41: Chapter 41 Rest and Recuperation, Searching for the Stream

Just then, Earth Dog sneaked up behind Qin Ding, its mouth bulging and looking furtive, with blood dripping from the corner of its mouth. It gently bumped its body against Qin Ding's backside.

"Hmm? What are you doing? Wait, what's wrong with your mouth? Why is it bleeding?"

Qin Ding, who turned around in confusion, first saw the blood dripping from Earth Dog's mouth. The very next second after he asked, Earth Dog opened its mouth, revealing a relatively intact brain.

Qin Ding: ????

Because its mouth was full, Earth Dog spoke a bit indistinctly.

"Woo…" [Big, Big Brother, this is delicious, eat…]

Hearing this, Qin Ding took a deep breath. "No, no, I won't eat it. You eat, you eat."

Earth Dog tilted its head in confusion, seemingly unable to understand why its boss didn't like something so soft and delicious. However, as soon as Earth Dog thought of the deliciousness of the black wolf's brain, saliva immediately began to secrete in its mouth.

No longer caring about Qin Ding, it closed its mouth, pushed with its tongue, and swallowed it directly.

Qin Ding looked at the Earth Dog, which couldn't wait to crack open another black wolf, and his gaze grew increasingly strange.

Since when did the Earth Dog he raised start liking to eat the brains of prey? Could it be that it always liked it, but…

Before Qin Ding could figure it out, he saw Earth Dog gnawing on the black wolf's internal organs. He was completely stunned, his eyes filled with deep confusion, even doubting life itself.

Bai Muxue noticed Qin Ding's odd behavior. She looked at Qin Ding, then followed his gaze, a look of realization dawning on her. She stood up, walked to Qin Ding's side, and whispered.

"For wolves, the prey's internal organs are highly nourishing; this is instinct. Earth Dog isn't just a little black dog anymore."

"Hmm? Is that so?"

Qin Ding was suddenly stunned. The feelings of strangeness and doubting life were instantly suppressed. He turned his head to look at Bai Muxue and received a confirming nod from her.

"Of course. Although dogs and wolves are in the same family, they are two different creatures."

Qin Ding blinked and nodded in understanding. "That's fine then. I thought Earth Dog had picked up some weird habit."

Wan Kang, who was setting up firewood, looked up and glanced at Earth Dog, who was eating the black wolf's internal organs. He couldn't help but mutter, "Eating organs instead of meat? Are organs highly nutritious?"

Immediately after, Wan Kang turned his head to look at his Pink Pig, which was lying on the ground, eating anything and everything, regardless of whether it was meat or vegetables, and could eat it all.

With so much prey—six black wolves—Qin Ding's Beast Tamer beast probably couldn't finish all those organs, right? Should he let Pink Pig eat some? His Pink Pig was only level seven. If it could eat more of the nutritious parts of spirit beasts, maybe it could reach level eight?

After working for about an hour, Wan Kang looked at the two bulging snake-skin bags, his smile uncontrollable.

"Hehe, that's nine points. It's only the first day, and there are two more days left. Even if we only kill two spirit beasts a day for the next two days, that's enough for the three of us to secure first through third place."

Even while cultivating, his face was still beaming with a smile.

The three of them gathered around the bonfire to cultivate their Mental Energy, while their Beast Tamer beasts were the ones lying on the ground, ready to sleep after being full.

Smelling the blood in the air, Bai Muxue frowned in discomfort, interrupted her cultivation, opened her eyes, and subconsciously looked toward Qin Ding.

However, this look made Bai Muxue see something different.

"Why… is there a faint white light emitting from Qin Ding's body?"

Bai Muxue thought to herself, feeling suspicious and uncertain. She moved a little closer to Qin Ding. When she confirmed that Qin Ding was indeed emitting a faint white light, she froze in place.

She had heard her teacher say that if a faint white light emits from one's body while cultivating, it means they have entered a state of unity between heaven and man, a state of resonance with heaven and earth, which would extremely accelerate the speed of cultivating Mental Energy.

But this state only appears on Beast Tamers of the fifth rank or higher; she had never heard of it appearing on a newcomer who had just become a Beast Tamer.

"Is Qin Ding… special?"

Bai Muxue's pupils contracted. She glanced covertly at Wan Kang, and seeing that he was grinning and showed no sign of waking up, she slowly stood up. Her movements woke up Earth Dog and White Fox, and under the gaze of the two beasts, she brought back a pile of branches and dry firewood.

She stealthily threw them into the bonfire. Before long, the bonfire expanded significantly, and the blazing flames completely covered the white light emitting from Qin Ding's body.

Only then did Bai Muxue sit down with relief and continue to cultivate her Mental Energy.

The night passed without incident.

The moon set in the west, and the sun rose in the east.

As soon as Qin Ding opened his eyes, he was struck by the stench in the surroundings. The blood from last night had started to stink after settling overnight, and he could even hear quite a bit of buzzing.

He immediately turned his head to look at Earth Dog and found that part of the fur on Earth Dog's body had matted into sticky clumps.

Seeing this, Qin Ding's face showed disgust, and he kicked Earth Dog twice. "Ew… you smell terrible. Can you find a water source?"

Earth Dog stood up, ignoring Qin Ding's teasing, and instead turned around to nudge the still-sleeping White Fox with its head, waking it up as well.

"Ying?" [It's dawn, Big Black Dog, are you hungry?]

A sound like a puppy's low whine came from White Fox's throat, carrying a sense of laziness and relaxation.

Hearing this, Qin Ding's gaze immediately locked onto White Fox. Is that what a fox sounds like? Thinking of White Fox's behavior and the sounds it made yesterday, Qin Ding's confusion deepened. Shouldn't it be panting like a dog?

"Ao." [A little. There was a lot of meat left over from last night. After we finish eating, let's go to the river to take a bath. My Big Brother just said you smell terrible.]

Qin Ding: ?

Just when Qin Ding thought White Fox would go to Bai Muxue to complain, he discovered that not only was White Fox not suspicious, but after smelling itself, it nodded seriously at Earth Dog.

"Come, eat two fruits. It's not suitable to eat anything too greasy in the morning." Bai Muxue walked over, glanced at Earth Dog, who was taking White Fox to eat meat, and handed two fruits to Qin Ding.

"If nothing else, there are really quite a lot of fruit trees on this mountain." Wan Kang happily ate the fruit, feeling very happy in his heart, and felt that life was getting more and more promising.

Before long, after finishing breakfast, the group placed the two snake-skin bags of beast heads onto Pink Pig.

This was Wan Kang's own request. Rather than putting them on Sha Jin Wolf and affecting its ability to block enemies immediately, it was better to put them on Pink Pig.

"Ao wu." [Boss, follow me. I can smell the scent of aquatic plants; it's this way.]

Qin Ding raised an eyebrow, looked at Earth Dog, which seemed to be showing off, with slight surprise, and couldn't help but praise it. "Not bad, not bad."

--- Updating one chapter today, taking a day off.