The little snow harrier had grown quite a bit; the one-foot snake before them would barely be enough for a single meal.
"I can keep it from eating you," Wu Youren offered, not considering it any great trouble.
The small snake hesitated before stating, "Then keep me for a few days, but don't feed me."
"Why?" Wu Youren asked, taken aback. "Wouldn't you die quickly that way?"
"Because I don't want to eat bugs and mice!" Chen Quanxu finally lost his temper. "Would you like that?"
"I ate them often," the youth answered calmly. "Back in Hostage Manor, catching a slightly larger rat would keep me happy for an entire day."
"Fine, my mistake," the small snake said, completely at a loss for words. "Regardless, I'm not eating them!"
"Senior, don't force yourself," Wu Youren consoled him instead. "I was only trying to gauge the feasibility of keeping this snake."
With a wry smile, he added, "Even if I really were to keep it, I'd still have to consider whether it might end up like Kelvin's token."
"You... certainly know how to carry a conversation," the small snake muttered as it turned around and slithered away into the distance. "Let's call it a night."
Watching the creature vanish into the dark, Wu Youren had no reaction at all.
He was more than satisfied with the outcome of tonight's discussion; it had exceeded his expectations by a wide margin.
Those last two remarks had been slightly disrespectful to the senior, but he didn't think it was any big deal.
A buyer who nitpicks is a buyer looking to purchase, isn't that so?
The real regret was that they hadn't talked quite enough—for instance, regarding what specific abilities Chen Quanxu actually possessed.
Still, a good meal is worth the wait, and good things take time. Given their current circumstances, proceeding step-by-step was the proper path.
Trying to grow fat on a single mouthful would not only be overly hasty, but also irresponsible with their lives.
Even knowing full well that this was how things had to be, he couldn't help wondering in his heart: *How much can I learn from an ability master's methods?*
Here it came again! The next moment, he gritted his teeth slightly. *Holy hell... did someone else kick the bucket?*
Fortunately, it probably wasn't a grand knight. But for it to pour in so steadily, whatever had happened was no minor incident.
This surge of experience points lasted for nearly an hour.
Just as Wu Youren began to worry whether it would interfere with the shift change on night watch, the warm current gradually subsided.
*I'll need to spend some time absorbing it again.* Wu Youren relaxed his covert sensing around the campsite.
The next instant, his eyes went wide—he had locked eyes with a pair of beady, soybean-sized eyes.
The youth and the snake stared at each other for ten seconds before the little snake flicked its tail.
Hooked around the tip of its tail was a thin cord, and tied to the cord was an identity token.
Wu Youren wanted to say something, but having just gorged himself to the brim, he worried that opening his mouth might leak his aura.
He merely nodded slightly, offering an embarrassed smile that seemed to say: *Senior, you're taking things too seriously.*
The small snake remained silent for another dozen seconds before letting out a soft sigh. "Sigh, honestly... I didn't mean to spy on your cultivation."
*Uh.* The youth's body shuddered faintly, his breath nearly faltering. *You could tell?*
Since he could no longer conceal it, he steeled himself and, while circulating and absorbing the energy, spoke in a slow, low voice.
"Senior, could you trouble yourself to offer an assessment?"
"I can't make head or tail of it." The tiny snake head shook slightly. "The energy resembles that of an ability master, yet not quite..."
"It's just as you described—bizarre and baffling. Even so, you don't consider yourself lucky?"
*Can't make sense of it... Was that good or bad?* Wu Youren felt conflicted.
He sighed softly. "Even you can't tell. Who knows if I might suddenly explode and die in confusion one day?"
"With your luck, you won't come to that!" the small snake replied without hesitation, sounding utterly convinced.
"If I had your luck, why would I have ended up in this state?"
Wu Youren didn't know how to respond to that. Only after a while did he manage, "You're still young, Senior. There should still be time."
Chen Quanxu had been a knight when he arrived, likely around twenty years old.
The only older person in the escort guard had been a single grand knight—the Duke of Wei's illegitimate son.
"If only there were still time," the small snake murmured in a voice faint as gossamer, almost talking to itself. "Besides, you have the snow harrier to redirect any danger."
"Redirect... danger?" The youth blinked. What did that mean?
"The energy you two cultivate is linked as one." The snake paused. "Don't tell me you didn't even know that?"
"I really... just heard about it," Wu Youren stammered, genuinely dumbfounded as he glanced instinctively toward Xiao Ha on his shoulder.
This time, it was the small snake that was left speechless. "I knew it. I should have realized long ago..."
"Senior," the youth asked, genuinely seeking instruction this time, "excuse me, but this lit—little guy can cultivate too?"
"It doesn't know jack shit!" The small snake seemed to be in a foul mood, even cursing. "Your aura field naturally covers it as a byproduct!"
"When even I can't figure this out, how could it cultivate?"
"Still, since it's benefiting from you, even if your cultivation goes awry, with some ingenuity there's a strong chance you can transfer the backlash to it."
Withdrawing his gaze from the snow harrier, the youth shook his head slightly with a blank expression. "This... forgive me, Senior, I don't really understand."
"I understand even less than you!" Chen Quanxu was genuinely getting irritated. "Can you stop showing off?"
