Chapter 247 - The Other Shore Negotiation

Lu Ran was speechless. He could feel that this guy was probably at his limit. He probably felt like there were ants crawling all over his body. He wanted to consume souls but was afraid to do so.

Even though his condition was slightly better than that undercover agent from the International Alliance, it wasn’t by much. He was likely on the verge of losing himself. There were definitely many people like him in the Other Shore.

Of course, there were always a few with extraordinary talent who could resist it indefinitely. For example, his cheap necromancer master had relied solely on his willpower to forcibly cultivate to the Legendary rank without suffering any negative effects.

Still, necromancers on Stellar Moon Continent had some advantages over those on Blue Planet.

At the very least, they practiced meditation, a technique from the Undead Cult that could suppress chaotic thoughts to a certain degree.

In contrast, Blue Planet’s beastmasters, who lacked cultivation techniques, could only rely purely on willpower to endure it. Lu Ran had no idea how long this guy had been a necromancer.

“How many of you are there?” Lu Ran plopped onto the couch, crossed one leg over the other, held his phone to his ear with one hand, and tapped his knee with the other.

If he remembered correctly, the man had just said we, meaning he wasn’t acting alone but represented a group of necromancers in a similar predicament.

“There are currently more than ten of us, and our numbers are still growing.”

“Alright. I’ll consider your conditions. But it’s too late right now. I’ll contact you through this number tomorrow. Make sure to answer.”

“Bro, please bring some food back...”

After Lu Ran hung up, he was lost in thought. He then called Dr. Gu. Actually, they had already anticipated this outcome.

Soon, Lu Ran and Dr. Gu decided to meet these Other Shore members at Limitless City.

***

The next day, Lu Ran, along with Dr. Gu and Manager Ying, arrived at a secluded grove in a certain Limitless City on the high seas.

By the time Lu Ran and his group arrived, a man and a woman wearing hats were already waiting there.

“Dragon Master, Professor Lu?”

The two of them weren’t surprised to see that Lu Ran had brought a bodyguard. Although this was a Limitless City where fighting was prohibited, there was still a time gap between the occurrence of a fight, the discovery by patrol beasts, and the subsequent sanctions from the Limitless City.

As long as a beastmaster was willing to trade one life for another, it was still possible to kill someone even within the Limitless City.

“Let me introduce myself first.” After Lu Ran approached, he got straight to the point. He still didn’t know the status or positions of these two individuals.

“Take off your hats,” Gu Qingyi said, leaning against a tree and leaving the negotiations entirely to Lu Ran.

Manager Ying, who was beside her, did the same. It yawned and climbed up the tree to lie down.

“Alright.”

The male necromancer pondered for a moment, then removed the hood of his black sweatshirt, revealing his Asian features.

“Actually, it was Crimson Earl who gave us your contact information, Lu Ran.”

Lu Ran was silent.

So it was that guy. A level 51 King, huh. Better not let me see him again. Once I enter the ascension realm one more time, I’ll have the confidence to crush that guy. A few level 40 Overlords taking down a level 50-plus King? Absolutely no problem.

“Lu Ran, you should be aware of the origins of the Other Shore, right? I know. As an internationally wanted criminal organization, you must be very wary of the Other Shore and wouldn’t easily cooperate with them.

“But in reality, a large number of people within the Other Shore were forced to join, such as Dr. Lu and his wife—your parents. They were victims.

“The predecessor of the Other Shore was a multinational biotechnology company. This company had long confirmed the existence of transcendent creatures in the world and had been pursuing their traces, conducting biological research.

“And their ultimate goal was to find a Legendary item known as the Stone of the Other Shore, an item said to grant immortality and possess the power to overturn the world. Therefore, revolving around this goal, the Other Shore continuously grew, and its development can be divided into three stages.

“During the first stage, the Other Shore still operated as a multinational enterprise, with a behind-the-scenes boss who was also the founder of the company. His goal was always clear—it was to find the Stone of the Other Shore.

“During the development stage, the Other Shore began seeking out world-renowned scientists to help them research transcendent life forms and biological evolution. Dr. Lu and his wife were forced to join during this stage.

“After these two stages, Limitless City descended. A certain extraordinary item possessed by the boss of the Other Shore suddenly transformed into something similar to a secret realm key, opening a Real Secret Realm. The Other Shore then entered its third stage of development.

“Through the Undead-attribute path, the Other Shore expanded once again, continuously luring beastmasters from various countries to join using the power of the Undead.

“However, when the Other Shore grew to a certain scale, it reached a turning point. The boss of the Other Shore died unexpectedly in an ascension realm. After that, the Other Shore quickly split into three factions based on the three stages.

