Super Zoo

In the lobby of the first floor of Whisperwind Pavilion, seven gar-pike eels were strung up by ropes threaded through their gills, hanging from the beams like a row of salted fish, occasionally writhing.

The gills are a crucial part of a fish, and even the most ferocious fish would immediately lose the ability to resist once a rope was threaded through them, rendering their great strength useless.

Besides, Suming was constantly bombarding them with his spiritual power.

The fishy smell emanating from the gar-pike eels drew the attention of several cats. Fish was the felines' favorite food, and to them, these formidable creatures that even snapping turtles would hesitate to provoke were merely sizeable meals.

The cats, as if fitted with springs, pounced haphazardly on the ground, leaping up to try to snag the suspended gar-pike eels with their front paws.

However, the beams of the Fengshui Pavilion were over three meters high, and the longest gar-pike eel was less than one meter, leaving a gap of about one to two meters from the ground, a height the cats could not reach.

Hei tried to jump repeatedly, the highest attempt falling short by less than half a meter, eyes locked on the gar-pike eel it nearly grasped. Dissatisfied, it paced with feline steps, circling the eels several times before it actually started directing the other cats to form a 'cat ladder'.

"Get down, get down, all you ever do is cause a ruckus! With no need to sell tickets every day, are you all just bored to death?"

Suming stepped forward and grabbed the cat at the bottom of the 'cat ladder' by the neck, pulling it out. The makeshift ladder collapsed instantly, and the cats on top tumbled to the ground like little meatballs.

"I've already told you, the only way out is to forsake the dark and seek the light, to correct the chaos and return to order!"

Holding the cat in his arms, Suming glared fiercely at the gar-pike eels and said, "Let me tell you, if you don't behave, you'll hang there for a day. With me here, you won't even be able to die if you wish to!"

As he spoke, he sent another wave of spiritual power their way, and the gar-pike eels, which were already at death's door, seemed to regain some vitality.

At this moment, Suming bore not even the slightest hint of 'animal friendliness'; he was nothing short of a demonic jailer.

The only ones to blame were the gar-pike eels themselves for being so obstinately rebellious!

Other animals, even fierce ones like tigers, could usually be communicated with normally—they were just 'difficult to manage' and didn't fall under Suming's control. But these gar-pike eels were like rocks in a latrine, stinking and unyielding, making any attempt at proper communication like playing the lute to a cow, completely ineffective.

To draw an analogy, when dealing with people, while everyone's personality is different, most are still normal human beings. If you reason with them and make sense, they usually listen, and even if they disagree with your point of view, you can still communicate.

But some individuals—like these gar-pike eels—are simply mentally ill, with personality disorders, possibly even paranoid or prone to violence, perhaps even a bit insane; they are not normal and thus you cannot use the normal approach with them.

When they were first caught and brought ashore, Suming tried to 'talk' to them with his spiritual power, but these fellows completely ignored him. With a forceful flick of their tails and a quick turn, they opened their mouths to reveal their sharp teeth, biting at Suming, who narrowly avoided them thanks to his preparedness!

Since reasoning failed, he resorted to force! Dealing with the gar-pike eels was both challenging and straightforward—overpowering them with violence, no matter whether they were paranoid or mentally disturbed, breaking their will completely, subduing and frightening them, would naturally result in their obedience.

Suming had all the time in the world—should one day prove insufficient, he would carry on for two days, and if two days were not enough, then four days it would be.

The stubbornness of the gar-pike eels subjected them to a hellish daily existence.

Three times a day—morning, afternoon, and evening—routine 'torment' by spiritual power was their due.

If souls did indeed exist, Suming figured that spiritual power could directly reach them, capable of invoking both a sense of closeness and a primal fear and pain.

True to the phrase "refining both body and mind," to merely flog the gar-pike eels with spiritual power was far from adequate.

Suming, at the height of his excitement, had even crafted a small leather whip for himself. Whenever he had nothing else to do, he would take it out and lash it a few times just for fun.

The garpike's body was covered in armor-like scales and coated with mucus, which should have protected it from blows. But Suming was cruel and vicious, and he always waited until the mucus on the garpike's body was dry before hitting it. With each crack of the whip, several scales would be stripped away.

Physical pain was one thing, but the greatest torture was fear!

From time to time, a few cats would casually stroll into the Fengshui Pavilion, looking up at the garpike with ill-intent, as if contemplating the best place to sink their teeth in.

Once when Suming was away, Hei somehow persuaded De Fu, who was resting at home, to let him climb onto its back. De Fu actually agreed, and with one leap, Hei managed to snatch the longest garpike, hugging its body and viciously taking a big bite...

When Suming returned, he saw Hei using all four limbs like a koala, clinging to the garpike's tail and swinging in mid-air, with its sharp little claws flicking out and digging into the gaps between the scales, causing the garpike so much pain it nearly passed out.

The garpike was lucky that its scales were incredibly hard, and Hei couldn't bite through them; otherwise, it would probably be reduced to a fish skeleton by now.

If the cats could not pose a real threat to the garpike, then the alligator turtles certainly could, and with ease!

The one that was over a meter in diameter, with legs as sturdy as iron pillars and standing over a meter tall, could easily reach the garpike with a full stretch of its long neck.

Conveniently, the alligator turtle's gargantuan, millstone-like teeth could grindingly crush the garpike's scale armor.

Even more coincidentally, the garpike was also on the alligator turtle's menu...

After enduring multiple forms of torture, in less than three days, the garpikes had already become docile. Compared to the creatures that were always thinking of eating them, Suming, who merely beat them, seemed almost angelically kind...

The moment they couldn't see Suming, the garpikes felt uneasy. After all, being humiliated and whipped was still better than being eaten bit by bit!

"What about you guys, aren't you pathetic?"

Suming asked, pointing with the tip of his whip at the several garpikes.

The garpikes had been let down and were languidly crawling on the floor of the Fengshui Pavilion. When they heard Suming speak, they quickly twisted their bodies and swam to his feet, raising their heads and eagerly trying to climb onto his legs like a bunch of tentacled creatures.

"This scene is disgusting!" Suming shuddered with distaste.

Now that the garpikes had calmed down, Suming no longer planned to torture them. He left two small ones to be raised in the little lake of the Fengshui Pavilion and released the other five into Shuijun Lake.

To avoid these personality–deficient creatures harming other fish, Suming specially enclosed a few dozen square meters of water near the corner of Shuijun Lake by the back mountain for the garpikes to live in temporarily.

The garpikes, having gone several days without food, frenziedly swam in circles upon being released, desperately searching for something to eat.

In the rest of Shuijun Lake outside, there was 'food' everywhere. However, after Suming's discipline, these creatures wouldn't dare to eat the fish or shrimp from the lake, even if it killed them.

"If you want to eat, find it yourself!"

Suming looked in the direction of Huating Reservoir and let out a cold laugh.