217: Chapter 217 Harvesting Energy

An Earth-Splitting Bear leapt up from the side, its massive paw slamming into his back and swatting him straight out of mid-air.

Boom! Wang Zhuo's body slammed into the ground, creating a shallow pit as gravel and dust sprayed everywhere.

The back of his combat suit was ripped open, revealing bruised, purple flesh beneath, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He gritted his teeth and pushed against the ground, trying to stand, but a Shadow Leopard had already pounced from the side, its sharp claws aiming straight for his throat.

The Silver-Patterned Peacock dove from the sky, its silvery-white tail feathers sweeping across the Shadow Leopard's face, forcing the beast to retreat.

The peacock's talons grabbed Wang Zhuo by the shoulders, lifting him from the ground and tossing him onto its back.

Wang Zhuo lay flat on the peacock's back, gasping for air; his chest felt as if it had been scorched by fire.

He raised his head and looked around. Then, he froze.

The entire team's formation had completely scattered. The nine people were divided into three groups by dozens of Gold Rank Vicious Beasts, each fighting on their own, unable to look out for one another.

On the left, the Thunder Eagle's Beast Tamer was being besieged by three flying Vicious Beasts. The Thunder Eagle could no longer discharge its electric arcs, and a gash had been torn in its wing, blood spurting out with every flap.

On the right, the Rock-Armored Turtle's Beast Tamer and the Frost Giant Python's Beast Tamer stood back-to-back. The Rock-Armored Turtle's shell was covered in cracks, and the Frost Giant Python's mouth had been torn, with a spray of blood accompanying every breath of cold air it exhaled.

In the rear, a Beast Tamer riding a flying Pet Beast had been struck by a Two-headed Monster's spiked club. Both rider and Pet Beast had crashed to the ground and were dragged to the center of the formation by teammates, covered in blood, with the rider's left arm twisted at a grotesque angle.

Wang Zhuo's mind went blank. Only after looking back did he realize that his entire team had fallen into a precarious state.

Without a systematic offense and defense, the Vicious Beasts' numerical advantage was suddenly magnified.

Previously, with Han Zhang in command, the eleven of them could output twelve or even fifteen times their combat power, handling the outnumbered fight with ease.

Now that Han Zhang was gone, no one was there to tell them where to strike, how to fight, or when to retreat.

The nine people were surrounded and divided by dozens of Gold Rank Vicious Beasts, fighting individually and becoming more chaotic as the battle dragged on.

Wang Zhuo's Team was no longer fighting with ease. To escape the siege of these Vicious Beasts, they would have to pay a heavy price, perhaps even lose one or two lives.

And this was merely the attack from the Vicious Beasts; it didn't even account for Qin Ce, who was waiting for the perfect opportunity in the shadows.

Wang Zhuo clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

Meanwhile, Qin Ce, having returned to the high altitude in the distance, did not act in haste after seeing the balance of power between Wang Zhuo and the Vicious Beasts broken. He was waiting—waiting for the Wind Core to recover.

Around the Green Phoenix, eight of the nine Wind Cores originally scattered across the battlefield had dissipated, leaving only the one initially left in the high altitude.

Silvery-white points of light were reconverging among the Green Phoenix's feathers: one, two, three—the recovery of the Wind Cores required time; there was no need to rush.

Qin Ce hovered below the clouds, overlooking the battlefield below.

In his Nine-Star Insight vision, Wang Zhuo's Team's formation was scattering further and further, the nine individuals moving further apart, their coordination with one another almost completely severed.

The Thunder Eagle's Beast Tamer had been forced to the northeast corner of the battlefield by three flying Vicious Beasts, the Wind Falcon's Beast Tamer was in the southwest corner, the Rock-Armored Turtle and Frost Giant Python were trapped in the very center, and the Shadow Leopard was prowling on the perimeter; no one could help anyone else.

Wang Zhuo rode the Silver-Patterned Peacock, shuttling back and forth above the battlefield, rushing wherever danger appeared. But he was only one person; he could save one side but not the other.