“First, the faction that inherited the boss’ will and continued to search for the Stone of the Other Shore. This faction mostly consisted of remnants of the original company and relatives of the boss.

“Second, the researchers who were abducted by the Other Shore. Over the years of research, they formed their own faction. Initially forced into it, they gradually became obsessed with the research of the transcendent.

“They believed that searching for the Stone of the Other Shore was too unrealistic and that it would be better to rely on their own intelligence to discover the means to immortality.”

“Third, the powerful beastmasters who had joined the Other Shore after their familiars died in battle, seeking to revive them. They had primarily cultivated necromantic powers and had constantly searched for ways to resist corruption and grow stronger normally.

“After that person had died, his close associates had wanted to inherit the organization, but they had been unable to command the others’ respect.

“Each faction had powerful level 5 necromancers, so the Other Shore had remained in disarray—everyone had banded together as necromancers for warmth, but the factions had not been united.”

The young man spoke slowly. “My name is Pan Kai. After my familiar had died unexpectedly, I had been invited to join the Other Shore in order to revive it. I belong to the third faction. And this person beside me, Dr. Sheehan, is a renowned biologist who had been abducted by the Other Shore many years ago.”

The other person removed her hat—a black woman in her thirties. She forced a smile at Lu Ran, about to say she had been as close as sisters with Dr. Lu, but Pan Kai hadn’t given her the chance and continued.

“The two of us can, to some extent, represent a portion of the necromancers. Our demands are simple. They want a stable and safe environment to research transcendent life forms without being hunted for their identities as necromancers.

“And we need harmless soul food so we and our familiars can live normally. In exchange, I believe you must need the location and method to open the Real Undead Secret Realm.”

After Pan Kai had finished speaking, Lu Ran’s expression remained unchanged as he looked at him and said, “I know Real Secret Realms can only be opened with a secret realm key.

“But there should only be one key, right? After the original boss of the Other Shore, who had held the key, died, do you still have the ability to open the secret realm?

“He probably hadn’t been kind enough to leave behind various treasures outside before entering the ascension realm. And even if he had, there should still be only one key. It definitely isn’t with you, but with his close associates.”

Then again, that first-generation boss of the Other Shore had been really unlucky. If Lu Ran wasn’t mistaken, his ancestors must have been beastmasters too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known about the transcendent so early.

Someone with wealth, background, and a naturally exclusive Real Secret Realm had actually died in the ascension realm.

Perhaps he had cultivated necromantic powers and had been discovered by powerful beings from the Stellar Moon Continent, leading to his death.

How tragic.

In fact, it had proven that the so-called big villains and geniuses of Blue Planet had been insignificant when placed on the Stellar Moon Continent. For example, the boss of a Legendary Secret Realm had only been comparable to the ace familiar of a Legendary Beastmaster.

And a single ace familiar had been far from representing the full strength of a Legendary Beastmaster—just as Sudden Death King alone hadn’t represented Lu Ran’s full strength.

Defeating such a boss had required the top beastmasters of each generation on Blue Planet to team up and expend tremendous effort. It had been clear that Blue Planet beastmasters had still had a long way to go.

The top beastmasters of Blue Planet had challenged Legendary Secret Realms, while those on the Stellar Moon Continent had challenged Legendary Domains.

Soon, Lu Ran’s doubts had been answered.

Pan Kai said, “Indeed, after that person had died, the Real Undead Secret Realm could no longer be opened. However, who said keys couldn’t be replicated? A lock could be opened not only with the original key but also with a copy—or even brute force.

“After extensive research by the Other Shore’s researchers, they had discovered that what opened the secret realm hadn’t been a specific item but a category of items!

“In short, after the first-generation boss had died, the organization had begun researching how to restart the secret realm. After investing immense manpower and resources, they had finally succeeded!”

“How do you open it?” Lu Ran was surprised.

“To show our sincerity, I’ll tell you in advance. It’s blood. Blood crystals with sufficient concentration and quality, combined with powerful spiritual energy, can serve as keys to open the secret realm.

“To put it simply, as long as you have an Undead familiar and high-quality blood crystals from a familiar, you can fuse spiritual energy and blood crystals to create a copied key.

“By the way, Crimson Earl had also been cultivated as a life key for blood extraction experiments during that period. It’s considered public property of the Other Shore.

“There are many such experimental creatures within the Other Shore. If you want to enter the secret realm in the future, just extract blood from that vampire.”

Lu Ran had been baffled.

No wonder that vampire is so twisted inside. Turns out, as a vampire, it grew up having its blood extracted. Great. It should continue having its blood extracted even after growing up. Increase the intensity.