Chapter 381: Six Tails (The Appearance of Riding a Snowtread Horse)

"Neigh——!"

Path of Frost, treading snow without a trace; I shall freeze ten thousand li and halt the world——!

The Snowtread Horse's raised hooves slammed down fiercely, sending two waves of extreme cold surging forward with unstoppable force.

In an instant, a path formed before the Snowtread Horse, composed of irregular, sharp ice pillars; cold air drifted all around like celestial mist, making this place seem like a fairyland on earth.

Under the adoring gazes of the surrounding Pokémon, the Snowtread Horse held its head high and charged forward with imposing momentum, as if facing an army of thousands, ready to stand alone against them all like an invincible war god!

Yet, just as the late emperor died halfway through founding his empire, the Snowtread Horse's grand ambitions were strangled in the cradle before they could even unfold.

"Beloved steed, what are you doing?"

A calm voice rang out, and the Snowtread Horse froze on the spot as if its throat had been seized.

In the Snowtread Horse's mind, four large characters flashed across repeatedly like a screen spam.

I'm doomed.

Ever since abandoning its status as king, Lei Guan Wang had rarely used "I" or "you" unless its emotions were violently fluctuating.

But if it suddenly spoke that way, nine times out of ten, it meant it was somewhat angry.

Sweating profusely, the Snowtread Horse panicked and looked at its so-called "coronation path," seeing the frozen vegetation around and the wild Pokémon scattering in fright; only then did it realize why Lei Guan Wang was angry.

After a moment's thought, the Snowtread Horse shamelessly lowered its head, showing none of the irritable temper it had displayed in the Crown Tundra, and let out a pleading sound admitting its mistake.

There weren't many Pokémon watching the Snowtread Horse; aside from the three off-duty Bai Bai Pengpeng, there was only a Politoed leading three underlings, hoping to learn some Ice-type moves from the Snowtread Horse.

Seeing that even the Snowtread Horse had backed down, and noticing the majestic presence of Lei Guan Wang, they thought better of it and immediately scattered like frightened birds and beasts, fleeing the scene.

The Politoed felt that seeking guidance from the Snowtread Horse might be unreliable; it would be better to go learn from Regice instead.

It seemed its good friend, the Cangyan Cangyan Rengui, had once fought Regice; perhaps it could provide an introduction.

The Politoed silently pondered its plan to become stronger.

Besides spending at least two to three hours daily with the damp rocks by the lake, acquiring close-combat capabilities to defend itself when dragged into melee, and currently supplementing its training with Ice-type moves, were all Top Priority.

Meanwhile, Lei Guan Wang looked helplessly at the guilt-ridden Snowtread Horse; invisible psychic power rippled outward, shattering all the ice layers the horse had created, restoring vitality to the plants nearly killed by the low temperatures, and soothing the frightened wild Pokémon.

Gently stroking the mane frozen by ice on the Snowtread Horse, Lei Guan Wang spoke in as gentle a voice as possible.

"I know you feel bored; even in the past, I never constrained you to stay by my side but allowed you to roam freely across the Crown Tundra."

"However, your power is like a natural disaster to those weak wild Pokémon around you; if left unchecked, it will inevitably lead to trouble in the future."

Compared to the ancient Crown Tundra, which once served as a harsh place of exile, the environment here is far too mild and comfortable; the overall strength of the wild Pokémon here consists mainly of low-level individuals, so if the Snowtread Horse releases its power recklessly, it would be no different from a catastrophe.

Lei Guan Wang did not wish for itself, the Snowtread Horse, and the Spectrier—three beings forgotten by humans—to negatively affect the living environment of the wild Pokémon and ordinary humans nearby.

"If you wish to fight, you can seek out the Luxray and others; every night I also train with them, and you may join in. On usual days, Luo Mu will prepare various delicacies you have never seen before; until winter arrives, please endure for now."

Lei Guan Wang earnestly admonished the Snowtread Horse.

Although the Snowtread Horse usually acted without thinking, a muscle-bound brute, it could still listen when spoken to patiently.

Listening to Lei Guan Wang's lesson, the Snowtread Horse hung its head low, looking utterly dejected and in low spirits, but at least it responded to Lei Guan Wang.

"Neigh..." (I understand.)

The Snowtread Horse walked dejectedly toward the ice cellar, seemingly intending to "calm down" in an environment suited to it.

