"Thank you for the instruction, Elder Yu," Wei Zhao said flatly. Whatever else might be said, the old man was a nuisance, but he had explained a great deal. Very well — if you have the sense to hand over a single Qi Condensation Pill and give me your medical notes, then I won't kill you, Wei Zhao thought to himself.

"Hmph, this is common knowledge to anyone in the hidden families," Elder Yu said haughtily. He had to preserve that air of superiority that came of being from a hidden family at every turn.

"Roar—" the monster cried out again.

But General Weiwu stirred. It walked toward the monster, barking twice as it went, as though conveying some message to it.

Hearing General Weiwu's barks, the monster suddenly fell quiet. The fury in its eyes dispersed in an instant, replaced by an expression of deference — though, because Elder Yu had wounded it, a flicker of pain still crossed its gaze from time to time.

Spirit beast though it was, with hide thick and flesh tough, Elder Yu was a skilled Earth Rank hand, and a blow like that landing on its body was more than it could easily bear. Plainly it had suffered internal injury; otherwise it would never have flown into such a rage and tried to kill Elder Yu outright.

"Woof, woof..."

"Roar..."

"Woof..."

"Roar, roar..."

The two beasts seemed to be conversing, but what exactly they were saying, Wei Zhao could not begin to guess. General Weiwu could understand his words, but he could not understand General Weiwu's, and still less the words of that whatever-it-was monster.

Suddenly General Weiwu stretched out a forepaw and laid it upon the monster's body. At once alarm showed on the monster's face, but in the next moment it turned to an expression of comfort and ease.

"A healing-type spirit beast!" The moment Elder Yu saw General Weiwu's movement, he knew it must be healing the monster's wounds — the wounds, of course, that he himself had inflicted. Greed crept into Elder Yu's eyes. Healing-type spirit beasts could be called the very finest of their kind; beasts of this sort could heal humans and other spirit beasts alike, and naturally the extent of the healing depended on the beast's rank — the higher the rank, the graver the wounds it could mend. A high-rank healing-type spirit beast could take a man beaten nearly to death and heal him whole. That was how wondrous they were!

General Weiwu was only of the Mystic Rank, but give it time and it would become a Heaven Rank spirit beast, and possessing such a formidable ability would be no difficult matter. Spirit beasts advanced more swiftly than humans. In Elder Yu's mind, if he could take this dog back to the Yu family, what regard and what rewards would he not receive?

He rather regretted having said so much to Wei Zhao. If he had quietly traded certain benefits for the dog, it would have been easy enough; but to snatch it openly from Wei Zhao's hands was another matter.

"A healing-type spirit beast?" A strange look flashed across Wei Zhao's face. Healing type, my ass. What General Weiwu carried in its body was his own universal true qi, which worked on anyone. How had it become a healing-type spirit beast? General Weiwu could attack as well, couldn't it?

But Wei Zhao could not be bothered to explain all this to Elder Yu. As things stood, General Weiwu seemed to have reached some sort of agreement with the monster; otherwise it would not have taken the initiative to treat the creature's wounds.

Before long the monster gave a comfortable groan: "Roar—"

It was as though its whole body brimmed with strength and vitality; its earlier wounds were healed completely! This left Elder Yu breathing harder still. That had been the full-force blow of a skilled Earth Rank hand — and it was cured so easily?

His strike might not necessarily have done this monster great harm, but that General Weiwu could heal it in so short a time was enough to show how remarkable the beast was.

Elder Yu glanced at General Weiwu without betraying a thing, turning over in his mind how to spirit it away and carry it back to the hidden Yu family. Even if the Qi Condensation Pill, the medical notes, and the notes on pill refinement could not be found, this one healing-type spirit beast would be enough.

General Weiwu could indeed understand Wei Zhao's words, and it knew the purpose of Wei Zhao's visit to the ancient tomb. The tomb-guarding spirit beast's ultimate purpose was to guard the tomb, and to guard the stone coffin of the dead within it; so long as General Weiwu made clear that they would not touch the coffin, the tomb-guarding spirit beast would naturally no longer bar the way.

Besides, General Weiwu had healed the monster's wounds, and the tomb-guarding spirit beast was endlessly grateful.

"Woof, woof—" Having settled matters with the tomb-guarding spirit beast, General Weiwu barked twice at Wei Zhao and the others.

Wei Zhao nodded, guessing at General Weiwu's meaning, and walked forward, while Qiu Lingshan, Chen Yutian, and Yu Xiaoke followed behind him, and together they headed on down the passage.

Elder Yu and Old Hei, however, had been frightened out of their wits earlier and scarcely dared go forward. Only after they saw Wei Zhao pass by the tomb-guarding spirit beast and found that nothing untoward happened did they breathe a sigh of relief and hurry to catch up.

But Wei Zhao's being unharmed did not mean Elder Yu would be. Just as Elder Yu passed by the tomb-guarding spirit beast, it suddenly reared up and roared at him: "Roar—"

"Ah!" Elder Yu was badly startled and flung himself backward, only to crash into the stone wall behind him, knocking himself dizzy and turning him round and round, nearly frightened out of his wits. This tomb-guarding spirit beast had been formidable enough after he wounded it; now that it was healed, would it not be even more formidable?

Yet after startling Elder Yu, the tomb-guarding spirit beast made no further move. It lay there, showing no intention of attacking him again. Plainly it had only meant to give him a scare and settle the old score. With General Weiwu mediating, the tomb-guarding spirit beast would not harm Elder Yu again, yet it was unwilling to let him off so easily — hence that one lunge.

By now Elder Yu understood that he had been frightened for nothing, and his face reddened. He laughed at himself: "Ha ha, this tomb-guarding spirit beast is rather clever — it played a joke on me!"

Of course, his joke was not funny in the least, and after he said it, Wei Zhao and the others could not be bothered to pay him any mind.

When Old Hei passed by, the tomb-guarding spirit beast did not so much as spare him a glance, plainly paying him no heed. Yet that feeling of being looked down upon by the beast pleased Old Hei enormously.

With the tomb-guarding spirit beast no longer barring the way, the road became smooth. Wei Zhao's jade pendant gave no more warning signals. Only Elder Yu's explanations about spirit beasts left Wei Zhao sunk in thought — General Weiwu clearly was not a spirit beast, or else was a man-made one.

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