
even asking for that much. All I asked was for you to hold down the fort
for two hours, and what did you do?” Gao Peng mocked.
“I actually thought there were Lord-tier monsters in the horde, instead of

a mere handful of Elites and the single Commander-tier monster it
turned out to be.
Gao Peng shot a contemptuous glance at the monsters’ attributes.
“Actually, all things considered, calling you cowards might be too high a
praise; useless scum would be more appropriate.
“The organization has four gates in all four directions, and you lost the
most territory at the eastern gate.” He continued calmly, “Based on the
company headquarters’ allocations, the branch’s defenses should’ve
held out against a horde without a Lord-tier monster for ten hours, yet
you barely withstood it for two hours…”
The organization had four gates in total, so Gao Peng had only rushed to
the eastern gate to give aid because the situation there had been the
most precarious.
On the empty factory grounds behind the great door lay a motley group
of familiars—some were covered in wounds, their eyes gleaming with
aggression, while others were immaculate, with barely a lick of dust on
their hides. Even their claws were clean. The contrast between the two
was startling.
Gao Peng leaped from Flamy’s back and landed steadily. “Of course, I’m
not saying every single one of you is at fault. I’m just referring to those
who were slacking. Those who fought valiantly shall be rewarded, and
those who didn’t will be punished. I’m very particular when it comes to
fairness.”
“Go take care of the monsters at the other gates. Goldie and I will take it
from here,” Gao Peng said to Flamy.
Flamy nodded and flew away. Soon, its assault on the turrets could be
heard in the distance.
Goldie moved forward and placed the Three-tailed Firefox on the steps
behind it. Just then, the monsters near the gate seized their chance and
rushed forward, squeezing themselves through the opening. The water
monsters trailed moisture across the cement behind them, as black mist
spewed inwards with the intent to spread out.
Goldie turned, blank-faced, then stomped fiercely on the ground and
sprinted towards the drowned monsters explosively.
Boom. Its punches were like cracks of thunder, shocking the evil spirits.
Each fist and sweep of its feet were lightning incarnate that pierced the
heavens. It raged on, fierce and relentless.
Goldie’s Lord-tier fists were without mercy, and none of the water
monsters could stand before it.
With a single punch, those who were closest to it and took a direct hit
were ripped apart instantly, while the others behind them were sent
flying.
Meanwhile, a few of them began attacking Goldie from the side by

gnawing on its sturdy legs.
Goldie didn’t even try to avoid their attacks at all; like a tank, it bulldozed
through the horde, each punch and kick bursting with terrifying power.
Somewhere behind this horde of monsters, a giant, swollen one leveled

a venomous glare at Goldie, opened its mouth with its belly expanding
outwards, and exploded in an instant!
Boom!
A thick rain of tiny black dots showered Goldie, which, at a closer look,
turned out to be dozens of miniature scrawny, black monsters. With their
blood red eyes and skin stretched across bony frames, they proceeded
to attack Goldie’s hide with their sharp fangs.
But no matter how hard they chewed, Goldie’s skin wouldn’t give an
inch, for it was as tough as old boots.
However, Goldie’s body was inflating under the attacks of dozens of

ghosts. As mauve light twinkled and began to gather, Goldie ballooned.
Its great wings unfolded and swept across the battlefield! As they passed
through, entire swathes of monsters fell like plants before a scythe,
emptying the battlefield in a single sweep. The black mist that suffused
the air melted like snow in the springtime sun wherever it touched
Goldie’s body.
There were, of course, a small handful of monsters that hadn’t ganged

