Chapter 495 - The Traumatized Ancient Beastmasters (Part 2)

Lu Ran calmly stood in front of the shocked Medusa Queen. The Imperial Seal’s effect of making his body “impervious to evil” normally wouldn’t be enough to resist such a powerful curse, but Lu Ran wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill beastmaster. He had the Quasi-Legendary Evil God’s True Eye, the effect of which synergized with the Imperial Seal’s to completely neutralize the attack.

#18 wasn’t affected due to a much simpler reason. By the time the curse reached it, it was radiating with a powerful purifying energy. The huge Hall of Heroic Spirits appeared behind #18 and began to operate. It was quite the spectacular sight to behold. Everyone stared in bewilderment as a divine beast slowly walked out of the hall.

The beast had the face of a dragon, the goatee of a goat, the body of a tiger, and the antlers of a deer. All the beastmasters present were distinguished figures in their own right and well-versed in mythology from around the world. The crowd quickly recognized the creature as the king of all auspicious beasts across Blue Planet, the Bai Ze!

The question in everyone’s mind was why such a legendary creature was being summoned in battle by a mechanical angel?

"The divine Bai Ze is in tune with the natural world and is capable of eliminating all evils. It is the natural counter to your Medusa God." Lu Ran smirked

"Is that really the Bai Ze?" Offstage, Shi Zhen and the others questioned each other.

"Old president?”

"It is indeed the Bai Ze." The old president was also quite shocked.

The most astounding aspect was that the Bai Ze wasn’t created using energy formation. It gave off the feeling of an actual living and breathing thing. The third level of energy formation, life formation, could achieve a similar result, but the Bai Ze felt like it was still a step beyond anything the technique could produce. However, how could an Overlord mechanical angel be capable of something like this?

What kind of research was Lu Ran conducting in secret?

The four ancient beastmasters were even more taken aback than the rest of the crowd. Bai Ze was just a legend to the modern world. In fact, many didn’t even believe that it really existed. These four, however, knew it as the divine beast that frequently interacted with humans. It was an actual god that stood at the pinnacle of the ancient world! Even the creature that granted them a blessing couldn’t measure up to the Bai Ze.

If Lu Ran had summoned a fake Bai Ze, there was no way that #18 could resist the Medusa God’s curse.

"What kind of power is that?"

Before Medusa Queen could react, #18 had already ordered the Bai Ze spirit to reveal its true power. Simultaneously, a soul mist seeped out of Lu Ran's hands as he used Soul Amplification to assist #18. It was one of his most powerful support skills. During his research into soul clones, he improved the skill to the Quasi-Legendary grade.

Buzz!

The Bai Ze's spirit extended one of its front paws, and the stage instantly turned into a white swamp that had a powerful suction and purification effect. Anyone stepping in it would immediately get stuck. No amount of struggling could overcome the suction and get them unstuck. The suction even absorbed the energy, preventing the enemy from attacking or using any skills!

Back when the Bai Ze was repairing the Imperial Seal, it thought Lu Ran was annoying because he asked a bunch of questions, but after a lengthy Q&A, Lu Ran discovered that the Bai Ze was a symbol of faith for many later generations. Even in the ancient world, it gathered faith energy from countless living beings due to its cleansing of evil. It was a major cultivator of faith energy.

With this information at hand, he told #18 to stop working on the Tree Monarch spirit. His plan was that once he left the ascension realm, he would summon the Bai Ze spirit to raise his baby Bai Ze. This was also why he was so confident in sending out #18. The Bai Ze spirit was the nemesis of the Medusa God before them. Even the Tree Monarch wouldn’t be able to put up a better fight.

Lu Ran was wearing his Holy Spirit Robe. The soul mist swirling around him, while the blood-winged mechanical angel menacingly smiled at his side, and the Bai Ze spirit stood in front of him, composed an extremely weird scene.

"You’ve lost."

As his robe fluttered in the wind, the white swamp dissipated, leaving the Medusa Queen and her familiar lying unconscious on the stage.

[Winner: Pedestrian A]

[The World War candidates for Blue Planets remain unchanged.]

[The challenge is over.]

The announcement cast a silence over the audience.

What just happened?

