Chapter 272: Enter the Gateway
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by Aelryinth
Zhang Che was in a beautiful mood after setting up that group of five.
The only pity was that the white snake was too powerful, leaving him with no way to pick up sc.r.a.ps, putting his “Fisherman Zhang” nickname to shame.
However, Zhang Che didn’t feel much regret over this.
When he grew stronger, did he have to worry about not having epic-quality subdued beasts and pets?
Let alone others, there was the giant stone man in the Bei Mei region’s beast world behind the San Diego spatial gateway carved deep into his memory. He would surely make a trip there when an opportunity arose in the future.
Leaving that giant stone man’s offensive strength aside, just the defensive effects the gravity field False Domain provided were extraordinary.
Zhang Che estimated that the giant stone man was still a mid-tier exotic beast. If it could advance into high-tier, or its quality could increase another level, the might of that gravity field would definitely be overpowered. Anyone who entered it would surely find themselves weakened by at least half.
Not only that, they might not even have to lift a finger against weaker enemies. That terrifying gravity effect would just destroy their bodies.
“Stop daydreaming and start thinking about how to reach the gateway to the secret plane,” Zhang Che smiled self-mockingly. He shook his head, clearing his mind of useless thoughts. He flew on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon, steering away from the white snake, heading deeper into the area.
The white snake was a high-tier epic-quality exotic beast. There shouldn’t be any other such terrifyingly powerful creatures within two or three hundred kilometers, so Zhang Che could make use of this chance to hurry on his way.
It would be a few days later before he arrived at the gateway to the secret realm if he only covered two to three hundred kilometers of ground per day. It was fine if he was slower than others by a step, but it would be too much of a disadvantage if he was slower by several steps!
As Zhang Che had antic.i.p.ated, the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon flew about four hundred kilometers close to the ground before he encountered a seven-star gold-quality exotic beast.
Although a seven-star gold-quality exotic beast was strong, it could do nothing but get beaten up by Zhang Che’s babies, laying on the ground on the verge of death just a few minutes later.
Since he wasn’t in the beast world, and was unable to obtain beast cards by killing the exotic beasts, Zhang Che tried his best to leave such high-end beasts alive, harboring hopes of taming them as his pets.
However, this seven-star gold-quality exotic beast was incredibly stubborn. No matter what methods Zhang Che used, tough or otherwise, it didn’t budge in the slightest. In the end, Zhang Che directly had the rainbow crystal release a rainbow talismanic rune to forcibly tame it after running out of patience.
Alas, just as the rainbow talismanic rune was about to engrave itself deep into the exotic beast’s soul, its life force was extinguished, leaving only a corpse behind.
“My guess turned out right after all. If an exotic beast is unwilling, there’s no way to tame it as a pet!” Zhang Che sighed. He could only wave his hand, letting the Purple Crystal Tortoise store this seven-star gold-quality exotic beast’s ruined corpse into its spatial pocket.
Although this fellow’s body was beaten to a pulp by his babies, it was still a seven-star gold-quality exotic beast, after all. The remaining parts could still be sold for a high price.
Zhang Che would never shy away from money!
Afterwards, Zhang Che became cautious again. Once something seemed amiss ahead, he would have the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon change direction immediately. He wouldn’t stay for a second longer, nor would he harbor a complacent att.i.tude about trying to kill those exotic beasts that looked too strong for him at a glance.
The day pa.s.sed very quickly.
———
That evening, Zhang Che estimated that he was only about three hundred kilometers away from the gateway to the secret plane.
In that case, he should be able to break through the inner area and enter the secret plane by tomorrow evening if nothing went wrong.
“I wonder what the secret world would look like this time? Hopefully it’s not too dangerous, or it’ll be hard to say what the end result will be like.”
Zhang Che had imagined on many occasions what the past secret planes were like inside. What were the similarities and differences between each of them?
However, his current status was not at the level where he could learn those secrets. Even though he had become the son-in-law-to-be of the Huang family, Huang Juyun didn’t tell him any of the more secretive information, leaving him with no inkling of any of that.
Well, it wasn’t like he knew nothing. At the very least, he knew it was very dangerous inside. He had to be very, very careful in there.
Zhang Che smiled self-mockingly, before looking for a mountain and repeating what he did yesterday: the Purple Crystal Tortoise dug out a cave for him to settle down for the night.
Of course, a roasted meat feast was a given. Zhang Che and the frisky monkey ate so much that their mouths were dripping with oil before finally stopping to rest.
——
The next morning, Zhang Che was woken up by the alarm on his personal terminal again.
He walked out of the cave and grabbed a handful of the acc.u.mulated snow on the ground to clean his face. After a simple breakfast, Zhang Che continued on his journey towards the secret plane’s gateway.
The closer he was to the core area, the higher the frequency of powerful exotic beasts appearing.
Zhang Che didn’t dare to have the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon randomly fly around anymore. Instead, he had the latter fly at a controlled speed of about forty to fifty kilometers per hour, keeping up his guard.
He didn’t bother to fight the exotic beasts he came across, either, no matter if they were strong or weak. He would avoid them if possible, trying his best not to waste any time.
Killing exotic beasts on Mercury wouldn’t give him any beast cards anyway, and the chances of successfully taming them were extremely small. In the end, Zhang Che chose not to bother with them at all.
As for procuring food, the Purple Crystal Tortoise had already stored the corpses of over a hundred large exotic beasts over the past two days. The amount of meat in there weighed several hundred tons, nearly filling up the thousand cubic meters of s.p.a.ce it had.
Not to mention, there was still the food Huang Juyun had prepared for him in the bracelet spatial equipment. If Zhang Che was only eating by himself, that much food would last him decades!
Obviously, Zhang Che wouldn’t spend decades in the secret plane, no matter what!
As Zhang Che continued going deeper into the territory, he started seeing other beastmasters again. The closer he got to the center, the higher the number of beastmasters around him.
They were no longer purely beastmasters from Hua Xia. Beastmasters with all kinds of skin color and hair color entered his sight, one after another.
All of a sudden, Zhang Che realized that after pa.s.sing through the inner area, it actually became safer the closer he was to the center.
-Could it be because of the sudden appearance of the gateway?- Zhang Che wondered.
Although he had no way of knowing that, there didn’t seem to be any other explanations.
Since it was much safer here, and beastmasters could be seen everywhere, Zhang Che no longer acted as cautiously, and had the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon speed up, flying towards the center hastily.
Finally, when the seemingly cool sun was hanging on the western horizon, a flat icy plain suddenly appeared ahead.
Right in the middle of this snowy-white icy plains, a slightly flat golden ball of light of a few dozen meters diameter entered Zhang Che’s sight.
On this icy plain, as well as its surroundings, group upon group of beastmasters were hurrying over, and rushed into that golden ball of light like moths attracted to flames.
-It shouldn’t be dangerous right behind the gateway, right?- Zhang Che suddenly thought.
When the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon arrived before that golden ball of light, Zhang Che jumped off his back and recalled him into his spiritual sea. Afterwards, two streaks of five-colored rays shot out, one of which materialized into a purple armor, covering his entire body, while the other turned into a scarlet-black sword in his hand.
After making all his preparations, Zhang Che strode forth resolutely, stepping into the golden ball of light.