I'm Just a Beast Tamer

The second batch of Seated Mountain Eagles to return also numbered four.

Together with the first group that returned, these were from the first three batches Jiang Zuo had raised, which totaled nine Seated Mountain Eagles.

They hadn’t returned two years ago, and Jiang Zuo hadn’t seen them through the eyes of the first four Seated Mountain Eagles either.

Jiang Zuo had assumed they weren’t familiar with the five Seated Mountain Eagles from the first batch, which was why they hadn’t stayed together.

But now that they had returned, Jiang Zuo finally understood.

It wasn’t that they didn’t stay together; they weren’t in the same place at all!

The images transmitted by the second batch of four Seated Mountain Eagles were very similar to those from the first. They too were on a massive Mysterious Island.

In the center of the island was another enormous fruit tree, which was also growing out of a similar gigantic corpse.

The countless birds flying around also looked nearly identical.

But the fruit growing on the all-important tree was different.

Jiang Zuo clearly remembered that the fruit the first four Seated Mountain Eagles had eaten was red and thumb-sized.

The second batch of Seated Mountain Eagles had also managed to eat the fruit in the end.

However, the fruit they ate was yellow, and its size and shape were also different from the first batch’s.

’Two identical Mysterious Islands?’

Jiang Zuo pondered. Judging from the memories of the two batches of Seated Mountain Eagles, that had to be the case.

’No! I’m afraid there are even more!’

A sharp glint flashed in Jiang Zuo’s eyes.

The reason was simple.

Every year, a batch of the Seated Mountain Eagles he raised flew east toward the Endless Sea.

If there were only two such islands, then all the subsequent Seated Mountain Eagles that flew out should have ended up on the second one.

But in reality, it seemed only these four Seated Mountain Eagles on the second island were his.

As for the truth, Jiang Zuo wasn’t in a hurry. He would just wait for the next batch of Seated Mountain Eagles to return.

If the next batch had a similar experience, they too would return to find him.

Jiang Zuo gave the second batch of returning Seated Mountain Eagles the same treatment as the first.

His interest in the Mysterious Island and the giant tree was now fully piqued.

In any case, he would be raising Seated Mountain Eagles on Fire Mist Island for a long time. Continuing to raise these adult ones wouldn’t take much extra effort.

The only thing it consumed was purple Jade Stone.

And it didn’t look like he would run out of that anytime soon.

...

After more than six months, the great gang war was finally coming to an end.

The Gang Alliance had failed to stop the attacks of the Nuhai Gang and the Iron Palm Gang. With a strategic weapon like the Seated Mountain Eagle, the alliance gangs could only cower in their lairs, afraid to venture out.

If they left their strongholds, they could be ambushed at any moment. Fighting in the open, where they could be easily flanked, was simply suicide.

But holing up in their strongholds meant abandoning everything outside of them.

Their only chance of victory was to unite and face the Nuhai Gang in a decisive, head-on battle.

Knowing they couldn’t hold out forever if things continued this way.

The Gang Alliance finally decided to gather its forces for a major, head-on confrontation with the Nuhai Gang and the Iron Palm Gang.

The Gang Alliance still held the advantage in numbers; this was their only path to victory.

But it didn’t do a damn bit of good.

The two major gangs had no intention of engaging them in a frontal battle.

The main forces of the Nuhai Gang and the Iron Palm Gang never even showed their faces.

Instead, a few powerful Martial Artists like Zhou Ruhai and He Tieshou simply rode their Seated Mountain Eagles, continuously firing arrows from the sky.

In no time at all, the Gang Alliance’s forces were routed.

There was nothing they could do. From the ground, they were utterly powerless against the Seated Mountain Eagles in the sky.

The only things that could even threaten the Seated Mountain Eagles were arrows loosed by a few Blood Exchange Martial Artists.

But the riders were experts like Zhou Ruhai, Martial Artists who were at least at the Blood Exchange realm or higher. How could they possibly let anyone harm their mounts?

Meanwhile, Zhou Ruhai and his men could kill a person with a single arrow.

In a situation where they were nothing but living targets, only a fool would wait around to die. That kind of person wouldn’t be in a gang in the first place.

The final, decisive battle ended in a fiasco.

In the end, the Gang Alliance disbanded.

On the vast Fire Mist Island, only four gangs remained.

The Nuhai Gang, the Iron Palm Gang, the Black Crocodile Gang, and the Fire God Gang.

These four gangs were the ones that possessed Seated Mountain Eagles.

Although the Black Crocodile Gang and the Fire God Gang had fewer of them, both gangs had made a fortune during the Hundred-Year Earth Fire eruption and had since made it a habit to keep at least one Seated Mountain Eagle on hand.

Furthermore, their gang leaders were both in the Meridian Passage realm.

While not as powerful as Zhou Ruhai or He Tieshou, they were at least in the same realm.

Most of the various mines on Fire Mist Island ended up in the hands of the Nuhai Gang and the Iron Palm Gang.

The Black Crocodile Gang and the Fire God Gang received a slightly larger share than they’d had before.

The Seated Mountain Eagles’ outstanding performance in the gang war naturally earned Jiang Zuo a huge wave of Beast Taming Reputation.

"The gang war is over. The fight for Seated Mountain Eagles this year is going to be insane!"

"I know, right? Who would’ve thought the Seated Mountain Eagles would be so crucial? Between two forces of equal strength, the one without them stands no chance against the one with them."

As the annual Seated Mountain Eagle auction approached, many people were filled with awe and anticipation.

Just as they predicted, that year’s auction price for a Seated Mountain Eagle reached an unprecedented thirty thousand taels apiece!

It was utter madness.

This earned Jiang Zuo another small sum of Beast Taming Reputation.

Just as many people were speculating that the next year’s auction would be even more shocking...

