King of Beasts

Though General Ha had suffered greatly, Lu Ran did not rush to treat it.

Instead, he first let it remove the broken, shaky dogteeth… No need to waste them.

“Whimper!” General Ha felt like crying without tears.

It just wanted to show off its talents in front of Lu Ran, but who knew the backlash of this move would be so severe.

It really wasn’t eager to forge the Dogtooth Sword at all—

The pain of losing teeth felt even more intense than being slashed by a demon cat!

Moments later…

Lu Ran harvested “Wind Dog’s Fangs x12.”

After these teeth were removed from General Ha’s mouth, Lu Ran’s Eye of Data immediately took effect.

Grade: Ordinary

Introduction: Teeth of a fierce beast of not very high quality, potential uses to be developed.

“How does it feel, you’re almost on par with an ordinary demon cat…” Lu Ran eyed the newly toothed General Ha suspiciously.

At this moment, General Ha, baring its teeth and snapping them together, was extremely satisfied.

“Woof woof.” But it was quite unhappy with Lu Ran’s comment—what did he mean by comparing it to an ordinary demon cat…

“Use that Storm Slash more often.” At this time, Lu Ran also discovered a new skill updated on General Ha’s contract card.

Storm Slash!

A technique that continuously compresses wind energy within the sword.

It can deliver direct slashes, or release enhanced sword qi through external techniques.

At this time, both the slash and the sword qi’s attack power would be extremely terrifying.

After all, this move was akin to compressing the power of several, even a dozen sword qi into one.

However, correspondingly, not only does it consume a lot of energy, but the recoil is also significant.

General Ha, from just one Storm Slash, had drained two-thirds of its energy, unable to perform a second one.

Destined to be like the early stages of sword qi, it’s a move that could decide the outcome in one blow.

As for the recoil, it’s fair to say that General Ha has mastered the skill, but it’s still very unpolished.

If it were merely using energy compression, compressing the energy within its teeth for a Storm Fang, the injury wouldn’t have been so severe.

Within the first 10 levels, most apprentice beastmasters don’t even dare let their pet beasts attempt energy compression.

But here was General Ha, combining energy shaping, energy compression, and energy release — a convergence of various energy techniques. It would have been surprising if there hadn’t been an accident.

That it managed to execute such skills was a miracle in itself, perhaps the cold environment truly awakened its talents.

With such multi-tasking intelligence, Lu Ran would indeed believe it belonged to a commander species.

Unfortunately, in its eagerness to show off, it ended up severely injured.

If it were any other person’s dog, it would have been rendered useless by now.

Even beastmasters skilled in healing couldn’t replace a pet beast’s teeth that quickly.

From this perspective, the Divine Deer Pendant was truly formidable.

Currently, the maximum capability of the Divine Deer Pendant they had discovered was limb regeneration, tested on a grasshopper that Sudden Death King had bitten.

This means that even if General Ha’s entire leg were chopped off by a pet beast like a Blade Mantis, as long as the pendant had enough energy, it should be able to restore it.

Truly an epic resource.

This also implies that the Divine Deer Pendant might not be without its detoxification effects.

One day, if General Ha’s leg accidentally gets bitten by a venomous snake, they could just chop off the leg to prevent the spread of the toxin and replace it with a new one…

“Woof woof woof!” At this moment, after listening to Boss Lu suggest using Storm Slash more often and then falling into contemplation, General Ha knew Boss Lu must be up to no good again.

“Whimper…” It felt somewhat overwhelmed now, having used up too much energy on a single Storm Slash, compounded by the morning’s challenge in the Forest of the Demon Cat. Now, staring at the endless snowy landscape, General Ha felt drained of energy…

Maybe it’s time to retreat?

“Tired or not, we have to clear this.”

“After all, this is a 500 crystal coin challenge fee!”

“Do you know how much dog food you can buy with those 500 crystal coins???”

Lu Ran looked around the desolate snowy landscape, knowing that the only hope to break even was to obtain the clearance reward.

There seemed to be no resources to gather in this place.

Saying this, he took out two Wood Scale Fruits and tossed them to General Ha, signaling it to eat them to replenish its energy.

“For the first half of the journey, we’ll go together. For the second half… if I can’t keep up, you’ll have to carry me. Today, you and I, father and son, must clear this secret realm no matter what!”

General Ha: ???

In Infinite City No.3, beneath the Divine Beast Leaderboard, the atmosphere was still bustling, especially this morning after Passerby A had topped the leaderboard, sparking long discussions.

Among the crowd were familiar faces like Fang Lan, Pig Raiser, and Xiaobailong, all of whom had come to witness the event for themselves.

Seeing Lu Ran’s name, they all felt a sense of unreality.

However, suddenly, someone shouted, “It’s changed! The top spot has been updated!”

“It’s ‘Pluto’!”

Instantly, all eyes turned to the Divine Beast Leaderboard, only to be shocked to see that Lu Ran, who had just been at the top for less than half a day, was now pushed to second place.

Regional announcement: Update to the Divine Beast Leaderboard and Supernatural Species Leaderboard.

Leaderboard Divine Beast:

Species: Eagle.

Attribute: Thunder.

Species Level: Upper Supernatural.

Growth Level: Level 10.

Beastmaster: Pluto.

Reason for Leaderboard: Evolved from a golden eagle, awakened the power of thunder, integrating the trait ‘Golden Lightning’. In the Giant Beast Forest of the Novice Secret Realm on hard difficulty, it used electric shocks to severely injure an upper supernatural species level 10 Minotaur.

Ranking, risen to the top of the Supernatural Divine Beast Leaderboard!