up on Goldie, but chose to attack from the flanks instead.
Meanwhile, Gao Peng didn’t lift a finger, even though he had more than
enough strength from Stripey to dispose of the horde of monsters. If his
subordinates couldn’t even do this by themselves, then he would really
have to seriously consider replacing the entire Security Department in
the Southern Sky’s branch in Yang Cheng.
After all, money didn’t grow on trees, and this held true for him as well.
And Gao Peng had never liked to talk about things such as honor and
ideals; perhaps he had grown cynical during the time of his parents’
deaths. Whatever the case was, Gao Peng deeply subscribed to the
concept of equivalent exchange: if one was going to accept the payment,
one had better follow through with his or her actions. He didn’t ask that
they give their all for the organization, but at the very least, they were
expected to do what was within their power.
If the security was paid only to hide behind the scenes whenever
someone caused trouble… well, surely no boss would be at ease with
that.
But if that was the case, why should he empty his pockets to keep them?
He would be better off raising a bunch of dogs instead; at least dogs
wouldn’t hesitate to bite on command when fed well.
Now, Gao Peng could say in good conscience that of all the companies
in the industry, Southern Sky had the highest standards in terms of pay
and how they treated their workers. Even the military didn’t treat their
soldiers as well.
Gao Peng took out his phone and placed a call. “Grandfather, you don’t
need to come over; there’s not even a single Lord-tier monster here.
Yes, I know. I’ll be careful. Don’t worry. Okay. I’ll take care of the
business here in your name.”
Once he hung up, he took a deep breath. With his back to everyone, he
found himself unwilling to turn around and reveal his surly expression,
for Gao Peng was forever greeting everything with a smile as if he didn’t
have a care in the world. But then again, no one had ever tested his
limits before.
If they had caught onto this situation earlier, it would’ve been a simple
matter to deal with. The employer could’ve simply fired the offending
workers, but now… now that it involved the familiars, that was out of the
question, because familiars couldn’t simply change hands like a gun or
baton.
No, familiars and their owners were bonded by a Blood Contract, to

thrive together in glory or perish together in shame.
Most importantly, the familiars of these security guards had been

provided for and trained by the company. That was what irked Gao Peng
the most: these familiars had been distributed by the company to protect
the company, not to be treated as personal property. In fact, this was
specifically stated in the contracts that all new employees signed after
being hired.
But when things came down to it, when they really needed the familiars
for protection, some people chose to slack off instead. It was obvious
that they’d started viewing the company’s familiars as their own
possessions, and hence become unwilling to send them into battle.
If only the familiars could be transferred to new owners. Gao Peng would
have absolutely no problem replacing the irresponsible employees if the
familiars could be transferred.
In any case, this work culture couldn’t be allowed to spread at any cost;
it had to be nipped in the bud!
It was all because of this that Gao Peng had descended into a fit of
annoyance. Compared to this issue, the horde of monsters attacking
from outside was merely a trifle, not even worth mentioning.
Chapter 329: Wings of Thunder

Needless to say, he couldn’t just do away with these people. Humans

had never been a particularly durable species; all it would take was a
wound the size of a plate, yet the consequences of taking a human life
and the resulting chain reaction would be far too severe.
In the end, these people were just his employees, not his personal
slaves.
In the time it took Gao Peng to think, Da Zi and Dumby had arrived and,
under his orders, gone off to provide aid at the last two gates.
Unlike the eastern gate, with its horde of water monsters, the western
gate was plagued by a host of monsters that resembled six-legged
turtles, with polished black shells that were covered in antler-like horns.
Their tough, round craniums sported three eyes—one on each side of
the head and one dead center between the eyebrows.
Every single one of these antlered six-legged turtles was as big as a

dinner table, their gaping maws filled with teeth. Even their tongues were
covered in teeth, giving them an especially fearsome appearance.
“All members of the third unit, replace the second unit! Don’t let these
creatures in! Their brains are nothing but mush. There’s no need to be
afraid!” yelled the large, tan man in charge of protecting the western gate
as he fired off a round of bullets.
The bullets hit a turtle shell with a metallic clang.
Even though there were many antlered six-legged turtles, these

monsters didn’t seem to be highly intelligent, for they rushed towards the
western gate as one after being attracted by the noise. As the western
gate was only so big, only a handful of monsters could attack it at the
same time.
At the forefront stood thirty Crimson Bloodlust Apes, their mighty figures
covered from head to toe in armor, each nearing ten feet tall.
In each ape’s left hand was a high-energy ballistic shield; in their right
hands, they bore a trident forged from the purest steel. To other apes,
they appeared to be savage and courageous warriors.
An antlered six-legged turtle reared its head, intending to cut an ape into
pieces, but was met with a great strike from a ballistic shield, followed by
a fierce, lightning-quick stab of a trident straight through its skull. So
tremendous was the blow that three sizable holes bloomed in the
creature’s skull in an instant.
“Ho ho ho!”
The ape laughed in satisfaction.
Even though most of the antlered six-legged turtles were barred from
entering, accidents happened. One of them slipped under the ballistic
shields and took a huge bite out of one of the ape’s feet, separating a
chunk of flesh and skin, causing blood to spurt everywhere and bare the
tendons to the air. Had the ape not pulled his foot back the instant the
turtle struck, it wouldn’t have been merely a flesh wound—his foot
would’ve been crunched to the bone.
A low rumble began to sound from above. A flash of purple lightning