He had just pulled the Thunder Eagle's Beast Tamer out of the siege of three flying Vicious Beasts when the Rock-Armored Turtle's Beast Tamer was knocked over by an Earth-Splitting Bear.

He rushed over to save the Rock-Armored Turtle, only for the Wind Falcon's Beast Tamer to be struck by a Two-headed Monster's spiked club.

Qin Ce watched this scene, the corners of his mouth curling slightly. He was not in a hurry. Wang Zhuo's Team's stamina was depleting, their energy was draining, and their injuries were worsening. The Vicious Beasts' stamina was also fading, their wounds were bleeding, and their numbers were decreasing.

The longer he waited, the greater the losses on both sides, and the greater the space he had to harvest.

A quarter of an hour later. On the battlefield below, Wang Zhuo's Team could no longer keep up with the rhythm of the Vicious Beasts. Over half of the nine people were severely injured.

The Thunder Eagle's Beast Tamer's left arm was broken; he was shielded by his teammates in the center of the formation, his face pale as paper, his lips devoid of any color.

The Wind Falcon's Beast Tamer had a caved-in chest, coughing up blood with every breath, leaning against a withered tree, unable to even stand steadily.

The Rock-Armored Turtle's Beast Tamer had a long, gaping gash on his back, his combat suit soaked in blood as he lay prone on the Rock-Armored Turtle's back. The Rock-Armored Turtle's shell was covered in cracks, shedding fragments with every step it took.

The Frost Giant Python's Beast Tamer limped on his right leg. His Pet Beast's mouth had been torn, and it no longer dared to exhale cold air, as every breath would bring out a spray of blood.

Another team member, severely wounded, had been surrounded and protected in the middle of their group. The nine people formed a circle, shielding the injured in the center, while outside were dozens of Gold Rank Vicious Beasts still roaring, attacking, and bleeding. Their defensive line was becoming smaller and thinner, liable to be overrun at any moment.

At this moment, the Vicious Beasts' strength had the upper hand. Wang Zhuo's Team had shifted from offense to defense, and from defense to struggling desperately to hold on. If no one came to save them, they would not survive the next wave of charges.

However, Qin Ce could not let the Vicious Beasts completely wipe out Wang Zhuo and his team. Because without Wang Zhuo and his team as a distraction, even though Qin Ce was already a lord of the Vicious Beast world, having caused such a massive amount of trouble, his foothold here would become extremely perilous.

He had lured these Vicious Beasts, letting them vent some of their rage on Wang Zhuo, but the core enmity was still directed at him. If Wang Zhuo and his team were wiped out, these Vicious Beasts would refocus all their fury onto him alone.

By then, he would be facing a siege from dozens of uninjured, unexhausted, and unweakened Gold Rank Vicious Beasts.

He needed Wang Zhuo and the others to stay alive. They didn't need to be able to fight; they just needed to be able to attract the Vicious Beasts' attention, share the Vicious Beasts' aggro, and give him enough time and space to harvest.

At this moment, his nine Wind Cores had all finished recovering. Nine silvery-white points of light slowly rotated around the Green Phoenix, each condensed to the extreme, emitting a faint silver glow.

Qin Ce gently patted the Green Phoenix's neck and issued a command: "Leave one Wind Core here. Release a Shadow Sight and remain in place."

Behind the Green Phoenix, a silvery-white Wind Core drifted out, hovering in the high altitude, motionless.

A nearly transparent Shadow Sight Wind Blade shot from the Green Phoenix's mouth, merging with the Wind Core. The Mirror Image condensed into form—a semi-transparent shadow of Qin Ce and the Green Phoenix, hovering below the clouds like a silent statue.

"The remaining eight Wind Cores, disperse into the battlefield."

Eight silvery-white points of light drifted from the Green Phoenix's feathers, scattering toward the battlefield below. They were not clustered together but dispersed—the distance between each one was over a hundred meters.