"What the hell was that?" Demon King roared. He couldn’t understand how Lu Ran won with a lower-level familiar with a lower species rank.

"I forgot to mention that my most recent ascension realm was in the ancient times of Blue Planet. You aren’t the only ones to have experienced the harsh environments of the past. Now that I think about it, did y’all inherit any of the powerful heritages from Blue Planet’s history? I can tell you how I managed to summon Bai Ze, but you’ll have to follow me first. Don’t forget your promise."

***

The revival of the ancient beastmasters was unquestionably a big deal for Blue Planet. The appearance of four contracted Quasi-Legendary creatures had a far greater impact on those living in society than those that still lived in the wild. The fight between Lu Ran and Medusa Queen was over so fast that the news couldn’t keep up.

—The ancient powerhouses of Blue Planet are back! Drought Demon, Demon King, Medusa Queen, and Snow Maiden once again take the stage.

—The four ancient beastmasters each have a Quasi-Legendary familiar. The roster of the Ten Kings is bound to change!

—The Stellar Moon Federation is celebrating too early. The real leaders of Blue Planet have appeared!

"What the fuck?"

Not everyone was in Limitless City when the news first broke. Most people kept up with the current events in Limitless City by checking their phones.

In various universities around Xia, students were secretly playing on their phones during class. Their heartbeats quickened as they read up on the latest headlines. While it was definitely shocking, it wasn’t enough to cause a disturbance, but what happened next caused a major uproar!

—Legendary ancient beastmaster challenges Xia’s Lu Ran and gets defeated in seconds!

—Who is this monster? The true extent of Pedestrian A’s suffocating power overwhelms the ancient powerhouse despite the level gap!

—The strongest across generations? No! He is the greatest of all time! God Lu has surpassed the first generation!

└What the hell? This has to be fake news. Are these reporters on drugs?

Haters cropped up all over the internet. Only when people started to read the full article did they come to the chilling realization that the headlines were real.

Lu Ran did it again. Ancient powerhouses had just awakened, but Lu Ran was already stepping all over them.

In a Cat Maid Cafe, Lu Ran sat at a table, having a snack while seemingly waiting for someone. A while later, the group of ancient beastmasters walked in. They came to meet him immediately without challenging any of the other Ten Kings. Lu Ran’s performance was simply extraordinary. The Bai Ze’s spirit wasn’t something anyone could ignore.

They could issue challenges at any time, so a chance to sit down with the strongest beastmaster in the world was far more important. When they entered the cafe, they saw a spine-tingling scene. Lu Ran was eating souls from a small bottle like he was snacking on chips.

"Y’all finally showed up! I’m just having a quick bite, so don’t mind me. The battle just now really wore me out."

"Who are you really, and what do you want?"

"Why did you ask to meet us here?"

Lu Ran ignored the person asking and looked straight at the snake-haired auntie who was leaning on Snow Maiden. Although she had already healed her injuries, she was still pale and out of breath. Her heartbeat quickened under Lu Ran’s gaze. She still didn’t quite understand how she lost the fight.

"Nothing much. I want to answer some of your questions and make sure you uphold your end of the bargain. I’m actually very surprised by the four of you reawakening,” Lu Ran replied with a chuckle.

"You agreed to fight me because you saw through the Medusa God’s power, didn’t you, brat?" Medusa Queen glared at him.

During the battle, she clearly felt that the Bai Ze spirit wasn’t stronger than her Medusa God. It won largely due to its natural advantage.

"What exactly was that Bai Ze spirit you summoned? You mentioned something about your last ascension realm. Aren’t those all based on historical events of the Stellar Moon World?"

"That was common knowledge in the past. Also, the mechanical angel is my weakest familiar. Even if you faced one of my other familiars, you still would’ve lost. I sent it out to test its strength."

The four of them couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

That is your weakest familiar? Who are you trying to trick?

"The reason behind why I can summon the Bai Ze spirit is actually pretty simple. I met the real Bai Ze in the ascension realm, and it thought I had the qualifications of a king. It even said that I should be the leader of mankind and followed me. As such, it’s natural that I could summon its spirit.

"That’s horseshit! You think we’re idiots?" Snow Maiden yelled while pointing a finger at Lu Ran.

