While lying inside the python’s mouth, Ye Chenshan covered his head and trembled. He had completely lost it after witnessing the death of Old Mo and the ninth-rank Death Scythe. He didn’t pay any attention at all when Su Ping dragged him along.

Using what remained of his sanity, he sensed how Su Ping’s “strongest pet” Little Skeleton was shattered to pieces by the coming Flame Blood Dragon. Now he had enough reasons to give up; he could think of nothing that might help in getting him out of there alive.

He saw light when the python reopened its mouth as Su Ping ordered. Something flashed past his view and reached outside.

Ye Chenshan could not tell what that was. It looked like some kind of throwing weapon to him.

Of course, he didn’t believe that something like that would have any effect against the dragon’s scales.

Clang!

The “weapon” reached the dragon’s head and was bounced away.

Ye Chenshan sneered in despair. He was ready to welcome his end.

“A miss?” Su Ping frowned and lifted his arm again.

Several more “throwing weapons” were unleashed at the Flame Blood Dragon, which was almost on top of them. It came so close that Ye Chenshan could almost tell how many teeth the dragon had, including a human hand still clung to one of them.

Old Mo’s remains.

Ye Chenshan closed his eyes and said his last prayer. Clang!

The hot and odorous airflow suddenly vanished. Everything went quiet.

Ye Chenshan waited a little longer. He wondered if he had already been sent to the afterlife.

Good. There was no pain in the end…

He slowly opened his eyelids, only to see the same cave again. The only thing different was the absence of the Flame Blood Dragon. It was gone.

But how??

“Phew. That does it.” Su Ping also relaxed after their successful survival.

He lifted an arm again and several objects came flying back to him. Before Ye Chenshan could see what they were, Su Ping stashed them inside his inventory space.

The “desperate measure” he had just thought up with was not about tossing weapons at the dragon, but the middle-rank beast-catching rings he had prepared. According to the system, the strongest Astral Pets those rings could catch were Beast Kings, but with the ridiculously low successful rate of 1.25%, which meant he had to hurl hundreds of those rings at a Beast King at the same time if he wanted a reliable result.

Unless he was blessed with a big stroke of luck, that was. As for ninth-rank Astral Pets, the probability was amazingly, 50%.

Guess I shouldn’t rely on luck unless I really have to… Su Ping showed a disappointed look. I spent four rings to hit that 50% chance. Damn.

Nevertheless, he was alive, so everything was worth it.

He looked at the ground, where another beast-catching ring was dropped, and pulled it back. Unlike the other black rings, this one was slightly glowing. And it was hot to the touch.

Using his astral perception, Su Ping moved his vision inside the ring and saw a large, dark space, inside which the proud Blood Flame Dragon was trying to shake free of several thick chains binding its body.

“Heh. It’s almost a Beast King, but not quite there yet, so the success rate doesn’t change. Or I would have been in serious trouble today.”

Sensing Su Ping’s inquiring will, the Flame Blood Dragon struggled harder and caused the chains to almost sink inside its scales.

LET… ME… OUT!

The dragon couldn’t speak, though it somehow sent its thoughts for Su Ping to understand.

And this was even better. An Astral Pet he could talk to sure sounded fancy.

“You want freedom? Answer me then, how did the Astral Spirit Fruit get there? And what are those dead bodies in the pit? Are you like a guardian who must protect the bodies of your predecessors?”

Su Ping was confident that the dragon could no longer hurt him while imprisoned in the ring. It wouldn’t hurt to learn something useful.

LET ME OUT!!

Su Ping shook his head and looked away. It seemed he had to wait for the creature to calm down first.

“Where… Where’s that thing?” Ye Chenshan looked around the area with a dumbstruck look.

“Maybe it ran away?” Su Ping played dumb.

“Ran?? Why would it? Didn’t it want to eat us all —”

“Who knows. Maybe it ate something bad and really needed the toilet.”

Ye Chenshan was dumbfounded.

Something bad?

He suddenly remembered the human hand he had just seen. Of course Old Mo was “something bad.” That old man had just tried to murder them for the sake of his own survival!

“Will—will it come back? Let’s get away, quick!” Ye Chenshan anxiously scanned the area with a terrified look.

Su Ping nodded and prepared to do just that.

But before leaving, he had several matters to attend to.

First, he jumped out of the Purple Python’s mouth and found Luo Guxue lying unconscious inside the corpse pit. It looked like she was mostly fine.

Next, he looked at the Astral Spirit Tree. He wanted to take the tree away as a whole and perhaps replant it somewhere later, such as inside the pet shop. But… this thing was at least five meters tall. His inventory space was not big enough to keep it.

He considered for a moment and used 10,000 energy points to double the size of his inventory. This way, the tree could fit inside just fine while leaving some extra space to keep other stuff.

“Neither of the Flame Blood Dragons took this fruit away?” He wondered while looking at the only fruit growing on the tree. “Weird. Maybe they had already consumed several fruits, and they knew that eating more was pointless to their growth?”

He sent some astral power to the fruit and picked it.

Meanwhile, Ye Chenshan was asking his lizard to carry Luo Guxue out of the pit. He saw what Su Ping had just done, but considering how Su Ping saved him yet again, he decided not to raise any questions.

The soothing smell of the glowing fruit urged Su Ping to eat it right away. Though he persuaded himself into giving up on second thought; he was going to reach the fifth rank soon. Using the fruit right then would be a huge waste.

Su Ping didn’t place the tree into his storage yet, for he didn’t want to expose one of his secrets when Ye Chenshan was watching.

He turned to the pit and jumped inside. He wanted to search the fresh human corpses for valuables while he had the chance.

He was surprised to notice that one of the bodies was still warm. The “body” looked at him upon sensing his touch.

“Help… please…”

Su Ping checked the man’s chest wound and saw the heart was still beating. But there was a main artery torn up, which was spilling blood like a fully-powered water pump. This guy had managed to stay awake all thanks to his trained settler’s body. Although, this would not help him live for much longer.

“You can give up,” Su Ping said, “Any last words? Such as telling your bank account password to your wife? I’m all ears.”