Subduing

The moon shone bright and the stars were sparse, while autumn lingered in the air.

Under the night sky, specks of white light swirled around the white horse. Its silky tail swayed, its big mouth hung open, and its expression plainly said: I want food.

Meng Jing was furious. This strange beast had actually slapped her in the face, opening that shameless big mouth.

Hadn't they said strange beasts were all proud?

It had yielded over five Qi Gathering Pills?

Then again, five Qi Gathering Pills a day really was a lot.

With her slender hands planted on her willow waist, she said indignantly to Jiang Ping An, "It agreed, but do you have enough Qi Gathering Pills to feed it?"

Five Qi Gathering Pills a day was equivalent to consuming two hundred spirit stones' worth of effects.

That price was enough to hire a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator to work for you.

Where would Jiang Ping An find so many resources to support this strange beast?

So in the end, this strange beast still would not submit.

Seeing that the strange beast had agreed, the corners of Jiang Ping An's lips rose slightly. With a thought, he connected to his Storage Bag, and four fragrant Qi Gathering Pills floated out.

Meng Jing's beautiful eyes widened again.

This guy could actually produce five Qi Gathering Pills!

How was he richer than even her, the general's daughter?

Jiang Ping An caught the four Qi Gathering Pills and stared straight into the strange beast's golden pupils.

"Let's lay the ugly words out first. I'll give you resources, and you'll be my mount. When I can no longer provide resources, you may leave."

"But if you eat my pills and still dare to run away, I will not be merciful."

At that moment, Jiang Ping An's expression turned icy as he once again activated the Heavenly Fiend Art.

Countless corpses appeared around them, and Sha Qi filled the air.

Meng Jing and the white strange beast both shuddered.

However, the vision quickly vanished, and the pressure on both woman and beast abruptly disappeared.

Jiang Ping An did not understand how to tame demonic beasts. He merely treated this demonic beast as a person and made a deal with it.

In the eyes of others, this was an exceedingly foolish thing to do.

Jiang Ping An released its neck and put the four Qi Gathering Pills into the strange beast's mouth.

"I don't know what kind of demonic beast you are, so I'll treat you as a horse. From today onward, your name will be Little White."

"What a casual name." Meng Jing mocked from the side.

"Simple names are easier to raise." Jiang Ping An climbed down from the horse's back.

After swallowing five Qi Gathering Pills, the white horse recovered some strength and stood up again.

A powerful ripple suddenly burst from within its body. Its fur fluttered, and its entire body became even whiter and brighter, strikingly beautiful in the night.

It had actually broken through directly.

The white horse gave Jiang Ping An a complicated look with its golden eyes, then glanced at Jiang Ping An's Storage Bag. With great haughtiness, it turned its head away and lay back down without running away.

Jiang Ping An smiled faintly and stroked its silky head.

With this extremely fast strange beast, his ability to survive would greatly improve in the future.

"I suggest selling this strange beast in exchange for resources," Meng Jing leaned close to Jiang Ping An's ear and whispered.

She did not believe he had enough resources to keep supplying this strange beast.

If he sold it, he could instead exchange it for a great many resources. That would be the best bargain.

Jiang Ping An did not respond. "It'll be dawn soon. We'll rest for an hour, then head back."

He could duplicate ten Qi Gathering Pills every day. An expense of five was huge, but he could still bear it.

Any expense that could save his life was worth it.

"Men really are all bastards!"

Seeing how indifferent the young man was toward her, Meng Jing became deeply unhappy. No one had ever treated her so coldly.

"Just wait! Sooner or later, this Miss will defeat you! I received the County Governor's reward, and I'll receive even more rewards in the following competitions. My cultivation will rise quickly!"

Meng Jing sat down nearby in a huff and began cultivating.

She thought he was giving her the cold shoulder because he considered her too weak, unworthy of speaking with him.

In truth, she had misunderstood. Jiang Ping An was neither overly warm nor overly cold toward people he had only just met.

It was simply that everyone else had been warm toward Meng Jing, making Jiang Ping An's normal manner of speaking seem cold by comparison.

Jiang Ping An did not explain. He sat nearby, admiring his newly acquired mount.