The Nuhai Gang, Iron Palm Gang, Black Crocodile Gang, and Fire God Gang each sent messengers to inform Jiang Zuo that their gangs would no longer participate in the Seated Mountain Eagle auctions.

’It seems these gangs have come to an agreement.’

Jiang Zuo wasn’t surprised.

The auction price for the Seated Mountain Eagles had become exorbitant. On average, it cost over five thousand silver taels a year per bird, all paid to Jiang Zuo.

A gang like the Nuhai Gang, which had bought several, had to pay Jiang Zuo tens of thousands of taels each year.

Now that the territories were re-divided, they naturally no longer wanted to hand over this money to Jiang Zuo.

The money wasn’t important to Jiang Zuo, but if they stopped bidding on the eagles, it would inevitably affect his income of Beast Taming Reputation.

Jiang Zuo’s best option now was to approach these gangs and arrange for them to continue bidding high prices at the auctions.

Secretly, however, he wouldn’t charge them a single cent, letting them use the Seated Mountain Eagles for free.

This way, Jiang Zuo could continuously farm his reputation.

However, such a strange practice would leave a very distinct mark of his presence here.

In the future, even if he changed his name and appearance, if he happened to use the same method, people might connect the dots.

So, after a moment’s thought, Jiang Zuo decided against it.

Looking at the more than seven thousand Beast Taming Reputation he had accumulated, Jiang Zuo decided to lay low for a while.

For now, he planned to focus on training the Seated Mountain Eagles he had. Once they became stronger, he would make his return.

Jiang Zuo had already figured out a way to continue farming reputation without the gangs’ cooperation.

And so, the annual Seated Mountain Eagle auction, which had run for thirteen years, was canceled by Jiang Zuo.

Upon hearing the news, many people on Fire Mist Island were stunned, unable to understand why.

The previous year had been its peak; no one expected it would also be its final moment of glory.

A flurry of discussion erupted, but soon, people gradually stopped talking about it and the matter was forgotten.

Only during idle chatter would people occasionally recall that there was such a Beast Taming Master on Fire Mist Island.

Jiang Zuo paid no mind to the outside world. While he was busy, the third batch of Seated Mountain Eagles returned.

This batch numbered a full six Seated Mountain Eagles.

’Just as I thought. They also ended up on a different Mysterious Island.’

’It’s very similar to the first two islands. The only difference is the giant fruit tree.’

’But the tree’s only real distinction is the color of its fruit.’

’This batch ate blue fruit.’

He still didn’t have enough information, so Jiang Zuo didn’t make any wild guesses.

Once the next few batches of Seated Mountain Eagles returned, things would surely become clear.

Jiang Zuo refused to believe there was an infinite number of Mysterious Islands.

Another two years passed.

The sixteenth batch of Seated Mountain Eagles was successfully raised.

This batch consisted of the offspring of the group that had returned over a year ago; they were the Second Generation Seated Mountain Eagles from the third batch.

The Second Generation Seated Mountain Eagles from the first batch had already reached the Great Success stage of Bone Refining. Their growth rate was astonishing.

Their parents, the first batch of Seated Mountain Eagles to return, had also reached the Bone Refining realm.

After the Nuhai Gang and the others decided to stop bidding for the Seated Mountain Eagles, Jiang Zuo simply bought back all the ones he had sold.

As a result, the number of Seated Mountain Eagles Jiang Zuo was now raising was quite considerable.

Fourteen first-generation Seated Mountain Eagles that had returned, and seven Second Generation Seated Mountain Eagles.

And if all went as expected, the fourth batch of Seated Mountain Eagles would be returning soon.

Then the number would grow even larger.

...

’Twenty-two years. I never thought I’d be gone for so long.’

’I haven’t seen him in twenty-two years. I wonder if Sheng Chun is doing alright.’

’Sheng Chun’s personality makes it easy for him to offend people. But before I left, I warned him. I also spoke with the other gang leaders and told them I had no interest in competing for power. As long as nothing unexpected happened, Sheng Chun should have been fine.’

Standing at the bow of a private fishing boat, Lu Shengyuan thought to himself.

He was the only passenger on the entire fishing boat, but the captain showed not the slightest displeasure.

As Fire Mist Island drew nearer, Lu Shengyuan, finding the boat too slow, simply leaped onto the surface of the sea and strode away.

’This Lu Shengyuan... could he really have become a Grandmaster?’

’He must have! I’ve never heard of a Meridian Passage Martial Artist with an ability like that!’

’Looks like Fire Mist Island is in for some turmoil.’

The boat captain was hardly ignorant of the happenings on Fire Mist Island. At the very least, he knew that Lu Shengyuan’s younger brother, Lu Shengchun, had died long ago.

But he didn’t dare mention it to Lu Shengyuan.

There was no benefit to bringing it up, and he might even become the target of the man’s redirected anger.

Now that Lu Shengyuan had become a Grandmaster, Fire Mist Island would probably be turned upside down.

’After twenty-two years away, Fire Mist Island has become completely unfamiliar. I wonder where the Earth Dragon Gang’s headquarters are now.’

The buildings on Fire Mist Island had been almost completely destroyed in the Hundred-Year Earth Fire eruption.

When Lu Shengyuan returned, he saw a completely unfamiliar Fire Mist Island.

"The Earth Dragon Gang? Lu Shengchun? Is there such a gang or person?"

Lu Shengyuan found someone to ask about the whereabouts of the Earth Dragon Gang and his brother, Lu Shengchun.

But the person he asked was completely baffled.

Lu Shengyuan asked two or three more people, but none of them knew.

When he asked the fourth person, he finally learned that the Earth Dragon Gang had been gone for over a decade.

As for Lu Shengchun, he had died even before the Earth Dragon Gang was disbanded.