Chapter 108: Exquisite Dragon Beast

In the following days, Zhang Fan saw the Priest also present every day when he went to teach everyone. He wasn't sure whether it was because he had seen so much and grown bold, or because his focus had shifted; in any case, aside from having a nightmare on the first day, Zhang Fan slept soundly until dawn each of the following days!

After the tribe's females were busy making vegetables into easier-to-store dried vegetables or pickled kimchi, Zhang Fan also taught everyone how to make simple, easy-to-preserve candied fruits and dried fruits.

Meanwhile, the males also began busying themselves with going out to hunt, but unlike previous years, this year almost all of the game they brought back—aside from the food needed for that day—were chosen to be captured alive, in order to store provisions for the cold season; of course, if a large beast was caught in their traps, everyone would also try to bring it back.

Today, after class Zhang Fan didn't see Ba Ke Er come to pick him up, which would have been fine, but when he got home he also didn't see him, which was strange—normally Ba Ke Er, no matter how busy, would rush over to fetch him home, and even if he couldn't make it in time he'd wait at home for him. But today...

Zhang Fan found it strange, but he didn't think much of it—after all, Ba Ke Er was an extremely powerful male Beastman! For some reason, Zhang Fan suddenly recalled the scene of their first meeting.

At that time, I had been frightened by a long-toothed monster into panicked, aimless running through the forest. Just then, Ba Ke Er appeared before me like a heavenly soldier descending, yet the first thought in my mind was actually fear that Ba Ke Er would eat me.

Although later I was indeed eaten by him down to nothing, the manner of being 'eaten' was different! Thinking about this, Zhang Fan couldn't help feeling a little ashamed of his earlier thought.

After taking a deep breath, Zhang Fan stopped thinking about it and went into the kitchen to start preparing lunch. Although Ba Ke Er hadn't returned yet, Zhang Fan was also getting anxious, but he didn't dwell on it, after all Ba Ke Er always turned danger into safety whenever he encountered something.

For some unknown reason, Zhang Fan felt uneasy and his heart began to pound. As he started adding seasoning to the pot's soup, he absentmindedly smashed the salt jar that had been sitting steadily on the stove.

Seeing the pile of white salt on the ground and the shattered pottery jar, Zhang Fan felt even more certain that something major had happened to Ba Ke Er! He grew more anxious and could no longer firmly believe that Ba Ke Er could turn any danger into safety.

Before that, while hunting outside, Ba Ke Er saw that Zhang Fan had had a nightmare all night that day, and he made up his mind to capture an Exquisite Dragon Beast that could help the Beastmen dispel nightmares, for Zhang Fan.

Today, Ba Ke Er had originally been digging a trap in a small grove by the river, but before he finished, he heard a fierce dragon roar coming from the sky; looking up, he saw a group of about ten or so Dragon Beast Tribe members flying over from a distance and stopping beneath a large tree only fifty meters away from him.

Upon seeing the dragon beasts flying over, Ba Ke Er took a closer look and realized they were the Exquisite Dragon Beasts with iridescent five-colored scales he had been searching for days. Excited, he abandoned the trap, retracted his claws, shrank his size, and hid behind the small tree.

He began waiting for a solitary Exquisite Dragon Beast to appear; waiting was a very long and ordeal. After waiting nearly two hours, Ba Ke Er still saw no solitary dragon beast. With no alternative, he had no choice but to continue waiting.

After all, the Exquisite Dragon Beast is not small and delicate as its name suggests; it is a medium-sized dragon beast fifteen meters tall. Moreover, this kind of dragon beast is not a mindless herbivore like the Giant Dragon Beast.

The Exquisite Dragon Beast is the only kind of dragon beast capable of evolving into a Beastman. However, dragon beasts that can evolve are abandoned by their race at birth, left to fend for themselves. Therefore, Exquisite Dragon Beasts that successfully evolve into Beastmen are extremely rare wherever they are found. Of course, those that succeed are undoubtedly the most powerful!

