Chapter 1333: The Bear King Lord Standing Atop the Pyramid

Once she really started running, Xia Qing finally understood how fast the Bear King was. Using her Level Nine and a Half visual evolution ability, Xia Qing judged that if Yang Jin, the Alpha Wolf, and the Bear King stood on the same starting line, the fastest runner would be the Bear King—because its massive body covered ten-plus meters in a single bound!

Greedy Little Bear's speed was about the same as Xia Qing's. To accommodate her, Broken-Back Wolf and Handsome Giant Wolf didn't run at full speed, so the four of them formed the second echelon, with the slowest, Does Daigua, in the third. Seeing her good friend falling behind, Greedy Little Bear stopped and waited a while, then carried Does Daigua on her back and caught up with the second echelon. Xia Qing now understood that the one slowing down the second echelon was her.

However, she didn't demand to climb onto Handsome Giant Wolf's back right away—that would put her on the same level as Does Daigua! So Xia Qing kept running hard.

Only when she could no longer maintain her top speed did Xia Qing stop to adjust her breathing and heartbeat, pull out a tube of Nutrient Solution X, and make her request to Handsome Giant Wolf. She climbed onto his back without any trouble.

Handsome Giant Wolf carried Xia Qing on a diagonal, cutting along the Python Lake northward out of Mountain Territory No. 61, then cutting diagonally across Mountain No. 62 to reach the area above the No. 67 Mountain Basin. Without needing him to shake her off, Xia Qing jumped down, opened her backpack, and poured out a bowl of pollution-free spring water in front of Handsome Giant Wolf.

"Big Brother Giant Wolf, you've worked hard. Big Brother Giant Wolf, have some water."

The murderous Handsome Giant Wolf buried his head and drank the water. Xia Qing immediately offered him freeze-dried meat. "Big Brother Giant Wolf, have some meat."

Handsome Giant Wolf swallowed the meat in one gulp. Before Xia Qing could make another move, she saw a big black paw extend in front of her.

Xia Qing followed that black paw and saw Greedy Little Bear's eyes full of longing for food. After two seconds of silence, she pulled out a small packet of freeze-dried meat and placed it on the bear paw, then quickly closed her backpack to show she had no more food.

Broken-Back Wolf led the team forward another stretch and reunited with the Bear King from the first echelon of the mission group at the edge of the basin. By now, the Bear King, whose fur was on the darker side, had turned into a giant mud bear. Without the Bear King calling her over, Little Bear ran to the mud pit up ahead and rolled around until she was covered in mud, just like her dad.

This was the Xiong Qun's territory, so of course they knew the basin had many poisonous animals and plants. Wrapping themselves in mud was probably for insect protection.

The temperature inside the basin was very high. Xia Qing first stripped Does Daigua's clothes off, then called back Broken-Back Wolf, who was eager to go roll in the mud pit. Then Xia Qing took out the idol-configured medicinal powder that had the same effect as the withered-flower pollen and sprayed it over the two wolves, Does Daigua, and herself before following the two mud bears into the basin.

The first two times, Xia Qing had entered the basin from the southeast, and crossing the withered-flower sea had left her covered in insect-repelling medicinal powder. But there were no withered flowers here, so she had to apply powder manually.

The vegetation here was dense, vines grew thick, and the ground was slippery. Even traveling with the Giant Bear Lord team, unafraid of startling the fierce beasts in this rainforest, the snake-catching squad still took over twenty minutes to cross the mist-shrouded rainforest and reach the hot spring lake.

The moment Xia Qing pulled out her snake-catching net, the Bear King let out a furious roar and vanished from sight.

Immediately after, the panicked "kaka kaka" calls of baboons came from several hundred meters away. Xia Qing was very familiar with this sound—it was the group of baboons that had crouched by the lake with the wolves catching snakes a couple days ago. They'd come again to steal the young Yi Snakes and had been spotted by the Bear King.

Xia Qing looked at Greedy Little Bear soaking her muddy paws in the hot spring beside her, at Handsome Giant Wolf who had already entered the water to lure snakes, and then at Does Daigua, who had climbed a big tree to pick fruit. She quietly asked her most reliable companion, "Broken-Back, is that group of baboons animals that live in this basin?"

Broken-Back Wolf, who was staring intently at the lake surface, nodded. The Alpha Wolf hadn't come, so he had taken it upon himself to take on the task of guarding against the giant python.

Xia Qing was puzzled. "If the baboons live here, why does the Bear King still need to drive them away?"

Broken-Back Wolf, his face deadly serious, had no idea how to stare at the python and transmit such complicated information to Xia Qing at the same time, so he made no move.

Seeing Broken-Back Wolf wouldn't answer, Xia Qing simply stopped thinking about it. "Little Bear Brother, Broken-Back, can I start scooping snakes now?"

Perhaps the idol-configured medicinal powder was more effective at attracting snakes, or perhaps this spot was closer to the young Yi Snakes' activity area—because Xia Qing could already feel snakes gathering around Handsome Giant Wolf from a distance.

