The Perfect Partners

The breeze was gentle and the sky clear-another ordinary day of getting beaten up.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Cang had spent half a month with the Void Pegasus Beast.

During that time, he had done only one thing: draw closer to the Void Pegasus Beast.

Though he often ended up with a bruised nose and swollen face, the results were clear.

By now, the Void Pegasus Beast had completely lowered its guard around Chen Cang. Even when they were not sparring, it would approach him on its own.

Chen Cang could even touch it now, except for its head.

On the grass not far from the cave entrance, Chen Cang leaned against the Void Pegasus Beast, panting after a thoroughly satisfying fight. Man and horse looked very close.

Seeing that Chen Cang had gone quite a while without taking pills to replenish his energy, the Void Pegasus Beast rubbed its head against the Storage Ring on his left hand, as though urging him to hurry up.

Chen Cang had also noticed that whenever he took something out of the Storage Ring, the Void Pegasus Beast grew even more affectionate.

"They're gone. They really are."

Chen Cang took out a pile of empty jade bottles, indicating that there was nothing he could do.

Naturally, he had not used up all his pills. Although the old city lord had not left much behind, it was enough to last him quite some time.

But amid the countless dangers of the Black Eagle Mountains, Chen Cang had to make plans for himself. Using up all his consumables playing with the Void Pegasus Beast would undoubtedly be foolish.

So he had set aside two-thirds and refused to take them out, no matter what.

The innocent Void Pegasus Beast knew nothing of human cunning, nor did it care about Chen Cang's depleted energy. It lowered its head to sniff the empty bottles on the ground, even sticking out its tongue to lick them a few times.

These strange actions surprised Chen Cang.

Thinking back over what had happened recently, Chen Cang suddenly realized that he seemed to have been on the wrong track all along.

He had thought the Void Pegasus Beast was urging him to replenish his energy so they could keep playing, but there might actually be another reason.

Once that thought arose, he could no longer hold it back.

Chen Cang immediately began taking items out of the Storage Ring, observing its reactions as he did.

Sure enough, when he took out the silver magic core and held it tightly in his hand, the Void Pegasus Beast reacted most strongly. It nuzzled the back of his hand affectionately, as though it had seen its mother.

At that, Chen Cang understood completely.

The Void Pegasus Beast had reacted to the other items he took out simply because they had been stored alongside the magic core and picked up its aura.

He could not detect that aura, but the beast could sense it.

"Hahaha, so that's it!"

Unable to keep from laughing, Chen Cang now had a way to handle the Void Pegasus Beast.

Finding a useless bundle of thin cord in the Storage Ring, Chen Cang bound the magic core securely.

Then he hung it around his neck.

Standing up, Chen Cang pushed away the rather clingy little horse and slipped into the nearby woods.

Rustling sounded behind him as the Void Pegasus Beast followed close on his heels.

Chen Cang changed direction again, and it still followed doggedly.

This magic core held an irresistible attraction for it!

After experimenting for a few minutes, Chen Cang felt far more confident, along with a guilty sense that he was a creepy uncle luring a child away with candy.

With a plan settled in his mind, Chen Cang returned to the familiar patch of grass. After putting the magic core back into the Storage Ring, he approached the Void Pegasus Beast and leaped up, intending to mount it.

Bang!

What greeted him was a merciless kick.

Nearly struck, Chen Cang flew into a frustrated rage. He took out the magic core again, held it in his hand, and tried once more to mount the beast.

This time, the Void Pegasus Beast resisted less fiercely. Although he could feel its body tense with discomfort, stiff as a wooden horse, it did not attack Chen Cang again.

Got it!

Sitting on the Void Pegasus Beast's back, Chen Cang finally burst into unrestrained laughter, no longer worried about attracting other magical beasts.

"Go, over there!"

Chen Cang pointed toward a distant mountaintop and gave the order.

The Void Pegasus Beast did not move...

Chen Cang was not discouraged. He had already taken the hardest step. Wouldn't the rest of the training be simple?

Jumping off its back, Chen Cang gripped the magic core and let the Void Pegasus Beast take several deep sniffs.

He did not know how to train horses, but he had watched some dog-training videos before. It was simply a matter of rewarding obedience and giving a sound beating for disobedience.

At present, Chen Cang lacked the ability to give it a sound beating, so he could only work on the rewards.

The results might be a little worse, but as long as it worked, that was enough.

Day after day, Chen Cang used the magic core as bait to keep pushing the Void Pegasus Beast's limits.

At first, it would not let him ride it. Then it let him ride but would not move. After that, it moved but would not follow his commands, until finally, it went wherever he pointed.

The process took a full half month. Chen Cang enjoyed every moment, and the Void Pegasus Beast seemed to feel the same.

"Ma Feifei, up that cliff!"

As soon as Chen Cang gave the order, the Void Pegasus Beast beneath him neighed. With a shudder of its body, it appeared dozens of yards away. A few flickers later, it stood atop the cliff, looking down from above, with all the mountains dwarfed beneath it!

Such astonishing speed was probably beyond even a Sixth-Tier Magical Beast.

And this Void Pegasus Beast was only at the Peak Fourth Tier.

If it grew to the sixth tier...

Gazing down at the unbroken mountain ranges, Chen Cang felt that, vast as the northwest was, there was nowhere he could not go!

"I can finally leave this damned place. But before I go, I have to plunder it!"

From a human perspective, Void Pegasus Beasts were rather wasteful with their talents. Despite such powerful abilities, they did not know to gather the treasures of heaven and earth, so even at their full potential, they only reached the sixth tier.

In Chen Cang's view, with this innate talent, they absolutely had a chance to break through the limits of the sixth tier!

After all, this world had never lacked wondrous things.

With Chen Cang's plundering plan settled, the entire Black Eagle Mountains became a boiling pot of chaos from that day onward. Every day brought the furious roars of high-tier magical beasts, some even giving chase as though they had gone mad.

Unfortunately, with their speed, they could only rage helplessly.

The man-and-horse duo was not particularly strong, but they were more than capable of escaping.

And with the advantage of being able to read memories, Chen Cang could find every rare medicinal herb in these mountains. None could hide from him.

They were the perfect partners!

Man and horse plundered for ten full days, and Chen Cang's coffers overflowed.

Ten days earlier, his Storage Ring had contained scarcely anything of value. Now, it was almost stuffed full of rare medicinal herbs.

"It's time to go. That Blackflame Kui Ox has gone mad after we robbed his lair, and he's gathered a huge number of magical beasts to search for us. Besides, we've nearly picked the Black Eagle Mountains clean. There's no point staying any longer. Don't worry. I'll avenge your mother someday!"

Inside the Underground Cave, Chen Cang buried the remaining skeleton as he spoke.

The Void Pegasus Beast seemed to only half understand and came over to nuzzle him affectionately.

Whether it understood or not, Chen Cang had engraved that promise in his heart.

Leaving the cave, Chen Cang swung onto the beast's back and went up to a high cliff, quietly gazing toward Tianying City.

Master Mo must have been quite saddened to hear of my "death," right?

Unfortunately, there really was no azure nether fruit in the Black Eagle Mountains.

Then there was City Lord Ding Dian, the hidden Soul Envoy of the Soul Hall. Perhaps he, too, would feel some heartache.

"I'll be back."

Realizing that some magical beasts had already spotted him, Chen Cang did not hesitate any longer. He patted the Void Pegasus Beast beneath him and turned it around.

"North! All the way north, through these mountains!"