Edited by Aelryinth

Aboard Dijiang-hao, Huang Tielan pointed at the elemental queen, who was in the middle of a fierce battle on a chessboard, and asked quietly, "Zhang Xiaoche, is she always like this?"

Just as they exited the beast world, this humanoid pet actually dove right into the online world and focused all her attention on Go. Her focus was truly shocking.

Although Huang Tielan knew the elemental queen loved playing chess, she didn't know the extent of it.

Zhang Che shrugged helplessly and nodded, "Right. I don't even know whether letting her learn to play chess was a good thing or a bad thing anymore."

Truthfully speaking, it was fortunate the elemental queen was a humanoid pet, and not a real person. Otherwise, there'd be some real problems if she kept studying the art of chess in this manner, foregoing meals and sleep!

"Amazing!" Huang Tielan praised from the bottom of her heart. She had always thought of herself as very hardworking when it came to beast card cultivation, and not many could match up to her in that aspect. However, when she compared herself to the elemental queen, she was so ashamed that she wanted to find a hole to hide in.

The two of them were on totally different levels!

------

Going to Jingzhou Island from Bei Du would take more than five hours even on Dijiang-hao. Zhang Che felt tired after chatting with Huang Tielan for some time. Even so, the elemental queen still had her head buried in chess. It truly was admirable.

"Zhang Xiaoche, can you free up some time during my school holidays and come with me to the beast world? I want to rise to Tier Six beastmaster in one go!"

The incident from before had left too deep of an impression on Huang Tielan. She viewed raising her strength as a much more important issue now than in the past.

If it wasn't for Jiang Chao saving her in the nick of time, perhaps she wouldn't have lasted until Zhang Che arrived, and would have fallen to the attacks to those evil cult beastmasters.

Only by becoming strong herself would she not be a burden to Zhang Che in the future. Huang Tielan was now much more aware of this point than ever.

Zhang Che nodded and said, "No problem. After you advance to Tier Six beastmaster, I'll help you find some mid-tier epic-quality beast cards. That way you'll be able to protect yourself in the future."

Although it was possible for exotic beasts to reach epic-quality once they attained mid-tier status, it was very rare to find four-star epic-quality beasts. Even five-star epic-quality exotic beasts were uncommon. Six-star epic-quality exotic beasts were much more common.

As such, it was very necessary for Huang Tielan to achieve Tier Six beastmaster as soon as possible.

As for Zhang Che wanting to hunt mid-tier epic-quality exotic beasts, this matter was very easy for him. The only problem was that epic-quality exotic beasts were few in number, and that they usually wouldn't stay in one area for long.

As such, he needed a bit of luck to find epic-quality exotic beasts. However, none of this was a big problem for him.

With the Huang family supporting him, they could get scouts to spread out to all the beast worlds to search. Surely they'd find some information on epic-quality exotic beasts!

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By the time Dijiang-hao arrived at Xinjing City, the sky had turned completely dark.

However, after learning that his precious daughter and prospective son-in-law were coming, Huang Juyun still took the time to come wait for their arrival personally at the military airport, despite his busy schedule.

He had already learned about the incident in the beast world near Bei Du City on the 18th. Although he knew his daughter was fine in the end, the situation had been dangerous. If Zhang Che had arrived just a moment later, the results would have been unthinkable!

These matters were naturally reported to Huang Juyun by Zhao Wu's squad, who had returned to Mercury first. He was soaked in cold sweat when he first heard about it.

He didn't dare to imagine what would have happened if Zhang Che hadn't followed the school into the beast world to protect his daughter.

In Huang Juyun's heart, his hatred toward the evil cult was simply at the limit. Zhang Che was ambushed not long ago, and now the evil cults had extended their devilish arm towards his one and only precious daughter. He truly couldn't take it lying down any more!

In the government and the military's joint operation, Huang Juyun had responded extremely enthusiastically. Almost all of the forces in the entire Xinjing City military division were mobilized, striking at the evil cults in this area fanatically. In just three days, they had killed or arrested over three hundred members of evil cults, and their seniority in the cults was relatively high, to boot!

The only regrettable thing was that among those evil cult members, the outer members didn't know much at all, while the mid to high level members wouldn't say a word, no matter what. It truly was infuriating.

Even so, after suffering such a harsh setback, the evil cult's arrogance was severely suppressed. At the very least, signs of their activities could no longer be seen on the surface.

