One morning in June, a boy and a girl stepped into the Blood Moon Bar with backpacks on their shoulders.
They then reappeared in a blood-colored wasteland. At this moment, it was still dawn in this place, and the sun had yet to rise. The blood moon hung up high in the sky, casting blood-colored rays of light upon the earth.
From time to time, flocks of bats flew in the sky, and lone wolves roared in the distant forest. The blood forests on high mountains were enveloped by a thick aura of darkness.
"Is this the Scarlet Monster Wilderness?" Chen Rouxue surveyed her surroundings with a sense of novelty brewing inside.
"Yes, it is, but this is my first time seeing this sight.
"Let's wait for the sun to come out first, or else it'll be too dangerous."
Su Bai looked around. He then summoned his contract book and released his two pets.
"Howl~"
Purple Jade unleashed its Forest's Rhythm to check their surroundings. Afterward, it stood beside Su Bai, guarding him with the Little Tyrant.
"There are no problems around us."
He found a stone and sat down.
"Hehe!"
Big Demon looked at the blood moon in the sky and flew around.
"Don't fly far and don't run," instructed Chen Rouxue.
"Our goal today is to climb that blood mountain in the distance?" she asked, leaning against the boy.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Yes. Since your pet can fly, let him see the situation from above at daybreak. We'll see how it goes then."
Su Bai nodded.
They took out two thick coats from their backpacks and put them on as they waited for sunrise.
"Roar!"
When it was almost sunrise, the Little Tyrant suddenly roared and fired a fireball into the distance. The three-meter-wide fireball exploded and half killed a bloodline snake.
"Little Bloodworm, kill it." Su Bai took out the bug from his backpack and gave this instruction.
"Si…"
The Little Bloodworm obediently killed the snake with its silk thread. The bloodline snake died and was reduced into a cloud of blood, which flew toward the Little Bloodworm and merged with it to produce a Dragon Breath.
Su Bai originally thought that it would evolve, but the red light only flashed for a moment before quickly disappearing. The Little Bloodworm had not changed much and had only grown a little bit.
"Wow! What kind of pet is this? Why is it so fascinating? It's not affected by the bloodline?" asked Chen Rouxue in surprise.
"It's a secret; I'll tell you later." He smilingly put away the bug.
"It's sunrise now; give your phone to Xiao Bai and let him fly high in the sky to look at our surroundings."
He told her.
"Okay."
She nodded and handed her phone to her pet before ordering it to do as Su Bai instructed.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Hehe~"
Big Demon took the phone and flew high in the sky with an evil smile on its face. About five minutes later, it landed next to her. "Hehehe!"
She took the phone and opened the photo album to check their surroundings with Su Bai.
Looking at the pictures on the mobile phone, there was an endless forest on their left. The deeper inside the said forest, the bigger the trees.
On their right was an endless wasteland, but there seemed to be some relics of buildings there, and a large river was flowing in the backdrop from the huge forest on their left.
As for in front of them, beyond the blood-colored mountain, there was grassland. The most important thing was that human habitats could be found there, and the smoke was even rising, which suggested that a small market was situated there.
"Shall we head over to look at the grassland first? It'll be much better if we can find someone to ask instead of blindly exploring." Su Bai proposed this.
"Sure, but a small market in such a place may not necessarily be safe, so we'll have to be more cautious. Let's find someone to ask and then go."
Chen Rouxue nodded in agreement. Unlike them, most of the people here had not entered the wilderness with blood soul stones and were more likely criminals or desperadoes. The market in this wilderness was unlikely to be normal like the ones found in a city.
"Okay, let's set off." Su Bai nodded and turned to the Little Tyrant. "Use Bury to conceal our breaths."
"Roar~"
The Little Tyrant emitted its undead aura and used the special force to envelop everyone.
Bury could hide all their breaths and make it hard for other monsters to detect them. Hence, they could pass through the wasteland relatively safely.
Su Bai first went to check the few Bloodthirsty Spear Bushes he had visited before.