However, perhaps having lost its head, the direction the Snowtread Horse took seemed slightly wrong, leading to another place.

Watching the Snowtread Horse's departing figure, Lei Guan Wang withdrew its released psychic power, locking all strength within its body, appearing no different from an ordinary Pokémon.

Lei Guan Wang occasionally found this relaxing; just as it was thinking that Luo Mu should be returning soon and turned to leave, suddenly, a rustling sound came from a patch of grass at the boundary between the farm and the wild.

When Lei Guan Wang, its attention caught, cast its gaze in that direction, a silver-gray figure darted out from the grass and vanished into taller grass in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace.

Obscured by the grass, Lei Guan Wang couldn't make out the appearance of the figure's owner, only recalling that it had silver-gray or perhaps silver-white fur? It seemed to walk on all fours.

Not taking this little episode seriously, Lei Guan Wang shook its head, didn't even maintain the minimum level of psychic power, and directly relied on its own long legs to walk into the farm.

Having finished today's activities at the Naranja Academy, Luo Mu returned to the farm, his head still buzzing slightly.

Wasn't it just an ordinary exhibition match? How did a student suddenly appear out of nowhere? Did Geeta really treat herself as his superior!?

Luo Mu wore an expression of indignation.

At this moment, his phone suddenly vibrated; Luo Mu subconsciously took it out and glanced at it.

It was a text message.

【Paldea People's Bank: Union Calendar Year 798, August 13, 16:25 PM. Private Account 0001 transferred to your account ending in 114. Income amount: 500,000 Union Coins. Balance: 2,511,450.88 Union Coins. Remark: Bonus deposit.】

"Aihai, so tempting!"

Probably dizzy from money, Luo Mu chuckled foolishly a few times.

Immediately after, he quickly shook his head, patted his cheeks with his hands, and murmured to himself.

"No... how could a mere monetary offensive buy me over? Just selling half a month's worth of Tapu Tapu Moumou's fresh milk could earn this much money; I can't be so spineless!"

"... Forget it, teaching five is teaching, teaching six is also teaching; attending classes at Nurse Joy's place in Artazon usually, then coming back to give lessons to Nurse Joy in Mesagoza, is actually quite interesting."

This might be the first time a battle instructor has taken on a student named Joy.

Thinking of this, Luo Mu glanced at the Dragonite family, who had said they were going out for a joyride, shook his head, and walked inside the house.

"Woof woof!"

As soon as he entered the house, a puppy came to welcome him.

Luo Mu sniffed, nearly becoming dizzy from the aroma of baked bread emanating from the Fidough.

Wiping the corner of his mouth, Luo Mu squatted down, patted the Fidough's head, and asked, "Where is your big brother?"

"Woof-woo!"

After thinking for a moment, the Fidough mimicked a running posture.

Luo Mu understood instantly.

"Went out to run wild again, huh."

Luo Mu describing the Feng Su Gou as a husky wasn't baselessly slandering the dog's reputation.

After evolving, Feng Su Gou's energy was terrifyingly abundant; if it didn't vent some, it would tear the house apart, to the point where Luo Mu's slippers would suffer.

Although the farm covered a large area, it still couldn't allow Feng Su Gou to run to its heart's content.

Luo Mu finally thought of a solution: since Feng Su Gou needed exercise, he would have Moltres take its great son out for a walk every day; this would not only let Feng Su Gou burn off excess energy but also prevent the rarely active Moltres from getting fat too quickly.

It was simply killing two birds with one stone!

Luo Mu shook his head and, bringing the Twist Dog along, slipped into the kitchen like a street loiterer.

Nowadays, Luo Mu had to prepare three meals a day for the dozens of Pokémon on the farm; relying solely on the kitchen's area, even working all day wouldn't produce enough food to feed all the Pokémon, let alone considering that among them were several notorious big eaters.

These days, Luo Mu simply set up a pot outside and had Moltres breathe fire to cook the meals.

The kitchen had transformed into Shuang Nai Xian's dessert-making studio.

At this moment, inside the kitchen, Shuang Nai Xian had just taken a tray of steaming hot little cookies out of the oven that Luo Mu had spent a huge sum to buy for it.

In an instant, the small space of the kitchen was filled with an intoxicating aroma of freshly baked cookies, which mixed with the rich milky scent to form a perfect combination.

Luo Mu's gaze fell upon the yellow little cookies in the plate, and understanding immediately dawned in his heart.

