I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Jiang Zuo and the Earth Dragon Gang were far from the only ones attracted by the purple light that shot down from the sky.

Not long after Jiang Zuo left, several more people arrived one after another.

"Someone beat us to it. The treasure is gone, leaving only a crater in the ground."

"There’s a lot of blood around. Someone fought here!"

The people who arrived couldn’t help but feel a wave of disappointment as they looked at the tracks and bloodstains on the ground.

"A body was tossed over here... Is this the uniform of the Earth Dragon Gang?"

"Several people died, no idea who. But it’s none of our business. We’d better leave as soon as possible."

Most of the Earth Dragon Gang members had been devoured by lava. Only one person’s body remained, propped against a rock with some tatters of clothing still left.

...

Jiang Zuo and Great Black returned to the seaside cabin. Xiaoqing had not yet come back.

Jiang Zuo took the purple Jade Stone from his storage pouch and held it up to examine it closely.

Great Black also gathered around, joining in on the excitement.

In truth, the purple Jade Stone held an immense attraction for Great Black.

The purple Jade Stone was crystal clear, emitting a faint purple glow.

After a brief look, Jiang Zuo realized the purple Jade Stone was likely made of the same material as the cyan Jade Stone he had.

The reason this one appeared purple was because a ball of faint purple light was encased within the jade.

The sky had started to dim. Jiang Zuo was astonished to see the purple light pass straight through the palm holding the Jade Stone.

On the back of his hand, he could actually see a faint purple glow and even the outline of the bones within his palm.

It was just like some kind of radioactive element from the modern world.

A little while later, Xiaoqing also returned.

Xiaoqing communicated that it had fought a battle with some Sea Beasts that wanted to vie for this purple Jade Stone, but none were its match. It had driven all the Sea Beasts away.

The purple Jade Stone Jiang Zuo had obtained wasn’t large, only about the size of a bowl’s mouth.

The one Xiaoqing found was much larger, about half the size of a soccer ball.

Jiang Zuo communicated with Xiaoqing for a while. Xiaoqing confirmed that this purple Jade Stone was a more advanced Longevity Jade. It would be highly beneficial for its development, and its effects would persist even if it returned to its former rank in the future.

Knowing it wasn’t something bad, Jiang Zuo felt relieved.

Of the two Jade Stones, Jiang Zuo kept the smaller one out for Xiaoqing and Great Black to use.

He put the larger one away in his storage pouch.

As for the Seated Mountain Eagles, the cyan one was more than enough. Letting them use the purple one would be too much of a waste.

The sky had completely darkened. The volcano was still erupting violently, but the number of Jade Stones being spewed out had decreased significantly.

Jiang Zuo called back the three Seated Mountain Eagles and let them rest.

The three Seated Mountain Eagles had snatched nearly seventy Longevity Jades, eight of which were cyan.

None of them were large, but it was still a considerable fortune.

Jiang Zuo collected them all and tossed them into his storage pouch.

Because the volcanic eruption was still ongoing, Jiang Zuo didn’t go to sleep.

It continued all night until the following morning, when the erupting lava finally subsided.

And by noon, the volcano began to quiet down rapidly.

By evening, it had almost stopped erupting entirely.

It came quickly, and it went quickly.

During this period, Jiang Zuo kept his eyes on the sky, but no more purple Jade Stones were ejected.

Fire Mist Island was in a state of chaos. The entire island had been almost completely scorched by flames, appearing as a stretch of charred black from a distance.

Barely one in ten of the human buildings remained. However, they were just wooden houses, and anything of value inside had either been taken back to Wangxiang Sea City long ago or hidden in excavated caves.

After the earth fire eruption, the island was covered with a large amount of wood with charred exteriors. Rebuilding would just take some time.

However, Jiang Zuo’s wooden cabin was fine. He had shattered any falling flames and rocks with a single punch.

Jiang Zuo rested as usual. When he woke up the next day, he discovered something that left him quite shocked.

In less than two short days, the ground where the purple Jade Stone rested had begun to show signs of crystallization under the purple light!

Jiang Zuo realized this purple Jade Stone was perhaps even rarer than he had imagined.

Jiang Zuo felt that leaving it here seemed a bit wasteful. But then he reconsidered. He had two purple Jade Stones. Putting this one in the Pet Beast Spirit Garden would be less wasteful, but having Great Black and Xiaoqing go in and out every day would be a hassle, and he himself would find it difficult to observe the purple Jade Stone.

After some thought, Jiang Zuo decided to leave it as it was.

...

The death of Lu Shengchun during the Hundred-Year Earth Fire eruption caused no major stir.

After all, no one specific had killed him, so it was none of their business.

Although Lu Shengyuan was strong, he was only at Great Success in the Meridian Passage realm. If he wanted to investigate who was responsible, he’d have to become a Grandmaster first.

But breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm was not so easy.

No one had acted against Lu Shengchun before simply because there was no major conflict of interest and no need to.

During the great eruption of the Hundred-Year Earth Fire, the few gangs that owned Seated Mountain Eagles made a huge profit.

Originally, their method was to have people ride the Seated Mountain Eagles to catch the Longevity Jades.

But they soon discovered that these Seated Mountain Eagles were too well-trained by Jiang Zuo.

Letting them go snatch the jades on their own, without riders, actually allowed them to grab even more Longevity Jades.

The gangs’ investments in the Seated Mountain Eagles had already been paid back several times over.

As the news spread, Jiang Zuo once again received a huge wave of Beast Taming Reputation.

Many gangs that had missed out on this great money-making opportunity were filled with regret.

The auction for the sixth batch of Seated Mountain Eagles began soon after.