streaked through the darkening sky, leaving a trail of light that lingered.
As purple light soared through the sky, a gigantic Thunder Worm

descended from the heavens. With a crackle, as if numerous purple
whips were being wielded by a thunder god, a series of booms was
released—
The sounds of explosions merged into one as the Thunder Worm cried
out continuously, creating a web of electricity.
The web of purple electricity crackled and exploded non-stop as bolts of
lightning struck the onyx-antlered shells of the six-legged turtles, causing
the antlers to crumble into shards. A bolt of lightning struck one of the
turtle’s shells, creating a crack as wide as a man’s thumb from which a
burnt odor emerged.
Da Zi’s control of its powers had much improved; such a move would’ve
been impossible for it in the past. Before, it would’ve just opened its jaws
and let loose a streak of lightning as wide as a bowl, not lacking in
power, but wasteful in its excess.
All the antlered six-legged turtles within a thousand feet of the gate were
destroyed by the web of electricity; a good half of them lost the will to
fight immediately.
Da Zi dove downwards in the next instant, propelled by golden wings as

thin as a cicada’s and as sharp as knives.
With the slightest stir of its wings, small ripples appeared in the air,
cleaving the antlered six-legged turtles at the forefront into two. One
shocked turtle fell to the side, causing another, with its shell broken open
like a lidless gourd, to spill its pale innards on the floor.
However, these antlered six-legged turtles proved to be ferocious, as

they didn’t run after being attacked. They merely glared at Da Zi and
dashed towards it.
But a turtle couldn’t jump high, no matter how hard it tried. They could
only hop a couple feet off the ground. With their necks stretched as far
as possible, like springs, they could only snap their teeth at thin air.
Behind this horde of turtles lay an unusually enormous turtle. It looked

like an enlarged version of the other turtles, albeit with some differences
in the details.
For example, there weren’t antlers that riddled its shell, but coiled bull
horns the color of ink.
Even lying down, it was ten feet tall; the cracks in its enormous shell
were engraved with white markings. With each breath, it blew out white
steam; its moss-green eyes were centered with slitted pupils.
After it spotted Da Zi swooping down, the giant turtle quickly retreated

within its tough shell.
The wings on Da Zi’s back pressed downwards, hard, as it puffed out his
chest, forcibly turning its body in a corkscrew motion up into the sky. A
ball of viscous purple lightning gathered noiselessly at the tip of its tail,
then was thrown as hard as a baseball pitch!
Fwoop!
An arc of purple electricity pierced the sky and seeped through the
cracks in the giant turtle’s shell. A tremor ran through the giant turtle as
its tail popped out from its shell.
Although the defenses of the turtle’s shell were high, beneath the cracks,
it was mere flesh and blood. Even though it could retreat into a hole, the
hole itself wouldn’t vanish.
In the following moment, Da Zi leaped into the sky, the wings on its back
thrumming madly, tuning into a certain frequency.
Hummm— His wings thrummed madly, ceaselessly humming…
Da Zi’s special ability, “Wings of Thunder,” allowed Da Zi to ride the

thunder.
The low, relentless rumbles of the thunder cut through. Its main target,
the giant turtle, was unable to bear the noise and showed itself, yet the
thunder echoed within the chambers of its shell!
“Caw!” A shriek of fury left Da Zi’s throat.
The ball of saturated purple lightning beneath Da Zi’s body exploded and
dispersed rapidly in all directions.
Outside the halo of light, frenzied, menacing, deep purple threads of
lightning spawned haphazardly, forming a ring of lightning spikes at the
outermost circle of the halo. The resulting Lord-tier aura, with its awe-
inducing power, instantly suppressed all the monsters.
Most of the antlered six-legged turtles began running around in a daze

on the spot; some even turned their aggression upon their own
comrades.
At this sight, the security guards at the western gate were shocked into
speechlessness.
The horde of antlered six-legged turtles outside had descended into

chaos. Some of the turtles at the periphery were even turning to run
away.
“It’s a Lord-tier beast, the Southern Sky’s Lord-tier beast!”
The employees at the western gate began to whoop and holler in

celebration. Some even screamed to the sky, as if releasing all their
pent-up fear.
And it wasn’t only at the western gate. At the northern and southern
gates, too, one could hear the cheers of the Southern Sky’s men. It was
the fierce joy of survival that overtook them.
Chapter 330: A New Beginning