"The path of the ability master was forged from nothing as well. If others could do it, why couldn't you?"
"Thank you for the guidance, Senior," Wu Youren said earnestly, letting go of the dilemma in his mind.
The next moment, he lifted a hand and silently telekinetically pulled the identity token through the air into his grip.
Taking a look, it was indeed Namuzha's identity token. Applying slight force, he crushed it into a lump.
An identity token from an intermediate martial academy was a thin metal plate, relatively supple, resilient in combat, and quite heat-resistant.
Yet the next moment, the youth opened his hand, revealing only a smooth little sphere resting on his palm.
He tossed it casually onto the ground.
"Fine fire technique," the small snake flicked its tongue. "And yet, your path doesn't quite resemble the elemental branch."
"Neither fish nor fowl," Wu Youren remarked. He had displayed this trick precisely so the senior wouldn't look down on him.
"Does this mean you accept?" The small snake understood his intention. "Let me emphasize once more: no feedings!"
The youth thought for a moment and asked, "What if it's gourmet food?"
"Gourmet food is an exception." Sure enough, most people's principles were flexible.
By now, Wu Youren could see clearly that it was just an ordinary little earth snake, non-venomous. "Coil around my wrist?"
"I'm... not picky about that," the snake hesitated before agreeing. "In fact, even if it eats rats, it wouldn't be me eating them."
"I just purely dislike the sensation. A person shouldn't go stepping in shit just because they're wearing shoes."
"You certainly have a way with metaphors," Wu Youren chuckled dryly. "Actually, on the battlefield, bodily poisons are everywhere... Let me put on a bracer."
Bracers were exceedingly common for martial artists, though ones that fit snugly without interfering in combat at all were rare.
The little snow harrier dozed on his right shoulder, while the little earth snake coiled onto the bracer on his left wrist.
Early the next morning, the moment Xiao Ha opened its eyes, it spotted food and began chirping noisily.
It didn't leave his shoulder, merely waiting for the chef below its feet to serve up its meal.
"Not allowed to eat that!" The youth tapped its head. "Or I'll teach you a lesson!"
Given the little creature's intelligence, it couldn't understand a word of that and kept calling out tirelessly.
Wu Youren fished out a few pieces of dried meat and held them toward his shoulder with his right hand.
Xiao Ha tossed its head, seemingly rejecting pre-made rations in favor of fresh meat.
The youth had no intention of spoiling it. He pulled the dried meat back immediately. *Don't want it? Then you get nothing!*
Xiao Ha craned its neck to snap at the little snake.
To ensure it wouldn't fall off, its talons dug firmly into his shoulder, exerting a grip the youth could distinctly feel.
Yet no matter how it tried, it couldn't reach, squawking repeatedly in frustration.
The female archer looked over at the sound. "Huh, you caught an earth snake... Feed it to the bird. Live prey helps maintain its wild edge."
"I'm not humoring its bad habits," Wu Youren replied offhandedly. "It needs to learn who the master is."
Hearing their exchange, Kenpa also looked over. "Huh, Little Wu, did you... finally awaken? A support branch?"
"No awakening," the youth shook his head. "The snake just suddenly coiled onto me. Since it isn't venomous anyway, maybe I'm... naturally endowed with animal affinity?"
Back then, Xiao Ha had followed him out of the Guizu domain just as bafflingly, a fact everyone knew.
Since that was the case, he couldn't be bothered to explain—they could rack their brains figuring it out themselves.
"Maybe it's heaven's choice," Manna was the first to chime in with her own theories. "I've heard ability masters show omens before awakening."
"If you ask me, Little Wu, don't look down on the support branch. A beast tamer is quite formidable."
"It really has nothing to do with me," Wu Youren rubbed his forehead. "I just thought of it as live food. If the need arises, it'll be convenient to use."
"Besides, Xiao Ha has been wild for so long; it's time to discipline it. Once it grows bigger, it'll be even harder to manage."
"That's true," the female archer nodded. "Isn't that how everyone raises their young?"
In this whole affair, the biggest flaw was why the little snake was so obedient.
However, everyone had witnessed Xiao Ha's blind devotion with their own eyes.
No one had questioned it openly back then, but when the snow harrier later rendered great service, how many had turned green with envy?
Any fool could guess whether covert investigations had taken place, yet indeed no further suspicions or rumors had materialized.
Thus, his refusal to explain was truly the wisest choice.
Besides, this little earth snake was utterly ordinary; who hadn't seen scores of them?
After a while, the sky that had been overcast for two days finally began to shed rain.
"Alright, Little Wu's favorite weather has arrived," Kenpa remarked with a chuckle. "Head out to try our luck?"
Rain posed virtually no hindrance to knights, while the Guizu tended to be relatively more active.
Over the course of the day, the four encountered three waves of Guizu aura. After destroying them, they gained nothing.
The rain fell intermittently. Without establishing a new camp, they returned to their position from the night before.
The next two days remained the same; after extinguishing a total of seven surges of Guizu aura, they came away empty-handed.
This tested everyone's patience and temperament.
Late at night, Manna couldn't help whispering to the female archer, "When we wiped out that barbarian squad last time, we didn't even get a single Guizu relic."
Chapter 177