Although the gangs with Seated Mountain Eagles had made a fortune during the earth fire eruption, the transaction price dropped significantly compared to the last time.

The few gangs that had intended to get the Seated Mountain Eagles for free did not make a move this time.

The fact that all three of the Earth Dragon Gang’s Seated Mountain Eagles had flown away made them vaguely feel it was best not to offend Jiang Zuo lightly.

Anyone with discerning eyes could see that the departure of those three Seated Mountain Eagles could not have been a coincidence.

If they tried to get Jiang Zuo’s Seated Mountain Eagles for free, they might not even know how they died when the time came.

In the end, two of the three Seated Mountain Eagles were won by the Nuhai Gang, and one by the Iron Palm Gang.

The price was around eighty thousand, a new low.

Jiang Zuo was not surprised by this.

Without the freeloading gangs driving up the price, this price wasn’t considered low.

After all these years, the old-timers on Fire Mist Island were no strangers to him. Those who could give him Beast Taming Reputation had mostly already done so.

For the rest, getting them to provide Beast Taming Reputation would be very difficult.

Jiang Zuo’s main source of Beast Taming Reputation now was the newcomers to the island.

Jiang Zuo felt it was time to expand into a new market.

Namely, Wangxiang Sea City.

Quite a few people in Wangxiang Sea City knew of him, but according to the conditions for gaining Beast Taming Reputation, most of them didn’t know him personally, nor had they come into contact with the Seated Mountain Eagles he raised.

Jiang Zuo planned to auction two Seated Mountain Eagles on Fire Mist Island in the future, and take the other one to Wangxiang Sea City to be auctioned.

「Another half-year passed.」

One night, Great Black suddenly dashed to the seashore and howled at the night sky.

Then, it charged violently out onto the surface of the sea.

Despite its huge body weighing two or three hundred pounds, Great Black didn’t sink. Instead, it sprinted across the sea’s surface as if on flat ground.

Jiang Zuo heard the noise and walked out of his cabin. With a single glance, he could tell that Great Black had broken through to the Inner Breath Grandmaster Realm.

It had originally been some distance from a breakthrough. But in the past half-year, under the effects of the purple Jade Stone, Great Black’s Qi Veins had naturally produced Inner Breath, and it had become... a Dog Grandmaster!

Seeing Jiang Zuo come out, Great Black excitedly ran back, circling him happily.

"Alright, I know you broke through. You must continue to practice your Cultivation diligently after achieving Inner Breath. If you want to amount to something, you’ll have to find a way to break through to the Innate realm in the future. Hmm, an Innate Great Black dog?"

Jiang Zuo patted Great Black’s head.

He said that, but the Blood God Skill was not very effective for Cultivation after reaching the Inner Breath stage.

If Great Black wanted to break through, it would basically have to rely on its own efforts, which would not be simple.

Of course, Jiang Zuo could help a little. He could transmit his own Cultivation experience to Great Black, allowing it to comprehend on its own.

"Even a dog breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm increases its lifespan by 50 years!"

Jiang Zuo looked at Great Black’s attribute description and found that its original 330-year lifespan had become 380 years.

’Is this some kind of Heaven and Earth Rule?’

Jiang Zuo pondered.

But he only thought about it briefly, not dwelling on it too much.

There was no use overthinking such matters. In any case, Great Black’s lifespan increasing by 50 years was a great thing.

Soon, it was time for the seventh batch of Seated Mountain Eagles to go on sale.

No one said much about Jiang Zuo’s decision to auction only two Seated Mountain Eagles on Fire Mist Island this time, with the other one being auctioned in Wangxiang Sea City.

This time, however, the competition for the two Seated Mountain Eagles was much more intense.

The price also returned to around one hundred thousand.

The ones who ultimately won the Seated Mountain Eagles were still the Nuhai Gang and the Iron Palm Gang.

However, the number of Seated Mountain Eagles owned by the two gangs didn’t increase, because half a year ago, one of their eagles had flown away again.

Jiang Zuo refunded them eighty percent of the price, as usual.

Compared to the uneventful auction on Fire Mist Island, the first auction in Wangxiang Sea City undoubtedly attracted far more people.

In recent years, stories about Jiang Zuo and his Seated Mountain Eagles had spread all over Wangxiang Sea City, and many people knew of a figure like him.

Jiang Zuo deliberately rode a Seated Mountain Eagle and flew a few circles over Wangxiang Sea City before preparing for the auction.

The number of people who rushed over after hearing the news was even greater than the peak attendance on Fire Mist Island.

The final sale price was slightly higher than on Fire Mist Island, but most importantly, Jiang Zuo reaped a massive wave of Beast Taming Reputation this time.

In just one day, he gained over a thousand Beast Taming Reputation!

It was the most Beast Taming Reputation he had ever gained in a single day.

This made Jiang Zuo even more determined to make an annual trip to Wangxiang Sea City.

In the blink of an eye, more than three years passed.

Half a year after the auction of the tenth batch of Seated Mountain Eagles ended.

This evening, a group of four Seated Mountain Eagles flew in from the distant eastern horizon.

They didn’t land on Eagle Mountain, but descended directly in front of Jiang Zuo’s wooden cabin.

Jiang Zuo came out at the sound and recognized them at a glance. They were the Seated Mountain Eagles from the first two batches he had raised.

Five years ago, five Seated Mountain Eagles had flown off together.

Five years had passed, and four of them had returned.

Upon seeing Jiang Zuo, all four Seated Mountain Eagles affectionately stretched out their heads and nuzzled against him.

Then, a series of images from these four Seated Mountain Eagles began to appear in Jiang Zuo’s mind.