218: Chapter 218 All for One's Life

Wang Zhuo took a deep breath, a flash of determination in his eyes.

Then, he ordered the Beast Tamers under his command to build a defensive line for him.

The remaining few team members who could still fight gritted their teeth, dragging their scarred bodies to form a circle around him.

The Thunder Eagle's Beast Tamer pressed down on the Thunder Eagle's wound with his one usable hand, forcing it to take off and hover overhead on alert.

The Wind Falcon's Beast Tamer lay flat on the Wind Falcon's back; though the Wind Falcon's flight was crooked and unstable, it still guarded the left side.

The Rock-Armored Turtle's Beast Tamer dragged the Rock-Armored Turtle to block right in front of Wang Zhuo; its shell was covered in cracks, but it remained a solid shield.

The Frost Giant Python's Beast Tamer and the Shadow Leopard's Beast Tamer guarded either side; their Pet Beasts were heavily injured, but they could still stand.

Wang Zhuo closed his eyes and recalled the Silver-Patterned Peacock into his body.

A silvery-white light glowed from the Silver-Patterned Peacock as its body gradually turned illusory, transforming into a silvery-white stream of light that sank into the tattoo on Wang Zhuo's chest.

The next moment, Wang Zhuo opened his eyes and summoned another Pet Beast from within his body.

A round armadillo covered in metallic scales appeared in front of him.

This armadillo was not large, barely half a meter long, and was entirely covered in dark silver scales. Each scale was tightly arranged, resembling a piece of exquisite armor.

However, its state was extremely unstable—the moment it was summoned, it began to claw and bite frantically at its own scales. Its claws scraped wildly at its back, producing a harsh metal-on-metal grinding sound, prying the scales up to reveal the tender pink flesh beneath.

Its mouth bit down on its own front leg, teeth sinking into the gaps between the scales, as fresh blood trickled from the corners of its mouth.

Its eyes were cloudy and unfocused, its pupils completely devoid of the spirit any living creature should have, containing only a wild, out-of-control, and uncontrollable chaos.

It was not fighting; it was self-mutilating.

Wang Zhuo looked down at the crazed armadillo, a sinister look flashing in his eyes.

This Pet Beast was one he had contracted back when he was at the Silver Rank.

At the time, the Wang family had spent a fortune on the black market to purchase a Vicious Beast egg rumored to have "Star-Glow Rank potential." It was said to be an extremely rare breed, with none other like it to be found in the entire Fengling City.

Wang Zhuo had been ecstatic at the time, paying a hefty price to have it appraised. Only after confirming that its potential was indeed above the Star-Glow Rank did he contract it.

What he did not expect was that the interior of this Vicious Beast egg had been injected with the neurotoxin of an Illusion Tree by the Wang family's rivals.

The Illusion Tree was an extremely rare plant that grew in dangerous areas deep within the Space-Time Rift. Its toxin was not fatal, but it could corrode a creature's sanity, plunging the victim into permanent hallucinations and madness.

From the moment that armadillo hatched, its mind had been in chaos.

It could not distinguish friend from foe, direction, or what was real and what was fake.

Sometimes it would frantically attack everything around it, sometimes it would curl up in a corner without moving, and sometimes it would be like this—frantically clawing and biting itself, leaving its body covered in wounds.

There was simply no way to use this Pet Beast normally.

The Wang family had spent countless resources trying to detoxify it, hiring the best healing-type Beast Tamers in Fengling City and using the best antidotes available on the market, but all to no avail.

The toxin of the Illusion Tree had already penetrated deep into the armadillo's Soul Origin, making it impossible to extract or purge.

Yet even so, Wang Zhuo had still found a way to use it.

The natural enemy of the Illusion Tree was the Dream-Eating Tapir.

The Dream-Eating Tapir fed on dreams, and its blood could neutralize the toxin of the Illusion Tree—not by curing it, but by fighting poison with poison.

The toxin of the Illusion Tree caused creatures to hallucinate, while the blood of the Dream-Eating Tapir induced deep sleep.

When two opposing elements met within the same host, they would clash violently, canceling and annihilating each other.

And this clash would release a massive amount of energy, triggering the armadillo's self-destruction.

The power of the self-destruction was not particularly great, but the special gas released afterward could create a hallucinatory zone within a hundred-mile radius.

The gas produced after the Illusion Tree's toxin and the Dream-Eating Tapir's blood neutralized each other inside the armadillo was neither hallucination nor sleep, but a far more bizarre hybrid state—those who inhaled it would fall into the deepest dream, unable to distinguish reality from illusion, their consciousness trapped in a world woven inside their own minds, unable to extricate themselves.

Only those who possessed the antidote made from the Dream-Eating Tapir's saliva solution would remain unaffected.

This was originally a life-saving trump card Wang Zhuo had prepared for himself.

