14: Chapter 14 Ancient Ferocious Beast - Zhu Yan

The cold and evil malignant Qi wrapped around the scorching ape bodies, and the extreme pain of water and fire countering each other swept through every Blazing Flame Ape.

The bodies of the originally berserk and restless Blazing Flame Apes trembled violently, and the flames burning on their surfaces alternated between bright and dim, flickering uncertainly.

The malignant Qi brutally drilled into their skin, flesh, and bloodlines, continuously scouring their bones and meridians, and the tyrannical sense of oppression caused the group of apes to emit wave after wave of painful growls.

Malignant Qi inherently restrained fire-attribute living beings, and even though this divine realm was the natal territory of the Blazing Flame Apes, a small portion of apes with frail physiques and inferior bloodlines still could not withstand the erosion.

I do not know how much time had passed, but muffled explosions sounded one after another; the physical bodies of dozens of Blazing Flame Apes shattered, transforming into scalding blood sludge that melted into the crimson earth and perished completely.

After the cruel screening, of the original 283 Blazing Flame Apes, only 227 ultimately remained.

Every single surviving Blazing Flame Ape was a bloodline elite; their muscles were tense and solid all over, their hard red fur was plated with a faint layer of grayish-black malignant Qi patterns, and their skin, flesh, and bones had been polished by the malignant Qi, weeding out bloated impurities, causing the tyranny of their physical bodies to surge by a large margin compared to before.

The flames on their body surfaces reined in their restlessness, becoming condensed and profound, and their explosive power far exceeded past days.

Wang Hu stood to the side, clearly witnessing the entire screening and tempering process, and couldn't help drawing a sharp breath: "Fifty-six of them died… This malignant Qi is simply too tyrannical."

"Survival of the fittest is the necessary path of evolution."

Lin Ye's expression was calm as his divine sense penetrated deep into the apes' bloodlines, thoroughly investigating the evolution limit and bloodline shortcomings of every single Blazing Flame Ape, and immediately finalizing the evolution direction without hesitation, discarding one of the routes.

"These Blazing Flame Apes have a total of two pretty decent evolution routes!"

"However, I will help you scrap the Lava Behemoth route."

"This route simply piles up physical attributes, has a low evolution upper limit, a single skill set, and mediocre growth potential. In the later stages of high-tier battlefields, it has no advantages whatsoever and is not worth wasting resources to cultivate."

His gaze locked dead onto that robust ape king, and word by word, he stated the absolute top-tier evolution lineage of this fierce beast:

"The only top-tier route of your race—the Ancient God of War Bloodline, Zhuyan."

"The complete evolution chain has a total of six stages: Blazing Flame Ape → Crimson Flame Heavenly Ape → Mountain-Burning Demon Ape → Blood-Fiend Demon Ape → Prison-Fire Battle Ape → Ancient Zhuyan."

"Currently, for your group of apes, the next-level evolution target is the Crimson Flame Heavenly Ape, which balances extreme physical bodies and tyrannical fire-attribute divine abilities, possessing both offense and defense, and its growth potential far surpasses the Lava Behemoth."

Wang Hu listened with his mind and soul trembling; he had heard a little about the name Zhuyan, which was a legendary ancient fierce beast with boundless combat power.

He hadn't expected that his own mediocre B-grade Blazing Flame Ape could actually evolve to such a level.

"Then what materials are needed to evolve into the Crimson Flame Heavenly Ape?" Wang Hu hurriedly pursued the question, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Lin Ye tapped his fingertips lightly against the void, and rows of transparent material lists surfaced within both of their divine senses.

"A total of twelve kinds of materials are needed. Nine kinds of auxiliary materials, such as ordinary ores and fire-attribute spiritual plants, can be bought with money on the market and are not considered scarce."

Speaking to this point, Lin Ye's brows frowned slightly, his tone becoming a bit more solemn: "However, the remaining three main materials are extremely special."

"Purgatory Fire Marrow, Divine Flame Crystal Core, Heaven-Burning Essence Blood."

"These three materials do not circulate in ordinary trading markets; only the Federal Divine Pavilion and high-tier auction houses sell them, and they only accept Faith Points and Faith Liquid, refusing any credit point exchanges."

