Wild Crimson Rose: Beloved Handyman Prince’s Courtesan Wife

'There's not really any other option but to advance forward. The problem is how to do so. We can go back and find if there's any other paths that we haven't found. We entered this place a bit hastily after all.' Shen Tianyu thought to herself.

"You brat, I told you to call me father." Muo Jeng deflated and grumbled not-at-all quietly.

"I would if you didn't become so cringe and disgusting every time I do so." Shen Tianyu replied in as much of a monotone as possible. 

"What did you say?! This is how I talk to my long-awaited daughter, what about it?! Besides, other old grandpas do this to their granddaughters all the time!" Muo Jeng jumped around in anger. 

"What long awaited? You never even thought of having a spouse or child until after you took me in." Shen Tianyu deadpanned. "Anyways, can we get to the matter at hand please?"

"Ahem. Yes. Father will help you. What do you want daddy to do?" Muo Jeng cleared his throat and persisted.

"There's an ancient demonic beast or something sealed in that cave. I can't see any other entrances or pathways so I suspect we have to get through the demonic beast. Should we press forward or go back and find another way?" Shen Tianyu pointed at the cave and spoke.

"Hm? What kind of demonic beast?" Muo Jeng held his hands behind his back and leisurely walked towards the entrance, looking around the wall without hugging it. 

"It's rolled into a ball so I can't tell but it should have legs, according to the size of the ball." Shen Tianyu followed him.

"Indeed. I don't think I recognize this kind of demonic beast... Little Su." Muo Jeng called over the son and head disciple of the Beast Taming section's elder.

Unlike most other Beast Tamers, Yaodu's Beast Taming section did not focus on subjugating and controlling one's spiritual beast but on how the two could coexist. It was a more friendly way of creating contracts through talking and understanding demonic beasts instead of the general brute force kidnapping or forcing a contract when a demonic beast was young. It did take more time raising a spiritual beast into an ȧduŀt that might not be as powerful as their wild counterparts compared to just contracting an ȧduŀt demonic beast after all. Though the few members of it did not have as many spiritual beasts contracted to them as some of the favored members of famous overworld Sects but they were definitely more powerful. Some of their spiritual beasts were from species residing within the forest and some were from other wild parts of the world that were hard to find. 

An young ȧduŀt man, older than a teenager but not old enough to be a white-collar worker, stepped out from the front of the crowd. It was the young man that had looked inside the cave with Shao Wei and Shen Tianyu before.

"Yes, elder." Little Su answered him. 

Though Muo Jeng had retired as the Master of Yaodu, it wasn't like he didn't do anything anymore. Also, he complained that he didn't want to be called the Former Master after a while. So he was instated as the Poison Elder that specialized in poisons. He didn't really have any responsibilities unlike the Medical section and just acts like an antisocial recluse. He also doesn't have any disciple other than Shen Tianyu. Well, he did create and detoxify a bunch of poisons on his own so he wasn't a complete parasite. 

"Do you know what kind of creature this is?" Muo Jeng asked, pointing at the creature. 

"I am also unsure but I think that might be a Poisonous Earth Dragon." Little Su answered without looking. "I believe one of my Father's books mentioned that they had been extinct for at least a thousand years, I never thought we would be able to see one here. They like to live deep underground and can not stand sunlight, not that they were allergic or anything to sunlight. Their bodies can create crystals that store their power, the more crystal spikes on their back, the older or more powerful they are. However, if anyone tries to attack or take their crystals, they will attack. Their roars are deafening enough to disorient people, due to their size. They can also melt the ground around them in a certain radius and create a pool of poisonous acid. In addition to that, they can create crystal-like flowers that sprout out of the ground that can kill someone with a single touch. If agitated enough, they could destroy wherever they were living and cause the ground above to cave in. Perhaps it was because the power of cultivators had declined or because they despised being hunted and disturbed but none of them could be found since a thousand years ago."

"Hm... but that's not really enough information to go off on. It's all about how powerful they can be but nothing about their weaknesses. Also, nothing about what kind of underground places they liked to settle in. Do they like to settle under desserts? Wastelands? Swamps? Fertile land? Natural forests?" Shen Tianyu poked her cheek with a finger in thought.

"Yes. Unfortunately, many records have been lost due to the wars of humans and because they have not been seen for a long time so many things have been forgotten. In fact, Father theorized that they had long disappeared before the designated time of "extinction" because the last few that were discovered before that time did not seem to have any major records. Which hints that those cultivators might have hunted down stragglers, heavily injured Poisonous Earth Dragons or young ones that had been abandoned for whatever reason." Little Su nodded, his hands behind his back.

"Then, it looks like the best course of action is to backtrack and find another path." Shen Tianyu looked behind her at the path they had come from.

"Why? Can't we just attack it from the air?" A newer recruit asked from the back.