"Generally, spirit beasts wouldn’t dare to easily gaze upon Divine Beasts, even if the Divine Beasts have concealed their oppressive aura. It seems to be a natural hierarchy among the species. However, your Eggshell Chicken seems to completely ignore this rule."
Hearing Meng Binglan’s words, Qi Chen and the others looked at their own spirit beasts and realized that their gazes, indeed, never lingered on the White Wolf Deity or the Fire Vermilion Bird, as Meng Binglan had said. Yet, Xiao Ji sat grandly on Feng Yuan’s head, posing at the Fire Vermilion Bird. Feng Yuan, seeing Meng Binglan’s somewhat ’malevolent’ gaze, protested loudly in dissatisfaction,
"I won’t let you study Xiao Ji!"
"Oh? You can actually guess my intentions?"
"Nonsense! If I couldn’t guess it from the way you’re practically dissecting Xiao Ji with your eyes, then I’d be the one seeing ghosts!"
Meng Binglan laughed and shook her head as Gladys came over, looked at Xiao Ji on top of Feng Yuan’s head, and said to him with a smile,
"I never expected the spirit beast you’re raising to be so interesting."
"Ugh!"
"Keep up!"
Seeing Luo had already climbed over that huge rock, Captain Yang calmly said to everyone. Watching Captain Yang effortlessly jump onto the rock, Feng Yuan glanced at Qi Xiaoshuang and asked,
"Do you need help?"
"No!"
"What are you trying to do now?"
"Don’t worry, brother-in-law~ I’m not interested in Xiao Shuang~"
"Scram!"
"I just think Xiao Shuang might not be able to climb such a high rock~"
Before Feng Yuan could finish, Qi Xiaoshuang, holding the White Wolf Deity, was brought up to the top of the huge rock by the White Wolf Deity. Standing on the rock, Qi Xiaoshuang provocatively looked at Feng Yuan, who, with a beaming smile, scratched his head and climbed the massive rock as they moved forward. Seeing Luo’s staggering steps, Qi Chen said in a low voice,
"Do we just watch like this..."
"What else? This is his way of showing sincerity to the deity. Can we really interfere?"
"Why this way! The other party is just a spirit beast!"
"Rare."
Qi Chen looked at Dou Yanlan in surprise, who, after speaking, calmly watched Luo ahead. Cotton swung his tail comfortably in Dou Yanlan’s arms. Seeing Qi Chen somewhat puzzled, Feng Yuan sighed and said,
"You need to understand one thing: there weren’t always so many spirit beasts at first. The earliest batch evolved on their own without any evolutionary paths to reference. You know the nature and mentality of spirit beasts. To have them search for evolutionary materials and experiment with evolutionary paths on their own is simply asking too much of them."
"But how did those evolved spirit beasts come about later?"
"Special evolution. You could say that before the invention of the contract between humans and spirit beasts, although spirit beasts held a high status, just like Divine Beasts do now, they couldn’t evolve as easily as they can today. This is also why Divine Beasts would help humans. After all, without human assistance, spirit beasts couldn’t have increased in numbers to what they are today."
"That can’t be possible, can it?"
"You know that a spirit beast’s strength is directly proportional to its lifespan, right? What we call normal evolution is simply using potions and the like to enhance a spirit beast’s potential until it’s enough for them to evolve on their own. Spirit beasts don’t know how to concoct potions."
"In the Tribal Era, which was close to the time when the Creator Twin Dragon Gods created everything, naturally born spirit beasts were rare, and their powers were somewhat magical. Hence, they were generally worshiped as deities. Who would dare to study deities in that period?"
"Relying solely on their own evolution, before their death, they might not evolve many times. Short lifespans, small numbers, and poor breeding capabilities of spirit beasts—many powerful spirit beasts of the Common Level and Good Level became extinct during this period because being strong often meant reduced fertility, coupled with the inherently small number of all spirit beasts at that time..."
"No wonder Luo looked so frightened when he saw us, bringing so many spirit beasts. He was probably scared out of his wits~"
Qi Xiaoshuang, looking at Luo’s determined figure ahead and chuckled, while Feng Yuan shook his head and said,
"During this period, it was rare for anyone to casually take spirit beasts outside because they served to protect their tribes. Even in the early Dynasty Era, apart from the powerful family forces, people generally would not take their spirit beasts out unless it was absolutely necessary."
