Chapter 441: A New Ingredient
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After putting away the jade fragment, Gao Peng led his familiars out of the Taklamakan Desert. Along the way, the Treasure Sniffing Rodent held fast to the jade fragment, rubbing its head against its surface and greedily inhaling its smell.
When it was confident that no one was looking at it, the rat gave its new prize a few furtive licks. It couldn’t taste anything on the jade. The Treasure Sniffing Rodent blinked in confusion. It continued sniffing the jade fragment with its long snout like a crazed drug addict.
Gao Peng isn’t looking at me right now. Neither is the duck with the intimidating tattoos or the centipede who’s constantly being pampered by Gao Peng… Here’s my chance!
It sank its teeth into the jade fragment. Chink. A pearly white tooth flew out from its mouth.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent bit its lip and stifled a scream in order to avoid drawing any attention to itself.
They didn’t return immediately to Chang’an City. Instead, as they were flying over Hanzhong City, Ji Hanwu ordered the White Dragon to begin its descent.
“We’re just dropping by to collect the ingredient that you’ve been looking for,” explained Gao Peng’s grandfather.
Hanzhong City had always been called this since ancient times. This name had been passed down from generation to generation for as long as anyone could remember.
Its strategic position was also recognized and fought over by famed military strategists throughout the region’s history.
Seeing Hanzhong City as a place of opportunity, the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, had sent one of his generals, Han Xin, to conquer the place. During Wei’s conquest of Shu, General Xiahou Yuan of the Shu state was cut down by General Huang Zhong in Mount Dingjun. The warlord Liu Bei later declared himself the first king of Hanzhong. The renowned military strategist Zhuge Liang had also stationed his troops in Hanzhong, where he was finally laid to rest at the foot of Mount Dingjun.
Countless myths and legends had surrounded the place for thousands of years. The Cataclysm had also brought about a curious change in the region; there were reports of sounds of fighting coming from Mount Dingjun. There were also sightings of army tents and flags erected near the mountain.
A Lord-tier trainer was sent by the Hanzhong base city to inspect the area. However, he didn’t find anything.
“At least, that’s the official statement. In reality, the trainer found a flag flying near the mountain.”
“A flag.”
“Yes.”
“Was it a flag that had magically sprung to life?” Many flags had been flown near Mount Dingjun. Some of them dated all the way back to the Ming dynasty.
“Yes, the flag was a monster,” said Ji Hanwu, who then burst into laughter.
“Is it still at Mount Dingjun?” asked Gao Peng.
“No, it’s not there anymore. It was subdued by the trainer,” said Ji Hanwu, shaking his head. “We could probably see the flag monster for ourselves later—” Ji Hanwu suddenly stopped, as if a thought had just occurred to him.
Soon, he ordered the White Dragon to land near a mountain villa to the north of the Hanzhong base city.
The mountain villa was built on top of a small hill with a couple of empty tents fluttering around it. The tents inflated like balloons as a gust of wind blew past them. No one seemed to be living in them at the moment. It was as if these tents had only been erected around the villa as mere decoration.
“Kill! Kill them all!!” someone shouted from the top of the hill.
“The King of Han has shown me such generosity. Who am I to betray his good will? I will raze the world to the ground if that is what it takes to repay the King of Han’s kindness. So say I!” roared another voice, which sounded like two sheets of metal clanging against each other.
Voices young and old reverberated across the small hill.
“Huang Zhong’s hour of glory is upon us. That knave Xiahou will soon taste our blades!”
“I will not disappoint your majesty. I will bring glory to the Han dynasty.”
Ji Hanwu’s mouth contorted into a bitter smile. “Come on.”
When they finally reached the top of the hill, they could see the mountain villa standing in the middle of the hilltop. In front of it was a wide field, on the edge of which lay a huge turtle that seemed to be a variant of the alligator snapping turtle. Its scales were gleaming resplendently from head to toe.
The alligator snapping turtle was a creature that had been shrouded in mystery even before the Cataclysm. Its claws resembled those of the mythical beasts that had once titillated mankind’s imagination.
However, what caught Gao Peng’s eye wasn’t the Lord-tier alligator snapping turtle, but the lone flag fluttering in the middle of the field. The flag was about as big as a movie theater’s projection screen, with a white base that had black patterns around it. A huge sealing character was written in the middle of the flag.
A projection screen was spread out before the flag on which a war film was currently being played.
The flag was completely enraptured by the film. It would occasionally make the sounds one would expect to hear in a battlefield. “Charge!!!”
The flag was noisily acting out all the scenes in the film that it was watching.
“Hahaha, looks like we have guests. No wonder the weather today is so pleasant. Come in, come in.” A 30-year-old man stepped out of the mountain villa to greet both Ji Hanwu and his grandson.
Gao Peng glanced at the flag.
[Monster Name]: Military Conferment Flag
[Monster Level]: Level 46 (Lord-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Excellent
[Monster Attribute]: Metal
[Monster Ability]: Soldier’s Bloodlust Level 3, War Aura Level 2
[Description]: A military flag that was brought to life by the lingering thousand-year bloodlust in Mount Dingjun. Its grade suffered a slight drop due to the short period of time it was able to spend in the pool of bloodlust and violent energy. It loves listening to army songs and watching war films and hates pansies.
[Available Perfect Grade Evolutionary Routes]: 1. Admiral Votive Flag 2. Steelblood Murderous Flag
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[Monster Name]: Land Alligator Turtle
[Monster Level]: Level 45
[Monster Grade]: Normal
[Monster Attribute]: Earth/Water
[Monster Ability]: Fortified Turtleshell Level 2, Fortified Bite Level 2
[Monster Description]: A creature that has awakened its ancestral blood. It has a terrifyingly strong bite. Its shell also provides it with nigh impenetrable defenses. It likes to eat fish. It hates being touched by anyone.
“You seem quite carefree these days,” said Ji Hanwu as he looked around at his surroundings. Not a bad place to live in retirement. “Why are you living like an old fogey out here, anyway?”
“Oh, you know, if I’m going to spend the rest of my days working for the government, I might as well do it on my own terms,” said Lu Wang with a laugh. The man was the trainer of the two familiars.
Gao Peng took another look at the two familiars’ stats. Both of them had quite high levels.
However, Gao Peng and his grandfather already had King-tier familiars at their disposal. They weren’t at all familiar with the power levels of familiars beneath King-tier.
Then again, a Level 41 monster wouldn’t seem too different from a Level 49 monster to a King-tier familiar, just as a fly wouldn’t seem too different from a slightly bigger fly to a spider.
Once Lu Wang invited Gao Peng and his grandfather into the villa, he hurried into his bedroom and took out a box. He opened it to reveal a golden-reddish jewel, inside which a single drop of blood was kept in stasis.
“I found this when I was trying to subdue the Military Conferment Flag. I have no idea what it does, but my familiars don’t seem to like it very much. It’s only when I heard that the two of you were looking for exotic ingredients that I remembered I had this with me.” Lu Wang handed the box to Ji Hanwu.
“My grandson’s the one who likes collecting these things. An old fart like me couldn’t even fathom what goes on in the minds of young people these days,” said Ji Hanwu, smiling. He gave the box to Gao Peng.
Gao Peng took the box from his grandfather. With just one glance, he could tell that it was exactly what he needed. He then said to Lu Wang, “Thanks, Uncle Lu. If there’s anything you need, just give me a call.”