During the process of raiding the evil cults, Huang Juyun's new subdued beast, the Metal Tyrant, displayed shocking strength, especially when going after evil cult members holed up inside complicated buildings. Once the Metal Tyrant activated its innate ability, it could collapse entire buildings, leaving those evil cult members with nowhere to hide.

The Metal Tyrant was definitely a few times stronger than other epic-quality subdued beasts when fighting in cities!

"This was done with only the epic-quality Metal Tyrant. If that terrifying divine-quality metal-attributed exotic beast Xiaoche mentioned could be killed and turned into a subdued beast, it would simply be an invincible existence in cities! A mid-sized city would fall with just a simple wave of a hand!"

However, Huang Juyun knew that this was only his personal fantasy. Even those extremely rare divine-tier beastmasters might not be a match for an exotic beast of that level. If he really came across it, he could only try to run as far away as possible.

Given the situation at Mt Fallen Star, that terrifying divine-quality exotic beast naturally had the geographical advantage. It was in an invincible position with all the metal elements present on the mountain range.

As long as that exotic beast didn't leave Mt Fallen Star, no one could ever threaten it!

Back then, Zhang Che and the others had noticed that the terrifying exotic beast seemed unable to leave Mt Fallen Star for some unknown reasons. Not only that, it rarely moved at all. Otherwise, it wouldn't have let them massacre the exotic beasts in the outer region of the mountain range, waiting until the Scarlet Flame Drake killed the Metal Tyrant before it made its attack.

While he was thinking about all that, the airport control tower had received a signal that Dijiang-hao had arrived in the skies nearby and was requesting to land.

Huang Juyun would see his precious daughter who survived a calamity very soon. He quickly collected himself and looked to the skies.

----

Shortly after, Dijiang-hao landed smoothly. The cabin door opened, and Zhang Che, Huang Tielan, and the elemental queen came walking out.

"Daddy!" Huang Tielan quickly ran over when she saw Huang Juyun waiting to receive her.

"Lanlan, it's great that you're fine. I was so scared.

"Next time, no matter if your school organizes any activities, or you want to go out by yourself, you can't go sneaking out again, understand? If it wasn't for Xiaoche this time, the results would have been unthinkable..." Huang Juyun said sincerely, rubbing his daughter's head.

This incident had truly frightened him!

"I know, dad. I won't do it again." Huang Tielan nodded obediently. After such an experience, she viewed her personal safety with more importance.

Zhang Che came up, lagging a few steps behind and greeted Huang Juyun with a nod, "Uncle Huang."

Huang Juyun looked at Zhang Che, his eyes filled with gratitude, and said, "Xiaoche, it's all thanks to you this time. If not…"

Zhang Che smiled faintly and hurriedly stopped Huang Juyun from continuing, "What are you talking about, Uncle Huang? It's my duty to protect her."

Family shouldn't be too polite with one another. Although Zhang Che wasn't married to Huang Tielan yet, this was a matter that was bound to happen sooner or later.

Protecting his woman was only natural. How could he let his father-in-law thank him for that?

The three of them chatted for a while, then Huang Juyun said, "Come on. You must have not eaten anything yet on your journey here. Let's go to the military canteen. Food is already prepared; it's fresh seafood I got my men to get from the waters."

Zhang Che and Huang Tielan's eyes shone brightly when they heard this. They immediately felt their stomachs growling.

It wasn't easy to procure seafood in this era. The taste was something one would never forget after eating it just once.

Moreover, the seafood Huang Juyun sent his men to get surely wasn't ordinary stuff. There was definitely all kinds of exotic beast seafood. In that case, the taste would be ten times more delicious!

After taking a few steps, Huang Juyun suddenly felt something was amiss. He stopped in place and sized his daughter up. A look of shock suddenly visible on his face. He asked in disbelief, "Lanlan, y-you… you've advanced to Tier Four beastmaster?"

They had only stayed in the beast world for a few days; Huang Tielan had actually advanced to Tier Four so quickly!

If Huang Juyun's memory had served him right, Huang Tielan hadn't entered the beast world once after advancing to Tier Three beastmaster. In other words, she directly shot up to Tier Four beastmaster from the initial stage of Tier Three!

That speed was truly terrifying!

Huang Tielan said proudly, "That's right. If I wasn't missing daddy and stayed in the beast world a few more days, perhaps I would have risen to Tier Five beastmaster in one go!"

