Chapter 4295 — A New King of the Spirit Beasts?

"As things stand now among the spirit beasts, Elder Zhuque really does hold sole dominion—the other elders have for the most part fallen silent, and nearly all authority rests in Elder Zhuque's hands. Within the spirit beast clan, at least openly, one hardly hears a voice raised against it," the great spider said, nodding.

"Right—after all, it is the regent elder, and Elder Zhuque's position now stands a good deal above the rest," the great fire lion agreed, nodding as well. "As for where it found this king, that I couldn't tell you. We're newcomers, we joined the spirit beast clan too recently, no seniority and no backing—lowest-ranking guards, not even one-star deacons. How would we know about secrets that deep..."

"Where the king actually came from—I'd guess only the king itself and Elder Zhuque know that. As for the rest, never mind little grunts like us; even those elders probably don't know the truth of it," the great spider added from the side.

"Oh..." Wei Zhao nodded, asked nothing further, and waited for Ghost Thing's reaction.

"All right, I have no more questions. You needn't mind me, boy—I need to sit quietly for a while." Ghost Thing seemed to have regained its composure; with a long sigh in Wei Zhao's mind, it fell silent.

"Very well." Wei Zhao answered inwardly, though worry stirred in his heart. Even back in the mortal world, when he had first met Ghost Thing—at its most wretched and bedraggled—it had not seemed so utterly forlorn and diminished as now.

Zhuque's seizure of power was a cruel reality, and for Ghost Thing it must be hard indeed to accept—especially now, when it was nowhere near recovery. Even knowing the truth, it could only stand by helpless.

"By the way, the Star-Ink Milk is right here in these ruins. Why must you wait for human cultivators to come and fetch it? Couldn't you gather it yourselves just the same? If someone finds the Star-Ink Milk and drinks it on the spot instead of carrying it out as we do, wouldn't you lose out badly?" Wei Zhao turned back to his earlier question.

"Ah, that's simply how it has to be. On our own, we cannot gather the Star-Ink Milk at all. We can only hope that human cultivators will come seeking treasure—as for whether they drink it on the spot, that's not very likely. And even if they truly did, losing that bit of Star-Ink Milk hardly matters to us," the great fire lion said with a smile and a shake of his head.

"And why is that? The Star-Ink Milk is right there in that pool—gathering it should be no trouble at all?" Wei Zhao exchanged a startled glance with Huang Xiaotao. Even a three-year-old child could do such a thing—how could it be impossible to gather?

"Benefactor, have you not noticed that the place where the Star-Ink Milk lies is in fact an altar?" the great spider answered with a question of its own.

"I know—there's a spirit beast statue there as well. But what does that have to do with it?" Puzzled, Wei Zhao looked at Huang Xiaotao.

"That statue is said to be the likeness of the previous King of the Spirit Beasts, and the whole altar was raised by its own hand back then. It left behind a decree: the Star-Ink Milk is a treasure bestowed by Heaven upon our spirit beast clan, and we are never permitted to squander it at will—and so we cannot step up there to gather the Star-Ink Milk at all," the great spider said, shaking its head.

So it truly was the likeness of the Spirit Beast King! The great spider's words confirmed Wei Zhao's earlier guess. A single statue that made one bow in spite of oneself—the King of the Spirit Beasts was indeed the transcendent being that could subdue the ten thousand beasts.

"But the previous King of the Spirit Beasts has been missing for so long, and times have changed. Can its words from back then still bind you so strongly now?" Wei Zhao asked, perplexed.

Since the spirit beast clan wholly followed the principle of the strong ruling, and the King of the Spirit Beasts was long gone—and by now a new king had even taken the throne; a new dynasty brings new ministers, as the saying goes—surely they would not remain so devoted to the command of the previous king...

"The words themselves likely carry little binding force; the key is that a natural heaven-thunder formation lies upon the altar. You human cultivators may walk up there without harm, but if we spirit beasts do, we shall be blasted by fivefold thunder..." the great spider said with a bitter smile and a shake of its head.

"Such a thing exists? Then that explains it." Only then did Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao understand. They had never imagined that gathering the Star-Ink Milk, so easy for humans, should prove so difficult for the spirit beast clan.

"And so, to gather the Star-Ink Milk, we have ceaselessly leaked word in secret—we even went out of our way to beg other members of the spirit beast clan to let slip, when the chance came, a few maps and intelligence that looked highly confidential. All to lure human cultivators here to take the Star-Ink Milk, and then the two of us lie in wait at the teleportation array's gate—heh heh..." The great fire lion laughed smugly.

"Good grief, the two of you have a fine little racket going with this zero-cost business..." Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were speechless.

Thinking back now, Chang Daoping had kept boasting of how close he was with the spirit beast clan's deacons, which was how he had obtained that exceedingly core and confidential layout map of the ruins. So it had all been the scheme of these two rascals—they had simply been toying with him. And he had been so smug about it! If he ever learned the cruel truth of it, he would likely burst into tears.

Only now did Wei Zhao fully understand. No wonder this dead city was not so rotted and ruined as he had imagined, no wonder the streets held so little dust. The whole so-called ruins of Aoduo Cultivation City had been a trap from first to last.

Once a top-grade bait like the Star-Ink Milk was set out, not a single human cultivator could likely resist it. They would toil all the way here, only to end up as unpaid labor—and on top of that lose every possession they had. Truly, they would weep and find no tears.

"Heh heh, it's a ready-made zero-cost business—who wouldn't take it? This is exactly what we came for; otherwise, who would want to stand guard in this godforsaken place?" The great fire lion and the great spider exchanged a smile.

Without such extra income, neither of them would have been willing to serve as guardians of these ruins. Relying solely on the pittance of mission rewards doled out by the spirit beast clan, they would never advance a single inch in this lifetime.

After all, things were different now from their days in the mortal world—they were both late Nascent Soul now, and such meager resources were nowhere near enough for their cultivation. A man grows rich only by windfalls, as the saying goes, and a horse grows fat only on night grass; without a side trade, where would the grease come from?

In truth, if the sole aim were to gather the Star-Ink Milk, there was a far simpler and more convenient method: simply seize a human and have him gather the Star-Ink Milk at the altar, and the whole matter would be settled with ease. (To be continued) R655