Beastmaster: I'm really just a forest ranger

Chapter 295 The First Qin Province Riding Competition Opens!
September 12, evening.

The cold wind howled, swirling up snowflakes and shattering the darkness of the night.

Suddenly, a strong wind swept across the open space surrounding the farm.

"Ouch!"

Cola stared intently at the swirling wind he had created, the swirling snowflakes dancing in his eyes, melting into the night and becoming deeper in their intensity.

The gale continued to howl.

Whether it's wind blades, wind surges, or wind vortexes, all of Cola's various skills take turns appearing in the gale, unleashing astonishing power.

After advancing, Cola's proficiency in all its skills improved, and its power reached a new level.

Training day and night, and practicing thousands of times, is the most effective way to improve skill power.

Chen Yuan leaned against a large tree, silently watching Kele train, a multitude of thoughts surfacing in his mind.

Cola is a fairly well-rounded pet.

Wind Blade can deal both single-target and area-of-effect damage, Windwalk can increase speed, Wind Surge is an excellent crowd control skill, and Vortex Assault is undoubtedly a high-power single-target skill.

Four skills may seem few, but they can actually help Coca-Cola cope with all sorts of situations.

But after mastering two new skills, Cola becomes more well-rounded, a true all-rounder.

Cola's current training focus is on improving his proficiency in [Wind Vortex Smash] and [Mind Shock] as much as possible, so that he can truly clash with Spark in the near future, instead of the one-sided battle he is in now.

In order to get Cola to train seriously, Chen Yuan had to grant it a special request.

“Ahhh.”

After a while, as the last rays of the setting sun disappeared from sight, Cola, panting heavily, ran back to Chen Yuan's side, raised its head, stuck out its tongue, and wagged its tail frantically.

Chen Yuan noticed the longing in Kele's eyes. He smiled helplessly and waved his hand, "Go back first."

"Ow!"

With a longing look on its face, Cola wagged its tail and nudged Chen Yuan's back with its huge head, urging him to hurry home.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Chen Yuan stroked the dog's head with his other hand and smiled slightly.

"Ow!"

Cola nodded emphatically, his eyes revealing a deep longing.

It can't wait any longer.

As night fell and a chilly breeze blew, the man and his pet left the training ground and returned to the farm.

As soon as they entered the farm, Cola rushed into the lobby, gently bit a cell phone in her mouth, and returned to Chen Yuan's side at lightning speed.

Chen Yuan swiped the screen, unlocked it with his face, and handed the Coke to him: "Here you go, don't break it."

"Ow!"

Cola nodded repeatedly, chewed on her phone, and quickly walked to the edge of the fishpond, beckoning Runrun Duck to sit down next to her.

"quack!"

Runrun Duck opened its mouth and sprayed out a small stream of water, first washing the dirty ground, and then plopped down next to Cola.

A dog and a duck huddled together, the chilly evening breeze caressing their bodies, but the two little guys' attention was already drawn to the glowing screen of a mobile phone.

A battle video played on the screen, and Lü Hao's voice rang out:
"The Wind-Riding Dog flew into the sky!"

"What! The Wind-Riding Hound used the Wind Vortex Smash, instantly knocking down more than ten pet beasts!"

"The black-striped spiders were terrified, the servant bees were frightened, and they all submitted to the wind-riding hound!"

"Did you see it?"

"The true number one dog of the Eastern Empire!"

Lu Hao's tone was excited and high-spirited, every word boasting about Cola's power. Coupled with the clear battle footage, Cola's dog mouth kept wide open, and its fluffy tail wagged in a joyful rhythm.

Finally, he got to shine.

Three days have passed since the conflict between the two major pet beast groups was resolved, and the adventure team, led by Cola, has perfectly completed this mission.

Cola still clearly remembers everything that happened that day. She flew into the air, and her invincible figure completely intimidated the two major pet beast groups, causing them to lower their heads in submission.

Even the most troublesome Queen Bee didn't dare to resist and obediently lowered her head.

All of this is thanks to me, Cola.

Subsequently, Cola used two main methods, "verbal persuasion" and "physical persuasion," to stop the large-scale conflict between the two pet beast groups and temporarily reconcile them without holding grudges.