Thus, even an ordinary Exquisite Dragon Beast possesses a brain smarter than that of ordinary dragon beasts, or indeed any ordinary animal. At the same time, they are a highly vicious, herd-living carnivorous dinosaur, and also a dominant air‑land‑sea triple threat that can fly in the sky, run on land, and swim in water.

Therefore, even someone as powerful as Ba Ke Er could only wait behind a small tree about fifty meters from the Exquisite Dragon Beast, waiting for the right moment.

Just as Ba Ke Er was about to fall asleep while waiting, the previously quiet herd of Exquisite Dragon Beasts suddenly began to stir from within. Hearing the commotion from ahead, Ba Ke Er suddenly woke up and no longer felt drowsy.

Seeing what was happening before him, Ba Ke Er began to wonder silently: What is going on? Is it internal strife?

Sure enough, not long after, Ba Ke Er saw two adult male Exquisite Dragon Beasts fighting as they flew into the sky, and then a young adult female Exquisite Dragon Beast that had just matured also took flight, hovering before the two fighting males.

Suddenly, that female dragon beast turned its head toward Ba Ke Er's hiding place and gave him a teasing glance. Ba Ke Er felt the gaze and glanced back, but he didn't realize that at that moment the dragon beast had already turned its head back to watch the fight, so he noticed nothing unusual.

After the two dragons in the sky had fought for a long time, the other adult dragon beasts in the herd, seeing that no winner had emerged after so long and assuming they were bored, some simply spread their wings and joined the aerial battle, while others scattered off in other directions.

Seeing that the herd consisting of ten adult dragon beasts and three juvenile dragon beasts was beginning to disperse, Ba Ke Er could not restrain his excitement; seizing the opportunity, he sprinted as fast as he could toward the nearest juvenile dragon beast.

Just as Ba Ke Er had seized that young dragon beast and begun to flee back the way he came, the female dragon beast that had seemed to be watching the show from the sky suddenly dove down upon him.

Once Ba Ke Er realized he had pursuers behind him, he immediately grabbed the frightened, stunned young dragon beast in his mouth and sprinted away at even greater speed. He knew that if he simply carried the young dragon beast aloft, the other dragon beasts would surely spot him, and if that happened he would surely meet a grim fate today.

Just as Ba Ke Er had nearly escaped the female dragon beast's pursuit, the young dragon beast he had been holding in his mouth suddenly came to. Upon waking, it realized it was being held by a strange animal, panicked, opened its mouth, and began calling for help to its kin.

Upon hearing the young dragon beast's cry, Ba Ke Er thought: Uh-oh! This is a half‑grown young dragon beast, and its voice is already loud. This call will be heard by those large dragon beasts with poor sense of smell but excellent hearing—surely they'll come after us.

Ba Ke Er now had no choice but to first bite the young dragon beast to death, then continue fleeing. However, at the very moment he killed the young dragon beast, two adult male dragon beasts had already given chase.

Ba Ke Er took a close look and realized these two males were exactly the two adult male Exquisite Dragon Beasts that had just been fighting to the death. So he had no choice but to continue clutching the just‑dead young dragon beast in his mouth and sprint faster into the forest.

But Ba Ke Er's plan fell through at the last moment. The two Exquisite Dragon Beasts, seeing him flee into the forest, quickly landed as well, yet they paid no heed to the dense trees and continued barreling straight toward him.

After Ba Ke Er had been sprinting for several hours, he still could not shake off the two extremely destructive Exquisite Dragon Beasts relentlessly pursuing him from behind. Meanwhile, those two dragon beasts, having fought each other, had already lost much of their strength.

Moreover, now that they had to chase Ba Ke Er through the relatively narrow forest, they could only use their bodies to blast a path, losing even more strength; the scales on the two dragon beasts, which originally shimmered with iridescent colors that flashed rainbow hues in the sunlight, were now covered in countless tiny wounds.

Nevertheless, even so, they did not stop their pursuit. Consequently, wherever the two dragon beasts passed, trees were snapped in half and leaves littered the ground.