It was his ultimate trump card, his final means to turn the tables in a desperate situation. He had never intended to use it, because once used, this armadillo would die, and his years of hard work would go down the drain.

Furthermore, the saliva solution of the Dream-Eating Tapir was extremely difficult to obtain; once it was gone, there would be no more.

But now, he had no choice but to use it.

The Opportunity of the God-level Ruins was right before his eyes.

Whoever finished charging the key first would gain the upper hand in the ruins and seize the initiative when the ruins opened.

Qin Ce's energy had already surpassed his, and it was still growing rapidly.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Qin Ce fully charged it to ten tenths, becoming the first person to complete the key's charging.

Wang Zhuo could absolutely not allow this to happen.

He pulled a small porcelain bottle from his bosom, uncorked it, and drank the liquid inside in one gulp.

The liquid was colorless, but it had a faint, sweet, and metallic taste, like diluted blood.

That was the Dream-Eating Tapir's saliva solution—the antidote that would allow him to remain conscious within this hallucinatory zone.

Then, Wang Zhuo pulled a thick syringe out of his storage pouch.

The syringe was as long as an adult's arm, its body made of a specially crafted alloy with its inner wall plated with a silvery-white energy-insulating layer. The needle was as thick as a finger and over twenty centimeters long, glinting with a cold, sharp light in the thin mist.

He jammed the syringe directly into the armadillo's body.

He pierced through the gaps in the armadillo's back scales, passing through skin, fat, and muscle, straight into the depths of its body.

The plunger was slammed down, and a full syringe of the Dream-Eating Tapir's blood was rapidly injected into the armadillo's body.

The entire twenty-centimeter-long syringe, a full tube of blood, was completely injected.

The armadillo's body suddenly went rigid.

Its claws, which had been frantically scratching and biting itself, froze in mid-air. Its cloudy, unfocused eyes suddenly went wide, its pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks.

Its mouth hung wide open, revealing the fine, sharp teeth inside, but it did not make a single sound.

The two opposing elements clashed violently inside its body.

The Illusion Tree's toxin and the Dream-Eating Tapir's blood collided, intertwined, and annihilated each other within the armadillo's Meridians, releasing a massive amount of energy.

The armadillo's body began to swell, its scales standing up one by one, exposing the taut skin beneath.

Light flowed beneath its skin—not a single color, but a shifting, multi-colored glow, as if a rainbow had been compressed inside its body.

Its body swelled and trembled, swaying wildly on the brink of collapse.

The raised scales were like sharp little knives, each one vibrating slightly and making a faint metallic scraping sound.

Its limbs had already left the ground, and its entire body hung in mid-air like an overinflated balloon that could burst at any moment.

At this moment, Wang Zhuo gave the order to his subordinates.

"Blast the armadillo into the center of the battlefield—especially the area where Qin Ce is!"

The remaining few Beast Tamers who could still move struck simultaneously.

The Thunder Eagle's Beast Tamer waved his one usable hand, and the Thunder Eagle swooped down from above. Electric arcs exploded across the armadillo, blasting the mid-air armadillo a distance to the west.

The Wind Falcon's Beast Tamer followed closely behind, and the Wind Falcon's Wind Blades exploded against the armadillo, pushing it further to the west.

The Rock-Armored Turtle's Beast Tamer blasted an energy wave from the ground, sending the armadillo flying high into the air toward the center of the battlefield.

Boom!

The armadillo was sent flying, tracing a low arc through the air toward the chaotic melee of Vicious Beasts in the center of the battlefield.

Its body was still tense and straight, and its mouth remained wide open without making any sound.

However, one could see the scales covering its body starting to stand up one by one—or rather, the armadillo's body was swelling, forcing all the scales to pop outward.

The edges of every single scale lifted off the skin like open folding fans, revealing the brilliant, multi-colored light beneath.

In the distance, Qin Ce was finishing off a heavily injured Vicious Beast, the Qingluan's wings having just sliced across the neck of an Earth-Splitting Bear.

Hearing the commotion from afar, he looked up.

From the center of Wang Zhuo's formation, an armadillo had been blasted into the air and was flying toward the center of the battlefield.

Its body was swelling, its scales were standing on end, and multi-colored light was flowing inside it.

The state of that armadillo was wrong—it wasn't heavily injured or near death, but something far more bizarre, as if something inside its body was spinning out of control.

Out of caution, Qin Ce immediately had the Qingluan carry him away from the battlefield.

"Go!"

The Qingluan flapped its wings violently, transitioning from a dive into a climb, rushing toward the nearest Wind Core.

It was extremely fast, switching from a dive to a climb with almost zero delay, its silver-green figure tracing a graceful arc through the thin mist.

Eight Wind Cores were scattered across the battlefield, each serving as a pivot point for him to accelerate and turn.

If given just three seconds, he could rush from the center of the battlefield to the edge; given five seconds, he could soar into the high sky from the edge; given ten seconds, he could completely escape this area.