It's unclear how long this reconciliation will last, but as long as the adventure team remains in the Qinling Mountains, they will have to be cautious.

In the end,
To thank the adventure team for their timely advice and to compensate for the harm done to the bear father and cubs, the servant bees "voluntarily" gifted them a batch of sweet honey.

The mission was successfully completed, and the mountain returned to peace. Cloud Fox found its other escaped companions and finally returned home.

The adventure team also returned to the farm.

Ke Lühao livestreamed the entire incident, and the battle between the two pet groups and Cola's heroic performance sparked heated discussions online.

When Chen Yuan, with a serious expression, found Kele on his phone, the latter realized that he had become famous again.

An extraordinary fire.

An unimaginable fire.

Many netizens have been discussing the specific combat strength of the Wind Rider and comparing it with the Blazing Sky Falcon, ultimately arriving at a seemingly reasonable conclusion—a 50/50 match.

Some netizens edited clips of Cola's battle against Qiongyu Shuangfeng and the highlights of the live stream together, adding exciting background music to completely highlight Cola's imposing presence. This made Cola watch the clips several times every night before he could fall asleep peacefully.

Some netizens also enthusiastically promoted the Heavenly Dog Cult, causing the number of followers to soar. This indirectly sparked a craze for canine pets, and the price of Ningfeng Hunting Dogs was driven up to exorbitant levels.

As for Cola, the animal involved, it has to train hard every day in exchange for short periods of time to play on its phone, in order to enjoy the praise and compliments from netizens.

This time it stole the show, a treatment even the boss didn't receive.

Letting Cola and Runrun Duck play with their phones, Chen Yuan went straight into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

We will have guests visiting tonight.

"Crackling sound".

When Ironhead, the gatekeeper, spoke, Chen Yuan looked around and then at Scarface Rat, who was cleaning, said, "Could you please bring the guest here?"

"call out."

Suddenly entrusted with an important task, Scarface Rat nodded solemnly and hopped to the farm gate.

After a while

"Advisor Chen, it's been a long time."

"Consultant Chen, I'm sorry to bother you today."

"Brother Yuan, is dinner ready? I'm starving."

Tonight's guests visiting the farm include best friends Li Qing and Yang Yue, and the unlucky young couple Lin Hongwei and Gong Jia.

As for Zhang Hao, this guy often comes to the farm to freeload, and even Tie Touwa is familiar with his smell and won't stop him from entering the farm.

The group came through the wind and snow and entered the cozy courtyard illuminated by dim yellow lights.

Although they were all beast tamers, they were all wearing thick cotton-padded clothes or overcoats. Li Qing and Yang Yue even wore scarves and furry earmuffs.

They rubbed their hands together, breathing out warm air, and stepped onto the ground where the snow had been swept away as they entered the lobby.

Chen Yuan nodded in response to them and said with a smile, "Please have a seat, it will be ready soon."

After saying that, he went back to the kitchen to continue preparing the ingredients.

Since it's a cold winter, we should have a piping hot and spicy hot pot.

Since inviting Jiang Wenning and others to his home for hot pot last time, Chen Yuan considered that this situation would not be uncommon in the future, so he specially bought a copper pot for cooking hot pot.

In a moment,

On this snowy night, the copper pot became the throne of the hall. The rich, red broth churned in the nine-compartment pot, with dense Sichuan peppercorns rolling up red waves, tripe and duck intestines bobbing on the crests, and frozen tofu swelled up into a golden sponge after soaking up the spicy sauce.

"Sit down, sit down. Are you all hungry?"

Chen Yuan took the seat of honor first, and then invited everyone else to sit down.

Zhang Hao sat down next to Chen Yuan without any ceremony, his sharp eyes quickly scanning the table before a satisfied smile appeared on his face: "Mmm, tender beef, fatty beef, and my favorite dried bamboo shoots."

The other four people sat down one after another, the rising steam from the hot pot filling their vision, and the room gradually warmed up.

Outside, the wind and snow intensified, while inside, the house was warm and cozy.

While picking up a piece of tripe with his chopsticks, Zhang Hao asked, "Brother Yuan, where did the old man go?"

"Grandpa," Chen Yuan smiled slightly, "he has so many social engagements these days, he's having dinner at a friend's house tonight."

