Edited by Aelryinth

Zhang Che quickly waved his hand and said, “No hurry. Let’s prepare ourselves for a bit. Any place with top-grade spiritual herbs will usually have powerful exotic beasts guarding them. It’s better to be cautious.”

Huang Tielan stuck out her tongue cutely and said, “Ah, I actually forgot about that. Will there be any problems?”

Zhang Che nodded and smiled, “There shouldn’t be any problems. It’s only a top-grade spiritual herb. At the most there will be an epic-quality exotic beast guarding it. That way we’ll even obtain a powerful subdued beast!”

That was the truth. Logically speaking, divine-quality exotic beasts wouldn’t be interested in these spiritual herbs. Even top-grade ones wouldn’t be helpful in increasing their strength.

As such, divine-quality exotic beasts wouldn’t waste their time guarding spiritual herbs. If they came across it by chance, they’d treat the decent spiritual herbs as snacks and eat them impolitely. If that happened, however, the frisky monkey wouldn’t have detected the aura of the spiritual herb anyway.

After every one of Zhang Che’s babies returned, he packed up his belongings and mounted the Purple Jade Condor’s back with Huang Tielan, the elemental queen, and the frisky monkey. They flew in the direction of the top-grade spiritual herb.

Zhang Che had already asked the frisky monkey through their spiritual link. The spiritual herb wasn’t far, less than two thousand meters away. Even though the Purple Jade Condor had to be considerate of Huang Tielan’s inferior physique, they needed less than half a minute to arrive there.

They flew past a few small hills before a mountain appeared in front of them. Without a doubt, the top-grade spiritual herb discovered by the frisky monkey was located on that mountain.

After arriving there, Zhang Che was certain that there shouldn’t be any powerful exotic beasts guarding the herb. He could still see some exotic beasts at the foot of the mountain. If there was a powerful exotic beast around, those exotic beasts wouldn’t have dared to stay around!

This left Zhang Che feeling slightly regretful, however. -Ai, I missed out on another powerful subdued beast.-

Seeing Zhang Che sensing something, Huang Tielan hurriedly asked in a whisper, “Zhang Xiaoche, is the top-grade spiritual herb on top of that mountain ahead? Is there any powerful exotic beasts guarding it?”

“None. That’s such a shame,” Zhang Che shook his head. He directed the Purple Jade Condor to fly towards the tall mountain ahead, and they quickly arrived at their destination. It was located on a cliff close to the top of the mountain. Other than flying exotic beasts, other exotic beasts really couldn’t get to the herb.

However, the spiritual herb didn’t grow at an obvious spot. Otherwise, the flying exotic beasts that flew past here would have eaten it long ago. Would it still be sitting here waiting for Zhang Che and the others to come pick it otherwise?

There was a deep crevice on that precipice. Inside, wild grass and small shrubs grew. It had an ordinary appearance; no one would suspect a top-grade spiritual herb was growing here!

It was most likely because of this that the herb could grow until now. Unfortunately, there was a problem. The Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon was still recuperating, and the Purple Jade Condor didn’t have the ability to hover in mid-air. Although the crevice was barely wide enough for a person to set foot inside, it was rather risky. Huang Tielan wasn’t that strong, after all. The results would be unimaginable if she accidentally slipped and fell.

“Forget it. Let’s just wait here and let the elemental queen go harvest it.”

Zhang Che thought for a moment and had the Purple Jade Condor land at a flat area near the summit, then had the elemental queen fly over to harvest the herb.

Although the elemental queen didn’t know anything about spiritual herbs, she was able to sense the spiritual force spreading from the herb at a close distance. Naturally she would be able to tell which one was the spiritual herb and successfully harvest it.

Huang Tielan’s anticipation could be seen in her eyes. She didn’t say a word, however. She knew the severity of the situation, and that it was somewhat dangerous in the crevice on the cliff. She quietly waited with Zhang Che.

Soon, the elemental queen returned with an ordinary-looking herb in her hand. That herb was only about a foot long, with a few long, narrow blades of leaves. There really wasn’t much different about it in appearance than other wild grasses.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Zhang Che could sense the thick, yet contained spiritual energy fluctuations from it, he would not believe it was actually a spiritual herb, even if he was beaten to death.

