Force-Buying

When Shishi walked out of the house, Wutian had been waiting. Little Tian was standing beside him, carrying black baggage that was several times bigger than its body. Its eyes moved continuously as it was high on guard.

The baggage contained the Essence elixirs, its treasure. That was why it was so wary, lest Wutian snatched them from it.

"Let's go, Shishi!" said Wutian softly. He took the luggage from her hands and walked to the cliff.

All the beasts had been waiting at the cliff, roaring into the sky when Shishi and the others arrived as if they were giving them a farewell salute. Among the beasts were Giant Lions, Red Blood Tigers, thirty-meter-long Giant Snakes. All of them were vicious, but at that moment, they became emotional upon seeing that Shishi was leaving.

"Little lions, tigers, buggies, and every other little one, I'm leaving now. All of you have to protect this place." The girl patted the vicious beasts on their heads with tears in her eyes.

They were cold-blooded monster beasts in the eyes of outsiders. But right now, they bowed their heads, snuggling against Shishi. The Giant Snake poked out its several-meter-long tongue to wrap around her hand as if it was telling her to stay.

"Little buggy, don't you bully others. Shishi will come back to visit you."

It was a rainbow viper, its body covered in hand-sized, colorful scales. This beautiful snake was the king of the place, ruling over all the beasts in this pure land.

It nodded like a child, then looked up at the sky and hissed. Its high-pitched resounded throughout the sky, as if mountains were crumbling and the earth cracking.

A giant bird dived from the above, its wings spreading at nine-meter-wide. Its feathers were black and glistening as if silk. It landed on the cliff and used its sharp peck to touch Shishi's face gently, much like a mother attended to her kid.

The rainbow used its tongue to pick up Shishi and placed her on the back of the giant bird. It then looked at Wutian, its copper bell-like eyes glinting with cold light, tongue flicking. It meant to tell Wutian to take good care of Shishi. If she was harmed in any way, it would make him accountable.

"No worries, I will take good care of her," Wutian promised solemnly.

"Ow, ow!" Yi jumped onto the back of the giant bird and chanted in a low voice as a way of saying goodbye. It was born here, and knew those monster beasts very well, much like a family. It felt sad that it had to leave.

"Thank you for taking care of Shishi all these years. We will meet again." Wutian cupped his fist and hopped onto the giant bird's back with Little Tian.

The giant bird screeched and flapped its wings. As it went up into the air, it flew rapidly like a meteorite into the horizon.

Every beast roared in unison, their sounds shook the mountains and earth, bidding farewell to Shishi, whom they had been taking care of like their own child since she was small.

"You have got a lot of friends, Shishi." Wutian smiled. Those creatures were vicious beasts, but they had emotions. They were much better than those hypocritical humans.

"They were my playmates when Father was not around. It feels hard to say goodbye to them. But at the same time, I am keen to go out there to see the world," the girl cried. Her face was flushed, and she looked adorable.

"Don't cry. I come back to visit them with you more often." Wutian comforted her.

"Can you tell me what the outside world looks like, Wutian?" The girl wiped her tears away and looked at him curiously.

At this young age, her emotion went just as quickly as it came.

Wutian nodded. Sitting on the back of the giant bird, he told her many stories. Shishi listened with interest, her face telling that she was looking forward to it. She wished she could immediately fly out of this forest and learn about those novel things.

In reality, what Wutian knew was limited, as he was raised in the mountains and had never left Dragon Village. But he had read from the parchment and learned from others, unlike this little girl who was practically a blank piece of paper.

This giant bird could fly several times faster than the Flamingo. It only took it half a day before they left the territory of the forest. Flying at that speed was incredible. Later, Wutian searched the record on the parchment and learned that this giant bird was a Thunderbolt Eagle. It was not only more powerful than humans with the same level of cultivation but also much faster in speed.

A rough calculation told Wutian that it took him nearly three months to travel the three thousand miles from Dragon Village to where Shishi stayed. And this forest was about four thousand miles across. That meant the Thunderbolt Eagle was hundreds of times quicker than he was. It truly lived up to its name, as quick as a thunderbolt.

Wutian came above a plain the next day. A small town appeared ahead at the end of the plain. So he instructed the Thunderbolt Eagle to land right on the spot.

The presence of this ferocious eagle scared the beasts of the plain out of their wits, sending them fleeing in all directions. It then landed and waited for its passengers to disembark.

"Just leave us here, Boltie. We will continue the journey on our own from here. Go home now. The buggy, tiger, and lion are waiting for you. Remember, protect our home." Shishi reached to pat the Thunderbolt Eagle.

The eagle shrilled softly and flapped its wings, its sharp eyes gentle. This bird had grown intelligent with the wisdom of humans. It knew that it would be a long time before it could see Shishi again.

"I remember. I'll take good care of myself, and so must all of you." Tears flowed down Shishi's cheeks once again. Wutian was having a mixed feeling; he was not sure if it was right to bring Shishi away.

The Thunderbolt Eagle nodded, then looked at Wutian and shrilled a few times. Its eyes gave out the same message that the rainbow viper did; it wanted him to protect Shishi.

"She is my sister. Over my dead body if anyone wants to harm her."

After getting Wutian's promise, the Thunderbolt Eagle's expression softened. Its body suddenly shuddered and a drop of red blood shot out of its chest. The blood emanated some kind of frightful energy.

It shrilled at Wutian again, and the blood floated before landing in his hand. But the blood remained as a droplet, translucent like a blood diamond.

