Beast Tamers

A torch illuminated the dark night as well as the faces of the three people at the back of the camp. Zhang Baichi, Yu Hao, and the woman from the Willow Tree Pavilion stood next to the flickering torch.

Zhang Baichi glanced at Yu Hao, who just shrugged back at him. Zhang Baichi sighed. "I didn't expect you to act that fast."

"Well, it just happened. Not all of them were keen to keeping it a secret from us, anyways.", Yu Hao responded.

Zhang Baichi ignored him and turned to the woman from the Willow Tree Pavilion. She seemed even younger than Zhang Baichi and her cultivation was at the peak of the 7th layer of the Body Forging Realm. In this Mystic Realm, she could be considered to be one of the weakest.

"So, what's happened that you want to tell me?", Zhang Baichi casually questioned.

She fumbled around a bit, not quite knowing where to start and not daring to meet Zhang Baichi's eyes. "Senior Yu Hao told me, that you wish to know why the two wolves attacked us before…"

"Yeah, that's right. Was there a reason or was it a coincidence?", Zhang Baichi nodded.

The girl shook her head. "It wasn't an accident. Our Willow Tree Pavilion has some, uh, well, many of us are Beast Tamers."

"Beast Tamers…?", Zhang Baichi muttered. A reason for the wolves' attack soon dawned on him and he looked at the girl with an irritated expression. "You guys stole a wolf cub?"

"Senior Sister Xiao said we should take it back to the sect…", the young girl mumbled.

Zhang Baichi slapped his forehead. "So we helped a bunch of kidnappers by silencing the witnesses. Wow."

Yu Hao chuckled while Zhang Baichi just shook his head. The young woman lowered her head in shame. "Well, it doesn't matter. I can understand where your Senior Sister is coming from. A tamed beast with the bloodline of dragons is certainly temping, even for me, who knows nothing of tamed beasts."

The young woman didn't dare to speak any more and Zhang Baichi just laughed it off. "You don't need to act like that. We're not going to punish you or anything. Just return to the others. Oh, and please tell your Senior Sister that I'd like to talk to her, alright?"

"Ah, yes.", she hurriedly bowed her head and moved away. Yu Hao and Zhang Baichi talked among themselves for a short while until Xiao Xueling came over.

"Young Master Zhang, you wanted to talk to me?", Xiao Xueling spoke up. She seemed calm and just came over since Zhang Baichi asked to talk to her.

"Yes, there's something we need to clarify.", Zhang Baichi nodded. "The credit for taking down the two Demonbeasts, our Fleeting Storm Sword Sect will take it."

Xiao Xueling looked puzzled and frowned. "What do you mean? Our two sects have taken them down together."

"That's true, but isn't it unfair? We were the ones that came to your rescue after you brought calamity upon yourselves. But you want a part of the credit, as well as the wolf cub you captured? That's a bit excessive, don't you think?"

Xiao Xueling's face changed and the calm and smiling expression vanished from her face. She sighed and now looked indifferent with a cold expression in her eyes. "Ah, so you knew."

"Jup, we do indeed.", Zhang Baichi wasn't the least bit surprised by her change in attitude. He didn't believe this woman to be innocent and kind-hearted from the beginning. Someone like that wouldn't be chosen to lead the cultivators in such a harsh mission.

"So, you take the credit for bringing back a wolf cub with a draconic bloodline for your sect and take the blame for the death of two of your sisters. Meanwhile, we'll take the credit for defeating the two wolves and saving your lives.", Zhang Baichi confidently declared.

Xiao Xueling clicked her tongue but didn't say anything else in regard to that matter, tacitly agreeing with Zhang Baichi's arrangements.

Zhang Baichi looked at her and his tone mellowed down. "Anyways, our Sect Master asked us to work together with you guys. I don't have anything to say against that, so please just don't necessarily provoke any other Demonbeasts like that."

"Bringing the cub back to the sect is already good enough.", Xiao Xueling waved Zhang Baichi off. "What do you plan on doing about the Broad Wisdom Sect? Will we kill all of them?"

"Whoa, calm down there. Who wants to kill everyone for nothing.", Zhang Baichi was surprised. This woman was even more shrewd than he thought.

"I plan on just letting them be. As long as they don't seek trouble with us first, we just ignore them. Of course, if they do cross us, we'll have them pay the price.", Zhang Baichi explained.

