“He cheated!”

Opposite Tianlan and the others, the young woman who had bloody claw marks on her abdomen pointed a shaky finger at Tianlan. She had a furious expression on her face as she continued.

“He got help from outside spirit beasts. That’s against the rules!”

“Yeah!” The young man standing next to her mirrored her sentiment as he held down his bleeding wound.

“He should be disqualified!”

The two of them had been ambushed by Tianlan and the two wolves on their way back to the safe zone. Or, at least that’s the story they would tell if asked. But the truth of the matter was that the two of them had teamed up to try and get a few more points from the lone Tianlan as he was making his way back.

This was an obvious strategy and had proven to be quite lucrative for them until that point.

Unfortunately, their final target was accompanied by two powerful spirit beasts who were hiding in the shadows. Those beasts were so powerful, in fact, that the young man and young woman couldn’t put up much of a resistance against them and soon found themselves flying through the air having sustained serious injuries.

Furious, they wanted to get Tianlan disqualified.

Of course, they knew that there was such a profession as Beast Tamer, and it was known that beast tamers had means to transport or summon their spirit beasts. On top of that, it was mentioned before the start of the trial that as long as the summons were contractual, bringing in external help was allowed. But the two decided to try their luck. If it was shown that those wolves were non-contractual summons, then Tianlan would have broken the rules and would thus be disqualified.

That was the only way they could vent their frustration.

“Not necessarily,” said the third elder as he stood between Tianlan and the two wounded.

“If these are his tamed beasts, then they are considered part of his own strength, meaning he wouldn’t have broken any rules. Fortunately, this is easy enough to verify.”

He turned to Tianlan.

“Now, young man, show us your proof of contract. As long as the seal appears on both you and the snow wolves, this matter will be settled.”

“I can’t do that,” replied Tianlan.

The third elder frowned.

“If you can’t show proof of contract, then I’m afraid you’re disqualified.”

“Not quite,” said Tianlan as he shifted his gaze to a certain half-sister who seemed to be quite pleased.

He turned his attention back to the third elder.

“These aren’t my tamed beasts, but I didn’t bring them here either. They were beasts who lived in the trial area.”

After hearing those words, shocked exclamations rang out among the crowd. They had all seen the information jades and knew that snow wolves were some of the most powerful spirit beasts in the entire third trial. How could it not be shocking for two of them to appear friendly with a new recruit?

It would be one thing if they had known him since birth. There were all sorts of stories about humans who were raised by spirit beasts and vice versa. But that clearly wasn’t the case here.

Aside from the shock and doubt, there was one reaction that was slightly different. Elder Qian —who had previously been speaking to the third elder— raised his brows in interest. It was highly likely that this boy was involved in the death of his tamed beast.

The third elder frowned. He didn’t quite believe what Tianlan was saying. Even the sect disciples who would frequent the third trial for maintenance didn’t have an amicable relationship with the spirit beasts. Especially not the spirit beasts of moderately high cultivation who also tended to have higher intelligence. They were mostly aware of the situation they were in and didn’t have any fondness for the humans they encountered.

He turned to a young man who was working as part of the support staff.

“Verify this.”

“Yes, sir.”

The young man made his way past the crowd and hesitated slightly as he approached the two spirit beasts with a green hexagonal jade which had the character for ‘beast’ carved into it. He could see that they were starting to grow tense as if they were preparing for battle.

As he approached Shiva with the jade, she bared her fangs at him and growled threateningly, which caused him to retreat behind the third elder.

“They’re untamed alright,” the young man commented.

The third elder turned back to the other elders and issued a simple command.

“Restrain them.”

Shiva and Rhava didn’t understand what was being said, but when they saw the group of elders coming at them, they naturally prepared themselves to fight back. They circulated their energies and caused a film of ice to form on the ground beneath them.

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The cold made Fang Wu shiver as he stepped away.

“Hold on a minute, everyone. There’s no need to use force,” said Tianlan.

The other elders —including Elder Qian— looked to the third elder who nodded his head after seeing that the snow wolves had calmed down. After everyone stopped, the third elder turned back to Tianlan who spoke to the young man behind him.

“What does this verification involve?”

The young man peeped from behind the third elder.

“I just need to use this jade to identify the spirit beasts. We tag all of the spirit beasts within the third trial, you know. That’s how we verify that the beast cores are valid and weren’t brought in from the outside.”

“What kind of experience will they have? Will it be painful?”