Huang Juyun was stunned. She was speaking like rising in beastmaster tier was as easy as drinking water.

Let alone rising from Tier Four to Tier Five, ordinary beastmasters would need a month or so just to advance from Tier Three to Tier Four, and that was the pace of the stronger ones in that tier who were able to hunt exotic beasts successfully.

-Not right…- Huang Juyun instantly thought of something. He quickly turned to look at Zhang Che and asked, "Did you capture exotic beasts and let her kill them?"

He quickly realized that with the strength of the subdued beasts and pets under Zhang Che, capturing ordinary exotic beasts was simply too easy for them. It was no wonder his precious daughter advanced so quickly!

Zhang Che smiled and said, "Actually it shouldn't have taken three days originally. Two days was enough, but she couldn't stand the fatigue and couldn't swing her sword after killing for some time, having to stop and take a short rest."

Huang Tielan's face flushed red after Zhang Che said that. Her embarrassment turned into anger and she said, "Zhang Xiaoche, it's because your subdued beasts and pets are too terrifying, bringing back an exotic beast every two breaths. Anyone would have grown tired from killing, okay?"

Huang Juyun fell silent after hearing their conversation.

Zhang Che… this brat was truly too strong. His subdued beasts and pets could actually tire out a Tier Three beastmaster just capturing exotic beasts and letting her kill them. It truly left him speechless!

---

While they were chattering, they arrived at the canteen in the building nearby.

After taking their seats, the canteen staff immediately served the dishes. Plate after plate of seafood was brought to their table, filling up the big round table.

Of course, there wouldn't be any waste when it came to beastmasters, especially since the king of appetite, Zhang Che, was here. Instead, the problem was whether this much was enough for them!

After they took some bites and filled their stomachs slightly, Huang Tielan slowed down and suddenly looked at Huang Juyun. She put on airs and said to him, "Oh, right, daddy. Guess what we found in the beast world this time?"

He was slightly taken aback, then smiled, "What else can you find in there? Let's hear it; how many spiritual herbs have you found?"

Huang Juyun knew about that pet of Zhang Che that could locate spiritual herbs. They must have gotten a good harvest for his precious daughter to show off like this.

-That aside, Zhang Che this brat is really something. He still has the time to scavenge spiritual herbs while capturing exotic beasts for her to kill. Looks like this kid is much stronger than I thought...-

To his surprise, Huang Tielan grinned and said, "Hee hee, you're wrong, daddy. Although we found a top-grade spiritual herb, that is nothing. Do you want to make another guess?"

-What's there to guess, then!?- Huang Juyun couldn't help but roll his eyes back.

-If it isn't spiritual herbs, then there are simply too many things in the beast world. Who knows what good stuff you found? But, it's probably some kind of rare mineral, and the amount is surely high. Otherwise she wouldn't have said that a top-grade spiritual herb didn't count for much...-

Huang Juyun turned to look at Zhang Che and said, "Alright, kid, stop putting on airs. Say it; what mineral did you find? Is there a lot of it?"

Before Zhang Che could respond, Huang Tielan could no longer suppress her desire to show off and urged him, "Zhang Xiaoche, quickly take it out and show daddy!"

-Bring it out? Wouldn't that smash the table into powder? How can we eat, then?-

"Don't…" Huang Juyun grew anxious and hurriedly spoke out to stop him, worried that Zhang Che would really pour out all the minerals they found. That'd be a sight to behold!

However, he only saw Zhang Che wave his hand slightly in the next moment, and a few milky white crystals appeared in the gaps between the plates on the table. It didn't collapse the table like he had imagined.

-Hmm, this kid wasn't stupid enough to pour out everything, only taking out some samples.

-Not right...

-What is this?!-

Huang Juyun's whole body was trembling from shock when he finally took in what was on the table.

Although he wasn't a beast card cultivator, as the patriarch of a clan with a herbal research institute, Huang Juyun was very familiar with minerals that concerned spiritual herbs. Even though he hadn't seen the actual objects before, he knew their relevant information.

He looked at the milky white crystals on the table blankly, his voice trembling as he asked for confirmation, "T-th-these… these are spiritual crystals?"

At that moment, Huang Juyun was truly wondering if he was hallucinating.

-Freaking hell, those pieces of milky white crystals range from the size of a fist to as big as a human's head. Are they really the spiritual crystals worth ten times that of spiritual jade?-

Even with his extensive experience, Huang Juyun was truly shocked, and rather severely at that!