Xiao Xueling frowned. "You'll just let them be if they don't come at us first? Why?"

"Unlike your sect, we don't have any direct conflict with them. And there's no need to create trouble for ourselves, is there?", Zhang Baichi spoke, shrugging his shoulders again.

In his eyes, the Broad Wisdom Sect was no threat at all. As long as they didn't cross him, we couldn't be bothered to deal with them. He would rather worry about the mission from his Master and the arbitrary quest from the system instead.

Xiao Xueling seemed disappointed and pouted, throwing Zhang Baichi a flattering look. "Really? Not even if I tell you that they bullied us?"

"Girl, grow up a bit more before you try to seduce anyone. You look like a clown." His words were harsh and cold, causing Yu Hao to laugh out loud.

Black lines formed on Xiao Xueling's forehead, and she stormed off after cussing Zhang Baichi and Yu Hao out.

The two young men looked at each other, speechless. The contrast between Xiao Xueling's beautiful face and her crude language was too much.

"We should be careful around her.", Yu Hao spoke. "She was willing to put her own group in danger just for some profit. There's no telling what trouble she's willing to bring to us then."

"You're right. Especially since she already considers the Broad Wisdom Sect an enemy, even though those guys aren't really disciples of the Broad Wisdom Sect, but come from an outside influence.", Zhang Baichi nodded.

His head turned in the direction of the Dragon Pillar, even though the cloud piercing mountain couldn't be seen in the dark. "There's another matter. Do you know of any religious sites or altars within the Mystic Realm?"

"Where'd that come from?", Yu Hao was surprised, but shook his head after thinking about it for a while. "There's nothing like that, as far as I know."

"…Let's ask Lu Zheng, maybe he knows something.", Zhang Baichi said, still lost in thought. Somehow, he couldn't get the murals that he saw at the foot of the Dragon Peak out of his head.

Alas, even Lu Zheng didn't know anything, bringing him back to square one.

The three of them – Zhang Baichu, Yu Hao, and Lu Zheng – sat around the torch alone and ate. Zhang Baichi was the first to speak up. "Hey, Lu Zheng, do you know anything else that could be important about this Mystic Realm? Or maybe some stories or legends?"

"Nothing beyond the ordinary. The Mystic Realm was most likely created by a powerful cultivator in ancient times. The Demonbeasts here all have the bloodline of dragons. Then there's the endless sea and the Dragon Peak.", Lu Zheng answered.

Yu Hao shook his head and sighed. "If only we could comprehend the murals carved into the Dragon Peak... Just imagine being the ones that solve the riddles of this Mystic Realm."

'Yeah, there's no chance any of us will learn the ancient language of True Dragons any time soon…', Zhang Baichi complained in his heart. The price the system gave him was just way too high.

"Maybe not that, but we might witness a baptism if we're lucky.", Lu Zheng snickered.

Zhang Baichi's head turned towards him. "Baptism? What's that about? You never mentioned it before."

"Oh, that? It's an event from hundreds of years ago. It was during the generation before even the Grand Elder, I think.", Lu Zheng contemplated on the matter. "They say that during the trial in the Mystic Realm, the whole sky lit up in gold and blood rained from the sky, falling everywhere except in the area around the Dragon Peak."

Zhang Baichi looked at him with exasperation and excitement. "Why the f*ck didn't you mention that before?"

"You didn't ask.", Lu Zheng looked at him like he was crazy. Zhang Baichi threw a piece of bread at him and cursed. "I did ask, you dimwit! I asked you to tell me any stories or legends about this place, just minutes ago!"

"Anyways, it's just some nonsensical story, anyways. Why are you so agitated.", Yu Hao and Lu Zheng couldn't understand what was going on with him.

"Are you idiots? A baptism of blood! An offering was made and the dragon's baptised the creatures of the world! It's basically the same as what's shown in the murals!", Zhang Baichi explained, frustrated that these two suddenly seemed so brainless.

Lu Zheng and Yu Hao stared at him like he was a ghost. Their gazes met with each other, and Yu Hao asked with uncertainty. "You can… understand the murals?"

"They're just pictures. Who can't understand that?", Zhang Baichi said, then his eyes widened. "Wait, you guys can't?"

Both shook their heads. "No one has ever been able to comprehend the murals…"