59: Chapter 59 S-Rank Fiend Hound

Each of these three rewards is worth a fortune, far surpassing ordinary competition prizes.

The A-Rank Vassal Card can randomly yield a high-quality A-Rank vassal, making up for combat power shortcomings;

The A-Rank Breeding Card can significantly increase the breeding success rate and potential of vassals, making it a top-tier resource for long-term cultivation.

The Three-Year Divine Kingdom Time-Flow Card is an even rarer treasure, capable of compressing the divine kingdom's cycle, accelerating the accumulation of its foundation, and saving three years of bitter cultivation and polishing!

The superposition of these three resources is enough to achieve a leapfrog enhancement in the foundation of any city-level genius, paving the way for subsequent State Competitions and even higher-tier tournaments.

The broadcast continued to announce, finalizing the final expedition arrangements:

"All top-five contestants will rest for three days. Three days later, they will collectively take the municipal government's exclusive vehicle to the state capital, Nanling City, to officially participate in the Nantan Prefecture-level Divinity League!"

The news was settled, and the dust finally settled.

Xiao Qingwu, Wan Tianlu, Jiang Mingliang, Ye Feng, and Lin Ye became the only top geniuses in Cangnan City this time to obtain tickets to the State Competition. Holding heavy official resources, they quietly awaited the state-level rivalry three days later.

Amidst the crowd, Ye Feng clenched his palms, the thunderous murderous intent in the depths of his eyes growing increasingly intense.

The blessing of A-Rank resources left room for improvement in his Hell Three-Headed Hound, and the three-day rest period was enough for him to polish his trump cards again and stabilize his combat power.

He stared fixedly at the slender figure not far away, his obsession growing wildly: the regrets of the City Tournament, he would surely take them all back in the State Competition.

Three days later, in the Nanling arena, he would definitely force Lin Ye to go all out, defeat the opponent head-on, and wash away all humiliation!

In contrast, Lin Ye, upon hearing about the rewards and schedule, still looked calm, with no ripples in his heart.

These top-tier resources, which others swarmed to, were merely icing on the cake for him.

The blessings of the three cards could not be used by him at all right now, and could not shake his overall layout at all.

What he truly looked forward to was the Nanling State Competition three days later.

There was a rule-free real duel arena, top geniuses from all over Quanzhou, the ultimate reward of Jinghun Hall, and all the grudges he needed to thoroughly resolve.

As the competition concluded and the crowd dispersed, Lin Ye did not stay long. He directly found Wang Hu, who was waiting outside, and the two returned home side by side.

During the next two days of rest, Lin Ye did not slack off recklessly, but instead concentrated on polishing his combat power and consolidating the foundation of his vassals.

Although Wang Hu did not break into the top five of the City Tournament and failed to get a quota for the State Competition, his mindset remained steady without a bit of depression.

During these two days, he had been accompanying Lin Ye by his side, intently polishing his own vassals and silently accumulating strength.

Seeing Wang Hu's motivated appearance, Lin Ye simply took out some malevolent qi crystals again to enhance the physical strength of Wang Hu's vassals.

For two whole days, Lin Ye continuously guided the origin power of the malevolent qi crystals, pouring it endlessly into the bodies of Wang Hu's vassals, helping them repeatedly temper their physical bodies, polish their bloodline foundation, remove impurities in their bodies, and consolidate their overall combat power.

Nourished by the massive amount of malevolent qi crystals, the physical strength of Wang Hu's vassals skyrocketed several times over, their muscles and bones becoming increasingly robust, their vital qi vigorous and enduring, and their combat power steadily climbing.

Two days' time passed in a flash, and in the blink of an eye, it was the final night before the expedition.

Deep in the night, everything was silent, and the entire city fell into slumber, save for Lin Ye's room, which was brightly lit.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Lin Ye closed his eyes and concentrated, wholeheartedly probing the state of his own divine kingdom.

A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of brightness crossing the depths of his eyes.

Having gone through several rounds of high-intensity actual combat integration in the City Tournament and days of resource nourishment and precipitation, his divine kingdom had finally completely stabilized, all shackles had loosened, and it already possessed the conditions to bear the advancement and metamorphosis of his vassals!

However, pros and cons coexist. Although his divine kingdom had a large area and strong bearing capacity, if all vassals were to be promoted to S-Rank, he feared that the malevolent qi would surge drastically, affecting the sanity of all vassals, and the divine kingdom would also run into problems due to being unable to bear it.