Since the old man became a formal beast tamer, his status in the village has gradually risen, and he is showing signs of becoming the leader of the older generation.

His days are very fulfilling; he either strolls around the village with his friends or offers suggestions for the village's development, only returning home at night.

Well, it's better to have a more fulfilling time than to spend all day just sitting in the yard sunbathing.

As they chatted and enjoyed the hot pot, the atmosphere gradually warmed up with the rising steam.

Zhang Hao stretched out his arm to scoop up the duck blood, complaining about the hard work and exhaustion he'd endured: "You have no idea how tiring it is to prepare for a competition."

"Countless documents need to be written, and every little detail needs constant discussion and revision."

As he spoke, he let out a long sigh: "I'm so tired, so very tired. I hope this competition goes smoothly."

As the main planner of this competition, Zhang Hao has been working tirelessly during this period, revising the plan in the office from morning to night, which has made him quite haggard.

Yang Yue and Li Qingzao took off their plush earmuffs, and their noses were sweating from the spiciness.

Li Qing gulped down the plum juice and gasped for breath, while Yang Yue pulled out the hair clip from the back of her head, and her long hair spread out like ink splashed on the ground.

The Cloud Fox, lying at Yang Yue's feet, was getting anxious. It was eyeing the delicious food in the pot. It got up and kept circling around Yang Yue, its eyes filled with longing.

Yang Yue fed it a piece of spicy beef, but the spiciness made the Cloud Fox pant heavily, and it rushed outside to cool itself off in the biting cold wind. Lin Hongwei blew on the cooked tripe to cool it down before feeding it to Gong Jia, who dipped it in sesame oil and then fed it back to him. The two exchanged words with their chopsticks, the minced garlic in the oil dish practically melting in their mouths.

Seeing the sweet interaction between the young couple, Zhang Hao glanced at the duck blood in his bowl and suddenly felt that the originally delicious food had no taste at all.

He sighed deeply.

Zhang Hao originally had a girlfriend, but since the spiritual energy revival, he has been busy, and coupled with the fact that they were already in a long-distance relationship, this already fragile relationship finally came to an end.

But in the words of stationmaster Song Guohao, this is actually a good thing.

Zhang Hao will have more time to devote to his work.

The atmosphere grew increasingly heated. Zhang Hao bit into the spicy beef with gusto, sweat beading on his forehead, and his voice was muffled: "The competition starts promptly at nine o'clock tomorrow. Don't be late."

"Oh, by the way, when you're making the sled tomorrow, I suggest you don't focus on aesthetics, but rather on practicality. Just make sure it doesn't fall apart halfway through."

Zhang Hao explained the precautions for the upcoming competition to everyone.

Tomorrow is the 25th, the day of the fun riding competition.

Just as Chen Yuan had envisioned, the fun competition did not pursue competition, but focused on entertainment.

The rules of the competition are very simple: the contestants first make sleds using materials, then start from the village entrance, travel around the surrounding mountains and forests, and finally return to the village entrance.

Due to the large number of participants, it is impossible for them to start at the same time. Therefore, each group consists of ten participants, and each group starts every ten minutes. The participant with the shortest time wins.

Everyone was excited about the fun competition.

Of all those present, Chen Yuan would naturally participate. He and Kele had long been working together seamlessly, and their sled driving skills were top-notch. Therefore, they had only one goal—the championship.

Yang Yue also chose to participate. Her Cloud Fox has made great progress during this period. With her money, it has advanced to the quality of a leader and its size has increased significantly. It has also begun to have the ability to pull a sled.

Li Qing, of course, did not choose to participate; she only came specifically to cheer for Yang Yue and experience the enthusiastic atmosphere.

Chen Yuan also couldn't imagine the scene of scaly green snakes or ripple snakes pulling sleds.

In this harsh winter, who knows, maybe it will start hibernating?
Lin Hongwei chose to participate.

His main pet is the Snow-Striped Cloud Leopard, which Chen Yuan had seen in Puda Snow Mountain. It is undoubtedly an excellent mount.

His girlfriend did not choose to participate.

Zhang Hao chose to participate without Chen Yuan's knowledge.

Chen Yuan frowned: "Don't you need to keep an eye on the game?"