However, just as he turned and rushed toward one of the Wind Cores...

...the armadillo flying in the air exploded with a thunderous bang in the next instant.

There was no fire, no smoke, and no deafening roar.

The armadillo's body burst open from within like a crushed egg.

What exploded outward was not bright red flesh or shattered organs, but a thick, multi-colored, cloud-like mist.

The gas surged out of the armadillo's body, spreading in all directions.

Its expansion speed was astonishingly fast—it wasn't being blown away by the wind, but seemed almost alive, actively and frantically spreading outward.

The Qingluan's speed was already very fast, but the gas was even faster.

In the blink of an eye, it swept past Qin Ce and the Qingluan, enveloping them within.

And as the gas washed over the Wind Cores, the Wind Cores began to spin frantically under its agitation.

The eight Wind Cores had originally been hovering quietly, unactivated, serving only as acceleration pivots for Qin Ce.

But under the influence of this multi-colored gas, they were activated—not by Qin Ce, but by the violent energy contained within the gas.

The Wind Cores began to spin, accelerate, and release wind in all directions.

The eight pivot points originally scattered across the battlefield had now turned into eight sources of dispersion, blowing the multi-colored gas even further.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths.

In just ten breaths, the entire hundred-mile radius was completely swallowed by the gas.

After the gas engulfed all the Vicious Beasts, it took a mere three breaths for the beasts that inhaled it to react.

Their eyes began to change, no longer the initial angry red, nor the tired dull yellow, but a dazed, unfocused, and glassy look.

Then, they began to display vastly different emotions and behaviors.

An Earth-Splitting Bear had been facing off against a Rock-Armored Turtle, its paw raised high, preparing to strike.

But the moment it inhaled the gas, its paw froze in mid-air. Its eyes turned from blood-red to dazed, its body began to relax, and the corners of its mouth even curled slightly into an anthropomorphic, satisfied smile—like the relief of a great vengeance achieved, or the long-repressed anger finally being released.

A Jade Elephant had been sweeping its long trunk around, throwing gravel and dead wood everywhere.

But the moment it inhaled the gas, its long trunk stopped, and its eyes went wide, reflecting unknown images in its pupils. It swung its trunk twice in the air, not in attack, but waving it around as if fighting something invisible.

A low, rapid trumpeting came from its mouth, sounding like a roar yet also like a curse.

Blood seeped from the wounds on its body, but it was completely oblivious—it had fallen into an even deeper anger, a deeper fury, angrier than at any other time before.

The two heads of a Two-headed Monster showed completely different reactions after inhaling the gas.

The left head fell into extreme excitement, its eyes narrowing into slits, the corners of its mouth stretching to its ears as if enjoying some ultimate pleasure.

The right head fell into extreme grief, its eyes moist and the corners of its mouth turned down, letting out a low, sobbing whimper. With two heads on the same body displaying completely opposite emotions, it looked incredibly bizarre.

A black leopard lay on the ground, no longer in a combat stance but rolling around, emitting low, groan-like sounds.

Its eyes were half-open, its pupils filled with daze and intoxication. Its tail swept back and forth on the ground, wriggling like a snake.

A few flying Vicious Beasts hovered in the air, their flight no longer sharp and swift as in battle, but becoming erratic and unsteady like a drunkard, swaying side to side, rising and falling.

But in Qin Ce's line of sight, he saw a completely different world.

The moment he inhaled the gas, everything before his eyes changed completely.

It was no longer the mist-shrouded wasteland, no longer the battlefield of slaughtering Vicious Beasts, and no longer the gray sky beneath the Space-Time Rift.

Instead, it was a world he was once incredibly familiar with, a world he had thought he could never return to.

The Great Wall.

The Great Wall that he had seen with his own eyes, touched with his own hands, and stood upon to feel the wind in his past life.

Its gray bricks were mottled, its battlements chipped, winding through the distant, lofty mountains like a sleeping Dragon.

The Forbidden City.

The vermilion palace walls cast long shadows under the golden glazed tiles, and the copper studs on the palace gates gleamed with a warm luster in the sunlight.

The square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was completely empty; only he stood there, the wind blowing from the far end of the square, making the corners of his clothes rustle loudly.

And outside the palace walls, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Tower, the Shanghai Tower, and the World Financial Center were crowded together like a bouquet of flowers casually stuffed into a vase.

They shouldn't have appeared here, yet they did, all at the same time.

Moreover, the proportions were wrong; some were too large, some too small, some crooked, and some tilted, like a chaotic collage pieced together.

Yet in Qin Ce's consciousness, all these absurdities were accepted as perfectly reasonable.

It was as if he were in a dream, naturally accepting all the bizarre and fantastical things.

And at this moment, behind him, a sweet voice rang out.

"Qin Ce, what are you dazed for? Everyone is waiting for you!"

...