The vicious monster couldn’t help but shrink back into its cave. An irregular and faintly radiant jade laid exposed at the place which was originally occupied by the Beast. This was the treasure it had been guarding.
Now that the beast had moved aside and didn’t seem to show any signs of coming closer, its shrinking figure in the corner of the cave seemed like a terrified rabbit.
In particular, when Gu Yan moved a little closer, he can see that what obviously was a fierce and incomparable monster now seemed to want to hide away a little longer.
In terms of appearance, Gu Yan thinks his physical appearance was still not bad. As for why the beast looked at him as though he was a ghost…
Although this was a good thing and had saved him a lot of trouble, in the face of this strange situation, Gu Yan was still slightly speechless.
[The scent of the Taotie beast is really similar to seeing a ghost for normal beasts.] Perceiving the inner thoughts of its host, 037 responded as such.
“So this is the reason…” Gu Yan continued to move closer towards the spiritual quenching jade and quickly accepted this explanation.
He didn’t specifically write this setting, but from a theoretical point of view, this would indeed be the case.
Taotie beasts were ancient mythological creatures, it was normal for these ordinary beasts to feel the pressure from their difference in levels. Moreover the young cub at home stuck to him daily, it had most likely left its scent on him.
Even until Gu Yan touched the piece of jade, the leopard-like beast continued to remain motionless in the corner. It didn’t even dare to feel angry when he saw the youth touching the jade it had been carefully guarding. The pair of dark red, beast-like pupils only watched as it waited for this terrifying existence to leave.
Gu Yan only came to hunt for treasures. If there were no conflicts, he didn’t want to kill the beast.
Successfully retrieving the piece of spiritual quenching jade and storing it in his space, Gu Yan left the red stone forest. He didn’t forget that the main purpose of this trip was to search for a few special kinds of refining materials.
If he was able to refine it, he wouldn’t have to worry that his apprentice would attract unwanted attention because of his rapid rise in cultivation level.
Gu Yan’s side went smoothly. On the other end, in another place…
A distance away from where Gu Yan was, Jiang Tan was currently walking towards a lake far away.
The information acquired through the blood inheritance was originally very vague, but when he arrived at this place, Jiang Tan knew that this was the place.
There was a cave under the water. [You must first dive until you reach a certain depth then swim through a narrow passage before you can enter a special structure without water.]
In the information he received from the blood inheritance, the moving thing was there.
Jiang Tan wanted to go into the water, but he didn’t want the two people to follow him.
This was something he wanted to give to his Master. Jiang Tan had no thoughts of sharing it at all.
He wanted to give the whole thing to that person.
“Junior sister Ye said she was hungry so I hunted a few birds but don’t have any way of removing their feathers. Earlier on, I saw that little brother was using a dagger. Can I borrow it?” This was the third time they had met in this part of the forest since this forest was not that big. However, both sides didn’t think of teaming up, only cooperating when they met.
After Jiang Tan was randomly teleported into the hidden realm, he soon encountered this pair of man and woman in the vicinity. He saw that the style of their robes was similar to the disciples from the Zhong Xuan sect.
This area had already been searched thoroughly and the two people had also found a lot of good items. Jiang Tan had to wait for the two people to leave the forest before he can dive to the bottom of the lake.
He didn’t respond but simply extended the dagger towards them. It was not necessarily a good thing to meet someone from the same sect. Take these two people for example, the man in front of him was busy the whole way.
The cultivator named Ye Yuan seemed to have a higher status in the sect. From the conversation he had heard earlier, Jiang Tan understood that the other person wanted the few pieces of the spiritual device they had found for herself. However, in the entire process, this person had clearly stayed behind and didn’t contribute at all.
“Thank you, little brother. I will return it soon.”
The twelve-year-old child in front of him was very beautiful. Coupled with the pair of ink-black eyes and expressionless face, he was extremely good looking but not the sort that attracted adults.
Li Rong took the dagger and didn’t mind the child’s expressionless face at all.
Jiang Tan retracted his hand and no longer looked towards their direction. When the other person walked away, he took out a pastry and several spiritual stones from the Xumi ring he was wearing.
In fact, the latter was his staple food while eating the former had almost no effect on him. He needed to eat something with spiritual power in order to fill his hunger. The former was just an ordinary snack, its monetary value was also not very high. However, he just had to remember the person who made it…
Eating it, this young cub revealed an expression of satisfaction. There was a person who made him feel satisfied just by looking at him. He only wanted that person’s attention.
It has already been a day since he last saw the youth. Jiang Tan scrunched his eyebrows and looked more like a normal child than he did before when facing the other man.
About half an hour later, the young man returned with the dagger just as he promised. The dagger was cleaned very thoroughly after the other person had used it, leaving no trace of blood.
Resting until the very next day, he expected that the two would no longer remain in this area. Jiang Tan stood by the edge of the lake and recalled having seen a water repelling spell before.