Some landed in the northeast corner of the battlefield, some in the southwest corner, some in the very center, and some on the perimeter. They were not activated, just floating quietly like eight inconspicuous stars, scattered across every corner of the battlefield.

Because this time, Qin Ce's target was not Wang Zhuo and his team, but the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts. He was now going to start harvesting the energy of the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts. The energy of the God-level Ruins key needed to increase rapidly as well.

"Dive." The Green Phoenix folded its wings and dove from the high altitude.

On the ground, Wang Zhuo's Team's defensive circle had become even smaller, the nine people huddled together like an isolated island surrounded by the sea, ready to be submerged at any moment.

If it weren't for the fact that a Beast Tamer's severe injury did not affect the combat ability of their Pet Beast, Wang Zhuo's Team would truly have faced the risk of being completely wiped out. Likewise, without the previous set of precise execution-style attacks, the death rate of the Vicious Beasts had dropped significantly. However, instances of injuries, and even severe injuries, were becoming more frequent.

Every Vicious Beast bore wounds to some degree. Some had their horns severed by Wang Zhuo's Three Absolute Swords, some had half their bodies scorched by the Thunder Eagle's electric arcs, some had their bellies sliced open by the Wind Falcon's Wind Blade, some had their legs frozen by the Frost Giant Python's cold air, and some had their internal organs damaged by the Rock-Armored Turtle's energy waves. They were still fighting, still roaring, still attacking. But their speed had slowed, their strength had weakened, and their reactions had dulled.

At this moment, a green shadow accompanied by golden light dove from the high altitude. Qin Ce swept past the first Wind Core, his speed increasing sharply. He swept past the second Wind Core, micro-adjusting his direction. He swept past the third Wind Core, correcting his angle. His flight trajectory was like a bolt of lightning, turning between the Wind Cores, so fast that not even a shadow could be seen on the ground.

On the Green Phoenix's wings, two straight, slender golden blades had lit up. Wind Wing Slash—condensing the Green Phoenix's Wind-type energy to the extreme and compressing it to the limit, forming two golden light blades as thin as cicada wings along the edges of its wings.

The first one. An Earth-Splitting Bear, its left eye blinded and its body covered in wounds of varying depths, was panting heavily beside a withered tree. It had at least seven or eight wounds on its body, the deepest being on its flank, left by Wang Zhuo's Three Absolute Swords; the flesh around the wound was rolled back, revealing the stark white ribs beneath.

The blue-gold figure swept past the Earth-Splitting Bear, so fast that the bear didn't even have time to turn its head. The golden blade sliced across its neck, the Earth-Splitting Bear's body stiffened abruptly, its head slid from its neck, and its massive body crashed to the ground.

At the base of the rhombic crystal in Qin Ce's hand, the golden liquid rose by a small amount.

It must be known that Qin Ce was not only able to accelerate via the Wind Cores and inflict damage on Gold Rank Vicious Beasts through Gold Rank attacks; more importantly, Qin Ce possessed Nine-Star Insight, an ability that allowed him to directly see the lethal weak points of Vicious Beasts.

He knew where the most vulnerable spot of every Vicious Beast was—some on the neck, some between the brows, some at the heart, and some on old wounds. Every one of his strikes was precise to the extreme, wasting not a shred of energy, with no unnecessary movements.

Therefore, Qin Ce's ability to snipe kills and harvest could be said to be the best under Starlight.

The second one. A Jade Elephant, both of its tusks broken and a wound deep enough to see bone on its trunk, was moving slowly toward the west. Its speed was very slow, and it had to stop to catch its breath with every step. Qin Ce swept past the fourth Wind Core, turned back, and the golden blade sliced across the Jade Elephant's throat.

The Jade Elephant's struggle ceased. The key energy rose by another notch.

The third, the fourth, the fifth—one after another. Those Gold Rank Vicious Beasts that had been injured or crippled by Wang Zhuo and his team but not killed, fell one by one under Qin Ce's Wind Wing Slash.

