121: Chapter 121 Mutual Destruction

Afterwards, Qin Ce walked toward Yuntai Town, searching for high-potential, high-quality fierce beasts along the way.

It was practically a gluttonous feast.

The slaughter between the retreating beast tide and the local fierce beasts turned the entire wilderness into a massive hunting ground.

High-level fierce beasts that were usually rare to see could now be found everywhere.

Rare species that normally required venturing deep into dangerous territory were now fighting to the death for crystal cores.

Qin Ce was like an experienced hunter, circling above the battlefield, using Nine-Star Insight to filter targets.

A peak Silver Rank 'Thunder-Patterned Leopard' with good potential—Refined.

A Silver Low-grade 'Frost-Mist Wolf' with a rare attribute—Refined.

A Silver High-grade 'Flash-Thunder Eagle,' a flying type with potential reaching Gold—Refined.

One, two, three...

One fierce beast egg after another fell into his bag.

The moment the eighth fierce beast egg took shape.

Ding!

The notification sound from the squad badge rang out right on time.

[Detected: First Battle Institute Special Ops Squad, ID 02, has completed the three-star mission 'Beast Egg Refining']

[Mission Requirement: 8 Upper Bronze Rank or higher fierce beast eggs]

[Current Completion: 8/8]

[Mission Reward: Points +800, Three-Star Special Resource Exchange Voucher ×12]

[Note: Mission Completion—Superb (Includes Silver Rank fierce beast eggs ×8, Mutation-prone fierce beast egg ×1)]

Qin Ce glanced at the note, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

Eight fierce beast eggs, all eight Silver Rank, with one having a mutation tendency.

This level of completion was almost the peak of what a Bronze Rank could achieve.

Just as he was about to put away the fierce beast eggs.

Boom—!!!

A world-shaking explosion echoed from two kilometers away!

The explosion was so violent that even the ground beneath Qin Ce's feet trembled slightly!

The energy fluctuations contained within the blast were so strong that Qingluan instinctively let out a wary low cry!

Qin Ce's pupils constricted abruptly.

An explosion of this level.

It was definitely Star-Glow Rank!

There might even be more than one!

Without any hesitation, he quickly stored the eighth fierce beast egg in his backpack and vaulted onto Qingluan's back.

"Go! Let's take a look!"

Qingluan flapped its wings, turning into a streak of green lightning and shooting toward the direction of the explosion!

...

A distance of two kilometers was but a blink of an eye for Qingluan.

When Qin Ce arrived at the scene, the sight before him made him gasp.

It was a valley that had been nearly leveled to the ground.

The once lush forest was now reduced to charred stumps and scattered debris.

Dozens of deep ravines were plowed into the ground, and the air was thick with the stench of burning and blood.

Amidst the burnt smell was a strange, nauseating rot.

And in the very center of the valley—

Two massive skeletons were entangled together.

One was a fire-type fierce beast.

It was a lion over twenty meters long, its entire body crimson. Even though it was dead, flame-like patterns could still be seen on its remaining fur. Its spine was being bitten down on hard by something, the entire spinal column nearly completely snapped. Blood and internal energy were frantically leaking out from the bite wound.

But what Qin Ce saw was different.

The Fire Lion's body was almost nothing but a skeleton.

The muscle beneath the fur had vanished.

The marrow within the bones had vanished.

Even its eyes, which should have been burning with fire, were now just two empty black holes.

It was as if something had sucked it dry from the inside, bit by bit.

And the thing biting it was another equally massive skeleton.

A bat.

The bat was comparable in size to the Fire Lion, pitch-black all over, with a wingspan exceeding thirty meters. Its blood-fangs were currently clamped firmly onto the Fire Lion's spine. Those blood-fangs were half a meter long and appeared strangely translucent, with liquid faintly visible flowing inside.

That was the Fire Lion's blood and energy.

This bat was using its blood-fangs to frantically drain everything from the Fire Lion.

But its fate was no better than the Fire Lion's.

Its body was likewise just a skeleton.

The pitch-black fur clung shriveled to the bones, and the muscles inside had also disappeared. Those blood-red eyes were also nothing but empty sockets.

Even more bizarre.

Its body had exploded from the inside.

There was a huge gash in its abdomen, with internal organs and shattered bones spilling out, entangled with the Fire Lion's corpse.

Two Star-Glow Rank fierce beasts had died together like this.

They died so tragically, so strangely.

Qin Ce landed thirty meters away, pushing Nine-Star Insight to its limit.

Lines of information surfaced in his mind...

[Fierce Beast]: Unidentifiable (Corpse severely damaged)

[Level in Life]: Suspected Star-Glow Rank

[Status]: Dead, energy depleted, meridian system partially remaining

[Fierce Beast]: Unidentifiable (Corpse severely damaged)

[Level in Life]: Suspected Star-Glow Rank

[Status]: Dead, internal energy detonated, meridian system partially remaining

Qin Ce's brow furrowed.

Two Star-Glow Rank fierce beasts, perishing together.

A battle of this level was rare even within a beast tide.

He walked a circle around the two skeletons, carefully observing their entangled posture.

From the scene, the battle process must have been like this—

A blood-sucking bat ambushed the Fire Lion, biting its spine with its blood-fangs and beginning to drain its blood frantically. Its blood-fangs had a special ability to drain the prey's energy along with its blood.

Knowing it wouldn't survive, the Fire Lion poured all the fire-attribute energy from its crystal core into the blood-sucking bat's body at the moment of its death.

This was the source of the explosion just now.

That burst of origin fire from the crystal core instantly detonated the Fire Lion's energy that the Ghost Bat had just absorbed, blowing the Ghost Bat apart.

Both Star-Glow Rank fierce beasts died simultaneously.

Qin Ce took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart.

This was the first time in his life he had witnessed such a high-level mutual destruction.

...

But now, before Qin Ce's eyes were two Star-Glow Rank corpses.

This couldn't help but make his eyes light up.

Was it still possible for such corpses to form Pet Beasts?

If they could, those would be two Star-Glow Rank fierce beast eggs, their value immeasurable.

Qin Ce subconsciously used Nine-Star Insight again.

Perhaps guided by his consciousness.

Ding!

The system notification suddenly rang in his head!

[Special corpse combination detected]

[Detection Result: The remaining meridian systems in the two corpses fused at the moment of death due to energy collision, forming a special 'Symbiotic Circuit']

[Note: This corpse combination can undergo special refining]

[Special Refining Result Prediction: Can obtain a fierce beast egg containing dual attributes and extremely high potential]

[Success Rate: Approximately 30%]

[Failure Risk: Energy loss of control, possible backlash to the practitioner]

Qin Ce's pupils constricted sharply.

Special refining?

Dual-attribute fierce beast egg?

Extremely high potential?

He stared at the two entangled skeletons, his heart starting to pound.

He currently had one mutation-prone Nightmare Egg and seven Silver Rank fierce beast eggs.

But all of those added together weren't as tempting as the one before him.

Because this was Star-Glow Rank.

Refining two Star-Glow Rank fierce beast corpses into one fierce beast egg.

If it succeeded, what rank would that fierce beast egg's potential be?

Star-Glow?

Or...

Even higher?

Qin Ce's breathing became rapid.

But he didn't lose his mind.

The appraisal showed a success rate of only thirty percent.

The risk of failure was energy backlash.

Could his current Soul Talismans withstand the backlash of Star-Glow Rank energy?

He didn't know.

But if he gave up...

"No," Qin Ce whispered to himself, "I can't give up."

An opportunity like this was once in a lifetime.

If he missed it this time, he might never encounter it again.

Besides, he still hadn't found his second Pet Beast yet!

...