**Chapter 478: Little Jiu: Can You Talk About Something Other Than Cultivation?**
A shadow zipped through the dense forest, closely followed by two half-human, half-snake creatures. Just as the snake-men were about to catch up to the shadow, a sudden whoosh echoed from afar. In the next moment, the leading bl**d Snake seemed to have ‘collided’ with something, sending its body hurtling backwards with a shriek:
“Gugaga!”
“Not good!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, the remaining bl**d Snakes grabbed the injured one and began to retreat. But soon enough, more whooshing sounds approached, and this time, the bl**d Snakes managed to dodge, having learned their lesson.
“Hmph, trying to escape?”
As the bl**d Snakes prepared to flee, the shadow spun around and charged forward, its overwhelming demon energy swallowing them whole. No one knew what exactly happened inside that aura; all that could be heard were the distant sounds of a struggle.
Moments later, the fighting noise dwindled, and the demon energy dissipated, revealing two serpent corpses.
“Another one that relied on forcefully absorbing demon energy for a quick boost,” said the shadow, pulling out an iron ring and fastening it to its right arm. In an instant, the raging demon energy was suppressed back inside.
“Are you okay, Young Master Ling?” A white figure dropped swiftly from the trees, revealing a white wolf girl, who bore a bizarre weapon on her back that was much taller than herself—this very weapon had injured the unsuspecting Refinement Stage bl**d Snake.
“Fine,” Ling Feng replied, shaking his head before looking up at the white wolf girl and her peculiar weapon. “Thanks to Young Master Bai for sending such a weapon, and of course, it’s a testament to your accuracy. Otherwise, dealing with these two snakes wouldn’t have been so easy.”
“Mostly thanks to Young Master Bai’s weapon,” the white wolf girl said, shaking her head. “I was startled when I managed to injure that Refinement Stage bl**d Snake; I never thought I would be able to harm a Refinement Stage expert one day.”
It’s a pity that this weapon had flaws—it was powerful enough to injure, even heavily wound, a Refinement Stage expert, but beyond that power, it had limited use. Once the opponent was on guard, it became a mere one-time surprise attack.
Even so, it was still incredibly strong; with this weapon, even a Transformation God Stage cultivator could defeat a Refinement Stage opponent, bridging a previously unbridgeable chasm. The white wolf girl was curious to know who the Young Master Bai was and resolved to check out the Northern Region someday if she got the chance.
“Let’s head back. I doubt that group of bl**d Snakes will dare to enter this forest for a while.” After calling to the white wolf girl, Ling Feng started walking toward the nearest camp.
Unlike the Southern Region Alliance, which had cities as bases, the group he led was made up of monster tribes who had been persecuted by the bl**d Snake Clan and forced to flee. Therefore, they had no fixed camps and usually hid in the complex terrain of the mountains and forests. While the bl**d Snake Clan could forcibly flatten the woods to track them down, the Southern Region had an abundance of forests, making it nearly impossible to find them—like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Yet, this seemingly disorganized force of monsters caused significant damage to the bl**d Snake Clan once they were equipped with the weapons sent by Bai Feng. The bl**d Snakes wanted to deal with them, but since these monsters were scattered across the dense forests, it hardly seemed worth the effort to capture just a few. Plus, they had to be wary of the Southern Region Alliance and the Sacred Grounds, making it risky to send large numbers of cultivators to search for a group of ‘mice’ hiding away.
Sending just a few would likely result in another ambush, as the leading ‘Demon Cultivator’ was quite formidable. Ignoring them made the bl**d Snake Clan feel like they were being incessantly buzzed by flies, which was incredibly annoying.
……
“The weapon’s combat performance isn’t too shabby.” Bai Feng watched the battle scene with a slight nod. The weapon that injured a Refinement Stage expert behaved just as he expected—perfect for surprise attacks when the opponent was unprepared. Once the enemy was on guard, however, it was hard to land a hit.
But he already had some ideas to address this issue. Since the weapon couldn’t be changed much for now, he decided to enhance the ammunition. Recently, he’d been researching ways to combine talismans with weapons to provide various effects for the ‘bullets.’
“Maybe I should write a beginner’s guide on talismans so others can understand a bit about them.” He thought that other array masters didn’t need to become experts in talismans, but having a primer on the topic wouldn’t take too long for them to grasp.
As he pondered how to write the book, Little Jiu suddenly hopped over.
“What’s up? Want to play a new game?” Bai Feng reached out to pet her soft fur.
“No, I think I’ve played too much recently—I’m a bit bored and don’t feel like playing anymore,” Little Jiu replied, shaking her head as she curled up on his lap.
“Then you should cultivate.”
Little Jiu lifted her head and shot him a glare, puffing out her cheeks with dissatisfaction. “Can you talk about something other than cultivation?”
“Isn’t it that you’re too lazy? I’m trying to motivate you here!”
“Prejudice! I’ve been working hard on my cultivation too!” Little Jiu protested. “You often say that cultivation requires balance, you know!”
“Okay, seeing as you really have been putting in some effort lately, I won’t nag you anymore.” Bai Feng laughed as he ruffled her head, while his other hand stealthily reached for her tail. “So how do you want to relax?”
After pondering for a few seconds, Little Jiu said, “Play with me for a bit, and you can add a multiplayer feature so we can game together.”
“Aren’t you just wanting to play games again?”
“That’s different! Playing alone is not the same as playing with someone else!”
Bai Feng didn’t counter her. Playing with more people did indeed feel different than solo gaming. Since he had been quite busy recently, he figured he could spare some time to join Little Jiu in some gaming fun.
He nodded, “Alright. I just happened to have some ideas for multiplayer games. We can start with what we’re currently playing and in a couple of days, I’ll whip up a new game.”
“Yay!” Little Jiu cheered, and then suddenly thought of something. She lifted her head slightly to ask Bai Feng, “So when we play together, does that mean…”
“Hmm…” Bai Feng pondered for a few seconds. “Then I’ll do it like you—whatever time we spend playing, that’s how long we’ll cultivate too.”
“…I suppose that works.”
Little Jiu shook her head in slight disappointment. Although she didn’t get to cancel her cultivation time, dragging Bai Feng along to cultivate together wasn’t too shabby either.
“Alright, I’ll modify the game now. By the way, are you interested in competitive games?”
“What are competitive games like?” Little Jiu asked curiously.
“It’s where we compete against each other in the game, whether it’s through direct battles or by scoring points to see who wins. Basically, it’s about determining who’s better.”
“Oh, that sounds interesting!” Little Jiu’s interest was piqued. “Just in time since I’m tired of standard games; a change of pace sounds nice.”
“Then the next game will be a competitive one.” A smile spread across Bai Feng’s face.
