155: choose

While Wuxiang downloaded new knowledge, tried to master a new body and authority, and attempted to break through to the Monarch Rank, the activity from the Shadowlight Realm, which had been silent for two months, caught Xu Yan's attention.

Given Zhu Yan's current strength and the size of the Shadowlight Realm's small secret realm, it was naturally impossible to completely absorb the blood-colored giant egg, formed from the essence of a medium-sized secret realm, in just two months. This was inherently a long and continuous process measured in years.

If Zhu Yan were a wild spirit beast, facing this situation, it would naturally choose to set aside everything else and immerse itself in the Shadowlight Realm, absorbing the essence from this blood-colored giant egg along with the Shadowlight Realm until it was completely devoured.

However, Zhu Yan was not a wild spirit beast, and with Xu Yan as its Beast Tamer and Breeder master, it was impossible to abandon everything in the outside world and stay solely within the Shadowlight Realm.

Devouring was not slumber. Not long after beginning to devour the blood-colored giant egg, Zhu Yan felt Xu Yan's strength break through to the Monarch Rank. And because Xu Yan had not sealed off the Shadowlight Realm's perception of the outside world, it also watched the entire battle between Xu Yan and Lin Heng.

To be honest, from the last battle until now, the Void-Fleeing Rat's progress was far greater than Zhu Yan's, who had been 'forced to grow' after being linked to the Shadowlight Realm. The spatial domain it used when fighting Xu Yan before could even temporarily isolate the Shadowlight Realm.

Without the Shadowlight Realm's suppression of space, with the abilities Zhu Yan currently possessed, facing the Void-Fleeing Rat again, Zhu Yan was not entirely confident in defeating it.

From being easily crushed and instantly killed by itself to now being unsure of victory, the progress speed of the Void-Fleeing Rat and Lin Heng was somewhat beyond Zhu Yan's imagination, and a sense of urgency and crisis naturally arose.

The agreement between Xu Yan and Lin Heng after the battle made Zhu Yan make its final decision.

It was certainly good to steadily improve its strength by following the established routine of devouring the blood-colored giant egg with the Shadowlight Realm, through the feedback provided by the Companion Realm Beast Innate Talent. As time passed and the blood-colored giant egg was absorbed little by little, Zhu Yan's strength would also steadily increase.

Given the former size of the Eerie Secret Realm, even if some of it was lost due to various chaotic actions by the beings within the secret realm, what remained, after being completely devoured and digested, could at least supply Zhu Yan to the peak Monarch Rank.

However, the prerequisite for achieving this result was sufficient time. Even with Zhu Yan and the Shadowlight Realm working together, it would have taken nearly two years to completely devour, absorb, and digest the blood-colored giant egg.

In the eyes of most outsiders/spirit beasts, being able to naturally complete the breakthrough from Commander Rank to peak Monarch Rank in just two years was already an opportunity they dreamed of.

How many people are stuck at the insurmountable barrier between Commander Rank and Monarch Rank their entire lives, unable to make any progress? Two years to guarantee reaching peak Monarch Rank, this speed could already be described as extremely fast.

However, as Xu Yan's initial spirit beast, having followed him all this way, it had a thorough understanding of Xu Yan's terrifying Innate Talent and progress speed.

Zhu Yan was certain that, compared to slowly absorbing the power from the blood-colored giant egg within the Shadowlight Realm, growing alongside Xu Yan would yield greater rewards.

After Xu Yan broke through to the Monarch Rank, Zhu Yan made up its mind.

It abandoned the slow method that maximized the absorption and utilization rate of the secret realm essence in the blood-colored giant egg, and instead chose to 'kill the goose that lays the golden eggs,' disregarding loss and waste, to quickly extract and absorb the most essential parts of the blood-colored giant egg in a short period.

Under this extremely extravagant method of devouring, the blood-colored giant egg, which originally required two years to devour, was reduced to nothing but a shriveled egg membrane in just two months.

The activity Xu Yan perceived from the Shadowlight Realm was Zhu Yan, whose strength had risen to the peak Commander Rank after the complete devouring of the blood-colored giant egg, beginning its breakthrough to the Monarch Rank as the Shadowlight Realm improved, under the influence of the Companion Realm Beast Innate Talent.

Zhu Yan's breakthrough to the Monarch Rank was very smooth, without any setbacks or stagnation in between, completing the Monarch Rank breakthrough naturally.

And, as expected, as Zhu Yan's strength broke through to the Monarch Rank, the Power of Heaven and Earth in the Shadowlight Realm began to converge towards Zhu Yan, and the Heaven and Earth Baptism appeared once again.

However, compared to the Heaven and Earth Baptism previously experienced by the Wind Flame Lion King and Xu Yan, the Heaven and Earth Baptism triggered by Zhu Yan within the Shadowlight Realm seemed a bit too smooth and gentle.

Through the spiritual contract with Zhu Yan, Xu Yan could clearly perceive that neither physical pain nor the mental assessment, like the one Xu Yan experienced before, appeared on Zhu Yan.

The Heaven and Earth Baptism, which intertwined opportunity and trial, seemed to be merely a gift for Zhu Yan.

This discovery did not make Xu Yan happy or relaxed; instead, it made him even more vigilant. According to Xu Yan's years of novel-reading experience, trials that lacked any actual trials often had the highest difficulty.

However, until Zhu Yan had completely absorbed the converging Power of Heaven and Earth and completed this Heaven and Earth Baptism, the trial Xu Yan had been anticipating never appeared. This made Xu Yan's previous conjectures and preparations seem somewhat laughable, as if he had been fighting against thin air.

Unable to understand it, Xu Yan, while Zhu Yan was still consolidating its breakthrough strength, directly summoned Wuxiang. He had Wuxiang connect to the Third Academy's database to collect and organize all research and books related to secret realms, Power of Heaven and Earth, and Heaven and Earth Baptism.

With Wuxiang's filtering and assisted reading, after reviewing several papers, he finally found the answer he was looking for.

Simply put, the Power of Heaven and Earth gathered for Zhu Yan's Heaven and Earth Baptism was not drawn from Blue Star, but entirely from what had accumulated in the Shadowlight Realm. Therefore, because of its status as the 'full sponsor,' the entity that brought down the assessment for Zhu Yan's Heaven and Earth Baptism changed from Blue Star to the Shadowlight Realm.

And for most secret realm consciousnesses, this act was akin to cutting off their own flesh, and the target being fed was not their 'own' offspring. Whether these secret realm consciousnesses were autonomous, nascent, or even dormant, they instinctively harbored a certain resistance and dislike towards the target that triggered the Heaven and Earth Baptism.

Under the resistance of the secret realm consciousness, in most cases, the Heaven and Earth Baptism triggered within a secret realm might yield similar rewards, but the trials to be endured would be much more difficult than those on Blue Star, and the consequences of failure would also be more severe.

However, under normal circumstances, most secret realms on Blue Star are directly connected to Blue Star. This situation, where the secret realm directly provides all the consumption for the Heaven and Earth Baptism and imposes trials, is extremely rare and thus has not received much attention.