"Just a few hours ago, I ran into exactly the same act: a pitiful flower getting attacked, two Pet Beast groups locked in battle, and in the end... they asked me for Spirit Plants."
He recounted it with a blank face, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him:
"I was taken in by their disguise—or rather, I underestimated their slyness. Out of curiosity and a bit of charity, I gave them some of my Spirit Plants."
"But they weren’t satisfied. In the end, I even offered to help them look for more Spirit Plants."
Staring at Jiang Chen, whose expression and tone were both icy, Chen Yuan’s eyes flickered.
Looks cold-blooded and heartless, turns out he’s got a warm heart.
Jiang Chen’s voice kept sounding; the corner of his mouth lifted in a faintly mocking arc:
"And while I was searching for Spirit Plants, I accidentally discovered these guys sneaking into a cave with the Spirit Plants I’d given them."
At this point, the mockery at his lips deepened: "I slipped into the cave and found these guys skulking around together with those Snake Pet Beasts."
"Oh, they didn’t have any of that earlier saber-rattling. Instead, they were all chummy, the atmosphere so harmonious they might as well have been the same kind."
Lan Yingdan lowered her head to look at the Crystal Cluster Daffodil that had quietly backed away, her expression stunned.
Jiang Chen’s cold gaze locked onto the Plant Pet Beasts that were retreating step by step; his voice grew chilling: "Now let’s have a proper talk about this little matter."
Jiang Chen’s words instantly cleared up all of Chen Yuan’s doubts; he nodded in sudden understanding.
All the earlier oddities—the Snake Pet Beasts that showed no hostility, the deliberately mild injuries in the melee, and this absurd demand for Spirit Plants—these separate doubts strung together to form a clear and ironic truth.
A scam!
A two-man con, self-directed and performed, targeting Spirit Plants!
The Plant Pet Beasts and Snake Pet Beasts had teamed up to stage a "self-inflicted suffering" act; they had only one goal: to trick Beastmasters out of their Spirit Plants.
Chen Yuan sighed inwardly: "Sure enough, you can’t underestimate any Pet Beast. For all you know, its mind might be as full of bad ideas as that Electric Flying Cat Diandian."
He’d seen plenty of scenes of Pet Beast tribes fighting, but this was the first time he’d run into something like this.
"How is that possible..."
At this moment, Lan Yingdan was completely rooted to the spot. She stared at the Plant Pet Beasts she had just been protecting, her face full of disbelief.
Their fragile helplessness, their pitiful, pleading act—under Jiang Chen’s exposure, it all suddenly seemed unbearably fake and disgusting.
"Hissss..."
"Rustle..."
All the Plant Pet Beasts whose disguises had been torn off panicked at once; that terror of having their secret seen through left them utterly unable to maintain a victim’s posture any longer.
The Ink Tree Spirit shook its hard branches violently, the Illusory Flytrap opened its insect-catching maw and aimed it at the crowd, the Iron Thorn Thistle’s bramble vines snapped taut in an instant as it gathered power, and even the always-timid Crystal Cluster Daffodil was radiating a fearful yet resolute energy fluctuation!
They wanted to attack!
Seeing this, Jiang Chen let out a cold snort; the disgust in his tone was practically solid.
His frosty expression didn’t change as he lightly raised his right hand: "Steel Spine Scorpion, quiet them down."
Buzz!
The Summoning Array flared with dazzling white light as a massive, oppressive silhouette erupted into existence before Jiang Chen. It landed without a sound, yet brought with it a suffocating chill!
The Steel Spine Scorpion’s body was incredibly robust, its whole form encased in heavy armor with a metallic sheen. Natural jagged spines covered the armor, countless sharp protrusions glittering with a dangerous dark-green poisonous glow.
Its tail was raised high, the barb at the tip enormous, gleaming with a razor-cold light.
Its huge pincers were like mountain-splitting axes, lined with serrations; its emotionless compound eyes swept casually over the agitated Plant Pet Beasts ahead, and a vast, crushing ferocity poured out, blanketing the whole scene!
The instant the Steel Spine Scorpion appeared, the predatory aura from this top-tier hunter alone was enough to shatter the vicious front put up by the Ink Tree Spirit, Iron Thorn Thistle, and the other Plant Pet Beasts.
It was as if an invisible pair of giant hands had clamped down on them; any thought of attacking was ground to dust.
Chen Yuan glanced at the Steel Spine Scorpion, a hint of surprise flashing through his eyes.
This aura surpassed even Yao Lu’s Furious Turtle by far.
This Jiang Chen, who claimed to be from the Beast Taming Academy of Qiong Province, should be a Beastmaster on the same level as Zhuang Jianbai.
That thought flickered by; Chen Yuan turned his gaze forward, ready to use his own methods to bring this farce to an end.
To run into something this absurd while searching for the Eternal Silence Sand Flower—even the usually mild-tempered Advisor Chen was feeling annoyed: "Cola."
"Awoo!"
Cola’s gaze sharpened. It stepped forward half a pace, the black ribbons circling its body lashing wildly as its aura climbed step by step; a fierce gale suddenly swept across the entire area.
You hateful bunch actually dared to trick the kind-hearted Cola!
Unforgivable!
The wind roared up, howling from all directions, sweeping in from every corner.
Huge vines began to sway, towering trees started to rock, let alone the Plant Pet Beasts caught among them.
Fallen leaves lifted by the gale fluttered down onto these creatures’ bodies. Having just been cowed by the Steel Spine Scorpion’s aura, they now found themselves trapped within the range of Wind Surge, their bodies unable to move.
For a moment, even the air seemed frozen.
The previously chaotic, frenzied scene abruptly fell silent. Both the agitated Plant Pet Beasts and the ferocious Steel Spine Scorpion were forced into a pause under the howling gale.
The delicate young man who had always worn a smile and an easygoing air in Lan Yingdan’s eyes now walked forward into the wind. His tousled black hair whipped in the gusts, and his casual beachwear stood out strikingly: "Now it’s time to settle this score."
"If you can’t answer my questions properly, then..."
"Awoo!"
Before its master could finish, Cola slammed its paw into the ground with ferocious momentum, and the gale grew even wilder.
Then you can go keep those Snow Cloud Wolves that buried Qinling company!
And just as Cola was showing off its might, Jiang Chen suddenly snapped his head around to look. His gaze flicked back and forth between Chen Yuan and Cola, and at last he blurted out in astonishment: "You... you’re Advisor Chen?"
For the first time, Jiang Chen’s voice rippled with emotion. He stared fixedly at Chen Yuan’s face, the sharp light in his eyes flashing rapidly, as if searching through his memories for some key fragment of information.
Chen Yuan turned his head toward him, meeting a pair of burning-hot eyes head-on, and felt a twinge of foreboding.