Despite the fact that the Battle Arena of the Scarlet Moon Palace was capable of accommodating a million people as audiences, there were simply far too many people in the Scarlet Moon Kingdom. Thus, many influences that were only slightly strong did not qualify to enter during the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet.
Even Elder Xingmeng of the Nine Suns Sect only managed to squeeze himself in by following behind City Lord Nanlan.
The Wild Melody Circus might be a powerful influence within the Scarlet Moon Kingdom, but not all of its members had the privilege to enter the Battle Arena during the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet either.
For example, these Wild Melody Circus members who had been tasked to tend to visitors certainly counted among those who had failed to be selected.
Because of that, they naturally would not be able to recognise the looks of the famous top ranker Nanlu Tianzi.
Seeing the look of shock on Lu Tianzi's face, the Wild Melody Circus member was not offended at all. Instead, he smiled in pride.
That's right, it seems like you finally understand.
Even though there are thousands of beasts on display, each one of them is not something that any random youngster like you can afford!
And all of this is nothing but the tip of the iceberg.
Ultimately, our Wild Melody Circus is not something that just any random influence can even hope to compare with!
"Thank you for the information," Nanlan Qianxue answered on Lu Tianzi's behalf from the side, at the same time snapping him out of his daze.
"Y-Yeah, thank you." Lu Tianzi let out an embarrassed smile before conveying his voice to Nanlan Qianxue. "Why are we even here? We can't afford any of this!"
"Well, even if we don't walk away with anything, this will still be a good eye opener," Nanlan Qianxue laughed.
"That's true…" Lu Tianzi sighed.
Had he known earlier, he might even have chosen to receive beast cores as a reward from Sect Master Nanhui for performing well at the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet instead!
That way, at least he would now have the purchasing power should he come across something that he was interested in!
By now, Nanqing Haowen was already standing in front of the second cage, with a deep frown etched across his face.
No longer able to hold in his thoughts, Nanqing Haowen turned towards the Wild Melody Circus member who was standing beside the second cage and asked. "What's wrong with the beasts?"
"Hmm?" the Wild Melody Circus member looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean what's wrong with the beasts?"
"I mean exactly what I just said," Nanqing Haowen answered before pointing to the beast in the second cage. "Is it injured?"
The second cage contained an orange furred ape that stood as tall as a regular person. Its tail, however, was over four metres long, more than double its height. Right now, it was just lying down lazily, its tail sprawled out on the ground.
"And I am asking you exactly what I just asked as well. Why are you saying that it is injured?" the Wild Melody Circus member narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Well, it might look fine to others, but it is clearly not all right." Nanqing Haowen pointed out. "Even when asleep, the Whip Tailed Ape will usually tap the ground with its tail at a slow tempo, sending vibrations into the ground to detect any approaching enemies. However, the Whip Tailed Ape here has its tail lying motionlessly on the ground, a sign that its tail is injured somewhere. That's not all either. The Subterranean Red Tiger in the first cage has been wincing in pain since the beginning. If I am not wrong, there should be a wound right below its left frontal paw!"
"Oh?" the Wild Melody Circus member exchanged glances with the person standing beside the first cage, who gave a reluctant nod.
"Now that I have answered your question, is it time for you to answer mine?" Nanqing Haowen continued asking.
"Looks like this brother here is a person who knows quite a bit about beasts, forgive me for failing to recognise that!" the Wild Melody Circus member unexpectedly smiled in response. "But since you are learned in this field, you should know just as well that this is the only way to control beasts. Beasts can't be tamed without using pain. So why are you making things hard for us here?"
"Beasts can't be tamed without using pain?" Nanqing Haowen repeated the other party's words in disbelief. "May I ask if you have a contract beast? If so, then is that how you treat your contract beast as well?"
"I do have a contract beast indeed," the Wild Melody Circus member nodded. "And the answer to your second question is also yes. This is the only way to ingrain into their bones who is the master and who is the beast!"
"What?!" Nanqing Haowen could not believe what he was hearing. "How unfortunate it is for your contract beast to be bound to your side!"
"Hahaha!" the Wild Melody Circus member burst into laughter. "Why are you acting all nice and holy here? I see now, are you the kind of person who will go around preaching about treating a mere beast as your best friend?"
"What did you just say?" Nanqing Haowen felt rage boiling up within him.
Seeing his agitated reaction, the Wild Melody Circus member spoke once more, this time in a solemn tone. "Look, I don't know what your life philosophy is, and I honestly don't care. But I am telling you right now that these beasts are precious merchandise of the Wild Melody Circus. Even though we subject them to a bit of pain, it is not going to affect their combat capabilities by too much. Otherwise, our reputation would be at stake as well. So if you still want to purchase any of these beasts, we will gladly welcome you. If you only want to take a look, we will not stop you either. However, if you are here with the intention of tarnishing the name of the Wild Melody Circus, I am warning you now that we will not tolerate anyone like that!"