Seeing this update, the newcomers in the Beastmaster Square gasped in surprise. They had been speculating that once someone reached level 10 and integrated a new trait or awakened a new attribute, they could possibly push Passerby A down. But they hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

In almost no time at all, Pluto, who had been pushed to second by Passerby A, not only had his pet beast reach level 10 but also integrated the ‘Golden Lightning’ trait that caused a mutation in its thunder energy, wreaking havoc in the hard difficulty of the secret realm.

“Damn rich kid,” someone in the crowd grumbled. The ‘Golden Lightning’ trait integrated by Pluto’s pet beast was definitely not something he had obtained on his own, but rather something prepared by his family.

Reaching level 10 without having to tackle an abyssal difficulty secret realm to integrate a trait was a point of envy for many.

“This Passerby A really had bad luck, couldn’t even stay at the top for a day,” someone sympathized with Lu Ran.

But before their sympathy could last long, the Divine Beast Leaderboard updated once again, leaving everyone stunned.

Regional Announcement: Updates to the Divine Beast Leaderboard and the Supernatural Species Leaderboard.

Leaderboard Divine Beast:

Species: Snowfield Dog.

Attribute: Wind.

Species Level: Middle Supernatural.

Growth Level: Level 9.

Beastmaster: Passerby A.

Reason for Leaderboard: After evolving from a Snowfield Dog and awakening the Force of the Storm, it managed to disperse a blizzard with a single strike in the Blizzard Mountain area of the Novice Secret Realm on ordinary difficulty.

Ranking: Advanced to the top of the Supernatural Divine Beast Leaderboard!

“…”

People: “???”

Fang Lan, Pig Raiser, Xiaobailong, Shenghua: “???”

Following this update.

The previously intense discussions among the crowd came to a sudden halt. Despite the dramatic chase on the leaderboard that had just unfolded, no one spoke for a long time.

All the beastmasters around were staring at the Divine Beast Leaderboard in disbelief… After a prolonged silence, someone finally exclaimed, “What the hell?”

“I mean… what’s going on?”

“Wasn’t Passerby A’s pet beast just Level 6 this morning? How did it jump three levels in half a day? Is that even possible without cheating?”

“It must have used some rare resources to boost its strength. Damn, where would a newbie get such rare resources?

“Seriously, I’m currently challenging the Blizzard Mountain Secret Realm myself. Did I see that right? A dog slicing through a blizzard with a single strike? Can a dog even do that?”

People were utterly baffled!

It felt like the Divine Beast Leaderboard of Infinite City No.3 was more illogical and harder to comprehend than those in other Infinite Cities.

Meanwhile.

In the Giant Beast Forest Secret Realm, two teenagers looked at the charred giant beast lying on the ground, then smiled at each other.

“Thanks, bro. Without you, soloing this giant beast would have been a bit tough.”

“Not at all, I just cleared some minor mobs. It was your Golden Lightning that did the heavy lifting, taking down this Minotaur in an instant. Let’s head back; you’ve probably reclaimed the top spot on the Divine Beast Leaderboard.”

“Right.” Dressed in black and looking dashing, Pluto nodded with a smile.

This morning, after learning that a mere Passerby A had overtaken him and seized the top spot, he quickly strengthened his pet beast, all to reclaim the top position.

Not just for himself, but also for the prestige of the Star Cluster Guild…

In a moment, Pluto was teleported back to his private room. Barely having stepped out, he eagerly pulled out his identity card, eager to see if anyone from the guild had contacted him to report the good news.

“Damn, awesome, back to number one!”

Seeing that indeed there were messages from guild members, Pluto smiled. But the next moment, his expression froze.

What the heck, first place taken again… Another message came through.

“What on earth?!” Disbelieving, Pluto immediately pushed the door open and headed straight for the beastmaster square. It wasn’t long before he arrived at the beastmaster square and saw the record of the snowfield dog at the top of the leaderboard. His expression turned blank.

A dog… cleaving through a blizzard with a single strike? He wondered if he was still dreaming!

“Impossible, absolutely impossible!”

…

Blizzard Secret Realm.

Lu Ran and General Ha certainly didn’t expect that just mastering a skill and cleaving a blizzard would cause such a big stir outside.

They were still struggling to navigate through the secret realm!

The Blizzard Secret Realm was indeed grueling, the kind where every minute and second felt torturous.

As they proceeded, every exposed part of Lu Ran’s body was either scratched by the cold wind or cracked by the freezing cold.

His clothes were already covered with a thick layer of snow and ice.

If it weren’t for his divine deer pendant, he would have been persuaded to turn back long ago. Probably others attempting this secret realm would need cold-resistant clothing and resources—otherwise, it was no place for humans.

Over on General Ha’s side, what started as full of energy gradually turned into exhaustion, mainly because ice hail flew in from every direction. To protect both itself and Lu Ran, it had to stay focused at all times.

Even so, General Ha kept getting hit by several hailstones, face swollen and bruised, completely losing the initial joy and growing extremely resentful towards the icy environment, adding yet another grudge to its list.

Hours later.

Lu Ran and his companion finally made it through the most intense part of the blizzard.

At the same time, the system voice rang out.

“Congratulations on completing the secret realm challenge.

Rating: A!

Congratulations, you have earned 350 crystal coins.

Congratulations, you have obtained advanced resources, Seed of Cold Wind.

Congratulations, you have obtained advanced resources, ice crystal ore.

“Not bad, although this secret realm is time-consuming, it’s not very dangerous. We’ll farm it three times every day from now on! Let’s aim for an SSS rating soon,” Lu Ran said, clutching the divine deer pendant and sitting on General Ha’s back.

“Woof woof woof woof!!”