Beastmaster: I'm really just a forest ranger

Chapter 239 Xia Heng: Consultant Chen will know about our progress
It was already afternoon.

The sun was still scorching, and heat waves accumulated in the air. If it weren't for the cola and the water turtle nearby to cool them down, everyone's body temperature would have already soared to the sky.

On the desolate land directly ahead, a series of ember spirits were moving in the same direction, with clusters of flames suspended on the ground, orderly and seemingly performing some kind of mysterious and eerie procession.

Chen Yuan and the others hid at the foot of a hillside, observing the every move of this large group of wandering fire spirits from afar.

"Ow."

Even Cola, who is usually fearless, couldn't help but shrink back when he saw such a huge number of Wandering Fire Spirits. He quietly took two steps back and tried to hide behind Chen Yuan.

My master won't make me attack them, will he?

Without the help of Paw Patrol, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it with just Coke.

Chen Yuan certainly didn't have such thoughts. Let alone letting Cola launch an attack, even if all the little guys present were combined, they might not be a match for this group of wandering fire spirits.

Although Spark and Cola are already at the third tier of strength, and their individual combat power completely overwhelms the Flame Spirit, when their numbers accumulate to a certain extent, there is a chance that they can overwhelm each other in terms of quality.

Not to mention that even if this group of Wandering Flame Spirits is dealt with, there's no guarantee that another, even larger group of Wandering Flame Spirits won't emerge.

"My goodness." Liu Jinglan exclaimed in shock, "So many wandering fire spirits! No wonder we've hardly seen any other wild pets along the way. This is too outrageous."

"But what are they doing?"

Where are they going?

One question after another popped up, but no one could answer them.

Liu Jingyi showed no fear; instead, she excitedly raised her hand: "Let's go take a look!"

"No!" Liu Jinglan's playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a serious shake of his head. "The road ahead is fraught with unknown dangers; we cannot take this risk."

Liu Jingyi immediately retorted, "Brother, no beast tamer is timid or hesitant; we must be brave enough to explore the unknown."

Liu Jinglan crossed his arms, glared at them, and said bluntly, "Exploring the unknown requires sufficient strength. With your current strength, you're just a burden to us. When we encounter danger, we'll have to take care of you."

“Little Eagle can protect me!” Liu Jingyi said defiantly.

"Wow~"

As if to prove Liu Jingyi right, the Fiery Eagle let out a cry, spread its wings, and prepared to fly high, but Liu Jinglan quickly waved her hand to stop it: "Alright, alright, I'm really afraid of you two little devils."

Then, he turned to Chen Yuan and asked, "Advisor Chen, what do you think we should do now?"

The situation is not complicated at the moment. If they continue to move forward, they will have to face this group of wandering fire spirits. Even if they take a detour, there will definitely be other wandering fire spirits lying in wait ahead.

However, a direct confrontation would at best result in a hard-won victory, which would be detrimental to subsequent actions.

After all, Chen Yuan's main goal was to find the Blazing Flower.

The Blazing Flower is an extremely precious level-four spiritual plant. The surging fire energy it contains is sure to be fatally tempting to every fire-type pet. Once it appears, it will be snapped up in a frenzy.

If the Blazing Flower truly exists, it is most likely currently monopolized by a powerful pet beast.

A multitude of thoughts flashed through Chen Yuan's mind, and he slowly spoke: "Let's stay away and follow these wandering fire spirits to see what they're up to."

"In case of any emergency, I'll cover your retreat, and you all go first."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jinglan quickly said, "Okay, I'll stay with Consultant Chen to cover the rear. You two go first."

Chang Yuhuan was already aware of this and nodded without hesitation.

Liu Jingyi, however, said, "No, I want to go with her."

Before she could finish speaking, Liu Jinglan glared at her fiercely, his brother's bloodline suppression was on full display at this moment. Liu Jingyi could only purse her lips and whisper, "Then you two be careful."

Chen Yuan chuckled: "It's still early, no need to rush into these things. Let's just follow them from a distance."

"it is good!"

Everyone agreed in unison, and then cautiously followed behind the group of wandering fire spirits.

If a patrol team approaches, the Twin Flower Concubine and Cola will team up to use a combo attack to put them to sleep, allowing them to pass through smoothly.

The further you go, the closer you get to the foot of Flaming Mountain, the more and more wandering ember spirits appear.

Looking at the large group of wandering ember spirits hovering around the vast wildfires, Liu Jinglan sighed softly, "If only we could wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

Chen Yuan nodded silently.

But this was just a thought; the third-tier Spark and Cola did not possess the means to defeat hundreds of Wandering Fire Spirits in an instant.

They didn't encounter any other beast tamer teams along the way, presumably because the other teams were also trapped by the swarms of wandering fire spirits and were trying to figure out a way to break the deadlock.

After all, the competition requires clearing the wildfires and defeating the wandering ember spirits. There are wildfires all over the mountains and hundreds of wandering ember spirits floating around, which is definitely a huge amount of points.

