Chapter 78 - Secret Stronghold On Phoenix Mountain
"What"s a blood pet? Why haven"t I heard of it before?"
Chen Rouxue asked after Su Bai hung up.
"Blood pets have been banned by the Spirit Alliance, so ordinary people don"t even know of its existence, but that they"re actually abnormal types and too difficult to deal with…" The boy proceeded to share with the girl what he had learned from Hou Lan.
"They"re that terrifying? They once killed half the dragon family?" She was surprised. The dragon pets were already strong enough.
"There"s no choice; dragon pets seem innately restrained by them," said Su Bai. "We have no way of knowing the specifics. Anyway, just remember that, if it"s not an undead pet, then don"t kill it."
The grievances and entanglement between the Twelve Dragon Slayers organization and the Spirit Alliance were definitely not as simple as it appeared on the surface. There must be some hidden secrets about the blood pets, or the Spirit Alliance would not have banned them.
"It"s over for Zhang San and the others," Chen Rouxue said.
He looked down and saw that the five people had already been knocked out, and only Wei Ya and Zhang San were still struggling desperately.
"My master said that he"ll be here soon; I think that he"ll be right on time. Anyway, we can"t go down, either, or we"ll be dead meat."
He sighed thoughtfully.
It was impossible for him to go down in this lifetime. He and Zhang San were not even close, so he would naturally not risk his life for them.
Furthermore, these guys had tried ambushing him all the time before.
...
"Who on Earth are you? Why do you want to trouble us? We aren"t enemies, are we?" Wei Ya gritted her teeth. She did not remember offending this group of people.
"Hey! Who told a beauty like you to come far up this mountain? I don"t wanna make things difficult for you. Come with us and let us have a good time; I"ll show you a bright road."
Opposite, a skinny, monkey-faced man in his twenties chuckled sinisterly as he stared at Wei Ya"s big chest lewdly.
It was really big.
"Hehe! Do you know why we"re so strong? I"ll give you a chance." Another short and thin man chuckled, rubbing his hands in antic.i.p.ation.
"You"re looking for death!"
The girl gritted her teeth furiously at being humiliated by these men.
"Boss, run away; I"ll carry it for you." Zhang San pushed her aside and turned to command his Snake Lizard. "Use Self-explosion!"
"You want to bomb us and escape? Dream on!" The man chuckled. "Blood Flame Snake, use Burning Blood!"
With a hiss, the blood-colored lines on the two Blood Flame Snakes shone, and two b.l.o.o.d.y rays were fired. The already severely injured Snake Lizard and Night Spider were hit by the blood-colored flames. They struggled painfully in the flames, not far from death.
A few more spiritual shots were fired, binding Ya and Zhang San.
The two men walked toward the girl as they rubbed their hands. "It"s really bigger at a closer distance…"
Before they finished speaking, they, including their blood pets, suddenly fell to the ground with a thump.
"M-Monarch pet…" The two raised their heads with some difficulty and felt desperate upon seeing the huge pet in the sky.
In the sky, a five-meter-long cyan bird with a wingspan of six meters glared at them. Its pupils had the rare shade a monarch possessed.
A peculiar force acted on the two, rendering them unable to move or speak.
Two people were on top of the big bird: an old man with a shiny bald head reflecting the sun"s rays and a yellow-haired chap of about twenty years old.
"Su Bai, you can come out now; there"s no one else nearby." Gao An jumped to the ground and glanced at the place where his apprentice was hiding.
"Wow, master; is your pet the legendary Algae monster?" Su Bai took Chen Rouxue out of the small forest and ran to the elderly Cannes Trainer a.s.sociation president.
"Yes, you know it?" The old man was originally upset that his disciple always ignored him and only contacted him when something happened, but his anger disappeared after he found out that the latter knew his pet.
The chap also glanced at Su Bai in surprise, his mouth twitching a little. This youth was pretty good; he even took the girl to hide in the forest.
"I saw it in a book before and was rather curious about it. It can"t move or speak because of its psychic skills, right?"
Su Bai looked curiously at the Algae monster. "It was said to have come from a s.p.a.ce crack, and its origin was a very small algae fungus. It doesn"t normally have wisdom, but when several gather, under special conditions, they can develop wisdom. Once that happens, they"ll possess extremely strong spiritual power.
