Chapter 15 (continued)

What would piles of dead whales heaped along the shore look like?

Seeing the yearning on his face, Telingewei looked at him. "There are lots of dead whales. They'll stink."

Xie Juanhan said, "It's all right. It's not like I can't stand a bad smell."

"Do you want to go?" Telingewei asked.

"I do," Xie Juanhan said. "I've never seen anything like that before."

Telingewei agreed. "We'll go together."

The little ones nearby had been listening to their conversation with their ears pricked up.

Now, they finally couldn't hold back. "Chirp, chirp!"

Telingewei looked down at them. "Didn't you think it smelled bad?"

"Chirp!"

"If you come, you have to follow instructions. No running around."

The little ones nodded repeatedly. "Chirp, chirp!"

And just like that, their travel plans were settled.

Xie Juanhan insisted on preparing the food himself, and Telingewei agreed.

And so, two days later,

Xie Juanhan brought a pile of Chimerao jerky, shouldered his bedding, took the magic cores, and met up with Telingewei.

When they met, the first thing Xie Juanhan saw was the metal pots on Telingewei's back.

The metal pots were probably made of an alloy.

Gold and black intermingled on the pots, giving them a distinctive beauty.

The metal pots were stacked together, laid on their sides across the enormous black dragon's back, and still shone dazzlingly in the sunlight.

Besides the metal pots, Telingewei was also carrying a backful of fluffy little creatures.

The little ones sat on his back. When they spotted Xie Juanhan from high up in the sky, they excitedly called out to him. "Chirp, chirp!"

Several of them even waved their paws at him, gesturing for him to join them on Telingewei's back. "Chirp!"

"No need. You all sit there yourselves." Xie Juanhan smiled at the little ones' enthusiasm, then asked the black dragon, "Let me carry some of the supplies. I haven't brought much."

The enormous black dragon replied, "They're not heavy. The pots are very thin. Let's just set off."

Xie Juanhan had no objections. He transformed into a white dragon and flew into the sky.

The black dragon led the way, and the white dragon initially flew behind him.

Before long, he moved to Telingewei's side and flew alongside him.

Once Telingewei was sure Xie Juanhan was flying easily and wasn't struggling at all, he picked up speed.

They soon crossed the Magic Forest and flew toward the coast, then continued from the inner sea to the outer sea.

After leaving the inner sea, Xie Juanhan lost his points of reference and could no longer make out the direction very well.

Telingewei, however, continued flying straight ahead with unwavering resolve.

When the sunset appeared, the sky and sea became one.

Azure, cerulean, orange, and fiery red filled their vision in brilliant patches of color.

Xie Juanhan could barely tell which clouds were real and which were reflections. If he veered off course even slightly, he would crash into the sea.

Telingewei didn't stop at all, or even slow down.

He was utterly resolute.

Xie Juanhan followed him just as resolutely.

There were no islands in sight on the sea, nowhere to land.

When the sun had sunk completely beyond the sea and the stars had come out, the enormous black dragon Telingewei had transformed into landed on the water, becoming a floating island, and invited Xie Juanhan to rest on his back.

Xie Juanhan changed back into human form and asked him, "Won't you get tired?"

"I don't really feel anything," the black dragon said from the sea. "Just don't light a fire and cook on me."

Xie Juanhan laughed. "I wouldn't go that far."

None of the luggage had been unloaded from the dragon's back.

Xie Juanhan took down the food he had been carrying.

Jerky made from Chimerao meat.

Large meat buns with wild scallions.

And the soft cake Xie Juanhan had baked the day before, with plenty of milk, cheese, and honey.

Xie Juanhan sat at the base of the black dragon's neck, surrounded by the little ones.

The food was laid out on a picnic blanket in a delightful array.

The black dragon turned his head back and joined the fluffy little ones and Xie Juanhan for the meal.

The little ones held their food and ate with all their might.

Xie Juanhan ate while feeding the black dragon.

After dinner and a quick wash,

Xie Juanhan, at Telingewei's suggestion, put on a sleeping cap, wrapped himself in a blanket, and fell asleep huddled together with the little ones on Telingewei's back.

Early the next morning, they got up and continued their journey.

But the day was overcast.

The sky was gloomy, and so was the sea.

The sea wind howled, and the waves rumbled below.

It was much colder over the sea. The little ones huddled together on the black dragon's back, sitting with their tails tucked obediently around their paws, their long fur streaming in the wind like fluttering flags.

Xie Juanhan watched them from the side.

Every one of the little ones had their eyes narrowed against the wind, their features scrunched up.

They desperately hooked their claws into the dragon's scales to keep from being blown into the sea.

Xie Juanhan was about to say something when he suddenly caught a distinctive smell.

