King of Beasts

Infinite City No.3, Arena.

After Lu Ran completed a match, he felt this new mode was quite appealing. For most beastmasters who believe they are powerful, this place could be considered a dreamland.

Just as Lu Ran was thinking about experimenting once more to see how much experience the Sudden Death King could gain, a hand rested on his shoulder.

“What’s the matter?”

Lu Ran turned his head slightly and whispered. It could only be Dr. Gu who found him.

“Don’t challenge again for now,” said Gu Qingyi.

Lu Ran, puzzled, looked at Dr. Gu, who was wearing a fox mask, “Why not?”

“I don’t know either, but Manager Ying asked us to leave immediately.”

Gu Qingyi shook her head. She had just matched a 1v1 and easily defeated her opponent. Although her pet beast was still level 1, it gained considerable growth.

However, she felt it might only be limited to the near future. In a couple of months, there might not be many ordinary beastmasters left in the Peak Arena; only a batch of strong beastmasters would remain.

By then, achieving consecutive wins would become as difficult as climbing the sky.

In the end, only those who are invincible at the same level might slowly ascend.

“What’s up with this guy?” Lu Ran scratched his head.

…

Since Manager Ying had called them out, they naturally had to go see what was happening.

At this moment, Lu Ran and Gu Qingyi had just exited the infinite city and saw Manager Ying on the sofa with several tablets laid out. Her cat paw moved quickly as she kept flipping through screens.

“Ying?” Gu Qingyi asked after coming out, looking at Manager Ying who had messaged her to come out.

“Not long after you left, I just got some intelligence,” Manager Ying said without lifting her head, continuing to process the information.

“Is it some special Legendary Secret Realm that just popped up?” Lu Ran opened a drink and gulped it down. Swinging two swords was exhausting work; he needed to replenish his energy.

“No!”

Manager Ying sighed, “Qingyi, you’re going to have trouble.”

Gu Qingyi’s expression didn’t change as she waited for Manager Ying to continue. Being one of the few First Generations in Xia Country, she had developed a strong mental resilience.

“Earlier, Lu Ran’s dark crow discovered that the black turtle is at the Dragon Palace, so I employed my intelligence network to take a deeper look into the Dragon Palace.”

“And then, I uncovered something remarkable.”

“Do you know why the Dragon Palace is at war with the Fishman Empire?” asked Manager Ying.

“Scrambling for resources, fighting for territory?” Lu Ran responded instinctively.

For any nation, intelligence resources are limited, and not much is known about the deep sea affairs by most countries. Although the depths are equally formidable, the current scenario involves a chaotic warlord era in the deep sea, which doesn’t significantly impact the land.

Thus, the intelligence networks of various countries are more focused on investigating the ferocious beasts on land.

If asked why the sea powers are battling, Lu Ran could only think of resource competition at the moment.

“Yes,” Manager Ying nodded and said, “However, according to my intelligence network, the resources they compete for this time are somewhat different.”

“In ancient times, there was an invincible Dragon King of the deep sea, said to be the closest to the Legendary Dragon Clan. It lived for a very long time and was one of the overlords of the strongest echelon in the deep sea.”

“Unfortunately, as spiritual energy dissipated, the old Dragon King’s age became a burden. Eventually, its time was up, its life exhausted, and its body naturally disintegrated as the spiritual energy faded.”

“However, a dragon pearl from its body was preserved. This legendary dragon pearl was said to contain incredible power and was a treasure of the Dragon Clan, capable of helping the Dragon Clan touch the Pseudo-legendary species.”

“At that time, the dragon pearl was fiercely contested by countless powers of the deep sea.”

“But in the end, no side successfully claimed it; instead, the dragon pearl was accidentally shattered into four fragments and scattered across the ocean.”

“As spiritual energy completely faded, this contest over the dragon pearl couldn’t last long.”

“Until now, with the resurgence of spiritual energy.”

“The Fishman King of the Fishman Empire is suspected to have obtained a dragon pearl fragment.”

“And the Dragon King of the Dragon Palace is also suspected to have acquired at least one dragon pearl fragment.”

“The reason for the conflict is that the Dragon King of the Dragon Palace wants to take the resource from the Fishman King, gather the fragments, and see if they can piece together the true epic dragon pearl.”

After hearing this, Lu Ran nodded. It turns out that the fight is still over resources-specifically, the epic resources passed down from the Ancient times.

“But wait a minute,” Lu Ran paused, “Manager Ying, what does this have to do with Dr. Gu?”

“Hmm???”

Lu Ran suddenly looked at Gu Qingyi, only to see her expression growing more serious.

Manager Ying said, “Did Qingyi not tell you? She also has a dragon pearl fragment. Her ability to be the first to cultivate a Loong-type pet is thanks to that fragment.”

“I now suspect that the dragon pearl fragment she found is related to what the Dragon Palace and the Fishman Empire were fighting over; they might come from the same dragon pearl.”

