A Man Who Makes Even His Pets Worry!

"Big Cat, how long do you think our master can last?"

"No idea, but our master is so strong. He should last at least two hours, right?"

"No way. Our master's stamina is much better than you tigers'. I'd say at least a whole day!"

"Huh? A whole day? Can that little girl take it?"

"Who knows? With that tiny body of hers, I doubt it..."

A tiger and a bird were beneath a tree, discussing matters meant for adults. Just as they were debating how long Gu Xia could last, a rift appeared before them.

The bird and tiger were both stunned as they watched Gu Xia step out of the rift, looking refreshed and invigorated. Their eyes held a hint of something strange...

"Chirp chirp. (Master, why did you finish so quickly?)"

"Meow meow. (Yeah, it's not good for a man to be too quick!)"

Gu Xia: "???"

"Hiss hiss. (What the hell are you two talking about...)"

"Meow. (Then, Little Green, tell us what happened.)"

"Chirp chirp. (Yeah, you were with Master the whole time. You should know what happened, right?)"

"Hiss hiss. (I really don't know what you two spend all day thinking about. Here's what happened...)"

And so, the three beasts simply left their master, Gu Xia, standing off to one side while they entertained themselves. One spoke, and two listened. Gu Xia could not be bothered with them either. As he counted the coins in the purse he had extorted from the girl, he felt that he had struck it rich today!

"123... 134... 147... 150! Wow! A full 150 gold coins! My allowance for next month is settled! Even a girl who gathers herbs is this rich. Looks like I should rob people more often!"

Meanwhile, after hearing Little Green's account, the tiger, bird, and snake looked pityingly at their master, who stood alone to one side, opening an embroidered pouch and counting the gold coins inside one by one. It seemed that something like a mistress would never appear in their lives...

"No, this can't go on. There's a free little sister at home, and Master still can't make a move on her. Let alone once he goes out in the future..."

Little Flower felt that their master could still be saved, so it decided to discuss with the other two beasts how to rescue their titanium-alloy, steel-straight-man master...

"What can we do? That girl was practically saying, 'Come at me head-on!' just now, but Master only robbed her of her money. He didn't even so much as twitch at her looks! Do you know how despairing I was at the time?"

Having witnessed its master's miraculous maneuver firsthand, Little Green felt that any talk of saving him was just wishful thinking...

"Sigh, then we can only leave it to fate..."

Gu Xia had no idea that while he was engrossed in counting money, his three pets had already discussed his future...

"Hm? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Gu Xia finally pulled himself free from the joy of obtaining a huge sum of money. It was his first time having so much money—and he did not even have to pay it back! He was delighted!

"Meow meow. (It's nothing...)"

"Chirp chirp. (We just think Master has become even more handsome.)"

Little Green said nothing. It merely slithered silently away to one side.

"Alright, it's time for me to head back. Little Blue and Little Green, stay here for now. Oh, right, Little Blue, if that young man comes in, come tell me, okay..."

Gu Xia did not think much of it. After giving Little Blue one final instruction, he tore open space again and vanished into the rift with Little Flower. After Gu Xia and Little Flower left, the snake and blue bird looked at each other, shook their heads at the same time, and disappeared into the dense forest separately...

"Hmm... Why not go scout out the Tagor Desert directly? I already told Elder Ling about it anyway."

Within the spatial rift, Gu Xia thought it over and decided not to return to Wutan City just yet. He wanted to first search the Tagor Desert for the location of the Heavenly Flame, then estimate when it would mature.

That way, the next time he came, he could absorb it directly without having to rush around looking for its location again... "Right, I nearly forgot about Little Flower."

Gu Xia glanced at the large tiger beneath him. Little Flower was only a third-tier spirit beast. Bringing it along to search the desert for the Heavenly Flame's location would undoubtedly be much more troublesome, so Gu Xia decided to leave Little Flower in the Magical Beast Mountain Range for now. He would take it home when he returned...

"Little Flower, I won't be taking you to the desert this time. Go find Little Green and the others for now. I'll take you home when I come back..."

Gu Xia returned to the Magical Beast Mountain Range once again and rubbed Little Flower's fluffy head. Somewhat reluctant, he patted its back. After giving his instructions, Gu Xia entered the spatial rift alone...

"Roar!!"

As a spirit beast, Little Flower naturally understood what Gu Xia meant. It watched until the rift vanished, then let out a great roar and charged into the dense forest...

Tagor Desert, atop the yellow sands near its outskirts. A spatial rift appeared out of nowhere, and the turbulent currents spilling from it frightened away the small creatures living nearby.

From within the rift emerged a handsome young man in a white robe trimmed with gold, holding a folding fan. He walked out with elegant poise, his unhurried steps and faint smile giving him a gentle, refined air...

"So this is the Tagor Desert?"

Looking upon the desolate land where nothing but yellow sand filled his vision, the handsome youth could not help admiring the creatures capable of surviving here...

"Heavenly Flame... Heavenly Flame..."

This handsome youth was none other than Gu Xia, who had come here to search for the Green Lotus Core Flame. He released his Emperor-realm soul, probing deep beneath the yellow sands and examining every place that might nurture a Heavenly Flame. He also marked each location along the way so that he would not forget where he had been...

Gu Xia traveled through the air while extending his soul power. The Tagor Desert covered an unimaginably vast area. Even with the enormous range of his Emperor-realm soul, it was difficult for him to investigate it all in a short time.

"Oh? Are people fighting over there?"

After searching patiently for two hours, Gu Xia discovered a group of people gathered to his right. From the looks of it, they were fighting. Having searched for two hours, Gu Xia decided to go watch the show before continuing. After all, repeating the same thing endlessly would always become tiresome. He needed some seasoning to make this monotonous search a little more interesting.

Gu Xia left as soon as he decided to. Walking through the void and shrinking the earth beneath his feet, he arrived at the scene of the conflict before long. Hidden within a cloud, he watched the two groups below face off...

"Oh? The snake people? Interesting..."

Gu Xia discovered that one side of the conflict was a group of snake people. He felt that this clash would surely be exceptionally intense.

"Yue Mei! Don't go too far!"

A burly man who appeared to be the mercenaries' leader glared furiously at the seductive snake woman not far away. Her beautiful diamond-shaped eyes shimmered with amusement and cruelty, while her figure was fiery and alluring.

"Hehe, are all you mercenaries as ignorant as you?"

After hearing the burly man's words, the snake woman called Yue Mei could not help laughing. She found it ridiculous. Did he think that simply leaving the goods behind would let them leave safely because they could not defeat her? Was that not childish?

"Yue Mei, we humans do not want to go to war with your snake people. Don't force us..."

"Humans going to war with us? Hehehe, do you think those hypocrites would go to war with us just because of a mere Da Dou Shi like you? You think far too highly of yourself, don't you? Besides, when you killed members of our snake people before, why didn't you think of sparing their lives?"

"You!"

"Enough, save your strength. If you have anything to say, go tell the King of Hell! Sisters, attack! Leave none alive!"

With that, Yue Mei spread her Dou Qi wings and flew into the air. The pressure of a Dou Wang crushed down upon the human side, whose strongest member was only a Da Dou Shi!

This was a slaughter—a one-sided slaughter...