Pei Xuan raised an eyebrow when he heard the stable boy's shout.
"They bullied Old Yellow?"
Without waiting another second, Pei Xuan strode toward the livestock corral at the north end of the village, with Chief Batu, Old Wei, and Hong Ling hurrying right behind him.
Old Yellow was a scraggly, bald, droop-hump old pack camel that had carried Pei Xuan's mother's trunk all the way from the Marquis's estate in the capital to Dry-Well Village.
During the twenty-day march across the scorching desert, when the family guards sent to escort Pei Xuan had stolen the horses and abandoned them in a sandstorm, it was Old Yellow who had plodded stubbornly through the blinding wind with Pei Xuan tied to his back and Hong Ling holding his tail, finding the path to Dry-Well Village by scent alone.
To be honest, Old Yellow was lazy, loved sleeping in the shade of the well, and had lost almost all his fur from old age except for three pathetic hairs on top of his head.
When Pei Xuan reached the wooden fence of the north corral, he saw a tragic yet comical scene.
Inside the big corral, the sixty tall, long-legged desert camels brought by Batu's Wind-Wolf Tribe—which had just drunk their fill of Sweet-Spring Well water and recovered their wild spirit—had formed a circle around the stone water trough.
Leading the nomad camels was a scarred, nine-foot-tall One-Eared Bull Camel with yellow teeth the size of iron chisels.
Cornered against the mud barn wall sat Old Yellow.
The poor old camel was sitting on his backside with his front legs crossed over his nose, looking pitifully at a single tiny brown hair lying in the dirt in front of him—the last hair from the top of his bald head, which the One-Eared Bull Camel had just yanked out!
BAAA-HRRRK!
The One-Eared Bull Camel let out a mocking snort, bumped Old Yellow's droopy hump with its heavy chest to shove him away from the hay rack, and chewed a mouthful of sweet potato vines right in Old Yellow's face.
[ PET TOOLTIP: OLD YELLOW (Loyal Pack-Camel of the Pei Family) ] * Realm: Rank 0 Aged Beast (18 Years Old — Frail) * Loyalty: 100/100 (Die-Hard Family Pet) * Status: [Bald & Heartbroken] * Thought: "Bully! That big one-eared jerk pulled out my last handsome hair! Wait until the Young Master gets here—I walked 800 miles carrying his luggage, he won't let these wild hillbilly camels steal my sweet potato leaves!"
As soon as Old Yellow spotted Pei Xuan walking up to the fence, the old bald camel let out a loud, aggrieved WUUUU-HONK, trotted over on his knobby knees, and rested his big bald chin right on top of Pei Xuan's shoulder—pointing a hoof dramatically at the One-Eared Bull Camel like a kid tattling to his dad!
Behind Pei Xuan, Chief Batu turned bright red with embarrassment. He grabbed a leather whip from his belt and vaulted over the fence.
"Damn you, One-Ear! That is Lord Pei's personal mount!" Batu roared, raising his whip at his lead camel. "Get away from the hay rack before I turn your hump into roast meat!"
"Hold on, Chief Batu," Pei Xuan called out, stopping the big nomad hunter with a wave of his hand as he scratched Old Yellow's bald head soothingly. "Beasts only respect strength. If you whip One-Ear today, those sixty nomad camels will still nip at Old Yellow behind your back whenever nobody is looking."
Pei Xuan patted Old Yellow's droopy hump and looked into the old camel's watery brown eyes.
"Don't cry over one hair, boy," Pei Xuan chuckled softly. "You carried me eight hundred miles through the sandstorm when I had nothing. Now that your master is rich, how can I let my number-one steed get pushed around by a bunch of skinny newcomers?"
Pei Xuan turned to Old Guo and Hong Ling.
"Old Guo, bring me a big wooden bucket of fresh Meat-Potato peelings from the kitchen!" Pei Xuan ordered. "Hong Ling, go to the storehouse and fetch that dried Scorpion King Venom Gland we cut out of the big red scorpion leader last week, along with that five-pound lump of raw Yellow Brass-Copper Ore from the bandit chest!"
Five minutes later, the three strange items were lined up in front of Pei Xuan beside the corral fence.
Chief Batu scratched his head in confusion as he watched the young lord. "My Lord... potato peelings I understand, camels love those. Gently dried scorpion glands can sometimes be mixed into warhorse feed in tiny pinches to make them fierce... though a whole gland would poison ten camels to death! And why is there a five-pound rock of raw yellow copper? Not even an iron-jaw beast can chew solid metal ore!"
"Ordinary beasts can't," Pei Xuan smiled mysteriously as he stepped in front of the wooden bucket, blocking everyone's view with his wide sleeves. "Good thing I know an ancient Spirit-Beast Pill Refining Method."