Zhang Hao waved his hand and grinned: "I'm in charge of the planning; Song and the others will handle these on-site details."

He paused, then hugged his neck with both hands, his eyes sparkling with anticipation: "Grey Armored Wild Boar and I are also really looking forward to this competition."

The hot pot was piping hot, and the steam had eroded small holes in the frost on the windowpane. Outside, the night was as cold as ink, and the little ones were playing together, their bodies covered in swirling snowflakes.

Amidst the swirling snowflakes, Chen Yuan scooped up the last slice of fatty beef; the rising steam from the copper pot almost melted away the winter chill of the Qinling Mountains.

It was sunny on March 12.

Early in the morning, Xuanhe Village was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums and the crackling of firecrackers, as hundreds of beast tamers gathered at the village entrance.

The Qin Province Beast Tamer Association attached great importance to this competition and promoted it extensively. In addition, the sudden popularity of Consultant Chen brought widespread attention to this remote mountain village located in the Qinling Mountains.

The first Qinling Riding Competition, held in Xuanhe Village, attracted the attention of countless beast tamers.

As this was the first competition, the planning was hasty and the preparations were rushed. In addition, given the size of Xuanhe Village, it was not possible to host a large-scale competition with thousands of participants at the moment. Therefore, the registered participants were strictly screened, and in the end, hundreds of people were selected from thousands of registered participants.

The vast majority of them were locals from Shaanxi Province, with very few from other provinces.

But Lu Ran just happened to be one of them.

When Chen Yuan arrived at the village entrance, he happened to see Lu Ran being interviewed by the Qin Province Daily. Lu Ran raised his eyebrows, crossed his arms, and looked as confident as ever: "This time I'm here for the championship."

He faced the camera with an exceptionally broad smile: "I will definitely be the champion of the first Qinling Cycling Competition!"

"Even if Consultant Chen comes, it won't make a difference, I said it."

Chen Yuan silently passed by him, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

He already knew about Lu Ran's registration for the cycling competition.

It's late December, and the Beast Taming Academy is about to hold its final exams. In order to improve themselves to the greatest extent possible during this period, some students stay at school to train hard, some go deep into the wild to train, and some participate in various competitions.

Lu Ran belongs to the latter category.

Although the competition he participated in was rather special, Lu Ran managed to contract an excellent mount pet—the Red-hoofed Steed.

Sharp-eyed reporters spotted Consultant Chen and immediately abandoned Lu Ran, rushing towards him and shoving microphones in front of him.

"Consultant Chen, I heard you've also signed up for the cycling competition!"

Facing the cameras, Chen Yuan smiled brightly and clearly delivered the prepared introduction: "Yes, the Qinling Riding Competition combines entertainment and competition, with generous rewards. Beastmasters from all over are welcome to participate."

Zhuang Jianbai leaned against the corner, the soft sunlight illuminating his face, which was sometimes bright and sometimes dark. A large, snow-white dog lay beside him, panting.

He stared at Chen Yuan for a long while before withdrawing his complicated gaze, lowering his deep eyes, and saying in a low voice, "This is our only chance to defeat Advisor Chen."

"Wang!"

The winter dog understood this principle well, standing tall with its head held high and its eyes shining brightly.

Since we can't win on the field, let's try a different approach.

In any case, his idea of ​​defeating Advisor Chen had long since vanished in a series of crushing battles, and his confidence was crushed along with it.

All he wants now is not to be left too far behind by Consultant Chen.

As long as I can see Consultant Chen's back from afar, that's fine.

After shaking off the reporters, Chen Yuan looked around and saw many familiar faces again.

Some of them are contestants who have participated in the Taibai Cup and Dafeng Cup, while others are outstanding beast tamers who have recently gained fame.

As an advisor to the Qin Province Beast Tamer Association, Chen Yuan knew a little about them.

The registration and review process was exceptionally rigorous, and only these individuals were able to successfully pass through multiple layers of review to participate in the main competition.

As the gentle sunlight bathed the entire Xuanhe Village, hundreds of contestants and most of the villagers gathered at the village entrance, their faces beaming with smiles as they quietly awaited the start of the competition.

One elderly person said, "I've lived most of my life, and this is the first time I've ever seen the village so lively."

An elderly man nearby nodded in agreement: "Yes, I hope it can be this lively in the future."

