Yue Bing was anxious and dejected.
After entering the Abyss for the first time, it became panicky. So when it saw some unknown objects heading towards Tian Lang, Yue Bing defended him instinctively in all anxiousness.
As someone from the upper floor, Tian Lang had fought with demons of much higher levels. Not to mention his rich experience, even his strength alone was unimaginable. His reaction was naturally better than itself. Even if he had lost his strength and was in a weakened state, he probably had unimaginable summons in his arsenal.
Yue Bing had nothing to worry about. It could move around the Abyss with Tian Lang without worries. But because of its anxiousness, not only did it create trouble for Tian Lang, it even missed the chance to experience Abyss properly.
As this foolish action replayed in Yue Bing’s head repeatedly, it wished to dig a hole and hide in there forever. However, there was no reason anymore. After paying the medical expenses, Tian Lang went away. He didn’t need assistance from some useless students.
The only reason Yue Bing still remained in the clinic because it hoped that its Prince Charming hadn’t abandoned it...
By the time Tian Lang returned to the first floor’s Warrior Guild Clinic, the sky had darkened. Hunting the Bloody Queen took more time than he expected. He was worried that Yue Bing had long woke up and left, which would complicate things as he would need another human compass. That also had demerit as Tian Lang squandered most of his robbed wealth. Had it not been for the guard operating the Teleportation Portal recognizing him as Flower Fairy’s ‘helper,’ he would be still stuck on the third floor.
Thankfully, Yue Bing hadn’t left. There was still hope for him to reach the Ivy Academy. But as soon as Yue Bing saw Tian Lang, it hugged him tightly.
“Eh? Do you want to cry too?” As Tian Lang still hadn’t forgotten Bloody Queen’s intense and irritating crying bout, he couldn’t help but ask.
“Ah? E-no!” Yue Bing was confused, but then it realized its action could be easily misunderstood so it backed away. Only then did Yue Bing realize Tian Lang’s clothes had traces of fresh green, blue, and black blood. “Brother Tian, did you go to train?”
“Not really. I was forced around because of Flower Fairy,” Tian Lang grumbled in dissatisfaction even though he gained more than he asked.
“Flower Fairy?” Yue Bing’s ears perked on that word.
Tian Lang replied dismissively, “Apparently, it’s Luo Hua City Mistress’s name. Now, let’s go to Ivy Academy.”
As Tian Lang already walked out of the clinic, Yue Bing ran after him and grabbed his hand, “Brother Tian, you can’t. First you have to wash those blood and dirt off. Although it’s normal to walk with blood in the tower, it’s the opposite outside. You will attract more attention. And even if we use the Teleportation Portals and reach Ivy Academy fastest by tonight, it is useless. They’ve already closed today for now. If it is not an emergency how about we hold off until tomorrow morning?”
Tian Lang wanted to shout, saying, OF COURSE, IT’S EMERGENCY!!! But he held back at the last moment. Who knows what would happen if this human noticed his intention, so he had to be discreet. He couldn’t blow up his scheming intentions of snatching human secrets for himself. Tian Lang hadn’t suffered under Flower Fairy for no reason. However, it shall end soon. He will have his hand on the mysteries of fleshy mounds and rise to the peak of Tong Tian Tower.
In the end, he nodded sagely and said, “Let’s do that. We will leave first thing in the morning.”
The Warrior’s Lodge was just beside the clinic and the Warrior’s Guild. So, they booked for a night there. Tian Lang was afraid that he wouldn’t have enough to lodge. Since he only spent in gold coins so far, he undervalued silver and copper coins. Lodging, food, and bath only took a few silver coins.
Tian Lang decided to skip on the food. He had barely paid attention to how humans ate. Without further practice, it might be unfavorable for him to eat along with humans.
Bathing wasn’t any problem for him. Tian Lang had seen the previous Yue Yang bath every day during his stay. He also took the chance to explore his body. Definitely, he had a perfect body, not that he knew what was perfect, but since it was his, it IS perfect.
