Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Lei Jun noticed that gigantic shadow.

Despite its enormous size, it moved surprisingly fast, flashing by in an instant.

Lei Jun had always been intensely curious, but most of the time, he didn't go out of his way to stir up trouble.

However, he had been waiting on Yushan for almost three days.

Nothing out of the ordinary had happened during that time.

*Considering the moderately good lot that mentioned the Fourth Rank Opportunity, Lei Jun felt a little stir inside, and finally chose to follow that giant shadow.*

Though the other party's movement was quick, Lei Jun, determined to track it, soon caught up.

In the mountain forest, that huge shadow shuffled along, stopping and going, occasionally lowering its head to sniff here and there.

Then he saw it lift up a paw and dig at the ground, unearthing something from the woods.

The night was cloudy, the moonlight originally hidden.

But now, the cloud cover parted a little, letting moonlight spill over the forest.

The enormous figure became clear in that beam of light.

…Lei Jun raised a hand, rubbing his forehead.

Short, chubby limbs.

Black and white all over.

A perfectly round head.

Two neat, semicircular tufts on top.

Great big black rings under both eyes…

Damn, his master's kin!

Before traveling here, back on Blue Star, creatures like this had been called "maoxiong," or giant pandas, but here, they were called Mountain Pi or Iron-Eating Beast.

This was actually his first time seeing one with his own eyes since arriving in this world.

*Still, it looked a bit too big…* Lei Jun raised an eyebrow.

Compared to the giant pandas he remembered from Blue Star, the Mountain Pi before him looked identical in every other way, except it was way larger.

Its head was as big as a baby elephant's.

Sitting there on the ground, it looked like a massive round ball, almost the size of a small cottage.

It was like somebody had scaled up a Blue Star giant panda several times over.

*Is it just this one that's out of the ordinary, or are all the Gungun in this world this huge…* Lei Jun wondered.

It was springtime now, and the wild bamboo shoots grew strong across the Bashu mountains.

The bamboo forest here on Yushan wasn't as sprawling as the Southern Shu Bamboo Sea, but it was still impressively large.

The giant panda, the thing it had just dug up from the dirt, turned out to be a cluster of spring bamboo shoots.

But, compared to its massive body, those bamboo buds looked even tinier.

Clutched in its paw, they looked like sunflower seeds.

Then the panda raised its paw, and just like a person eating seeds, peeled away the bamboo shoot's shell before tossing the flesh into its mouth.

Its big cheeks wobbled as it chewed happily, and honestly, it had the makings of a great eating show star.

It had a healthy appetite of course, munching down those shoots in a couple of bites,

before getting right back to digging for more, snuffling around noisily.

Lei Jun stood off to the side, watching for a moment, not revealing himself just yet.

First, he wandered around the area a bit more.

He didn't find any other Mountain Pi or spirit beasts.

Nor did he find anyone else.

It seemed that only this one giant panda was in the area.

Although, the commotion it was making did attract a few Yushan Temple disciples who came to investigate.

But Lei Jun quietly helped the panda from the shadows, covering up its presence and sending those disciples away.

Lei Jun still wasn't in a rush.

Besides watching the panda, he kept scanning his surroundings.

Until, after finding nothing else, and failing to locate anything that looked more like a Fourth Rank Opportunity, Lei Jun finally drew closer to the panda.

After observing for a while, Lei Jun figured out that the giant panda wasn't just a glutton—it looked like it was searching for something.

Of course, it was definitely greedy; while searching, it stuffed its face the whole way.

But it never seemed to find whatever it was looking for, and eventually, it started circling in place.

Lei Jun watched, clicking his tongue in surprise.

He did a thorough check and got the sense that it probably wasn't someone secretly luring the panda to Yushan.

*So what was it that attracted the panda here?*

Lei Jun's mind suddenly flashed, and his expression turned a little strange.

He released the hidden form of his Wind-Thunder Talisman "Night Wind," quietly revealing himself among the trees.

At that moment, he saw the big guy's round eyes suddenly whirl, sharp and full of spirit.

The panda's big, round head snapped his way, its gaze fixed right on Lei Jun.

The huge, lumbering creature, surprisingly quick and nimble, tumbled over to Lei Jun's side, knocking over trees and sending up clouds of dirt as it went.

Upon reaching Lei Jun, its pair of eyes spun ceaselessly, and instead of lunging, it began circling Lei Jun, that huge body revolving around him again and again.

It looked for all the world like a kid pestering an adult for a toy.

Lei Jun was again at a loss whether to laugh or cry, "Good grief, for such a big ball of fluff, you sure aren't short on wits."

Compared to other animals, this tubby thing's intelligence seemed rather high.

But, only compared to most animals—it wasn't smart as a real person, nor as clever as those Great Demons or Immortal Spirits who'd cultivated enlightenment.

By Lei Jun's initial reckoning, its wits might be at about the level of a human child.

As for its physique, never mind most humans—even most animals couldn't measure up.

Its massive body wasn't just strong, but also nimble.

It looked slow and silly, but was really very agile.

As for its strength—let's not even go there. Look at that panda: from the chin down, it was like a double-door refrigerator…

Lei Jun could easily sense the torrent of life force and muscle power surging beneath its black-and-white fur.

*No idea if it was born like this, or if it ate some spirit flowers or spirit grass to get that way.*

*So, just what was it that drew this guy here?*

Lei Jun rose upward, stepping into the air, and hovered lightly above the ground.

Then, with a flick of his hand, something appeared in his palm.