In the beast world behind the spatial gateway in Qian Wei City’s suburbs…
A golden light flashed across the skies extremely high in the air, like a golden bolt of lightning, appearing a few hundred meters away in the next instant.
If there were a witness to this event, they would have realized that the golden light was actually an enormous golden bird. Its wingspan was over a hundred meters, and its entire body was flashing with tiny lightning snakes.
This golden bird was flying at such a high altitude that few would be able to discover anything strange if they looked up from the ground.
{Editor’s Note: Riiiight. Passenger planes can be seen miles up in the sky, and this thing is bigger and putting on a light show.}
It kept flying east from the extreme depths of the beast world, drawing a blurry golden streak across the sky, seemingly searching hard for something. It beat its huge wings with all its might, swirling the air into chaotic currents about it.
After a brief moment, the huge golden bird’s eyes, glowing with divine light, suddenly emitted two beams of light so strong they looked like they had actual substance, aimed at the southeast of the beast world.
In the next instant, its heading changed, drawing a slight arc in the sky as it shot towards the southeast.
Mountains and rivers streaked past like a blur under it, the huge golden bird showing no signs of stopping.
It finally flew out of the western region of the beast world, getting closer and closer to the safety zone.
The beastmasters working hard on the ground had no idea that an exotic beast so powerful it could send them into desperate straits was flying over their heads at an extreme altitude.
As it approached the safety zone, the huge golden bird still showed no intention of stopping. It continued flying southeast at blinding speed.
However, a hint of shock flashed in its eyes in the next moment. After that, its gaze was one of doubt. The miracle that had suddenly appeared existed for less than half an hour before disappearing without a trace.
Although the huge golden bird’s heart was filled with doubt, it didn’t stop flying in that direction. It flew past the sky above the safety zone in an instant, heading directly southeast. It circled in the sky above a wide area there for a long time before leaving unwillingly.
——
After an indeterminate amount of time, Zhang Che slowly regained consciousness.
“Where am I? Why can’t I move?”
Zhang Che’s body was all curled up together, as if he was forcefully squeezed into a huge eggshell. This kind of extreme constraint made him very uncomfortable suddenly.
He suddenly pushed out with all his strength, and stood up.
With a loud bang, a huge chicken egg… Ugh, no, a mass of dry, withered objects shaped like an egg shell broke apart, falling everywhere around him.
Blinding light suddenly assaulted his eyes, and Zhang Che couldn’t help but quickly shut his eyes again, tears rolling out uncontrollably.
Zhang Che squeezed his eyelids shut several times in quick succession before slowly opening his eyes, looking around him as his vision cleared.
-Where is this?-
What entered his sight was a strange land.
Within a rough radius of a hundred meters, all the plants had disappeared without a trace, leaving a bunch of dark green spots on the naked ground, like the scribbles of children.
On the other hand, the wild grass and bushes just outside this circular area were overgrown. Comparing the two areas, they looked extremely strange.
Looking down, Zhang Che realized the desolate area for about a dozen meters or so around himself was also covered in a layer of brownish-black ash. Countless bone remains were mixed within, scattered about, resembling a scene taken straight from Hell.
Zhang Che couldn’t help but shiver at the sight of such a creepy scene, feeling goosebumps raising all over his body. A slight breeze blew, assaulting his skin directly, as if he wasn’t wearing any clothing.
-This is not right…-
Zhang Che lowered his head. Looking at himself, he almost cried out from shock. -I’m actually not wearing any freaking clothing! What the heck is going on!?-
Zhang Che hurriedly covered his vitals area with both hands from shock, before realizing that there were no one else around. Was there any need for such pretense?
A real man would bare all courageously, while the little ones would hide their chicks…
Confucius said, a real gentleman should be free. Who cares about the restrictions of the vulgar world!?
Thus, Zhang Che just stood his ground freely, his head slightly tilted, his eyes narrowed, thinking about what had happened previously.
Right now, Zhang Che was like a drunkard who had just woke up, feeling a hangover. His memory was a little fuzzy; he wouldn’t know what had happened unless he tried hard to recall it.
After thinking hard for a long time, Zhang Che finally remembered what had happened to him before.
From his thinking being influenced by the bewitching flower, and mistakenly ordering the Purple Jade Condor to fly to the island; then walking into the heart of the flower, and the life and death struggle with the entity born from the demonic flower in his spiritual sea; until finally the rainbow crystal emitted the blinding light at the last moment, illuminating his entire spiritual sea.
After recalling everything that had happened before he fell asleep, Zhang Che felt cold sweat seeping out of his forehead.
Exactly what kind of a mysterious thing was that demonic flower, to actually be capable of influencing the surrounding exotic beasts to kill one another, providing it food to grow? In the end, even he was confused and nearly fell victim to it!
No, that wasn’t right. He had indeed fallen victim to it, but the rainbow crystal saved his life at the last second!
“The beast world is truly fraught with danger everywhere, possibly dying a dog’s death if one was ever so slightly careless!” Zhang Che lamented, still feeling fear in the aftermath. If the mysterious rainbow crystal hadn’t made a move at the crucial moment, wouldn’t his body be under the control of some other strange entity now?
Zhang Che got the shivers just thinking about it.
However, this could also be considered a blessing in disguise. Upon checking his spiritual sea, Zhang Che discovered that it had expanded by almost fifty percent!
Didn’t that mean that the number of beast cards his spiritual sea could contain had also increased by half?
If that were true, the number of subdued beasts Zhang Che could employ from now on would be thrice as many as other ordinary beastmasters of the same tier! Other Tier Three beastmasters could only employ four subdued beasts, but Zhang Che could employ a total of twelve!
-Is building an overpowering army the way to go?-
His lips widened into a smile. Being able to roll over others with sheer numbers was the most pleasurable thing to do. Moreover, he had the rainbow crystal! In times to come, the quality of his subdued beasts were similarly be able to overpower everyone else!
After his excitement died down, Zhang Che wanted to leave this crazy island immediately. The heavens knew what other hidden dangers were lurking on this island. It was best if he got as far away as possible!
Looking around himself, Zhang Che finally found his clothes not far away. He hurriedly ran over to them.
Well, although a gentleman should be free from any bindings… he was used to being bound, after all. He would still wear clothes when they were needed!
However, as Zhang Che took his first steps, he felt like he was flying ahead. He immediately lost his balance, awkwardly crashing to the ground about a dozen meters out.
-Do I have freaking springs fitted under my legs or something? Why does it feel like there isn’t any gravity pulling down on me when I start moving?- Zhang Che wondered. He pushed off from the ground with his hands, trying to get back on his feet. Alas, he overdid it again and fell over backwards to the ground, leaving palm prints in the hard earth.
He finally realized what might be going on. It seemed… like his body had absorbed all of the demonic flower’s vitality. His constitution had been thoroughly remodeled, and this display of herculean strength was probably one of the changes?
– I’m not turned into a freaking monster now, am I? – Zhang Che shuddered. He scrambled back to his feet with all four limbs, making a mess of the ground. He cautiously increased his pace, walking to the edge of the island. He wanted to look into the pond and see if his face or any other blind spots had any changes.
If he was transformed into a non-human, how was he supposed to live on!?