Chapter 384: Leaving the Cave of the Ape King
Jian Chen declined to respond to the Ape King’s warning and instead replied with a smile, “I know!”
The Ape King stared deeply at Jian Chen with a serious gaze before saying, “Any family with a Ruler Armament is a family with power. A person traveling alone with the Heavenly Tiger God will surely come across many unforeseen events!”
“Senior Ape King, there is a reason why we have the expression, ‘counter soldiers with arms, and water with an earth weir’. The situation has already come, but there is no use mentioning that now. Although the family in question is very strong the Tian Yuan Continent is massive, so they will not be able to find me easily.” Jian Chen spoke without fear.
“I indeed hope that way. I only wish for the child of Rum Guinness to stay safe from any wrongful harm.” The Ape King sighed before taking out a bottle. With a pained face, he gave it to Jian Chen, “For the child of Rum Guinness, I will part myself from one of my treasures. This bottle of Hundred Grass Wine is for you. I hope that you will be able to improve yourself, this way, you will be able to properly protect the Heavenly Tiger God.”
“Many thanks, senior Ape King!” Jian Chen cried out in joy before quickly putting the bottle into his Space Ring as if afraid that the Ape King would change his mind.
“Senior Ape King, then this Ruler Armament will be given to you in exchange for the Hundred Grass Wine.” Taking the bottle, Jian Chen pushed the Seal of Treasure Mountain toward the Ape King.
The Ape King cast an eye at the item for a moment before speaking, “The Ruler Armaments of you humans serve no use for me. Take it with you. If you come across a method to use it, then the Ruler Armament will be of use to you.”
Hearing that, Jian Chen hesitated for a moment before taking the Seal of Treasure Mountain back.
“The growth of a Heavenly Tiger God is excruciatingly slow; they must consume a large amount of heavenly resources in order to grow. Since I have spent many years collecting every type of said resource and Rum Guinness is my dear friend, I shall bequeath them to her child for the sake of growing faster.” Waving his hand, several heavenly resources began to fill the table.
Thousand year Ginseng, Spirit Mushrooms, Knotweed, Dragon’s Tongue Grass, Core Plant, Hundred year old Spirit Root and so on. All sorts of ingredients that Jian Chen had never seen before appeared on the table.
These items were all being given to the tiger cub, so Jian Chen did not declined any of them. With a word of thanks, Jian Chen began to collect the heavenly resources.
The Ape King spoke once more, “Stay for a while. I will be feeding the resources to the Heavenly Tiger God in the meantime. The child is in a sleep to digest them right now. We shall see if there are any changes later. When the child wakes, you may take him and leave.”
After that, the Ape King ignored Jian Chen and sat back on his bed. Closing his eyes, he descended into a calm meditative sleep.
The belly of the cave had became deathly quiet. In his boredom, Jian Chen walked around the cave observing the strange plants being cultivated.
After waiting for six hours, the tiger cub finally awoke. Both of its bright eyes began to flicker open and immediately took notice of Jian Chen who was standing not too far away.
Upon seeing Jian Chen, the white tiger cub was stunned. Afterward, it began to cry out happily before leaping from the bed toward Jian Chen.
Hearing the tiger cub’s cry, Jian Chen’s face lit up in happiness before turning around just in time to see a white streak of light shooting toward his chest. Catching the cub in both hands, the tiger cub knocked against Jian Chen’s torso with enough force that Jian Chen had to take several steps back.
“Mrrr…” The white tiger cub was exceedingly happy and continued to purr into Jian Chen’s chest as it rubbed its head against Jian Chen’s chin. Its tongue licked at Jian Chen without stop in a clear indication of its joy.
After the events of the past few days, the white tiger had begun to dote upon Jian Chen a lot more.
Jian Chen smiled as he looked at the tiger cub. He could clearly tell that the tiger cub had grown heavier and even bigger since the last time he saw it. All four of the paws of the cub had already grown to be incredibly sharp, and even its fangs were terrifying to look at.
“Jian Chen, take the Heavenly Tiger God and leave this place. The child cannot stay here for too long.” The Ape King’s voice could be heard. Opening his eyes, he smiled in the direction of the white tiger with an affectionate expression.
