Chapter 453: Goddess Peak

“Not bad,” muttered Gao Peng.

Huang Ya, who was standing in front of him, asked, “What’s not bad, sir?”

“Its stats,” said Gao Peng.

Having one unique monster trait implied that it had already attained the Epic grade in the past. Of course, Gao Peng had no way of telling if its promotion had caused it to drop to Excellent-grade or whether it had yet to return to its rightful grade.

A Perfect-grade King-tier monster was by no means weak, since it still surpassed Normal and Excellent-grade monsters.

After reading through the Dark Ashura’s stats, Gao Peng figured that it must have been a Dark-type close combatant, much like the White Dragon. Both monsters specialized in close combat and a certain element, and both had no noticeable weaknesses.

The Dark Ashura’s Dark Comet had no passive effect. It only had one active ability, with a description that simply stated that it would be able to improve its physical constitution upon activation.

It didn’t clearly explain to what extent the Dark Ashura’s constitution would be improved. However, seeing that it was an active ability with only one effect, Gao Peng reckoned that there was much more to it than met the eye.

“Young Master, this Hua Lun person spouted a bunch of nonsense during a wine party yesterday about how his familiar is the most powerful familiar in the world, even more so than yours or your grandfather’s. This person has obviously never met you before. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be saying such nonsense in public,” said Huang Ya indignantly. To him, Young Master was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most skilled trainer in the world.

“I see… Well, if he’s so into being number one, let him be. I’m not going to fight him over it,” said Gao Peng, visibly unbothered.

He chuckled. Number one… it’s just a title. As long as you leave me the hell alone, I won’t come after you. As for your bragging… Well, anyone can brag.

Gao Peng wasn’t angry. Hua Lun had simply gotten himself drunk when he said those words. Alcohol had a curious way of making people say or do things they normally wouldn’t when sober.

“How magnanimous of you, Young Master, to be the bigger man here and not stoop to the level of subhuman trash,” said Huang Ya. He was on a roll with the bootlicking today.

“Hahaha!” Gao Peng laughed, shaking his head. “Oh yeah, Huang Ya, didn’t you mention that you found a clue regarding the location of the Concentration Stone?” asked Gao Peng seriously.

A few days earlier, Gao Peng had mobilized every person that he could find to search for the remaining ingredients for Da Zi’s promotion. His efforts were not in vain, as two days ago, he had gotten his hands on information regarding the location of the final piece of the puzzle. As it seemed dubious, he’d had Huang Ya bring his men to verify its authenticity.

“Yes, Young Master. I’ve dispatched my Lord-tier familiars to check it out. We’ll soon find out if the rumors are indeed true.” Suddenly, Huang Ya’s phone rang in his breast pocket. His eyes lit up as he began reading his message.

“Young Master, we have confirmation! The rumors concerning the Concentration Stone are true! Someone saw the stone turn into a flying beast at night and then turn back into a stone during the day at the foot of the Goddess Peak. Our informant didn’t dare set foot on the mountain, as he believed it to be extremely dangerous, so our people staked out the place that he told us about and they were able to witness the extraordinary event unfold before them. The rumors are true, Young Master!”

“All right. Today’s a better day than any to let Da Zi evolve. Coincidentally, today’s also the beginning of a new year. This must be a good sign. What do you think, Da Zi?” said Gao Peng, setting the cup of tea in his hand down on the table.

Hearing what Gao Peng had just said, Da Zi, which was coiled up around Gao Peng’s foot, raised its head and puffed up its chest. Did anyone hear that? I’m going to be evolving soon! Gao Peng said so!

Da Zi tried to suppress the grin on its face but failed. Words couldn’t describe the happiness it was feeling right then.

Its gait when it left Gao Peng’s foot was anything but a centipede’s. Gao Peng gazed affectionately at Da Zi’s slithering figure. He turned to the window and shouted, “Stripey!”

Stripey was counting the fruits on a tree outside. When it heard Gao Peng’s voice, it started and hurriedly scuttled towards Gao Peng. “Coming!”

