Note: Corrected typo: Lou Chen city to An Lou city. Weekly Updates The next morning Feng Wu took Tian Ke and little bun to stock up on supplies. They purchased meat buns, cooked corn, rice, various seasonings and spices, bags of water skins, kitchenware, a large tent, a quilt, and a few other miscellaneous items. Aside from the spice, all her food stuffs were in the hundreds in quant.i.ty. Everything together totalled up to to less than five gold coins. Fortunately her storage ring was s.p.a.cious and could fit everything.
Tian Ke followed behind Feng Wu in a daze watching her shopping spree. It was obvious that she was really stingy with her money, what with how careful she was with their accommodations. But this Feng Wu was a complete one-eighty, spending money like there was no tomorrow. He felt he didn’t know her at all, as though he was lost in an alternate dimension. Fortunately they were soon finished and he could relax his spinning head.
Looking at the map they could see that the Mountain of Magical Beasts was the biggest mountain range in the country. It would take a long time to pa.s.s through it and reach An Luo city. There were no routes marked inside the mountain range itself, only routes leading to it. Perhaps this was because few people had the ability to leave the mountain successfully. Those that were strong enough may not have had the ability or the time to sketch a complete route. This meant that once they entered the mountains they would create their own route.
“Look. Why are there two kids here?” There was a mercenary group hunting low level beasts on the outskirts of the mountain. Someone noticed Feng Wu and Tian Ke, so had pointed them out to the others. They had not noticed small bun on Feng Wu’s back. The warmth of the Sun was very comfortable and made little bun yawn, lulling him to sleep. “From the looks of it, it looks like they are going into the mountains. They must be seeking death. Don’t know whose family they are from. These days children act so recklessly!”
The female mercenaries who were mothers themselves, couldn’t bear to stand by and let the children walk to their graves. A chorus of, “Hey kids! Don’t go into the mountains! It’s very dangerous!” rang out from various people. Unfortunately Feng Wu didn’t realize they were talking to her, so she didn’t stop. Tian Ke knew, but he also knew that that it wouldn’t have changed Feng Wu’s mind. Plus it wasn’t like he knew the people that were calling, so he also didn’t stop. The mercenary group continued calling until Feng Wu and Tian Ke disappeared from sight.
“They’re going to die if we don’t stop them.” A female mercenary frowned.
“You can’t control what other people do. If they want to seek death, then that’s their business. Besides, it’s not like they’re your children.”
“But they-” The female mercenary wanted to say more but was interrupted by the leader of their group.
“Say no more. We tried our best to warn them. That’s all we can do.”
Since their team leader made his stance clear no one else in the group dared say anymore regarding the children, instead they began to seriously search for low-level magical beasts.
Three months later...
Tian Ke couldn’t believe he was really standing in front of the city gates to An Lou. They were really able to make it through the mountain safely. Along the journey he realized Feng Wu was incredibly unusual. Although they encountered many ferocious high level magical beasts along the way, none attacked them. In fact, when they needed directions she would even search for magical beasts and ask for directions! Some gave them directions while those that had free time would even lead them along the way. It was clear that Feng Wu was able to communicate with them.
The experience completely unturned his worldview. Since he was born, he had always held the belief that magical beasts could not coexist peacefully with people, that it was a mutual relationship of destruction. People hunted magical beasts because their magical core was an essential ingredient for enchanting weapons, while magical beasts hunted and devoured human flesh because it increased their strength. This naturally led to a strong animosity between the two races. The “Feng Wu experience” contradicted this view and left a deep impression on him.
Tian Ke began to wonder. Is Feng Wu from the legendary Imperial Beastmaster division. The fabled division was supposed to be comprised of magicians who had the ability to tame and command wild magical beasts. This was called contracting with a magical beast. There were two ways to this. The first way was a contract of equal footing that required a wild magical beast’s consent. The magician needed to prove his or her worth by using strength to defeat and suppress the beast. Only then would the beast willingly submit to the authority of the magician.
The second method involved using an Imperial Beastmaster as an in-between intermediary. The beast would first be defeated by the master then forced to submit to a different magician. The level of the tamed magical beast needed to be considered so that it would not overwhelm the receiving magician. This usually meant that it would be weaker than the magician, which in turn limited the growth potential of the beast.
Of the two, the first method was the best because the magical beast’s growth was not restrained by the level of the magician.
Tian Ke wanted to confirm his guess so he asked Feng Wu if she was a Beastmaster.
“No.”
Tian Ke didn’t believe her at first, but upon further consideration he realized there was no reason for him not to believe her. He’d been with her long enough to know that she wouldn’t lie. No that girl is too stu… ah… simple minded to lie. If she didn’t want to answer she just wouldn’t say anything. So since she answered, then she must be speaking the truth. Tian Ke couldn’t think of any other reasons why she would be so popular with the wild magical beasts though. Ah whatever! He decided to not bother with it anymore.
An Lou city bordered the ancient eastern countries on one side and Zhongyang city on the other.
An Lou was a very prosperous city with a constant stream of people coming and going. The two gazed left and right looking at one house here, another house there, a carriage pa.s.sing by here, a fancy dress on sale there, food stalls everywhere… Their eyes grew bigger and rounder with each new sight. The city was quite astounding! The two realized that the hometown they originally thought was big was in fact quite small...
“Wow! It’s such a big city!” Tian Ke sighed in amazement.
“Pretty.” Feng Wu felt the city was very beautiful. In her previous life the farthest she had gone was the town under Yuehua mountain. She didn’t know such a bustling town could exist.
“Hey country b.u.mpkins don’t block the road. Honestly acting as though you’ve never seen the world before. How disgraceful.”
Feng Wu and Tian Ke turned around and found a blue haired girl. Her hands were on her chest and she had a look of disdain on her face. It was obvious she was the one scolding them just then.
“Ugly girl. You’re a b.u.mpkin, your whole family are b.u.mpkins!” Although Tian Ke was embarra.s.sed he was also angry.
“Stupid kid! How dare you speak to me like that. Do you know who I am?!” Her agitation caused her chest to heave up and down, creating quite a spectacle for the men around. They ogled her with wide eyes and drooling mouths.