Chapter 118: Kidneys? Testicles?

Earth Badger, a Earth-attribute Tier Two Demon Beast.

It excels at digging burrows, moving freely underground; it prefers staying in its burrow amusing itself during the day, and only emerges to forage at dusk and night if undisturbed.

The Earth Badger is an omnivorous Demon Beast; it can eat fruits, vegetables, spiritual herbs, and so on.

As for meat, it eats whatever it can defeat; its poison resistance is extremely strong, so poisonous Demon Beasts and toxic plants are no problem at all—it eats them without hesitation.

Among Tier Two Demon Beasts, the Earth Badger's build belongs to the lightweight category; its attack power is low, yet it is extremely warlike and particularly fond of provoking opponents.

Whether the opponent is a Tier Two Demon Beast or a Tier Three Demon Beast, it dares to fight.

If it cannot win, no matter; relying on its burrowing ability, it strikes once then retreats, drilling deep underground to hide its achievements and fame, then seeks another chance to ambush.

Even if it is momentarily caught by an opponent, it need not fear; the Earth Badger's fur is both tough and slippery, and with a mere wriggle it can break free and drill underground.

Then, the Earth Badger will trigger its innate talent of "hundred battles unyielding," fighting again and again despite repeated defeats, until the opponent is scared away.

Therefore, the Earth Badger's reputation among the Tier One to Tier Three Demon Beast community is infamous.

Those who cannot defeat it flee at the mere sound of its approach; those who can defeat it cannot catch it, let alone kill it, and only end up covered in trouble, so they must stay as far away as possible.

Even some mid-tier Demon Beasts that occasionally leave their territories to hunt, upon encountering an Earth Badger, can only tirelessly drive it away, because the Earth Badger's meat is both foul-smelling and tough, making it utterly inedible!

In Facing Facing Cang Luo's view, this Earth Badger is exactly the same as the honey badger on Earth: daring to provoke a lion with a puppy-sized body, leaving the lion helpless, truly infuriating the lion!

The honey badger on Earth has been bestowed by netizens with the honorific title of "Brother Pingtou"!

In summary, the Earth Badger is an extremely annoying little cockroach that cannot be caught.

Yet, this is precisely the Demon Beast Facing Facing Cang Luo wishes to tame!

Hot-tempered; if words fail, it fights immediately!

Tough to hit and tough to handle!

Most crucially, it knows how to dig burrows and ambush!

It is simply the perfect match for the Erha!

Actually, when Facing Facing Cang Luo was flipping through the "Myriad Beast Atlas," he had already listed the Earth Badger as one of the candidates for his second beast companion.

However, during the day, the Earth Badger hides inside its burrow, so the satellite cannot find it.

At night, the Earth Badger emerges, but the satellite lacks night-vision capability and cannot see it.

Although one could search by locating burrows in a carpet-search manner, the area of the Demon Beast Mountain Forest is simply too vast; searching pixel by pixel is no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.

Furthermore, satellites are only suitable for searching and monitoring moving objects; searching for static environments like burrows or stationary objects consumes far too much Yuan Shi.

This is also the reason Facing Facing Cang Luo did not use the satellite to search for spiritual herbs.

Therefore, the Earth Badger before them is the first one Facing Facing Cang Luo has discovered in these past ten-plus days.

He must properly thank the Feng Li; if not for the Feng Li discovering it, he does not know how much longer it would take to find a suitable Demon Beast.

Facing Facing Cang Luo exclaimed excitedly: "Shangyi Huimeizi, do not let that Brother Pingtou... Earth Badger escape. Have your beast companion Feng Li lure it out for me.

You must capture it; it must be alive."

"Hai!"

Although Shangyi Huimeizi did not know why Facing Facing Cang Luo wanted to capture the Earth Badger alive, she complied immediately, ordering the Feng Li to make sure to capture the Earth Badger.

The Feng Li did not even need Shangyi Huimeizi's order; it was already searching for the Earth Badger.

It pressed its nose to the burrow entrance and sniffed vigorously, then pressed its ears to the ground to listen.

A few breaths later, the Feng Li suddenly leaped up, revealing its azure-tinged true-energy claws, and dove toward a seemingly ordinary patch of ground.

The instant the Feng Li landed, that patch of ground suddenly loosened; immediately, a short, heavy, earth-yellow true-energy claw suddenly protruded from the ground.

The owner of the true-energy claw was the Earth Badger; it and the Feng Li are sworn enemies, similar in size and similar in attack methods—one is a burrowing expert, the other a tree-climbing master, and they have been at odds since birth.

Whenever they meet, they fight, yet neither can gain the upper hand over the other.

The Feng Li attacks from air to ground, while the Earth Badger attacks from ground to air; the two Demon Beasts' true-energy claws clashed again, producing the sound of fierce winds tearing, kicking up a cloud of dust.

After the dust settled, the Earth Badger had already drilled underground, leaving no trace, preparing for its next ambush.