"It"s a special kind of Gaia creature called the Algae monster. It"s no less intelligent than humans and has a very strong learning ability. It can also change into various forms and produce various substances on its own. If it"s allowed to reproduce, the Algae monster will ultimately form a colony.
"This is an ultra-rare monster that all the summoners and pharmacists desire most."
Laying eyes on his master"s pet for the first time, Su Bai was, of course, really shocked. It was also one of his dream pets.
No, he must find time to fawn on his master and ask for a seed.
The boy secretly formulated a plan inside.
"It"s so rare?" Chen Rouxue was also surprised. She only knew that her boyfriend"s master was the president of the Cannes Trainer a.s.sociation, so at this moment, she was speechless to see such a rare monarch pet.
"Cuckoo!" The pet, which had morphed into a big bird, raised its head proudly.
Wei Ya and Zhang San, who were lying on the ground unable to speak, also widened their eyes. This giant boss was actually Su Bai"s master. What the f*ck! Had they been seeking their death by trying to defeat him?
They thought that this big boss had just been pa.s.sing by, but he had actually been called over by their rival.
"Haha! It seems that you"re rather knowledgeable."
Gao An snorted expressionlessly and raised his head. The more he looked at this apprentice, the more satisfied he became. No, he must find a way to make him go on the right path. It was such a waste for him to be a Pet Tamer.
"How did you meet these two people?" he asked.
"I don"t have money for my Purgatory Tyrant egg"s incubation, so I came here to dig a few materials. I sensed spiritual fluctuations at this location and rushed over only to see the blood pets."
The youth explained and quickly let go of his girlfriend"s hand. "This is my cla.s.smate; she came to help me."
Chen Rouxue blushed and quickly hid the flower she was holding behind her.
Gao An: "…"
Did they think he was blind? Hmph! He already knew how conspiring against others these two were ever since the last game.
"Where did you obtain that egg?" he asked curiously, realizing that his disciple"s path seemed wilder than antic.i.p.ated.
"Erm… Senior Hou Lan gave it to me. Do you know him?" Su Bai scratched his head.
"That young man gave it to you?" Gao An glanced at his apprentice. He was also aware that that cultivation genius was anti-social. What had this boy done for Hou Lan to give him such a valuable egg?
"Oh, he"s my friend." Su Bai nodded.
"I see." Nodding, the elderly chairman pointed to the yellow-haired chap beside him. "This is Duan Munan, the alliance"s second-level search officer, an elite Pet Tamer."
"h.e.l.lo, I"m Duan Munan." The young man nodded at him.
"h.e.l.lo, big brother. I"m Su Bai, a rookie." The youth waved in return.
Duan Munan: "…"
"Xiao Lu, use Traceless Dream." Gao An glanced at the two people on the ground.
"Cuckoo!"
Xiao Lu nodded and unleashed a strange force which hit the two criminals and caused them to fall asleep.
"We"ve obtained their information; seal their spiritual power."
After a while, Gao An turned to Wei Ya and the others. "Heal their injuries."
"Take these two to the pet management bureau in town and wait for me, okay?" The elderly chairman instructed after treating the five injured teens.
"No problem." Wei Ya and the others quickly nodded. How dared they refuse a request from this big boss?
"Let"s go. Zhang San, help me." Wei Ya pulled them out.
"Yes, boss." The boy quickly helped the girl in taking the unresisting criminals away with them.
Su Bai: "…"
Wei Ya was like a flower stuck in cow dung.
He had accidentally helped Zhang San. D*mn it.
"There"s a temporary stronghold under this mountain. Let"s go and see the specific situation," Gao An said. The two before were just trash, who had been sent out to scout the surroundings, and did not know any confidential information at all.
The Algae monster turned into a Burrowing Dragon which started digging into the ground.
In fact, there were many small fries like those two men, and even most of the known gangs were just small p.a.w.ns. Blood pets were too powerful, so countless people were willing to take risks for them.
The couple followed Gao An.
After making a big circle on the mountain, they finally found an entrance on a cliff at the back.
"It"s really well-hidden." Su Bai looked around at the earthen-yellow sandy road. This place had probably been drilled by a soil pet like the Burrowing Dragon.
In this world with extraordinary abilities, it would really be difficult to find anyone if they wanted to hide.
"Xiao Lu, use Phantom to hide us all," whispered Gao An after walking a few hundred meters.
