With increased aptitude, Fei Cai and Lo's hunt continued with renewed vigor. By now, Fei Cai's merit points were on the verge of reaching 30000 but he didn't exchange it for anything yet. First, he would soon break through to rank 2 and would optimize his gu worms then. Second, there had been no addition of a rare gu worm that could make Fei Cai interested. A week had already passed since his battle with Fei Mang but after the battle, Fei Mang was nowhere to be seen. There have been rumors that Fei Mang was being severely disciplined for his unruly actions so Fei Cai could only wait until the youth return and start making Fei Jun the target of Mang's ire.
The sound of ten terror horses running through the forest echoed with Fei Cai sitting on the youngest horse and Lo sitting on the oldest one. Now, after achieving initial success in ice path gu worms, Fei Cai had moved his attention to the requirements of the inheritance. Right now, Fei Cai felt extreme pressure!
"Fei Qing wanted me to control beast group numbering to ten thousand beasts but how can it be achieved in less than 2 months? And, the most important step I need to take to achieve this condition is to reach rank 3 which will allow me to control beast kings which simply isn't possible unless..."
Fei Cai thought to himself. The location of ten true inheritances placed by Thieving Heaven was extremely clear to him. Two of the true inheritance were placed within northern plains. Two of them in southern plains. Two in the western desert. Another two in eastern seas, and the remaining two in the central continent. The computer gu in Fei Cai's mind was something Thieving Heaven created before setting these true inheritances. Aside from the true inheritances, the venerable had built many minor inheritances that could be accessed by anyone. This was the true difference between true and minor inheritance. Only an otherworldly demon-like Fei Cai could access the true inheritance.
"Thieving Heaven's era had long passed and there is no doubt that many otherworldly demons have appeared in the world. So, there is a big chance that most of Thieving Heaven's true inheritance is taken but one thing is for sure that the one in the western desert will only be available to the whole world in 400 hundred years until the person with computer gu in my mind makes a move."
To Fei Cai, the inheritance held by Fei Qing also had a large number of soul path gu worms recipe and techniques regarding soul path gu worms. This was a major attraction for Fei Cai who lacked the means to understand soul path. After all, after Thieving Heaven, three Venerables emerged while pioneering their own paths. Out of these three, a Venerable titled Spectral Soul developed soul path and it has spread to the entire world, practiced by many gu masters. Even in Northern Plains, the soul path was extremely popular, alas the merit board barely held any good rank 1 soul path gu worms and Fei Cai understood that by choosing Ice path currently, he was developing his sense to understand gu worms. Later, he might even be able to use his experience and increase the pace in controlling soul path gu worms.
'Still, it is best that I don't stretch myself too thin. I have a single body. I am still a human. The inheritance's value will only rise once I break away from the identity of mortality. Right now, I need to prioritize. I can either risk it after reaching rank 2, make a long journey, and finally, return with the condition fulfilled or I give up on enslavement path in its nascent stage and develop other methods.'
Even though Fei Cai thought of this, he decided to risk it. This wasn't Fei Cai's first life. He understood that missed opportunities seldom return and Enslavement Path gu masters were infamous for their ability to hold strength comparable to mid-scale tribes personally. How could Fei Cai willingly give up on this opportunity?
Even with ten horses, Fei Cai did not barge into the depths of the forest. It was too risky. Even when exploring the outer ring, he came across an old and injured moon alligator. The battle was full of threats and success brought Fei Cai the desired level of control he needed to show a battle prowess equivalent of rank 2 gu masters.
As Fei Cai continued to hunt alongside Lo, taking it slow and consolidating his gains, Fei Qing was brought a report of a sudden appearance of an inheritance.
"Poor Ice Immortal... this legendary figure is well known. He originated from Han Tribe but he never loved the tribe. In fact, this man hated his tribe for being pushed away due to his low aptitude. Bullied to such an extent where he started to accumulate physical injuries, the young gu master left and turned to the demonic side of the gu masters. He hunted small beasts and gradually made his way up the food chain until he received pointers from a benevolent gu immortal. Later, he ascended to the ranks of immortal and tormented the Han Tribe before he vanished mysteriously..."
"To think such a demonic immortal can also die," Fei Qing mumbled.
"Something is deeply amiss, junior," Horse Monk stated readily. In regards to immortal, Horse Monk can be said to have the most knowledge in the tribe. "I have heard stories of Poor Ice Immortal. He did not vanish but was targetted by a team of righteous path immortals called Hua Hai Three Immortals. He must have died unwillingly but that is not the main point. Every ten years, the icy tribulation would rain hell on Northern Plains. This is the reason why such a less number of inheritance can be found in the northern plains. Instead, the greatest number of inheritances can only be found within the imperial court."
"Not to mention why such a demonic immortal would leave an inheritance that can be accessed by anybody, there is still a fact to be considered, how is such an inheritance not attracting other immortals, and if it has, why are they still not making a move."
Hearing Horse Monk's warning, the slowly blazing greed within Fei Qing's heart without a trace of it remaining. "The Tian Chuan Region is poor and has the least number of tribes. It is because of this reason why Ma Tribe can dominate and can be considered an overlord. Not to mention, that young Ma Zun has almost 300,000 horses under his commands. Pa Tribe, Han Tribe, and my Fei Tribe are the three large-scale tribes. Bai and Pei Tribe are mid-scale tribes but the Pei tribe of the Tian Chuan Region is annexed by my tribe. Lastly, the Lin tribe is merely a small-scale tribe that has moved into an alliance with Ma Tribe. Pa Tribe has shown initiative to side with the Ma but Han kept their quiet and dodged the problem until now..."