“No. They shouldn’t experience any pain. All that will happen is that there will be a mark that becomes visible.”

“I see,” said Tianlan while he made a few growling sounds that piqued Elder Qian’s interest.

“You can do it now. They won’t resist.”

The young man checked with the third elder, who nodded his head, then cautiously made his way closer to the two snow wolves. While their gazes still left him scared, he didn’t sense the hostility from earlier. He quickly pressed the hexagonal jade on Shiva’s body and passed some qi through it, causing an orange mark to glow on her forehead. He then went over to Rhava and did the same thing with the same result before returning to the third elder’s side.

“According to the jade, what he said was true. Both of these spirit beasts belong to the Shimmering Sword Sect.”

“Mm.”

The elder acknowledged the young man’s report, thus granting him leave. He then placed his hand on his chin and was about to ask a few questions, but he was preempted by Elder Qian, who had appeared in front of him.

“Tell me, boy, how did you manage to subdue these two spirit beasts?”

Tianlan had no intention of telling the truth of the matter. He already knew that it was better to keep a few cards hidden, and this was only reinforced by the book Hei had given him. According to its information:

If an elder asks you for uncommon knowledge, then it’s already too late. The best thing you can do is to control the damage by strategically misinforming them. But do know that you’ve already stepped onto the road of trouble. Those fellows tend to be quite persistent.

As Tianlan was readying himself to tell a well-constructed lie, he heard the boastful words of a certain young man.

“Humph! This much is only the minimum of what we can expect from the childish sages,” said Fang Wu as he proudly thumped his chest. “These beasts are willing to follow Sage Tianlan because he has mastered their language. In fact, he only taught me two words, and I was able to walk among the beasts as if I were one of them.”

“Oh?” Elder Qian’s interest intensified.

Tianlan couldn’t help but slap his own forehead. The sound rang clearly in the silence and it was soon followed by a series of similar sounds.

Fang Wu noticed that all of his cousins had slapped their foreheads and slid their hands down their faces. It wasn’t until they looked at him like he was a complete buffoon that he realised what he had done.

“Oops.”

He covered his mouth with his hands and turned to Tianlan who seemed to be forcing a smile.

“Was I not supposed to say that?”

Tianlan couldn’t be mad at Fang Wu for letting it slip. He hadn’t told the boy to keep it a secret, and besides, he had said it with so much pride that it was difficult to be upset with the little guy.

“You caused me some trouble, but don’t worry about it. Just, next time, let people speak for themselves, okay?”

“O-okay.”

Tianlan shifted his gaze to Elder Qian and when he saw to look in his eyes, he sighed internally. This was going to be troublesome.

“You speak Beast Language, do you?”

Before Tianlan could respond, he continued.

“Don’t try to deny it. All of the evidence points to this being the case.”

Tianlan shrugged his shoulders.

“I know a few words.”

“Then let me make this simple for you, junior. Hand in all of your knowledge to the sect and you will be rewarded with contribution points. Judging by your results here, the compensation won’t be small, I assure you.”

While Elder Qian had spoken in generalities, what he actually meant was that Tianlan should give him all of his knowledge on the language of the beasts.

Elder Qian was somewhat of an enthusiast. A self-styled beast tamer, who had gathered quite a collection of spirit beasts. While he was in a sword sect and he knew that all they valued was one’s mastery of the sword, that didn’t mean he had the same thoughts. He felt they were being incredibly short-sighted not to look anywhere else.

Rule the world with one sword?

What nonsense.

There was a limit to what one person could do, that was clear. But was there a limit to the number of spirit beasts a beast tamer could acquire? Could they not amass an army of loyal servants to do their bidding? And could they not send swarms of beasts to crush their enemies? Elder Qian could just imagine a day when he had an army of spirit beasts at his beck and call.

It would be glorious.

And with that in mind, he attempted to pry some knowledge out of his tamed beasts. Unfortunately, he found that most of them were too lacking in intelligence to have any meaningful conversation with him. After all, it was no easy task to have a beast willingly sign a contract. He could only amass a number of weaker beasts who would easily submit to power.

The only powerful beast he had in his collection was the vulkan tiger, but he purposefully stayed silent, preventing Elder Qian from even being able to derive meanings through observation. As a result, Elder Qian only had a weak grasp on a few phrases, which had proven useless when he tried to communicate with other beasts.