In Pei Xuan's vision, the golden Fusion Cube spun open above the wooden bucket!
==================================================================== [ FUSION CUBE — SPIRIT BEAST EVOLUTION SYNTHESIS ] * Slot 1: [1 Bucket of Meat-Potato Peelings (Rich Blood-Qi Starch)] * Slot 2: [Mutated Red Scorpion King Venom Gland (Fierce Yang Toxicity)] * Slot 3: [5-Lb Lump of Raw Yellow Brass-Copper Ore (Metallic Hide)] -------------------------------------------------------------------- * Fusion Cost: 100 Loyalty Points (LP) * System Processing: Removing lethal scorpion poison... Converting venom proteins into [Golden-Glue Saliva Gland]... Infusing copper metallic essence into hair follicles and bone marrow... >> FUSE NOW? [YES / NO] ====================================================================
"Fuse!" Pei Xuan commanded silently.
[-100 LP! Current Balance: 2,300 LP.]
HUMMM—CRACKLE!
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Inside the wooden bucket, a deep golden light flashed for three seconds. The red potato peelings, the shriveled black scorpion gland, and the solid chunk of yellow copper ore melted together without a sound, reforming into thirty fist-sized, gleaming golden-yellow feed balls that smelled like roasted honey-corn and warm cinnamon!
==================================================================== [ FUSION SUCCESS! BEAST EVOLUTION FEED CREATED! ] >> [ Golden-Hump Beast Feed (Rank 2 — 100% Evolution Success) ] << -------------------------------------------------------------------- * Effect 1 (Rank 2 Bloodline Evolution): Instantly restores an old beast's youth and upgrades its physique to [Rank 2 Early Beast Tier] (3,000 lbs Pulling Force | Outruns warhorses on soft sand!). * Effect 2 (Brass-Gold Fur Coat): Grows a thick, gleaming coat of metallic golden-brass fur immune to arrows, wolf fangs, and cold! * Effect 3 (King's Golden Glue-Spit): Upgrades the camel's spit gland! Can shoot a glob of high-pressure [Golden Scorpion-Glue Phlegm] up to 50 feet that hardens like iron cement in 1 second! ====================================================================
The moment Pei Xuan lifted his sleeve away from the bucket, the rich, sweet smell of roasted honey-corn drifted into the corral.
Inside the fence, all sixty nomad camels—and even Chief Batu's stomach—perked up at once!
"What a heavenly smell!" Batu swallowed his saliva, staring at the glowing golden balls in the bucket. "My Lord, those look like golden sugar dumplings from the capital!"
"Eat up, Old Yellow," Pei Xuan laughed, lifting the bucket over the fence rail right in front of his bald camel's nose. "Every single one of these is for you."
Old Yellow didn't need to be told twice!
His big rubbery lips opened like a wind-bellows—CHOMP, CHOMP, GULP!—and in less than ten seconds, all thirty golden feed balls disappeared straight down his long throat!
Across the corral, the scarred One-Eared Bull Camel saw that the ugly bald camel had gotten a whole bucket of delicious golden treats while he got nothing. Jealous and angry, One-Ear let out a nasty bellow, lowered his head, and charged across the corral with two other bulky nomad camels to knock Old Yellow into the mud!
"Look out!" Batu shouted, reaching for his whip again.
"Wait and watch," Pei Xuan said calmly, folding his arms on the top fence rail.
Right in front of the barn wall, Old Yellow stopped chewing and burped out a small ring of golden smoke.
CRACK! POP! POP-POP-POP!
A series of deep, thunderous bone-snaps echoed from inside Old Yellow's frail frame!
Right before the stunned eyes of Batu, Old Wei, Hong Ling, and forty watching nomads, Old Yellow's four knobby legs suddenly thickened until they looked like four bronze temple pillars! His droopy, flat back hump puffed up like a giant rising steamed bun, swelling into two towering, rock-solid twin humps!
In the blink of an eye, Old Yellow's height shot up by two full feet—making him a massive, eleven-foot-tall giant camel that towered over the One-Eared Bull Camel like an adult standing in front of a toddler!
And that wasn't the end!
SHHHHHHH—
With a crisp metallic rustling sound, tens of thousands of thick, curly golden hairs erupted simultaneously from Old Yellow's bald skin! Under the lantern light, his brand-new coat of fur shone like spun yellow brass and polished gold, complete with a majestic, flowing golden mane around his neck and a thick tuft of regal golden hair curling proudly on top of his head!
