208: Chapter 208 Layers of Dependence

Puchi!

The golden Wind Blade slashed a foot deep.

Dark red blood and pitch-black bodily fluids gushed out simultaneously. The Three-Headed Hellhound's three heads let out a scream at the same time, and its body jerked violently before crashing to the ground.

The energy ball exploded right in front of the Three-Headed Hellhound's heads.

The Body Integration skill had been condensed to its limit, but the casting was interrupted by the Blue Luan's attack the moment before it was released.

The tri-colored energy lost control and exploded right in front of it.

Boom—!!!

The Three-Headed Hellhound was blown back over thirty meters, rolling seven or eight times on the ground and smashing two rocks before finally coming to a stop.

It struggled to crawl back up.

Of the three heads, the pitch-black Dark-type head was already drooping on the ground. The wound on its neck was deep enough to see the bone, and a mixture of dark red blood and black fluids poured from the wound like a filthy stream.

The other two heads barely managed to lift themselves, but their eyes were filled with rage and fear.

The injured head let out a weak, wailing cry.

The emotions and thoughts of the three heads had fallen into chaos, which was exactly the weakness identified by Nine-Star Insight.

I can kill it!

Qin Ce's eyes lit up, and he gave it no chance to catch its breath.

"Again."

The Phoenix Flow behind the Blue Luan condensed once more.

This time it wasn't twenty-one streams; its current state couldn't condense that many, but thirteen were enough.

Thirteen silver-white energy ribbons tumbled behind it before surging into its body. Another golden Wind Blade condensed in its throat.

The Three-Headed Hellhound saw the Phoenix Flow condensing behind the Blue Luan.

It saw the silver-blue bird, the cold-eyed human on its back, and the golden Wind Blade taking shape.

Two of its heads roared, but the other lowered its head.

The body began to struggle abnormally.

Finally, the two heads gave an unwilling roar, turned, and fled.

The Three-Headed Hellhound fled desperately toward the northwest.

Its body swayed violently as it ran, and the head drooping on the ground dragged across the gravel, leaving a long trail of blood.

But how could something running on the ground be faster than something flying in the sky?

The Blue Luan flapped its wings and dove from the high sky, passing through the figure-eight path formed by the seven Wind Cores, pushing its speed to the limit.

Chasing past the territory boundary, past the grass polluted by poisonous mist, and past a patch of low shrubs.

The Three-Headed Hellhound hadn't even run half a mile before the Blue Luan was directly above its head.

A golden Wind Blade shot out from the Blue Luan's mouth, slashing straight down from above and accurately striking the base where the three necks met.

Puchi—!!!

All three heads were severed at the base.

Dark red, pitch-black, and grey-purple blood erupted simultaneously like three differently colored fountains, bursting into a murky blood mist within the thin fog.

The Three-Headed Hellhound's body continued to run forward for seven or eight steps before finally collapsing.

Its four legs were still twitching and its tail was still lashing, but the heads were no longer on the neck.

The three heads rolled onto the grass, their six eyes still open, pupils filled with a final sense of confusion and resentment.

Qin Ce jumped down from the Blue Luan's back, walked to the corpse of the Three-Headed Hellhound, and crouched down, pressing his hand onto the still-twitching body.

Nine-Star Insight confirmed its death.

A Gold Rank kill.

He had done it.

It wasn't through trickery or luck, but a head-on confrontation and tactical suppression.

Qin Ce stood up and let out a long breath.

His combat suit was covered in the Three-Headed Hellhound's blood, and some was on his face, dripping down his chin.

His hands were shaking slightly—not from fear, but from exhaustion.

The Blue Luan landed beside him, its silver-blue feathers covered in blood, both its own and the Three-Headed Hellhound's.

Tianlu jumped out from the tattoo, its four short legs moving fast. It ran to the Three-Headed Hellhound's corpse and used its small claws to pull aside the shattered flesh and bone, digging out a fist-sized crystal core from within.

