Despite the funny situation, Qiqi and the others felt a surge of warmth in their hearts.

What a good man, ignoring his own safety to save others. How many of those people could you find in the world now?

Just as they wanted to thank him properly, they saw that beastmaster covered in mud fly off to the distance, hanging under his subdued beast.

"Doing good without leaving his name, like the heroes of ancient stories!"

Admiration for their savior grew in their hearts.

In the next moment, the Purple Jade Condor returned, flying above the pond under Qiqi and the others' startled gazes.

With a plop, the muddy man fell back into the water.

If he wanted to wash off the mud on his body, shouldn't he find a cleaner place?

Qiqi and the others were baffled. The way their savior did things really left others confused!

Zhang Che was feeling despair at this moment. Due to the situation from earlier, he actually forgot about his backpack and bow container that had fallen into the pond along with him. There wasn't much in his backpack, only some clothes and dry rations. It wouldn't matter even if he lost them, but he couldn't afford to lose the Falling Star Model X! That cost him millions!

By the time he retrieved the bow container and his backpack from the bottom of the pond and was pulled out of the water once more by the Purple Jade Condor, the beastmasters he saved were only a short distance away from the edge of the pond.

"h.e.l.lo, can you tell us your name, and where you're from?" a woman with a determined look and exquisite facial features asked nervously, looking at Zhang Che gratefully.

Zhang Che waved his hand profusely, replying, "There's no need for that. We only happened to run into each other by chance and I gave you a hand. It's no big deal. Um, I still have things to do. Bye everyone!"

After finis.h.i.+ng his words, the Purple Jade Condor's figure quickly rose, bringing Zhang Che up into the sky, disappearing from the sight of those people.

Qiqi and the others exchanged looks with each other, not knowing how to express what they were feeling at this moment.

After a short while, one of the men said, "Come on, let's head back to the safety zone. This place is too dangerous, and we found the herbs we were looking forl. We can't continue staying here. If we b.u.mp into some other powerful exotic beasts, there won't be anyone saving us again."

The others felt the same way, nodding in unison as they got ready to leave this swampland.

They returned to where they had stopped at earlier, wanting to retrieve their backpacks. They were stunned when they looked at the area around them.

They saw glowing cards scattered around on the ground, each of them emitting a bronze light. They were left behind by the water insects killed by the Purple Jade Condor from before. By rough estimation, there were actually close to ten cards lying on the ground!

What to do?

Although they really wanted to return them to that hero, he had already left in a hurry; it was impossible to give them back now.

"Let's use these for now. We lost most of our subdued beasts anyway, and are lacking in strength right now. We're sure to run into more danger later," the man who wanted to confess to Qiqi decided. He added, "But, I have to say this first! We're only borrowing these beast cards. If we happen to b.u.mp into our benefactor again in the future, we must return the cards to him!"

Under their current circ.u.mstances, this was the best possible suggestion. Everyone came to an agreement and distributed the water insect cards among themselves, quickly branding their spiritual imprints on them before letting out long sighs of reliefs.

------

After Zhang Che was far away from the area Qiqi's group was at, he also let out a long sigh.

Although he didn't care much about his image or whatsoever, it wasn't nice to continue staying there covered in mud. It was better to be like Comrade Lei Feng, doing good without leaving his name. {TL: Lei Feng was a soldier in the People's Liberation Army and is a communist legend in China, characterized as a selfless and modest person.}

Moreover, Zhang Che had no intentions of obtaining any rewards from those beastmasters, nor did he want to have any further relations with them. So be it if his image was tarnished.

After finding a new place to land, and getting the Purple Jade Condor to confirm that there weren't any danger around them, Zhang Che started was.h.i.+ng off the mud, while lamenting about his pride. "But, the sense of accomplishment from saving these people from sure-death scenarios is really satisfying!"

In this world, there was probably nothing that made you feel prouder of yourself than saving your fellow humans with your own hands, was there?

If there were, then it must be that you hadn't saved enough of them!

If there came a day where you could save the world once you made your move, countless people would feel endless grat.i.tude towards you, and wors.h.i.+p you as a living buddha, sending you looks of admiration and reverence. What would that feel like?

Of course, Zhang Che wouldn't think of being a saint who saved the world. He didn't have the ability, nor would he bother to. He'd only help if he happened to be around and the situation wouldn't threaten his safety.

In the end, humans were different from animals.

He didn't think it would elevate him spiritually or some other bulls.h.i.+t like that. He was only acting out of his conscience.

After spending a lot of time was.h.i.+ng the mud off himself, Zhang Che immediately picked up the bow container at the side and opened it. As expected, it was filled with water.

Fortunately, the Falling Star Model X wasn't a traditional bow. It wasn't damaged despite being soaked in water, nor would it affect its functionality.

On the other hand, the clothes in his backpack were soaked through, and were a little more troublesome.

Even so, these were minor issues. He'd just take them out and air-dry them when he rested for the night.

The dry rations in his backpack were packed in vacuum packaging, and weren't soaked in the water for long. There wouldn't be any problems consuming them.

Thinking of that, Zhang Che felt a pang of hunger. He looked up to the sky, and realized that the sky had started to turn dark without him noticing.

-Is it already nearing evening?- Zhang Che was surprised. It seemed like he was unconscious in the heart of the demonic flower for quite some time. Half the day had pa.s.sed just like that.

Since it was getting late, it was definitely not suitable for him to go hunting exotic beasts any more.

Thus, Zhang Che packed his things and mounted the Purple Jade Condor. He searched around for a bit, found a relatively tall mountain and descended, intending to spend the night there.

When the Purple Jade Condor flew past the extended area of water unhurriedly, heading towards the mountain a few kilometers away, huge waves suddenly rose from the water below them. A long silhouette suddenly burst out of the water and rose into the air, lunging directly for the Purple Jade Condor.

-Hm? We actually ran into a water-type exotic beast here!- Zhang Che was elated. -So it's true that good fortune comes to good people? I just saved six lives and encountered an obviously powerful water-type exotic beast immediately after!-

Despite not having seen the appearance of the exotic beast that shot out of the water, since it could fly into the air, it went to show that this exotic beast's level and quality were definitely not bad!

It'd be fantastic if he could kill it and was lucky enough to obtain a beast card!

The saying "It comes right when you least expect it" was probably referring to occurences like this, right?

Of course, Zhang Che wasn't afraid that this exotic beast would be too powerful. If his subdued beasts couldn't handle it, the Purple Jade Condor could just fly away if push came to shove, ignoring it.

A water-based exotic beast couldn't possibly give chase to the Purple Jade Condor flying in the sky, could it?

The idea was not wrong, but when Zhang Che leaned over and looked down, his face suddenly changed.

"This is… How is it possible that I ran into such a creature!?"