224: Chapter 224 The Miracle Begins

"It must be Qin Ce!"

Wang Zhuo looked toward the north with certainty.

Although he could see nothing through the mist, although the seven-colored gas was still permeating the air, and although the explosions in the distance had already subsided, he knew that the first person to complete the charging was Qin Ce.

There was no second candidate.

That plebeian who had snatched his glory from the beast tide, that petty thief who had forced the Wang Family to give up half their territory in the north, that person who had just killed Han Zhang under his very nose, lured the Vicious Beast onto him, and harvested the Gold-Tier Ferocious Beasts he had painstakingly crippled one by one.

It could only be him.

Wang Zhuo took a deep breath, raised his hand, and once again activated the diamond-shaped crystal in his palm.

Golden light surged from within the crystal, condensing, rotating, and expanding three feet in front of him.

The 3D holographic map appeared again, but this time, it was different from any previous instance.

Two light spots on the map had vanished.

In their place were two keys—two keys that were entirely golden and emitted a blinding light.

Like two miniature suns.

Beneath each key was connected a hexagram array.

And beneath these two hexagram arrays were connected two altars.

They were not holographic images, not energy bodies, but real, existing altars rooted in the earth.

One was above the Wang Family base—that was the location where Wang Zhuo's key had first appeared.

The other was in Qin Ce's territory—the area of the Wuji Army, where the first key had fallen.

They looked like two doors, like two vortexes, and like two eyes that were opening.

Wang Zhuo did not look closely at these.

His eyes were locked firmly on the position of the other key on the map.

Qin Ce's location.

Looking at the map, Qin Ce was in the north, no more than a few dozen miles away from him.

From that direction, not long ago, there had come the roar of a Star-Glow Rank Vicious Beast and that earth-shattering explosion.

Wang Zhuo's expression was as gloomy as the sky before a storm.

He gritted his teeth and squeezed a sentence through them: "Damn it, if I had known, I should have killed him first!"

But how could he have beaten him to it?

There were no Gold-Tier Ferocious Beasts over there at all, only...

Wang Zhuo's words suddenly stopped.

He recalled the direction in which Qin Ce had flown north, the roar of the Star-Glow Rank Vicious Beast, and the explosion that had made the Silver-Patterned Peacock's wings tremble from dozens of miles away.

Could it be that he had killed a Star-Glow Rank Vicious Beast?

A Silver Rank killing a Star-Glow Rank.

This was impossible, absolutely impossible!

Wang Zhuo frantically denied this thought in his heart.

Between Silver Rank and Star-Glow Rank lay the entire Gold Rank, a qualitative gap that could not be bridged by technique.

He had seen Silver Rank kill Gold Rank, but he had never seen a Silver Rank kill a Star-Glow Rank; he had never even heard of it.

Wang Zhuo's hands began to shake.

Qin Ce had taken first place, so his advantage would be even greater. Plus, Qin Ce could even kill a Star-Glow Rank—no matter how he had managed it, someone capable of killing a Star-Glow Rank Vicious Beast, even if by luck, was someone Wang Zhuo could absolutely not defeat in his current state.

Wang Zhuo's expression became extremely ugly.

No, I have to go and see.

If there is a chance, I will confront him head-on again. If there is a chance, this time it must be a fight to the death!

Wang Zhuo gritted his teeth, the Silver-Patterned Peacock flapped its wings, and they flew toward the north.

However, just as Wang Zhuo was preparing to set off, the diamond-shaped crystal in his hand suddenly began to vibrate violently.

The golden light on the crystal's surface surged violently, stinging Wang Zhuo's eyes and causing him to instinctively squint.

Then, he felt it.

It was not a sensation coming from the crystal, but from the distance—from behind him, from the direction of the Wang Family base.

A massive energy fluctuation surged from that direction like a tide, moving extremely fast, crossing dozens of miles in the blink of an eye, and rushing toward his location.

Wang Zhuo turned his head abruptly.

A line of energy shot toward him from the direction of the Wang Family base, so fast that it left a blinding golden trail in the mist.

One end of the energy line connected to the sinking altar above the Wang Family base, and the other end—headed straight for the diamond-shaped crystal in his hand.

The moment the energy line struck the crystal, Wang Zhuo's body trembled violently.

At the same time, above the Wang Family base, the runes on the surface of the illusory altar, which had taken root from the energy shadow, began to light up one by one.

Starting from the outermost circle, it spread inward circle by circle.

For every circle that lit up, the altar sank an inch; for every inch it sank, the air around the altar distorted a bit more; for every bit it distorted, the altar became more solid.

The moment all the runes lit up, the altar had completely sunk into the ground.

No, not sunk, but fused. It had merged with the earth, like a stone growing out of the ground, indistinguishable from the surrounding soil, rocks, and air.

And beside Wang Zhuo, who was thousands of miles away, the air began to distort.

Runes emerged out of thin air from beneath his feet, above his head, and all around him.

