The Most Costly Employment! . . .
In the Boundless Space, Erhuo was busy working on the fruits. After getting benefit from three people's breakthrough, it had realized how much the fruit could bring to it.
After absorbing the last wave of that amazing qi, it was only one step away from breaking into a new level.
Erhuo was so incredibly hardworking that even Cha Eun Xiao couldn't believe it.
"Is this… is this still that lazy cat? Why is it suddenly so hardworking? Has a soul snatched its body? It can't be…"
The golden hawk kept fleeting in the sky, with excitement in its big round eyes.
Erhuo had removed the danger from the fruits and merged every twin fruits into one. Now, the fruits were all in Cha Eun Xiao's pocket. Hawky believed that if it behaved well, Cha Eun Xiao would definitely spare some to it.
It felt pretty satisfied and happy to have Cha Eun Xiao as its master.
Cha Eun Xiao had tried to give hawky the fruit. At that time, the golden hawk had a feeling that… its body perfectly accommodated the fruit. It seemed the fruit would work even better in its body than in the human of Dao Origin Stage. When it ate the fruit, no energy would be leaked out. It would actually absorb every bit of the power in the fruit. It was a great thing, but if it took enough power from the fruit, it might have to ascend to Human Realm Upon Heavens immediately because it had reached a certain power level.
That was why it hesitated.
Hawky had been alone for so many years until finally, Cha Eun Xiao accepted it, and it accepted Cha Eun Xiao too. Besides, it had a friend, Erhuo, in this world. It didn't want to leave this place of warmth and harmony for another world in which it might be solitary again.
If it hadn't met Cha Eun Xiao and Erhuo, it would definitely swallow the fruit and go up to the new world without hesitation. However, after the warmth and friendliness, it couldn't bear losing what it had at the moment to go to a world where it had to be alone. The relationship had changed it.
[I can wait. We can ascend together. I have been lonely for many years. Now, I finally have a family. Why should I hurry? There is no need to live the solitary life again.] That was Hawky's choice.
Erhuo was pretty impressed by Hawky's choice. Although it just disdainfully meowed with a pair of half-closed eyes, arrogantly twisting its butt and walking away as if it didn't care about what Hawky thought, it was quite overjoyed deep in its heart.
[Well, the bird is unbelievably a lot weaker than me in real power, but… it is always better to have a company, isn't it? At least life won't be lonely…] Erhuo thought, [Should I? When I regain my prime status, return to the top of all creatures, and break through the ultimate level… should I do something to boost the little bird up?]
[Should I make it the new member of the Twelve Great Spirits?]
That would be a huge favor with great kindness of Master Erhuo.
There was a saying—when a man achieves success, people around him get benefits. In fact, the cat succeeded, the bird got the benefit!
That was the reason why Erhuo could talk to Hawky in an arrogant attitude, "Meow! Remember! Show your Master Cat some respect. Keep following my instructions… Say some nice words from time to time… You will get what you deserve when the day comes."
Hawky didn't know much about Erhuo's background, so it always showed disdain to the cat. Sometimes, it would stretch out its wings and start a fight against Erhuo. Erhuo was not a rival to the golden hawk at the moment, but luckily, it was faster. If it wasn't faster, it should have been beaten up hard by Hawky many times.
Since the day Erhuo hatched, it had never shown interest to any living things except Cha Eun Xiao. Now, it had shown its generosity and kindness to the hawk and only asked it to behave like a little brother. However, the hawk actually didn't accept it, and that was totally unacceptable for Erhuo!
Thus, it changed its mind and thought, [When I reach the peak, I won't give a damn thing to the stupid bird! Meow! That was unacceptably annoying…]
…
"There it is. Dark Forest. Our destination…" Han Bingxue stood on the golden hawk's back, pointed ahead, and talked, "Boss, that is where you fought a tough way out back in that year… After that battle, this place in Dark Forest has become a place where the sects would send their disciples for training. Look at it now… there are no high-level spiritual beasts anymore… This place is wracked."
[High-level spiritual beasts?]
It enlightened Cha Eun Xiao that he had conquered many spiritual beasts in the fourth layer of Mountain of All Medicines some time earlier…
If Han Bingxue didn't mention spiritual beasts, Cha Eun Xiao might have forgetten about it.
He had a bunch of beasts hanging around somewhere he could easily reach, which meant he had a huge group of powerful fighters hanging around somewhere doing nothing. It was such a mistake that he never thought of using them in battle.