“Come, we’re going to retrieve the last ingredient for Da Zi’s evolution. It’s somewhere here in Yuzhou. This won’t take longer than a day.”

“Okay!” gushed Stripey happily. As long as it could go out for a walk with Gao Peng, it was happy. Gao Peng always seemed to loosen up whenever he was with his familiars.

“We’re going for a walk!” said Stripey as it spread out all sixteen of its legs, the two withered orange trees on its head swaying about like a couple of antennae.

The Goddess Peak was located in the Wushan district in Yuzhou. The Wu Gorge flowed like a raging water dragon between two steep mountains. There was a fierce whirlpool in the middle of the gorge.

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Returning to its normal size, Stripey let itself float down the Wu Gorge. Despite standing 2,000 feet tall, most of its body was submerged in the water. Only a small portion of it poked out from the surface of the water.

From afar, Stripey looked like a river monster lazily floating down the gorge with a man riding on its back. Said man was wearing a bamboo hat and a straw cape and holding a green fishing pole out over the river monster’s back.

“Sis, look at that man’s ridiculous outfit.” A young girl and her sister were cruising down the gorge on a boat nearby. The former was giggling like mad at the sight of the man on his river monster.

“Shh, it’s rude to make fun of other people,” her sister snapped.

There was an uproar on the boat. A group of young boys and girls ranging from ten to twenty years of age were taking a cruise down the Wu Gorge.

They were now on their winter break. During this time, most children would rather have spent their vacation spotting monsters in the great outdoors than playing video games at home with their cousins. This was also a time when the tourism industry would see a huge boom in customers.

Of course, only the rich could afford such an extravagant way of spending one’s vacation. The price for boat rides such as this one was simply beyond the means of ordinary folk.

Seeing Gao Peng on top of Stripey’s back, a bald boy with an ear piercing pointed at him and said to the others, “Guy’s not wearing anything waterproof. Won’t he get his butt wet just sitting on his familiar’s back like that?”

“He might freeze to death if he falls into the water.”

The bald boy shouted at Gao Peng, “Oi, mate, why don’t you rest a bit on our boat?”

“Er, sir, I’m afraid that’s against the rules,” said the captain of the boat, stepping forward to try to stop him.

“I’ll pay for his ticket,” said the boy, shutting the captain up with a sidelong glance.

Gao Peng pulled his fishing pole up. Its hook was empty. “Strange, why’s the bait all gone?”

Hearing the shouts behind him, Gao Peng turned around and saw a group of people on a boat waving at him. “No need. I’m good.”

Upon hearing Gao Peng’s response, the bald boy simply shrugged and waved back at him.

Gao Peng took out a dumpling from the container beside him and attached it to the hook before throwing it back once more into the water.

In the water, Stripey’s eyes gleamed as it saw Gao Peng’s hook floating down in front of it. It furtively opened its mouth. Yum.

A crack split open on the side of Stripey’s craggy body, from which a huge spiny tongue rolled out and pulled the dumpling into its mouth. Time passed quickly as Stripey indulged in Gao Peng’s “treats,” much to the latter’s chagrin.

“Sis, why is that man still following us? What a pest,” said the young girl, annoyed. “Just like those boys in school who just won’t leave me alone.”

Her sister leaned out over the boat’s railing and swept back her hair. “Didn’t you break up with Lu Hang two days ago?”

“Yeah, I dumped him,” the young girl said, nodding.

“Why? He seemed like a gentleman.”

“Ha, when I told him that I was going on a trip with another boy, he got mad, we fought, end of story,” said the young girl, smiling bitterly. “I’ve never met a more petty person than that boy in my whole life.”

Boom!

Suddenly, a huge wave hit the boat, which began swaying about violently. The young girl staggered and hit her head against the railing.

Her sister simply sat there, wide-eyed, her hand clasped over mouth as she tried not to scream.

The water bulged upward in front of the boat. White scales glimmered through the resulting spray, which revealed a huge fearsome crocodile head. In an instant, the whole gorge was enveloped by the creature’s Lord-tier aura.