Chapter 406 - 269: Tribute? Your Mom

"My grandfather told me that many, many years ago, there were no Earthquake Beasts here, and no earthquakes either."

"Oh? So you’re saying the disaster you call an earthquake only started happening after these so-called Earthquake Beasts appeared?"

"That’s right. But my grandfather said he heard it from his grandfather. By the time I was born, earthquakes had already been a disaster plaguing Jinshi Village for a very long time..."

Wang Yichuan explained the origin of the Earthquake Beasts to Su Zhi. Wang Shichuan carried Wang Yichuan on his back, while Wang Baichuan walked at the very front, leading the way.

According to their description, the Earthquake Beasts varied in size. The small ones were about the size of a house dog, while the large ones could sometimes be as big as a small hill.

Their bodies resembled stone. They had no eyes, and their mouths took up almost half of their body’s surface. These beasts had a varying number of short legs and moved like caterpillars, but their speed was apparently astonishingly fast—sometimes, they could even snatch birds out of the air.

If you couldn’t get out of its Perception range quickly, it would treat you as prey and pursue you relentlessly. It would even cause earthquakes, destroying the surrounding environment.

Individually, an Earthquake Beast’s combat power wasn’t high, but their ability to cause earthquakes made all living creatures fear them. When they appeared in groups, their power and presence were immense, and even other Exotic Beasts would give them a wide berth.

’In any case, they aren’t any known Exotic Beast from Blue Star...’ Su Zhi couldn’t recall any Pet Beast from his memory that matched their description.

’But based on the time period here, it should correspond to the Classical Era. Perhaps they’re a type of Exotic Beast that’s already extinct in the real world? I can’t be sure. I’ll have to go back and ask Luo Sen to find out.’

Although he had triggered the "lore dump" part of the plot, the trio of grandfather and grandsons didn’t slow their pace one bit.

’This is more like it. If they’d stopped to tell stories and triggered an attack because of the delay, it would have been a real disaster... Looks like they’re actual people, not NPCs.’

The thought made Su Zhi unsure whether to laugh or cry, reminding him of a few games he’d played with similar plots.

"The village elders say that by living here, we have disturbed the long slumber of the Underground Divine Beast. The Earthquake Beasts are its servants, sent to walk the mortal world. Unless we obey the Divine Beast’s will, we will forever be plagued by the disaster of earthquakes."

As he spoke, Wang Yichuan let out a long sigh.

"But this whole area is remote and desolate. It was hard enough to find even a tiny patch of land to live on. We’ve put down roots here for generations—where else could we possibly move?"

Su Zhi nodded. "That is indeed the case."

From what they had said, the level of productivity here was still stuck in the early agrarian age. Even Beastmasters were an extremely rare talent.

It was basically the same situation as the Classical Era in Yu Dian: wild Exotic Beasts ran rampant, and humans lacked the means to fight back. It was often a great struggle just to find a place to settle down safely.

Even after the great unified dynasties were established, transportation and travel between regions relied almost entirely on the Beastmasters of each administrative district. Ordinary commoners basically wouldn’t—and didn’t dare to—leave the land they lived on.

This only began to change in the modern era, when humanity started conquering nature on a large scale.

But in ancient Yu Dian, no matter how backward a region was, there would always be some people who awakened a Beast Taming Space, eventually producing at least a few Beastmasters.

The situation in this Secret Realm was much worse; it seemed no one here naturally awakened a Beast Taming Space. So far, the only Beastmaster Su Zhi had learned about was the reclusive "Lord" they kept mentioning.

Su Zhi asked curiously, "According to you, after that Lord Beastmaster arrived, the Earthquake Beasts stopped being as brazen as they were before?"

"Of course!"

At the mention of this, Wang Baichuan was suddenly wide awake. "The Lord is our hero! His Pet Beasts are incredibly powerful. Thanks to his protection, those Earthquake Beasts don’t dare come into our village and wreak havoc."

Wang Shichuan shook his head. "Even so, two fists are no match for four hands. There are times when the Lord can’t watch over us. When that happens, we can usually only beg the Earthquake Beasts to leave by offering them tribute."

Su Zhi raised an eyebrow. "Tribute?"

"But that won’t happen again! Now that Su Zhi is here, we have another Lord Beastmaster. Those Earthquake Beasts definitely won’t dare to cause trouble! Although he can’t compare to the other Lord, Su Zhi is also... uh..."

Realizing he had misspoken, Wang Baichuan quickly shut his mouth and bowed repeatedly in apology.

"My Lord, I’m sorry! I... I did it again..."

"It’s fine, it’s fine." Su Zhi laughed and patted his shoulder.

At the same time, he was inwardly relieved. ’Finally, someone didn’t call me ’Lord’... if only for a second.’

"Lord, we’re at the village!"

As he spoke, Wang Yichuan pointed to a stone tablet up ahead. On it were clearly carved the two words "Jinshi Village," seemingly in the classical clerical script of Yu Dian.

Su Zhi stroked his chin with interest. Compared to orthodox clerical script, these characters were a bit more elegant and cursive, bearing strong traces of an individual’s personal style.

So, Su Zhi asked, "Who left this stone tablet?"

Wang Baichuan quickly replied, "The words were bestowed by the Lord Beastmaster!"

’Just as I thought... Based on this script, I can probably determine that the person was from the late Yu Dian Classical Era. However, the late Classical Era spanned several hundred years, so it’s difficult to pinpoint a more specific time frame.’

Su Zhi pulled his gaze away from the stone tablet and sized up the village.

Jinshi Village was not large. The tallest buildings were only two stories high, and from the entrance, you could see all the way to the other end.

Most of the dwellings in the village were made of brick and stone, though there were also some thatched huts. A few fallen leaves were scattered on the doorsteps of several homes.