"All right, Brother Nanqing, let's leave it at that," Lu Tianzi walked up and grabbed the fuming Nanqing Haowen by the arm, holding him back before the situation escalated any further.
"Brother Nanlu?" Nanqing Haowen exclaimed in surprise.
Ignoring him for the moment, Lu Tianzi turned towards the Wild Melody Circus member and let out an apologetic smile. "My apologies, my friend here tends to get agitated a little too easily when it comes to beasts. We shall be on our way then."
"That will be for the best," the Wild Melody Circus nodded in response.
Since the other party had already apologised, the Wild Melody Circus member was naturally unwilling to escalate the matter in front of all the other visitors as well. This way, he would be able to display the magnanimity of the Wild Melody Circus on top of preserving the good atmosphere.
With that, Lu Tianzi dragged Nanqing Haowen away to the other end of the tent.
"All right, Brother Nanlu, you can let go of me now," Nanqing Haowen sighed.
"Have you calmed down yet?" Nanlan Qianxue asked with an obviously unhappy tone. "Do you even understand that what you just did was equivalent to challenging the prestige of the Wild Melody Circus? You could have gotten us into deep trouble!"
"Yeah…" Nanqing Haowen nodded in embarrassment. "I got caught up in the moment just now. My apologies."
"Thankfully, they were willing to let it go. It's good as long as you understand," Lu Tianzi patted him on the shoulder. "So what is it going to be? Do you still want to keep going? Or would you prefer not to see this anymore?"
"Nah, I am fine," Nanqing Haowen shook his head. "Let's keep going."
The trio slowly walked on, taking their time to view the other beasts that had been put on display.
Cage by cage, row by row.
Despite the frown on Nanqing Haowen's face that grew increasingly deeper as time passed, he still patiently listed down the names and characteristics of every beast that they came across, allowing Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue to better appreciate the things they were seeing.
Before they knew it, half the day had already passed, and they were almost done with the open tents.
In the last row of tents, Lu Tianzi finally came across something that he was interested in, but it was not a beast.
Lu Tianzi stood before a huge counter that was manned by multiple Wild Melody Circus members. Hung overhead was a board listing down the various items that were being sold here, as well as their corresponding prices.
From beast taming manuals to beast food, there were multiple types of items available for each category, amounting to an extremely large number of listed items.
A large crowd had gathered before the counter by now. Some of them were making purchases while some of them were inquiring for additional information on the items.
This was definitely the busiest spot of the Wild Melody Circus among all of the many display tents!
"Have you found anything that is to your liking?" Lu Tianzi asked Nanlan Qianxue who was standing right beside him.
"Not really, but it seems like you have?" Nanlan Qianxue eyed him closely before returning the question to him.
"How did you know?" Lu Tianzi looked at her in surprise.
Nanlan Qianxue chuckled and shrugged innocently. "Who knows?"
"Well, it is true that I have found something I am interested in," Lu Tianzi admitted.
"Haha I knew it! So, what is it that managed to catch the eye of our Inscription Master Nanlu Tianzi?" Nanlan Qianxue asked curiously.
"That one," Lu Tianzi pointed towards the board.
Following his finger, Nanlan Qianxue instantly found the item that he was referring to. "Primal Bloodline Absorption Technique Manual?"
"That's right!" Lu Tianzi nodded.
He had come to look around the Wild Melody Circus with the initial thought of contracting a beast. Who knew that he would be able to come across something as precious as this?
The Wild Melody Circus truly deserved its reputation for being the authority when it came to anything regarding beasts!
Back then when he battled Fourth Prince Mosha during the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, the latter's primal beast bloodline had caused quite a bit of trouble for him, rendering his Howling Wraith Sword almost completely ineffective.
Now that there was such an opportunity lying right in front of him, allowing him to acquire this same power, how could Lu Tianzi not feel tempted by it?
And to top it all off, the price for the Primal Bloodline Absorption Technique Manual was actually quite reasonable as well!
Five thousand low ranked beast cores.
This was equivalent to the price of just five young Subterranean Red Tigers, beasts of the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm.
Unfortunately, while the price was already much lower than he would have imagined, it was still beyond his current means.
If he really wanted to obtain it for himself, he might have to resort to borrowing beast cores from the sect.
But no matter what he had to do, Lu Tianzi was unwilling to let go of this opportunity.
Otherwise, who knew when he would ever come across this technique again?