Edited by Aelryinth

"This kind of matters between men and women are really strange. Forget it; I'd better play my chess in peace…" the elemental queen frowned, blinking. She truly didn't understand the principle behind this. In the end, she shook her head and followed behind Zhang Che and the others, walking out of the ravine.

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The matters between man and woman was like a piece of window paper. Everything would be clear if you poked a hole through it.

That night, Huang Tielan only protested a little bit symbolically before entering Zhang Che's sleeping bag.

In the middle of the night, the elemental queen was woken up by some strange noises. She turned her body ethereal with a frown and exited the mountain cave, then found a place outside and conjured a ball of flame, studying a chess manual by herself.

Although she couldn't tell what exactly was wrong, she felt like she couldn't continue staying in the cave.

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Day after day went by. Huang Tielan no longer insisted on hunting exotic beasts by herself. After all, the Mutated Puffersword she was currently using was too weak. Even if some exotic beasts just stood there and let her slash at them, she'd need to spend quite a bit of effort to actually kill them. In the end, she decided to heed Zhang Che's suggestion and let his subdued beasts and pets beat them half to death and let her deal the final blow.

That way, the speed at which Huang Tielan received soul force points skyrocketed. It wasn't any slower than the last time they used this method.

On the 19th January, Year 37 of the new age, she could sense that she had reached the peak of Tier Four beastmaster.

After dealing the final blow to a dying six-star bronze-quality exotic beast with a stab of her sword, Huang Tielan suddenly cried out excitedly to Zhang Che, "Zhang Xiaoche, I feel like I'm about to breakthrough soon. It should be within the next couple of days!"

"So soon?" Zhang Che was slightly taken aback. A radiant smile broke out on his face. "That's great! Let's put more effort into this. You'll be able to use the Cold Jade Beast as your sword when you advance to Tier Five. That way, your strength will increase significantly. After that, we'll continue working hard and try to let you advance to Tier Six before we return!"

Huang Tielan was very happy inside. She nodded, replying, "Mmm. Let's continue and aim to breakthrough Tier Four by today and become a Tier Five beastmaster. Truthfully, I don't feel comfortable using this sword any more. I can't even penetrate the defenses of exotic beasts with slightly tougher physical defense. It's so bad."

Zhang Che immediately burst out into laughter when he heard that.

It was indeed so. The Mutated Puffersword, which was only two-stars, could indeed not keep up with Huang Tielan's growth any longer. It truly was unsuitable for her to continue using it.

Even so, Huang Tielan didn't manage to breakthrough Tier Four before evening arrived. She was so annoyed she almost didn't have the appetite for dinner, needing Zhang Che to console her for quite some time before she let it go.

"No hurry. It'll happen very soon. It's useless even if you're impatient about it. Come, quickly eat your dinner. We'll only have the energy to 'exercise' after eating. Hehehehe…"

"Screw you! That's all you think about the whole day. I really regret not keeping myself in control that day and letting you have your way. You wouldn't be so proud otherwise! Hmph!"

Huang Tielan would no longer blush like before whenever the matters between a man and woman were brought up. However, her skin was still very thin and she couldn't keep her face straight. She hammered her fist on Zhang Che when she heard him, but she was no longer as impatient as before and started eating her dinner properly.

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The next day, the two woke up early as usual and had a simple breakfast before setting off once more. They went to an area with relatively higher population density of exotic beasts, beginning their massacre on mid-tier and above exotic beasts nearby.

This time, after killing just a little shy of a hundred exotic beasts, Huang Tielan suddenly stopped what she was doing and stood there in a daze.

Zhang Che's eyelids twitched. He knew she was finally breaking through to Tier Five. He hurriedly had the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon and the elemental queen return to guard them, patiently waiting for her breakthrough to complete.

---

Shortly after, Zhang Che keenly sensed the aura on Huang Tielan erupting, growing a few times stronger than before. At the same time, she revealed a radiant smile as she opened her eyes, her joy apparent.

Zhang Che finally let out a sigh of relief. He looked at her with a smile, clapping as he said, "Congratulations to our Miss Tielan for finally advancing to Tier Five beastmaster. It really is a joyous occasion. Let's have something extra for dinner tonight!"