"She said if we face any danger, we could swallow this blood droplet. She would sense it and bring Buggy and Tiger and come to our rescue." Shishi explained.

Wutian was touched. People said that monster beasts were ruthless. But the way he saw it, monster beasts were more humanistic and honorable than humans. He nodded at the Thunderbolt Eagle, telling it he got it.

The eagle shrilled and spread its wings before flying up to the sky with a whirlwind, casting a massive shadow on the earth. It disappeared from their sight and flew in the direction from where it had come from.

"Wow, this grassland is huge!" After seeing the Thunderbolt Eagle leave, Shishi looked around and cheered, jumping up and down on the grassland like a spirited and cute rabbit. 

"Eh, that little wolf is cute."

"Little wolf?" Wutian had no word for it. That was apparently a Blitzwolf. It was massive, standing at two-meter-tall. Its eyes blood-red, looking ferocious. Yet this vicious monster beast had become a little wolf in Shishi's eyes. Probably she was the only person who had described the Blitzwolf as cute.

The Blitzwolf howled, exposing its dreadful fangs, obviously not too happy with being called a little wolf. There was a murderous look in its eyes, but flinched and fled with its tail between its legs when it saw Little Tian on Shishi's shoulder.

But Little Tian had jumped onto its back and smacked with its claw. The Blitzwolf lost its strength, dropped to the ground, and started shivering.

Little Tian was very pleased. It stood on both legs, stepping on the wolf's head, basically meaning, "Good boy! I will spare your life today."

It was proud and looking triumphant. Just when it wanted to show it off in front of Yi, it found that they had left. It roared in anger and kicked the poor Blitzwolf before running to catch up with them.

It seemed that what Little Tian had done had become a deterrence. No monster beast had come attacking them on their way to the town entrance.

"So many people here, Wutian!" Shishi jumped up and down like a fairy, attracting curious stares.

Ironstone was one of the few large towns around the Redsun Mountains. Naturally, many travelers were coming and going. But most of them were hunters selling beast hides and blood from various villages around the mountains.

Ironstone was under the purview of the Yan Clan. The town had a population of ten thousand. Its economy was well developed and wealthy. So the hunters could sell their merchandise at good prices. The journey to this town was full of danger. Travelers would occasionally become dinner for the vicious beasts during the journey. But because of the high profit, which was enough to feed dozens of people in a village for a year, it was a risk worth taking.

"That thing looks like a flying fox! It looks like it isn't an adult and could not fly. But I heard that it is damn good for healing. Who is that little girl? She is keeping that endangered beast as a pet. How I wish I could have that."

The flying fox had attracted the attention of passersby. As it looked otherworldly with its snow-white fur and black and strikingly vivacious eyes, it was hard not to attract eyeballs.

"Mate, you had better not bother them. I heard that the Yan Clan is holding a recruitment drive in over a month's time. They could be those who come for the test and might be the kids from some VIP families. Don't mess with them. Holy moly! Are my eyes playing tricks with me? That kid's pet is a Demon Toad!"

This speaking hunter almost tripped and tumbled to the ground.

"Yeah, he has a demon toad as a pet. This is something new. I am seeing this for the first time."

Curious stares landed on the creature on Wutian's shoulder. People were in disbelief. Little Tian was prideful and had never suffered such an insult. It was about to burst out.

Wutian held it down. "Don't mind what they say. So long as I and Shishi like you and know how great you are."

Little Tian hissed, feeling extremely annoyed. But it let them be.

"Why did they pass such a comment about Little Tian? That is unacceptable." Shishi was indignant, feeling bad for Little Tian.

Little Tian tried to play the victim, squeezed two drops of tears out of its eyes.

"Don't be sad, Little Tian. I have never hated you. It was they who failed to appreciate you. Don't mind what they said as that would only harm your health." Shishi tried to comfort it.

Little Tian's eyes welled up. It was truly touched, as no one had ever shown such concern to it. It hopped onto Shishi's shoulder and stared at Wutian while waving its claws, basically meaning "Bye-bye, I will follow Shishi from now on."

"Is this flying fox your pet, little girl?"

Right then, a woman came up. She was around seventeen or eighteen, looking ordinary but wearing a bright red dress. It looked like she came from some major clan.

"You are beautiful." Shishi was wide-eyed.

"Really? You are so sweet." The woman gently held the cheeks of Shishi. "Can you sell this pet to me? I will pay whatever price you ask for."

"Yi is my friend, not a pet. I won't sell her." Shishi squatted down to pat the flying fox affectionately.

"Yi? It is a beautiful name." The woman really liked that flying fox. "Is it because the Essence elixirs aren't enough? I can trade it with an Essence core, which you can exchange for ten thousand Essence elixirs."

"I said I won't sell it." Shishi furrowed her brow.

"Don't be so stubborn, little girl. I tell you what, I can top it up to three Essence cores." The woman had still not given up.

Wutian also creased his brow. He came up and stood in front of Shishi. "Haven't you heard she said she won't sell it?"

The woman looked up with a cold expression. "Who are you?"

"I am her elder brother. Yi is our friend. We won't sell it. Please leave us alone!"

The woman sneered. "I am afraid that it is not what you say that counts, little boy. I definitely want that flying fox. You had better make your offer. Otherwise, you will get nothing. And this adorable little girl might get hurt."

"Are you threatening me?"

Wutian's face darkened, staring dead at the woman with his beast-like eyes.