A translucent spiritual wave engulfed them.
Shrouded by this phantom, everyone seemed to have been hidden in a different s.p.a.ce. Looking over from the guard post, they could not be seen at all.
"Hehe!"
Big Demon made a ghostly face in front of the guard, but he did not respond at all.
Chen Rouxue was so frightened that she quickly hugged Xiao Bai away. Her pet was too naughty.
Su Bai turned his head and glanced at the cub, which was about to wave its paw. It stuck out its tongue and resentfully took back its paw.
He was shocked to see the inside when they entered the hideout. This was a circular s.p.a.ce with a diameter of more than three hundred meters. It had three floors with staircases, and each wall of the cave was about two meters high and wide. The one-meter-deep cave held some boys and girls.
These boys and girls were all in a coma, and a b.l.o.o.d.y mark was placed at their glabella.
On the third level, the lowest floor, three raised platforms could be seen. On the high platform were three bone hills, all of which being psychic bones. A scarlet skull was placed atop each hill, receiving viscous red liquid which dripped from above, making the blood on the skull more and more active.
Su Bai had wondered before why he could not find any psychic bones on Phoenix Mountain. It turned out that everything was hidden away here. Was this why the Blood-bursting Mosquitoes had gathered here, attracted by the b.l.o.o.d.y stench?
He stared at the scarlet skull for a while, and a line of small fireflies appeared before his eyes:
[Introduction]: A still formless Blood Skull, a blood-undead dual elemental monster. It requires the heads of undead monsters which are about to turn into departed spirits, the blood of blood pets, and… a variety of materials to irrigate and feed its cultivation.
The Blood Skull monster can forcibly extract the incompletely formed spirit soul stone of a human teenager as well as merge multiple spirit soul stones into one.
*****
"Sure enough, they"re cultivating a despicable thing again." A hint of anger flashed across Gao An"s face.
"Fortunately, this stronghold hasn"t been built long. The soul stones of these young girls haven"t been dug up yet, so there"s still hope," said Duan Munan solemnly.
"Why do they want the spirit soul stones? What"s the use? To make pets?" asked Su Bai in puzzlement.
"This is just one aspect. This thing can also enhance the strength of blood pets and is called a blood soul stone. It can be exchanged for some rare treasures from the Twelve Dragon Slayers organization. It"s one of the hard currencies among the wanted criminals," Gao An explained.
"It seems like there are many similar strongholds in Cannes. Those guards are probably all small fries; it"ll be difficult to catch them in one fell swoop."
Duan Munan solemnly shook his head.
"Let"s hide here first and wait to see if a bigger fish will appear. The guards here are all small figures. I"ll let my Algae pet use Traceless Dream to see the situation for now," proposed the elderly chairman in a deep voice.
Ten minutes later, Su Bai and the others exited the underground cave and hid on Phoenix Mountain.
"Your discovery of this stronghold is a great contribution. I"ll report it to the alliance later and give you a reward," Gao An told his protégé.
"Thank you, master." Su Bai thanked his mentor happily. This was what he wanted to hear the most.
"By the way, have you gathered all the materials for the Purgatory Tyrant egg"s incubation?" asked the old man.
"Soon. I still lack two materials," he answered truthfully.
"I see. Come to me in two days and help me plant a spiritual plant. If I"m satisfied, I"ll reward you with the remaining two materials."
Gao An said after thinking for a while.
"Okay, master." The youth nodded quickly and agreed.
Gao An snorted. He looked at Chen Rouxue and spoke indifferently. "Your Little Devil"s cultivation is rather good, too. Come with my disciple to plant seeds in my field. When you"re done, I"ll give you a primary ghost stone."
The girl was stunned to hear this but quickly bowed in grat.i.tude. "Thank you, sir."
The primary ghost stone could not only increase her pet"s attack power and hidden energy but also help it understand the ghost"s profound meaning, helping it reach the spirit-calling level as soon as possible.
Spirit-calling was equivalent to controlling wood and fire in other pet types. It was of inestimable value and was a true rare treasure.
"Hmph. You"re just a little pleasing to the eye. Don"t get me wrong and think that I"m treating you well because of a certain boy. I just happen to be rich and have nowhere to spend it on."
Gao An snorted lightly, then he raised his head to look into the distance.
Su Bai: "…"
Master, did you need to explain yourself so clearly?