The eastern gate was looking a little worse for wear. The battered iron
door hanging loosely by its hinges had clearly seen better days.
The floor was sticky with a layer of dried blood. The evening sun cast a
golden hue over an enormous 30-foot-tall duck.
An epic battle had just taken place here. The road leading up to the
gates was completely ripped up and slick with a layer of blood that filled
the air with a metallic tang.
Without mercy, Goldie casually trampled a couple of water monsters into
a fine mince under its foot. There were a couple of huge rocks in its way.
With a single kick, Goldie sent them flying miles away.
Every line and curve of its muscular stature was pristinely defined, as
though it had been carved out of marble. The tattoos on its chest rippled
as it breathed, like waves gleaming brightly in the midday sun.
There were more water monsters out there, but they were all looking
fearfully at Goldie.
Some of them even fell trembling to their knees when Goldie caught their
eye.
More and more people were showing up at the eastern gate, and the
shock was slowly wearing off. They had been around the block enough,
especially with the Cataclysm, to be surprised for too long.
While they weren’t exactly living by the law of the jungle yet, these
people knew strength when they saw it. Goldie had that. There really
were no other words to describe Goldie but “raw power.”
Goldie was surrounded by thousands of monsters, yet the more it fought,

the larger it grew. Now, there wasn’t a single monster on the battlefield
foolish enough to challenge it.
From a distance, Gao Peng saw a huge cloud of dust out of the corner of
his eye. He could also hear the accompanying cacophony of rumbling
cars and thundering familiars. Upon closer inspection, he could see a
few cars heading towards them surrounded by a veritable army of
familiars.
There were silver rats the size of leopards, a 30-foot-long Giant Stick
Insect with spear-like forelimbs, a 23-foot-tall, two-headed, four-armed
Golden Haired Giant Ape, and Bladed Grasshoppers that could clear a
block in a single leap.
In the gigantic dust cloud were even more unidentified creatures…

There was a banner flying proudly in the front showing a ring in the
middle of a white flag. It was the banner of the Alliance.
“It looks like the Yang Cheng military,” someone said as he craned his
neck to look.
“Seems like it. Those Yang Cheng military goons sure have good timing,
don’t they? Arriving just after the battle ended?” someone else said
mockingly.
The cars pulled up quite a distance away from the factory. Two men got
out of the car in front.
The man on the left was dressed in a garish Hawaiian T-shirt. He had a
brown leather belt cinched around his waist and black combat boots on.
At his hip was a dagger sheathed in a black sharkskin scabbard. His
brow furrowed. “Looks like we were too late.”
“The monsters already broke through?” To his right was a slightly

younger man who looked surprised. “No way. I don’t recall there being
so many monsters near this new an area.”
“I’m telling you that the monsters have already been taken care of,” the
man in the Hawaiian shirt said lightly. One glance at Goldie and the
mountain of corpses littered around it told him all he needed to know. He
waved at his partner. “We’re no longer needed here. Let’s move on to
the factory next door.”
The two of them got back into the car and sped off. Their party of
familiars left with them as well.
Gao Peng could see a total of five off-road vehicles. Each of them could
fit around five to seven people, which meant that there were probably
around 25 to 35 trainers in this squad.
As he saw them leave, Gao Peng was pensive. Maybe the Southern Sky
had to form a crack combat squad like that, too. That way, the security
personnel could really focus on security, and the fighting would be
handled by professionals.
To carry it out would be a different beast altogether. Maybe he could

promote some of the ones who had proven themselves in the battle just
now.
Something didn’t feel right about the attack. Monsters didn’t just attack
humans for no reason. He would have to get to the bottom of this once
the dust settled.
“You’re Zheng Tiezhuang?” Gao Peng read off the tag on the man’s
chest.
“Yup, that’s me,” he replied a beat later.
“Grab a few men and follow me. Bring the ones who did well in battle just
now.”
He knew a good opportunity when he saw one, so he nodded his head