“Yes, senior Ape King, this one will be leaving then, farewell!” Jian Chen spoke to the Ape King before leading the tiger cub away.
“Mrrr…” The white tiger cub seemed to have realized that they were leaving and swung both of its reluctant eyes toward the Ape King before waving a paw at him in farewell.
Leaving the cave, the outside world was already quite dark with the bright moon shining down on the ground below.
The night was extraordinarily beautiful with moonlight shining everywhere. Even an unruly child would be stunned by the beauty and would be fascinated by the shine.
The Ape King had given no farewell. Jian Chen carried the tiger cub on his chest and began to fly into the sky. Leaving the mountain peak, he came across the barrier and slipped past it without a sound.
After leaving the barrier, Jian Chen refused to stick around any longer and flew toward Longevity Valley.
The tiger cub was extremely curious on how they were flying and clutched at Jian Chen’s arms tightly. Its eyes shined brightly with pure curiosity as it twisted and turned its head around. Staying snugly within Jian Chen’s arms, it continued to enjoy the view with an adorable expression on its face.
By the time Jian Chen returned to Longevity Valley, it was already nearly daytime. By then, the village was already bustling about.
Jian Chen didn’t return to the village just yet and instead descended within the valley and walked the rest of the way with the tiger cub by his side.
“Hey, Jian Chen, you’re finally back! Did you bring me anything good to eat?” Little Fatty walked to meet him from some distance away. The moment he saw the tiger by Jian Chen’s side, he cried out with an astonished look, “Jian Chen, where did you find this magical beast? It has wings, so does that mean it’ll be able to fly when it grows up?”
Jian Chen nodded his head, “This magical beast was found by me in the forest, what do you think; is it cute?” Jian Chen remembered the Ape King’s words and said nothing to divulge the tiger cub’s identity.
Jian Chen and Little Fatty continued to laugh and banter with each other as they returned to the village. On the way, several villagers called out to Jian Chen in greeting. Jian Chen’s ability to fly was already known by everyone. He was able to become a Heaven Saint Master at such a young age and thus had earned the respect of the entire village.
When Jian Chen returned to the house, elder Xiu and Xiu Mi both came in with their hoes perched on their shoulders at the same time.
“Ah, Jian Chen, what’s that you brought with you?” Xiu Mi glanced at the white tiger cub with a strange look.
Laughing, Jian Chen spoke, “Uncle Xiu Mi, this is a magical beast I found while I was outside the valley.”
“Little beast? What little beast? This place has a hierarchy of grade; is this a low leveled magical beast?” Xiu Mi spoke with curiosity.
Upon hearing low level magical beast, the tiger cub seemed as if it was displeased. Holding its head up high from Jian Chen’s embrace, the tiger cub revealed the sharp fangs it had as it gave off a king like aura toward Xiu Mi.
The reaction of the tiger cub caused Xiu Mi to look surprised. Sizing up the cub, he looked at the wings on its back with a startled look before turning back to his father, “Father, you are the knowledgeable one here, have you ever seen such a magical beast? This one doesn’t seem to be a low level beast.”
Elder Xiu remained silent as he stared deeply at the tiger cub. In the end, when he looked at the wings on the tigers back, his eyebrows furrowed together as he revealed a ponderous expression.
Jian Chen had a faint smile on his face as he looked at elder Xiu. He wasn’t worried if the identity of the tiger cub was known to elder Xiu since only a Class 7 Magical Beast would know of the true identity that ran through the cub’s veins. No humans would know of the true identity since a Heavenly Tiger God was not seen since the ancient past. Even if Jian Chen mentioned its name, very few people would know about it. That was because it had been far too long—the last time it had been seen was during the time of Mo Tianyun.
Seeing how elder Xiu had been silent for a long time, Xiu Mi asked once more with shock, “Father, could it be that even you don’t know the tiger’s history?”
Ignoring Xiu Mi, the elder continued to look at the tiger’s wings with narrowed eyes. In that moment, his body began to shake as if he had suddenly thought about something unbelievable and was overwhelmed with shock because of it.
Seeing the elder’s reaction, Jian Chen’s heart skipped a beat, “Don’t tell me he figured it out.”