Meng Jing followed the martial path and could not go without sleep like a Cultivator. After a night of exhaustion, she fell asleep as soon as she sat down to cultivate.

At dawn, Jiang Ping An woke Meng Jing. "Time to go back."

Meng Jing reluctantly opened her eyes. Drool hung from the corner of her mouth, and she looked adorably dazed, without any of her usual pride or mischief.

After mounting the white horse, Meng Jing had initially sat behind Jiang Ping An, but she constantly felt as though she might fall off, so she burrowed into Jiang Ping An's arms.

She did all this unconsciously, half asleep and half awake.

Jiang Ping An helplessly shook his head. When this girl was not making a fuss, she was as good as Tiger Girl.

"Go!"

Jiang Ping An gave the command.

The white horse curled its lips disdainfully, but it still began to run.

After running for an hour, Jiang Ping An suddenly thought of something and asked, "Little White, do you know the way back?"

Little White shook its head.

Jiang Ping An: "..."

"You don't know the way, yet you kept running for an entire hour?"

This demonic beast did not seem very smart.

Jiang Ping An decided it would be better to find a villager and ask for directions.

There were fields nearby, which meant there had to be farmers.

Jiang Ping An rode to the mountaintop and immediately spotted a village.

Joy rose in Jiang Ping An's heart, but his smile swiftly vanished, replaced by a savage expression.

At the foot of the mountain, a group of soldiers was locked in conflict with the farmers.

"Waaah! Please, let us go! This truly is our last bit of food! My child has already starved to death! Without this food, we won't survive the winter either!"

"This Old Man doesn't give a damn whether you starve to death! You don't want to hand it over, is that it? Then die!"

The soldier drew his blade and cut down the woman blocking his way with a single strike.

Blood spread across the ground.

"Wife!!"

Seeing his wife brutally killed, her husband completely erupted.

"You beasts! You already took all the grain we produced this year, and it still isn't enough! How are we supposed to live? You won't let us live, right? Then no one gets to live!"

"This Old Man is rebelling!"

"I'm rebelling too!"

"Fight them!"

Driven to desperation, the farmers erupted completely, picking up their farming tools and charging at the soldiers.

The soldiers sneered. "Idiots, you want to fight us too? Kill the men and send the women to the Military Camp!"

The soldiers showed no mercy. They raised the blades in their hands and hacked at the people who had prepared to rebel.

Farmers fell one after another. Scrawny children sat on the ground and wept, their mournful cries echoing over the entire village as blood dyed the earth red.

Ordinary villagers had received no professional training, and their weapons were poor. They had no way to fight the Soldiers.

"You deserve to die!"

A furious roar suddenly exploded through the air, startling both sides.

A young man came charging over on a handsome white steed.

The white steed stomped down, crushing the head of a soldier who had been about to kill a villager.

Captain Jiang Zhen saw this and roared furiously, "You little bastard! You dare attack our soldiers? You're tired of living! Leave that horse behind and kneel to apologize, or we'll kill your whole family!"

It was Jiang Zhen's first time seeing such a handsome horse, and he had fallen for it at first sight. Its coat was pure white without a single blemish; one look told him it was worth a fortune.

Afraid of injuring the horse, he first ordered the brat on the other side to get down.

"Haha, kill my whole family?"

Looking at the corpses scattered across the ground, Jiang Ping An laughed madly in towering rage. "What difference is there between you bastards and Bandits? You all deserve to die!"

Only those who had experienced it personally could understand what these villagers were truly enduring.

The food they had worked bitterly for all year had been completely seized. Yet that was not enough—they even wanted to kill them, treating them as less than human.

"You little bastard, who the hell do you think you are? I'll say it one last time: get off that horse now, or I'll wipe out your whole family!" Jiang Zhen cursed.

"Cap... Captain... He... he seems to be that one..."

A soldier suddenly spoke in a trembling voice. Fear filled his eyes, and his body would not stop shaking.

"Who? Some descendant of a rich family? Speak clearly, damn it."

Jiang Zhen kicked the stammering soldier to the ground.

"It's the brat who killed Captain Cui Xiao and Captain Xu Hao!"

The soldier shouted in terror.