If Zhang Che knew what w.a.n.g Dong was thinking at this moment, he'd surely reply cheerfully, "Brother, I'm just the opposite! Something good will happen whenever I b.u.mp into you!"

Of course, it was impossible for Zhang Che to know what w.a.n.g Dong was thinking, nor was he interested.

Zhang Che didn't return to the swamplands immediately after Zhang Yujie's party left. Instead, he remained on the opposite sh.o.r.e of the river, waiting for the Purple Jade Condor to scout ahead.

After some time, the Purple Jade Condor's figure came into vision. Zhang Che had Hanxue start moving, heading into the swamplands once more.

This time, Zhang Che wasn't returning to the area where the ugly toads resided. The Demon Eye Toad's strength was a little too unfathomable, and even the Purple Jade Condor was helpless against it. Not only that, it even suffered a loss against it. Naturally he wouldn't be returning for another bitter pill.

As the saying went, it wasn't too late for a gentleman to take his revenge ten years later. He'll just let it go free for now...

Travelling along the dry lands around the swamp, Zhang Che soon crossed a few small hills, and a cl.u.s.ter of lakes entered his vision. Well, referring them as lakes was giving them a little too much face. They were slightly larger ponds, at best.

Even so, Hanxue was unable to cross them.

Naturally, Hanxue had nothing to fear if it was mere water. The problem was that there was still mud underneath, which left the Golden Elephorse King helpless.

Zhang Che was helpless about it, too. He could only dismount from Hanxue's back and put on the incomparably eye-catching Swamp Crocodile King hide armor. Turning the huge crocodile head helm, Zhang Che scanned his surroundings.

He didn't discover anything after looking all around.

On the other hand, the airborne Purple Jade Condor did.

Following the Purple Jade Condor's guidance, Zhang Che set his sights on a lone island located in the middle of the ponds. Despite looking as hard as he could, he didn't see the exotic beast the Purple Jade Condor was referring to.

It couldn't be helped. The lone island, about as big as a soccer field, was too covered with plants. Let alone the bushes everywhere, gra.s.ses as tall as adult men covered his entire field of vision.

"Could this be the place w.a.n.g Dong discovered?" Zhang Che suspected. There didn't seem to be any possibilities other than this.

If he wanted to travel past this area, he had no choice but to cross these ponds to head further into the swamp. With w.a.n.g Dong's strength, this was the furthest he could get; could he make any other discoveries?

However, what should he do now?

He couldn't possibly take off his clothing and jump into the pond, swimming over. It would be like throwing a meat bun to a dog if there were any water-type exotic beasts in there, a one-way trip.

All this time, Zhang Che felt that his beasts and pets were really strong, despite not being a Tier Four beastmaster, and not being able to wield the Scarlet Flame Drake, with no equal match within the same level as him.

Today, when he came to this area he realized how glaring a weakness he had.

Even if he became a Tier Four beastmaster, the Scarlet Flame Drake wasn't suitable for water combat, either. Not only that, that fellow's weakness happened to be exactly this, water!

As for the Rock Tortoise, there was no point thinking about it. It was a tortoise, not a turtle, and so wasn't a water-type beast, either. It was also huge and slow, fated to be a punching bag in the water.

Zhang Che smacked his lips, murmuring to himself with furrowed brow, "Other than advancing to Tier Four, it seems like getting myself a powerful water-type beast is also a priority..."

The Purple Jade Condor could sense that the exotic beast on that lone island wasn't weak. Naturally Zhang Che wouldn't let it go, but reaching it was posing quite the problem.

Swimming across was out of the question. Despite knowing how to swim, he would never get into the water.

Then, there was only one solution left.

Zhang Che took out the Rotten Ent Prowler card silently, transforming it into a huge club filled with barbs. After that, he sent an order to the Purple Jade Condor, telling it to come down quickly.

He couldn't travel by water, and there was no land connecting to his destination. Flying over was the only option left.

Quickly, the Purple Jade Condor swooped down from the sky like a bolt of purple lightning, violently beating its wings a few dozen meters above Zhang Che's head and hovering there. The generated wind swept over all the surrounding gra.s.ses around Zhang Che, blowing them to the side.

Zhang Che was unfazed by this, raising the thick club up calmly. After that, the club suddenly extended up at a slight forward angle, reaching a length of several dozen meters, coiling around the Purple Jade Condor's talons.

He held onto the whip's handle with both hands tightly, tugging it. After that, he nodded in satisfaction, ready for the Purple Jade Condor to take flight once more, carrying him towards the lone island ahead.

At this moment, Zhang Che suddenly noticed from his peripheral vision that ripples were spreading from a few spots around the lone island. Five strange water creatures suddenly emerged from the water surface, crawling towards the island.

The water creatures were quite ugly. Their fish-like bodies were covered with sharp thorns, with four strong, thick crooked limbs growing under their abdomens. At the end of each limb were three sharp claws.

The ugliest part of these creatures were their big heads, nearly a third of their body size, and their eyes were located above their skulls. Despite being over a hundred meters away from them, Zhang Che could see the ominous glint in their eyes.

That was not the end of their ugliness, however.

Their freakishly huge heads looked as if they had been cleaved by a huge axe, their mouths were able to open so wide that they extended back to where their skulls and their bodies met, with rows of sharp teeth hidden within, striking fear into anyone who saw them.

As if sensing Zhang Che's gaze, all of them stopped in place at the same time and turned to look in his direction with eyes as big as a car's headlights. After glaring at Zhang Che for a moment, all of them turned their heads back, their bent limbs quickly crawling forward towards to the island, crus.h.i.+ng huge patches of gra.s.ses in their way.

It was obvious that there was something on that island that was attracting these ugly creatures, causing them to have zero interest in Zhang Che.

Of course, it could also be that the Purple Jade Condor above him was pressuring them, and they didn't dare to cause any trouble easily.

Zhang Che knew for sure that he wasn't in any danger after being glared at by those exotic beasts. However, he could resist feeling the s.h.i.+vers. Those huge mouths were too terrifying, leaving him thinking that he would doubtlessly be easily swallowed by them, and turned into meat paste by those sharp, concentrated teeth.

"Interesting… Perhaps the exotic beast on that island is the sworn enemy of these ugly things?"

Zhang Che narrowed his eyes, waiting for the ugly creatures to disappear from the edge of the island before ordering the Purple Jade Condor to ferry him ahead.