Chapter 629: The Beast Tribe
Unfortunately for the elder, his opponent was Zhang Lie.
The elder looked at Zhang Lie serenely. "In order to process those vats into actual alcohol, you'll need the secret technique of our clan."
Zhang Lie had no intention of letting this old man rip him off. "It's not a problem for me to make that trip, but I want the recipe that's been passed down within your clan."
Amu slammed a foot on the floor. "That's the basis of our clan's strength!"
The elder glanced at Zhang Lie meaningfully. "This lad's strong enough to take it by force if he wanted to, anyway."
Zhang Lie glanced at the elder in surprise.
It was likely that he had guessed that Zhang Lie had access to some form of mental compulsion. After all, Zhang Lie didn't put the elder under deep hypnosis; he simply changed the elder's perception of him. Most people wouldn't have suspected anything—the same way they believed that Earth was a planet surrounded by the void of space without necessarily seeing the proof of it for themselves.
It was a known fact; who would doubt such a thing?
Zhang Lie's mistmeld clam soulshard had put such a mental suggestion in the elder's brain, causing him to treat Zhang Lie like an honored guest. However, there was no basis for this treatment, and no corresponding memories in the elder's brain that had been revised. Under such conditions, the brain tended to manufacture fake memories of its own, in the same manner that delusional people conjured up false memories to fit their delusions.
Only particularly strong-willed or introspective people would discover that their supposed memories didn't truly exist.
What most impressed Zhang Lie was that, despite the fact that the elder knew that those memories were fake—or rather had guessed that they were fake—the elder didn't treat Zhang Lie like an enemy.
The elder was naturally incensed upon realizing the truth, but he quickly calmed down. He was intelligent enough to realize that, if Zhang Lie were able to revise his memories with nothing more than a simple glance, Zhang Lie was an enemy too strong for him to handle.
There was nothing to be gained from idle resistance; Zhang Lie was likely able to slaughter the entire village if he wanted to. In fact, he could even turn the respected elder into a prisoner of the village, exchanging his identity with Zhang Lie's own. He didn't have any idea about the depths of Zhang Lie's power, so he cleverly chose to play along with the charade.
Amu was the only one flummoxed among the three of them; he cocked his head upon seeing the elder and Zhang Lie looking at each other with identical knowing smiles.
The elder sketched a quick map, which he handed to Mu. He told Zhang Lie, "Mu lived in our old village as a child, and he knows roughly where the vats of alcohol are located. He'll be your scout."
They set off without any rest. The moment they emerged from the village, Red Comet zipped over to find them, and they set off toward the location of the old village together.
They encountered three regular-grade lifeforms along the way. Red Comet battered them down before Zhang Lie could make a move, then retreated so that Zhang Lie could take the kill.
[You successfully killed a regular-grade hellwind serpent. By consuming the flesh of the regular-grade hellwind serpent, you may receive one to ten regular gene fragments.]
Zhang Lie rapped the mantis's head. "Oh, you..."
He had intended on hypnotizing the genetic lifeform with his mistmeld clam soulshard and using it as a mount, but Red Comet had dealt with it before he could say anything.
He gave two of the carcasses to Red Comet, then roasted the other one on the spot.
[For consuming the flesh of a regular-grade hellwind serpent, you received one basic gene fragment. Current total: 46]
[For consuming the flesh of a regular-grade hellwind serpent, you received one basic gene fragment. Current total: 47]
As Zhang Lie obtained his fifty-fifth basic gene fragment, he commanded Red Comet, "Go find two mutated-grade lifeforms. I want the fastest ones there are—don't kill them, just let me know when you find them."
Who knew how much longer walking would take?
However, Red Comet didn't make a move. It stood still and rubbed its forelegs. Zhang Lie frowned. "Can you not understand human speech?"
Red Comet roughly understood what Zhang Lie wanted, but fine detail eluded it.
Sighing, Zhang Lie used his mistmeld clam soulshard on Red Comet. It might be incapable of fully understanding speech, but surely it could process thoughts, at the very least.
Red Comet instantly vanished. It came back almost in the blink of an eye, motioning toward a particular direction. Zhang Lie stepped through the air, not moving much slower than Red Comet itself, and quickly found the indicated target—two superior-grade black leopards.
Zhang Lie's eyes brightened, and he rubbed Red Comet along its head. "Not bad."
He appeared before the two black leopards in a blink, his eyes glowing with rainbow light. The black leopards howled threateningly, but their eyes quickly turned rainbow-colored as well. They slowly rolled over on the ground, as docile as two house cats.
Zhang Lie stepped forward and scratched their bellies, causing the leopards to nudge Zhang Lie with their heads and rub their bodies against his. Red Comet ?whirred its wings and clicked its mandibles in a threatening fashion, causing the black leopards to rear back—they were a little scared of it.
"Very good. You'll be my mounts starting from today—I suppose I'll call you White and Whiter."
Zhang Lie rather liked their paradoxical names, considering they were black leopards.
He brought White and Whiter back toward where Amu was waiting for them. Zhang Lie rode on White, and Amu on Whiter. The two superior-grade leopards were extremely fast, and their auras prevented any lower-grade lifeforms from drawing near. The rest of the journey went quickly and uneventfully.
Suddenly, Amu pointed before them. "Ah, the original village is right ahead!"
Zhang Lie glanced far into the distance, where he saw a pile of ruins—wood and stone strewn all over, houses that had collapsed and been exposed to the natural elements, charred ground, bones, and piles of rubble and ash.
"It looks like you suffered a serious robbery indeed," Zhang Lie murmured.
He also noticed a great deal of bones from genetic lifeforms in the remnants of the village.
Amu nodded. "Those from the beast tribe were particularly vile."
"The beast tribe?"
"Ah, you must not know, savior. The tribes around here all have different abilities, and they've been given nicknames related to those abilities. The tribe that attacked us was the beast tribe, and they're a tribe of beast tamers. Working together, they're able to subdue beasts of incredible strength—but of course not at your level, savior."
Amu rubbed Whiter and shot an idle glance at Red Comet, zooming through the air.
He had never seen such powerful tamed lifeforms before, not even in the beast tribe. Red Comet was particularly impressive; it was so fast that he could barely catch its motion, and much too fast for him to react to it in time.
If the beast tribe had possessed a genetic lifeform as strong as Red Comet, none of them would have survived the ordeal.
Zhang Lie asked, "Has anyone returned to this village after the invasion?"
Amu shook his head. "Not as far as I know, but some members of the tribe might have returned secretly. Is something the matter?"
1. I have no idea what the author is thinking.
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