Chapter 383 - The Evil God Awakens?

The Time-attribute awakening resource that Lu Ran originally prepared for Six-Path Flower was now up for grabs since it had confirmed it didn’t need it. Thus, Lu Ran had to find another candidate.

However, since the Time-attribute awakening resource didn’t guarantee a 100% chance of awakening the Time attribute, as it also depended on the familiar’s affinity for the Time attribute, he couldn’t just pick anyone.

The safest approach was to pair it with the Foresight trait dropped by the Time-attribute Legendary secret realm. First, he’d fuse the Foresight trait to let the familiar train and enhance its Time affinity, and then he’d proceed with the Time-attribute awakening.

After careful consideration, the only one in Lu Ran’s team truly suited for both traits seemed to be Dark Crow. It had always been trained by Lu Ran for scouting and targeting. Evil God’s Eye, combined with Foresight, would make its scouting abilities even more formidable.

Back in the Time-attribute Legendary secret realm, Dark Crow initially couldn’t detect the hidden time butterfly at all because it lacked Time-attribute scouting methods. But after fusing with the Foresight trait, it might fare much better against Time-attribute enemies in the future.

Moreover, the Time attribute and curse power felt surprisingly compatible to Lu Ran. Of course, curses that spanned the river of time were just him boasting. He knew it was unrealistic unless Dark Crow reached the level of the Four Supreme Divine Dragons.

However, even if it couldn’t reach that level, the combination of death power and time power was still incredibly strong based on what he saw with Six-Path Flower. Dark Crow just needed to add ultra-long-range curse power to that mix to become an even more sinister existence than Six-Path Flower.

“Dark Crow, come here!”

After pondering the entire journey, Lu Ran finally made his decision and took out the Foresight trait crystal.

Dark Crow flew over eagerly, its eyes burning with fervor. It had no complaints about Lu Ran’s arrangements. Whatever trait Lu Ran wanted it to fuse with, it would accept without hesitation.

[Species: Twin Crows]

[Level: 50]

On Lu Ran’s team, Baby Cloud was the first to reach level 50 because it had devoured so many resources during its evolution. However, during the period when Lu Ran’s beastmaster space was being expanded by the Divine Deer, Captain Doofus and the others had been gorging on Treasure resources nonstop, bringing them very close to level 50.

Dark Crow leveled up the fastest, becoming the second to hit level 50 after Baby Cloud.

“Here.” Lu Ran tossed the Foresight trait crystal, and Dark Crow darted forward, swallowing it whole in one gulp.

The next moment, it shuddered as if stimulated and tightly closed its eyes. When it reopened them, the patterns in its pupils had completely changed. The original red vertical slits had transformed into a peculiar red hexagram-shaped design.

“With these eyes... I can see the future! I will use these eyes to sweep away all enemies for my king!"

Lu Ran ignored Dark Crow’s outburst and quickly checked its stats. Unfortunately, the Foresight trait wasn’t one that significantly boosted species rank. Dark Crow’s species rank remained at Low Overlord. It seemed that improvement would still rely on its second-stage evolution.

“Holy shit?”

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Truthfully, Lu Ran hadn’t held much hope for Dark Crow’s species rank increasing. He hadn’t even expected it to awaken a new species talent this time. After all, the reason he gave Dark Crow the Foresight trait was purely to lay the groundwork for awakening the Time attribute.

By nature, Dark Crow currently had no innate talents related to the Time attribute. Yet, despite that, fusing the Foresight trait had still granted it a new species talent, which left Lu Ran stunned.

[Species Talent: Delayed Curse (Can embed curse power within an enemy’s body and detonate it at a future time of need.)]

“This Time-attribute talent is pretty good. It seems like you’re not completely devoid of Time affinity. This gives me even more confidence in awakening your Time attribute at level 60.”

Dark Crow vainly preened its feathers and croaked, “A little bit, but not much. It’s all thanks to your excellent training, my king.”

Lu Ran’s grin bloomed like a chrysanthemum. Manager Ying, who had been observing this shameless duo, sighed.

“Alright, we’re almost there. Get ready. I’ll go fetch Six-Path Flower.”

Although Dark Crow’s newly awakened talent wasn’t particularly powerful, having it was better than nothing. Lu Ran wasn’t greedy. However, this talent felt a bit off to him. It seemed like something used to coerce others, like in period dramas, where someone was poisoned and forced to do something under threat.

Of course, it had tactical value too. A curse that took immediate effect was easier for enemies to guard against, but a curse that lay dormant could mess them up, adding psychological pressure and disrupting their combat focus.

Whether used to intimidate the weak or deal with peers, this talent seemed somewhat useful.