Only, his perfect body lacked Fleshy Mounds. But as his thought came to mounds, Tian Lang floated in the warm water. He had long stored his guardian beast back. He realized it was his useless guardian beast given by the Grimoire.
How could he call it his own fleshy mounds if it wasn’t his own flesh in the first place?
He recalled how soft Flower Fairy and Bloody Queen’s body was. That unnamed big fleshy mounded human and even Lady Xian, although they had soft skins, they couldn’t be injured. Flower Fairy and Blood Queen were different. They could be hurt, which meant Lady Xian and that human had better quality mounds.
However, his body was entirely hard, like a rock. Skin that felt smooth as beast crystals. And muscles were squeezed in his entire body as if someone was afraid he would have less. At the same time, they were at a medium level, which won’t hinder his maneuverability.
Anyway, Tian Lang decided not to demotivate himself. Maybe everything is hidden inside that secret of fleshy mounds.
Aside from that, he also had to collect information about Holy Beast Rankings. Holy Beast rank seemed different from the usual bronze, silver, etc. It was something of a higher order. So his cultivation and strength to progress smoothly, he had to learn them too.
After pondering and examining why his meat-stick suddenly enlarged and how it enlarged, Tian Lang left the bath with only a towel.
Yue Bing, who had been waiting for Tian Lang, saw him and instantly ran away with a red face.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Tian Lang just shrugged. He never tried to understand this weird human. As long as his secret remained safe, he would let it be... Now that he thought about it, he almost forgot about the payment he collected for Yue Bing.
Agh, he just had a headache after getting reminded of the Royal Princess. He hoped to never meet that human again. He reckoned that even if he became completely comfortable with human life, that human might be able to figure out his true identity.
Tian Lang entered his room and searched for something to wear in the shadows. However, there was hardly anything suitable. The clothing worn by demon generals were good in their own way, but Tian Lang found them bulky and restrictive.
Well, not that he had a choice. He chose something that matched normal human clothing and put it aside for the next morning.
Now that he had some breather, Tian Lang organized things in the shadows. He readily pushed every bloody item to a corner. No kidding, he just got out of the shower.
Setting aside the embroidered box, Tian Lang finally realized that he had gold coins sitting there. When he exchanged the egg, Feng Rui gave him 100 gold coins. Tian Lang counted and found more than nine-nines gold coins. (A/N: more than 9x9;)
Suddenly, out of all the strange objects, one ordinary black crystal caught Tian Lang’s eyes. He recognized the crystal immediately. It wasn’t from any beast he hunted but rather, one of the treasures the original Yue Yang hid.
Although Tian Lang failed to eat this black crystal, he knew it wasn’t any ordinary item back then. Now that his discerning abilities increased several times, he was more confident of his hypothesis.
It seemed like a refined beast crystal, but of a much higher quality. As for how high, since he couldn’t see or get a feel of it properly, he couldn’t estimate. And everything was blocked by a pattern he could barely sense. No matter how much he tried, Tian Lang couldn’t even make an outline.
Not willing to accept defeat, Tian Lang used the attached string to wear it on his neck. Since he couldn’t do it now, he shall try every day. One day he was bound to be successful.
Laying on the bed, Tian Lang fidgeted. Now that he had nothing to do, everything started to settle down on his mind. He became a Holy Beast, entered Abyss, then went to the third floor and fought Demon Commander and Demon Generals. The Gold-rank Beast King he gained was a superb one with fleshy mounds.
Just... it felt so long even though it was only one day. Tian Lang felt he hadn’t spent a day like this before. Most of the time he was led from one place to another, and he also had to keep his head low to not stand out.
Every time he wanted to go ahead and beat the shit out of the demons, he had to be careful to not let the humans know. Tian Lang scrunched his nose unknowingly. That was the most uncomfortable feeling he had to bear. As Tian Lang remembered more and more, he wished to die. Such embarrassment...
Tian Lang made a fist. This will come to an end when he gets his hand on the secret.