Just as Liu Jinglan had imagined, if they could wipe out this group of wandering fire spirits in one fell swoop, they would probably be able to secure first place and leave the other teams far behind.

But no team has been able to do that.

Even Chen Yuan couldn't do it unless he brought all the little guys from the farm and took targeted measures, in which case he might have a chance to achieve his goal.

Suddenly, Liu Jinglan's eyes lit up, and he pointed in one direction: "Look over there."

Everyone looked in the direction the finger was pointing and saw several furtive figures in the distance, and they were all taken aback.

Aren't these Jiang Hu and the other three?

Taking advantage of the fact that the ember spirits were not paying attention, the four of them took a roundabout route and approached Jiang Hu and his group.

"Tiger, what are you doing here?" Liu Jinglan suddenly patted Jiang Hu's shoulder without warning.

"Holy crap, who is it?"

Jiang Hu was startled and shuddered. As he turned around, he clenched his fists, ready to throw a punch.

Fortunately, Liu Jinglan keenly noticed his movement, her eyelids twitched, and she quickly stepped back, shouting, "Damn, it's me!"

"Why is it you guys?" Jiang Hu paused, then withdrew his fist.

After explaining, Jiang Hu made room for him and pointed straight ahead: "Look there."

They were on a slope, and looking ahead, they could see a vast, desolate area where countless ember spirits floated in a circular circle.

In the very center of the desolate area, two pet beasts were facing off against each other.

One of them was a water-type pet beast that Chen Yuan was familiar with, the Raging Wave Crocodile, with sharp spikes standing upright on its back, a long, huge tail swinging, cold eyes staring ahead, and its massive body lying on the scorching sand and gravel.

The other one was an unusually large Fire Ember Spirit. It was like an enhanced and enlarged version of the ordinary Fire Ember Spirit, several times larger. It was not afraid of the Raging Wave Crocodile at all, and its whole body was engulfed in flames.

Chen Yuan felt that this raging crocodile looked very familiar.

Jiang Hu's voice suddenly rang out: "Advisor Chen, this Wandering Fire Ember Spirit is the strongest in this area. It has ruled over hundreds of Wandering Fire Ember Spirits and integrated multiple groups together, blocking the path to the mountain peak."

"To move forward and draw upon the wildfire of this region, we must first defeat this Wandering Flame Spirit."

"But the Fire Spirit pet is very strange. It has low intelligence and its every move is controlled by the leader."

"Once the leader falls, they will scatter and be unable to mount an effective counterattack." "There may seem to be hundreds of them, but once the leader is defeated, we can take them out one by one."

Chen Yuan nodded thoughtfully.

This was just as he had thought; with multiple races living together, there must be an extremely powerful Wandering Fire Spirit that would rule over everything.

"Therefore, whoever can defeat this Fire Spirit leader first will gain a lot of points and be far ahead of the leaderboard."

Jiang Hu turned to look at Chen Yuan and grinned: "Advisor Chen, before you arrived, several teams had already challenged it, but the result was obvious."

Liu Jinglan glanced at Jiang Hu and blurted out, "Did you take the challenge?"

Jiang Hu scratched his head, but did not deny it: "A crushing defeat. This leader of the Wandering Fire Ember Spirits is at the third level. I'm afraid only Murati and the others can contend with it. The other beast tamers who challenged it were all defeated at lightning speed."

Liu Jingyi couldn't help but mutter, "This leader really has martial ethics; he didn't order all the wandering fire spirits to swarm forward."

If it were her, she would never give these beast tamers a chance to fight one-on-one. She would definitely call on all her people to swarm forward, then capture all the beast tamers and whip them severely with long whips made of flames.

Jiang Hu looked at Chen Yuan and gave him a small compliment: "Of course, if Consultant Chen takes action, he can definitely defeat it easily."

Chen Yuan remained noncommittal, only a faint smile appearing on his face. He had just seen a familiar figure.

Xia Heng stood behind the raging crocodile, a confident smile on his face, as if everything was under his control.

Just then, Jiang Hu pointed at Xia Heng and explained to everyone, "I heard that this beast tamer is an outsider that Murati specially invited from another place. It seems that he is the runner-up of a certain A-level competition and his strength is very strong."

"I saw him make a move yesterday. The Raging Crocodile is at the third tier. I wonder if he's a match for the leader of the Ember Spirits?"

Upon seeing Xia Heng's figure in the distance, Liu Jinglan and the other two fell silent.

They had all watched the Dafeng Cup finals and were familiar with Xia Heng.

Why is he here?

Liu Jinglan muttered to himself, "So it turns out that Murati's foreign aid is him. We didn't hire the wrong person after all."

Xia Heng's ability to fight Chen in the finals speaks for itself.

As everyone's thoughts drifted, they saw that the Raging Crocodile and the leader of the Ember Spirit had already begun their second round of fierce fighting.