***

After half a day of flying, Baby Cloud finally arrived at the heart of the Endless Sea. It landed on a deserted island, and Lu Ran and the others emerged from the ruin space.

“Next up, hunting evil god creatures...”

The islands of the Endless Sea had never been closely tied to the Stellar Moon Federation. Pirates ran rampant here as it was far removed from the mainland. Many were fugitives who had fled here after committing crimes on the continent.

There were also Water-attribute beastmasters who settled here long-term because the environment was better suited for raising their familiars.

This kind of environment was perfect for the surviving Evil God creatures to thrive. As long as they kept a low profile, didn’t grow too powerful, and avoided drawing the attention of the Stellar Moon Federation, they could live comfortably.

The ghost-faced moth was one such evil god creature. This species was a follower of the Envy God, who was under the command of the Evil God.

They fed on envy, and their curses could amplify a living being’s envy, triggering intense negative emotions and inciting conflict. The ghost-faced moth would leave after devouring the envy, completely indifferent to the chaos its curse caused.

On an ordinary island known as Silver Island, a woman with a plain face, her expression twisted with malice, repeatedly stabbed a knife into a beautiful woman beneath her. “Why is your skin so good? Why are you so pretty?”

Her movements were violent, and her body was covered in blood. Soon, the island’s peacekeeping beastmasters arrived at the scene. However, since no abnormalities were detected and the perpetrator’s ramblings painted her as mentally unstable, the incident was dismissed as a simple case of envy-driven murder.

Unbeknownst to them, however, a bizarre moth-like creature with a grotesque face watched everything with mockery. For Evil God creatures, such ordinary events were easy to orchestrate. Since the victims were usually nameless commoners, their crimes went unnoticed. This was how Evil God creatures survived nowadays.

After enjoying another meal, the still-hungry moth prepared to seek its next target. But as it turned around, a blood-red eye floating mid-air startled it. It then unleashed its aura, but the eye’s gaze remained cold and indifferent.

Found... the first one...

The next moment, all four of the moth’s eyes morphed into the same pattern as the blood-red eye’s. Like a puppet losing its strings, it flew high into the sky, leaving Silver Island behind. It was heading straight for the deserted island where Lu Ran and the others waited.

On the island, after receiving notice of the first successful capture from Dark Crow, Lu Ran couldn’t help but lament the nature of Evil God creatures.

“Truly vile creatures.”

Compared to the Four Great Beast Empires, which simply saw humans as food, these creatures that corrupted women into mind-controlled puppets and toyed with the emotions of living beings were far worse.

It was no wonder the Evil God faction had been the most troublesome and despised enemy throughout the Beastmaster Empire’s millennia-long history.

Most Evil God creatures fed on emotions like pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. Manager Ying wasn’t wrong—if they didn’t take precautions, Dark Crow’s control over them would inevitably backfire.

Luckily, they had an even more formidable ally on their side—one that fed on the dichotomy of good and evil, with a far broader scope. Erasing the will of these Evil God creatures would be child’s play.

“Next.”

After quite some time, the moth was brought to the deserted island, where Six-Path Flower wiped its consciousness completely using the Beast Path, turning it into a mindless puppet.

At Six-Path Flower’s urging, Dark Crow diligently searched for more Evil God creatures. Within just a few days, the deserted island had gathered an army of over a hundred Evil God creatures.

Though none of them exceeded level 50, their sheer numbers made up for it. After Dark Crow fully dominated this legion of puppets, it began drawing power from them to enhance its own scouting abilities so that it could search for creatures with similar auras.

Undoubtedly, these Evil God creatures were far superior in quality to the crows back in Green Sea City, both in level and species rank. The process of enslaving them left Lu Ran and Dark Crow exhilarated.

However, they hadn’t forgotten their main objective: Rousing the Ghost Mother, who was suppressing the Evil God’s seal, by unleashing a powerful evil god aura.

Of course, the Ghost Mother wouldn’t be so easily awakened. So, Lu Ran’s group began targeting Evil God creatures above level 60 for enslavement.

Creatures of this level couldn’t be subdued with just a glance from Dark Crow. Baby Cloud had to teleport Six-Path Flower directly to their locations for face-to-face enslavement.

Two more days passed, and the Evil God aura around Lu Ran’s group had grown increasingly terrifying. This was especially true for Dark Crow. It was bolstered by a lot of Evil God powers, and no longer resembled anything benevolent in the slightest.

To amplify the aura further, Dark Crow even sacrificed some of the uglier Evil God creatures, trading their lives for an even more explosive surge of Evil God energy.

“

Kekekeke...

God of the Abyss, if you don’t show yourself soon, a brand-new Evil God with the potential to reach Legendary will emerge... Couldn’t you at least send a lackey to check? Stop sleeping already!”