Chapter 4293 — Together?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Nonsense—you scooped up those three strong ones without so much as a by-your-leave, and the leader besides. A single bottle of Star Ink Nectar and you wiped out everyone else in a second. Don't you feel that's an unfair victory? And you've the gall to show it off to my face—I can't even be bothered to call you out on it!" The Great Spider curled his lip in contempt.
Here were two formidable beings of the spirit-beast race, the sort before whom the likes of Chang Daoping did not dare so much as break wind, yet just now they squabbled like children—a sight that left Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao quite unable to hold back their laughter.
"So the two of you don't fight anymore—you've switched to making wagers?" Wei Zhao could not help laughing.
"Fight? If we could fight, I'd have been at it with him hammer and tongs long ago—who'd have nothing better to do than play at wagering? We haven't traded blows in ages; our hands are itching. It's not as if we have a choice..." the Great Fire Lion said, all helplessness.
"That's right. Once we came to the South Island, we had to obey the rules of the spirit-beast race, or we'd die miserably. How could we brawl at will?" The Great Spider sighed. "Benefactor, look at these ruins of Aoduo Cultivation City—weren't they all put to death? Word is they brought it on themselves by disobeying back then. These are living cautionary tales right before our eyes—we'd better tread carefully..."
"I never imagined the spirit-beast race's rules were so strict. That's rather unexpected," Wei Zhao said in some surprise.
As he understood it, because the Spirit Beast King had suddenly vanished, the spirit-beast race was now leaderless, each going its own way. Add to that the fact that every powerful spirit beast was a law unto itself and far from easy to manage, and by rights it ought to be utter chaos. Yet from what the Great Fire Lion and the Great Spider were saying, the rules were still very strict—quite different from what he had imagined.
"It's not really so surprising. Compared with you human cultivators, we spirit beasts believe all the more in honoring the strong. If you can beat them, you step up; if you can't, you submit. There's no such tangle of twists and turns. So long as the one at the head truly has the strength to overawe the whole herd, managing us is actually easier than managing humans," the Great Spider explained.
"Mm, that does make sense. By the way—how is it that you two are here? Surely these ruins aren't your territory now?" Wei Zhao asked suddenly.
"Heh heh, benefactor, don't joke with us—how could that be?" The Great Fire Lion waved his hands again and again. "It's true this is a dead city, but it was once one of the foremost major cities of the spirit-beast race. Even now that it lies in ruin, it could never simply be parceled out to some spirit beast. Only one of our spirit-beast race's elders could hold such a vast domain. We two have barely arrived—how could we wield such influence?"
"But your strength now—aren't you both already at the late Nascent Soul stage? Isn't that enough? I assumed you had both been transformed by seizing control of this great store of cultivation resources," Wei Zhao could not help saying in curiosity.
Whether the Great Fire Lion or the Great Spider, back in the mortal world they had both been only at the Heaven rank. Yet in so short a time they had already reached the terrifying height of the late Nascent Soul stage. Wei Zhao considered his own progress already utterly heaven-defying, but set beside these two, he was still a hundred thousand li behind. (To be continued...)