The crystal core was dark grey throughout, with red, black, and purple patterns swirling inside. it emitted energy fluctuations so dense they were heart-palpitating—a Gold Rank crystal core.

Tianlu ran to Qin Ce's feet with the crystal core in its mouth, patted his calf with a small paw, and then ran toward the northwest.

After running a few steps, it looked back to signal Qin Ce to follow.

Qin Ce did not hesitate.

The Three-Headed Hellhound's territory was to the northwest.

They crossed a wasteland shrouded in thin mist, went over a dry riverbed, and climbed a hill that wasn't very high.

At the top of the hill was a natural depression, like a giant bowl turned upside down on the hill.

In the very center of the depression, a glowing rune was embedded in the rocks on the ground—identical in shape to the runes on the stone platform in the valley, in the grotto, and in the Tian Gu Leopard's cave, but different in size.

The rune in the valley was palm-sized, the one in the grotto was the size of a washbasin, as was the one in the Tian Gu Leopard's cave, but this one was as large as a tabletop.

Qin Ce walked over and pressed the Three-Headed Hellhound's crystal core onto the rune.

A milky-white liquid surged from the rune, enveloping the crystal core and draining its energy.

The perception of territory in Qin Ce's mind began to expand crazily. It wasn't the slow, wave-like expansion from before, but a frantic spread to the west, northwest, and North like a bursting flood.

Qin Ce closed his eyes, feeling the changes in the territory's boundaries.

The Three-Headed Hellhound's territory was astonishingly large.

Qin Ce's previous three territories—the valley, Green Fang Hill, and the Tian Gu Leopard's cave—combined were only equivalent to the size of four or five Silver Rank Vicious Beast territories.

But this piece from the Three-Headed Hellhound was worth a full nine Silver Rank Vicious Beast territories.

After the annexation, Qin Ce's total territory area reached the size of twelve Silver Rank Vicious Beast territories.

Twelve times.

It had transformed from the size of a few football fields into a small town.

At that moment, a sudden vibration came from his chest.

Qin Ce opened his eyes and reached into his clothes to pull out a diamond-shaped crystal.

The diamond-shaped crystal in his palm was the key to the God-level Ruins, and it was currently glowing.

The energy from the Gold Rank crystal core dissipating in the air was being absorbed by it. Like breathing, it entered the crystal continuously and steadily, turning into a warm golden light.

Then it merged into the golden liquid at the bottom. The liquid rose significantly, changing from a thin layer into a small pool.

As expected, this was effective; even in areas far from the ruins, energy could be accumulated.

Qin Ce put away the crystal and stood up to look around.

To the northwest, deep in the thin mist, he could vaguely see thicker fog churning. That was the deeper Vicious Beast world, where Gold Ranks clustered and Starlight Ranks were not uncommon.

Then, suddenly.

"Aowuu—!!!"

A long, low beast roar carrying a warning tone came from the northwest.

Immediately following were a second, third, and fourth roar, coming from different directions, distances, and locations.

Qin Ce closed his eyes, sensing the sources of those roars.

One Gold Rank about ten kilometers to the northwest; another Gold Rank about eight kilometers due west; a third about twelve kilometers to the southwest; and a fourth, fifth, and sixth fifteen kilometers to the North—at least a dozen Gold Rank Vicious Beasts issued warnings to him at the same moment.

The sudden roars of over a dozen Gold Rank Vicious Beasts...

...did not cause Qin Ce any tension!

Because these roars were not intended as an attack.

Furthermore, eleven roars issued simultaneously from a distance could not possibly mean an offensive.

This was a show of force!

It was a declaration meaning, "This is my territory, don't cross the line."

Qin Ce listened silently, counting and remembering the direction and distance of every roar.

Over a dozen Gold Rank Vicious Beasts were distributed from the northwest to the southwest of his territory, like an arc.

