There were no dark clouds in the night sky, only moonlight, starlight, and the wind. The earth resembled a clear lake; when the breeze brushed past, the trees rippled in waves.
A transparent bubble hung high in the sky. Cross-legged inside, the youth took in the full panoramic beauty of the land below.
Yu Xian could see a massive Silver Horse King galloping across the earth, packs of Wind Dragon White Wolves hunting Sky-Leveling Oxen, Boeing Hunting Bats diving back and forth in V-formations, and an enormous cobra chasing a seven-colored giant python.
Just then, a giant eagle with a twelve-meter wingspan swooped down from the sky. The earth shook with a rumble as a fierce tiger, its tongue lolling out, was pinned beneath the eagle's talons, unable to budge.
Seeing this, Yu Xian snapped a photo, then hastily sped up his flight in fright, not daring to linger for a second.
"Does this count as Eagle rank crushing Tiger rank?"
He posted the photo to Qilin's chat forum and waited with a smile for replies.
Sure enough, the night owls who were still awake quickly chimed in.
Codename Fairy: I knew the rank order was flawed. Tigers can't even fly, so how can they be ranked ahead of eagles?
Codename Miaomiao: So does that mean me, an Eagle rank, is stronger than a Tiger rank? Yay!
Codename Trivia: For your information, the giant eagle Salty Fish photographed is a Tiger-rank magical beast, the Golden-Winged Dharma Eagle, while the tiger it hunted is a Wolf-rank demonic beast, the Severance Saber-Toothed Tiger. There's actually a whole major rank difference between them.
Codename Seventeen: A tiger that's Wolf rank instead of Tiger rank? What an embarrassment to tigers.
Codename Drunkard: Disgrace to tigers +1
Codename Fat Cat: Disgrace to tigers +1
Codename Piggy: Disgrace to tigers +1
……
……
Yu Xian finished reading his comrades' amusing comments with a grin. Seeing that the rest of the thread was entirely "Disgrace to tigers +1" with no one derailing it yet, he put his phone away and flew on.
Everyone was just taking a brief break from their busy lives to have a little fun.
Never mind Wolf-rank tigers—those ordinary tigers without transcendent powers couldn't even qualify for Insect rank. Wouldn't that make them even more of an embarrassment?
Yu Xian spotted bright lights ahead in the distance and breathed a small sigh of relief. After leaving Silver City, he had finally reached his first city. Glancing down at the navigation on his phone, he knew the city ahead was Bamboo City.
Bamboo City was a small city with a population of under ten million, famous for its bamboo products. Every household grew bamboo and lived in symbiosis with Iron-Eating Beasts.
In short, every family kept pandas.
Moreover, these weren't ordinary pandas; every single one was a transcendent creature.
The city lord even raised a Tiger-rank giant panda whose combat capability was not inferior to a Dragon rank. Thus, though Bamboo City was small, it was exceptionally peaceful and secure.
As Yu Xian flew over Bamboo City, many pandas lounging in the bamboo groves looked up. A few of the more vigilant ones even roared toward the sky.
"So cute."
Seeing several chubby cubs, Yu Xian couldn't resist descending and snapping a flurry of photos with his phone. After leaving behind a few spatial bubbles smaller than pinholes, he hurriedly departed Bamboo City.
If he didn't run, he'd get thrashed by pandas.
Leaving Bamboo City behind, Yu Xian looked at the landscape ahead and felt an inexplicable sense of peace.
The panic and unease he had felt when first leaving Silver City were completely swept away upon seeing Bamboo City. As it turned out, here on the same land and in the same era, so far from Silver City, fellow compatriots with the same eyes and skin were working hard to live their lives. Even far from Silver City, he was not alone.
It was like having a home at his back; no matter how far he journeyed, he would never lose his way.
Two hours later.
Yu Xian looked at the red circle on his navigation map, then looked up curiously toward the location marked on his left.
That was a forbidden zone.
Huaxia had many such forbidden zones, formed for a variety of reasons.
For instance, the mess left behind by Deimos—if the virulent poison ultimately couldn't be cleared, that area would be designated a forbidden zone.
Additionally, when transcendent creatures above Tiger rank took over a region, it would also be marked as a forbidden zone for safety reasons.
Beyond that, certain ancient battlefields and the graves of Dragon-rank powerhouses were also classified as forbidden zones.
And finally, the Abyss.
Any area with an Abyss rift was a forbidden zone of the highest alert level, guarded not only by garrison troops but also by Dragon-rank powerhouses.
Yu Xian tried enhancing his eyes to see what lay inside the forbidden zone.
With his vision magnified, he looked down over the forbidden zone from midair. Even from a great distance, he spotted a hundred-meter-tall three-legged golden toad—no, that wasn't a three-legged golden toad.
The massive dragon horns on its head and the enormous gold ingot on its forehead made it distinctly different from a three-legged golden toad.
Yu Xian furrowed his brow slightly and attempted to use Appraisal.
——————
Name: Dragon King Golden Toad
Codename: None
Race: Dragon Palace Treasure Toad
Gender: Male
Age: 833
Lifespan: 5322
Rank: High Dragon
Faction: Neutral
Abilities:
[Attracting Wealth and Treasures: Possesses the power to anchor wealth fortune. Wherever it resides, mountains of gold and silver are guaranteed, with riches carpeting the ground.]
[Dragon King Roar: Gathers dragon might to unleash a furious roar, suppressing all creatures weaker than itself and rendering them unable to move.]
[Sky-Blasting Ingot: Consumes a portion of its anchored wealth fortune to summon a massive meteor shower of gold ingots, bombarding targets over a wide area.]
[Ward Evil and Prosper: Its formidable wealth fortune grants it immense power to ward off evil. Simultaneously, its wealth fortune continually mounts over time; upon reaching the maximum threshold it can endure, a random treasure will be summoned to fall by its side.]
[Summary: Mountains of gold and silver pale before the Dragon King Golden Toad.]
——————
Reading through its attributes, Yu Xian's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
To think such a divine beast existed in this world! In this moment, dragons and phoenixes meant nothing to him—all he loved was this Dragon King Golden Toad.
He really wanted to pet it.
Would petting it make him rich?
Staring at the motionless Dragon King Golden Toad, Yu Xian practically drooled.
At that moment, the Dragon King Golden Toad slowly opened its eyes. Facing straight toward Yu Xian, its red eyes quietly stared at him.
Yu Xian froze, not daring to move.
He knew frogs, toads, and bullfrogs all seemed to react to moving creatures, flicking their tongues out at extreme speed to snatch prey.
Could the Dragon King Golden Toad share this trait?
If it did, wouldn't moving provoke an attack?
After all, he was already very close to the forbidden zone, quite possibly within its attack range.
And so, the two locked eyes across the distance. The Dragon King Golden Toad's eyes held not the slightest flicker of emotion, while Yu Xian gritted his teeth and refused to blink, glaring right back at it.
After about three hours, the Dragon King Golden Toad slowly closed its eyes, and Yu Xian finally let out a sigh of relief.
Yet right at that moment, the Dragon King Golden Toad's tongue shot out, approaching the bubble faster than Yu Xian could possibly react. But it halted before striking the bubble, stopping less than a centimeter away.
Yu Xian's eyes went wide as he stared in terror at the colossal tongue.
Only when he realized the Dragon King Golden Toad had no intention of attacking did he come to his senses—and notice a saber stuck to the tongue.
Chapter 83