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Translator: BornToBe
Sitting on top of the Golden-Scaled Bull, the two of them continued deeper into the Forest of Darkness. It seemed what Long Chen wanted to find could only be found in its depths.
On the way, Lu Fang-er taught Long Chen a bunch of common knowledge that had to do with being a Beast Tamer, giving him a more profound understanding of the profession.
At the same time, he understood why Lu Fang-er had released her two Magical Beasts. The truth was that her soul energy was limited, and she was only able to open four spiritual spaces to control a maximum of four Magical Beasts.
If it was just opening spiritual spaces, then Lu Fang-er would be able to open up many more of them. But with her current soul energy, she was unable to control so many Magical Beasts.
If a person ordinarily possessed one hundred percent of their soul energy, then in comparison, she required ninety-nine percent of her soul energy to control her Magical Beasts. Without enough soul energy, the slave imprints on her Magical Beasts would loosen, and then there was no way for her to control them perfectly. If at that time her Magical Beasts rebelled, they would kill her in order to regain their freedom.
Only then did Long Chen realize why it was no wonder Magical Beasts and their masters felt no trust towards each other. Let alone feelings of friendship, it seemed more like they were constantly scheming against each other.
From what Lu Fang-er explained, Long Chen began to sympathise with the Beast Tamer profession. During battle, they wouldn’t just need to defend against enemies, but also against rebellion from their own Magical Beasts. That was definitely tiring.
This was why Long Chen and Little Snow’s relationship that didn’t rely on a spiritual contract, but purely on an emotional and mental connection, had completely shocked Lu Fang-er. However, that kind of life and death trust between the two of them also deeply moved her.
But that kind of trust was far too difficult to establish. Whether it was humans or Magical Beasts, who would be willing to sacrifice their lives and unconditionally entrust their own lives to another?
“Long Chen, since you didn’t place a spiritual imprint on Little Snow, Little Snow’s combat ability isn’t restricted, and so it is really a good thing.
“Furthermore, if someone wants to steal Little Snow from you, they would first automatically attempt to remove Little Snow’s original spiritual imprint. You aren’t a Beast Tamer, so if you had placed a spiritual imprint, it would have been easily broken by anyone who knew what they were doing.
“When senior apprentice-brother Qi saw you were unable to block his spiritual attack, he could easily tell you only knew a few crude soul arts. That was why he wanted to erase your spiritual imprint.
“When a Magical Beast’s spiritual imprint is erased, the Magical Beast’s soul will receive a heavy impact and it will lose consciousness, losing the ability to resist. At that time, it would be easy to subdue.” As they travelled, Lu Fang-er told Long Chen some ordinary knowledge that pertained to Beast Tamers.
From that, Lu Fang-er learned that Long Chen had used the simplest, crudest method to open his spiritual space. She hadn’t been able to hold back imparting some foundational techniques to Long Chen.
Long Chen was a powerful pill cultivator, and his Spiritual Strength made him strong enough to be a Beast Tamer. That was why Lu Fang-er now went against her sect’s rules and secretly taught Long Chen several secret techniques.
It had to be known that the Wind Spirit Pavilion kept its secret soul arts under tight wraps. If the sect learned Lu Fang-er had done this, she would be harshly punished.
Long Chen had not found a single secret manual within senior apprentice-brother Qi’s spatial ring that pertained to soul arts. Just that was enough for Long Chen to guess how closely their sect guarded their soul arts.
A sect’s secret techniques were that sect’s inheritance. Even the Xuantian Monastery prevented its disciples from spreading its sect’s secret techniques. The punishment for breaking that rule was heavy.
The Wind Spirit Pavilion’s disciples were all soul cultivators, and such cultivators were extremely rare. There were very few manuals pertaining to soul cultivation. So the most basic, crudest soul arts Long Chen had found in the monastery had cost him tens of thousands of points.
Although Lu Fang-er feigned being relaxed as she taught Long Chen these things, she was unable to conceal her apprehensiveness from Long Chen.
Long Chen was extremely grateful for this action of hers. He truly was in great need of this knowledge. Otherwise, even with his powerful Spiritual Strength, without ways to use it, he would naturally suffer once he met a true expert in that area.
According to Lu Fang-er, the Wind Spirit Pavilion’s soul arts were closely guarded, and even she had only come into contact with some of the more basic ones.
There were more profound soul arts that she didn’t have the qualifications to train in. Only geniuses like Feng Xiao-zi and Meng Qi had access to them.
But even so, Long Chen had gained a great deal. He was shocked to find there were so many ways to use Spiritual Strength.
On the other hand, Lu Fang-er was even more shocked by Long Chen’s abnormal comprehension skills. As long as she taught him the circulation method of Spiritual Strength, Long Chen would easily grasp it.
In fact, Long Chen began to bring up theories and understandings that even made Lu Fang-er’s eyes open wide. Once Long Chen grasped the basics, he would immediately think of other possible tricks that could be used similarly.
He proposed concepts that were completely unimaginable to her. And yet, they did seem to correlate to the basic principles she had taught him. But she had never even imagined such things.
“Long Chen, if I didn’t know your background, I would definitely think you had already learned all these soul arts and were just purposely teasing me,” sighed Lu Fang-er.
Long Chen felt some embarrassment. This was his first time coming into contact with true soul arts, and he found them to be all too miraculous, and so he had involuntarily begun to come up with all kinds of thoughts.
Long Chen had never been the kind of person to stick to the well-established rules and customs. All kinds of wild concepts filled his head. Now some of them had unexpectedly leaked out.
