Chapter 47: Master and Servant Meet Again

Deep within the seemingly rushing river, a great army of toothed fish-people was advancing at a leisurely pace.

In the middle of the army, the toothed fish-person leader, whose scales were purple and whose stature was tall, sat on the back of a giant catfish.

"How much farther?" the purple-scaled leader summoned a scout, somewhat impatiently.

The fish-person scout lowered his head and stammered, "We still have to cross four rivers, one lake."

"Too slow, speed up!" the purple-scaled leader, somewhat impatient, took a large chunk of unknown flesh from a frame fixed on the giant catfish's back and began to tear at it crudely.

The scene was extremely bloody.

"Yes, yes, leader." the fish-person scout departed.

Soon after, the entire toothed fish-person army slightly increased its marching speed.

Lai Ang, who had been following behind the toothed fish-person army, now felt eighty to ninety percent certain of the army's marching purpose.

Because as he followed the toothed fish-person army forward, Lai Ang suddenly realized that his connection with his retainer Di Wugesi was growing stronger.

This indicated that the distance between master and servant was drawing nearer.

After a moment's thought, Lai Ang said to Ai Di and its seven hatchlings,

"'Continue following behind the toothed fish-person army and wait for my order; I will go ahead to find Di Wugesi.'"

"'Alright, big brother, you go first.' Ai Di seemed to understand something and replied excitedly."

Sai Jia looked at Ai Di, somewhat baffled, not knowing why the other was so excited.

"'Can't you even see something this obvious?' Facing Sai Jia's confusion, Ai Di was somewhat speechless; though this younger brother of his was large in size and could be subdued with a single dragon claw, his mind wasn't that sharp."

"'Huh?' Sai Jia looked at Ai Di with some dissatisfaction, raising his thick, powerful dragon claw. Although he was a bit dazed, he could still see that his second brother was giving him a blatant look of 'you're an idiot.'"

"'Um, big brother means that later we'll listen to its command and let us few ambush the toothed fish-person army from behind.' Ai Di hurriedly explained, it wasn't because he was afraid of the third brother's dragon claw."

"'Can't big brother just say it plainly? Why make it so complicated?' Sai Jia was somewhat irritable."

It hated having to guess at orders like this the most.

"Just say it directly: after a dragon roar later, let them tear the enemy to pieces—wouldn't that work?"

"Pfft—"

"Huh? Sai Jia turned his head, seeing Pa Na unable to hold back laughter, and found it strange."

"'It's fine, it's fine, I just... ah, look at this turtle, how small.' The white dragon, seeing Sai Jia—whose scales were all muscle underneath—look over, hastily waved his forepaw and pointed in a flustered manner at a palm-sized turtle on the riverbed."

"'Indeed very small; this turtle is far too weak.' Sai Jia's attention was successfully diverted."

The observing Ai Erduo and its four black dragon hatchlings had long grown accustomed to this scene.

After all, the leader they followed was Lai Ang, not Sai Jia.

Not having to overthink things is fine; with sufficient strength, as companions they still made the dragons feel at ease.

On the other side, Lai Ang detoured around the toothed fish-person army advancing in the river, sensing the growing strong connection of the contract, and swiftly moved through the forest.

After a moment, the black dragon's sturdy body halted before a tall stone wall.

It gazed at the river flowing through the stone wall, without hesitation, and plunged in with a splashing sound.

Soon after passing through a stretch of dark water about tens of meters long, the black dragon's vision brightened.

A huge dragon head broke the water surface, gazing upon the bird-song-and-floral-scented valley ahead and the faintly visible structures in the distance; Lai Ang felt certain in his heart.

Without hesitation, the dragon's broad wings unfolded, a large amount of water splashing down; with a beat of its wings, the black dragon rose into the sky. It turned its head to glance back at the rear cliff, discovering that this cliff face exceeded three hundred meters in height and was especially steep.

Unable to fly, one could probably only enter by swimming up that river.

"However, there should probably be a secret passage on the ground." Lai Ang thought.

Unless the Anlin Tribe consists entirely of water-attribute monsters, without a secret passage going out would be inconvenient.

Facing the howling strong wind, the black dragon arrived above that building; meanwhile, the monster residents below obviously also saw the unobscured black dragon and became somewhat panicked.

Lai Ang merely swept a glance over it and found the tribe was not small; estimating population by the number of dwellings, it likely numbered in the thousands.

However, among the monster inhabitants, Lai Ang found the two most numerous types were kobolds and goblins.

This caused Lai Ang's originally somewhat excited mood to snap back to reality.

The black dragon located the most conspicuous building in the tribe and then dove down onto it.

With a bang, the pitch-black beast landed.

Even before the black dragon reached the Anlin Tribe, Di Wugesi had already sensed his master's aura, awakened from his cultivation, and hurried out of the door.

Roar! A unicorn magic leopard the size of a rhinoceros suddenly burst from the backyard, baring its fangs at Lai Ang.

Although the unicorn magic leopard was somewhat nervous and afraid, it stubbornly blocked the building's entrance.

Lai Ang recognized the origin of this leopard-type magic beast, and his dragon eyes involuntarily flashed a hint of surprise.

"'Master!' Di Wugesi burst out from inside that building, instantly spotting the striking black dragon; his heart jumped at once, and he felt overjoyed."

"'Black leopard, step down, this is the master!' Di Wugesi scolded the unicorn magic leopard."

Only then did the unicorn magic leopard react, letting out two whimpers and lowering its head to show submission to Lai Ang.

"'Is this the magic beast partner you subdued?' Lai Ang didn't mind."

Because magic beast partners are inherently utterly loyal, that's an advantage.

A little offense toward it doesn't matter either.

Di Wugesi gave a hehe smile, also feeling a bit smug,

"'Yes, master, the black leopard was one I designed and captured four years ago; after raising it for half a year, I personally defeated it several times, after which it agreed to submit to me and we signed a comrade's contract.'"

The so-called comrade's contract, also commonly called a partner contract, involves equality between the two parties.

Whereas the dragon clan retainer contract is a master-servant contract with stronger binding force than an ordinary master-servant contract, an alternative type.

Of course, although the binding force is stronger, the servant side of the dragon clan retainer contract can also gain some benefits from the master's growth in strength.

Lai Ang sensed Di Wugesi's aura, which had already reached the peak of the Fourth Rank.

Five and a half years ago, Di Wugesi was still at the peak of the Third Rank.

This rate of progress is already fast for the dragonfolk.

After all, the dragonfolk's lifespan is not short either; even without cultivation they can live two to three hundred years.

Now Diwugesi is only in his early twenties; in the human world, they are still considered youth.

"Then, Diwugesi, now, immediately, go summon the tribe's warriors to prepare for battle." Lai Ang nodded slightly, having thought of the impending army of giant-toothed fish-men about to arrive, and lost interest in continuing idle chat.

Let's deal with the immediate crisis first.

(End of chapter)