With a chief like Tan Lin backing him, Lin Jin wasn't afraid. If Wu Chenwei wanted to cause trouble, let him.
Tonight, Lin Jin arrived at Mount Zoroku a little late. By the time he arrived at Shang'er and the others' accommodations, it was already late at night.
But when he arrived, Lin Jin was startled by what he saw.
The little foxes ran over happily and climbed onto Lin Jin's body to act coquettishly. Shang'er strode forward as well. None of this was a problem. The problem was that Lin Jin saw a giant white ape sitting on the grass in front of him, looking at him with a cute look on its face.
Why was the great white ape here?
Lin Jin's mind was filled with questions.
If he wasn't mistaken, this white ape was the one that escaped from Maple City yesterday. He heard that the City Lord Manor and the Grassy Continent natives had been searching for it for an entire night but to no avail.
"Master Lin, I was just about to tell you about this," Shang'er said as she came over.
Lin Jin finally understood what was going on after Shang'er explained.
Last night, when Shang'er was returning from Maple City, she found this great white ape in a valley. At that time, she used a few tricks and managed to subdue it. After all, one was a beast with high intelligence, while the other was a demon cultivator with superhuman intelligence and knew how to use spells.
When Shang'er wanted to leave, the defeated white ape followed her all the way.
Later, seeing that the ape didn't mean any harm and had nowhere to go, Shang'er pitied it so she brought it back and settled it here.
Just then, Little Five hopped over and crouched on the ape's head, chirping.
Shang'er said, "Little Five communicated with the ape through dreams. This ape is smart and knows that we're here to learn spells so it wants to stay and learn with us."
The next moment, the white ape got up, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed like a human.
Smart as expected.
This was normal. Lin Jin had used his coiled wire needle to appraise it yesterday and knew that this white ape's intelligence was almost on par with Little Five's. If it wasn't smart, it wouldn't have been able to escape from the encirclement yesterday.
However, Lin Jin didn't realize that this white ape was a beast that was dedicated to Dao.
Now that Shang'er and Little Five were interceding on its behalf, the white ape had knelt down.
Should he accept it?
It was up to Lin Jin to decide.
Lin Jin was also thinking about it.
The great white ape was a troublesome creature to begin with. Maple City's City Lord Manor and the Grassy Continent Caravan were looking for it, and they definitely wouldn't give up anytime soon.
Maybe one day he would find Mount Zoroku.
That was where the problem lay.
Once clues were found, Shang'er, Little Five, and the others might even be implicated.
Lin Jin had to consider this risk.
Moreover, Lin Jin still didn't trust the white ape too much. Shang'er and the others were different. After a few days of interaction, they were as close as family. Lin Jin now understood the fox cubs' personalities.
Would the Great White Ape be like Shang'er and the others, naive and naive? Perhaps it would repay kindness with enmity when it became successful in its cultivation.
Lin Jin couldn't be blamed for overthinking this. He had to be cautious.
From Lin Jin's point of view, he didn't want to get involved in this mess. Glancing at the great white ape kneeling on the ground, Lin Jin didn't make a decision immediately. Instead, he beckoned the little foxes into the cave to learn.
He had to reconsider this matter.
Several hours later, Lin Jin finished explaining the essentials of the Qi Formation and some incantations. Looking outside, the great white ape was still kneeling obediently. Although it would move its head and arms from time to time, it was obvious that it was still very respectful.
Shang'er was smart enough to know that she had said what she needed to say. Lin Jin would have to decide what to do in the end so she stopped pleading. Little Five didn't do anything else either. Instead, the fox cubs came over to plead for Lin Jin to take the great white ape as his disciple with pitiful looks on their faces.
Lin Jin sighed.
"Get up," he said.
Surprisingly, the great white ape could understand Lin Jin's words. It got up, its eyes filled with anticipation.
"Learn from the little foxes first. We'll talk about whether or not I'll take you in as my disciple some time later."
Although that was what he said, it was just a test for a few more days.
The great white ape was visibly excited.
Its hometown was a thousand miles away in the depths of the Grassy Continent. It was too far away for it to go back. Here, it was all alone with no one to rely on.
Hence, when an opportunity like this presented itself, the great white ape wouldn't miss it.
Mimicking a human, it bowed repeatedly.
Lin Jin knew that the great white ape was now a source of trouble. If he took it in, he would have to clean up its mess.
But then again, the top-notch cultivation methods Lin Jin obtained from the Museum of Deadly Beasts were meant for pet beasts to cultivate. To put it bluntly, even if he didn't take in the great white ape today, he would take in other pet beasts to learn from in the future.
Lin Jin was thinking that with a group of successful pet beasts and monsters under him, he would have helpers even if he ran into trouble in the future. Moreover, Lin Jin was curious to see how much stronger the great white ape could become after cultivating the spell.
He tried to explain the Beast Energy Formation to the great white ape and it actually listened attentively. Lin Jin could tell that this guy had been able to understand human speech for a long time.
Cultivation wasn't something that could be done in a day. After teaching the great white ape part of the incantation, Lin Jin gave it some time to digest it before sending the great white ape out with him.
For what?
To clean up its mess.
The City Lord Manor and the Grassy Continent's caravan wouldn't give up on the hunt. They might have found some clues so to ensure that they couldn't find it, Lin Jin had to mislead them.
