Chapter 15

In the open grasslands, the herd of elephorses were walking around leisurely, occasionally munching on the tender, verdant leaves, giving off a peaceful feeling.

The scarlet red, flaming hoof Red Nightmare Horse, taller and bigger than ordinary elephorses, was currently walking slowly on the grass plain.

On the back of the Red Nightmare Horse, a fatigued-looking Zhang Ye revealed a deeply surprised look in his eyes. Sitting on the horseback, the corners of his lips were curled up into a smile.

"The elephorses really can be tamed, as I thought! It's as good as me owning a supercar from now on. If those students from my class were to learn of this, they'd probably be so surprised that their jaws would become dislocated."

Thinking of his classmates, Zhang Ye couldn't help but remember his short-lived student life after transcending into this world, feeling a plethora of emotions in his heart.

Truthfully speaking, although he was a little unaccustomed to reliving the campus life, if it wasn't for his family's condition, he would have been like the rest of his peers, finishing his high school life and applying to an university.

However, Zhang Ye didn't have any regrets about his decision at all.

If he hadn't made this decision, wouldn't he have missed out on seeing this vast world so early, nor would he be riding on this excellent mount!?

After about half an hour of contesting, the Red Nightmare Horse was still unable to throw Zhang Ye off his back again. In the end, it could only submit to him tamely, and let Zhang Ye sit on his back, acknowledging him as his master.

Of course, the pet crest played a huge part in this as well. Zhang Ye knew this very well.

He was very aware of his limits. If it wasn't for the pet crest helping him at the key moment, drawing the Red Nightmare Horse out from his herd, he wouldn't have had a chance of getting close to this horse king.

If it wasn't for the Red Nightmare Horse's extreme greed towards the golden crest's energy, he wouldn't have submitted so easily, either. Not to mention putting up a stronger resistance, he might even have charged into the herd and let Zhang Ye have a taste of kick from its hoof through him.

All in all, these two got together willingly.

According to the usual practice, after taming a fierce foe, he should give it a flashy name. This guy wasn subdued using pet crest. He had its own feelings, unlike those beasts summnon using monster core who would only obey his orders unconditionally like robots.

"My home, the Earth, has the Ferghana horse.¹ Although you don't sweat blood, the fur on your body is all red, untainted by any mix. Let's call you Hanxue from now on."

Zhang Ye caressed the Red Nightmare Horse's mane tenderly as he gave it a special name.

"Huier huier…"

As if responding to Zhang Ye, the Red Nightmare Horse made a few cries excitedly. It seemed like it didn't feel any ire towards the name 'Hanxue'.

Zhang Ye couldn't help but smile. "Very well. It seems like you're satisfied with this name, too. Then, let's have a discussion. Can you contribute about two hundred of your people to me? Your master, I, is about to advance into a Magician."

Who would've thought that the Red Nightmare Horse would suddenly stand on its hind legs, directly throwing the unprepared Zhang Ye on the ground. After which, it grunted unhappily, obviously not willing to let Zhang Ye kill its ex-comrades.

"You beast, you're really asking for a beating!"

Zhang Ye stood up, cursing jokingly, patting his hurting bum. Looking at the upsetRed Nightmare Horse, he was immediately at a loss, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"I know you cherish old friendships. Didn't I say that it was only a discussion? Just say it directly if you're not willing to. You don't have to give such a strong reaction!"

Red Nightmare Horse: -I have some greetings for you, but a pity that I can't speak…-

Since Hanxue was unwilling to let him massacre its once-underlings, Zhang Ye dropped any and all ideas about those elephorses.

In any case, this world was so vast, with uncountable exotic beasts. He'd just go find other exotic beasts to kill.

Now that he had Hanxue, it was no problem to travel fifteen hundred km a day!

If it wasn't for Zhang Ye's low stamina and being stuck without a powerful subdued beast, he would nearly be unstoppable, no matter where he wished to go.

However, he should be able to check out what was deeper in these highland plains, right?

Thinking up until here, Zhang Ye prepared to mount Hanxue and set off towards deeper into the plains.

Suddenly, just as Zhang Ye flipped himself over, he saw a black dot circling around in the skies above him. He couldn't help but furrow his brow.

'Could it be that some powerful exotic beast has set its eyes upon the elephorse herd?'