They were not shot out from the crystal, but condensed directly from the void, each one identical to the runes on the altar, with the order of arrangement, the rhythm of lighting up, and the frequency of flickering being completely synchronized.

There were more and more runes, becoming denser and denser, wrapping his entire body within them.

Wang Zhuo could feel that those runes were not bindings, not imprisonment, but a form of—guidance.

They were guiding the crystal in his hand.

The crystal slowly rose from Wang Zhuo's palm, hovering three feet in front of him.

The golden light grew brighter and more intense, blinding Wang Zhuo. Then, cracks began to appear on the surface of the crystal, spreading downward from the top.

One, two, four, eight—each crack unfolded along a specific trajectory, and the surface of the crystal curled outward like flower petals, revealing a deep, pitch-black, bottomless void inside.

The void expanded violently, swallowing Wang Zhuo whole.

Wang Zhuo only felt his vision go black, his head spin, and he entered space teleportation.

And the crystal in his hand, however, remained in place, guided by energy, and began to move.

The light carried the key back the way it came. Passing through the mist, crossing the wasteland, passing through the dead forest Wang Zhuo had traversed, it shot toward the direction of the Wang Family base.

Above the Wang Family base, the altar that had already sunk into the ground lit up again.

It did not light up from the runes, but from the center of the altar—the position where the key was inserted.

Light spread outward from the center, dyeing the entire altar golden.

In the center of the altar was a groove. Its shape and size were exactly the same as Wang Zhuo's diamond-shaped crystal.

The key had flown back.

In the blink of an eye, it reached the space above the altar.

Then it slowly descended, like a falling leaf, and fell into the groove.

Click.

A crisp sound.

The key fit perfectly with the altar, seamless, as if it had originally grown from here.

The altar began to sink.

Sinking deep into the earth.

Then, paths of light runes, with the altar as the center, spread wildly in all directions.

The speed at which the runes spread far exceeded everyone's imagination.

They were like mercury spilling onto the ground, like spreading tree roots, like lightning tearing through the night sky, shooting along the ground in all directions.

Each rune emitted golden light; wherever the light passed, the ground was illuminated, the sky was reflected, and the energy concentration in the air rose sharply.

One mile, ten miles, fifty miles, one hundred miles.

In just ten minutes, the coverage of the runes reached a diameter of one hundred kilometers.

Looking down from above the Wang Family base, the entire land looked like a carefully drawn Talisman, with golden lines crisscrossing to weave a huge and complex net.

The center of the net was the altar, and the edge of the net was a ring-shaped barrier made of golden light, enclosing everything within a one-hundred-kilometer diameter—hills, rivers, forests, wastelands, Vicious Beasts, humans—all within it.

Then, those light-path runes began to float energy points toward the sky.

They did not rise from the ground, but emerged from the nodes of the runes. Each energy point was like a tiny star, slowly rising, rising higher and higher, becoming brighter and brighter.

When these energy points rose to a height of several dozen meters, they began to spread out.

Like pulling open a curtain, they moved slowly to both sides.

Each point was a hand, each ray of light was a rope, and together they pulled at some invisible curtain covering the sky above this land.

The curtain was pulled open.

Behind the curtain was another world.

There were blue skies, white clouds, green hills, and golden fields.

The hills were covered with unknown trees, and the trees bore fist-sized fruits, the color of which was a luster like sparkling jewels that no one had ever seen before.

In the sky, birds were soaring. They were not large in size, but the aura of each one was no weaker than a Gold Rank. Their feathers were colorful, like flowing rainbows under the sunlight.

On the ground, beasts were running. Some looked like deer, some like horses, some like cattle, but they were none of these—they had unique energy patterns on their bodies, like natural armor, shining in the sunlight.

Further away, one could see several towering mountain peaks, and on the tops of the peaks were buildings—not buildings constructed by humans, but some kind of more ancient, more magnificent architecture that had merged with the mountain bodies.

The style of the buildings was not any kind that Qin Ce had ever seen; there were spires, domes, colonnades, and arches, like temples in myths.

The scene displayed within this curtain, via the Fengling City monitoring System, spread across all factions.

At the Fengling City General Staff Headquarters, in front of a huge electronic screen, a group of high-ranking officers stared blankly at that golden field, that colorful sea of flowers, those rivers shining in the sunlight, and those powerful beasts. No one spoke. It was not that they didn't want to speak, but they didn't know what to say.

They had seen worlds of Vicious Beasts, seen Space-Time Rifts, and seen countless types of dangerous lands and Secret Realms.

But they had never seen a world like this—resources abundant to the point of suffocation, Heaven And Earth Treasure everywhere, and even the air was filled with energy.

"Is that... God-level Ruins?" a young staff officer muttered.

No one answered him.

Everyone knew the answer, but no one dared to say it out loud.

The Wang Family head, Second Elder Wang Chong, sat in his study, the holographic projection in front of him playing the same scene.

