Chapter 513: Besieging the Xiong

The Great King was still thinking about the chaotic age, and instinctively asked: "Ferocious beast? How ferocious? Is it fiercer than me?"

Bai Ze: "…Do you still eat people?"

"Eat people? What else still eats people?!" The Great King was startled, and his attention finally returned.

"You wouldn't think a ferocious beast is just something that looks fierce, like the tigers in your mountains or your bear, would you?"

The Great King innocently: "Isn't it?"

After saying that, he glanced at Bai Ze's expression—oh no! It really isn't!

He hurriedly opened the punishment notice: "What is this? Kong? Is this character pronounced like that? Ferocious beast—Kong?"

Bai Ze: "…You're likely guilty of insulting Confucianism, aren't you?"

Bai Ze wanted to give him a demonstration of a full prostration.

The Great King finally realized he should first worry about the ferocious beast released into his territory, and he clung to Bai Ze for a detailed explanation: "Aren't you the one who knows everything under heaven? Speak clearly, explain it in detail!"

"First, the name of this ferocious beast is read as Xiong; you can't just pronounce it halfway because you don't have it here."

The Great King innocently: "…I've never even come into contact with this character, okay!"

He was eager to know, so he listened humbly without talking back.

"Xiong is an ancient ferocious beast, just like me, born of heaven and earth. It loves to fight, eats dragons. It also has another name, just called "Hao"; from this name you can see its trait—its roar has tremendous destructive power, shaking the dragon clans, making people's souls flee and their spirits scatter."

The Great King was already dumbfounded; he couldn't even follow what was being said. Liking a fight is one thing, but it also eats dragons and can even roar people to death?

"It's just a civil service exam—Mengmeng doesn't even need to drop a bomb to flatten the Great Jin, right? What grudge… what grudge?!" The Great King was dazed, his speech slowing.

Bai Ze slowly added, "Of course, you're in an Age of Dharma End; logically, they wouldn't release such a top-tier ferocious beast. As for this kind of Xiong, I…haven't seen one in several thousand years, so I don't know how much strength this one still has."

The Great King again wanted to bite his hand: "But I have no dragon to feed it; do you think a clam would work?"

Bai Ze: "…You really are the sort who'd let a fellow Daoist die while sparing yourself."

The Great King: "If it can roar people to death… would it eat those whose souls have fled and spirits scattered?"

Bai Ze: "If it doesn't eat people, what's it called a ferocious beast for?"

The Great King felt the sky collapse.

Eating carrion—could it get any more sinister?

He saw that the back of the Xiong bore an internal marker and 'irretrievable'; he hurriedly checked the location: "What you said is correct—we must first find it and bring it back! If we're late, it might eat people…"

The Great King opened the marker, and once again Mengmeng angered him: "What a huge range!"

Opening the internal positioning, he saw only that the marker lay northeast of Youzhou City outside the walls. That was the wasteland near the former Liaodong Vassal State, now shrouded in a red patch; a rough enlargement showed… nothing at all.

"Did they mark a fifty-li radius?!"

At this hour past midnight there was no moon, and the thing wasn't marked specifically either, so the Great King couldn't see it at all.

The Great King, unwilling to give up, dragged the map twice: "I still can't see anything at all! Bai Ze, how big is this Xiong?"

Bai Ze thought: "This, I've truly never seen an actual specimen." A top-tier ferocious beast isn't a Chinese cabbage.

"However, since it's not like Kunpeng or Taowu, which are expressly noted for their huge size, it should be about normal beast size? Its talent doesn't rely on a massive body."

The Great King understood, and in the middle of the night he hurriedly had people prepare iron cages; if it's ordinary size, wouldn't a livestock transport cage for pigs and sheep hold it? This thing can't be recalled, and he doesn't have any high-grade gear capable of containing a ferocious beast.

Tongchen came in dazed and left dazed. In that moment Zhao Bao also heard the news and rushed over. The Great King saw him and said, "Perfect—go have Changli summon all the Snow Cavalry who excel at archery, then bring the entire Brave Cavalry; assemble at North Hua Gate in an hour! I've received word that a ferocious beast has come from the north; for the safety of the people, we must go capture it."

In short, he must go out of the city overnight to capture the ferocious beast.

Zhao Bao couldn't understand—hunting still requires an overnight trip? What a huge addiction!

The Great King saw he didn't grasp the seriousness, put on a stern face, and told him: "It's a man‑eating ferocious beast! Not the kind of tiger or wolf that city walls and houses can block; it's very formidable—if it runs into the city, the people will suffer!"

Zhao Bao also left dazed, wondering where the news came from in the middle of the night—thinking the Great King, unable to sleep, wanted to go hunting and had cooked up such a far‑fetched excuse……

The Great King was already anxiously gnawing his hand: "If I reason by common sense, this thing is probably hard to kill, right? Can the Sun‑shooting Bow kill it?"

Bai Ze shook his head: "I don't know."

The Great King kept gnawing his hand: "Where am I supposed to get a dragon to feed it? If there's no dragon, do I have to feed it people? What to do, what to do, what to do? Build an iron house to lock it in and starve it? …No way……Or maybe take it to the battlefield to pick up corpses……ugh!" Disgusting!