"Don’t the Spirit Beasts get bored? Don’t they ever want to go out?"
Feng Yuan pointed at Big Cat and gently patted Xiao Ji, who was lying on his own head, and said,
"What do you think? The temperaments of these Spirit Beasts aren’t something that were later trained by humans. If they really did that, just see if the Divine Beasts wouldn’t sort out humans."
The Vermilion Bird looked disdainfully at Feng Yuan, and as they all chatted like this, they watched Luo slowly navigate the rough path. The White Wolf Deity used its extremely stealthy abilities to quietly eliminate many dangers, following Luo to a clear pool. Just when everyone was a bit puzzled, dozens of strong young men appeared from beneath the trees around the pool, with the leader speaking contemptuously to Luo.
Seeing those people knock Luo to the ground as if to mock him, Feng Yuan held back Qi Chen, who was preparing to rush forward. Qi Xiaoshuang dissatisfiedly said to Dou Yanlan, who was holding her back,
"What are you doing! Can’t you see those people are bullying him?"
"We can’t intervene..."
"Why not! Ah Mu! Go!"
"Xiao Ji, stop Ah Mu!"
"Xiao Hei, prevent Ah Mu!"
Watching as Feng Yuan and the others fell into disarray, Captain Yang sighed and ordered Bai Mao to stand in front of everyone. Qi Chen roared disapprovingly at Captain Yang,
"How can you be like this too! Is this your so-called justice?"
"Calm down, don’t forget, we are just passing through. Even if you can help him now, what about later? We aren’t staying here forever."
"But at least this time I can help him!"
"Do you think the other party won’t seek revenge? What if they take what you did and double the reprisals on Luo?"
"What if you say we should kill them, then what if it triggers tribal warfare?"
"Didn’t you also kill a Spirit Beast that attacked the settlement! Why can you do it and I can’t! And why would I need to kill them! Can’t I just teach them a lesson so they’ll run away whenever they see Luo?"
"What’s that? Lost for words?"
Qi Chen looked disdainfully at Feng Yuan. Feng Yuan opened his mouth, but in the end, he sighed and said,
"Why must you? The cause and effect of time are not so easily borne..."
Feng Yuan reluctantly let go of Qi Chen’s hand. Just as Qi Chen directed Ah Mu to prepare to rush in, a huge Flood Dragon burst out of the pool. The Flood Dragon, with its emerald blue scales and bizarre dark blue patterns, had barely appeared when it sprayed a torrent at those men, knocking them to the ground. They barely managed to stand up and hurriedly began to kneel before the Flood Dragon. Seeing the group kneeling and saying something, Feng Yuan shook his head and said,
"Indeed, this is two tribes fighting over a Spirit Beast."
The Dreaming Dragon Baby on Feng Yuan’s shoulder lifted its head in confusion at the Flood Dragon. The Flood Dragon looked disdainfully at the people, and noticing the Flood Dragon seemed unhappy with them, the group left dejectedly. The Flood Dragon then slowly landed in front of Luo, as if listening to something Luo was saying. After a while, the Flood Dragon shook its head. After Luo said a few more words to the Flood Dragon and turned away disappointed, Gladys walked up to Luo and said something. After a moment, Gladys hesitated before telling the others,
"He wants to go back to the settlement, what do we do now?"
Captain Yang looked at Feng Yuan, who was playing with Xiao Ji, and after a moment’s deliberation, he said to Feng Yuan,
"If I entrust the task of finding clues to you, can you complete it?"
"Hmm... There shouldn’t be any major problems, aren’t you staying behind?"
Captain Yang glanced at the dejected Luo and said,
"Since I promised to escort him there and back, I must fulfill it!"
"Then do as you wish, but it seems like the old friend of the Thousand Tendril Tree is the Xuan Shui Blue Flood Dragon..."
Feng Yuan looked at the pool with a headache, sensing that this Xuan Shui Blue Flood Dragon might just be what he had surmised.

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