After several days of camping together, the members of the group had gradually grown familiar with one another. They had also become increasingly confused and suspicious of Liu Yun's seemingly lazy yet inscrutable attitude.
The sun blazed over the beach of the port city. Waves lapped at the shore, carrying gusts of salty sea breeze. Liu Yun was having a great time hunting along the coast, happily gathering whatever the sea had to offer.
Yang Xiaolong said impatiently,
"Hey, be careful! A monster's surfacing!"
On the beach, a Fishman monster with a twisted form and greenish-blue skin was lazily basking in the sun. It looked clumsy, but was actually cunning—and the ruler of these waters.
Ruby looked worried. Frowning, she said to her older sister, Yang Xiaolong,
"Is he going to die on the beach? Should we go down and save him?"
It was a fair concern. Liu Yun looked far too weak right now, yet he remained completely oblivious to it.
"Watch this. This guy's perfect for practicing my punches and kicks." Liu Yun strode confidently toward the Fishman monster, while secretly suppressing the urge to use his Machine Race Clone or fight at full strength.
However, the Fishman monster seemed to sense that Liu Yun was no ordinary opponent—or perhaps it was simply acting on instinct. It suddenly spat out a glob of green venom at astonishing speed. Liu Yun couldn't dodge in time, and venom splashed onto his arm. A sharp sting hit him, and his skin quickly swelled and reddened.
"Ah!" Liu Yun cried out in pain and stumbled back a few steps, his expression turning grim.
The Fishman monster was only a mid-level War General. After poisoning him, it leaped into the sea and escaped. Liu Yun had no chance to chase after it; even a War God might not be able to flush the Fishman out underwater.
Ruby, Yang Xiaolong, Blacka, and Xueni had been watching from the sidelines. The sight made all four of them burst out laughing.
"War God Liu Yun, it seems your strength isn't all that impressive after all," Yang Xiaolong teased, a hint of disdain playing at her lips.
"Exactly. You can't even handle one Fishman monster, and you think you can tame an Iron Armored Dragon?" Xueni chimed in, her eyes full of doubt.
Ruby and Blacka said nothing, but their expressions and eyes also showed their disdain for Liu Yun. They weren't deliberately looking down on him; it was just that the Machine Race Clone had concealed his true strength so perfectly that Liu Yun now looked like nothing more than an ordinary mid-level War General.
They kept watch in case the Fishman came back to attack, and at the same time, they applied medicine to Liu Yun's wound. But as they treated him, they kept up a steady stream of teasing and mockery.
"Oh dear, War God Liu Yun, your skin is so delicate. You get hurt more easily than I do!" Ruby teased as she applied ointment.
"Yeah, I think you'd better stop showing off, or you might not even be able to walk later," Yang Xiaolong added bluntly. This venom was a real nuisance.
But this medicine would only delay the effects. Liu Yun knew that sea monsters were highly venomous, and not easy to deal with.
"If I can't recover my strength, the least you can do is give me some medicine, right?"
Liu Yun had his Machine Race Clone analyze the venom. Then he quickly called for an airdrop of supplies, planning to go settle the score with the Fishman afterward.
"There's no need to call for an airdrop. This Fishman produces its venom by feeding on poisonous substances in the area. Several nearby herbs can cure it. The list includes sand ginger, fish mint..."
The Machine Race Clone truly was a miracle worker. With its immense computing power, it quickly analyzed the antidote to the venom.
Liu Yun used his Psychic Power to control Little Red, locating the herbs one by one. He prepared a pot and got ready to boil them.
"Ahahahaha! You really are stupid. What good can Chinese medicine do? It's just a prop used by con artists!"
As Ruby, Yang Xiaolong, Blacka, and Xueni took turns mocking him, Liu Yun remained remarkably composed. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and his eyes gleamed with an indescribable confidence and resolve. It was as if this mishap hadn't defeated him at all, but had instead given him a chance to show what he could do.
As the herbs in the pot gradually released a faint, fragrant aroma, Liu Yun carefully controlled the heat to make sure they gave off all their medicinal properties. In his hands, the herbs that had been dismissed as useless seemed almost alive, slowly blending into a mysterious force capable of counteracting the Fishman's venom.
"Hmph. Don't be so quick to laugh. Sometimes, the oldest methods are the most effective." Liu Yun spoke calmly, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
Just as everyone thought Liu Yun was merely trying to reassure himself, a miracle occurred. He downed a bowl of dark-brown medicinal liquid, and the swelling on his arm visibly subsided. The pain eased, then vanished completely. The four women, who had been laughing moments before, fell silent, their expressions shifting from mockery to astonishment.
"How... how is that possible?" Ruby murmured, nearly dropping the ointment in her hand.
"Looks like we really underestimated Liu Yun," Blacka said in a low voice, a hint of admiration in her eyes.
But Liu Yun didn't stop there. He knew the real challenge still lay ahead. While the antidote took effect, he not only recovered his strength but also used his Machine Race Clone's precise calculations to predict where and when the Fishman monster might come ashore again.
Night fell. The sea breeze turned chilly, and the beach grew especially quiet. Liu Yun lay hidden at the spot he had chosen, waiting for the Fishman monster to appear again. At last, under the moonlight, the twisted Fishman slowly crawled onto the shore, apparently unaware of the danger awaiting it.
Liu Yun sprang into action, swift as a leopard, and closed in on the Fishman in an instant. This time, he gave it no chance to spit venom. With precise control of the battle's rhythm and increasingly refined footwork, he drove a heavy punch straight into its weak spot. The Fishman monster let out a piercing scream. Its massive body rolled across the sand before finally collapsing, powerless.
He hadn't used a knife because he wanted to tame the Fishman. As for the powerful Iron Armored Dragon, Liu Yun planned to outsmart it. He took a small chip from his pocket. It glimmered faintly with a mysterious light, and, while no one else was paying attention, he jabbed it into the Fishman's body.
The chip was a treasure produced by Machine Race technology at the base. It worked on any life-form below the Planetary Stage, but had no effect on more powerful monsters or humans. In short, the mass-produced power of the Machine Race utterly crushed lower-level life-forms. They stood no chance against machines. Flesh could hardly stand against steel, after all.
At first, the Fishman seemed to feel a threat unlike anything it had ever experienced. Its body trembled slightly, but soon the trembling subsided, replaced by an uncanny calm. Its eyes softened, and its fierce aura vanished without a trace, as if some force were gently soothing its soul.
The four women cried out in astonishment. They had never witnessed anything so miraculous, and had never imagined Liu Yun was hiding another astonishing identity—that of a beast tamer. Ruby and Blacka exchanged a glance, their eyes full of shock and admiration. Yang Xiaolong and Xueni stared with their mouths agape, as if they had even forgotten to breathe.
"How... how is that possible?" Xueni's voice trembled slightly. She had never imagined that Liu Yun, who seemed lazy but was actually so unfathomable, could possess such an incredible ability.
"Liu Yun, are... are you really a beast tamer?" Ruby's voice was tinged with disbelief. She had never seen anything so miraculous, nor imagined that one of her teammates was hiding such an expert.
The key was that taming a monster usually took a long time. As a Psychic, Ruby knew how difficult it was to tame one. So how had Liu Yun managed to do it in an instant?
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