Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 754 Taming The Beast

By now, Rocky was far away from the Holy Dragon Empire. He was in the Barren City of the Timber Deity Empire. Back home, the whole world was upside down, but Rocky had no idea. He didn't even know that he had an unborn child with Isis.

For the meantime, he went about his work as usual. He was cleaning the beast stable, his hair sun- bleached to a slight golden shade, beads of sweat breaking on his brow. He heard a sudden commotion from the entrance of the beast farm. Turning around, he saw a group of people walking in.

Among them, Rocky could tell one had reached the Heavenly Stage, judging by the aura of the man. He was a tall, heavyset man, about forty years old and carried himself with the air of a naturally confident, courageous guy—a born leader.

Flanking him on either side was Mary and Willie. Right behind them followed a dozen spirit manipulators in black robes. Apparently, they were disciples of the Xiao Clan, almost all ranking at the Mortal Stage. Only one or two ranked beyond the preliminary level of the Earthly Stage.

The group at the back was pulling a cage, in which a young spirit-manipulated beast was locked. The beast had just entered the primary stage. All over its body were fins, sharp as swords. Though it was still growing, it already had the shape of a huge leopard. Its four limbs were short but powerfully built. On the top of its head, there was a blade-shaped horn, with its sharp edge blazing It seemed to be a difficult beast to fight head-on. Every part of its body was a dangerous weapon, which could slice an enemy to pieces.

'It is a Magic Sword Panther. In a place like this, it's the kind of war beast that could reach a five-star level. Although, it comes in at a modest twentieth in war beast rankings, for ordinary spirit manipulators, it's no doubt a top-grade war beast, * thought Rocky. The moment he saw the creature in the cage, he immediately got a clue to its potential. To him, the Magic Sword Panther was just one kind of good war beast. But it was not good enough, compared to his own Robin, let alone Uriah and Rainbow Glow Unicorn. They were his best beasts. Top-notch beasts, by any standards.

"Mr. Chris, I still can't believe you caught such a rare Magic Sword Panther. If word of it gets out there, I'm sure spirit manipulators from the Timber Deity Empire will be at your door, scrambling for it,” Willie complimented. His flattering face aside, what he said was true. The Magic Sword Panther indeed was a rare spirit-manipulated beast.

As a highly respected leader, Chris was actually the second in command of the Xiao Clan—Raef's deputy.

As the second in command of the clan, Chris's responsibility was to evaluate beasts. He was also a very gifted disciple of a famous sect with a long-standing history. At the sixth grade of beast evaluation, he could identify almost any high-level beast.

The Magical Beast House being a leading beast farm boasted of hosting one of the best senior evaluators ever. The same way the Super Beast Farm had Weldon, the Magical Beast House had Chris. Each farm's reputation depended on their beast manipulation and evaluation skill levels. It was a cut-throat competition between farms to hire only the finest skill-sets, gifts, and abilities among beast evaluators—no wonder the Xiao Clan so highly regarded Chris.

"You've had a hectic day. Please have some rest now,” Mary advised.

"Not that it was hard work. But to catch this Magic Sword Panther, we sacrificed four disciples.” Chris shook his head and said with a sorrowful face. But this sacrifice was unavoidable. If they wanted to get those high-level spirit-manipulated beasts, they'd have to pay the price. All they could do was to compensate for the loss to the disciples’ families. That was the only way they could keep improving as a group, both in skills and assets.

"I'll have my men inform the families of our departed disciples. We also need to arrange for proper compensation straight away,” Mary said. She also empathized with the families of the disciples who had lost their lives in the line of duty. She wanted to ensure befitting compensation.

"Thank you, Miss Mary," said Chris politely. Then he turned to look back and added, "This Magic Sword Panther is hot-tempered and hard to control. We still have to lock it with iron chains until we tame it successfully.” As he spoke, he waved his hand, calling other spirit manipulators to come closer.

