CHAPTER 100: CHAPTER 100: BOOTLICKER

Chen Guan originally thought that a timid and cautious Secret Spirit like the black-red panda would be so scared that it wouldn’t show up for days, maybe even never again.

Who would have thought that not even a day had passed, and it returned at night, cozying up with Sengoku, looking quite harmonious.

The two of them kept licking each other’s fur, and from time to time, the black-red panda would give Sengoku a paw. Sengoku didn’t dodge at all; even when the paw landed on its face, it kept sticking out its tongue to lick the other’s paw.

"Flattering dog..." Chen Guan cursed quietly in his heart.

Fortunately, the black-red panda wasn’t seriously hitting; it wasn’t using force or extending its claws, just playing around.

"Sengoku is pretty much done for, but thankfully I have a trusted Yanzhi," Chen Guan looked at Yanzhi, who was standing guard at the cave like a door god without moving, and felt much better.

After being discovered, the black-red panda initially snuck in, but after a while, it didn’t even bother to hide and started intertwining with Sengoku right in front of Chen Guan. Eventually, it didn’t even run away when it saw Chen Guan, treating him like air.

However, besides Chen Guan and Yanzhi, whenever an outsider appeared, before they could reach the platform, the black-red panda would disappear without a trace.

Xiao Qing Hua brought food every day but never saw the black-red panda once.

Once Chen Guan asked Xiao Qing Hua if there were black-red pandas on Holy Lamp Mountain. Xiao Qing Hua said there were, and quite a few, but black-red pandas rarely show themselves and live in places humans can’t easily reach, so finding them isn’t easy.

Moreover, many places on Holy Lamp Mountain are forbidden zones where outsiders aren’t allowed, and black-red pandas mostly appear only inside these zones, making them hard to see usually.

Chen Guan had no intention of killing the black-red panda because the chances of Petification were too low. Killing it would be in vain and unnecessary.

Recently, the Secret Spirit Egg started to show reactions. When Chen Guan pressed against it, he could sense a heartbeat-like pulse within the Secret Spirit Egg.

One could clearly feel the shell of the Secret Spirit Egg quivering, although faintly, it was enough to prove that life indeed was growing inside.

"It must be the offspring of a Secret God, or all my previous efforts would be a complete joke," calculated Chen Guan. It has been nearly ten days since he entered the Golden City Mountain Secret Realm. If it doesn’t hatch soon, Ji Nanhong should be coming out soon and will contact him.

"Hurry up," Chen Guan had no other solutions, so he could only pray for it to come out soon.

Halfway up the Holy Lamp Mountain, there were a few hundred steps leading to a Daoist Temple named "Lotus Temple".

Everyone said that the Lotus Temple Master was a fake Daoist; they said so not because he did anything outrageous nor because he was incompetent.

On the contrary, the Lotus Temple Master had an exceptional Six Refutation Skill, which made his prophecies very accurate.

Everyone thought he was a fake Daoist because typically, monks should be compassionate and charitable.

Yet, the fake Daoist never did any good deeds and cared only about money.

To become a disciple of the Lotus Temple Master, one had to pay a large sum, and to keep practicing within the temple, one had to continuously pay money.

For food, clothing, housing, and travel, everything required money, and it was exorbitantly priced.

Anyone who could be a disciple of the Lotus Temple Master had to come from a very wealthy family.

However, strangely, the money-grubbing Lotus Temple Master took in one apprentice for free, and this money-free apprentice had better everything compared to the other disciples.

Others ate vegetarian meals weighed by grams; not to mention medicines, even rice was metered, with no chance of having an extra grain.

Yet, the free apprentice could eat as she pleased, even taking meals to feed her guard dog, and the Lotus Temple Master never questioned it.

"Master, today the junior sister took out a lot of vegetarian meals again, more than yesterday; we didn’t have enough vegetarian meals to eat today," the disciple in charge of cooking came to the Lotus Temple Master to complain.

The Lotus Temple Master had a righteous appearance, black hair, and beard, not looking particularly old but in middle age, with long beard and eyebrows, somewhat having an immortal aura.

If it weren’t for the disciples secretly calling him "Skinning Temple Master," he might actually be deceived by this appearance.

"That’s your fault then. Your junior sister is at the age where she needs to eat more to grow. If she doesn’t have enough to eat, can’t you cook more?" The Lotus Temple Master stroked his beard and said casually.

"But the storeroom is almost out of rice, and there aren’t many other foodstuffs left; they might not last another two or three days," the cooking disciple said with a bitter face.

"What?" the Lotus Temple Master jumped, staring at the cooking disciple, "It’s only the seventeenth today, still nearly half a month left, and you say rice and food are almost gone? Are you all feasting daily, finishing it so quickly?"

"Master, we never have any feasts; our meals are rationed daily, and we never eat our fill," the cooking disciple said with a face full of grievance, "It’s the junior sister who takes and eats a lot daily and even feeds her guard dog, almost consuming as much as all of us senior brothers combined, it’s a wonder it lasts till the end of the month."

"Xiao Qing Hua is at the age where she needs to eat more; it’s only right. You may go now; I’ll handle the rice and food problem, no need for you to worry," the Lotus Temple Master waved his hand, indicating for the disciple to leave.

"Master, I heard there’s a newcomer on Holy Lamp Mountain recently, a friend from junior sister’s hometown, and the meals junior sister takes aren’t for herself but for that friend," the cooking disciple hesitated but didn’t leave before speaking.

"Friend? What friend? Male or female?" The Lotus Temple Master grabbed the cooking disciple by the collar and stared with his eyes wide open.

"I don’t know; junior sister hasn’t mentioned anything about that person, but since she takes so much food daily, it must be for someone else. There’s no need to take it out just to feed a guard dog."

"You little brats are really clever; I will find out the truth about this myself," the Lotus Temple Master chased away the cooking disciple and muttered to himself while calculating with his fingers, "Someone dares to target my disciple; let me see whether you are human or ghost."

"Huh? That’s not right!" The Lotus Temple Master appeared relaxed initially, but after calculating, he showed a puzzled expression.

He pondered for a moment and recalculated with his fingers. The result differed slightly from before but was still somewhat amiss.

"The heavenly mechanism is disrupted; I must see who dares to plot against my disciple so boldly," the Lotus Temple Master snorted coldly, "If Qinghua’s friend is inadvertently involved, I’ll overlook it; if there’s malice, I’ll make sure you never want to be human in your next life."