Huang Tielan moved her limbs, taking in the difference in feeling compared to before. She finally laughed and hugged Zhang Che excitedly, screaming, "Zhang Xiaoche, I'm finally Tier Five! Hahahaha, I'm also a Tier Five beastmaster now!"

Done speaking, she couldn't wait any longer and urged Zhang Che to take out the Cold Jade Beast's beast card. She held it between her palms and successfully triggered it, then branded it with her spiritual imprint.

Afterwards, she blinked her eyes. A five-colored light rushed out from her brow, turning into a slim sword a little over a meter long in her hand.

The long sword was jade green in color, like limpid autumn waters. There were no flaws to be seen. With slight movements from her arm, it left behind green ripples in the air. It was magical.

Zhang Che hurriedly ordered the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon and elemental queen at his sides through their spiritual link, telling them to go capture a few exotic beasts and let Huang Tielan test out her new sword.

The pets moved very quickly. In only a minute or two, each of them came back from the nearby mountain woods with a few exotic beasts in tow. Their strengths weren't weak, every one of them at least four-star bronze-quality, especially the exotic beast held in the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon's front right claw. It resembled both a tiger and a leopard, and was at five-star dark gold-quality.

That fellow was really unlucky. Given its strength, it should be something like an overlord in this mountain forest, able to bully whichever exotic beast it wanted.

However, it fell into the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon's claws, captured alive and unable to escape even if it wanted to. It was doomed to die a tragic death under Huang Tielan's sword.

"Come, come, let's begin with the weak ones and familiarize yourself with the sword."

Zhang Che explained the Cold Jade Sword's attributes to Huang Tielan. After she committed them to memory, he wasn't in a hurry to let her test her sword. Instead, he instructed her for a bit before letting the elemental queen release a four-star bronze-quality exotic beast she had captured.

However, that exotic beast was scared out of its mind long ago. Even after the elemental queen released it, it laid on the ground, its limbs having turned jelly, unable to get up.

"You useless thing. What are you good for?"

Zhang Che walked up in frustration, kicking that exotic beast fiercely. However, that exotic beast didn't even dare to resist, and chose to feign death on the ground.

"Hahahaha, so there are such cowards among exotic beasts! That's so funny! Forget it, Zhang Xiaoche. Why don't we let it go?" Huang Tielan broke out into laughter, her mood becoming better and better.

"Alright, whatever you say. Take it as it had good fortune. I'll let it go this one time. But, judging by its cowardly nature, I'm afraid it won't live long in the beast world."

While looking down on that frightened exotic beast, Zhang Che kicked it a few more times, signalling that it could leave.

To be fair, that exotic beast could be counted as an extremely clever creature. It seemed to understand they wouldn't kill it and immediately scurried away into the bushes at the side, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Its speed was simply shocking.

Zhang Che's mouth went wide watching that exotic beast run away. He only came back to himself after some time, saying doubtfully, "Hey, say, could that thing have become a spirit? It actually knows to feign death to win our sympathy. Looking at its speed, it should be top-class among four-star exotic beasts. Ordinary predators will really find it difficult to catch it. Who knows how lucky it had been to get caught by the elemental queen..."

Shaking his head, Zhang Che no longer paid it any heed. He turned back and said to Huang Tielan, "Come, let's change to another exotic beast and begin."

Done speaking, the elemental queen let go of another exotic beast.

This fellow was a lot more straightforward. Once it was released, it immediately shot off towards the woods, knowing that it wasn't a match for Zhang Che and the others.

"Heh, want to run? You're staying here!"

The itch to try her new sword was too much. With a clear cry, she quickly gave chase. The jade green sword was thrust out, stabbing at the weak point on the exotic beast's flank.

This time, the Cold Jade Sword's strong point was immediately displayed.

Huang Tielan sensed her attack speed was much faster than before. Her body felt light giving chase to the exotic beast, catching up to it very quickly, and her sword directly punctured through the creature's waist, followed by cutting it into two with a light flick of her wrist!

