Book 3 Chapter 36 – Plans and Schemes

　　"You've seen that beast tamer. What are your thoughts? What about Bi Fang and Ya Yu? You heard the discussion earlier, can we even handle him?" Bai Ze's aid answered a lot of Li Yiming's questions. As dusk was about to settle in, Li Yiming directed the topic of the conversation toward the more pressing problem at hand.

　　"I don't know much about that beast tamer. I can tell that he's very strong, so with Ya Yu under his control, I wouldn't be so confident. Bi Fang shouldn't be cause for worry though. I don't think that anyone can survive an encounter with a sage without paying a high price, on top of that he's not even in his own body. I also didn't feel the aura of any other beasts on that tamer," Bai Ze said.

　　"You mean that the only beast under his control is Ya Yu? But that's impossible! If his talent really is beast control, then how did he subdue Ya Yu in the first place?" Li Yiming remembered the conversation with his friends earlier.

　　"You know, I was wondering the same thing. Unless he's naturally gifted with that level of strength after awakening?" Bai Ze was also perplexed.

　　"Awakening?" Li Yiming seemed to have caught something.

　　"That's pretty unlikely too. I told you earlier that the growth of guardians is a slow process that is very difficult to accelerate. It's very improbable that Heaven's Laws would commit such a mistake, and you can see that even a bug like you has to follow the rules and do it step-by-step."

　　"What if he's not a guardian?" Li Yiming smiled: he knew the answer.

　　"You mean that…" Bai Ze's tone changed at the thought of what Li Yiming was proposing.

　　"A camouflager!" The verdict came out in unison.

　　* * *

　　"Where's Li Yiming?" Eyegla.s.ses appeared at the entrance of the suite as soon as dusk fell. His face was so pale, he almost seemed like a spirit, but he was clearly in a state of excitation.

　　"You're awake?" Li Yiming opened the bedroom door. He had now learned to conceal his emotions perfectly.

　　"Are you okay?" Eyegla.s.ses seemed a bit nervous.

　　"I'm okay. Let's talk about the matter at hand, alright?" Li Yiming led the group to the table and each took their seat.

　　"It's okay, I already know about it. I'm using everything I have access to for the search, but I haven't found anything yet. Actually, I couldn't even see how they arrived at the bridge earlier in the day, and I can't figure out how they left, either." Eyegla.s.ses seemed a little defeated and self-reproachful.

　　"I think our goal now is to look for a snake rather than the beast tamer or Liu Meng." Li Yiming looked at Eyegla.s.ses.

　　"Snake?" Qing Linglong asked. She was rea.s.sured by the fact that Li Yiming had recovered his composure, else it would could his judgment and put the entire team in danger.

　　"Yes, Bai Xi, the one who created the dome of light earlier."

　　"Bai Xi, the mythical beast? It was her?" Qing Qiaoqiao was surprised at hearing that their enemy was such a renowned being.

　　"You didn't kill her?" Zeng Qian looked at Li Yiming, a little surprised. 'He spared her? Or was he not able to finish her off?'

　　"It was beyond my capabilities. But I did take her inner pill, which is about the same thing." Li Yiming knew exactly what Zeng Qian was thinking and explained himself immediately.

　　"Why are we looking for her again?" Qing Linglong asked with the bottle of beer in her hand. The thoughts in her mind were coming and going faster than ever.

　　"That tamer, he's looking for her too. If we track Bai Xi down, surely we can find Liu Meng."

　　"How do you know?" Qing Linglong questioned Li Yiming's proposition again. Even though she had complete trust in Li Yiming's abilities by now, she was still used to planning everything carefully before making a decision. Since Bai Xi had lost her inner pill, she would probably not be of much value to the beast tamer, who had plenty of alternatives.