It seemed unlikely. If it really was some powerful exotic beast, why would they be apprehensive of the weak elephorse? They could directly swoop down to catch one to fill their stomachs, and didn't have to loiter around in the sky.

'It seems like this flying beast has already appeared in the sky above me previously?'

Zhang Ye grew even more doubtful in his heart, feeling that there was some anomaly hidden among all this, yet he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was wrong.

After pondering for a few seconds, Zhang Ye resorted to his old trick, 'asking' the seven-colored crystal in his spiritual sea to open a path of energy towards the flying beast in the sky.

....

Several tens of li away, the group of five were hurrying on their way when Old Lu suddenly paused for a moment. From the feeling in his spiritual sea, his White-Headed Falcon seemed to have sensed something good and was asking for permission to go check it out.

'Heh, do you still need to ask? Go ahead!'

One had to know that in the beast world, there were many good things to be found aside from exotic beasts. Many unique plants could be used as ingredients to manufacture beast cultivation fluids, increasing the level, or even the quality, of beasts!

Not only that, some precious treasures could be directly consumed by beasts, disregarding the limits of their attributes and allowing the beast to increase in level or quality.

Since the White-Head Falcon discovered something, Old Lu would naturally not stop it.

........

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[White-Headed Falcon]

Level: Three Star (Level 6)

Quality: Bronze

Characteristics: Adept in Detection, Able to Provide master with Relatively Detailed Information via Spiritual Link

Weakness: Ice Elemental Attacks

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This was no freaking exotic beast, but a subdued beast!

'Was it Zhang Yujie who sent someone to follow me, or someone else who saw me entering deep into the mountain range by chance and is scouting me out of curiosity?'

No matter which outcome it was, every move he made after entering this grassland was scouted out. His whereabouts were already exposed to others, with unknown intentions!

This made Zhang Ye very upset!

Thus, when that White-Headed Falcon came within a certain distance, Zhang Ye suddenly ready his katana and directly activated attack on this incoming flying beast.

108 Pound Phoenix/Cannon (Hyakuhachi Pondo Hō)<air compressed projectiles instead fuse and become a larger and more powerful, compressed air projectile>

Caught with its guard down, the White-Headed Falcon immediately slammed right into the iair compressed projectiles. Its wings stiffened, falling straight down, and it was cut in two by Zhang Ye, riding Hanxue to charge towards it

..........

"Shit!"

In the midst of their journey, Old Lu's expression suddenly changed and he cursed out loud.

"What is it, Old Lu?"

The other four of the party stopped in place together, looking at the angry Old Lu.

A hint of frustration flashed in Old Lu's eyes. He said, gnashing his teeth, "My White-Headed Falcon is dead!"

Sister Mei's eyebrows jumped up uncontrollably, asking doubtfully, "Did it encounter some powerful flying beast? But isn't your White-Headed Falcon always alert? Why would it die all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. It sent me a message earlier, indicating that it seemed to have found some amazing treasure. I allowed it to go check things out, and it died in the next moment."

Old Lu naturally had no idea how the White-Headed Falcon died. It didn't even have the time to send a distress signal before losing its life.

The party's expressions turned grave. Perhaps some powerful exotic beast was in the grasslands ahead, and managed to catch it by surprise, killing it in one strike?

If that was true, why is the elephorse herd still fine?

Old Lu didn't suspect his subdued beast was slain by Zhang Ye.

When the White-Headed Falcon was carrying out its scouting mission, it wouldn't leave the sky at all. No ordinary warrior would have a chance of killing it.

The five of them stopped in place, hesitating.

The grasslands ahead suddenly held an unknown fear. The circumstances surrounding the White-Headed Falcon's death were truly too strange, leaving others confused.

Moreover, Old Lu mentioned previously that the White-Headed Falcon had sent him a message before its death, that it discovered some treasure, which made this matter even more puzzling.

The group looked at each other. In the end, the short-haired woman turned her head towards Sister Mei, asking, "Then, Sister Mei, are we still advancing forward?"

Sister Mei thought for a while with her brow furrowed. Finally, she grit her teeth. "Yes! Since we're already here, it really leaves me unwilling to give up just like that. However, without the White-Headed Falcon scouting the way ahead for us now, everyone needs to be on their guard. Once you discover anything off, immediately turn to run. You mustn't hesitate in the slightest."

The rest of them nodded gravely, and they continued walking forward with quick steps.

Soon after the group set off once more, and before they covered another five hundred meters, their faces changed again.