and went about it. With a clap of his hands, he had around ten people
behind him ready to go.
They were the ten best performers from before.
“Where are your familiars?” Gao Peng asked.
From the gaggle of familiars, 20 or so came hobbling out. Some were

still riddled with fresh, gaping wounds. Others had already been
wounded for a time; their fur was matted with dried blood, old sweat, and
dusty grime all mixed together in an unsightly mess.
There was one that stood out among them. A Yellow-Toothed Direwolf
was soaked in blood, some parts of its body hacked open to the bone. It
was missing an eye and half a tail. There was also a very noticeable limp
as it dragged its right paw awkwardly across the ground.
It wasn’t even the worst off, as one was lying dead on the floor.
Gao Peng stroked its head tenderly.

“This is a true warrior.” Gao Peng murmured softly.
“Warriors should be rewarded for their bravery. Every scar on this body
is a testament of such bravery.” His voice rang clear.
“After the battle, every one of you will be rewarded and punished
accordingly. ” Gao Peng swept the room with his gaze. “I’ll be fair. But…
there’s a chance for those of you that screwed up before to make
amends.” Gao Peng pointed at the terrified water monsters outside.
“Every monster you catch alive is worth a point. Everything will be

recorded.” Gao Peng pointed at the cameras on the building and the
streets.
Those that hadn’t fought earlier and those who hadn’t contributed much
hesitated for a bit before leaving with their familiars.
Some of them didn’t care. They had already signed the Blood Contract,
so they wanted to see Gao Peng try to fire them.
Everyone made mistakes. Gao Peng didn’t mind giving them a chance
as long as they actually took it.
But for those that refused to change… Gao Peng’s eyes narrowed.

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Chapter 271: Discovery

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

If one didn’t observe carefully, it would be impossible to discover the

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

In a place like Yuzhou, seeing no mountains was a rare thing.

“No, it’s many, many Mountain Spirits!”

Naturally, Flamy wasn’t aware that, unintentionally, it had already been

The leader of the pack mumbled to himself enthusiastically, “Almost,

Countless Mountain Spirits gathered and squeezed together, like

It was as if something was driving the spirits crazy.

In the mountains, Gao Peng heard the sound produced by the

Rumble. The ground shook violently. A Mountain Spirit slowly climbed

“Was almost tricked by these tiny insects.”

After taking a deep breath, a dense ray of lightning slowly began to

The next moment—

At almost the same moment as the explosion, a thunderous light came

Dumby sidestepped, instantly putting Gao Peng behind him, and he

Huang Ya reacted quickly. “Elemental Shield!”

Goldie stood up in a daze and saw a naked crane without feathers

Eh? That crane sure looks familiar…

Chapter 272: Wood Peacock

My prettiest feathers!!! Flamy lamented in agony, almost spitting out

I’ve actually become as naked as Goldie!

Flamy suddenly trembled and looked at Goldie in disbelief.

As it finished speaking, it waved its wings before expanding them to

However, in that instant, it had forgotten that it had no feathers on its

Goldie rolled on the ground twice, and a purple light flashed…

Jia Ru noticed that pure long-range attacks seemed unable to threaten

The branch sunk violently and suddenly as the leaves rustled.

Another purple light flashed…

Assuming by himself that he had eliminated one of his enemies, Jia Ru

It was as if these two weren’t Lord-tier familiars, but two Commander-tier

He snapped his fingers.

A humongous beast landed in the middle of the scene, sending smoke

Finally, the full picture of the huge, ferocious beast appeared.

[Monster Name]: Wood Peacock

[Monster Level]: Level 44

[Monster Grade]: Perfect

[Monster Attribute]: Wood

[Special Characteristic]: Live Tree (Effect One—Passive Effect:

This was a Lord-tier familiar at the Perfect grade! Moreover, it was a

Two Lord-tier familiars, this was what emboldened Jia Ru!

In a situation where he was guaranteed victory, he didn’t mind showing

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

“Remember, the person sending you to repent in front of Saint Luotian is

Gao Peng paused.

Huang Ya did the same.

Do all fanatics act like eighth-graders?

Who would bullsh*t so much before a fight…?

As if once wasn’t enough to satiate its anger, Flamy continuously spat

Chapter 273: A Fierce Battle (Part 1)