Chapter 153 - Bountiful Return

As they flew to their destination, Zhang Che was a little lost.

The geographical features in this area were very similar all around. He realized he might not be able to find the place from yesterday. In such a largely-similar yet complex environment, it was simply a bane for people who couldn’t recognize the way well!

Luckily, the Cold Abyss Flood Dragon could remember the rough location. This fellow held a grudge for the Vampiric Demon Carpet snatching his prey, and had committed the location and directions to memory.

“I’ve heard of an old horse knows the way, but you, you’re a young flood dragon that knows the way!” Zhang Che lamented, patting the back of the Cold Abyss Flood Dragon.

The Cold Abyss Flood Dragon immediately let out a low groan proudly, as if to say, “Don’t worry, daddy! Just leave it to me when it comes to remembering the way!”

Soon, the Cold Abyss Flood Dragon descended towards a valley, indicating that he had left the water for too long and needed to recover his energy.

Zhang Che nodded. After landing on the ground, he was about to recall the Cold Abyss Flood Dragon to his spiritual sea, when the fellow flew straight towards a stream in the valley, diving in headfirst.

This fellow was a water-based beast, after all. Naturally it would miss being in water after such a long time.

Even though Zhang Che could provide energy to the beast in his spiritual sea for recovery, it wasn’t as free as being in actual water. After all, a flood dragon belonged in the sea… well, there was no sea here, but the Cold Abyss Flood Dragon was very content to swim in a stream.

Zhang Che didn’t go look for the Vampiric Demon Carpet immediately. After a brief moment of consideration, he summoned Hanxue and the frisky monkey.

The frisky monkey, who had been out often, was calm. On the other hand, Hanxue, whose position as a mount was taken away, and whose lack of offensive capability led to it being caged up all this while, let out a long, excited neigh the moment he appeared, galloping around the narrow valley cheerfully.

Zhang Che couldn’t help sighing deeply when he saw the excited Hanxue.

After all, these three pets of his were different from subdued beasts. No matter if they came in handy in the future, it was best to let them out and take a breather once in a while. They were creatures of flesh and blood, not to mention having souls of their own.

After galloping around happily for a few minutes, Hanxue returned to Zhang Che’s side. He brought his face closer and licked Zhang Che’s face, despite not having had his fill of fun yet.

“Ugh, you’re so disgusting…” Zhang Che pushed Hanxue’s head away with an “irked” look, then summoned all his capable subdued beasts with a wave of his hand.

Going forward, he had to look around to see if the Vampiric Demon Carpet was still in this area.

The Purple Jade Condor was responsible for surveying from the sky. It flew into the sky above the valley, its sharp eyes searching every corner to prevent the Vampiric Demon Carpet from sneaking away.

The capable land beasts, the Scarlet Flame Drake, Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander, and Gale Wolf King, spread out in different directions and searched carefully through the valley, especially damp areas.

—

“Woof!”Less than a minute later, Zhang Che heard the Scarlet Flame Drake’s excited barking sounds from the side. It seemed like it had discovered the tracks of the Vampiric Demon Carpet.

“Is this fellow actually a dog?”

Not only did the Scarlet Flame Drake’s head resemble a dog’s, its cries bore a remarkable resemblance, too! It even seemed to have inherited a dog’s talent for searching out its prey, as well. Could it be a close relative of the dog species?

The Cold Abyss Flood Dragon immediately broke out of the water after hearing the Scarlet Flame Drake’s cry. He flew over to Zhang Che, picking him up and flying towards the beast. Although he couldn’t do a thing to the Vampiric Demon Carpet, being able to watch its demise was a pleasurable experience.

Just as they rushed over, they saw a carpet-like object quickly moving through the gaps between rocks in a damp area by closing and opening itself. On the other side, the Scarlet Flame Drake was chasing after it.

Seeing the carpet was about to disappear deep into a crevice, the Scarlet Flame Drake opened its mouth and breathed out a column of flames, engulfing the whole area.

“Ji…” Crackle, crackle…

Zhang Che clearly heard a short wave of jiji cries, followed by the notification of the Vampiric Demon Carpet’s death ringing in his mind. After that, the sounds of rocks exploding entered his ears.

“What good luck, it actually dropped a beast card!”

From the notification sounds, Zhang Che knew that the Vampiric Demon Carpet, burned to ashes by the Scarlet Flame Drake’s fiery breath, had dropped a beast card, and he immediately broke out into an excited smile.

