The Dream Bison sensed that Zheng wasn't following it, and it was annoyed.
The bovine thought, 'Why is this dummy not following me?'
MOO!
'Why are you still standing there, dummy?' The Dream bison yelled at Zheng.
Zheng began to tail the bovine. He said to the beast,
"I thought that you weren't going to help me out."
The bovine said, 'What made you think that I was not going to help you?'
Zheng had a quick response in his mind, but his fear of the beast restricted him. He wanted to reply, "Because you prioritised smashing a cow over helping me defeat an angry, hungry cannivore."
Coincidentally, the bovine was thinking along the same lines as the prince. After putting out the question, the Dream bison quickly and harshly said,
'Don't mention it was because I was s*xing that nice butt cow.'
Zheng replied, "I wasn't going to say that."
With a suspicious side eye, the Dream bison asked, 'What were you going to say?'
Zheng said, "I wasn't going to say anything because I was trained to uphold good manners, which I do. One of them is that I'm not to say bad things to elders. You, my good bison, are an elder, and so I will respect you."
The bovine said, 'Hmmm. So you aren't as dumb as I thought you were? That's good.'
Zheng maintained a calm composure, but in his mind, he wanted to kill the bison for having a bad mouth.
Zheng mused, 'I wonder if this horny bastard tastes as good as beef.'
He leaked a mischievous smile, which the bovine didn't fail to catch.
The Dream bison thought, "What is this idiot thinking of now?'
The prince and the magic beast silently walked into the forest. They hadn't taken many steps into the forest when the prince remembered that he had forgotten something in the glade.
Zheng sighed in irritation. "Darn it, I forgot the brown book in the glade."
The Dream bison said, "I was wondering how long it would take you to remember."
Zheng said with a respectful tone, "Honestly, I find your attitude towards me unpleasant. I know that you also find me annoying, but your unsocial character won't help you with me. It just makes me more annoying."
He expected a reply, but the beast just frigidly gazed at him.
Zheng said, "You have to communicate with me for things to move rapidly. No communication, and we will surely stagnate at various points."
The prince went back to the glade and got the book. He put it back in his interspatial ring and returned to the forest. He found the Dream bison waiting for him.
The prince said to the bovine, "I didn't think that you would wait for me."
The bovine huffed and walked ahead. Zheng followed behind.
The two walked for a while, during which they weren't approached by any creatures. To the eye, the forest seemed empty, but to a trained sense like Zheng's, he could feel the creatures in the forest. They were moving away and keeping their distance from him and the bovine.
Zheng wondered, 'Seems like the Dream bison has a fierce reputation.'
The bovine disproved Zheng's thoughts, saying, 'Good work, kid. Your stunt earlier made you popular. No one wants to provoke us.
'Normally, when I thread this path, a lot of creatures don't respect me. They block my way and I have to make way for myself.
The bovine concluded with a soft tone, 'Perhaps, I treated you badly.'
Zheng said, "So you aren't prey in here?"
The Dream bison proudly said, 'No one dares sniff my ass. Only I can do that without permission.'
"You are a carnivore?"
The bovine was disappointed that the human didn't understand its joke. It replied with a tone of disappointment,
'Of course not. My answers don't have the same meaning.'
The prince correctly interpreted the answers, and he could only shake his head at the craziness behind the meaning.
Zheng asked, "Can the other creatures hear our conversation?"
'They can hear you, but they can't hear me.'
Zheng was fascinated by this revelation. He wondered if beast tamers could learn this kind of skill.
Three minutes later, the bovine and the prince arrived before a thousand-metre-tall deciduous tree that had so many broad, thick branches. The tree was in its autumn phase, and hence, its leaves were brown. The stem and its roots that were exposed were also thick. In a nutshell, the tree had an intimidating yet elegant structure.
Butterflies and canaries flew up and down the many branches. These creatures were elegantly and enticingly coloured. Royal yellow and thin lines of black were the predominant colours on them. They left a trail of golden dust as they swam through the air.
Littered on the ground close to the tree were many orbs, all of them colourless. These orbs didn't capture the young prince's attention. He stared with fascination at the top of the tree. He couldn't decide what exactly put more work into making the tree look wonderful: was it the numerous ivy hanging on various branches, or was it the way the tree branches were arranged?
MOO!
A deafening bellow almost scattered Zheng's eardrums.
"What the heck was that?" Zheng yelled at the black bovine.
However, this commotion below the tree didn't seem to affect the flying creatures at the top of the tree.
Zheng raged on, "What is wrong with you? Why couldn't you just peacefully get my attention?"
The Dream Bison replied, 'I did that. I even tugged on your clothes with my teeth.'
The beast gestured at the prince's right sleeve. Zheng looked at the part of his shirt. There was an ugly bite mark on it.
Zheng said, "I don't believe you."
The bison wasn't lying in any way. It had tried to call Zheng's attention, but he was lost in fascination. So it was forced to resort to inconvenient methods. It didn't have the patience to drag it out with the human.
The bovine said, 'Take as much as you want. Believe it or not, there are no traps or side effects. The tree will keep producing more.'