Chapter 397 - 367: Evil Aura
Nearby, Bai Bingbing watched this unfold and barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Among their group of five, Li Qian was the one with the most actual combat strength.
Furthermore, the Sunbird was a Powerful Pet Beast with Tier Eight Emperor Potential, capable of handling ordinary Mid-Tier Commanders, and perhaps even High-Tier ones.
But in the end, the teammate she had pinned her hopes on chose to just slack off, while the two she hadn’t paid much mind to were now eagerly getting involved.
This stark contrast to her expectations left Bai Bingbing speechless, and she couldn’t help but feel a flicker of resentment toward Li Qian.
Still, everyone had already reached an agreement. Even if she felt resentful, she had no choice but to hold it in.
And so, the four of them summoned their respective Pet Beasts, leaped into the fissure, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Watching their figures vanish into the fissure, Li Qian withdrew his gaze. He scanned the area, found a clean rock, and sat down cross-legged.
’The officials must have already excavated these ruins. There probably isn’t anything valuable left, so it’s unlikely to be very dangerous either.’
’Worst comes to worst, even if they run into danger in the underground ruins, they have those powerful short-range communicators to get in touch right away.’
’I’d have more than enough time to rush over and rescue them then.’
With this in mind, Li Qian wasn’t worried about the safety of the four who had entered the underground ruins. He just sat there quietly on the large rock, lost in thought.
After thinking for a moment, he realized that his Telepathy Beast Taming Talent was a perfect fit for him.
It was a seamless fit.
’Based on my experience with Chicken Hair, I can give commands to Pet Beasts without any obstacles, communicate with them just like normal, and even restrain and manage them.’
’Other than not being able to place them in the Beast Taming Space to benefit from its stamina recovery and accelerated growth, there’s not much difference compared to an actual contract.’
’The most significant part of this is that I can evolve and bring along either the Extreme Fierce Sky Escape Eagle or the Tidal Sea Spirit whenever I want.’
’Or, I can just let them roam free in the Third Secret Realm and only bring them out when I need them. This way, I’m not limited by the number of contracts.’
’In theory, I can command countless Pet Beasts, though of course, this kind of command won’t be as effortless as a contracted bond.’
’In a critical moment, I wouldn’t be able to force a Pet Beast to sacrifice itself to protect me. Plus, I’d constantly face the risk of it deserting.’
’But these risks are nothing compared to the potential benefits. For example, right now, I can have the Sunbird keep watch from the sky.’
’In the future, I’ll evolve even more Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragons, Frostfire Salamanders, Extreme Fierce Storm Eagles, Extreme Fierce Sky Escape Eagles, Four-tailed Cats, Tidal Sea Spirits, Rock Giants, and Sunbirds.’
’When I go adventuring in Dimension Planes in the future, I can freely choose my Pet Beasts based on the mission and the destination.’
As he thought about this, the corners of Li Qian’s mouth unconsciously curved into a faint smile.
Coming to this freshman challenge had really paid off. All in all, Li Qian was quite satisfied.
He sat there on the large rock, pondering his future plans, while Chicken Hair circled above his head, warily scanning the surroundings.
About half an hour later, the sudden sound of footsteps caught Li Qian’s attention.
A team with a full contingent—five people—appeared before him.
The five of them looked at Li Qian, then at the fissure, and finally, their gazes focused on Chicken Hair in mid-air.
"You’re Li Qian from Shazhou Beast Taming University, the one who won first place in the breeding competition..." one of the five, a brawny young man, asked.
Li Qian didn’t respond. There was no need to. The moment they saw Chicken Hair, they must have already been sure.
After this freshman challenge, Li Qian’s reputation in the Beast Taming University circles of the Dongxia Federation was, if not a household name, then not far from it.
"Li Qian, about these ruins..." the brawny young man began, pointing to the fissure in the ground.
Li Qian knew what he was getting at and immediately shut him down. "We found it."
"Student Li Qian, let’s talk about this..." a foppish-looking young man from behind the brawny one suddenly interjected.
Before he could finish, Li Qian shook his head. "I know what you want to say, but... this is non-negotiable."
"Unless you can take me down!"
This archaeology competition didn’t prohibit infighting between contestants. In other words, snatching the fruits of others’ labor was tacitly permitted.
This was also the reason why the school allowed contestants to freely form teams of up to five people.
Li Qian’s unhesitating refusal made the five of them scowl. The foppish young man, in particular, grew angry. "Li Qian, I tried to be nice, but you’re asking for it! This isn’t your private assessment!"
"Don’t think we’re scared just because you’re from one of the Eight Great. It’s five of us against one of you. If we fight, it’s anyone’s guess who’ll win," the foppish young man boasted, emboldened by their superior numbers.
Li Qian paid no mind to his nonsense. With a wave of his hand, a Summoning Array flared to life, and Qizai and Xiaoliu appeared.
Gazing at the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon and Sunbird flying in the air, and the Frostfire Salamander that was like a small mountain, all five of them couldn’t help but gulp nervously.
With three such Pet Beasts blocking the way, forget five people, even ten might not be able to get past.
"GULP..." The foppish young man swallowed hard. He glanced back at his companions, and seeing them nod, his bravado instantly vanished. He immediately switched to a respectful tone. "Um, Student Li Qian, what I said just now... I was just kidding. Please don’t take it to heart."
"Um, we’ll leave right now."
Leaving those words behind in a pathetic scramble, the five of them turned and left. There was another ruin site in the White Bone Plain; they would just have to go find that one.
Just as the five of them left, Chicken Hair suddenly flew down from mid-air and landed beside Li Qian.
"Master, I can feel an evil aura on them. It makes me very uncomfortable." Through Telepathy, Li Qian "heard" Chicken Hair’s voice.
"This is the White Bone Plain, a paradise for Undead Pet Beasts. It’s normal for them to have picked up some sinister aura," Li Qian replied, not thinking much of it.
"It’s not an Undead aura, but something even more evil," Chicken Hair continued.
After completing its evolution, its attributes were Light and Fire. Because it possessed the Light Attribute, it was extremely sensitive to certain opposing energies.
This was precisely why it had been able to discover the Earth-Walking Corpses and Burrowing Corpses hiding near the surface in the Strange Wood Forest earlier.