190: Chapter 190 The Rules of the Ruins

When Wang Zhuo walked out of the study holding that crystal, the lights in the corridor cast a deathly pale halo on his face.

He walked directly through the long corridor of the inner residence, heading all the way to the west side of the Wang family's main base.

There was an independent camp area there, with a bronze plaque hanging at the entrance engraved with two words—Huben.

Huben Battalion.

The most elite private armed force of the Wang family, with all members being at least Silver Rank. The captain was Low-grade Gold, and the vice-captain was at the peak of Silver Rank.

In the entire Fengling City, apart from the City Defense Army of the City Lord's Mansion and the Wang family's own direct lineage troops, no other power could assemble such a team.

Thirty-seven people, thirty-seven Pet Beasts, all Silver Rank or above, and all brimming with murderous intent.

Now, this team was at Wang Zhuo's disposal.

"Assemble. We depart in fifteen minutes. Target: North."

In less than fifteen minutes, they stood neatly on the training ground.

Wang Zhuo walked at the front, with the Huben Battalion following behind like a long black dragon, surging out from the west gate of the Wang family's main base and disappearing into the northern wilderness.

The Wang family had operated in the North for three generations.

Intelligence networks, supply points, safe houses, and evacuation routes were all already in place.

Before Wang Zhuo set out, a detailed distribution map of Gold Rank ferocious beasts in the North was already laid out on his desk.

It marked the location, level, attributes, habits, and range of activity for every known Gold Rank beast, even including hand-drawn topographic maps and suggested attack routes from Wang family scouts.

Wang Zhuo drew a circle on the map with a red pen.

Rock-Armor Earth Dragon, High-grade Gold.

He would use a Gold Rank beast to announce his return!

When the Rock-Armor Earth Dragon was discovered, it was sleeping in a cave deep within a rift valley.

Its body was like a small mountain, covered in dark gray rock armor. Each piece was the size of a washbasin, layered one over another like an airtight suit of armor.

Wang Zhuo's subordinate, Han Zhang, crouched at the edge of the rift and looked back at Wang Zhuo. "Young Master, it's sleeping. The optimal timing."

Wang Zhuo pressed his right hand onto the hilt of the silver longsword at his waist.

He gripped the hilt tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"Kill."

A single word, soft but heavy.

The thirty-seven members of the Huben Battalion moved simultaneously.

Long-range Pet Beasts took the high ground, melee Pet Beasts blocked the escape routes, control-type Pet Beasts lay in ambush on both sides of the rift, and healing-type Pet Beasts stood by at the very rear.

Every step was orderly; every person knew what they were supposed to do.

By the time the Rock-Armor Earth Dragon was jolted awake by the first round of attacks, its cave had already been sealed off.

Three defensive lines, from inside to outside and near to far, blocked every single one of its escape routes.

It roared in fury, swinging its massive tail and smashing the cave exit. Rubble flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

But it could not break out.

In just ten minutes.

The Rock-Armor Earth Dragon's health was ground down to rock bottom.

Han Zhang turned to look at Wang Zhuo. "Young Master, the final blow."

Wang Zhuo drew his sword.

The moment that silver longsword left its scabbard, the light on the blade brightened. Flames, lightning, and shadows appeared together, but they took a more restrained, somber form of attack, like a deep pool of water.

The light was not dazzling or flamboyant; it was even somewhat dim. But when it landed on the Rock-Armor Earth Dragon, the behemoth's body shuddered violently.

The tip of the sword pierced through the Rock-Armor Earth Dragon's eye socket, through the eyeball, through the brain tissue, and out the back of its head.

Wang Zhuo pulled out his sword and took two steps back, watching the behemoth lose its life bit by bit before him.

But then, the corpse of the Rock-Armor Earth Dragon began to glow.

The light shone from within the corpse, growing brighter and brighter. Its muscles withered, its bones became brittle, and its scales lost their luster, as if its essence was being drained from the inside.

