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As Xu Yuan and Zhou Chen talked, the black eagle had already descended to a height of just a little over 200 meters above the ground.
With a wingspan of almost 300 feet, the enormous eagle immediately stirred up a wave of uproar among the people below. A giant beast sweeping low across the sky was enough to send quite a few into a panic, scrambling indoors for cover.
“Mother of hell, what is that thing? Quick, quick, get the City Defense Bureau! A demonic beast... there’s a demonic beast coming!”
“Don’t panic, there’s a pavilion on its back!”
“That thing’s tamed too?!”
“Aren’t flying demonic beasts supposed to land at the Department of Exotic Beasts’ supervising pastures? Disturbing the city markets is a serious crime!”
“Move! Move!!! My Earth Dragon Turtle got spooked, move!!”
“Ah! Ah!! No!!!”
“Waaaah!”
…
Accidents always happened without warning. Amid the shouting, cursing, and crying children, a giant turtle forty feet long was suddenly startled on the broad avenue and charged headfirst straight into the market district off the main street.
Stone bricks, shattered tiles, and dust exploded into the air. In an instant, cries of pain rose everywhere.
The commotion below made Xu Yuan instinctively glance down through the wooden window. He watched silently for two seconds, then pulled his gaze back and looked at Zhou Chen beside him with a trace of questioning. He did not understand why they had deliberately descended to this height and glided in like this.
Zhou Chen read the meaning in Xu Yuan’s eyes and smiled, unconcerned, as he explained, “Third Young Master, the Department of Exotic Beasts has regulations. Civilian flying demonic beasts are not allowed to fly lower than 600 feet over the urban districts of a prefectural city. Our black eagle is still at least 700 feet above the ground. This is entirely that Earth Dragon Turtle’s own problem.”
As he spoke, Zhou Chen let out a quiet chuckle. “The eagle didn’t even release its aura, and that Earth Dragon Turtle still got frightened and lost control. Heh, I’d bet that batch of Earth Dragon Turtles only passed the Department of Exotic Beasts’ examinations through backdoor connections. If this gets reported, someone’s probably in for a bad time.”
Hearing the explanation, Xu Yuan more or less understood what had happened, so he withdrew his gaze and said no more.
At the black eagle’s gliding speed, the stretch of road where the incident had happened quickly vanished from sight. And sure enough, the rest of the way passed without another case of a demonic beast panicking and injuring people.
Xu Yuan kept sweeping his eyes across the layout of the city below. The streets crisscrossed in every direction. Aside from the market districts where pedestrians jostled shoulder to shoulder, most of the city’s roads looked similar to the ancient cities he remembered, only far broader. The central lane alone was wide enough for four horse-drawn carriages to pass side by side.
But Xu Yuan’s eyes skimmed past all those streets in a single glance. What truly caught his attention was the gigantic imperial highway directly below them, a road so vast it nearly split the city into sections. Its width far surpassed any road he had ever seen in his previous life.
And what raced along it were not ordinary carriages, but all kinds of demonic beasts charging at full speed.
Looking down from the black eagle, Xu Yuan even spotted road designs in the distance that resembled elevated highways and tunnels. For a moment, he found himself instinctively surprised by the structure of the roadworks, and by the sheer weight those massive beasts must be dumping onto the road with every step. But the thought had only just surfaced when he gave a faint shake of the head.
His mind had nearly failed to make the turn. The strength of materials in his previous world probably could not compare to this one. The material of the sword Ran Qingmo had been holding earlier would probably have been good enough, in his old world, to build a Gundam. And that was not even counting the added reinforcement of formations.
With that thought, Xu Yuan fixed his attention fully on the giant beasts thundering along that immense highway. He searched through the original owner’s memories again and again, but only vague, half-formed scraps turned up.
After a pause, Xu Yuan turned his head and asked, “The nine examinations you mentioned earlier, what exactly is it?”
“That?” Hearing the question, Zhou Chen also glanced down at the highway below. He considered his wording for a moment before saying, “Put simply, it’s a set of laws made for sects and merchant associations that sell demonic beasts.”
Xu Yuan said nothing. He just stared at Zhou Chen.
Seeing that, Zhou Chen understood that the Third Young Master wanted a more detailed explanation. He smacked his lips and let out a helpless sigh.
For an expert, Zhou Chen was not aloof at all. If anything, he was rather talkative.
And when someone was willing to chat, he was more than happy to oblige.
After sighing, Zhou Chen slowly gave Xu Yuan a full explanation of the nine tier assessment for demonic beast training. By the end, he did not even need Xu Yuan to ask follow-up questions. He simply poured out everything related to beast taming in one go.
When the man finally finished, Xu Yuan silently sorted through all this brand-new information in his head. Where human labor fell short, demonic beasts made up the difference. In this world, from ancient times to the present, humanity had never stopped trying to tame demonic beasts.
At first, it was the simplest method possible. Beat them into submission. Later, it gradually developed into a complete and systematic craft. Their lifespan, their strength, their stamina, and in some cases their ability to fly all made demonic beasts perfectly suited to becoming humanity’s tools.
And so, despite all the difficulties, the taming of demonic beasts had continued unbroken through the ages, and these creatures had gradually become woven into the daily lives of ordinary people. Mounts for travel, beasts for transport, beasts for message delivery, even war beasts bred specifically for the battlefield. It was an entirely new technology tree, and one that had branched off in a completely crooked direction.
At that thought, Xu Yuan gave a faint shake of the head. No, that was not quite right either. In a world where qi truly existed, maybe this was the natural direction for technology to take.
But no matter how far beast-taming skills advanced, the problem remained the same. Even the fully obedient mechanical giants of his previous life could malfunction from time to time. Demonic beasts, which possessed minds of their own, naturally carried even greater risks.
A predator’s presence could trigger their instincts and put them on edge. Hunger and an empty stomach could make them violent. The pressure of a higher bloodline from their own kind could force them into obedience. Any one of these could send a tamed demonic beast into a frenzy on the spot.
The Great Flame Empire’s Department of Exotic Beasts had gathered the lessons of countless past incidents and established the ninefold examination for civilian demonic beasts, all to ensure as much as possible that they would not go berserk and harm people.
On top of that, Zhou Chen had also mentioned military-use demonic beasts. Where there were civilian beasts, there would naturally be military ones as well. And the testing standards for military demonic beasts were even harsher, with no fewer than seventeen separate examinations.
Having more or less sorted through everything he now knew about demonic beasts, Xu Yuan finally let out a long breath, then turned to the side and smiled. “I never understood any of this before, but after hearing you explain it today, demonic beasts really are quite interesting.”
Zhou Chen chuckled as well and lowered his voice. “If you’re genuinely interested, you could visit the Calm Sky Merchant Association branch in Stillwater.”
Xu Yuan arched a brow. The Calm Sky Merchant Association was a colossal trading house with branches spread across the entire Great Flame Empire. In Azure Point, it had practically served as the game’s item shop. Every map had one, and as long as you had enough money, you could buy whatever materials or pills you needed there.
“The Calm Sky Merchant Association?”
Zhou Chen grinned. “Yes. They’ve got all kinds of rare demonic beasts there. Now that you’ve begun cultivating, you could go pick out a couple.”
“Pick out?” Xu Yuan noticed something slightly off in Zhou Chen’s wording.
Zhou Chen looked at him with mild surprise and said softly, “Third Young Master... you didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“The Calm Sky Merchant Association belongs to the Chancellor’s Manor.”
Xu Yuan’s mind went blank for an instant. Only at this very moment did he finally understand what sort of chancellor his old man really was.