He himself couldn't give orders to the beasts, but Erhuo was definitely the commander. [Erhuo claims to be the Foremost Spirit in Chaos. Think about the Silver-scaled Golden Caruncled Snakes, which are all much stronger now after absorbing the energy in the Boundless Space. If those snakes are out here in the real world, they are definitely super-level spiritual beasts. However, they all bow before Erhuo, entirely obedient to Erhuo. If Erhuo indeed has the power to rein all spiritual beasts, it means I have an incredibly powerful ace card in hand!]
[When the beasts in the fourth layer of Mountain of All Medicines start an attack together, even Wu Fa and Xuan Bing couldn't defeat them!]
Cha Eun Xiao couldn't stop thinking more about it. If he had those spiritual beasts as an army under his command, he could even fight a battle against all the people of the three factions together…
When he was lost in thoughts, a stream of sword energy suddenly rushed up from somewhere below with a raging killing intent. Even though Cha Eun Xiao was in such a height, he could still clearly feel it.
"There is a dominant cultivator fighting!" Cha Eun Xiao's eyes turned profound, and he started gathering his qi.
"At this critical moment, fighting in this place, they must be the ones who want to hurt my parents and sisters. No other superior cultivators would come here and fight. Let's get down there!"
He tapped the golden hawk's head.
Hawky understood, so it made a long howl and suddenly shot down toward the Dark Forest like a flying arrow in the air!
At the same time, Cha Eun Xiao's spiritual mind had entered the Boundless Space and stopped Erhuo, who was busy working on the fruits at the moment. "Erhuo, the beasts in the space of Mountain of All Medicines, can we use them?"
"Meow?" Erhuo stared at Cha Eun Xiao and thought, [What do you mean can we use them? Use? That's a weird word! Are you talking about eating them as some food? That is not bad. I can share some delicious meat with you!]
It automatically licked its lips and talked to Cha Eun Xiao through mind connection, "I don't see why not, but I am not sure if they taste as good as I imagine. Those are native spiritual beasts in Qing-Yun Realm and only in normal levels. They don't offer much nutrition just so you know. I don't really like to eat them that much. Well, I guess I can try some. Maybe they taste good. Some spiritual beasts are not nutritious but tasty after some necessary cooking process…"
"Shut your mouth now, you idiot! All you can think of is food. I just want to know if we can make them fight for us in battle!" Cha Eun Xiao stopped Erhuo's daydream and said.
"Of course they will fight for us." Erhuo raised its whiskers and said, "Those beasts are our properties. We can eat them if we want. We surely can tell them to do anything we want… If any of them dare to disobey me, I will cook them and eat them up! I bet they dare not!"
Cha Eun Xiao was speechless while staring at Erhuo. [All you can think of is eating!]
[Look at you! You are roughly the same size as my fist. Look at those beasts! Any of them is dozens of times or even hundreds of times bigger than you. Yet you still think that you can just cook them and eat them?]
However, no matter how speechless Cha Eun Xiao was, he never doubted Erhuo's capability. After all, it had conquered all those Silver-scaled Golden Caruncled Snakes.
"Okay. Just go there and tell them that we may need them to fight. When I tell you to let them out, you go and let them out! Spiritual beasts rage up and conquer the realm!" Cha Eun Xiao said.
"Meow!" Erhuo agreed. It seemed pretty excited.
What Cha Eun Xiao asked was truly just an easy job. What excited Erhuo was the last few words—spiritual beasts rage up and conquer the realm!
Nobody could defeat a massive crowd of spiritual beasts. As the leader of the beasts, Erhuo must be in a pretty important position when that day came!
[When that day comes, I will become a king! The little hawky will beg in tears to call me chief! It will cry for the seat of the prime footman to me!]
[When it begs, I will refuse it again and again!]
Apparently, Erhuo was influenced by Cha Eun Xiao's personality. That was why it became so shameless now. [Shame? What is it? How much is it? Come on!]
However, it was only Erhuo's daydream.
The spiritual beasts in the space of Mountain of All Medicines actually didn't want to go out and fight!
They had two reasons. First, Cha Eun Xiao hadn't thoroughly assimilated the entire Mountain of All Medicines yet!
The spiritual beasts in the mountain thought at the same time, [You haven't conquered the mountain yet! What makes you think that you are the boss? No way!]
What upset Erhuo was that… its power suppression didn't work in the space of Mountain of All Medicines!
[How is this possible? It doesn't make sense!]
The spiritual beasts had shown enough respect to Erhuo due to Erhuo's true identity, but they weren't convinced by Erhuo's power. It was impossible for them to obey a weak, small cat! To fight a battle under its commands? No way…
Erhuo was so angry that it nearly exploded.
[I have given my word to my master about your obedience! Look at you… You actually do not follow my lead… How is this possible?]