Greedy Little Bear showed no reaction. Broken-Back Wolf nodded solemnly, indicating she could.

Xia Qing immediately pulled out two snake-catching nets, walked over to Handsome Giant Wolf, and scooped up over a dozen snakes in one go. She first fed Handsome Giant Wolf a whole net's worth before she started catching snakes and packing them away.

After three nets, Xia Qing confirmed the reason the Yi Snakes were gathering so quickly was the latter—because… the giant python had mobilized!

"Aoo—" Broken-Back Wolf let out a warning cry. Handsome Giant Wolf and Xia Qing immediately leapt ashore. The little mud bear sitting by the lake soaking its paws stood up and roared furiously at the section of lake where the sound of water was coming from.

"Roar—"

"Roar—"

"Roar————"

Before Little Bear's second roar had even faded, the sound of the earth trembling drew near from afar. The Bear King burst through the water mist and landed on the lake surface in front of Little Bear, letting out a furious roar at the python charging toward them.

"Splash!" The Bear King slapped the water with its enormous Xiong Zhang and let out another fearsome roar. "Roar!!!"

The several giant pythons swimming rapidly forward heard the Bear King's roar and slowly sank beneath the water, retreating. Xia Qing, drenched by the splash, stared at the Bear King's back, her heart pounding.

What does wild and reliable mean? This is it!

"Xiong Wang, my lord, you're way too cool! The very top of Jin Zita must have a place for you!"

The Alpha Wolf must have known the Bear King's combat power. Even so, it still dared to lead the wolf pack against the northern Xiong Qun and snatch Mountain No. 55 back from the Bear King's claws. So, the Bear King is awesome, but the Alpha Wolf is even fiercer!

After roaring the giant pythons into retreat, the Bear King lazily lay in the hot spring, grabbed two small Yi Snakes that had been stunned by the shock and were floating on the surface, and stuffed them into its mouth.

Xia Qing immediately grabbed her net and water tank, returned to the lake, and continued attracting Yi Snakes. After scooping up the first net of Yi Snakes, Xia Qing grabbed a handful and eagerly held them out to the Bear King. "Xiong Wang, my lord, would you like some?"

The Bear King glanced at them, uninterested, and continued soaking in its hot spring mud bath.

Xia Qing offered them to Little Bear next. "Little Bear Brother, would you like some?"

Greedy Little Bear was also uninterested, only staring at Xia Qing's backpack.

This was the Xiong Qun's territory, and the small Yi Snakes were local specialties within their domain. It was precisely because they regularly ate these little snakes that the Xiong Qun's digestive ability was especially good—even after the soil anaerobic bacteria evolved last month, not a single bear got diarrhea.

Once Xia Qing figured this out, she immediately opened her backpack, took out a two-jin packet of jerky, tore it open, and poured it onto the rock beside Little Bear. "Little Bear Brother, have some jerky."

As expected, Greedy Little Bear was very interested in the jerky. She grabbed it and started eating.

Then, Xia Qing took out the egg carton, popped out one egg, tapped a crack in it, and handed it to the Bear King. "Xiong Wang, my lord, would you like a green-light egg? It's very delicious."

The Bear King sniffed it, then extended its already-cleaned, enormous Xiong Zhang.

Xia Qing immediately placed the egg on its palm's thick, rough pad. The fairly large egg looked like a quail's egg in the giant bear's palm, so Xia Qing promptly added two more for the Bear King.

After finishing, the Bear King, still lying in the water, extended its big paw toward Xia Qing again.

Xia Qing finally understood who Greedy Little Bear took after. She efficiently divided a whole carton of eggs between the two bears and two wolves, then started catching snakes. With the Bear King standing guard here, the giant python didn't dare come cause trouble. Xia Qing quickly caught over two hundred little snakes, filled two insulated, oxygenated sampling boxes, packed them into her backpack, and began scooping snakes to feed Handsome Giant Wolf and Broken-Back Wolf.

The Bear King, lying in the water, watched Xia Qing catch snakes and feed the wolves for a while, then glanced at Does Daigua, who was picking fruit from a tree not far away. It slapped dead a small Yi Snake that was eating mud beside it and tossed it to Xia Qing.

Xia Qing, who had been keeping an eye on the Bear King, immediately reached out and caught it, thanking it with deep gratitude. "Thank you so much, Xiong Wang, my lord, for the Yi Snake. You truly are the evolved bear standing at the top of Blue Star's Jin Zita—paws that big and you can still catch a snake so deftly!"

Handsome Giant Wolf remained expressionless. Broken-Back Wolf looked at the Bear King, then at Xia Qing, lost in thought.

Xia Qing stuffed the Yi Snake the Bear King had given her into the beast-skin pouch at her waist and continued catching snakes for Handsome Giant Wolf and Broken-Back Wolf. Once the little snakes attracted by the medicinal powder on the two wolves and her had all been caught, she voluntarily went ashore.

Snakes had to be caught, but ecological balance also had to be maintained. She quit while she was ahead.