Edited by Aelryinth

The next morning, Zhang Che set off once more, heading in the direction of the giant stone man.

During their journey, Zhang Che remained apprehensive of letting the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon fly at his fastest.

At present, he was already several thousand kilometers deep into the beast world. He might find himself wandering into the territory of some powerful exotic beasts if he was careless. Being negligent of his surroundings was something extremely dangerous.

Determining whether there were any exotic beasts that were troublesome to deal with in the area was actually very simple: just see if there were large amounts of exotic beasts nearby!

If the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon entered an area with no exotic beasts within a wide radius by mistake, Zhang Che would immediately realize he was heading into the territory of a powerful exotic beast. He had to stop and turn back immediately.

On his way, Zhang Che really came across such an area.

They flew a few dozen kilometers in before Zhang Che noticed something amiss, and he immediately had the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon turn around to escape.

Although he didn't know exactly how strong the exotic beast in the area ahead was, Zhang Che decided not to investigate for safety's sake. Curiosity didn't only kill cats; it killed people, too!

After slowing their pace, Zhang Che discovered another advantage. He could slaughter the mid-tier exotic beasts they came across to the best of his ability.

Zhang Che wanted to reach Tier Six as soon as possible, so he could equip the legend-quality armor he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from the black man previously, and improve his defense.

That was a six-star legend-quality armor! Not only that, it was one with a good balance of physical and elemental defense, and its attributes were extremely satisfying!

The armor's skill, Elemental Protective Barrier, was especially noteworthy. It could block off 100% of elemental attacks, and non-divine-quality or below elemental attacks weren't able to penetrate the barrier. When met with powerful exotic beasts that specialized in powerful elemental attacks, it could provide Zhang Che with an absolute defense!

Take his encounter with the Horned Electric Python yesterday, for example. The Chain Lightning skill nearly ended Zhang Che right there. If he had the Purple-Gold Demonic Armored Worm armor on, he wouldn't have to be afraid of elemental attacks of that level at all.

“In the end, my beastmaster tier is too low!”

Since he could make his way to the giant stone man's area today with time to spare, Zhang Che was in no hurry. He had the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon stop intermittently, sending down a bolt of lightning whenever he spotted any mid-tier or higher exotic beasts.

For those that the lightning couldn't electrocute, Zhang Che didn't have to trouble his babies, either. The scarlet sword would directly fly in the exotic beast's direction, supplementing the lightning with a slash. That was all it took to slay a mid-tier exotic beast.

By the time a certain lonely mountain finally appeared in the afternoon, Zhang Che had made great harvests.

Although the acc.u.mulation of soul force points was far from enough to reach Tier Six, Zhang Che had obtained quite a number of mid-tier exotic beast cards.

Even though there weren't any dark gold-quality or above among them, there were many silver and gold-quality cards. When he returned to Hua Xia, he could totally open a high-end beast card shop!

“Right! Why don't I get great-aunt's family to come to Bei Du and help me manage a beast card shop?” Zhang Che was immediately moved when he thought of that.

In the past, he would sell the beast cards he obtained to the large shops in a batch. The prices he got for them would naturally be lower than if he sold them himself, but Zhang Che didn't have the time nor energy to do that.

Now that he had reconnected with some relatives, he could let them manage this project. This was simply killing multiple birds with one stone!

His mother wouldn't have to live alone in Bei Du from now on. This would be greatly beneficial to her health.

Also, the price difference he earned from opening his own shop could be used to pay his great-aunt's family as a salary, and thus help them live a better life.

Of course, the crucial point was if they were willing to move to Bei Du. After all, they had lived in Tian Xing City their entire lives. Perhaps they might not be willing to migrate.

Shaking his head, Zhang Che purged those thoughts from his mind. He looked at the looming mountain ahead, feeling complicated inside, unable to keep calm.

Some time ago, he was forced into a sorry state by that giant stone man, and could do nothing but run with his tail between his legs.

Now, he was finally back here!

Zhang Che felt proud of himself, like he had finally made it. With a wave of his hand, the Purple Crystal Tortoise was summoned. After checking on its skill cooldown time, Zhang Che realized there was still about two hours to go.

That giant stone man was incredibly powerful; Zhang Che had no intentions of summoning his other babies to help out. He would only be wearing the Purple Crystal Armor and riding the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon to confront it.

Zhang Che had placed all his hopes of slaying the giant stone man on the two swords. If the swords were unable to cut through the giant stone man's body, he could only try to escape as soon as possible within the one hour duration of the Purple Crystal Armor skill.

Speaking of which, if he activated the Scarlet Meteorite Huge Sword's skill, it could definitely penetrate the giant stone man's defense easily…

However, the sword was too big. Zhang Che couldn't guarantee he could accurately hit its vitals.

Moreover, if he wanted to use the Scarlet Meteorite Huge Sword to attack the giant stone man, Zhang Che first had to get next to it. That was definitely impossible. Zhang Che wouldn't dare do something like that, no matter what!

The giant stone man was a few dozen meters tall. With a slap, even if the Purple Crystal Armor could withstand a physical attack of that degree, Zhang Che would be smacked into the earth. The shockwave would directly destroy his organs!

—

Two hours went by quickly.

Riding on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon, the Purple Crystal Tortoise at his side was on standby at any moment. They flew into the core of the empty area carefully.

At present, a few low-tier exotic beasts were held in the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon's claws.

Zhang Che was going to use them to determine where the giant stone man was. That fellow usually hid itself within the mountain. He had no idea where it would emerge, and try to sneak a devastating hit from.

As they flew at a controlled pace, when the third exotic beast was tossed out from the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon's claw, Zhang Che finally saw that terrifying gigantic stone man again.

It suddenly emerged from the ground of the mountain. With just a punch, it smashed the low-tier exotic beast the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon threw out into blood spray. Fresh blood and mangled meat covered half of the giant's arm, looking especially scary.

Without any sound or signs, the single diamond-like eye on the giant stone man's flat face quickly locked onto Zhang Che, who was a thousand meters away.

The Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon stopped in the air. The Purple Crystal Tortoise turned into a streak of five-colored light, covering Zhang Che from head to toe in the form of a tortoise sh.e.l.l-like armor.

Facing the epic-quality beast, Zhang Che had a calm expression.

He had already experienced fighting an epic-quality exotic beast. Although he made use of the fact that the Wind G.o.d Leopard was about to conceive and fell into an extremely weakened state to slay it at the time, making it an unfair victory, it was still an epic-quality beast nonetheless.

“Whether I have the strength to fight against a mid-tier epic-quality beast will depend on the next hour!”

Zhang Che's eyes narrowed slightly. The Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon under him quickly shot forth, flying close to the ground.

At the same time, a rock spear as thick as a pillar streaked across a thousand meters like lightning, stabbing into the earth where the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon was just a second ago with a loud rumble, leaving only a big, pitch black hole behind.

And so, the toughest battle Zhang Che had ever fought in his life began!