“The latest news is that the Fishman Empire has suffered a major defeat, and the Dragon Palace has already retreated. It seems the Dragon King achieved its goal and snatched the dragon pearl fragment from the Fishman Empire.”

“This information came from within the Fishman Empire.”

“If the Dragon King intends to collect the entire dragon pearl, I’m concerned that it will turn its attention to the land next.”

“To Qingyi’s vast sea azure dragon.”

“This,” Lu Ran said, bewildered, while Gu Qingyi also hadn’t expected that the fragment she found had such an origin.

“What Manager Ying says is correct. When I was little, I was playing on the beach and accidentally found a beautiful stone. Because it was particularly pretty, I brought it home and kept it.”

“At first, I paid it no mind, but later I noticed that some of my pets liked to stay close to the stone, which made me aware of its unusual nature.”

“It wasn’t until the first arrival of the infinite city that I brought the stone into a trial secret realm,” Gu Qingyi reflected. “It turned out to be an exquisite-level dragon pearl fragment. Because it’s already broken, apart from its remarkable quality, it has no direct use.”

“It wasn’t until later, in a breakthrough secret realm, that I met a skilled cultivator.”

“She guided me to have one of my pet beasts perfectly integrate the dragon pearl fragment into its bloodline, saying that as the pet beast evolves, it will continuously unlock the fragment’s power.”

“This is also why I was able to be the first to cultivate a Loong-type pet beast,” Gu Qingyi said, looking at Lu Ran and Manager Ying.

“If that fragment is indeed what the Dragon King of the Dragon Palace is looking for, its origin is certainly extraordinary. But I’ve already used it in a special way.”

“That’s the tricky part,” Manager Ying said. “Your dragon pearl fragment has already fused with that dragon. If the Dragon King is truly desperate for the fragment, it might just capture your dragon for study.”

“After all… there’s also a rumor that the Dragon Palace is currently recruiting creatures of Dragon Blood in the deep sea.”

Manager Ying glanced at Lu Ran, implying that his old turtle might be one of the unlucky ones.

“After finding out about this, for some reason, I’ve had a bad feeling, Qingyi. You should be careful,” it frowned, deep in thought.

Come to think of it, even if its suspicions were correct, why was it having such a strong reaction?

After all, it was just an outsider cat in this matter.

“Okay.” Hearing Manager Ying’s advice, Gu Qingyi nodded, saying, “I…”

She was about to say she’d be careful, but suddenly her phone rang.

Gu Qingyi answered it and then displayed a complex expression.

“Manager Ying, you’re such a jinx.”

Manager Ying: ???

“What’s wrong, Dr. Gu?” Lu Ran quickly asked upon seeing the change in Gu Qingyi’s countenance.

“Speak of the devil, they just detected a dragon-shaped deep sea ferocious beast rapidly approaching Shanghai,” Gu Qingyi said.

Lu Ran was astonished and quickly looked at Manager Ying, wondering if it was possessed by a dark crow.

But then, Lu Ran’s face also changed, realizing that if Manager Ying’s assessment was accurate, this situation would not be easy to handle.

…

A short while ago.

Boom!

In a building established in the deep sea, a terrifying force that churned the sea region erupted.

Roar roar roar!!

Amidst the black flames that could burn in the deep sea, a divine dragon, several hundred meters long, roared toward the sky. Its body was formidable, with scales as black as the abyss.

It seemed the divine dragon had just completed a breakthrough and, unable to contain itself, followed the alluring breath, soaring from the deep sea into the sky.

Boom.

As it broke through the sea’s surface, the sky above was already thick with dark clouds. However, instead of thunder, the black clouds flickered with exploding black flames.

The black dragon’s massive eyes scanned the sea region before focusing on a continent, setting its gaze on a human city.

“Roar-“

It let out another roar, its body engulfed in flames as it streaked across the sky like a meteor. This led to Xia Country’s Shanghai entering a level 1 alert status upon detecting this creature’s approach!

“What is that?!”

In Shanghai’s disaster response center, an elderly man in a white lab coat stared at the screens displaying the terrifying black dragon, his face filled with shock.

There was sheer confusion about why such a monstrous creature from the deep sea was now heading straight for Shanghai.

The Shanghai Chapter of the Beast Taming Association responded instantly. Numerous second-generation and third-generation beastmasters quickly assembled at Shanghai’s coastal waters.

Warships rapidly congregated on the ocean, and aircraft took off quickly into the sky.

At this moment, Gu Qingyi, acting as the Guardian of Shanghai, saw the photos sent by the association and clenched her fists tightly.

Just moments ago, they were discussing whether the Dragon Palace would make a big move over a dragon pearl fragment. Now, word came from Shanghai that a powerful ferocious beast was approaching from the ocean, leaving them no time to prepare.

“See, see, see!!!” exclaimed Manager Ying, its thoughts in disarray, internally exclaiming all sorts of expletives.

It was just conducting a casual investigation; how could there really be such danger descending?