"H-Heavens above!" Chief Batu stumbled backward two steps, rubbing his eyes so hard they watered. "My family has herded camels in the Red-Sand Wastes for eight generations! I have never seen a bald old camel turn into a Rank 2 Golden Spirit-Beast in three breaths of time!"
The One-Eared Bull Camel and his two lackeys, who were already halfway across the corral in mid-charge, tried desperately to dig their hooves into the dirt to stop when they saw their bald victim suddenly grow into an eleven-foot golden mountain!
Too late!
Old Yellow looked down his nose at the three charging bullies who had pulled out his hair five minutes ago.
His golden cheeks puffed out like a giant frog.
HUUUUU—PTOOEY!
With a sound like a heavy siege crossbow firing, Old Yellow spat a basketball-sized glob of shimmering, sticky golden phlegm straight across the corral!
SPLAT—WHAM!
The high-pressure glob of [Golden Scorpion-Glue Phlegm] hit the One-Eared Bull Camel and his two sidekicks square in the chest, knocking all three eight-hundred-pound camels off their hooves and slamming them backward right against the thick Cool-Breeze Stone wall of the barn!
Within one second of hitting the air, the golden phlegm hardened into a translucent, amber-colored rubbery cement!
The three bully camels were glued two feet off the ground, flat against the vertical barn wall like three giant furry beetles pinned to a board, their twelve legs kicking helplessly in mid-air while they let out muffled, panicked MMPH-HONK sounds!
Dead silence fell over the north corral.
Old Yellow casually flicked the new golden hair on top of his head with a toss of his neck, turned toward the remaining fifty-seven nomad camels by the water trough, and let out a single deep, metallic roar that shook the dust off the barn roof:
ROOOOAAAR-HONK!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
All fifty-seven nomad camels didn't hesitate for half a second! Every single one of them folded their front knees and dropped flat to the ground in the dirt, pressing their long necks onto the sand toward Old Yellow like ministers bowing to an emperor!
==================================================================== [ PET EVOLUTION & UNIT UNLOCK COMPLETE! ] * Old Yellow has evolved into: [Rank 2 Golden-Hump Camel King]! - Loyalty: 100/100 (Produces +100 LP/day as a Rank 2 Beast!) - Special Skill: [Golden Glue-Spit (50-ft Range, Instant Trap!)] - Herd Leader Aura: All 60 Wind-Wolf Camels now obey Old Yellow's commands with 100% coordination! (+20% Caravan Speed!) * [NEW MILITARY UNIT UNLOCKED: DESERT CAMEL CAVALRY (60 Riders)] -------------------------------------------------------------------- * Population: 985 | Daily Income: +2,200 LP/day! ====================================================================
Pei Xuan burst out laughing and reached over the fence to pat Old Yellow's soft, gleaming golden mane. Not only did he get a badass Rank 2 mount with a fifty-foot glue cannon, Old Yellow's evolution to Rank 2 Beast Tier even gave him an extra +100 LP/day because Old Yellow was already at 100 Loyalty!
"Don't worry, Chief Batu," Pei Xuan chuckled, looking at the three camels kicking their legs on the barn wall. "That golden spit dissolves with warm salt water after two hours. Letting those three hang on the wall until midnight will teach them to follow camp discipline."
Batu stared up at the eleven-foot golden camel king in total awe. "My Lord, with Old Yellow leading our sixty camels, not a single camel will ever stray in a sandstorm again!"
However, just as midnight approached and the village settled down to sleep, Old Yellow's golden ears suddenly twitched sharply toward the dark sand dunes north of the village.
At the same time, Chief Batu sniffed the cold night wind and his expression changed instantly.
"Lord Pei!" Batu whispered, his hand dropping to his heavy hunting bow. "Smell the wind... that's foul wolf-musk! The smell of our sixty camels and the meat cauldrons drew the Silver-Back Sand-Wolf Pack out of the deep wastes—and there are at least two hundred of them creeping toward the fence right now!"
Down along the torchlit perimeter of Dry-Well Village, the night watch guards marched past in crisp formation, their heavy boots thudding against the packed roadbed in a steady, reassuring rhythm. Inside the warm kitchen yard, Old Guo scraped the bottom of the giant iron soup cauldron with his long ladle and banked the red-hot coal embers with grey ash so the morning broth would stay piping hot until sunrise. Beside the stone counter, Hong Ling carefully tied a red cotton string around her thick stack of charcoal-written work ledgers, counting the neat rows of copper coins and silver bits one last time before locking the heavy iron cashbox with a satisfied click. Even the yellow-vested debtor laborers stretched out on their clean straw mats inside the wind-sheltered barracks let out long, grateful snores, their bellies full of hot meat-potato stew and sweet well water as the desert stars glittered peacefully overhead.