His hands were trembling slightly—not from fear, but from excitement.

The resources inside the God-level Ruins were enough for the Wang Family to develop for ten generations.

And they were the first ones to open this world.

The Zhao Family, Zhou Family, Lin Family, and the City Lord's Mansion all made the same decision at the same moment.

Accelerate the charging progress, summon core forces, and move toward the one-hundred-kilometer range of the key's holographic image.

The eyes of all the factions turned red.

The resources in that Small World were abundant to the extreme.

And they had not expected that after the energy of the God-level Ruins' key was fully charged, it would not just allow the key holder to enter alone, but that everything within a one-hundred-kilometer diameter could enter the God-level Ruins.

What did this mean?

It meant that whoever's altar on their territory activated first could bring their own people in first to snatch resources.

It meant that whoever had more people, stronger power, and faster actions could snatch the most good things.

At this moment, all the factions began to go crazy.

Everyone's charging progress was advancing frantically.

However, what they did not know was—what Wang Zhuo, the first to enter, was facing.

When Wang Zhuo opened his eyes, what he saw was blue sky and white clouds.

Not the grey, mist-covered sky, but a real, clear blue sky, as if washed by water.

White clouds drifted slowly in the sky, and sunlight spilled down from the gaps in the clouds, warm and bright.

He was lying on the grass; the grass was soft, dense, and emitted a faint, fresh fragrance.

He could feel that the energy concentration in the air was extremely high, several times higher than the mist area under the Space-Time Rift.

With every breath, energy flowed down his trachea into his lungs, then spread throughout his entire body.

Wang Zhuo sat up and looked around; the resources around him were too abundant.

Even with his knowledge, he showed greed on his face.

Wang Zhuo stood up, preparing to walk toward the nearest hill.

Then he saw a cloud.

A cloud drifting from above, a cloud rushing straight toward him.

Wang Zhuo stopped his steps and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. The Silver-Patterned Peacock sensed his tension, flew out from the tattoo, landed beside him, its silver-white feathers standing up, and stared vigilantly at that cloud.

However, when it descended to less than a hundred meters from the ground, Wang Zhuo finally saw clearly what it was.

That was not a cloud.

That was a white, translucent creature that looked like a jellyfish and also like a ghost.

Its body was flat, with fine wrinkles on the edges, like a crumpled piece of paper. Countless long, thin tentacles hung beneath its body, each one trembling slightly, as if breathing, as if sensing, as if waiting.

This is a Nightmare Demon!!!

This name flashed through Wang Zhuo's mind!

The next moment, the Nightmare Demon dropped directly down.

The tentacles hung down like willow branches, gently and tenderly wrapping around Wang Zhuo's arm.

Wang Zhuo tried to pull his hand away, but couldn't.

The Nightmare Demon's tentacles spread upward along Wang Zhuo's arm, wrapped around his shoulder, coiled around his neck, and pressed against his cheek.

Then a chill seeped through the tentacles, from his skin into his muscles, from his muscles into his blood, from his blood into his Meridians, and from his Meridians into his Soul Talisman. The Soul Talisman was trembling, resisting, being invaded by something.

The Nightmare Demon was signing a contract with him!

The moment the contract was completed, a massive amount of information flooded into Wang Zhuo's mind.

He knew the truth of this world.

This God-level Ruins buried a Nightmare Demon that had reached the Divine-Grade.

It was dead, dead for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, but it had left behind a massive number of offspring.

They were waiting for someone to come in.

Every Beast Tamer who entered this world would be possessed by a Nightmare Demon.

The Nightmare Demon would forcibly sign a contract with the Beast Tamer and become their Pet Beast.

But this was not an ordinary contract.

The Nightmare Demon would accelerate the Beast Tamer's growth, allowing them to become stronger faster, break through Bottlenecks faster, and absorb the resources of this world faster.

Because the stronger the Beast Tamer was, the more nutrients the Nightmare Demon could obtain, and the faster it would grow.

Then, the Nightmare Demon would feed on the Beast Tamer's Soul Power.

Not eating it all at once, but slowly, continuously, devouring it like a bloodsucker.

The faster the Beast Tamer grew, the faster their Soul Power grew, and the faster the Nightmare Demon devoured it.

If the Beast Tamer's Soul Power growth rate was slower than the Nightmare Demon's devouring rate, the Nightmare Demon would eat the Beast Tamer clean—Soul Power, life force, Mental Energy, everything.

And if the Beast Tamer's growth was faster than the Nightmare Demon's devouring rate, fast enough that he could help the Nightmare Demon grow to the point of inheriting this world before the Nightmare Demon ate him up, then the Nightmare Demon would inherit this God-level Ruins and become the new master of this Small World.

Then, it would turn around and devour the Beast Tamer who had helped it.

There were no exceptions. There was no way out.

From the moment the contract was signed, the Beast Tamer's fate was sealed—to be eaten. It was just a matter of time.