Insufficient balance

  In the forest behind Tianlong City, a group of people wearing white light armor kept shuttling back and forth, searching for something. They all had more or less wounds on their bodies, with some severe ones still bleeding, staining their white light armor bright red. Their faces were pale with fatigue, but they gritted their teeth and persisted, continuing to move forward.

  Before long, they merged with another group of people wearing the same attire. Later, this group was not much better than them, although there were no wounds on their bodies, but each face was pale, and their steps were floating, obviously a sign of excessive use of beast soul power.

  These two teams are obviously the Body Cultivator and Beast Soul Warrior teams, and it's likely that they just finished a fierce battle not long ago, only to reunite again soon. Generally, when team battles occur, most of those who engage in close combat with the enemy are Body Cultivators, so they tend to get injured easily.

  Only a few Beast Soul Masters who have strengthened themselves with beast soul power and the armorization of their contracted beasts will engage in close combat, while most are remote-controlled to attack and provide firepower support, leaving themselves in camp. It seems safe but is actually more dangerous. If they accidentally use too much beast soul power, they may become pale and dizzy like them, or even faint or die from shock.

  Many times, fire support is not available just because you want it, and you have to consider the entire team. In urgent situations, you even need to hold on tight.

  "Found it?"

  "Found it?"

  They only saw the two teams merge for a moment before immediately asking each other, and after hearing the other's question, they already knew the answer without waiting for a response. They looked at each other's faces, all filled with unwillingness.

  A beastmaster wearing a white mask said: "...... Retreat."

  "How detestable! Must we give up like this after all that we've been through?" someone in the Beast Soul Master team asked, unwilling to accept.

  "Squad leader, we sacrificed so many brothers to hold off that beast's mother and drive it out. How can we say give up now?" a cultivator covered in blood shouted.

  The team leader, wearing a white mask, listened to the quarrel of his subordinates and then angrily said: "What else can we do? The Tianlong Empire has already noticed us and will definitely come to investigate soon. Don't forget, we are just mercenaries, it's impossible for us to oppose an empire. This time, we are in the territory of the Tianlong Empire, stealing the young of the 'Di' soul beast, completely violating the laws of the Tianlong Empire. If you don't leave now, do you want to wait for the empire to send troops to surround and annihilate us?"

  He is more reluctant than anyone else here, he is the captain, and he knows better than others how great this loss is. But what can be done? After all, before each action, we have to anticipate the worst result.

  The greater the profit, the greater the risk, he knew that, but there was one point where he and the merchant were similar, which was when the profit reached a number that moved his heart, he could put aside the risk. Moreover, according to the news, it was thought that the beast had just finished producing, its strength greatly reduced, and there was a great opportunity for success.

  Who knew he still underestimated the strength of Di Shou, and now he's regretting taking on this deal.

  Although he regretted it, he knew what he had to do now. He gave the order again: "Withdraw." Then he turned around and crawled back into the woods once more.

  The team members were reluctant, but they didn't dare disobey the captain's orders. They followed him one by one, watching his back.

  The levels of Soul Beasts are: Magical Beast - Fierce Beast - Wild Beast - Spiritual Beast - Phantom Beast - Earthly Beast - Heavenly Beast - Holy Beast - Divine Beast.

  Corresponding to the level of Beastmaster, Di Shou is a turning point for Soul Beasts. After reaching the Di Shou level, the Soul Beast transforms from having spirituality to humanity, revealing the horror of Di Shou.

  In fact, it's not just the Tianlong Empire that has issued a ban on hunting young beasts. Many empires have issued similar decrees. If you're hunting adult beasts, then at least you have the strength of a beastmaster, and the empire will be eager to curry favor with you, so why would they bother to ask questions?

  However, you don't have the ability to focus on the cub, and if you succeed, who will extinguish the anger of its parents? In the history of the Qinglong Continent, there have been too many cases of cubs being stolen, leading to their parents' bloody revenge against humans.

  As for where to "wash", it depends on whose territory the beast's lair is closest to, and whoever that is will be unlucky.

  At the same time, on the other side of the mountain, Zheng Feng lay alone on that stone, staring blankly at the sky in boredom. The "master" of this little pest seemed to be nowhere nearby.

  Zheng Feng looked at the pale blue sky and thought to himself: Today, Big Sister Ya again sent me away, going off by herself to "play" with the other kids.