He scolded himself for wanting to learn how to run before even learning how to walk. He was definitely overestimating his own abilities. “I just like to let my imagination run wild, so don’t take offense.”
“You misunderstand. I’m not angry. Your comprehension skills towards soul arts are just too shocking. Although these are all just introductory soul arts for true soul cultivators, the speed at which you comprehend them is terrifying. It feels like quite a blow to me,” laughed Lu Fang-er a bit bitterly.
These ‘introductory’ soul arts were all foundational techniques that included a wide range of topics involving soul energy. There were ways to nourish, export, control, and erupt out with soul energy. These techniques had required half a year for Lu Fang-er to just barely be able to control them.
Although Lu Fang-er had never viewed herself as being extremely talented, she was still above average in the Wind Spirit Pavilion. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had the qualifications to enter the Jiuli secret realm.
And yet, in front of Long Chen, she felt as if her own skills had received a huge blow. Although she knew Long Chen was a pill cultivator and his Spiritual Strength wouldn’t be lacking, Long Chen had only just started learning about this topic. Just his comprehension skills had given her a heavy blow. Was he some kind of genius from legends?
“There’s people ahead.”
Long Chen had been in the midst of trying to think of a way to change this awkward topic when several figures appeared in front of them.
There were a total of four people. One of them was an ordinary core disciple, while the other three were Favored. Their auras were extremely stable, making their strength very stable.
In front of the four of them lay a huge Magical Beast. Long Chen was astonished to see that it was a fourth rank Magical Beast.
Fourth rank Magical Beasts were all powerful. From their postures, it was obvious this Magical Beast had been killed by just the four of them.
“You don’t need to be surprised. That’s just a Black-Tooth Porcupine. It’s one of the weakest existences amongst fourth rank Magical Beasts. It’s normal for it to be killed by them,” explained Lu Fang-er when she saw Long Chen’s astonished expression.
As a Beast Tamer, her ability in identifying Magical Beasts was number one. She would even be able to recognize some Magical Beasts that only existed in legends just based on their outer form.
Furthermore, she not only knew their names, she also knew their ranks, techniques, attacking methods, and weak points. That was the knowledge all Beast Tamers consumed in preparation for the future.
Long Chen hadn’t been able to recognize it, but Lu Fang-er had seen through it with just a glance. This Magical Beast was the weakest possible kind of fourth rank Magical Beast. It couldn’t even compare to her two old housepets, let alone the Scarlet Blaze Lion.
The fact that their group was able to kill it without losing a single member definitely meant they weren’t weak, but there was nothing overly shocking about it.
They had just finished cutting open its head and taking out its crystal core when they suddenly saw Long Chen and Lu Fang-er.
With Long Chen present, Lu Fang-er had no worries about safety. Atop the Golden-Scaled Bull, the two of them were both very safe.
Magical Beasts that were a lower rank than it would all flee in fright. As for Magical Beasts on the same level as it, Long Chen would naturally handle them.
“That little fellow seems to be the person in the photographic jades.” The four of them stared closely at the two of them.
“You’re right, it’s him. That brat really does have luck with woman. Another woman’s in his hands, and she’s so beautiful.” One of the Favored swallowed when he saw Lu Fang-er’s face.
They glanced at each other and sinister smiles appeared on their faces. They slowly approached the two of them.
Just what kind of person was Long Chen? Just from a look at their gazes, he knew what these idiots were thinking.
From their robes, he could see they all came from the same Righteous sect. But he didn’t recognize the particular sect marking on their robes.
Seeing the four of them approach them, Lu Fang-er ordered her Magical Beasts to stop. She cautiously looked at the four of them. “Four senior apprentice-brothers from the Cloud Returning Cave, the two of us only ran into you by chance here. We harbor no malice.”
The Favored at the front replied, “Junior apprentice-sister, you don’t need to be afraid. As fellow members of the Righteous path, we definitely won’t harm you. We’ll rescue you from this pervert’s hands.”
“You’ve misunderstood. I am friends with Long Chen, and we’re just exploring. What rescue are you talking about?”
Long Chen merely sat on the bull’s back without saying anything. He just watched as these four people surrounded them, simply smiling slightly from the start.
“Junior apprentice-sister from the Wind Spirit Pavilion, you don’t need to be afraid. Although Long Chen is despicable and shameless, vicious and malicious, with the four of us present, he definitely won’t be able to harm even a single hair on your head.” The head Favored then pointed at Long Chen and cursed, “Brazen Long Chen, you rape women, and then massacre fellow Righteous disciples. Today the four of us will take the place of the Heavenly Daos to punish you. Do you have anything to say? Don’t think the four of us don’t know you’ve seized this woman and are forcing her to speak for you. If you’re smart, you’ll immediately release this junior apprentice-sister. Otherwise, the four of us will have to hack you into a thousand pieces and turn your bones to ashes.”
Lu Fang-er’s expression sunk and she icily said, “You really are just deliberately provoking us. I’ve already said we’re friends. Why do you keep talking about rescue?”
“Don’t be afraid junior apprentice-sister. We definitely won’t let you be degenerated by this pervert,” said the Favored righteously.
As they had conversed, the four of them had been constantly moving. Now there were just thirty meters from the Golden-Scaled Bull. Suddenly, one of them shouted, “Now!”
A ball shot out towards the Golden-Scaled Bull’s head. When it was less than a couple of meters away, it exploded, releasing a yellow powder. A faint smell filled the air.
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