Beast tamers were unique to the Zhan Wu Continent. Their main purpose was to train beasts that were unable to transform into human form.
Three beasts rushed out of the black hole, all of them at the middle stage of the Spirit Stage.
The three beasts were enormous in size, but they did not have any advantage over the Thorny Ape.
"Pfft."
A sharp barb pierced through the head of one of the beasts, killing it with a whimper.
"Pfft." "Pfft."
Immediately after, the Thorny Ape displayed its might and killed the other two beasts.
The three beasts died in the blink of an eye. The Spiky Ape had killed them cleanly and did not suffer any injuries. It was enough to show the strength of the mutated beasts. Seeing this, Zi Chen wanted to go forward and help, but was stopped by Shang Guan Hong. The others also did not move.
Beast tamers had tamed many beasts. Only three beasts had been released, which meant that the beast tamer had reached the limit of the number of beasts he could control. If he wanted to tame more beasts, he would need to kill a few more.
Sure enough, after the three beasts had died, six more quickly rushed out. They were all at the middle stage of the Corporeal realm and were all ordinary beasts.
The Thorny Ape was in the middle of a killing spree. When it saw the six beasts appear again, it roared and charged forward.
The group stood in the distance, quietly watching the battle between the beasts.
The black-robed man suddenly took a step forward as a mysterious power surged from his body. This power rippled towards the Thorny Ape.
This power enveloped the Thorny Ape, causing its expression to immediately change. It became very uneasy and panicked, as if it was under some kind of enormous pressure, causing its speed and battle power to plummet.
The group of beasts swarmed forward, and the Thorny Ape was soon on the verge of death.
The Thorny Ape fell to the ground as the group of beasts parted. The black-robed man walked in front of the Thorny Ape and knelt down on one knee. He stroked the ape's forehead with one hand, and streams of light flowed through his fingers into the ape's body.
The Thorny Ape's injuries healed at a rate visible to the naked eye. Its malevolent expression gradually turned gentle, and its hostility towards the black-robed man greatly decreased.
The black-robed man withdrew his hand when its injuries were about sixty percent healed. The Thorny Ape's gaze towards the black-robed man had already become respectful and pious.
"So this is a Beast Tamer's technique," Zi Chen suddenly recalled the Soul Seed Technique that Longhu had imparted to him when he saw the black-robed man's technique.
Although there were some differences between the two, there was not much of a difference.
The black-robed man seemed to be healing the Thorn Ape, but in reality, he had already injected a trace of his soul power into the Thorn Ape's mind, forcing it to recognize him as its master.
"This is the toughest method, but it's also the fastest method. Actually, Beast Tamers have a lot of gentler methods, but they're obviously not applicable here," Shang Guan Hong explained to Zi Chen in a low voice.
Although the Thorn Ape had recognized its master, it was still injured. It entered the void passage to recover from its injuries.
As for the three corpses on the ground, the black-robed man personally stepped forward and began to personally deal with them.
This method of disposal was relatively simple. It was to take away some useful things.
His hand, which was holding the dagger, was exposed from under the black robe. It was very pale, and there was almost no trace of blood in it.
His methods made Zi Chen raise his eyebrows slightly, a look of displeasure on his face.
After all, these beasts had fought for him, and had been nurtured for such a long time. Although they were dead now, they were still considered to be on his side.
But now, the black-robed man was actually dissecting these beasts' corpses.
However, looking at the other people's expressions, it seemed to be a matter of course, and there was no abnormality on their faces.
"Isn't this cruel?" Zi Chen transmitted to Shang Guan Hong.
"Cruel?" Shang Guan Hong was very puzzled.
"The beasts died for him, but he's dissecting them. Isn't this cruel?" Zi Chen transmitted again.
This time, Shang Guan Hong did not reply. Instead, she turned her head to look at Zi Chen carefully and seriously. Her expression slowly became very strange.
Then, a smile appeared on her face.
Zi Chen looked at her doubtfully, as if asking if there was something on his face.
"Zi Chen, you're really cute." Shang Guan Hong replied, but the content was something Zi Chen could not understand.
"Cute."
"Yes, you're too cute. I realized … I'm starting to like you." Shang Guan Hong transmitted again.
Perhaps she would only be so impudent and straightforward when transmitting a message.
"How am I cute?" Zi Chen ignored the latter part of her sentence.
"I don't know how many people have died at your hands in the past, but since we've known each other, you've killed hundreds of people at the Reality Realm alone, and more than twenty Spirit Level beasts. People like you are absolutely numb to killing, and bloodthirsty by nature, but now you're saying that others are cruel."
"You should know that compared to you, I've only dissected three beasts. I'm afraid it's not even a hundredth of what you've done."