[Don't you think you should show me more respect? I am the Foremost Spirit in Chaos after all!]
It just couldn't believe what happened, so it grabbed a spiritual tiger and asked the question. The answer from the spiritual tiger totally freaked Erhuo out!
"Meow… Little tiger… Listen. You know I am a powerful cat, don't you? You want to be my subordinate in the world of beasts, don't you?"
"Absolutely not!"
"Wait! What? I am talented, born with the best potential in the world! I have a great future ahead of me! My achievement is unlimited! It is your honor to have a leader that is as powerful as me. Do you understand?"
"I understand! You are right!"
"Wait… Yes? What? You understand? You know I am, right?"
"Yes, of course. Why do you think we all are so respectful to you? We know you are talented, and we know that you are way too higher in the level systems!"
"Hmm… Then why don't you listen to me? Look, although you are a super-level spiritual beast, you are only equal to level nine of Dao Origin Stage if you are people. In fact, you may be weaker than a level nine Dao Origin Stage man. Why don't you accept me as your boss?"
"Heh… You said it yourself. You are born with all advantages. You have a great future ahead of you. Your achievement will be unlimited. Look. I know you will, but let's focus on the present instead of the future, shall we? We spiritual beasts only care about the present. Nobody knows what will change tomorrow. What you are doing is asking us to do something without getting any benefits in return… We are spiritual beasts. Super-level spiritual beasts. Not some stupid animal!"
"What? Wait. Okay. Listen. I have some followers. They are spiritual beasts too. How come they are all so obedient to me? I point at the east, and they won't dare to go west. They live only by depending on my words… However, they are not super-level beasts yet. Do you mean they won't listen to me if they become super-level?"
"I see. Look, you are overthinking. I know their situation. Your followers are different from us. Even after they become super-level beasts, even beyond the limits of this world, they will always be your loyal followers. They are born with respect and awe for you. Even though you are weak, they still fear you. We are different beasts. We have felt the suppression and difficulties that are much stronger than you can ever imagine—the power of the chaotic universe. Your power means nothing to us. Before you are over our league in power, do not think that we will follow your orders. If you piss us off, we will beat you up without hesitation. Now, do you understand? Did I make it clear?"
Erhuo was totally blank, but it finally understood the truth!
Erhuo was one of those who knew the story about Mountain of All Medicines. It recognized that this mountain was a treasure that was left by an extremely powerful figure from beyond the chaotic universe in history. The spiritual beasts had experienced the suppression from that person, so they wouldn't be threatened by anybody in this realm anymore. That powerful person could defeat Erhuo with a finger snap even when Erhuo was in its prime days!
Erhuo suddenly felt frightened. Luckily, those spiritual beasts were all at high levels. They were so intelligent that they could see who Erhuo truly was and how it connected to the owner of this mountain. Otherwise, the beasts might give Erhuo a casual attack, and that attack could have easily killed it!
The spiritual beasts were sure that they wouldn't help Erhuo to fight the battle. Erhuo was displeased, but there was nothing it could do. It didn't even dare to scold the beasts!
However, it wasn't some stupid cat after all. Something the spiritual tiger said enlightened Erhuo. 'We spiritual beasts only care about the present. Nobody knows what will change tomorrow. What you are doing is asking us to do something without getting any benefits in return…'
Didn't it mean that they would help if they had benefits in return?
Erhuo changed his plans and talked to the beasts again, "Look, we won't let any of you fight the battle and get nothing. Every one of you who shows up in the battle to help us will get one supreme dan bead. Supreme dan beads, guys, are rare in the realms. Only I have as many as I want. It can improve your cultivation for at least fifty years!"
The eyes of the spiritual beasts in the fourth layer lit up at the same time after what Erhuo said.
That was right. They all agreed.
However, they would only do the battle thing one time in the coming future!
Spiritual beasts had their dignity and honor. They were not for sale!
Erhuo promised it was the only battle, and then left the space of the fourth layer awkwardly.
[Holy kitty… That was embarrassing!]
[That was the most embarrassing thing I have ever done in my life!]
[I even… used my master's supreme dan beads… to do something I should have done by myself…]
[I can't let him know about this…]
Erhuo made a decision in its mind.
Cha Eun Xiao had no idea what exactly happened after Erhuo confidently promised it would take care of those beasts. He thought Erhuo was the head of the beasts, but instead, it was only an employer… Cha Eun Xiao was lost in the imagination of his invincible spiritual beasts army. Erhuo didn't know that it had done something remarkable in history.
What it had done was bringing about the most expensive employment in history!