The village chief was surrounded by people in the center. He had long reached retirement age, but he made a series of outstanding achievements as he approached retirement, and was even recently nominated as a model village chief.

He tilted his head slightly, a smile appearing on his usually calm face: "The village will get better and better."

Everyone looked ahead towards the sunlight and saw Chen Yuan standing at the village entrance, bathed in sunlight, with a majestic wind-riding dog lying beside him, like a god leading a celestial dog.

At 8:30, leaders from the Qin Province Beast Tamer Association and the Fengcheng Beast Tamer Association took the stage to speak. There were not many complicated procedures. At 9:00, the first group of competitions officially began.

This competition is highly valued and will be broadcast live in its entirety using new technologies.

Not only were photographers filming the entire journey on aerial vehicles, but cameras were also placed in several key areas to ensure multi-camera shooting and multi-angle presentation.

Zhang Hao went to great lengths to ensure the smooth running of this riding competition, taking into account every aspect.

No wonder his hair has been thinning recently, and it's starting to resemble Chen Wenhao's.

At exactly nine o'clock, the first group of participants arrived at the designated competition area.

To Chen Yuan's surprise, almost all the contestants in the first group were acquaintances: Zhang Hao, Yang Yue, Lin Hongwei, Lu Ran, Zhuang Jianbai, Lü Hao, and three local beast tamers from Qin Province.

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Zhang Hao: "You arranged this?"

Zhang Hao spread his hands and grinned, "Coincidence, coincidence."

Chen Yuan smiled silently.

The battle of acquaintances is indeed a wonderful coincidence.

"Advisor Chen, it's been a long time."

Zhuang Jianbai walked up to Chen Yuan and greeted him, his eyes filled with a deep fighting spirit.

This fighting spirit had nothing to do with the battle between pets; it was only related to Chen Yuan himself.

Defeating Consultant Chen in any aspect would be exciting news for Zhuang Jianbai.

Maybe today he'll unlock his first experience of defeating Consultant Chen?
Chen Yuan never hesitated to smile at his defeated subordinate: "Long time no see, how's training going lately?"

Zhuang Jianbai took a deep breath, met Advisor Chen's gentle gaze, and said in a deep voice, "I am preparing for the Donghuang Conference, and I hope to continue to spar with Advisor Chen then."

"Hey, hey, hey." Lu Ran waved his hand in front of Zhuang Jianbai and said casually, "If you want to challenge Consultant Chen, you'll have to get past me first."

Zhuang Jianbai's smile froze.

He once fought against Lu Ran, and his pet was completely defeated by Lu Ran.

Lu Hao was checking his first-person live streaming equipment. After confirming that everything was in order, he immediately started the live stream: "Brothers, today I'm going to give you an immersive live stream of my participation in the mount competition."

"Let's start a prediction contest and see how many viewers think the streamer will win."

"By the way, the contestants next to the host are all very accomplished. This one needs no introduction; he's Consultant Chen, a big name in our Qin Province, and the champion of the first Dafeng Cup."

"This is Zhuang Jianbai, a genius student from Yunhua Beast Taming Academy, who has achieved excellent results in the Great Wind Cup."

Zhuang Jianbai nodded slightly.

Lu Ran's face suddenly appeared in the frame. He puffed out his cheeks, lightly blew on his bangs, his dark red hair flowing in the wind, and gave a wicked smile: "And there's me, the young master, a genius student of the Eastern Beast Taming Academy, about to win the championship in the Eastern Tournament."

As everyone chatted and discussed, the referee in charge of the competition arrived. Everyone composed themselves, stopped talking, and quietly waited for the competition to begin.

With a crisp whistle, everyone's eyes sharpened, and they simultaneously summoned their pets and strode towards the nearby woods.

The first step in the fun competition is to make a sled, and to make a sled, high-quality wood is naturally indispensable.

There is a small grove of trees near the village entrance, which is the place designated by the competition committee for obtaining timber.

The group and their pets rushed to the spot, standing before the towering trees, unleashing a barrage of skill beams.

Looking at the tall trees in front of him, Chen Yuan couldn't help but sigh, "If only Ironhead were here."

　I didn't reach the word limit today, I'll write more tomorrow.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)