"Roar!!!"

With a furious roar, the raging crocodile charged forward. When it got close to the leader of the Ember Spirits, it suddenly lashed out with its huge tail, splashing water with tremendous force!
The leader of the Wandering Flame Spirits floated backward at an astonishing speed, leaving a trail of flames as it unleashed [Fire Chains], binding the Raging Tide Crocodile at a speed beyond the sight of the naked eye!

Upon seeing that their leader had succeeded, the surrounding ember spirits became bright and their flames burned.

Xia Heng remained unmoved, his gaze calm, and a thought flashed through his mind: "Once again, the tail of the wave."

This level of attack couldn't even contain the raging crocodile.

"Roar!!"

The raging crocodile's eyes were arrogant. Despite the light chains binding its body and the scorching flames burning it, causing a faint pain, it paid no attention and pulled out its wave tail, smashing the chains with a "snap".

"So strong." Jiang Hu exclaimed upon seeing this.

“Indeed.” Liu Jinglan nodded in agreement.

In his opinion, this Fire Spirit leader was already very strong; at least the Crimson Bull was far from being its match.

However, even the powerful Ember Spirit was powerless against the Raging Crocodile, and the [Fire Chains] that had finally taken effect were easily shattered.

Faced with objectively existing attribute disadvantages, the leader of the Wandering Fire Ember Spirits will likely find it difficult to resist.

Thinking of this, Liu Jinglan's heart sank: "Doesn't that mean the Wild Wolf Roaring Team is going to lock in first place ahead of time?"

Although Liu Jinglan knew that with a burden like his, it would be difficult for them to compete for first place against the powerful [Wild Wolf Roaring Team], he still harbored a sliver of hope.

However, judging from the current situation, this glimmer of hope has been shattered by harsh reality.

This Flame Spirit leader is no match for the Raging Tide Crocodile.

As expected, while Liu Jinglan was lost in thought, the Raging Crocodile launched another fierce attack, forcing the leader of the Ember Spirits to retreat repeatedly. Its body, made of flames, flickered and floated back and forth, dodging and weaving.

"Water gushing out!"

Liu Jinglan's gaze sharpened, keenly seizing the weakness of the leader of the Wandering Fire Ember Spirits, and a thought immediately arose.

"Roar!"

The raging crocodile raised its head and roared, its momentum soaring, and suddenly a surging jet of water burst from its mouth, accurately hitting the leader of the Wandering Fire Ember Spirits.

boom!
The water surged through the air, sending the leader of the Flaming Spirits flying several meters away. It finally collapsed to the ground like a kite with a broken string, its fiery body suddenly dimming.

Xia Heng smiled slightly: "Your strength is not bad, but it's still a bit lacking compared to ours."

"Roar!"

The raging crocodile raised its head, roaring deafeningly, and swung its massive tail, stirring up sand and gravel.

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from behind. Xia Heng's three teammates quickly walked over to his side. Murat, with a smile on his face, spoke first: "Amazing! What a wonderful match!"

The two teammates who were just there to make up the numbers also showered him with praise.

Xia Heng shook his head, his tone slightly regretful: "Unfortunately, its strength is not strong enough to force the Raging Crocodile to its limit, so we cannot make more progress."

He paused briefly, then gazed eastward, his voice deep and serious: "With this little progress alone, we can't beat Chen Yuan."

Chen Yuan, it's Chen Yuan again.

Murat had been hearing that name for days, his ears were practically calloused, but his smile remained unchanged as he reassured him, "Don't worry, after this experience, you'll definitely be able to defeat Chen Yuan when you return to Qin Province."

“Yeah, yeah,” the two teammates echoed.

Xia Heng smiled slightly and did not offer any further explanation.

They hadn't faced Chen Yuan directly, and their descriptions alone couldn't fully convey the terrifying pressure he exerted.

Even though Raging Crocodile has improved slightly since the finals, he is definitely no match for Flame Cloud Falcon.

He knew this very well, better than anyone else.

"But if the Raging Crocodile can fight against a stronger fire-type pet, it might be able to break through its limits in a desperate situation."

“When we challenge Advisor Chen next time, he’ll know how much progress we’ve made.” Xia Heng crouched down, reached out and stroked the cold back of the raging crocodile, and chuckled softly.

"roar~"

The raging crocodile raised its head, its eyes burning with fighting spirit.

As a water-type pet, it is bound to crush all fire-type pets!
Suddenly, out of the corner of Xia Heng's eye, he saw the wandering ember spirits that had been surrounding the leader begin to drift toward the fallen leader and gradually overlap it.

In no time, hundreds of ember spirits overlapped each other, densely packed, their flames connecting to form a huge, raging inferno, with surging heat waves soaring into the sky, creating a spectacular scene.

Just then, a wandering ember spirit floated over carrying a blooming fiery red flower.

(End of this chapter)