“Eh? So strange. I actually don’t recognize this type of spiritual herb!” Huang Tielan suddenly exclaimed before Zhang Che could say a word. She looked at the spiritual herb the elemental queen brought back curiously, then reached out to take it from her. After taking a closer look, she clicked her tongue in wonder, saying, “This should be a mutated type of spiritual herb, with nothing special about it by itself. It should have grown by chance… Right, Zhang Xiaoche, quickly let the elemental queen go back and take another look in the crevice. There might be some good stuff there!”

Zhang Che’s eyes immediately lit up after hearing this. Huang Tielan was a professional in this field! As such, he immediately ordered the elemental queen to return to the crevice on the cliff and part the grass, digging up the soil to investigate.

Indeed, the elemental queen soon exclaimed, “Master, there seems to be a strange crystal mineral below!”

Zhang Che’s heart was stirred. He hurriedly said, “Dig out a piece and show me!”

The elemental queen’s jade-like arms were like axes, easily splitting the rocks apart and digging out a piece of milky white crystal with an irregular shape.

Even from afar, Zhang Che could see that object was translucent, like the most beautiful crystal in the world. However, it had a color, unlike actual crystals. It seemed like the object was filled with a milky white fluid, emitting a blurry light.

-What’s this?- Zhang Che had obviously never seen this kind of mineral before, but Huang Tielan was so excited that she was trembling at his side.

She cried out, “It’s actually a spiritual crystal… It’s actually a spiritual crystal! Zhang Xiaoche, we’re rich now!”

Zhang Che was moved. He asked, “What is a spiritual crystal?”

Huang Tielan explained excitedly, “You know spiritual jade. Spiritual crystals are a type of mineral that was transformed from spiritual jades that have absorbed enough essence of heaven and earth. The effect of using it to nurture spiritual herbs is three times that of spiritual jades, and their price is worth more than ten times that of spiritual jades! The total amount of spiritual crystal found in the whole world is less than one cubic meter!”

After hearing Huang Tielan’s explanation, Zhang Che was thoroughly stunned.

Calculating simply, a cubic foot of spiritual jade was worth about a hundred million purple crystal points. Wouldn’t that mean that the fist-sized spiritual crystal the elemental queen just dug up was also worth about a hundred million purple crystal points?

-Damn, we’ve really earned a fortune! A huge fortune!-

Thinking about it a little deeper, the spiritual crystal’s worth wasn’t just limited to purple crystal points. The herbal field he and the Huang family were managing together was gradually expanding, and they were just fretting about not having enough spiritual jade to use. With this spiritual crystal, a huge problem of theirs would be solved for now.

Done thinking, Zhang Che hurriedly said to the elemental queen, “Keep digging! See if there are more spiritual crystals!”

Huang Tielan’s eyes were glowing with light, anticipating the elemental queen’s next actions. If she could dig out more spiritual crystals, the gains she and Zhang Che obtained on this trip would be comparable to decades’ worth of accumulation of a large clan!

The elemental queen followed his orders readily and waved her hands continuously, digging inside the crevice on the cliff.

Sure enough, she dug out a bigger piece of spiritual crystal less than a minute later. Its size was more than three times the size of the first piece!

Zhang Che and Huang Tielan grinned excitedly, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. They had just obtained another three hundred million purple crystal points! Incredible!

Even so, this was not the end. Afterwards, the elemental queen continued digging, and dug out a few more pieces of spiritual crystal. Although there wasn’t an even bigger piece, adding them altogether, their total sizes were more than a cubic foot! Converting them into purple crystal points, that was a fortune of over a billion purple crystal points!

Zhang Che and Huang Tielan’s faces were red from excitement, feeling like they were about to faint.

It was like an ordinary person suddenly gaining a fortune of over a trillion dollars. Their mental fortitude was shockingly strong, given that they hadn’t died right away from a heart attack.

Of course, the two of them were beastmasters. Naturally they wouldn’t have a heart problem. However, suddenly gaining such a huge fortune still made them feel their hearts pumping at their limits. Even their skins were faintly glowing red.

When the elemental queen brought back all the spiritual crystals, Zhang Che and Huang Tielan were so excited that they shared a passionate kiss. They wouldn’t be able to express their excitement if they didn’t.

At the side, the elemental queen kept pursing her lips as she watched the two of them. The two of them would always display their affections whenever they were together. It truly left the elemental queen unable to watch any longer.

After a long time, the couple parted their lips. A trace of translucent saliva was still visible on Zhang Che’s lips. He stashed all the spiritual crystals and the top-grade spiritual herb away, no longer interested in looking for the other ordinary herbs.

Compared to these spiritual crystals, those ordinary spiritual herbs were truly unable to interest him at all. They couldn’t be bothered wasting time to go harvest them.