Wang Hu's face instantly collapsed with a headache: "Faith Liquid? That thing is outrageously scarce; I only have a drop in my hands, which isn't even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth. My dad controls it extremely strictly, and I usually can't get much."

Faith supplies were the hard currency of high-tier divine cultivators, a hundred times more precious than credit points. Ordinary rich second-generation heirs could hardly purchase them even with money, and even Wang Hu, who came from a True God family, had an extremely limited reserve.

The two looked at each other, and the exact same candidate simultaneously popped up in their minds.

Wang Guo.

Throughout Cangnan City, the only person who could easily pull out a large amount of Faith Liquid and rare main materials, and was also willing to let them use them free of charge, was this True God powerhouse.

"There's no other way." Wang Hu scratched his head and shrugged helplessly, "I can only go ask my dad."

Lin Ye slowly withdrew his divine sense, a cold light flickering within his pitch-black eyes: "Mhm, let's go find Uncle Wang."

If they wanted to let the Blazing Flame Apes complete their transformation and take the first step towards evolving into Zhuyan, they had no other choice.

The villa's living room was spacious and quiet; Wang Guo had already returned, his dark combat uniform straight and rugged, the iron-blooded malignant Qi around his body not yet completely dissipated. He sat on the sofa, holding an archaic metal badge between his fingertips, his brows and eyes deep, as if pondering important matters.

"Uncle Wang." Lin Ye called out.

Wang Guo raised his eyes, his gaze falling upon the two of them as he asked in a deep voice: "Have you discussed the matter?"

Wang Hu stepped forward quickly and boisterously poured out everything that had just happened, his tone full of excitement: "Dad! Lin Ye discovered that my Blazing Flame Ape can evolve into the ancient fierce beast Zhuyan! We're only missing three faith materials; won't you get me some Faith Liquid and materials?"

His speaking speed was extremely fast, repeating word for word the six-stage evolution lineage, the two evolution routes, and Lin Ye's judgment to scrap the Lava Behemoth.

Wang Guo listened quietly, his expression remaining calm throughout without a shred of joy, his brows furrowing slightly instead.

"Zhuyan?" He murmured in a low voice, a trace of doubt flashing across the bottom of his eyes, "The lineage of ancient fierce beasts has long been disconnected, and the Blazing Flame Ape is just an ordinary B-grade fire-attribute dependent race with shallow bloodlines. How could it possibly touch the bloodline threshold of the ancient Zhuyan?"

In the universally recognized fierce beast illustrated guide of the Source Realm, the limit evolution of a Blazing Flame Ape was at most a Lava Flame Monarch, and a Zhuyan was completely a fantasy. Even with Wang Guo's perspective as a True God, he simply did not believe this kind of outrageous bloodline leap.

Lin Ye saw through the doubts in his heart and spoke calmly: "Uncle Wang, I know you don't believe it!"

"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't believe it either. But my talent can see through the essence of bloodlines, and deep within its bloodline, there is indeed a trace of extremely weak ancient Zhuyan bloodline factors remaining. The Lava Behemoth route looks secure, but in reality, its upper limit is locked, trapping it in pure physical fetters for a lifetime with no growth potential whatsoever."

Wang Guo gently tapped his fingertips against the sofa armrest, pondering for a moment before finally relenting: "Alright, I can give you the three main materials."

Changing the subject, his tone carried a stern warning: "But let me make my ugly words clear beforehand, I will only give one material quota. You can try to purify the bloodline and impact evolution, on the premise that you cannot drive Wang Hu's Blazing Flame Apes to racial extinction. This batch of dependent races is his initial foundation, and even half of them dying or getting injured won't do."

After all, he was a seasoned person and was unwilling to watch the dependent races that his son had painstakingly cultivated be buried in illusory evolution conjectures.

"Uncle Wang, rest assured, I know my limits!" Lin Ye nodded solemnly.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Wang Hu's suspended heart completely dropped, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

Right at this moment, Lin Ye seized the opportunity to speak, voicing his own unique insights regarding divine realm cultivation with a resolute tone and clear logic: "Uncle Wang, I'll add one more thing. The mindset of ordinary cultivators is not suited for long-term development."