He circled Bai Ze, who found his chatter annoying, lifted a paw and slapped him back: "What's there to fear? By rights, this is an Age of Dharma End plane; even if it's a punishment, the authorities will always leave you a way out."

The Great King could only think positively; for now, the first step is to capture it, right?

The Great King, facing a formidable foe, took the Brave Cavalry's archers plus the Snow Cavalry's crack shots, then brought Bai Ze and Cover Heaven; at this point he didn't mind having many people. His beloved Wei Ni, seeing the formation, also wanted to go out; the Great King gave him a solemn look and barred him from the inner chambers: "Just stay home and sleep, don't get involved—you're only a wild bear of Youzhou, not an ancient divine bear; we're still safer staying put at home!"

Bai Ze mocked him: "Now we can see who truly loves."

The Great King: "Don't be jealous; I trust your speed of escape."

Bai Ze: "…"

His tossing and turning woke the whole household; when Wei Shen and Wei Ke arrived, the Great King wore the Sun‑shooting Bow on his back and held the Tai'a Sword in his hands. The Brave Cavalry were all mobilized, and they even borrowed archers from the Snow Cavalry; with this lineup they all believed they were going to slay a dragon.

Wei Ke, unable to dissuade him, wanted to join instead, so the Great King persuaded the two of them not to go……

He couldn't rest easy about that Xiong.

In the end, nobody persuaded anyone else; a procession of nearly two thousand people marched out mightily from North Hua Gate straight for the north gate of Youzhou City. Such a commotion couldn't have gone unnoticed by the night watch of the former court; soon the high‑ranking officials in the capital all knew the Great King had invented some new nonsense, slipping out at midnight to go hunting!

Others didn't know, but Xie Yuan wouldn't believe a word of it.

Once out of the city, their speed picked up; by the time they roughly reached the marked spot, the sky was just about to brighten.

Wei Shen's small talk came to nothing, and he was further warned by the Great King not to act on his own, but to stay within Bai Ze's sight—this only made him more curious. When the objective became clear and they reached the destination, the Great King also didn't let the unit split up; instead they spread out to search, reporting any unfamiliar animal they encountered.

After a while of this tossing about, the archers they'd brought actually managed to hit quite a few rabbits, yet the Great King still wore a solemn expression.

Actually he was multitasking, stealing moments to check the map. In the end a soldier still reported finding something unrecognizable; Bai Ze glanced at it from afar and confirmed it, and the Great King faced a formidable foe.

The Great King, face tense, commanded the cavalry to first surround this thing.

The troop halted fifty meters from the target, forming a circle; the cavalry were bewildered—over a thousand people attacking one rabbit?

The Great King gazed far off—it was… a fluffy golden creature not much bigger than a rabbit?

No, just because the people of the Great Jin haven't seen an African savanna lion doesn't mean he hasn't; the Great King too has watched wildlife programs.

"What is this? This isn't a lion?"

White Marsh was also observing; it didn't feel like a lion, "Compared to a lion, it's more like a lion-like beast."

Wei Shen, Wei Ke:... Can you say something humans can understand?

The King waved his hand, "First row, fire arrows!" He also picked up the Sun-shooting bow, just trying it out, just in case it's still small and easy to deal with.

The archers in the first row found it hard to judge, but they all started aiming; those with poor archery skills definitely wouldn't get a turn at this hedgehog...

Everyone shot arrows at once; the King's Sun-shooting bow was faster, and before long that golden mass was just two or three meters ahead, that clump of golden fur turned its head back, opened its mouth and let out a cry? a sound, or maybe a hum, and the arrow rain fell like raindrops...

Wei Shen was already rubbing his eyes; the King wasn't disappointed either, this was all expected. "I said it was a ferocious beast, yet you're acting like it's a spring outing!"

He sighed and asked the professional divine beast White Marsh: "What should we do? Fight head-on or try to persuade it to surrender?" However the devouring beast had been on this wasteland for half a day, finally catching its breath and gaining some spirit; it set its sights on the horse of the archers charging ahead...

Black Wind Horse from the cultivation plane.

It excitedly leapt up and lunged this way; the King hurriedly shouted, "Don't provoke it, where's the cage? See if we can catch it!" Four cavalrymen grabbed an iron cage they'd found temporarily, using it as an animal trap and began looping it, but that little thing ran even faster.

That chubby, three-bodied devouring beast leapt up and slapped a black wind horse to death in one blow; the King sucked in a breath.

Wei Shen: "Mom, what the heck is this?!"

Fortunately the Owl Rider was agile, flipping off before the horse hit the ground. The King hurriedly shouted for the Owl Rider and archers to retreat, "Looks like this thing now wants to eat a horse?"

White Marsh stepped forward and slapped the devouring beast unconscious with a paw before it could perform its ant-elephant act, then picked it up and threw it into the iron cage.

"This devouring beast is still juvenile, so you still have a chance. Devouring beast, eating spirits brings fortune, eating people brings misfortune. What it will grow up to be depends on you."

Crack!

How quick-witted the King is! He instantly heard the sound of silver flying away and his defenses breaking.