Over a dozen disciples of the Xiao Clan immediately surrounded the cage. They tightly grabbed the beast by the iron chains with which they had bound it. Acutely aware of how violent the beast's temper could get, they handled everything with extra care. The beast had the temper of a simmering pot, hot burning, ready to bubble up and blow things over at any moment. If not handled well, it was an inferno that could get out of hand quickly, anytime.

So the disciples went about as much caution as they possibly could. Slowly, they opened the cage, pulling the Magic Sword Panther out. As soon as the door swung open, the leopard roared and jumped with all the strength it could muster. Although it had looked docile along the way, it began to act violent all of a sudden. Anyone who came close, it threatened to fling itself at and rip them apart. Even though it was only a cub, its strength was on another level.

It spread out its sharp fins like swords threatening to cut up the disciples. Then without warning, it flung its body, throwing two of the disciples into the air, chains still in their hands. Its burden was eased a bit. Then, it angrily charged towards the other disciples who were still standing with the chains firmly gripped.

The panther's swift actions and mad rage caught the disciples off guard. On their faces, you could tell they were scared stiff, even though they had tried to hold on. At last, the chains slipped through their shaky hands and dropped on the ground.

With some of the restraining chains and fetters broken, the beast got enough power to shake off some more. Then with burning ferocity, it repeated the same jerking movements. Each movement was more powerful than the previous one. In a few minutes, it shook off the rest of the disciples. Pretty quickly, the situation was getting out of hand. Realizing this, Chris rushed up, intending to stop the young Magic Sword Panther. But as soon as the panther saw him, it took off into the depths of the beast farm and began to play hide-and-seek with him.

Although the beast was only a half-grown and had been caged for a while, it didn't show any signs of slowing down soon. Several minutes passed, but Chris failed to catch it still.

"Why are you still standing there? Come with me and help!" Mary shouted at the disciples who were standing still, watching. She sensed the disciples lacked enough experience, and they needed more training. It took great skill, calm nerves, and the reflexes of a qualified spirit manipulator to handle a situation like this.

At her command, the disciples came to themselves, rushed to grab the chains, and joined in the chase behind her.

Rocky stood in the beast stable, watching the chaotic crowd. When he sensed the disciples from the Xiao Clan were in deep trouble, he couldn't help shaking his head. "What a mess! If I were him, and I even a fraction of his entire team, calming the young panther down would be a cinch.’ A sarcastic smile crept on his face.

His smile lingered only for a moment before the panther noticed him. Without warning, it turned around and ran towards the beast stable.

"What are you doing there? Run! Don't stand still... * Seeing the panther run towards the beast stable, where a servant was standing, Mary's face changed. She shouted at Rocky, warning him to run for his life, as fast as he could. If the beast got to him, she feared it would maul him to death. For Mary, Rocky was but an ordinary servant. If he faced off with the panther, it would not make light work of him. And Mary was not ready for more casualties to the same beast, as she had already lost dear disciples.

However, the panther moved so fast that by the time Mary called out, Rocky was within an arm's reach. Chris tried his best to catch up with it, but he was way too far behind. Rocky seemed to them a man doomed to die next second!

Everyone watching was petrified, fearing the worst for Rocky. They all held their breath, seeing there was nothing they could do to save him. Unable to bear witnessing his tragic death, some of them closed their eyes. But what happened next took everyone's breath away.

Instead of attacking Rocky as they had also feared, the Magic Sword Panther crumbled to its knees. As though it were some powerless creature, it let out a weak cry, showing complete submission to him.

Almost everyone present was shocked, including Chris

"Holy cow! What's going on?" After a silent moment of awe, Mary stared at Rocky and the Magic Sword Panther in disbelief. Docile and tame, it was still kneeling there, right in front of him. Like everyone else around here, the surprised look on her face was obvious. She didn't know why the panther did that.

At her side, Chris, too, was dumbstruck. In all his years of hunting experience, this was the first time that he saw such a thing. “How on earth did a bad-tempered Magic Sword Panther suddenly turn so weak and powerless? I mean, to the point of kneeling before an ordinary man?" Questions ran through his mind. Questions that for the life of him, he did not even have the slightest idea.