After the excitement died down, Huang Tielan felt like she was filled with strength again, and threw herself into the exotic beast killing operation again. She no longer complained of being tired. Those spiritual crystals from before were like a stimulant to her heart, filling her with strength.

——

From then on, other than resting and touring around with Zhang Che, she spent most of her time killing exotic beasts.

In three days’ time, counting from the 19th onwards, she successfully broke through and became a mid-tier beastmaster on the 21st of December.

That terrifying speed would shock anyone if they spread the word out. It was unbelievable.

However, with Zhang Che’s army of capable babies helping to capture mid-tier exotic beasts, her pace was indeed that fast. It could be said to be above anyone else!

If it was anybody else, it would take a whole group of powerful beastmasters to help one person advance from Tier Three to Tier Four in such a short period of time.

“Haha, Zhang Xiaoche, I’m finally a Tier Four beastmaster too!”

Successfully advancing to Tier Four didn’t just mean that Huang Tielan had become a mid-tier beastmaster. She could also employ the two differently attributed Unicorns Zhang Che gave her now.

From that point on, Miss Tienan’s strength had grown immensely. She wouldn’t need to be afraid of anyone among mid-tier beastmasters as long as they weren’t experts with multiple epic-quality subdued beasts.

——

After staying in the beast world for so many days, Huang Tielan was tired of killing exotic beasts and no longer wished to continue on.

Of course, if she was willing to, Zhang Che could ensure that she would easily rise to a Tier Five beastmaster within the next half a month.

However, Huang Tielan was truly exhausted from killing. She only wanted to come back to this matter some time in the future.

Moreover, the spiritual crystals they obtained needed to be sent to the herbal field in Xinjing City as soon as possible to help the spiritual herbs there grow better.

The new body tempering pills the Huang family’s herbal research institute was producing weren’t able to satisfy the market demand at all. Even though the military had helped provide large amounts of crucial ingredients, the production of spiritual honey was also limited.

If the spiritual crystals were also used, the herbs in the herbal field would grow better, their flowering periods would be longer, and also more vigorous. That would naturally increase the production of spiritual honey as well!

It could be said that the spiritual crystals didn’t just represent a bunch of numbers. They could also be converted into actual profit within the short term!

“Let’s go back now, Zhang Xiaoche.”

Huang Tielan was riding her new mount, the Dark Unicorn. She was very satisfied after experiencing its speed.

It was somewhat similar to the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon. The Dark Unicorn could also form a dark energy barrier around itself, warding off the violent wind resistance born from travelling at high speed.

With that, Huang Tielan didn’t have to worry her ride was moving too quickly and not being able to take its speed.

Zhang Che’s playfulness was aroused. He summoned out the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon, who had fully recovered from his injuries, and jumped onto him together with the elemental queen. He called out to Huang Tielan, saying, “Alright, then. Let’s have a competition and see whose mount can fly faster!”

“Sure, bring it on! Your Hanming might be higher in level and quality than my Dark Unicorn, but it’s not certain who flies faster!”

Huang Tielan had tested the Dark Unicorn’s flight speed earlier, and was extremely satisfied with its supersonic speed. Since Zhang Che wanted to compete with her, she’d accept readily. She felt like her new flying mount might not necessarily lose.

Moments later, the two flying mounts who excelled in speed both took off on the same count and left a string of afterimages behind, flying in the safety zone’s direction.

Zhang Che had really underestimated the Dark Unicorn previously. Before its energy was exhausted, it really could go toe to toe with the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon. The dragon could only surpass the Dark Unicorn’s speed by a head’s length if he burned his potential.

Of course, the Dark Unicorn was much weaker. It couldn’t last nearly as long as the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon when flying at such a high speed. After less than two hours later, it had obviously slowed down.

Even so, Huang Tielan was very satisfied with her new subdued beast.

No matter what kind of danger she came across, she’d most likely be able to escape far away flying at about Mach 2 for close to two hours. Otherwise, it’d be useless no matter how good its endurance was!

As the Dark Unicorn was close to exhausted, the couple arrived in the vicinity of the safety zone. They had their flying mounts slow down and entered the zone, crossing the spatial gateway and returning to Mercury.

Zhang Che spoke with the officers in the camp, and after waiting for a while, Dijiang-hao appeared in the sky, landing in front of them.

The couple recalled their respective beasts and boarded Dijiang-hao together with the elemental queen. Afterwards, they took off and sped towards Jingzhou.