Consequently, Wang Zhuo, whose God-level Ruins key energy had just rapidly accumulated to eighty percent, saw no further growth in his energy. He fought desperately, while Qin Ce harvested with ease.

His energy stalled at just under eighty percent, while Qin Ce's energy began to rise crazily from its initial ten percent. Twenty percent, thirty percent, forty percent... Qin Ce's key energy was catching up rapidly.

Wang Zhuo looked back, his face livid. He saw that blue-gold figure weaving through the mist, saw Qin Ce taking the life of a severely wounded Gold Rank Vicious Beast with every dive, and saw that the crystal in his own hand was no longer growing, while Qin Ce's crystal was brightening crazily.

By the time over half of Wang Zhuo's team were severely wounded, with five of the nine having lost their combat capability and being shielded in the center of the formation like a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and when the number of besieging Vicious Beasts had dropped to fifty, Qin Ce's God-level Ruins key energy accumulation officially surpassed Wang Zhuo's.

The golden liquid at the base of the rhombic crystal in his hand rose from under ten percent to eighty percent, from eighty percent to eighty-five percent, and from eighty-five percent to ninety percent. Meanwhile, Wang Zhuo's crystal remained at just over eighty percent. He had overtaken him.

Qin Ce hovered in the high altitude, looking down at the rhombic crystal in his hand, the corners of his mouth curling slightly. He only needed ten more Gold Rank Vicious Beasts, and his God-level Ruins energy would be fully charged, reaching the level required to open and enter the God-level Ruins.

Qin Ce became increasingly relaxed. The extended duration of that Shadow Sight in the sky had been reached. The Mirror Image dissipated from the air, the Wind Core lost its anchor, and the silvery-white light gradually dimmed. As the Shadow Sight vanished, Qin Ce immediately retracted that Wind Core and redeployed it in the surroundings, further improving his energy collection from the Vicious Beasts. He no longer needed Shadow Sight. Wang Zhuo and the others no longer had the ability to threaten him. He only needed to focus on harvesting the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts and fully charge the key energy.

One, two, three—Qin Ce's energy rose steadily. At the same time, as the number of Vicious Beasts decreased, with a large number of them bearing injuries to varying degrees, the frequency of attacks also dropped. The pressure on Wang Zhuo's Team also decreased synchronously. They no longer needed to defend desperately; the number of Vicious Beasts was smaller, the attacks were weaker, and they could finally catch their breath.

Wang Zhuo and his team finally had the opportunity to kill Gold Rank Vicious Beasts again. Seizing the gap while Qin Ce was harvesting an Earth-Splitting Bear, Wang Zhuo dove down on the Silver-Patterned Peacock, the three-colored light of the Three Absolute Swords slashing onto a severely wounded Shadow Leopard, killing it instantly. The golden liquid at the base of the crystal in his hand rose by a small amount.

Both sides' energy was growing. It was just obvious that Qin Ce's energy was growing faster. For every one Qin Ce harvested, Wang Zhuo could only occasionally snatch one. Qin Ce's key energy was advancing from ninety percent toward ninety-five percent, while Wang Zhuo's energy was still stuck at just over eighty percent, unable to go up.

At this moment, a shadow flashed in Wang Zhuo's eyes. If things were allowed to develop, Qin Ce would become the first person to complete the accumulation of key energy. And based on Wang Zhuo's speculation, previously, when his key energy was the first to reach fifty percent, it rewarded him with the ability to view the locations of others' keys. From this, it could be concluded that the first person to complete the accumulation of key energy would also definitely obtain an extremely advantageous ability. He didn't know what that ability was, but he knew—whoever obtained that ability first would be able to occupy the absolute initiative when the ruins opened. He absolutely could not let Qin Ce obtain that ability. Therefore, even if he couldn't reach first place, Qin Ce must absolutely not become the first. Wang Zhuo gritted his teeth and clenched the rhombic crystal in his hand.