Chapter 67: Secret News; Preparing to Leave

He had barely slithered to the doorway when he spotted a tall man, bare from the waist up, with faint dark plating surfacing across his chest and back, clutching a boy whose body bulged in unnatural places and rushing in with a face full of panic. Right behind him trotted a dwarf-shaped but beautiful woman.

Well, looks like he picked a bad time to come.

Baichuan silently grumbled to himself and slowly drew back, his scales tightening over his entire body in an instant to cut down the scent leaking off him.

This was the aura-concealing ability he had evolved earlier — it could reduce the scent he gave off. Of course, the effect being this pronounced also had to do with his regularly washing himself.

Then he coiled himself up in a hidden corner.

Good thing the room was big enough; otherwise, a seven-metre snake like him would have a hard time hiding.

At that moment, he vanished completely inside the room.

"Doctor Tang! Doctor Tang!"

The moment the man came in, he called out urgently, but now there was no answer.

He stamped a foot in agitation, gave the equally panicked woman behind him a few quick instructions, then bolted out the door.

In an instant, only an unconscious child and the dwarf woman were left behind.

Something feels off.

Baichuan watched the scene in silence, flicking his forked tongue.

Ever since he had entered this valley, he had noticed that everyone here was a little strange!

Some were short like children, as if they all suffered from dwarfism; others were like that big fellow, bare from the waist up with black plating showing on chest and back.

Were there no normal people here? Or had the arts they practised done this to them?

Forget it, none of his business. Baichuan silently shook his head, deciding not to pursue it.

Anyway, none of the human experts he had met before were normal either — par for the course.

Looking at the dried bat in his claws that had been processed — say, this dried bat that had been cleaned like medicinal material, it should be fine to eat, right?

Could that Ice Frost power inside him purge any viruses in it?

He thought it over for a long while, then decided, forget it.

His life was more important; no point throwing it away on a moment's impulse.

If he ended up dying not at human hands but from Zhou Xiaoxiao's dried bat, that would be a laugh.

Just then, one of the men who had gone out earlier came back — carried in by that big fellow.

But seeing that the man's expression was unhurried and he wasn't struggling, he must have been used to it.

Once inside, the big man set him down, and he nimbly pulled a chest from inside the room, took out a few small bottles of medicinal powder and salve, then crouched beside the unconscious child.

A pair of large, calloused hands, steady and strong as a caress, felt over the unnatural bulge on the child's body, and the bulge immediately flattened and faded away.

Only then did he take out the medicinal powder, mix it with the salve, and apply it.

Throughout the whole process, neither the big man nor the dwarf woman dared make a sound — they didn't even dare draw a full breath.

"Little Tang, does my Tiger still have a chance?"

Seeing the man stop what he was doing, the plated big man asked anxiously, hope mingled in his voice.

At this, the long-faced man called Little Tang glanced at him and shook his head. "No hope. The unnatural bone growth means it's rejecting the Clavicle Powder — looks like he's not fated to fly."

"How could this be…" The man staggered back a few steps as if struck by lightning, unable to believe it.

Only after a long while did he come back to himself. He sat down right where he stood, tenderly stroking the child's cheek and sighing. "Sigh, looks like my Tiger isn't fated for the Flying Sect — he'll have to join the Earth Dragon Gang."

Baichuan, who had been watching silently from the side without daring to make a sound, finally got a rough picture of the situation.

Earth Dragon Gang, Flying Sect.

They were probably the two powers within this valley. The flying fellow he had seen earlier and this dwarf woman must be from the Flying Sect.

Then this man must be from the Earth Dragon Gang?

But judging by the names, there had to be at least two Strange Beasts here — no ordinary faction would dare give themselves names like that.

Looks like he needed to tread carefully. Two powers — he probably couldn't handle them.

Baichuan silently gave up on the idea of exploring deeper into this valley.

One on land, one in the air — and that Earth Dragon, a crocodile, should be adept in water too.

In other words, this valley actually hid a great sect that had gathered forces across land, sea, and air.

He couldn't afford to provoke them right now — time to slip away!

"By the way, what did Doctor Tang go out for?"

Collecting himself, the big man also found it odd that Doctor Tang wasn't around today.

"Oh, you mean the boss? He went to detox someone the court sent — heard it's some prince."

"What? The court sends people to our back-of-beyond? Those soft-living sky-dwellers who can't even be bothered to put down the rebellions everywhere — they come to a place like this? What kind of joke is that?!"

"Sigh, it's all because of that Zhangtian Mansion heir making a fuss. The prince is willing to spend big to win hearts, heh~ pity the moment he arrived, the poisonous bugs of this Daze gave him a proper welcome."

"True enough — a fellow who's never even left Tiandu, how could he know how dangerous the outside world is. If you ask me, without that one, the Great Zhou would've been done for long ago, and these soft-living types wouldn't have had their day."

"Shh, watch your tongue. The Zhangs are gone — we can't afford to provoke them."

"Ha, true, true! Let's drop that. Speaking of which, what's that Zhangtian Mansion heir up to now, gone mad again?"

"Heard he found traces of a Dragon Species — got the tip from the rebel army. That's why the two sides clashed again recently, making a hell of a ruckus."

"Traces of a Dragon Species?"

"Yeah, a body like the Ten Thousand Snakes, with Jade Claws."

……

With nothing to do, the two men lingered in the pharmacy, chatting about every bit of gossip under the sun.

After all, they were tucked away in such a hidden valley, and had gathered the three forces of land, sea, and air — how could any enemy possibly sneak in?

Wasn't that a joke?

And yet, all of this left Baichuan — who had only been hiding on the side looking for a Strange Beast bat — utterly stunned.

Unexpectedly, in his muddle-headed state, he had somehow gotten wind of a great pile of secret information, and some of it even concerned him.

……

Late at night, Baichuan, who had finally taken advantage of no one being around to run out of the valley, gazed with deep, quiet eyes toward the valley.

At this moment, clutched in his talons was a Yanjingwangshe over three meters long — one he had just tracked down nearby by following the scent of his own kind.

After a long while, he let out a quiet sigh.

He had only meant to take a risk and obtain the bat's ability template, yet by a twist of fate he had learned so many classified pieces of information.

Truly, fate toys with snakes!

It seemed he had still greatly underestimated the humans of this world and their covetous hunger for Strange Beasts.

Fortunately, he now finally knew — and the Time was not yet too late.

He lowered his head, looked at the Yanjingwangshe squirming uneasily in his talons, and gave a soft laugh.

He thought: Don't you lot want a Ten Thousand Snakes body, a Dragon Species with Jade Claws? Then I'll give them to you right now!

It's just a pity about the points I just gained — Baichuan thought with a pang of heartache.

Fortunately, all of this was worth it, so long as he evolved this Yanjingwangshe to grow hawk talons and then released it.

After that, whether it was eventually caught or not, it would no longer be his concern.

(End of Chapter)