A smile touched Fei Qing's lips, "But now Han Tribe leader would make a choice. The news of immortal inheritance would shock the entire northern plain. Many would arrive to vie for the inheritance but with Pa Tribe's location and Han Tribe's history with Poor Ice, they both are likely to engage in skirmishes. These grudges will build and serve to set the stage for greater battles that will restrict opportunistic demonic path cultivators. When the battle reaches a crucial point both the tribe will willingly look for support. After all, these large-scale tribes have their own troubles. Why would they willingly lose their power and let other tribes remain at their strength? So, this inheritance might just be the breakthrough for the struggle of the Imperial Court in the Tian Chuan Region."
Fei Qing is publicly known for his enslavement expertise that can rival the great Enslavement master Ma Zun to some extent. In reality, however, his inheritance delved into wisdom and soul path. Fei Qing's ability of wisdom path was deeply hidden with none aside from Horse Monk's will knowing it and due to his methods, Fei Qing could easily predict the direction of battle in the near future.
"Haha! Let's prepare a small team. Others will start sending groups of gu master to probe the situation and if we don't send a team of gu masters, it will look suspicious. But this inheritance is extremely dubious and might cause many losses... hmm, we will send three of the most recent elders."
The elders who did not choose to undergo the elder's trial were looking for ways to gain merit and stabilize their situation. This opportunity will make them fight each other secretly and raise the level of the tribe by a notch, too.
But all of this was merely crude planning. After a few moments of consideration, he locked his room and sat down. Once again, he began thinking about everything he knew about Pa and the Han Tribe. Whenever Fei Qing thought of something, a phantom of a thumb-sized horse would charge out of his head and revolve around Fei Qing. This was the effect of Horse Thought Gu worm. By physically manipulating thoughts, a wisdom path gu master could achieve much more.
One horse, three horses, seventeen horses...
The number of horses continued to rise.
Fei Qing's thoughts also started to cover everything. From the description of the location to the most minor grudges he had heard about. The number of horses soon surpassed ten thousand and continued to rise but at this moment, Fei Qing manipulated the manifestation of his thoughts and expertly collided them against each other. Some would fuse into larger horses while others would crumble into even smaller ones.
Just like this, hours passed as Fei Qing continued to manipulate his thoughts until five skull-sized horses galloped around him slowly. These horses represented complicated thoughts with motives and steps to achieve an objective. Soon, Fei Qing absorbed these thoughts and realized the paths available to him.
---
"Poison arrow!" Fei Cai commanded sharply as a venomous green arrow struck a large chili crab against its torn, red shell. The venom was successfully injected as the crab felt a sense of lethargy. It stopped moving abruptly and with Fei Cai's command, a terror horse rushed and smacked the crab with its large claws.
Dead.
"Huff," Fei Cai heaved a deep breath and waited for Lo to activate the Lizard Mouth Gu and store the crab. The Lizard Mouth gu was a common storage gu and its deficiency was now showing. Even after the storage gu, Lo had to use the basket in the later hunts because Fei Cai's hollow shard gu was injured.
Before they left, Fei Cai's horse group sensed something and started to feel agitated. This feeling was passed on to Fei Cai as he immediately felt a sense of discomfort and looked towards the path leading to the edges of the forest.
Instantly, Fei Cai decided to carefully make his way towards the particular edge of the forest when a soft snarl echoed. Fei Cai's and Lo's eyes slightly widened. The opponent in front of them was a Terror Claw Horse but it was larger and had a unique characteristic belonging to a hundred-beast king!
Beasts were ordinarily capable of battling rank 1 gu masters. Their strong fleshy body would give them an edge over physically weak gu masters. However, just like gu masters, even beasts could grow in strength. A few beasts could become hundred-beast kings. These beast kings are natural leaders and as in their name, they could command a minimum of hundred beasts of their species. Later, a hundred-beast king can turn into a thousand-beast king with the strength of rank 3 gu masters and then myriad-beast kings with the strength of rank 4 gu masters.
However, the beasts cannot simply rely on their bodies. The major characterization of these beast kings is still the rank of gu worms!
Hundred-beast king is capable of attracting wild rank 2 gu worms but seeing the injured beast king without any gu worm aura, a gleeful light flashed through Fei Cai's eyes.
There wasn't anything strange about the appearance of this beast king.
Fei Qing controls an army of almost 200,000 beasts but he didn't control all of them individually. Fei Qing had enslaved the thousand-beast kings and myriad-beast kings to relieve the pressure on his soul. These beasts, of course, fought among themselves. If Fei Cai had to hypothesize, a new hundred-beast king might have appeared in the outskirts containing the group guarding the entrance of the tribe and it drove away the old beast king. In fact, Fei Cai's group was comprised of these beasts. A few would run away occasionally and Fei Cai simply used the opportunity to enslave them.
However, right now, the hundred-beast king terror horse gazed at Fei Cai and loudly snorted, attempting to scare him away since the beast's injuries were quite restrictive.
"Hehe, I'll heal you well," Fei Cai smiled and pointed his finger towards the beast king. He still had two of the rank 2 horse enslavement gu worms and one of them was activated at the expense of 70% of his essence. The gu worm exploded and turned into a light of smoke that instantly entered the horse king and immediately, the battle of will began.
Dispirited, hurt, and now attacked by Fei Cai, the horse king could only submit after a few moments and with that, Fei Cai had to return early to treat the injuries of the horse king.