  Lately, I've been feeling that my sister Yaya is a bit strange. She keeps wanting me to learn about beast taming knowledge and just this week she's taught me more than all the previous weeks combined. If it were just this, I could comfort myself by thinking that maybe I'm growing up and need to start learning.

  But what I couldn't accept was that my sister, apart from accompanying me to study, wouldn't spend any other time with me. I don't know where she went. She didn't even allow me to follow her. The more Zheng Feng thought about it, the angrier he became, and the more he felt wronged. His eyes turned red, and tears were about to flow out.

  Suddenly, a 'sha... sha... sha...' sound came from the nearby thicket.

  Zheng Feng's tears that had been forced to the corner of his eyes suddenly retracted with a "sob" and he curiously looked towards the thicket, where there was no longer any sign of wanting to cry.

  All I could hear was 'shhh... shhh... shhh...' The sound grew louder and clearer.

  Zheng Feng's heart also became tense, his little brain spinning rapidly: Wild boar? Tiger? No, what a mess, having played in these mountains since childhood, he had never seen any wild beasts appear, it was impossible for it to be that kind of thing. It was more likely to be rabbits and squirrels, these two small animals were often seen in the mountains.

  As soon as he thought it might be a rabbit, Zheng Feng's eyes sparkled and the corners of his mouth twitched. He still remembered that his sister had made roasted wild rabbit for him before, and the meat was both fragrant and crispy.

  "Gulp..." Zheng Feng couldn't help but swallow the saliva in his throat, and his eyes stared even harder at the thicket.

  "Wooo~ahh~"

  As he listened on, Zheng Feng started to feel that something was off. The voice seemed a bit wrong. Do rabbits make sounds like that?

  A strong curiosity prompted Zheng Feng to stand up from the stone and walk slowly towards the thicket.

  Just as he was halfway there, a black dot floated out. Zheng Feng's footsteps stopped and looked at the black dot. The black dot gradually grew larger, eventually becoming a palm-sized shadow. After waiting for a while, the shadow still didn't come out of the thicket. Zheng Feng then continued walking forward again.

  Zheng Feng parted the bushes with both hands and saw a small yellow cat hiding there, about the size of a palm.

  Zheng Feng looked at the kitten, and the kitten also curiously looked back at Zheng Feng, big eyes staring into small eyes.

  The kitten was thinking what I don't know, but Zheng Feng thought: Alas, it's not a rabbit, cats shouldn't be roasted to eat. Suddenly like a deflated balloon, he slumped down. If the mercenaries of that mercenary group knew what Zheng Feng was thinking, I'm afraid they would have cried their hearts out! Roasted beast? Or a newborn cub that hasn't been born for long? For food? You're capable of thinking of this ~囧~.

  "Meow~" The little cat called out to Zheng Feng, it had no idea how dangerous its situation was, and falling into the hands of the mercenary group would be even more perilous.

  In Zheng Feng's ear, the kitten's meow sounded too strange. Cats shouldn't meow like that, it should be "meow~~" instead. Zheng Feng suddenly remembered what his sister Ya Tou had said: If there's a mistake, you have to correct it. Hmm, the kitten meowed "wrongly", I have to help it correct its mistake, and then tell Ya Tou sister, she'll definitely praise me.

  "Meow~~ meow~~, little kitty follow me and learn. Meow~~" Zheng Feng softly called out to the kitten.

  "Meeeeoowwwww!" The little cat cried out with its big round eyes wide open.

  "No, no, it's not wooo-ahh, it's meow-meow"

  "Wooo~waah~wooo~waah"

  ……

  Thirty minutes later

  "Come on, meow~, meow~"

  "Wooo~waah~miao~waah~wooo"

  ……

  An hour later

  "Very good, right, meow~~, meow~~"

  "Wū~ miǎo, wū~ miǎo~"

  Translation: "Oink oink, oink oink~"

  ……

  Three hours later

  "Meow~ Meow~"

  "Meow~ Meow~"

  "Finally got it right!" Zheng Feng exclaimed excitedly as he picked up the kitten and held it above his head, his hands grasping its front paws.

  The little cat was frightened at the moment it was caught, struggling desperately to escape. However, after a while, it found that there was no danger and quickly adapted to the warmth of this small hand, seemingly enjoying the feeling of being held high, calling out: "Meow ~ meow ~"

  The little beast of tragedy had no idea this would become its future shame.

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