"Huh? This thing is growing quite fast. It actually cultivated two more Flowing Cloud Fruits already!" exclaimed Su Bai in surprise.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Although he knew that a Bloodthirsty Spear Bush would quickly inject nutrition and pure energy to generate after sensing the disappearance of its spiritual fruit, it was still surprising that two more Flowing Cloud Fruits had appeared in less than half a month.
It also did not eliminate the possibility that other people had come by to pick its fruits in that period.
"Xiao Bai, go pick those two fruits," said Chen Rouxue.
"Hehe."
Big Demon turned invisible and silently slid over. When the Bloodthirsty Spear Bush was distracted, it quickly grabbed the two fruits and ran away.
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
Furious, the Bloodthirsty Spear Bush released countless thatched blades, but because it could not sense their breaths, its attacks hit nothing.
"Not bad. It's excellent." Chen Rouxue looked at the fruits in her hand and placed them in her boyfriend's backpack.
"Let your Big Demon use Hypnosis on the single Bloodthirsty Spear Bush in front. I want to grab it and take it home," instructed Su Bai.
"What for?" The girl asked but still instructed her pet to do so.
"I'm gonna try and see if it can cultivate some spiritual plants and fruit."
Although Su Bai had never seen this in the market, it was not entirely impossible. It was probably because of the Alliance's law that not one could be found in the market.
After all, the characteristics of the Bloodthirsty Spear Bush were very suitable for cultivating some precious spiritual plants and fruit.
"Then be careful. I don't care if you get caught." Chen Rouxue laughed.
"Don't worry. Who'll find out if I buy a protective cover?"
He took the Bloodthirsty Spear Bush that the cub handed over and then packed it in a special box before placing it in his backpack.
They proceeded to a different path now that they were concealed and explored the other side of the blood-colored mountain.
On their way, no monsters came to harass them, and they even harvested some ores and spiritual plants.
Around 8 a.m., they arrived at the foot of the mountain.
"Let's go up but be quiet," Su Bai said. He then walked up quietly with his girlfriend.
After walking about five or six hundred meters, they suddenly stopped and dared not move.
Ahead was a ten-meter-long snake with a horn. It slid toward their group and finally stopped about a hundred meters in front of them, looking at the blood-colored fruit on a small tree at the side hesitantly.
In the end, it slithered over and used its spiritual power to take that fruit. Just after it unleashed its spiritual power, the ground shook, and a huge hole appeared from the ground which directly swallowed that black snake.
"Hiss!"
Blood and dust splattered everywhere, and the snake with a black horn was swallowed whole without any chance of retaliating. In fact, it had not resisted from beginning to end.
Su Bai exchanged glances with the others, and they all backed away without hesitation. They could not pass through here; it was too terrifying.
"Oh, my God! Wasn't that Unicorn Python at the commander level?" Chen Rouxue finally sighed in relief once they were back at the foot of the mountain.
"Yes, it's a beginner-level commander with a trace of dragon blood," said Su Bai solemnly. The thing that had just swallowed it looked like a giant piranha and was an extremely powerful monster.
He looked back at the mountain behind them, wondering what kind of terrifying place it was. They hardly passed by any monsters below the warlord level when they were up there.
"Come on; let's run."
Su Bai sighed in relief. They were not worthy of exploring this mountain yet.
Chen Rouxue nodded. If it had not been for the Unicorn Python being quite a distance from them, they might have been discovered.
After thinking about it, both decided to go around the mountain from the right side. The left was the giant forest, while the right was the wasteland. Of the two, the wasteland was considerably safer; at least, it afforded them a wide view and had fewer monsters.
"We're about to reach the back of this mountain!" exclaimed Su Bai after walking for about ten kilometers.
"It's too difficult; if only we had a flying pet, this trip would be easier to do. Walking can exhaust us to death." Chen Rouxue almost vomited.
Still, they received some gains on their way, earning themselves hundreds of thousands worth of harvest. However, their efficiency was greatly reduced by their walk on foot.
"Howl!"
Ah Bai, look over here!
The cub pulled him and pointed to the distance.
"Oh, my God! So many Iron-clad Rhinos!"
Su Bai looked in front in shock.
