Bai Qiu and Huang Hailing found her grandfather.
After taking the Secret Realm card and looking it over, Bai Qiu raised an eyebrow.
No wonder she had come to ask for his help.
Dragon Gate Island
C++ Rank (Small Two-Player Secret Realm)
Recommended Level: 35–40
“Well? Are you confident?” the old man asked.
Leaning on a cane, he nevertheless looked vigorous and full of energy.
His gaze toward Bai Qiu was warm and kindly.
“Mm. No problem,” Bai Qiu replied calmly.
As long as the difficulty wasn’t B-rank or higher, he was confident he could carry someone through the dungeon without either of them taking any damage.
After Huang Hailing bid her grandfather farewell, she formed a party with Bai Qiu.
As two flashes of white light enveloped them, the pair disappeared from the spot.
When they arrived inside the Secret Realm, Bai Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly.
The sea breeze carried a faint salty smell.
Looking around, he discovered that Dragon Gate Island consisted of two separate islands.
At the edge of each island stood a steep, slanted mountain peak.
The two peaks leaned toward one another, forming something resembling a giant arch bridge.
However, several hundred meters still separated the two summits—they didn’t quite meet.
The place where they landed was a rocky beach.
The island’s shoreline was composed of yellow sand and scattered stones, with all kinds of debris buried beneath the sand.
A thin layer of shredded vegetation floated atop the beach, rolling back and forth with the tides.
Wave after wave of clear blue seawater surged forward, desperately rushing onto the shore before slowly retreating, only to repeat the cycle again and again…
Using his ocular technique, Bai Qiu quickly surveyed the surroundings and identified the creatures and gatherable resources on both islands.
Just as he was about to speak, he sensed that A’Yuan wanted to come out.
Momentarily stunned, Bai Qiu took out a Storage Card and, under Huang Hailing’s curious gaze, summoned A’Yuan.
“Woo”
The moment A’Yuan appeared, it let out an excited cry and charged straight toward Bai Qiu.
Rustle…
Croak… Croak…
A’Yuan’s tremendous strength shoved Bai Qiu backward across the ground.
Sand and pebbles were plowed aside as he left a long trail behind him.
As its scales rubbed against Bai Qiu’s armor, they produced a sound oddly reminiscent of a frog’s croak.
A’Yuan’s growth rate was astonishing.
Whether it was because of the Five-Colored Radiant Scale Stone, its azure-blue scales now gleamed brilliantly, and its body had grown even larger.
It was now nearly eighty meters long.
In truth, Bai Qiu’s pet with the highest single combat attribute at the moment was A’Yan.
With its B-rank Strength, even Bai Qiu would have difficulty enduring one of its melee attacks.
But when A’Yuan had fought A’Yan earlier, it had only been a Pseudo-King—not even a true King-class creature.
Now, however, it had already reached the Pseudo-Monarch level.
Huang Hailing stood there completely dumbfounded.
Watching the owner and his pet interact in such an unbelievably hardcore manner left her speechless.
First, the pet—which had a head shaped like the nose of a high-speed train—seemed to absolutely love ramming its owner… literally.
Then there was the owner himself.
After vigorously petting his pet all over, he actually tried to lift it up to gauge its weight.
This wasn’t a kitten or a puppy.
It was a gigantic serpent nearly eighty meters long.
“Woo”
Being lifted high into the air by Bai Qiu, A’Yuan cried happily.
A moment later, it dropped back down from over a dozen meters in the sky.
The two continued playing together for more than ten minutes before finally settling down.
Bai Qiu took out ten bottles of Bloodline Enhancement Potion, along with several bunches of Narcissus Grapes, and fed them to A’Yuan.
The rewards for finishing first on the five leaderboards during the second week had already been distributed.
Judging by A’Yuan’s current growth rate, Bai Qiu estimated its attributes could still increase by another thirty percent or so.
Once its growth finally slowed, he planned to let it use the Origin Crystal Ore and see whether it could break through to the Monarch level.
