It seemed the serpentine beast's sense of smell was better than its eyesight. However, aquatic creatures generally relied on vision; why was this creature different from the underwater beings Lu Heng knew?
The serpentine beast only paused for a moment where Lu Bai was, then it twisted its body and moved towards the spot where Lu Heng had just stood.
With the sound of the distant waterfall masking it, the sound of scales rubbing against the ground was hard to discern. Its tail also swept from time to time, pushing aside the withered leaves behind it.
As it got closer, Lu Heng could clearly see many details of this serpentine beast. In fact, its face also had scales, but they appeared very thin and transparent, which was why Lu Heng had thought its facial skin was like that of a human at first glance.
The transparent scales extended all the way to its collarbone. Further down, the scales on its skin gradually enlarged, and their color began to turn a grayish-blue.
By the time it reached its waist and abdomen, the scales were already a dark blue.
Did this thing move on the ground solely by wriggling its tail?
This method of locomotion was somewhat similar to snakes.
"How do they breathe underwater?"
"Master, look behind its ears."
Just then, the serpentine beast was about to turn, and Lu Heng saw that its umbrella-shaped body had gills on the inside.
Amphibious, no wonder it could migrate on land.
While Lu Heng was observing the serpentine beast, another of its kind approached from behind.
Their appearances were similar; Lu Heng couldn't tell the difference anyway.
The two serpentine beasts came together, their heads close to each other. They occasionally made gurgling sounds, but the sounds were not loud. As they continued to vocalize, the umbrella-shaped structures behind their heads also trembled.
"These two should both be males. Look, their chests are flat," the Director said at some point, having also approached and commenting on the two serpentine beasts within the space.
"Not necessarily. Some girls have flat chests too. Hey, I didn't say anything wrong. Look at Lin Xue." Black Bear chimed in, joining the discussion.
"Lin Xue is still in her childlike form. If she grew up, she might not be a flat-chested girl anymore."
"Really?"
"Yes. You see too few girls. It's no wonder, considering our master doesn't interact with women much, which makes us unable to see normal women."
Lu Heng...
Watching a magical beast, why were these beasts so noisy? "If you don't want to watch, don't cause trouble here. Go play somewhere else."
"Of course, we want to watch. If we don't understand them, how can we fight them?" The Director stood up, shook his fur, and squeezed between Lu Heng and Lu Bai.
Lu Bai gave the Director a sideways glance and ignored him, lying down and closing his eyes as if dozing.
...
Outside the space.
The two serpentine beasts seemed to have finished their communication. One of them pointed to the ground where Lu Heng and the others had just disappeared, where their footprints were left.
"Observing so carefully. It seems their intelligence is not low," Lu Heng murmured to himself.
"Yes, level ten magical beasts have intelligence comparable to humans. They are not like those low-level magical beasts," Lu Bai said casually without opening his eyes.
"Weren't you only level seven before, but your intelligence..." the Director asked, turning to look at Lu Bai.
"I am dual-element. However, my intelligence was indeed not high back then." Lu Bai did not deny his shortcomings. "Otherwise, how could I have been captured by Master?"
Lu Heng...
"Then I can't contract these high-level magical beasts like before?"
Before, Lu Heng could be said to have cajoled and tricked these animals into contracts, and several of them were contracted unintentionally.
"Yes, conquering these will be quite difficult."
If they were not genuinely convinced, these high-level magical beasts would certainly not be contracted by humans at will. It would be very difficult to do as before.
"Perhaps I should contract some low-level ones."
After all, once contracted, their levels would directly increase according to Lu Heng's current level.
"Master, level is one thing, but intelligence is hard to compensate for," Lu Bai opened his eyes again and looked at Little Six and Blood Wolf. The intelligence of these two was average, especially Little Six. Having been contracted not long ago, it didn't understand many human intricacies and was a kind of naive fool with no ulterior motives.
Lu Heng followed Lu Bai's gaze to Little Six on the other side. Little Six was currently examining its claws, occasionally putting on various metal claw covers for them.
Hmm, it seemed to make sense.
After staying in the space for a short while, the two serpentine beasts outside finally returned to the water, wriggling their bodies.
However, the first one that discovered Lu Heng and the others turned its head to look back this way before submerging.
That glance seemed to meet Lu Heng's gaze, causing Lu Heng's heart to tremble slightly.
"Lu Bai, if this isn't where you and your former master lived, we'll go check out another waterfall. If we still don't feel any familiarity, we'll start a thorough search of this forest."
"Okay." Lu Bai's memories of his former master were already very vague, and he didn't have such a strong obsession to find traces of his former master's life.
If Lu Heng hadn't insisted on bringing him here, he would have preferred to sleep in Lu Heng's space.
Waiting until the surface of the water潭 finally calmed down and there were no more ripples, Lu Heng then exited the space, quickly released the beak-nosed beast, and as the beak-nosed beast flew into the high sky, Lu Heng grabbed the vine hanging down from the beast and ascended into the sky as well.
In the blink of an eye, Lu Heng, hanging below the beak-nosed beast, had already moved away from the water潭. However, the moment he ascended into the sky, the surface of the water潭 below began to ripple rapidly again, and then a head emerged, which was precisely the serpentine beast from before.
It suddenly broke through the water surface, half of its body exposed to the air, nervously looking around. The umbrella-shaped skin behind its head kept trembling.
As if sensing something, it quickly raised its head and looked towards the sky.
However, Lu Heng and the others had left too quickly, and its eyesight also seemed not very good, as it did not see them.
"What's wrong, A Lan?" The head of another serpentine beast also emerged from the water. Its body underwater continuously slid through the surrounding water, allowing it to float on the surface.
"Nothing, perhaps it was an illusion."
"It shouldn't be. A Lan, the footprints you found on the ground earlier were real."
"But there were no traces of those footprints moving elsewhere, so it might just be an illusion."
"Let's go. We haven't caught today's prey yet. Let's look elsewhere."