"Not good. Ding Feng Corporation's men have probably got here. Why are they so fast?"

The rumbling footsteps of exotic beasts approached them from behind rapidly. Who else could they be, if not Ding Feng Corporation's men?

"Go, we'll find a place to hide first. We'll observe them before taking any other action."

Sister Mei's brow furrowed deeply. Their plans today were met with one setback after another, leaving her doubting whether her choices were correct.

Just as the five of them hid themselves, the group of warrior and mage from Ding Feng Corporation led by Zhang Yujie came galloping in from a distance away.

For long journeys, Zhang Yujie and the few who owned mount-type subdued beasts were faring much better. The rest revealed traces of fatigue on their faces, but their eyes were shining with excitement.

This time, if they could find and slay a large elephorse herd, not only would everyone achieve great merits, they would even be rewarded with an elephorse monster core. Their future journeys would be much more convenient.

Watching the terrain before them gradually opening wider, a smile curled up on Zhang Yujie's handsome face. He encouraged the others loudly, "Everyone, endure a little longer. If my guess was right, after we enter the open lands in front, there will definitely be traces of elephorse herd activities. As long as we successfully hunt a herd of elephorses, I'll personally request recognition of your merits when we get back!"

Hearing this, everyone looked even more excited, and cheered out loud in unison.

The group moved past at flying speed. Sister Mei and the rest of her party came out from their hiding spots with bitter expressions.

The short-haired woman looked at Sister Mei hesitantly, "Sister Mei, are we still going?"

Sister Mei didn't make a sound. Instead, she swept her gaze across the few of them first. Seeing as they had unwilling looks on their faces, she nodded heavily, "We'll go! I don't believe Ding Feng Corporation's men can kill every single elephorse. Moreover, if there are any unknown dangers ahead, we have the Ding Feng Corporation's men to take them on for us. We only need to proceed cautiously; even if there aren't any gains, we wouldn't be in danger at the very least."

~~~~~~

After slaying the White-Headed Falcon, the grave expression on Zhang Ye's face didn't lessen in the least.

He didn't know who had their eyes on him, but their aim was probably the same as him: the elephorse herd on the grasslands.

If it was in the past, Zhang Ye wouldn't care about any of this at all. He didn't have the ability to hunt the herd, anyway. If others wanted to try their hand at them, he'd just let them do it.

But now, Hanxue had become his pet. This fellow obviously cared for his ex-underlings. As his master, how could he watch idly by the side as they were being hunted?

"Hanxue, oh, Hanxue, although you won't let your master massacre your underlings, now someone else has laid their eyes upon them. I can't possibly keep them safe by myself. You better get them to leave this place as soon as possible, moving deeper into the grasslands. Hopefully they can still make it in time."

Zhang Ye caressed Hanxue's cheek tenderly, telling it of the situation he had just discovered.

After hearing what Zhang Ye said, Hanxue let out a few neighs, looking at him, its eyes shining with gratitude. It looked as if it understood Zhang Ye's words.

In the next moment, the Red Nightmare Horse moved with great strides toward the Elephorse herd a short distance away. It cried out loud, "Xilvlv!" as it ran.

As Hanxue's reverberating cries were heard, the relaxed elephorse herd suddenly fell silent, and turned around in unison, galloping deeper into the grasslands.

For a short while, Zhang Ye could only hear the rumblings of the hooves filling his ears. The entire herd of elephorses were like the tide, spreading out into the verdant grasslands and quickly vanishing.

The Elephorse herd's speed erupted, and soon ran out to about a kilometer away.

Watching his ex-underlings gradually going further away, Hanxue suddenly raised his neck and let out another reverberating neigh, his cry filled with loneliness and reluctance.

Zhang Ye seemed to feel that Hanxue was feeling down, and extended his hand to caress his neck as consolation.

"Don't worry. I'll bring you back here in the future to visit them if an opportunity arises."

With Zhang Ye's assurance, the Red Nightmare Horse neighed cheerfully.

After taking a look behind him, the corners of Zhang Ye's lips hooked up into a mocking smile, wondering what look would the party that was following him have on their faces when they discover that this area was empty, with not a single Elephorse around.

"Let's go, we have to leave here quickly."

Zhang Ye patted Hanxue's neck. The godly mount under him immediately lengthened its gait, galloping towards the deeper part of the grasslands in another direction.

..........