Margaret cookies were considered one of the simplest types of cookies to make.

The ingredients were roughly low-gluten flour, cornstarch, butter, cooked egg yolk, salt, and powdered sugar.

"Mafoo~"

Shuang Nai Xian smiled brightly, picked up a little cookie, and handed it to Luo Mu, seemingly wanting him to taste it.

Luo Mu took the little cookie and put it in his mouth to taste carefully, while Shuang Nai Xian fed a few more pieces to the Twist Dog.

The little cookies had a very crisp texture yet were not lacking in delicacy, possessing a rich milky flavor that was extremely delicious.

If Luo Mu were to describe the texture and taste of this Margaret cookie, he would directly give it the highest evaluation—

It felt a bit like the Wang Zai Little Steamed Buns he ate when he was a child.

Ignoring the fact that the freshly baked cookies were still scalding hot to the touch and mouth, Luo Mu grabbed several more little cookies, tasted them carefully, swallowed them, and gave Shuang Nai Xian a thumbs-up.

"Delicious!"

These two short words fully expressed Luo Mu's appreciation.

"Woof!"

The Twist Dog, not wanting to be outdone, wagged its tail to indicate that it also liked the taste of the little cookies very much.

Receiving affirmation, Shuang Nai Xian also revealed a happy smile.

Although the desserts it usually made were exquisite products that looked good and tasted nice,

occasionally making some ordinary-looking homemade little desserts turned out to be very popular as well.

After finishing tasting Shuang Nai Xian's little cookies, Luo Mu walked out of the kitchen and ran straight into Lei Guan Wang, who had just returned from the Oliva Kindergarten carrying Cosmog, who was still fast asleep.

Lei Guan Wang, holding Cosmog, smiled at him: "Luo Mu, you're back."

"I'm back."

Luo Mu nodded gently, his gaze falling upon Cosmog.

Just like the little Nebby that followed Ash in the anime, Cosmog spent ninety percent of its time every day sleeping; the time it remained awake was truly very little, but once it was awake, it would become very lively.

Looking at Cosmog, Luo Mu did not forget that he still needed to buy a machine to make Jin Pingtang for Cosmog to eat.

Jin Pingtang was not popular in the Paldea region, and machines convenient for making Jin Pingtang were hardly sold there; Luo Mu thought that in a few days when he went to the Kanto region, he could settle this matter while he was at it.

After all, Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh were all replicated from certain prototype cities of the Sakura family; Jin Pingtang was one of the wagashi there, so he should be able to learn the method of making Jin Pingtang and buy professional machinery there.

Lei Guan Wang then told Luo Mu about the incident where Snowy Horse had "gone mad" this morning; Luo Mu pondered briefly, picked out a few winter clothes from the depths of the wardrobe, and planned to go check on the ice cellar.

Come to think of it, he didn't know if things were going smoothly over at Sandslash's place or if there were any Pokémon Eggs yet, so he could visit them on the way as well.

Although he had tacitly allowed Snowy Horse to go calm down alone not long ago, Lei Guan Wang also wanted to go and take a look.

That fellow's temper was far more twisted than Spectrier's.

Inside the ice cellar.

Compared to the high temperatures brought by the scorching sun outside, the temperature here was at another extreme.

Because of Lei Ji's settlement, even though they had all restrained themselves, the temperature here had nearly dropped below the limits of minus forty and fifty degrees several times; it was only under the active intervention and adjustment of Luo Mu and Lei Guan Wang that it gradually stabilized.

Today, the ice cellar was much livelier than usual.

Around Lei Ji, who almost always sat alone in the corner of the ice cellar carefully restraining its cold air, today there were rarely Politoed and its three underlings surrounding it.

Having to get along with these little ones introduced by Cangyan Cangyan Rengui, Lei Ji's movements became increasingly stiff and cautious.

Under Politoed's assault of eager-to-learn eyes, Lei Ji quickly surrendered; its yellow dot-like eyes flashed, and it carefully pointed its three crystal-like fingers at an empty spot, cautiously channeling Ice-type energy to create a stream of air mixed with cold qi.

"Rejiice?"

After doing all this, Lei Ji then turned its head to look at Politoed, asking if it had clearly seen the trajectory of the energy flow.

Politoed looked thoughtfully at that gradually dissipating cold air, raised its palms, and attempted to change the nature of the Water-type energy within its body to launch it as an Ice-type move.

