Beastmaster King

Green Sea.

Dark Crow closed its eyes in utter bewilderment. "Damn, damn, damn. It's so full of arrogance."

At this point, the range of Dark Crow's Evil God's Gaze had already reached cross-country levels. This was its first attempt at flexing across borders, yet it never expected the other party to be so disrespectful to kick its eyes out with a single hoof.

Upon seeing Dark Crow return in defeat, Lu Ran chuckled. "Failed?"

It seemed that the ancient Divine Bull wasn't too keen on negotiations. However, Lu Ran didn't want to bother with this matter and decided to leave it entirely to Dark Crow to handle. Right now, he had more important things to do.

After contracting Manager Ying's clones, his cloning technique had indeed improved dramatically. Previously, while in his dog demon form, he couldn't create clones at all. But now, not only could he create soul clones while in the dog demon form, but these clones were also full of vitality and perfectly capable of possession.

Unfortunately, even if the dog demon undead clone possessed Captain Doofus, it didn't provide much of a boost. Before possession, Captain Doofus was an Intermediate Overlord. After Captain Doofus, it remained an Intermediate Overlord. There wasn't even any evolution. The boost from Lu Ran's dog demon soul clone was less effective than Captain Doofus wielding a sword.

Captain Doofus thought to himself:Rather than letting this thing possess me in battle, I'd rather activate the Limitless Sword Domain and hold the soul clone in my mouth like a sword. At least that would raise my species rank by a level.

The thought of Captain Doofus' disdainful look filled Lu Ran with rage.

Damn it. After all this research into soul evolution, I'm getting looked down on by a dog? Unacceptable!

In short, this wasn't the soul evolution he had imagined. Lu Ran felt that the issue must lie in the weakness of the soul clone. It needed strengthening.

"In that case, the next step is to focus on strengthening the soul clone. First, I'll terminate one of the contracts with Manager Ying and see if I can contract my own soul clone. If it works, I'll start raising the soul clone as a familiar. If it doesn't, I'll continue learning cloning techniques from Manager Ying. Can you resolve the Divine Bull matter within half a month?" Lu Ran asked Dark Crow.

"Yes. I will not disappoint you," Dark Crow replied, adjusting its black bowtie and tipping its hat in an elegant bow before flying off.

Earlier, it had observed that the ancient Divine Bull's level was roughly between 70 and 80, with a quasi-Legendary species rank. At this level, under normal circumstances, only Six-Path Flower would stand a chance against it within their team. However, although Dark Crow was only a level 60 quasi-Legendary, it had another identity.

It was the master of the Dark Crow Legion and the Evil God Legion under the command of the Beastmaster King of the Beastmaster Empire, with an army of 100,000 Transcendent crows and over a hundred Evil God puppets.

Admittedly, the crow army was being raised by Fang Lan, and the Evil God puppets were gifts from Six-Path Flower, but there was no denying that Dark Crow's true strength lay in legion combat.

The reason Lu Ran fused it with the Dominion Trait was precisely so it could unleash combat power beyond common sense even outside the Limitless City environment. In other words, Dark Crow's level 60 quasi-Legendary form wasn't its peak combat strength. Its true full-power state was the Legion Form achieved after gathering its soldiers.

"You want me to go there in person? Wouldn't that make me look like a pushover? How dare you look down on me... Just you wait, I'll show you my true power!" Dark Crow huffed angrily as it entered the Green Sea Secret Realm.

***

Soon, over 100,000 Poison-attribute crows, averaging above level 30, gathered in the Green Sea Secret Realm. As for the Evil God puppets, since they were stationed in the Amazon Rainforest to maintain order, Dark Crow didn't summon them. These crows alone would suffice.

Dark Crow soared above the secret realm and declared, "The night is coming, and the light will fade! Everything changes, yet nothing changes. Now is the time for you to contribute your strength! All for our king's guidance!"

"All for our king's guidance!" The 100,000 crows raised their heads in unison, surprisingly able to speak human language as they echoed Dark Crow's words.

Within the secret realm, a terrifying light brewed. In an instant, a monstrous creature with wings spanning hundreds of meters emerged. Its body was covered in dense purple runes, shimmering with curse poison energy.

"Only level 66? Only level 66? That's still far from enough!"

After completing its transformation, Dark Crow froze. It sensed its level and found it hard to accept. It had expected a higher boost, but it was only a 6-level increase. Soon, Dark Crow understood why.

It seemed that after its species rank reached quasi-Legendary, relying on these common crows for a significant level boost had become difficult. After all, the energy required for a Low Overlord to increase by 10 levels was entirely different from that of a quasi-Legendary. The growth speed of the crow legion simply couldn't keep up with it anymore.