A pillar of golden light shot up from the rift, piercing through the clouds and the night sky.

It shot precisely into the diamond-shaped phantom above the Wang family camp.

All the essence of that Rock-Armor Earth Dragon—flesh, bone, crystal core, and soul—was completely drained and injected into the phantom along that golden pillar of light.

The phantom shuddered violently.

The almost invisible layer of golden liquid at the bottom began to rise at a speed visible to the naked eye.

From a thin layer to one finger deep, from one finger to two fingers, and from two fingers to three fingers deep.

Then, the light stabilized.

The Wang family's diamond-shaped phantom was now exactly the same as those of the Wuji Army and Zhenhuang Pass.

Wang Zhuo looked down at the crystal in his hand.

The golden liquid at the bottom had also risen, going from almost nothing to a shallow puddle.

His eyes widened suddenly as he looked back at the dragon's corpse on the ground.

The energy within the crystal actually originated from Gold Rank beasts!!!

At the same time, the sky above the fourth light pillar location began to distort.

A diamond-shaped crystal fell from the void. It was immediately discovered by the City Lord's Mansion patrol, immediately sealed off, and immediately escorted back to Fengling City.

The City Lord's Mansion had obtained the fourth crystal.

The news of Wang Zhuo killing a Gold Rank beast and the resulting mutation spread like wildfire from the Wang family camp in all directions.

"The Wang family killed a Gold Rank Rock-Armor Earth Dragon!"

"The phantom above the Wang family camp lit up! The golden liquid rose by a large margin!"

"The golden liquid is accumulated by killing Gold Rank beasts! Kill one, and it rises!"

"The golden liquid at the bottom of the crystal is the same! Whoever takes the crystal must go kill Gold Rank beasts themselves!"

"It's not just the Wang family! The phantom at Zhenhuang Pass only rose after a beam of energy shot into it! That energy was likely also a sacrifice from a Gold Rank beast!"

"The City Lord's Mansion got the fourth crystal!"

"Four crystals—two are in the hands of the five major powers, and two are in private hands!"

When the news reached Fengling City, everyone's reactions were different.

The City Lord's Mansion immediately sent out more personnel to scout all known habitats of Gold Rank beasts.

Whoever killed a Gold Rank beast would charge the phantom.

Whoever charged the phantom might be able to enter the ruins a step ahead of everyone else.

While consolidating their light pillar position, the Wang family also began to catalog the distribution of all Gold Rank beasts in the North. The location, level, attributes, and habits of every single Gold Rank beast had to be understood, then ranked by priority, graded by difficulty, and assigned personnel based on need.

The Zhou, Lin, and Zhao families were doing the same.

Their strength was not as great as the Wang family or the City Lord's Mansion, but their intelligence networks were not bad.

How many Gold Rank beasts were in the North, where they were distributed, roughly what levels they were, which ones could be fought, which ones couldn't, which ones required cooperation, and which ones could be killed alone.

This information was summarized, categorized, and marked by their intelligence officers before being sent to the family heads' desks.

Meanwhile, small and medium-sized powers were making different calculations.

The five major powers occupied five light pillar positions; they couldn't snatch those.

But there were thirteen crystal keys in total. The five major powers would at most take five, leaving eight scattered in the wilderness, mountain gullies, and beast nests—whoever grabbed them owned them.

Furthermore, of the four crystal keys that had appeared, two were in private hands.

They also had to go kill Gold Rank beasts.

So, by camping out at Gold Rank beast locations, could they also catch the crystal owners?

There were quite a few clever people.

And from this moment on, the North truly began to fall into chaos.

At this moment, Qin Ce was leading the Seventh Squad, frantically grinding levels on the northern wilderness.

He didn't know Wang Zhuo had killed a Gold Rank Rock-Armor Earth Dragon, didn't know the City Lord's Mansion had obtained the fourth crystal, and didn't know his own trouble was on the way.

He only knew that Qingluan was just a little bit away from breaking through the peak of Bronze.

...