Chapter 191: Chapter 173: The Stone in the Middle of the Road
The next day, after grabbing a quick bite early in the morning, Li Qian left Changfeng Cultivation Base. He didn’t ask anyone from the base to see him off, instead hailing a cab to leave on his own.
All in all, this trip to Changfeng Cultivation Base had been a bit of a letdown. It was supposed to be a collaboration, but the other party clearly hadn’t fully trusted him.
There had been some unpleasantness, not to mention the incident with Xu Yue, which had left a bad taste in his mouth. If it hadn’t been so late, he would have left yesterday.
Sitting in the taxi, he glanced at the main gate of the Cultivation Base, which was engraved with three stars, and shook his head slightly.
Now that he was leaving, he probably wouldn’t be coming back to this Cultivation Base again unless something unexpected happened.
He couldn’t entirely blame Gao Yaxin and the others, though. His own age and experience were also major factors.
If he had been a venerable, white-haired Cultivation Grandmaster, they would have believed him nine times out of ten, no matter how outrageous his claims sounded.
He sighed, but as he looked at the two Beast Taming Balls in his hand, a faint smile spread across his face.
’Putting the collaboration aside for now,’ he thought. ’It would be best if it works out, but it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t. This trip to Changfeng Cultivation Base wasn’t entirely without its rewards.’
Chicken Hair and Caiyun were one of those rewards. Caiyun was Chicken Hair’s girlfriend. Before he left today, Li Qian had requested to take her too, and Gao Yaxin had agreed without hesitation.
For one, they were just two Red Feather Chickens, and her Cultivation Base had plenty more. For another, she was aware of the bond between Chicken Hair and Caiyun. Since Caiyun wanted to go with Chicken Hair, she decided she might as well do the pair a favor.
What she didn’t know was that the moment she decided to gift Caiyun to Li Qian as well, Xu Yue, who was standing nearby, had a sudden glint in his eyes.
A certain thought in his mind grew stronger. In his eyes, a Breeder who would stoop to taking such a petty handout, even if he had some potential, would never amount to much.
And so, his plotting became bolder and more unrestrained.
He glanced at the two Beast Taming Balls in his hands, then pulled up his task panel. A flicker of delight crossed his eyes.
This was his biggest reward from the trip to Changfeng Cultivation Base: a Pet Beast research task that was now ninety-two percent complete.
That’s right. Task Two: Red Feather Chicken Evolution Method. The progress had reached ninety-two percent. Just last night, when he saw Caiyun use her Light Energy Storage Skill to absorb moonlight, his Inspiration Value had increased by another two percent.
Although the task progress had increased by two percent, Li Qian knew full well that this gain wasn’t particularly valuable for Chicken Hair’s current stage of evolution.
This two percent of progress was clearly related to Caiyun, just like the progress from the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon and the Frostfire Salamander had been.
Caiyun’s own evolution progress was undoubtedly much lower, perhaps not even at eighty percent, but he was still quite pleased.
Once he completely gathered all the elements for Chicken Hair’s evolution, that two percent would convert into Achievement Points. Li Qian only had a single point left, and he was desperate for more.
Lost in thought, he closed his eyes. It was a long drive to the Flying Ship Base, and the taxi driver was clearly the quiet type, so Li Qian decided to rest his eyes as well.
SCREECH!
Li Qian had been resting with his eyes closed, but not for long. Suddenly, the sharp screech of brakes tore through the air. The inertia threw him forward from the back seat, and his head slammed into the seat in front of him.
Luckily, the seat was upholstered in leather; otherwise, his head might have been split open.
"What the hell are you doing..." Li Qian didn’t even think, instinctively starting to curse.
’How can anyone drive like that? That’s not driving, it’s attempted murder.’
But he cut himself off mid-sentence. He saw that not far ahead, right in the middle of the road, some jerk had piled up a huge mound of rocks.
The pile of rocks was like a small hillock, so of course the driver had to slam on the brakes. Otherwise, the consequences would have been far worse than just bumping his head.
"Who does something so messed up, piling rocks in the middle of the road!" The driver, feeling wronged after being half-cursed-out by Li Qian for no reason, was angry himself and chimed in with his own complaint.
As he spoke, he prepared to get out of the car and take a look. It couldn’t be helped; the huge pile of rocks had almost completely blocked the road, and there was no way to get around it.
His car wasn’t a Roller Coaster; he couldn’t just fly over it. Of course, even if it were a Roller Coaster, he couldn’t take off without a Flying permit.
The driver was about to get out and check the situation when Li Qian reached out and stopped him. "Don’t get out!"
"If we don’t get out, what are we supposed to do? Just sit here? We can’t get through," the driver said, confused. He glanced at Li Qian.
Li Qian frowned, his gaze fixed icily on what was ahead. His tone became grim. "Don’t get out. Those aren’t rocks."
"If they’re not rocks, what else could they be—" The driver started to retort instinctively, but just then, the pile of rocks in the middle of the road suddenly stood up.
The bizarre sight shocked the driver into a stutter. "Wh-wh-what... What the hell is that thing?"
"A Pet Beast," Li Qian said calmly. "A Rock Giant." With that, he opened the car door and stepped out.
In truth, when he’d first seen the large pile of rocks, Li Qian had been mistaken too, thinking it was just an ordinary roadblock.
Fortunately, being ever cautious, he had activated his Eye of True Sight Skill to take a look. What he saw shocked him.
[Name: Rock Giant]
[Attribute: Earth]
[Level: Elite Fourth Rank]
[Potential: Tier Seven Commander]
[Skills: Earth Spike (Perfection), Rock Spike (Mastery), Earthquake (Skilled), Earth Split (Beginner), Earth Guardian (Skilled), Rock Armor (Beginner)]
After seeing the attributes of this "pile of rocks," Li Qian naturally no longer saw it as an ordinary obstacle.
At the same time, a sense of foreboding washed over him.
The driver was an unlikely target. It was far more probable that this creature, and the Beast Master controlling it, were almost certainly after him.
Fortunately, this was Nandu City. They were inside city limits, so Li Qian wasn’t too worried. As long as he caused a big enough commotion, it wouldn’t be long before the Public Security Bureau arrived.
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