"Hehe.Ancient Divine Bull, I admit you're strong. In that case, I'll let you be arrogant for a few more days. No wonder my king gave me half a month. He really is wise."

With that, Dark Crow dispersed the entire crow army and said, "After all your hard work, it's time for you to rest. Don't suppress your desires. Seek out your most trusted partners! I need you to produce more and more outstanding offspring. They will become the sharpest blades in our king's hands!"

"Where is the Silk Tree, Albizia? Assist them. For those who produce one offspring, if the offspring's aptitude is excellent, reward them with a drop of my fine blood. Those who produce two offspring, if the offspring's aptitude is excellent, reward them with a drop of my eye's blood. Those who produce three offspring..."

Dark Crow decided to expand the Dark Crow Legion. However, rather than recruiting more crows from the outside, it was better to let these soldiers, who were already trained in attributes and skills, reproduce. If the offspring inherited their parents' talents, it would save a tremendous amount of resources.

Moreover, the boost to the Legion Domination ability would be even greater. Normally, this would be difficult, but Lu Ran had also been raising a Silk Tree Albizia in Green Sea. This thing could increase pregnancy rates and accelerate reproduction speed. Dark Crow could also use its Word Spirit power to assist in the birth and rapid growth of the young crows.

"Silk Tree Albizia, after this mission, I'll put in a good word for you with our king and have you named the national flower of the Beastmaster Empire!" Dark Crow solemnly declared to the small yellow flower that had emerged from the ground.

The Silk Tree Albizia looked up in confusion.

Time for some fun?

In the sky, the dense crow army exchanged glances.Aren't we supposed to go to war? Why are we suddenly being told to reproduce?

***

It wasn't just Dark Crow. While Lu Ran researched cloning, all of his familiars had left. At this point, Lu Ran wasn't entering ascension realms or doing anything dangerous. Rather than staying by his side, the familiars had better places to enhance their strength.

"You can keep tinkering on your own. I'm returning to my territory."

Six-Path Flower returned alone to the Amazon Divine Nation. There was no point in staying with Lu Ran now. It was better to perfect the Six Paths Reincarnation System within its territory and gather more good and evil energy.

Under normal circumstances, with the protection of Legendary Flames, the quasi-Legendary dog demon transformation item, and the Limitless City teleportation function, very few things on Blue Planet could threaten Lu Ran. There was no real need for familiars to protect him at all times.

"Go ahead."

Lu Ran naturally didn't object to Six-Path Flower's departure. This was equivalent to building the empire and indirectly upgrading the imperial seal for him. Besides Six-Path Flower, Sudden Death King and Baby Cloud also left.

In just a few days, Sudden Death King had devoured all the meteorites Lu Ran had acquired. As a result, it had fully transformed into a cosmic lifeform. It was capable of surviving perfectly in space.

Now, the only meteorite resource left on its body was a fragment of the Nine-Colored Meteorite. But this thing was rare, and with such a small quantity, Sudden Death King couldn't bear to eat it, as carrying it could still boost its level. Thus, after requesting Lu Ran's permission, it headed into the deep sea to find General Mystic Turtle.

General Mystic Turtle had also collected two Nine-Colored Meteorite fragments. Sudden Death King planned to use its Meteorite Perception talent to join forces with the general and conquer the seas, searching for more Nine-Colored Meteorite fragments.

As for Baby Cloud, it was bored out of its mind. It wanted to play with Lu Ran, but Lu Ran ignored it. It tried playing with #18, but #18 was busy with research and also ignored it. As it was left with no choice, it followed Sudden Death King into the deep sea.

Deep Sea, Dragon Palace City.

Mystic Turtle lay leisurely on a stone tablet.

"Now this is the life! That crow and that kid, Lu Ran, seem to have completely forgotten about me. Good, it's very good."

By now, Mystic Turtle had fully taken control of Dragon Palace City. Due to Xia's annihilation of the black dragon and their diplomatic relations with the Merfolk Kingdom, even though many powerful forces had recently awakened in the deep sea, none dared to provoke Dragon Palace City easily.

Of course, this was also because Dragon Palace City had few resources left, making it not worth invading. Conversely, since Dragon Palace City had suffered heavy losses, Mystic Turtle didn't have much strength under its command either.

The shrimp soldiers and crab generals it had recruited were even weaker than itself. While others didn't dare to attack, it similarly lacked the power to attack others. Thus, with nothing to do and nothing it could do, Mystic Turtle finally returned to its leisurely retired life.

However, this peaceful life didn't last long.

"What the hell was that?"