They did a full background check on Lu Ran, and while he had a crazy track record for ascension realms, it was impossible for Bai Ze to call him the “leader of mankind.”

"Do y’all still remember your promise? You have to join a country of my choosing. I hope you didn’t assume that it’s going to be Xia. I want you to join the country where I’m the reigning emperor, the one that even the Bai Ze was willing to join.”

With a snap of his fingers, the surroundings disappeared and turned into a jungle.

"I’m sure that you’re having trouble believing what I just said, so let me show you.”

As soon as he spoke, a terrifying pressure pressed down on the ancient beastmasters as a huge corpse appeared in the air before falling to the ground beside them.

Bang!

The ground shook when it landed. When the four got a good look at the corpse, their eyes widened in shock. They all took a step back, intimidated by the murderous aura emanating from the corpse, and their throats became extremely hoarse. As ancient beastmasters, they were very familiar with the fierce god that once roamed the world, but was now lying dead at their feet.

"Zhu... Zhu... Zhu Yan! Wait, that’s the Zhu Yan's corpse!" Drought Demon exclaimed in horror.

"That’s right. My mission in the ascension realm was to hunt down a creature from Blue Planet’s history, and the reward was based on how powerful it was. I decided to slay the level 100 Intermediate-Legendary Zhu Yan.

"Of course, I couldn’t hunt it down all by myself. As I mentioned before, I recruited the Bai Ze to assist me, and we defeated this thing together. Now, do you believe me?"

The ancient beastmasters sat there in a daze, trying to process everything that Lu Ran was telling them. It was simply too hard to accept.

"Right now, you have two choices. First, you can keep your promise and follow me. This way, you will have the chance to explore Limitless City at my side, and I will lead you to sweep across the Stellar Moon World. Second, well... I won’t allow authority over Limitless City to fall into the hands of those who oppose me."

As soon as he said this, the Zhu Yan corpse slowly stood up and stared at the ancient beastmasters with its lifeless eyes.

It can move?

"Don't be so surprised. One of my other familiars can control it like a puppet. It can only act off instinct, but it can still match a level 100 Low-Legendary creature. I trust that the four of you will make the right decision."

The ancient beastmasters’ hearts tensed up. They started to think that the modern world was incredibly frightening, especially this level 6 beastmaster sitting across the table from them.

How is he only level 6?

This was far beyond anything they could’ve imagined. Everyone said that his strongest familiar was a Quasi-Legendary, but here he was with a level 100 Low-Legendary puppet!

"We’ll join! Of course, we’ll join your country! Don’t worry! Just put that puppet away. We know how powerful you are now. Are you planning on using that in the World War?”

"You’re the boss from now on. We’ll follow your orders."

After Demon King and Drought Demon bent the knee, Lu Ran turned to Medusa Queen and Snow Maiden.

"I accept my defeat. Whatever you say goes."

The four couldn’t take their eyes off the puppet standing next to Lu Ran. They used to think that they were Blue Planet’s hope for standing up to Stellar Moon, but now they realized that they were daydreaming. If the rules didn’t ban the puppet, then Stellar Moon already lost. No one across both worlds knew the true horrors of this kid.

This is good. The Imperial Seal is now one step closer to becoming Legendary.

***

While the group was having their private meeting, the commotion still hadn’t died down across Limitless City and Blue Planet. In the time-dilated nursery of the Amazonian Beastmaster Empire, a white Time Worm poked its way out of its egg.

Hm?

Manager Ying rushed over when it sensed the egg hatching and checked the information of the newly-born Time Worm.

[Species: Time Worm]

[Attribute: Time]

"The Time-attribute power provided by Six-Path Flower and Dark Crow really paid off. Luckily, we didn’t hatch a space worm. If we did, then everyone would just treat it like an insect, and no one would want it as a kin. Wait a minute..."

Manager Ying took a closer look before falling into deep thought.

Since it has the Time attribute, why not turn it into a broodmother by evolving it into an insect queen? With a broodmother, we could raise Time Worms for the Bai Ze, Lu Yao, and the phoenix chick! We can pair everyone with a Time kin.

With the Silk Tree Albizia and Lucky Flower talent, we can build an entire Time battalion to serve me, the Timekeeper! Mwhahaha!