The Feng Li, unwilling to show weakness, ran back and forth on the ground, listening here and sniffing there; the moment it detected any movement from the Earth Badger, it launched an attack, but alas, all was in vain.

Although the Feng Li's attack power is stronger than the Earth Badger's, it has not yet reached an overwhelming degree and cannot instantly kill the Earth Badger.

The Earth Badger always strikes once then retreats, then quickly appears at another burrow entrance, emitting a hoarse "ya-ya" sound to mock the Feng Li.

The Earth Badger hiding in its burrow with only half its head showing, looking so shamelessly irritating, was incredibly infuriating; seeing this, Facing Facing Cang Luo and Shangyi Huimeizi immediately joined the battle, and the Erha, equally furious, joined the fight as well.

Thus, the two humans and two beasts began a campaign to encircle and eliminate the Earth Badger.

Seeing Facing Facing Cang Luo and the others in superior numbers, the Earth Badger did not flee; instead, it became even more excited and waved its claws at the Feng Li and the Erha.

This was blatant provocation!

Facing Facing Cang Luo and the Erha, sharing a mental connection, immediately sensed its emotions had changed.

The Erha, enraged, opened its wolf mouth and spat a torrent of flames, but alas, the Earth Badger had already fled underground, easily dodging; moments later, it popped out of another burrow to mock them again...

Over time, the ground became pockmarked with holes everywhere; some were dirt pits created by Facing Facing Cang Luo's Thunder-Palm strikes, some were burrows dug by the Earth Badger, and others were holes foolishly dug by the Erha.

It was somewhat like playing the Whac-A-Mole game; Facing Facing Cang Luo, Shangyi Huimeizi, and their respective beast companions were the players, while the Earth Badger was the mole being whacked.

Unfortunately, not a single strike landed solidly; the Earth Badger was simply too cunning.

Otherwise, Facing Facing Cang Luo's single strike of the true-energy Thunder-Palm would surely have knocked it unconscious; if he had not restrained his power slightly, it could have been an instant kill.

Shangyi Huimeizi, panting, said: "Cang Jun, the Earth Badger is simply too cunning.

I suspect its lair lies beneath this very ground; the underground must be filled with a network of tunnels extending in all directions; otherwise, it could not dig burrows so quickly."

Facing Facing Cang Luo nodded; the Earth Badger was the most difficult Demon Beast he had encountered to date, without exception.

In the past, the Demon Beasts he encountered were far stronger in power than the Earth Badger, yet Facing Facing Cang Luo always found a way to kill them, either through brute force or by coordinating with the Erha to fight a war of attrition.

But this Earth Badger was simply too annoying; no, too shameless.

Except for the Feng Li, which could detect its faint movements and launch proactive attacks, Facing Facing Cang Luo and Shangyi Huimeizi could only wait for it to poke its head out before attacking; how could they possibly hit it?

The Erha was even more pitiful; its mouth spewed fire until bubbles formed, yet it failed to burn a single hair of the Earth Badger...

"Damn! The earth badger hiding underground is truly unsolvable!"

Facing Facing Cang Luo sighed and sat aside to rest; he was not physically tired, but weary at heart.

Shangyi Huimeizi also sat down to rest, and she asked in confusion, "Why does Lord Cang want to capture that earth badger alive?"

Facing Facing Cang Luo replied weakly, "To tame it as a beast pet."

"Tame it as a beast pet?!"

Shangyi Huimeizi froze, then exclaimed in surprise, "Doesn't Lord Cang already have a 'Second Har'?"

"Yes, I plan to tame another one."

As soon as Facing Facing Cang Luo finished speaking, Shangyi Huimeizi jumped up in an instant, exclaiming, "Lord Cang, are you preparing to use a kidney... or a testicle to serve as an offering for the taming?"

As she spoke these words, her face flushed slightly.

Besides using the appendix as an offering to tame demonic beasts, some martial artists also use kidneys for taming.

Because the human body has two kidneys, yet actually only one is needed to maintain bodily functions; although the body will become weak, if it can be exchanged for a powerful beast pet, it is still worth considering.

Apart from that, men possess one more organ than women that can be used to tame demonic beasts.

That is the testicle.

Testicles and kidneys both come in pairs; using one to tame a beast pet is not impossible, though few martial artists would do so.

Shangyi Huimeizi never expected that for the sake of a beast pet, Facing Facing Cang Luo would actually be willing to sacrifice a kidney or a testicle...

It is not worth it!

Suddenly, Shangyi Huimeizi remembered something.

That night, Lord Cang suddenly stopped halfway through his work; when asked why, he said nothing.

Could it be that Lord Cang's kidney or testicle has a problem? Just right to be used as an offering to tame a demonic beast?

The more Shangyi Huimeizi thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Many martial artists who possess multiple beast pets do so because certain organs in their bodies have developed problems, such as lesions, injuries, or inability to recover.

Thus, to avoid waste, they use them to tame beast pets.

So, does Lord Cang have a problem with his kidney, or with his testicle?