What Flower Fairy and what Royal Princess, Tian Lang would bully them until they begged mercy. Especially that Royal Princess, he won’t spare it even if it begged mercy hundreds of times.
In the end, even though Tian Lang hugged the Shadow Leopard, he couldn’t get a wink of sleep. He summoned the Grimoire. This purple cover might be a bit troublesome, but he wasn’t planning to summon the Grimoire that often. Rather than cultivating some other beasts, he was more interested in cultivation himself.
As for Bloody Queen, well, who didn’t like beautiful, fleshy mounds?
Now that he thought about it, he might as well summon the Bloody Queen and practice his Demon Abyss Language.
Following his intention, the grimoire turned on its own. Tian Lang touched Bloody Queen’s image and summoned.
[Summoner Rank Level 1 [Apprentice]–Intermediate, you are limited to summon from one type of contract a day.]
“Eh?” Tian Lang let out a confused noise. He had no idea there were such restrictions. He remembered he summoned his Guardian Beast [Origin Slime], so he turned the page back, but there was yet another surprise.
He didn’t notice it before, but the page after Origin Slime wasn’t empty. It had a beast entry,
Twin Flower Thorny Vine:
Green Flower Thorny Vine
Life-form, Evolution in-progress;
Plant Type, Level 3 – Silver Rank
Contract: Soul Blood – Guardian Beast
Skills: Poison Spit, Take Root, Toxic Vine, Division Propagation, Corpse Feeding
Golden Flower Thorny Vine
Life-form, Evolution in-progress;
Plant Type, Level 3 – Silver Rank
Contract: Soul Blood – Guardian Beast
Skills: Take Root, Vine Hold, Thorny Vine, Division Propagation, Crystal Feeding
This... Tian Lang suddenly remembered that when he completed the hardest difficulty mission of the Pomen Rainforest, he had heard this name.
Apparently, Tong Tian Tower hadn’t cheated him but he really had contracted such a beast. Weird though, he recalled no such memory of contracting such beasts. But seeing it was Soul Blood Contract, Tian Lang had an inkling.
He tried to summon the [Twin Flower Thorny Vine], but the same words flashed as expected. Well, since they had a soul blood contract, there was nothing he could do about it. A Guardian Beast lived forever with the master.
He turned back page and finally found the Origin Slime. It had a Contract type of Grimoire, which Tian Lang had no idea about. That is to say, if he summoned either of his current contracted beasts, he wouldn’t be able to summon another for the whole day.
Not that he needed any, but having a restriction felt like an itch he needed to scratch.
Anyway, he summoned the Origin Slime. According to the Grimoire, it was a non-living entity that could follow orders. Honestly, it wasn’t anything good but not bad either. For a Guardian Beast, it was really useless.
A Guardian Beast’s advantage was to charge at battles without any fear. It was a fearless tank that had no fear of truly dying. Having a useless guardian beast meant a considerable loss of potential.
However, Tian Lang, who could contract all of his summoned beasts Guardian Beasts, felt no such blow.
He calmly thought about how he could use this useless pile of mound and ordered it around.
The slime could move anywhere from wall to even ceiling. As it was soft and wobbly, it made no such sound with zero presence. Even Tian Lang failed to sense any disturbance or presence of elements or qi inside the slime.
Origin Slime could also move upwards without any limitation. However, it became thin very quickly due to its size and had little to no attack power. As for survivability, Tian Lang had no comment.
Brute attack or his claws, everything was ineffective on the slime. Sadly, Tian Lang lacked any elemental conjuring ability, or he would’ve also tested its tolerance toward such attacks.
Even though Origin Slime was a non-living entity, it was still a beast. Tian Lang gave it a low-level beast crystal, which brought no reaction from slime. He ordered, the result was the same. In the end, he pushed the crystal inside the slime. Finally, there was a reaction, but the crystal slowly melted and dropped on the ground.
This... Tian Lang shook his head and made the slime his pillow.
It wasn’t a real fleshy mound, but it did the job just fine for him. He slept like a log that night.