The Poliwags, who similarly wanted to learn Ice Punch, watched their boss eagerly, waiting for it to master some tricks so that it could then teach them in a more simple and understandable way.

Politoed truly lived up to its reputation as one of the smartest characters among the Pokémon on the farm; following the method taught by Lei Ji, it gradually mastered the essence of using Ice-type energy.

It was not until it successfully released a somewhat wavering and powerless "Blizzard" that Snowy Horse just returned to the ice cellar, looking listless.

Looking closely, following behind it was Vulpix, who usually stayed up above in the Pokémon Ice House.

Seeing this strange combination, even Politoed paused for a moment in surprise, and the Ice-type energy gathering in its palm subsequently scattered.

Since the entrance from the Pokémon Ice House into the ice cellar was very close to the residence of the Sandslash couple, almost as soon as Snowy Horse came down, it received two wary gazes.

This made Snowy Horse feel slightly aggrieved; wasn't it just performing a bit of "Ice Path" in front of the two Sandslash earlier? Was such a strong reaction really necessary?

Then, Snowy Horse also saw Politoed and its three underlings, who had been praising its greatness before but had now switched allegiance to learn Ice-type moves from Lei Ji.

Snowy Horse instantly felt even more aggrieved; it couldn't even maintain its narcissistic posture of holding its head high and chest out. In the past, with its explosive temper, it would have directly started a fight.

But having just listened to Lei Guan Wang's exhortations, how could it do such things?

Snowy Horse's walking pace slowed down, which made Vulpix, who had been following Snowy Horse closely and believed that perseverance would surely yield results, very happy.

"Neigh~" (Uncle Snowstorm Horse, just let me ride you~)

Hearing the voice of the six-tailed fox, which seemed to have gone mad and was sticking to him like a stubborn plaster, several blue veins instantly bulged on Snowstorm Horse's forehead.

But perhaps due to the sense of decadence brought by successive blows, the temporarily EMO Snowstorm Horse chose to give up and let things be, letting out a neigh devoid of energy.

"Neigh." (Do as you please.)

Hearing Snowstorm Horse's compromise, the six-tailed fox's eyes lit up, and its heart surged with excitement.

Recently, it had been reading children's picture books that Slowking had bought for them, the younger Pokémon.

Like the six-tailed fox itself, Applin, Tropius, and Combee all had their share.

Recently, the six-tailed fox saw a story in one of the picture books.

The story of the White Horse Prince and Princess Bai Xue!

The six-tailed fox did not envy that Princess Bai Xue who had a White Horse Prince to save her, nor did it want to become such a weak creature that could only rely on others.

Luo Mu had taught the six-tailed fox the joy and sense of accomplishment brought by victory in battle, so the six-tailed fox instead found being like the White Horse Prince very interesting.

Coincidentally, the Snowstorm Horse on the farm perfectly matched the image of the white horse the six-tailed fox wanted to ride; its appearance was handsome, white as snow, and wherever it walked, cold air permeated—it was simply too cool!

With shining eyes, the six-tailed fox let out several consecutive "Neighs," flattering the EMO Snowstorm Horse until it didn't know which way was up, and the look in Snowstorm Horse's eyes toward the six-tailed fox changed completely.

Originally, its impression of the six-tailed fox was merely that of a weak creature sharing its same attribute, but now it seemed this little fellow had excellent taste!

The look in Snowstorm Horse's eyes toward the six-tailed fox changed instantly; it even willingly allowed the six-tailed fox to climb onto its back and used its small hooves to pick up the Bond Reins that hung semi-permanently on its body.

Unfortunately, the Bond Reins were an item that only Lei Guan Wang could use, and it was impossible for the six-tailed fox and Snowstorm Horse to possess the same resonance ability as Lei Guan Wang and Snowstorm Horse, fusing their powers together.

But in the eyes of Luo Mu and Lei Guan Wang, who had just changed clothes and walked into the ice cellar, the six-tailed fox riding on Snowstorm Horse's back had clearly entered a state of unity between rider and horse!

What was this?

Six-tailed fox (in the form of riding Snowstorm Horse)?

Lei Guan Wang was so shocked it couldn't speak; the Ice Carrot it had specially brought fell to the ground with a 'plop,' and looking at Snowstorm Horse and the six-tailed fox with a head full of question marks, it rarely felt a trace of bewilderment.

Who could tell it what exactly had happened?

(End of Chapter)