Zhang Che thought that his luck was good, not knowing that among the upper circles in society, a complete and accurate set of data had proven that any mid-tier gold-quality or higher beasts were sure to drop beast cards. As for dark gold-quality beasts, they were also sure to drop beast cards, no matter their level!

This little brat with limited knowledge from the lower circle of society truly thought that his luck was heaven-defyingly good, smiled upon by the goddess of fortune every time he encountered top-grade beasts and obtained beast cards from them.

With the Vampiric Demon Carpet slain, the Scarlet Flame Drake immediately stopped its attack, but the rocks were still fiery red from the heat.

Zhang Che looked in that direction, and saw that the rocky area was like a small pool of boiling lava.

The Liquifying Scarlet Flames skill could instantly melt steel. Turning rocks into lava truly was no problem at all.

Speaking of which, it was strange that every time the Scarlet Flame Drake used its skill, Zhang Che wouldn’t feel any change in temperature, despite being next to it. Conversely, the heat wave coming from the tiny pool of lava made Zhang Che feel a little uncomfortable.

“How strange!” Zhang Che lamented in confusion. He creased his brow; the Vampiric Demon Carpet card was in that pool of lava right now. It wasn’t easy to get out. The Scarlet Flame Drake was too big to squeeze into the crevice.

Zhang Che knew that the crevice wouldn’t be able to stop the Scarlet Flame Drake. Its sharp claws was sure to be able to expand the opening, but Zhang Che didn’t want to go through that much trouble.

At his command, the Cold Abyss Flood Dragon at his side let out a few mouthfuls of arctic breath at the crevasse, cooling the lava back into rock.

After that, the Rock Tortoise’s huge body melded into the cliffs like it was entering water. A few breaths of time later, it reappeared from the cliff and spat out a golden card with four hexagrams in front of Zhang Che.

Zhang Che beamed with joy. With this, he didn’t need to dig about in the cave laboriously after returning to the base. All he needed to do was to give an order to the Rock Tortoise to extract all the purple-gold crystals without damaging the wall!

As his excitement died down, Zhang Che looked at the Vampiric Demon Carpet card in his hand.

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[Vampiric Demon Carpet]

Level: Four Star (Level 37)

Quality: Gold

Type: Original Combat Body

Characteristics: Likes Hiding In Damp Areas, Moves Swiftly, Unparalleled Defense

Weakness: Sole Weakness – Fire Elemental Attacks

Innate Attribute: Blood Sucking. The Suction Pads on Its Belly Quickly Peel Off the Scales and Skin of Its Prey, Sucking Away All of Its Blood in an Extremely Short Amount of Time

Skill: Wind Travel. Able to Glide Over The Ground At Extreme Speed After Activation. Effective Range: 20 Meters. Cooldown Time: 5 Minutes.

Potential: C Rank

Cultivating Directions: …

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“It’s an Original Combat Body-type, like I expected. This fellow’s offensive method is peculiar, and is great at camouflaging itself. It’s definitely the top pick for ambushing exotic beasts and other humans!” Zhang Che sighed. He couldn’t help feeling sad for the potential enemies that might show up in the future.

The more complicated an environment was, the easier it was for the Vampiric Demon Carpet to camouflage itself. Others didn’t have data eyes like Zhang Che did. Even if they saw the disguised Vampiric Demon Carpet, they would only treat it as a unique plant, and not be too wary.

At that time, the Vampiric Demon Carpet only had to activate its skill and close the distance, coiling itself around the enemy. They’d fall for it, no matter how powerful they were!

———

This trip had finally come to an end. Zhang Che, feeling contented, let the frisky monkey and Cold Abyss Flood Dragon go hunt a few exotic beasts and had a roasting party by the stream in this valley. The master and pets had a satisfying meal and returned to the base.

After returning to the base, the Rock Tortoise melded into the rocks at Zhang Che’s orders. It reappeared over an hour later, spitting out a huge pile of black shining crystals in front of Zhang Che.

Zhang Che made a rough estimation; they would take up about a dozen cubic meters of space! The density of purple-gold crystal was about half that of ordinary steel. So, how much would a dozen cubic meters of it weigh?

After a rough mental calculation, Zhang Che couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath of air. It was truly an astronomical amount!

——

The next day, Zhang Che woke up from his dreams smiling. He left the base after a simple clean up, riding the Purple Jade Condor back to the safety zone.

On this trip to the beast world, Zhang Che had a truly bountiful harvest!