They weren't targeting him; they were simply demarcating boundaries and declaring their domains.

This was actually another form of recognition.

However, the corners of Qin Ce's mouth curled into an arc.

They thought they were showing force and then letting things settle.

But Qin Ce had no intention of letting them go; Gold Rank Vicious Beasts were precious resources for opening the God-level Ruins.

He hadn't known their exact locations before, but with these shouts, they had delivered themselves to his door.

This distance, this density.

In Qin Ce's mind, a new map was taking shape.

However, just as this map was gradually forming, Tianlu came over and quietly lay down beside Qin Ce.

Then, Qin Ce suddenly had a realization.

On this arc where the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts were distributed, while he was surrounded on one side...

...on the other side, they also seemed to be surrounding a certain area.

And from that silent area, a sense of crisis that made his hair stand on end faintly emanated.

The level of that sense of crisis far exceeded any Gold Rank Vicious Beast!

This was...?

Star-Glow Rank?

Behind these Gold Rank Vicious Beasts, was there also a Star-Glow Rank Vicious Beast?

Taking a deep breath, Qin Ce halted his plan to continue encroaching on the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts' domains.

Caution was paramount.

Withdrawing his focus from that area...

...Qin Ce suddenly noticed some other differences.

In his territory perception, the attitude of the surrounding territories toward him had also undergone a dramatic change.

Of the ten neighbors before, eight were hostile.

Now, the eight hostile ones had changed to two being wary; the three covetous ones had become one; the one friendly one had become six; and the two indifferent ones had become one.

Qin Ce was stunned for a moment, then he understood.

It wasn't that they weren't hostile anymore; they just didn't dare to be.

He had killed the Three-Headed Hellhound and annexed its territory.

In this Vicious Beast world, strength was everything.

Even though he was human and only Silver Rank, he had killed a Gold Rank and annexed a territory with a three-kilometer radius.

That gave him the strength of a Gold Rank!

Facts were more persuasive than any Rank.

Those neighbors who were once hostile now chose to be either friendly or to lie low.

The corners of Qin Ce's mouth curled up slightly.

He prepared to return to the valley to recuperate.

But what he didn't know...

...was that hundreds of miles away, a pair of eyes was staring fixedly at the change in brightness of that diamond-shaped crystal in his hand on a 3D map.

Inside a temporary military camp tent.

Wang Zhuo sat on a folding chair, the 3D map spread out on the table before him—showing the real-time location and brightness of the thirteen keys projected by the diamond-shaped crystal.

His finger slid across the map, and the dimmest light point he had been watching suddenly brightened significantly.

Wang Zhuo's finger paused.

Qin Ce's key energy increased?

There was only one way to increase energy: by slaying a Gold Rank Vicious Beast.

But that Qin Ce was only a Silver Rank; how could he have killed a Gold Rank?

Could it be he'd picked up another easy kill?

At this thought, Wang Zhuo once again recalled the scenes from the beast tide; it had already become his Heart Demon.

Dammit!

This wretched commoner.

How does he deserve this?

How does he deserve this!

Wang Zhuo slammed his fist onto the table.

This Qin Ce's growth rate was too fast.

A month ago he was still Bronze Rank, relying on trickery to kill the heavily injured Raven King during the beast tide.

A month later he was already Silver Rank and had killed a Gold Rank Vicious Beast.

What about another month from now?

Wang Zhuo's eyelid twitched. "Han Zhang."

Han Zhang walked into the tent, his back straight as a ramrod and his eyes sharp as knives: "Present."

"Stop the rest, speed up the departure." Wang Zhuo's voice was irritable.

"Today, I want to see Qin Ce's corpse."

Han Zhang stood at attention: "Yes, sir."

He turned and walked out of the tent. From outside came hurried commands, the cries of Pet Beasts, and the clatter of equipment.

An elite squad of ten men was ready to depart in less than fifteen minutes.