Of course, the great white ape had done a great job in this regard. If it weren't smart enough, any other pet beast would have been caught long ago.
It wasn't easy for the great white ape to hide until now.
What Lin Jin had to do was simple. He had to create the illusion that the ape was fleeing in another direction. Given enough time, Lin Jin could teach the white ape the art of 'transformation'. At the very least, the ape could change its size. Otherwise, it wouldn't be easy for it to hide with its current size.
Riding on the great white ape's neck, Lin Jin had it head in the opposite direction of Mount Zoroku. When they arrived at a village, Lin Jin purposely destroyed a straw house used to store crops so that the villagers could see the great white ape. Then, they continued fleeing in that direction.
Finally, by a large river, Lin Jin had the great white ape enter the water to erase its scent and traces. After making a big detour, they returned to Mount Zoroku.
If everything went according to plan, the City Lord Manor and the Grassy Continent's caravan would be misled and run in another direction. This way, Lin Jin could at least have a few days to teach the great white ape.
By the time they got back, the sky was getting brighter. Lin Jin instructed Shang'er not to let the great white ape out during the day and to stay in the cave while Shang'er taught it the Beast Energy Formation and transformation skills.
This was the best they could do for now.
It had been a torturous night and even Lin Jin was exhausted. After returning to Maple City, he didn't go to the Beast Appraisal Association but went straight home to sleep.
Over at the association, Zhao Ying was quite skilled and Jia Qian was experienced so it shouldn't be a problem for her to treat and appraise beasts on his behalf.
After taking a look around the beast pen, Lin Jin fell asleep on his bed.
…
In the palace of a small country in Nanjiang Continent.
Black Crow was sitting on the throne that belonged to the king in a carefree manner, enjoying the delicacies and drinking the aged wine.
The royalty of this small country stood below him, trembling in fear.
Countries were divided into three levels.
Small countries were the lowest, with only Rank 3 pet beasts. Intermediate countries had to have Rank 4 pet beasts. As for premium countries, they had to have Rank 5 pet beasts.
There were countless small countries in this world. Just one city and one pond was enough to form a country.
Take the small country Black Crow was currently in for example. Black Crow couldn't even be bothered to remember the name of the country. There was only one city here with less than a few thousand citizens.
With Black Crow's strength, he could single-handedly suppress an entire country.
The king of the small country mustered up his courage and said, "Your Excellency, our country is too weak to gather the items that you want."
Black Crow took a sip of this country's specialty wine. "Gather as much as you can. But you better not lie to me or else you'll be the ruler of a country."
The king shuddered in fear.
He dared not voice his anger.
Left with no choice, he could only gather the resources of this small country to gather all sorts of rare herbs for the other party.
Half a day later, Black Crow left with the items and headed straight for another small country.
After Black Crow left, the king of this small country was enraged but there was nothing he could do. The other party's pet beast was too strong. Their country's guardian beast was severely injured in just one exchange. They had no choice but to concede defeat.
"Your Majesty, it's not your fault that our country is weak. You mustn't blame yourself," a minister consoled the king.
"It's a pity that the highest pet beast we can buy in this world is only Rank 3. Otherwise, even if we were to gather the entire country's resources, we would have at least bought a Rank 4 pet beast to bolster our nation's strength. We wouldn't have to suffer such humiliation." The king gritted his teeth.
"Your Majesty, I have a plan to wipe away this humiliation." The minister said, "That Black Crow has committed all sorts of evil and has killed countless people. Who knows how many small countries have been massacred by him? He must have many enemies. Why don't we form an alliance and hire villainous experts to kill him …"
The king's eyes lit up.
This was a good idea. Their country was weak so they couldn't exact revenge. But there was strength in numbers. By forming an alliance with a few smaller countries, they might be able to get their revenge.
"Alright, we'll do as you say. But this must not be leaked. We must be thorough."
...
Eastern Continent's Shallow Water Country.
This was a small country but among its peers, it was considered one of the strongest. There were more than a dozen Rank 3 pet beasts in the country and it had many cities. Recently, it had been trying to seek help from beast appraisers from other countries to find an evolution method for Rank 4 pet beasts.
Inside the palace, Shallow Water's king was entertaining a distinguished guest, a Rank 3 beast appraiser from an intermediate country. He was here to learn about evolution methods.
The Rank 3 beast appraiser was extremely arrogant. He had reaped all the benefits but still hadn't offered any guidance. This made Shallow Water's king anxious.
Just then, there was a commotion outside. Battle cries could be heard, startling everyone in the hall.
"What's going on?" The king was displeased. Immediately, a guard rushed forward to report that a woman had barged into the palace and was about to enter.
"Ridiculous. How could a woman barge into my heavily-guarded kingdom?" the king asked with a frown.
The Rank 3 beast appraiser smiled. "Looks like Your Majesty is in some trouble. But don't worry. Since I'm here as a guest in Shallow Water Country, I'll help you solve any problems you encounter."
Shallow Water's king was overjoyed to hear this.
This Rank 3 beast appraiser had a Rank 3 pet beast with him. Moreover, it was a pet beast at the peak of Rank 3. It was extremely powerful.
Hence, everyone got up to push the door open to have a look.
The Rank 3 beast appraiser walked at the front with a swagger. But when he pushed the door open and saw a beautiful young woman carrying a swaddle, he felt like he was struck by lightning.
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