If that didn’t work, he still had the Transcendent Attribute Designation Blueprint as a backup.
Normally, snakes growing this rapidly would need to shed their skin repeatedly.
But ever since A’Yuan’s last molt—when its entire body had turned blue—it had never shed again.
Its scales now possessed the same capacity for continuous growth as its body itself.
There was something else Bai Qiu was curious about.
Could A’Yuan swim in the ocean?
Would it be able to adapt to saltwater instead of freshwater?
Would the salt in seawater make it uncomfortable?
So he said, “A’Yuan, go into the sea and see whether it feels uncomfortable.”
Hearing Bai Qiu’s words, A’Yuan turned toward the boundless ocean.
Its eyes lit up, and it dashed straight into the sea.
At first, A’Yuan was a little unaccustomed to swimming in seawater, but after only a minute, it had completely adapted.
A’Yuan—now with the characteristics of a salmon—was born!
It excitedly spread its scales as it sped across the surface of the sea, kicking up wave after wave of spray.
Watching A’Yuan skim across the water like a speedboat, Bai Qiu smiled.
It wasn’t surprising that it was so excited.
The largest body of water A’Yuan had ever seen before was a reservoir.
It had never experienced truly vast rivers, lakes, or oceans.
Now that it was seeing the endless sea for the first time, its excitement was only natural.
A’Yuan’s physiology was quite unique.
It didn’t seem to rely on oxygen to circulate energy through its bloodstream.
Instead, when its scales opened, simply filtering the flowing water allowed it to breathe.
Once on land, with its scales closed, it could breathe normally through its nose and mouth.
It was truly an amphibious creature, equally at home on land and in water.
After playing around for a while, A’Yuan turned toward Bai Qiu and spat out a water ball.
At the same time, its thoughts echoed in his mind.
“Hehe, Master, dodge!”
“Oh, you little rascal! Just wait until you come back up—I’ll teach you a lesson,” Bai Qiu laughed as he activated Wind Manipulation, darting aside to evade the incoming water ball.
Bang!
The water ball exploded on the ground, sending droplets flying everywhere.
Fortunately, Bai Qiu had already avoided it.
Huang Hailing stared blankly at the scene.
Seriously…?
This is a Secret Realm full of dangers, isn’t it? Aren’t you two a little too relaxed?
When they had first entered, she had been extremely tense.
But after witnessing the utterly ridiculous interactions between Bai Qiu and A’Yuan, she simply gave up worrying.
Seriously, what kind of person gets rammed dozens of meters by an eighty-meter-long giant serpent without a scratch… and then casually lifts the entire snake to check its weight?
And someone actually thought they could assassinate a humanoid monster like him?
They must have been daydreaming.
A’Yuan lowered its head into the water.
Its cheeks puffed in and out as though it were inhaling seawater.
Only after its entire head had swollen to nearly twice its normal size did it open its mouth and blast out stream after stream of water.
In truth, A’Yuan exercised considerable restraint whenever it played with Bai Qiu.
The water balls and water jets it spat out were attacks that even an ordinary Dragonfang Soldier could withstand.
But if it fired its Water Arrows, even a Lord-class monster wouldn’t come away unscathed after taking one head-on.
As for ramming Bai Qiu…
That was simply a habit it had developed when it was little.
Back then, it would constantly rub against Bai Qiu, just like an affectionate cat seeking attention.
As A’Yuan fired more and more water jets at an increasingly rapid pace, Bai Qiu had to dodge left and right more frequently.
Originally, the two of them would probably have continued playing like this for quite some time.
But then…
A massive shadow appeared beneath the surface of the water.
Bai Qiu’s expression changed instantly.
He immediately summoned Dragonslayer Star Breath Spear, leaped high into the air, and shouted, “A’Yuan! Get back here, now!”
“It’s okay, Master. This time, let me handle it!”
A’Yuan’s voice echoed in his mind, causing Bai Qiu to pause with Dragonslayer Star Breath Spear raised high above his head.
— The end of the Chapter–
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