Finding someone who had a deep enough understanding that he was able to subdue two intelligent spirit beasts with his words alone was like receiving firewood in the dead of winter.

Needless to say, he wouldn’t let the chance slip away.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said Tianlan.

“Why not?”

“When a spirit beast teaches a human their language, it is no trivial matter. It’s a show of deep trust. That’s one of the reasons why Beast Language hasn’t already been widely spread. Those people who gained the trust of those spirit beasts lived up to it. I don’t intend to betray that trust. If you want to learn Beast Language, you should find a spirit beast to teach you.”

Elder Qian laughed.

“Come on. Is it the reward? If you’re unsatisfied, I’ll compensate you personally, but it will be a deal between the two of us. I don’t believe that I’ll be unable to pay your price.”

Tianlan shook his head.

“I’ve already answered you. Now, if it’s been decided that I haven’t cheated, then I’ll be on my way.”

Tianlan looked to the third elder for confirmation, but Elder Qian held his arm out.

“Not so fast. Don’t think I don’t know that you killed my tamed beast. The vulkan tiger. If you give me the knowledge I seek, then I’ll drop the matter.”

“Oh?”

Tianlan tilted his head.

“Who said I couldn’t kill your tamed beast? Wasn’t it also part of the third trial?”

He retrieved the information jade from his bag of holding and took a look.

“Mm. Vulkan Tiger. It says here that it’s worth 2,000 points.”

Tianlan placed the jade back into the bag of holding and ignored the shocked gasps of the onlookers. He directed his gaze back at Elder Qian.

“I’m afraid there isn’t a matter to drop.”

“Then give me the beast core. It’ll still count towards your points, but it belongs to me,” replied Elder Qian who had become visibly cross.

He held his hand out, but nothing was placed onto it.

“What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t have the beast core.”

“Where is it?”

“I ate it.”

“…”

Elder Qian’s building anger was replaced with momentary confusion before it was reignited by Tianlan’s following words.

“If you didn’t want people to eat your beast’s core, you should have put it in the rules.”

“Don’t be fu- Ahem. Don’t be ridiculous, young man. Do you expect me to buy such a poorly constructed story? Do you think me a fool? Humans cannot absorb the wild energy stored in a beast core. It would immediately trash your cultivation and destroy your internal organs. Now, tell me where the core is.”

“Like I said, I ate it.”

“Junior, do you dare!?”

Elder Qian’s anger erupted. He wouldn’t take being messed about by a junior and was about teach him a lesson when he felt blood lust and frosty air coming from the snow wolves. He also felt a hand grab the arm that he was about to strike with.

“Elder Qian. This is no way to behave,” said the third elder.

Elder Qian tore his arm away from the third elder’s grip and glared at Tianlan.

The third elder sighed.

“Junior. The beast cores aren’t yours for the taking. They still belong to the Shimmering Sword Sect. And that one, in particular, belongs to Elder Qian. It’s best if you return it.”

“I would return it if I had it, but what I said is true.”

Tianlan growled, and in response, Rhava used his qi to remove to the top half of Tianlan’s robe.

“As you can see, I have suffered the consequences.”

The third elder’s eyes opened wide when he saw the massive damage to Tianlan’s arms. They were a deep purple in colour and looked as if they could fall to pieces at any moment. And, though to a lesser extent, the same could be said for his entire upper body from below the neck.

“Good Heavens! What would possess you to do such a thing?”

Tianlan smiled.

“The folly of youth.”

He growled again and Rhava covered his body back up.

“I take it you believe me,” he said before turning his attention back to Elder Qian.

“Since it wasn’t stated in the rules that we weren’t allowed to consume the beast core of the vulkan tiger, I believe there’s no matter here either. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Tianlan walked forward with Shiva and Rhava following behind him.

He noticed that Elder Qian was gritting his teeth and knew that this encounter was far from over, but he was too tired to deal with these things today. He wanted to get the trial over with and take a nap in whatever room they assigned him.

It wasn’t long after he passed the two elders that he heard Elder Qian’s voice.

“You seem to think you can do whatever you want with those two snow wolves. Don’t forget that they ultimately belong to the Shimmering Sword Sect. They aren’t yours for the taking.”

Tianlan turned around with a slight frown on his face.

“How did that come to be the case? As far as I can tell, the Shimmering Sword Sect captured all of these spirit beasts or their ancestors from the wild. Am I wrong?”

“What’s your point?”

“Since when has stealing something meant that it belongs to you?”