1585 Beasts and Humans are Different

The next morning, everyone gathered together as agreed, anxious to head to the Beast Garden.

Receiving two Lion Vultures was undoubtedly explosive news. Jiang Zhibei and Du Yu wanted to come over to take part in the excitement, and it would be even better if they could sit on a Lion Vulture and take a ride in the skies. As for Le Jiajia, although she didn’t say anything, she didn’t refuse Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha’s kind intentions.

“Jiang Zhibe, Du Yu, Le Jiajia, the three of you, get back here! You’ve really got thick skins, almost comparable to the walls of Subduing Demon City. Don’t you realize how pathetic you looked yesterday? And you still have the guts to go out?” Turan promptly appeared, no longer his genial self as he rebuked Jiang Zhibei and the others.

“But…”

“No buts! I can’t concern myself with Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha, but starting from today, you three are taking extra classes! From seven in the morning until ten at night, you aren’t allowed to go anywhere!”

Turan seemed angry, but there was also a tinge of pride in his voice. “For so many years now, I’ve always been the teacher for the support team. No support team class has ever been this powerful! Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha have made history, so you guys had better keep up! You can’t drag them down!

“I want to make a team that can both fight and support!”

The support team had always had a low status, as it didn’t have any combat power and needed the protection of others. But this class had Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha, two guys with astonishing combat power. Turan felt he had a chance to make a special team that could both support and fight. Consequently, he was very strict with Jiang Zhibei and the others, hoping that they would get stronger so that they at least wouldn’t drag down others at critical moments.

Le Jiajia pursed her lips and dejectedly followed Turan to the training ground. Before leaving, she quietly waved at Xia Fan. It was clear that she was no longer as hostile to him, perhaps because of Xia Fan’s outstanding performance in yesterday’s battle.

…

The Beast Garden was already very noisy early in the morning. Last night, the Dongfang and Jia Clans had both sent over a Lion Vulture, saying that they had made a bet and lost and that someone would come to fill out the forms and take the Lion Vultures.

Thus, the beast tamers and warriors of the Beast Garden came to spectate. Lion Vultures were a species that was few in number. Most of them were under the control of Demon Slayer Clans, City Lords, and generals, and ordinary warriors rarely got to see them. The Beast Garden normally raised ordinary beasts like Vajra Parrots and Lightning Cathead Eagles, transportation used by warriors in battle.

From an objective perspective, Subduing Demon City’s Beast Garden was quite impressive. Mei Mei’s White City had only six Lightning Cathead Eagles, and most of them were dead because of the barbarians of the swamp, leaving only two alive.

But the Beast Garden was raising more than seven thousand Lightning Cathead Eagles. In addition, the clans and armies had their own smaller gardens, and these had far more beasts than a remote place like the White City.

But the appearance of two Lion Vultures still caused a major uproar. After all, Lion Vultures were ranked third among all beasts. The highest were naturally Dragons, and second were the Demi-Dragons. Lion Vultures were only a little lower in status compared to Demi-Dragons. To have a Lion Vulture as a mount was a status symbol, and it was also very cool.

“These two Lion Vultures are fierce! Even our chief beast tamer doesn’t dare to get close to them.”

“Of course! Sir Lear tried to feed them fish, but they didn’t even look at it.”

“The two great clans probably did this on purpose. After all, no one would be happy to lose two Mythical Beasts. That’s why they chose the two fiercest Lion Vultures!”

“Haha, I’m looking forward to it. If the winner of the Lion Vultures can’t subdue these two savage creatures, he has to meekly send them back. That would be humiliating.”

As they were talking, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha arrived. Squeezing into the grounds, they saw the two savage and huge beasts in the cage. Even Traveling Buddha was shaken, his brow furrowing as his heart thumped.

These two Lion Vultures were quite intimidating. They took up the largest cage the Beast Garden had, which was five hundred meters tall, had a diameter of one thousand meters, and alloy bars that were as thick as small trees. Some of the bars were already bent, the marks on them new, probably done when the two Lion Vultures were messing around.

With the wings of an eagle and the fangs and claws of a lion, the two savage beasts had eyes that looked down with contempt at all living beings. As they coldly swept their gazes over the crowd, the elite warriors of Subduing Demon City shivered. Everyone was rather far away, not daring to get close for fear that the Lion Vultures would run out and tear them apart!.

“Their grade is pretty good, high-tier divine lineages of the Upper Realm.” Cid Raleigh’s voice suddenly rang out in Xia Fan’s mind. “The gold one has a purer bloodline, and the silver one seems to be smarter. Alas, they both haven’t reached adulthood and aren’t at their maximum power yet.”

