Taira no Masakado hesitated for a moment, then nodded . He had no choice but to accept his terms . There would be trouble if Gao Peng were to turn and abandon them now . At this point, they had no other choice but to hope that their enemies were weaker than they had initially thought .

Taira no Masakado was thankful that Gao Peng had decided to drop by the Nihon region . Otherwise, they really would have been at their wit's end .

“Are you serious, sir? We can't accept those terms . This devious Huaxia man wants to use us as cannon fodder…” The rest of the sentence wasn't heard, as Taira no Masakado's cold glare instantly shut his men up .

“What choice do we have?” he asked .

“Sir, we could send someone over to talk with these people . Maybe someone more cautious, or perhaps someone who won't yield to anyone?”

Taira no Masakado fell silent . Then he said, “I'll go . ”

“What?” The department's higher-ups stared at him, wide-eyed . “No!” was their resounding reply .

All of them were against the idea of sending him out there, not because they were concerned about his safety, but because he made up a sizable portion of the region's military power . They couldn't afford to lose a heavy hitter like Taira no Masakado .

“If we send a mere n.o.body over to speak to them, they'll think that we're not taking them seriously . Would you willingly have a serious conversation with an ant?” said Taira no Masakado, scanning the room for anyone who might have had a better idea than him .

All the higher-ups had fallen silent . None of them dared to raise any further arguments . Considering Taira no Masakado's stubbornness, they knew that any attempts to talk him out of something would only prove futile .

“Tong Xiang, is this the ancestral site that our ancestors spoke of?” said a stocky young man . His voice was clear and loud . He seemed to be the group's leader .

“Seems like it,” replied a burlier and slightly rotund young man . “Tong Mo, this place certainly seems rich . We just saw a King-tier monster when we came out . It was quite powerful, as well . Must have been at least four stars . ”

“Haha, my One-Eyed Giant Demon was still able to cut it down with its ax . It's a Metal-type monster, so it's naturally stronger against Wood-types,” said Tong Mo happily . He sounded proud of himself . At the same time, he stole a few looks at the only lady in the group .

Said lady was standing on the right side of the group . Her dark green hair fell past her shoulders and was tied up like a scorpion's tale . She had a slender pair of eyebrows, beneath which were a pair of almond eyes and a cute nose . Her skin was gold like wheat .

Upon hearing Tong Mo's bragging, the lady wrinkled her nose . She hugged the big ball of golden fur in her arms, which split open to reveal a huge eye . It blinked at her, and the lady's face relaxed a bit . She smiled at it .

A black-feathered eagle circled the sky overhead, surveying its surroundings .

“Someone approaches,” said a black-robed young man on the edge of a cliff .

“Hmph, must be the natives of this land . My father sent us to this place to check these people out . They're just the descendants of those we abandoned here . How strong can they really be?” muttered Tong Mo, annoyed .

“We didn't abandon them . We just—” Tong Xiang faltered .

“All right, all right, not another word from me,” said Tong Mo, interrupting him .

“Tong Ying, test our welcoming committee with your Black Lightning Eagle,” said Tong Mo to the black-robed young man standing on the edge of the cliff .

Tong Yin nodded, then gave a mental command to the Black Lightning Eagle, which hurtled into the distance in the form of a black streak of lightning .

Boom!

A crack of lightning resounded in the clear sky . In the next second, there was a flash of light in the distance, as if said lightning had struck something .

Taira no Masakado was electrocuted to a crisp by the sudden lightning, along with the Sokou, which he was riding on . Both trainer and familiar were reduced to a pile of ash in an instant .

One of the twelve elders of the Monster Trainer League had been killed on the spot with no one around to hear his final words .

“So how strong was he?” asked Tong Mo .

Tong Ying frowned . “I killed him . He was just an ordinary Lord-tier trainer . ”

“Only Lord-tier, huh?” Tong Mo sounded disappointed . He licked his lips . “Looks like these natives aren't that strong . ”

“Tong Ying, let's visit their village . ”

“Too risky,” warned Tong Ying .

“Risky, my *ss . The most powerful trainers in this world right now are King-tier, and it just so happens that our familiars are the most powerful King-tier monsters in our tribe . What do we have to fear?” asked Tong Mo impatiently .

“We've been ordered by the chief to simply scout the area . We aren't allowed to stray too far from our mission,” said Tong Ying, stepping in front of Tong Mo .

Tong Mo narrowed his eyes at him . “He's my father, not yours . Now get the h.e.l.l out of my way . ”

Tong Ying hesitated .

“We're just going over there to take a look . We'll stick close to each other so that we won't be picked off by the natives . We'll be fine as long as we have each other's backs,” said Tong Xiang, smiling .

Gao Peng saw a streak of black lightning fall from the heavens on the monitor bank . Immediately after, the screens went completely dead . Gao Peng frowned .

“I didn't get a good look at whatever that was . ” He couldn't check out a familiar's stat sheet if the only thing he was able to catch was a mere glimpse of it .

Judging by the impact and speed of that bolt of lightning, it's probably King-tier at best, thought Gao Peng . Thank G.o.d it's not beyond the boundaries of King-tier . Dumby had temporarily dropped to Legendary-grade as a result of its rise in monster tier . However, its highest attainable grade was still Mythical .

The only difference distinguis.h.i.+ng Dumby from other high-level Legendary-grade monsters was that the former was endowed with one extra monster trait . In other words, Dumby was much stronger than other Legendary-grade monsters of the same tier . Unless, of course, its opponent had dropped from Mythical-grade to Legendary-grade as well…

Bzzzt! The screen before Gao Peng suddenly buzzed to life . A low voice said, “Gao-kun, they're heading towards the Higas.h.i.+da base city . ”

Four familiars were displayed on the screen .

[Monster Name]: One-Eyed Giant Demon

[Monster Level]: Level 58

[Monster Grade]: Epic

[Monster Name]: Black Lightning Eagle

[Monster Level]: Level 57

[Monster Grade]: Perfect

[Monster Name]: Golden Light Holy Spirit Beast

[Monster Level]: Level 58

[Monster Grade]: Epic

[Monster Name]: Six-Tusked Brahman Elephant

[Monster Level]: Level 59

[Monster Grade]: Epic

There were four of them: three Epic-grade familiars and one Perfect-grade . Their levels were all King-tier .

Gao Peng sighed in relief . There were no signs of a Legendary-grade familiar . Any sensible person would send their strongest warriors to scout an uncharted area, lest the natives attack . This meant that Legendary-grade familiars were a rarity on the other side of the rift, too .

Also, their group wasn't composed entirely of Epic-grade familiars . The Black Lightning Eagle was a Perfect-grade familiar that seemed suited for reconnaissance missions . None of the other Epic-grade familiars seemed capable of flight .

Gao Peng was relieved by this . I might have a chance against these people .

There was a monster tier cap in place in their world right then . Anything above King-tier wouldn't be able to cross over the rift . As soon as there was room for Emperor-tier familiars on this planet, his own familiars would naturally fill that s.p.a.ce .

In a confrontation between two familiars of the same monster tier, the only factor determining the outcome would be their monster grades . So…