To be fair, this was also a four-star exotic beast. Even though it wasn't a scaly exotic beast with tough defense, the defensive strength of its fur wasn't to be underestimated, either. She could forget about killing the exotic beast so easily if she was still using the Mutated Puffersword.

"This sword is so sharp, Zhang Xiaoche. I love it!" Huang Tielan looked at Zhang Che excitedly, then shifted her gaze back onto the Cold Jade Sword in her hand. The joy in her eyes was indescribable.

After slashing an exotic beast in two, there was actually not a drop of blood on that clear water-like sword. It was like a clear lake with not the tiniest pollution.

"Very good! This sword is indeed very suitable for you. Come, let's continue and try to get used to this weapon soon!"

Zhang Che was very happy to see Huang Tielan liking this sword so much. With a shout, he had the elemental queen let go of the last exotic beast she held captive.

Afterwards, Huang Tielan cut down every single exotic beast the two pets had captured, especially the five-star dark gold-quality tiger-leopard. She only took three strikes to kill it, having gotten used to her new weapon.

Zhang Che couldn't help but be impressed. As expected from someone from a great clan who had practiced the sword since childhood. Huang Tielan's skills with the sword were truly much better than his.

Zhang Che had to admit that he wouldn't be able to finish off a five-star dark gold-quality exotic beast with a weapon like that so cleanly. Comparing oneself with another was truly depressing.

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For the next two days, Zhang Che continued letting his subdued beasts and pets capture all kinds of exotic beasts to let Huang Tielan practice her sword skills, and at the same time accumulate soul force points, killing two birds with one stone.

In the end, when Huang Tielan felt that she had completely familiarized herself with her sword, she was no longer content with killing exotic beasts that way. She suggested to Zhang Che that she try out actual combat on her own.

Zhang Che was happy to agree with her suggestion. After all, it was only that way that Huang Tielan gained the most experience in combat. Fighting those captured exotic beasts was much less effective.

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That day, when the two were slaughtering a bunch of exotic beasts in the mountain woods, the frisky monkey suddenly came running back to Zhang Che, his eyes shining, wanting to speak. Fortunately, Zhang Che quickly stopped him in time.

This left the frisky monkey very uncomfortable. Ever since his master daddy found a mate (That was how the frisky monkey understood it according to his thoughts), he seemed to not care about him, even stripping him of his right to speak.

If things were to continue like this in the long run, he felt like he'd soon forget how it was like to speak.

Although he was very dissatisfied, his master daddy was very strict on this, and he couldn't do a thing about it.

"Did you discover some high-grade spiritual herb?"

Zhang Che knew that kid must have discovered some high-grade spiritual herb every time he saw that kind of expression on the frisky monkey's face. He wouldn't look so happy and excited otherwise.

The frisky monkey nodded profusely at Zhang Che's question. His incredibly ugly face showed an extremely bright smile.

"Hmm, you really did, huh. That's great! I knew it; it's almost twenty days since we came to this area. I was thinking why we haven't found anything good. Looks like I was accumulating my luck previously!" Zhang Che immediately laughed when he saw the frisky monkey's reply.

Speaking of which, although Zhang Che had been busy helping Huang Tielan increase her strength during this period of time, the frisky monkey wasn't slacking off. He never gave up searching for spiritual herbs. However, things were strange. Although the frisky monkey had found many spiritual herbs during these twenty-some days, their grades were ordinary, leaving Zhang Che very unhappy about it.

This area was thousands of kilometers away from the safety zone. It was impossible for them to not find a single good spiritual herb.

Unexpectedly, just as Zhang Che was about to give up on this matter, the frisky monkey gave him such a huge surprise.

High-grade spiritual herbs were truly too rare. Their medicinal value was far higher than ordinary spiritual herbs. Let alone in the beast world, even in Zhang Che's secret realm, high-grade spiritual herbs were very rare.

Ordinary spiritual herbs were very common in Zhang Che's secret realm. He could find them easily even on the smallest floating mountain. Their abundance simply left him speechless. Even so, the number of high-grade spiritual herbs he had found in his secret realm thus far could be counted with one hand.

It went to show that high-grade spiritual herbs were truly a scarce resource.

Now that such an opportunity had presented itself, how could Zhang Che let it go?