Zi Chen thought for a moment, then transmitted seriously, "This is different. Although I kill people and beasts, I never attack my own people. Take the Black Eagle for example. Since it follows me, it's my friend and one of us. If it dies, not only will I not dissect it, I will also avenge it."
"Sometimes you're extremely vicious, and sometimes you're extremely soft-hearted. Hehe, that's why I say you're cruel and cute. I like you very much. Why don't you agree?" Shang Guan Hong transmitted.
Zi Chen decided to remain silent and did not respond.
At this moment, he began to reflect because among the six of them, he was the only one who had such thoughts. It sounded very different and strange.
He had killed many people, even more than all of them combined, but now he was saying that others were cruel.
Why?
Zi Chen was asking rhetorically and reflecting on himself.
After repeated questioning and reflection, Zi Chen finally came to a conclusion.
Because of his own heart.
Because of his own principles.
If such a thing happened to him, he would never do such a thing, even if he would be mocked for being weak.
Even if Shang Guan Hong agreed with this statement, Zi Chen still felt that this was wrong. He would not criticize others, but he would warn himself.
This was his own heart that he had always adhered to along the way. It had nothing to do with right or wrong.
After dissecting the three beasts, the group continued on their way.
Next, whenever a beast appeared, the black-robed man would deal with it.
Huan Long was looking at the map along the way. Sometimes he frowned, sometimes he closed his eyes and pondered. He looked very busy.
After traveling for another five days, Huan Long took over the command and began to guide the group forward.
For the rest of the journey, the frequency of encountering beasts naturally increased.
There were many mutated beasts, and their strength ranged from mid-stage to late-stage Spirit Rank.
Except for Zi Chen, the others began to attack one after another.
Not letting Zi Chen attack was not deliberately excluding him, but Zi Chen did not care about the severity of his attacks. There was only life and death.
Obviously, their Beast Tamer needed these beasts. He needed them alive.
This time, after traveling for more than ten days, there were more than ten battles, big and small. In the end, Zi Chen had no choice but to kill.
It had to be said that the way he killed one by one was indeed very shocking and frightening at close range.
In these few days, because they had encountered too many beasts, Zi Chen released the Black Eagle to be on guard.
In a dense forest, the group sat on the ground.
"Everyone, according to the map, we are about to pass through the Hengduan Mountain Range. I'm afraid the danger will be greater, so everyone should be careful." Huan Long said after closing the map.
Everyone nodded. Man Shi, who had consumed a lot of energy, was resting against a tree trunk.
After the battle just now, everyone was exhausted. Zi Chen's body was stained with blood. He glanced at Huan Long and said, "Can you show me the map?"
"No problem." Huan Long handed the map to Zi Chen.
The map looked very simple and old. The material was very unique, as if it had existed for a long time. The moment the map entered his hand, Zi Chen felt a sense of majesty from it.
Zi Chen glanced at the map. His expression did not change much. He looked at the map and asked, "What material is this? It's so strange."
With that, Zi Chen threw the map to Huan Long.
No one knew that Zi Chen's heart was beating violently at this moment. He could only use words to hide his feelings.
Zi Chen had long been able to hide his emotions. Huan Long did not notice his deliberate concealment. He looked at Zi Chen with admiration and said, "Good eyesight. You can tell at a glance that this material is extraordinary."
"What material is this?" The others were also very curious.
Huan Long handed the map to the others so that they could take turns to look at it. He then looked at Zi Chen and explained, "This map has an extraordinary origin. It was obtained from some records left behind by my ancestors and after paying a great price, I managed to obtain it. If the records are correct, then this map is made from dragon skin."
"What? Dragon skin?" Everyone was shocked.
No matter which world a dragon was in, it was an extremely powerful creature.
"That's right. If you remove the dragon scales and draw the map on it, it will never disappear. The majesty on this map is dragon might."
This greatly increased the credibility of the map recorded on the dragon hide. However, Zi Chen's suspicion of Huan Long also grew even stronger.
This was because the moment he saw the map, he found something familiar.
He was very familiar with this map. Although it was his first time seeing it, more than 60% of the records on it were familiar to Zi Chen.
This map was 60% similar to the map of the outer perimeter formed after the jade pieces were merged.
The only difference was that the final entry point was different.
Zi Chen guessed that the former was less dangerous and the latter was more dangerous. However, the latter's route was more direct. It was almost a straight line.
Zi Chen did not know why this was the case. However, when he first saw Huan Long, he felt that he was very strange. Coupled with the fact that the map was 60% similar, he was naturally wary of Huan Long.
Of course, this might just be a coincidence.
A few days later, the group stepped into an array formation. This was according to the map's description.
Once they passed through this formation, they would be considered to have passed through the depths of the Hengduan Mountain Range.
This formation was filled with an extremely tyrannical aura. After sensing this aura, everyone could not help but shiver.