About three or four kilometers away in the wasteland, a few thousand rhinos were gathered together. Their skin was like smooth iron armor, reflecting the sun rays.
Three huge horns could be found on top of their heads, making them look extremely aggressive.
"There are so many of them! It seems like they're at least servants." Chen Rouxue gasped. With so many gathered together, it was still frightening even though these rhinos were only at the servant level.
Their strength could be seen from how well they survived in this cruel wilderness.
"Let's not mess with them and quietly walk around them."
Su Bai glanced at the herd of Iron-clad Rhinos and said. These monsters would be valuable if they were caught alive.
After bypassing the mountain, the ground steadily became green. They finally arrived at the grassland, and traces of human activities gradually increased.
"Howl~"
Ah Bai, look, there are spiritual fluctuations over there!
After walking for a while, Purple Jade suddenly pulled its owner and pointed at one direction.
Big Demon and the Little Tyrant also sensed these fluctuations. The couple exchanged glances and quietly walked forward.
After several hundred meters, the two saw the source of the spiritual fluctuations. Two Pet Tamers were fighting with each other.
Both had warlord pets, but the man, who looked to be in his thirties, was much stronger.
His two pets, the Iron-clad Rhino and the Dark Moon Crow, made the opponent's Flame Lizard and Blood-tailed Sand Scorpion retreat steadily.
"That uncle is so strong. His Iron-clad Rhino is only at the warlord level, but he already has a golden contract book," whispered Chen Rouxue.
"Maybe it's not that he's strong, but that he has killed many people. Killing opponents can upgrade his contract book," said Su Bai in a deep voice.
Upon closer observation, it was obvious that his middle-aged man had experienced countless battles before. He had full control of this entire battle and easily crushed his opponent.
As soon as Su Bai finished speaking, the situation in the field suddenly changed. A high-level slave, the Sand Viper, suddenly emerged from the sand on one side and bit the middle-aged man's neck.
"Sneak attack? You're still too inexperienced!" said the uncle with a trace of disdain.
At this moment, a blood-red tongue ejected from behind him and bit the Sand Viper's neck, dragging it down and eventually engulfing it. A two-meter-long warlord monster, the Anglehead Lizard, appeared and then disappeared.
"The Anglehead Lizard! So hateful!" A trace of irritation appeared on the young man's face.
The sand under his feet suddenly moved, and half of his body was swallowed in an instant.
"F*ck, you're despicable!"
At this critical moment, the young man's contract book lit up, and his whole body appeared ten meters away as if he had teleported. Just when he thought that he was safe, nine small quicksand pits appeared beneath him, swallowing him in a flash.
The nine small quicksand pits then merged into a single big quicksand. A two-meter-tall humanoid faceless monster made of quicksand slowly stood up, launching several dim energy balls toward the Flame Lizard and the Blood-tailed Sand Scorpion.
"Hiss!"
Both pets desperately screeched after sensing their Pet Tamer's demise and went berserk. However, they were still defeated by their enemies, and in the end, the Flame Lizard committed suicide via self-detonation amid the fierce fight, while the Blood-tailed Sand Scorpion was killed by its opponent.
"Hmph! I've long been attracted to your teleportation skill; I finally found the opportunity today."
Snorting, the middle-aged man turned his golden contract book around on the young man's corpse and directly pulled out a gloomy silver contract book. Soon, it was integrated into the golden contract book.
The golden contract book's aura strengthened again.
The middle-aged man kept it, destroyed the corpses on the battlefield, and left with his four warlord pets.
Su Bai and Chen Rouxue watched all this with chills running down their spines. They were already prepared for such a situation as it was almost inevitable for Pet Tamers.
However, seeing it so early made them truly realize how dangerous this wilderness was.
"What kind of monster was that? How could it split into nine?" Chen Rouxue grabbed Su Bai's hand.
"It's probably a quicksand monster with multiple hidden sand characteristics."
He spoke grimly and squeezed her hand. "It's alright; don't be afraid."
Su Bai could feel her cold hand.
Their pets were also silent. This scene had a great impact on them, and it was their first time seeing such a scene since their birth.