He twitched his nose into the wind.

The wind carried a distinctive scent.

A fishy stench, a foul smell, and a peculiar odor of rotting fat.

All the smells mingled in a twisted blend, like a beacon pointing the way.

Now, even without Telingewei leading the way, Xie Juanhan knew where the legendary Whale Grave Island was.

They flew toward the smell.

Before long, Xie Juanhan spotted a barren island in the distance.

Flocks of birds circled above it.

An iron-gray sky and deep-gray seawater.

Along the long coastline, enormous whale carcasses lay in a haphazard heap, washed by the sea.

They had clearly been dead for some time, and the whales that had come to breed had all left. The place was exceptionally silent and lifeless.

The birds circling overhead only made the scene seem more desolate.

Xie Juanhan had never seen anything like it.

He hovered in the sky, looking down.

"We're here," the black dragon said beside him.

They flew down and landed in the center of the island, upwind.

A powerful smell of death and decay rushed at them.

Xie Juanhan held his breath, wishing he could shut his nostrils.

Unlike him, the Companion Beasts were very excited.

As soon as they landed, they dropped onto all fours and charged forward.

Their tails stood high, like little flagpoles trailing behind them.

They had barely taken a few steps.

Telingewei changed back into human form and swept out his long arms, picking up one Companion Beast after another.

In just a few moves, he had gathered all eight little ones into his arms and held them firmly against his chest.

The little ones were squeezed so tightly that their features were distorted. They pushed desperately against his arms with their paws. "Chirp, chirp."

"You're not allowed to go," Telingewei told them, looking down. "It's hard to wash off."

The little ones cried, "Chirp!!!"

Meeting Xie Juanhan's gaze, Telingewei explained, "Their fur is long. If it picks up the stink and I can't wash it clean, they'll smell for a long time."

Xie Juanhan imagined the stench trapped inside the cave. Without asking how Telingewei knew, he said sympathetically, "I understand."

If it were him, he wouldn't want to wash little stinky fluffballs covered in corpse fluids either.

The little ones were still struggling.

Telingewei said mildly, "If you get the stink on yourselves, I'll shave your fur off."

The little ones wilted one by one. "Whimper."

Telingewei looked down and met their gazes. "Do you understand?"

The little ones answered reluctantly, "Chirp."

Only then did Telingewei let them go. He said to Xie Juanhan, "Rest here for a while. I'll go collect the whale blubber."

"I'll go too."

"It's a little smelly."

"It's all right." Xie Juanhan helped him take out the stacked metal pots. "I've grown vegetables and applied fertilizer before."

The pots for holding whale blubber were much thinner than ordinary pots and had no patterns on them.

Xie Juanhan gave them another look.

Apparently, Telingewei kept separate pots for separate purposes and didn't mix them up.

That was a relief.

Telingewei gave Xie Juanhan a long knife for cutting the whale blubber.

The knife gleamed coldly like snow and resembled a long watermelon knife.

Xie Juanhan took one look and guessed it was an alchemical blade. It was clearly better suited to the task than the cleaver he had custom-made in the town.

Wearing tall leather boots, the two went down to the beach.

Whale carcasses littered the beach, and a pungent smell rushed at them.

Even covering their faces with cloth did no good.

Xie Juanhan glanced at Telingewei and directed the wind to wrap gently around them both.

Only then did the air become a little fresher.

The two walked through the heaps of flesh, their feet sinking unevenly, cutting through the whale skin and then slicing out whole slabs of the pale yellow fat beneath.

The fat beneath the whale skin wasn't particularly thick. Perhaps the whales had used up a lot of it on their return journey to breed.

It took some skill to remove whole pieces of blubber without any skin, bloody fluids, or organs attached.

Xie Juanhan followed Telingewei's example, cutting slowly.

The blubber had to be clean enough when cut out so that there would be fewer impurities during the rendering process and the resulting oil would be sufficiently clear.

As he cut, Xie Juanhan noticed a large hole near the heart of almost every whale.

Seeing him examine them, Telingewei said, "The magic cores were taken by other whales. They contain plenty of energy, which helps the next generation develop."

"So that's how it is."

"These whales are all magical beasts. Their blubber is very useful, but it's hard to collect."

Xie Juanhan straightened up and looked at the whale carcasses around them. "Don't humans collect it?"

By rights, if this blubber was so useful, there would surely be many human adventurers coming to collect it.

"Humans can occasionally collect a little, but not much, and they sell it all to their nobles. I bought it a few times, then decided to come collect it myself. One trip gives me enough for a year."

"Rendering whale blubber requires a particular technique. Without Dragon Flame, the oil contains a lot of impurities and isn't very useful."