Subsequently.

Wang Zhuo rode the Silver-Patterned Peacock.

Ten people and ten Pet Beasts formed a wedge formation, following closely behind Wang Zhuo.

Han Zhang rode an Iron-Feathered Vulture, serving as a guard on the left side of the formation.

The other nine were split between the sides and the rear, protecting Wang Zhuo in the very center of the formation.

Eleven people.

Eleven Gold Ranks.

Wang Zhuo himself was at Gold Peak, Han Zhang was High Grade Gold, and the other nine were all at least Low Grade Gold.

Eleven Gold Rank Beast Tamers and eleven Gold Rank Pet Beasts.

This was a force sufficient to sweep through any outpost on Beimang Mountain.

To kill one person, it was more than enough.

Wang Zhuo looked down at the 3D hologram map projected by the diamond-shaped crystal in his palm.

Qin Ce was less than a hundred kilometers away from them.

And ahead, the Vicious Beast world beneath the spatial rift was already in sight.

...

The valley was still the same valley.

But when Qin Ce walked into the valley, it felt different.

Someone was waiting for him.

No, not a person.

On the grass at the entrance of the valley lay a silver-white fox.

It wasn't large, about the same size as Tianlu, with silver-white fur that shimmered softly in the thin mist.

Its eyes were pale blue, clear as two springs, and it was quietly watching Qin Ce.

Tianlu poked its head out from Qin Ce's arms, glanced at the silver fox, and then let out a soft "meew"—not a warning, but a greeting.

Qin Ce's Nine-Star Insight operated silently.

[Vicious Beast]: Silver Moon Fox

[Rank]: High Grade Silver

...

[Status]: Friendly, intends to submit

"Submit?"

Qin Ce repeated the word in a low voice.

The Silver Moon Fox stood up, took two steps toward him, then lay down, lowered its head, and spat out a small crystal.

Then, Tianlu suddenly stepped forward, picked up the crystal in its mouth, and placed it on the stone platform in Qin Ce's territory.

The small crystal merged into the stone platform the next moment.

In Qin Ce's mind, he suddenly gained exploration rights over a piece of territory to the east.

Although it wasn't an annexation, he had a certain amount of management authority.

Is this what submission is like in the Vicious Beast world?

Before Qin Ce could react, another Vicious Beast stepped out from the other side of the valley.

A pitch-black leopard, much larger than the Silver Moon Fox, but with an even more submissive posture.

It walked up to Qin Ce, lay down, lowered its head, and similarly handed over a crystal.

[Vicious Beast]: Shadow Leopard

[Rank]: Silver Peak

...

[Status]: Friendly, submitted

...

Qin Ce looked at the two Vicious Beasts prostrate before him and was silent for a moment.

He understood.

This was the rule of this world.

When a territory Dominator becomes stronger, the surrounding weaker ones will choose to submit to the new powerhouse in exchange for protection.

The Silver Moon Fox and the Shadow Leopard were the two neighbors whose attitude toward him remained "friendly" even after the Three-Headed Hellhound arrived.

Therefore, they were the first to submit.

However, at that moment, Qin Ce suddenly realized something.

If someone like him had followers, what about those Gold Rank Vicious Beasts?

And had that Three-Headed Hellhound really attacked him so urgently because he had taken too much territory?

Was it possible that one of its subordinates had been killed by him and had its territory taken?

Thinking deeper, if Silver Ranks would submit to Gold Ranks, would Gold Ranks submit to Star-Glow Ranks?

Was it a coincidence that those ten-plus Gold Rank Vicious Beasts roared together just now, or were they commanded?

Qin Ce suddenly remembered the attacks he received when he first broke in; there were at least two Gold Rank attacks among them.

But in the warning roars just now, there were no Vicious Beasts in that direction.

It seemed this Vicious Beast world had even deeper layers.

So, how should he handle the energy accumulation for his God-level Ruins?

...