After repeated deductions and confirmations, the current limit of the divine kingdom could at most support two vassal groups evolving simultaneously.

If three or more vassal groups were forcibly driven to advance simultaneously, the divine kingdom would inevitably collapse completely due to load overload, losing more than it gained.

In an instant, how to choose which vassals to advance became a key dilemma placed before Lin Ye.

The three major vassal groups under his command each had their own strengths: the Marrow-Eating Demon Hound excelled in frontal assault and physical tyranny; the Soul-Crying Crow excelled in soul crowd control and restraining the intangible; the Shadow Fox excelled in shadow assassination and unfathomable stealth... Each branch had irreplaceable tactical value.

Lin Ye concentrated and pondered, filtering and weighing repeatedly, and finally finalized the advancement list — the Marrow-Eating Demon Hound and the Soul-Crying Crow.

The reasoning was extremely clear and thorough.

First, the linkage system of the Marrow-Eating Demon Hound and the Soul-Crying Crow was his currently most core and mature main combat playstyle. Frontal crushing paired with soul crowd control formed an offense-defense closed loop with an extremely high fault-tolerance rate. Prioritizing the advancement of these two main combat vassals could maximize the overall combat power.

Second, the State Competition gathered geniuses, and there was no shortage of SS-Rank divine kingdom holders like Xiao Qingwu, whose subordinate SS-Rank vassals had extremely strong soul barriers and terrifying coercion.

If the Soul-Crying Crow maintained its original level, its soul attacks would simply be unable to shake SS-Rank entities. By then, the core crowd control means would completely fail, and combat power would be greatly discounted.

In contrast, for the Shadow Fox, at the current stage, the tactical capabilities of shadow concealment and instantaneous shadow assassination were already sufficient to cope with the vast majority of combat situations, and the S-Rank exclusive Void Stealth talent inherently required high-tier unlocking. There was no rush to advance it for the time being; keeping it dormant as a trump card was the safest approach.

The choice settled, Lin Ye no longer hesitated. He immediately closed his eyes and concentrated, drove the origin of the divine kingdom, invested the resources he bought earlier, activated the Source-Tracing and Foundation-Consolidating Talent, and started the advancement and metamorphosis ritual.

Rumble — —

Within the silent divine kingdom, winds and clouds suddenly surged, and majestic resources flowed wildly, pouring entirely into the two vassal groups.

The first to usher in metamorphosis was the Marrow-Eating Demon Hound.

Malevolent qi rolled and surged across the sky; the originally pitch-black and ferocious canine body was covered with a layer of deep dark red patterns. The violent malevolent qi origin was once again purified and condensed, the bloodline shackles broke layer by layer, and the physical body was continuously reshaped and evolved.

Accompanied by a beastly roar that shook the divine kingdom, all Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds completed their group metamorphosis and completely broke through the level shackles!

The A-Rank Marrow-Eating Demon Hound successfully advanced to the S-Rank Shahun Hound!

The Shahun Hound after advancement had more condensed malevolent qi and a more domineering physical body, possessing the triple characteristics of corrosion, armor-breaking, and soul-devouring. Its frontal assault capability, physical resistance, and slaughtering power far surpassed before, truly stepping into the ranks of top-tier main combat vassals.

[Shahun Hound Attributes: Strength: 59, Agility: 50, Constitution: 59, Spirit: 40, Intelligence: 9]

Closely following, the Soul-Crying Crows circling high in the sky ushered in their ultimate metamorphosis.

The pitch-black crow flock bathed in the spiritual light of the divine kingdom, their entire feathers transforming into a deep ink color. The crow king's figure surged severalfold, its eyes blood-red, and faint soul black mist lingered around its body.

The fragmented crow cries became sharp and grandiose, their soul origin completely sublimated, and their interference, deterrence, and soul-devouring capabilities skyrocketed in all aspects.

The A-Rank Soul-Crying Crows all advanced to S-Rank Soul-Devouring Owls!

[Soul-Devouring Owl Attributes: Strength: 42, Agility: 57, Constitution: 59, Spirit: 59, Intelligence: 25]

Spirit reached 59, and the level of soul attacks thoroughly leaped. Even facing the soul barriers of SS-Rank entities, they could effectively pierce through and cause deterrence and crowd control, completely making up for the previous combat power shortcoming.

The two vassal groups advanced on a massive scale simultaneously, and the massive malevolent qi frantically overdrawed the origin of the divine kingdom, instantly breaking through the bearing limit of the F-rank divine kingdom!