His master had specially taught him this before entering the hidden realm. There were also other techniques to deal with the other varying environments.
Although he had this technique, the cold temperature of the lake can still be clearly felt on his skin. It was currently winter in the outside world and similarly, the climate within this realm was also the same. It was not cold enough to freeze the lake but the temperature of the water could still be described as a biting chill.
The underwater was very dark, but it had little effect on Jiang Tan.
Instead, he suddenly thought back to the time when he had just newly awakened his blood lineage and had no memories. With his small cub body, he had thrown himself onto the youth’s shoes and when he was embraced by the youth, would even tremble pitifully and pretend that he was cold…
Just like an instinct, he only wanted the youth’s attention.
Diving to the depths and exploring for a while, he found a narrow hidden entrance covered by aquatic plants.
At the entrance, there was a strange passageway which didn’t grow any more spacious as it went deeper in and instead, became narrower. In the last stretch, not only did it become small enough for only one person to pass through, but a person with a larger body may not even be able to pass through.
The moving thing was right here. Jiang Tan swam out from the narrow passageway and then swam upstream for a while before successfully reaching the shore.
The current below the shore was very strong, this was a special structure where there was no water. The surrounding area was completely dark but it was in fact, similar to the color of Jiang Tan’s eyes or perhaps, the latter’s eyes were even darker.
His night vision was excellent, the cub entering this place didn’t need to use any lighting method. To him, this environment was just like in the afternoon; There was no difference.
The cave was very deep and extended a long way inwards but there were also several paths. Relying on his intuition from the message in the blood inheritance, Jiang Tan continued walking until he saw a small light.
A ball of blazing white flames was raging and although it was small, just looking at it, Jiang Tan could feel a kind of similarity between himself and this ball… a power that was capable of devouring and destroying everything in its path.
Although the heat of the flame could be felt from a distance, the wall surrounding the flame was nonetheless, covered with a layer of frost.
Detecting a foreign intruder, the beasts born from this ball of flames quickly took on a form from nothingness. The wings covering its body seemed to be of the same burning flames as the ball and the pair of beast-like pupils fixed onto its intruder.
However, the young beast that had a human form suddenly met with a pair of cold vertical pupils and felt a wave of terror as it gave a low growl.
The two pairs of vertical pupils met for a second but it was the beast that took a step back first.
He didn’t know what this ball of flames was, but Jiang Tan’s blood lineage allowed him to understand that this was a very precious treasure anyway. The one second of meeting its gaze already made the animal freeze. Jiang Tan quickly took out an empty bottle from his space. Of course, it was not an ordinary bottle. He chanted a curse and absorbed the blazing white flame.
Strangely, after putting this flame into the bottle, the shimmering bottle was no longer able to be kept in his spacial bag.
Jiang Tan didn’t brood over this matter, simply holding the bottle which was less than half the size of his palm in his hand. He didn’t leave the cave but chose to wait for the two days to pass until the hidden realm automatically sent him out.
In the presence of the terrifying existence that seemed to be sizing it up, the strange beast was unable to return to its original form and could only tremble in fear as it surrendered itself.
Time passed by slowly. As an intruder, Jiang Tan stayed freely in the dark space with the strange beast where the latter felt like it was the most painful period since its birth.
When the time finally came, he felt the familiar feeling of being transferred out. Jiang Tan tightened his hold on the bottle in his hand. In just a little while, he can finally… Give this thing to his master.
Being sent out to the outside world, Jiang Tan only cared about finding the youth in the first instance and didn’t care about the commotion that was taking place next to him.
“Master.” The bottle in the palm of his hands was warm and even the temperature of his palms increased as Jiang Tan held onto the youth’s sleeves. He hadn’t seen his master for a whole two days. In fact, right now he wanted nothing more than to change back to his original form and lay on the youth’s lap.
His disciple had found him so quickly. Gu Yan patted the head of his young disciple and gave a sound of acknowledgement but his gaze was fixed on a position where the commotion was, not far away.
That was where the Zhong Xuan sect was gathered.
Jiang Tan followed Gu Yan’s gaze and looked over. He saw a fairly familiar person there. Not long ago, he had just met this person in the hidden realm and the other person had borrowed a dagger from him. However, there was a person around him that seemed to be missing.
“There’s been an accident.” From the discussions, he understood that someone hadn’t been sent out. Gu Yan calmly stated as he touched the head of the young disciple next to him. Selfishly, he was glad that the person who hadn’t been transferred out was not his own disciple.
Until the time passed, there was only one possibility. That is, the person who was supposed to be sent out was already dead.
Hearing that the person who was not sent out was the only daughter of the head of the Zhong Xuan Sect, Ye Yuan, Gu Yan frowned. Looking at this situation, the people present right now may not be able to leave easily…
Especially those who had previously entered the hidden realm.
End of chapter 41
The author has something to say: blackening… growing up …
Afterward, Qiuqiu can do this and that with Gu Yan already [shuts mouth]