123: Chapter 123 Calamity

What should I do?

What should I do?!

In Qin Ce's mind, countless thoughts spun frantically.

But he had no solution.

He truly hadn't expected that after these two Star-Glow Rank entities fused, they wouldn't just be one level higher than Gold Rank; their energy was more than three times stronger than a normal Star-Glow Rank!

No, not three times—in terms of control, it was over a dozen times!

It was a qualitative gap!

He could only rely on sheer willpower to hold on.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Time became incredibly long.

Every second felt like a year passing.

Qin Ce's consciousness began to blur.

His body was no longer listening to his commands.

That energy was on the verge of spiraling completely out of control.

Right at this critical moment.

In Qin Ce's mind, a flash of inspiration suddenly surged like a self-preservation instinct.

Seven Kills Chaos.

The Seven Kills Chaos skill he had just acquired.

Among those seven ways of using energy, there was one that might resolve the current predicament.

And that was...

[Wither]

Seven Kills Chaos: Myriad Silence Wither.

The true meaning of "Wither" is to extract, to converge, to make all energy condense toward the center, and to let everything in the surroundings return to silence.

If he could use the intent of "Wither" to forcibly compress those two violent energies toward the crystal core—

Perhaps...

Perhaps it would work!

Qin Ce did not hesitate for a moment.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to enter that state of "Wither."

It was a very profound and mysterious feeling.

It was as if he had become a wasteland.

In the wasteland, there was no water, no life, and no vitality.

There was only parched earth and eternal silence.

Any energy that entered this wasteland would be swallowed by this silence, eventually returning to nothingness.

And he was that wasteland.

At this moment, that violent energy suddenly quieted for an instant.

And then.

They began to condense toward the center!

Condensing frantically!

At a speed several times faster than before, they surged toward the Fire Lion's crystal core!

That intent of "Wither" was like an invisible giant hand, tightly clutching those energies that wanted to escape and pressing them all back in!

But the price was...

Everywhere those energies passed, everything was collapsing.

The flesh and blood that could have been preserved was instantly withered, shattered, and turned to ash under the influence of the "Wither" intent.

The essence that could have been absorbed was dissipated and wasted in large quantities under the erosion of the "Wither" intent.

The two massive skeletal remains were shrinking, shriveling, and weathering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And at the center of that energy, the fierce beast egg that was gestating became increasingly solid.

Finally—

The moment the last trace of energy was compressed into the crystal core—

Crack.

A faint, crisp sound.

That fierce beast egg had formed.

At the same time, the energy within the Blue Luan was completely exhausted.

Qin Ce felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he slumped onto the ground.

His skin was as dry as an old tree.

His hair had lost its luster.

His body seemed to have aged thirty years in an instant.

But his hand was tightly gripping that newly formed fierce beast egg.

The egg was pitch black all over, yet it faintly shimmered with dark red patterns. Those patterns flowed across the surface of the egg as if they were alive; with every flicker, one could feel an eerie aura.

Qin Ce lowered his head, looking at this fierce beast egg he had traded his life for, and a weak smile slowly spread across his lips.

"It's done..." he murmured, "It's done!!!"

...

Qin Ce was nearly paralyzed with exhaustion.

His skin was dry like an old tree, his hair had lost its luster, and his entire face was covered in wrinkles.

The influence of the Wither intent was even more severe than he had imagined—the intent of "Myriad Silence Wither" didn't just act on the fierce beast carcasses; it was also eroding him.

But he couldn't worry about that now.

He tightly gripped the newly formed fierce beast egg in his hand, staring at it with burning eyes.

Qin Ce took a deep breath and sank his mental strength into it.

Nine-Star Insight, operating at full power!

Lines of information emerged in his mind—

[fierce beast egg · Special]

[Name]: Minghuo

[Bloodline]: Flame Crown Saint Lion × Underworld Blood Bat

[Potential]: Peak Star-Glow Rank (Exquisite)

[Attributes]: Fire / Dark

[Talent (Bright Moon Level)]: Wither-Source Bloodflame — The blood of the entire body is a single entity; it can be released from the body to transform into flames, or retracted into the body to turn back into blood. This special bloodflame, capable of interconverting between blood and fire, can attach to attacks. When it lands on an enemy, it not only causes continuous fire damage but also silently Devours the enemy's flesh and energy to strengthen the bloodflame itself. When the strengthened bloodflame is retracted into the body, the devoured flesh and energy will replenish the user.

[Skills (To Be Awakened)]: Bloodflame Bullet, Lion Roar Bat Sonic, Lion Claw Rip, Devour

[Status]: Weak, congenital deficiency, energy shortage, unstable foundation

[Weakness]: The energies of the Lion and the Bat were forcibly fused. Although there was an element of divine providence involved, the fusion is not complete, leading to internal self-attrition. If there are no external creatures for the bloodflame to Devour and bring back energy, the bloodflame within Minghuo will continuously consume itself, eventually leading to death by self-exhaustion.

[Evolution Opportunity]: Only by granting it the ability to absorb external energy at all times can its foundation be perfected.

Qin Ce's gaze fell on that talent description.

Wither-Source Bloodflame.

The entire body's blood is one, can turn into fire, and can be retracted to become blood.

Landing on enemies, devouring their flesh and energy, and replenishing itself.

This talent...

This way of operating.

It's wicked!

Domineering!

It's practically a natural-born killing machine.

As long as there are enemies and flesh, it can grow stronger as it fights, never stopping.

Star-Glow Rank potential, Bright Moon Level talent.

A Pet Beast of this level would be enough to make the great families in any city fight over it.

If taken to an auction house, it could even be traded for a large-scale mineral vein.

But Qin Ce's gaze fell on that last line of weaknesses.

His brow furrowed tightly.

If there are no external creatures for the bloodflame to Devour and bring back energy, the bloodflame within Minghuo will continuously consume itself, eventually leading to death by self-exhaustion.

What did this mean?

It meant that if this Pet Beast wasn't allowed to fight and Devour, it would consume itself to death.

Therefore, it required a constant feeding of flesh and blood.

This weakness instantly turned its domineering talent into...

An extremely evil talent.

So evil that it was almost equivalent to falling into demonic cultivation.

Qin Ce fell silent.

Is this thing tempting?

Extremely tempting.

But did he dare to form a contract?

Could he guarantee he could provide for it at all times?

Moreover, it was foreseeable that as it grew, the blood food it required would inevitably increase.

In both quality and quantity!

And more importantly...

A Pet Beast's energy can be used by the Beast Tamer when it serves as the primary pet.

If he contracted Minghuo, and if one day he needed to use its power, would his own blood also turn into this bloodflame?

What would he do then?

Even if he never let Minghuo be his primary pet and only kept it as a secondary pet.

But what if one day he fell into a desperate situation and couldn't provide flesh and blood for Minghuo?

If Minghuo died of self-exhaustion, his Soul Talisman would also suffer a heavy blow.

This price...

Was it worth it?

...