Xia Fan’s vision was suddenly divided into multiple layers. On one plane was reality, and on the other plane was Cid Raleigh’s back. For some reason, this old demon dragon had a human body. Or perhaps it was some soul power of his that allowed him to change his form as he pleased.

“These two Lion Vultures seem fierce and not easy to deal with,” Xia Fan muttered.

Cid Raleigh casually said, “Beasts and humans aren’t the same kind of creature. Although humans also have a tradition of respecting the strong, they don’t go as far as beasts, who have lineage and strength engraved into their bones.

“Let me give you a simple example. If one Lion Vulture manages to reach peak strength, even his own parents and siblings would show absolute fealty to him, but humans are different. If you were to become an emperor among humans in a day, your dad would still give you a spanking!

“Besides strength, the other thing very important to beasts is bloodline. What if a Lion Vulture had the strength to fight against a dragon. Impressive, right? As you humans would put it, this is the underdog turning the tides, a salted fish gaining a new lease on life.

“But among beasts, no matter how strong a Lion Vulture, it will always tremble in fear upon seeing a dragon. It has nothing to do with strength, as it’s purely the pressure of a bloodline. Of course, the proud dragons won’t accept that they are beasts like the Lion Vultures and others. Dragons think they are unique, above humans and beasts.”

Xia Fan nodded. “You’re rather open-minded. You’re also a dragon, so is it okay to judge your own race like this?”

Cid Raleigh laughed a very bitter laugh. “Dragons are proud because they’ve never been defeated before, their powerful talents and bloodline making it inevitable that they stand at the apex.

“But me, I am a defeated dragon. While I still have some pride, it’s not a lot. Dragons are destined to be like this. It’s only when they taste the bitterness of defeat like me that they let go of their pride and see the world more clearly.

“Falling and getting back up is all it is. You humans always put things nicely, but you don’t realize that too heavy a fall can break your bones so that you can’t get back up.

“But lying on the ground isn’t without its advantages. It allows you to be more in tune with the world. In the past, when you’re always up in the heavens and looking down on the world, you don’t realize that you can also look at the world from the bottom looking up.”

“That’s very philosophical. You seem to be a dragon with a story,” Xia Fan sighed. He then changed the subject and said with a smile, “Dragon with a story, since you’ve let go of your pride, why not help me tame those two Lion Vultures?”

“Don’t even joke about that!” Cid Raleigh grumbled. “Even if I’ve let go of my pride, I’m still a dragon, okay? While I may not have my pride, I have my dignity. Two third-ranked Lion Vultures isn’t worth my intervention. It would have to be a Demi-Dragon for me to use some of my mental strength.

“But you don’t need to worry. It’s not like ability does nothing. In truth, you’ve already used the Beast King’s Order once, though it was a coincidence, and you didn’t really understand it.

“I simply empowered your Beast King’s Order so that you could defeat the demon dragon. Even without me, you would be able to deal with these third-ranked beasts. The key is that you need to learn how to release your soul pressure.”

“Soul pressure?” Xia Fan said in confusion.

“To put it simply, soul pressure is like murderous intent. When you want to kill someone, your eyes will become sharp and your Aura will become cold. This formless mental energy will travel through the air and set off alarm bells in the mind of your enemy.

“But humans aren’t beasts. If you release murderous intent at a beast, a high-ranked beast will do its utmost to resist, even going berserk. After all, as a human, you don’t have any bloodline advantage over a high-ranked beast.

“Thus, you need to unlock a mental energy that beasts can sense and accept, letting a beast realize that you are a higher existence. Then, a beast will follow its nature of seeking benefits, and avoiding harm and submitting to you.”

“It’s that simple?” Xia Fan asked.

“Of course! Beasts aren’t like you humans, with a tradition of revolution, suddenly getting urges to raise your arms in revolt and risk life and limb to bring down an emperor.

“Among beasts, the strong are the strong, and the noble bloodlines are the noble bloodlines. When the weak encounter the strong, they will naturally submit. This is the nature of beasts. But you humans are a race that has the weakest concept of hierarchy I’ve ever seen. Whether it’s rebellions, revolts, or revolutions, you humans made up all these things. We don’t mess around like that. We recognize strength and bloodline.”

Xia Fan was speechless. This demon dragon had thought things through rather thoroughly. Humans truly were an ordinary race, but also one that was unwilling to be left out. Even the weakest human had a dream of being a hero, which was why all wuxia novels were so popular in all the countless human civilizations of the Great Chiliocosm.

“What I’m going to say next is very important, so listen up,” Cid Raleigh went on in a very serious tone.