Chapter 626 - Lin Xiuzhu

Mythical beastmaster, Lin Xiuzhu... from Blue Planet of the Silver Galaxy...

Lu Ran was surprised to hear the introduction. Limitless City told him that most universes were very similar, so this universe having a Blue Planet wasn’t too shocking. However, getting matched with a beastmaster from there had to be fate.

"It should be a woman judging from the name, and she should be from a country culturally similar to Xia," Lu Ran muttered as he was teleported away.

His first impression of Blue Planet in this universe was that it was incredibly powerful. Not only did it give birth to a Cosmic Overlord, but it also likely had multiple Primary-Divine-level beastmasters.

When he arrived at his destination, he saw that it really was an alternate version of his home world. He stood on a stone stage and looked up at the starry sky. The battlefield looked like some kind of asteroid.

When he finished teleporting, the simulation of Lin Xiuzhu appeared at the same time. Lu Ran was expecting some powerful female figure like Hel or the Tree Monarch, or maybe even an elderly woman. However, Lu Ran froze when he finally got a good look at Lin Xiuzhu.

This examiner was too... “modern.” Lin Xiuzhu was dressed casually, wearing a panda t-shirt with a pair of shorts. In spite of her attire, her long black hair and figure still made her stunning.

"How should I put this... Blue Planet people are the same no matter where we go. We prefer comfort over combat uniforms."

As Lu Ran observed her, Lin Xiuzhu opened her eyes. As the introduction mentioned, the simulation was self-aware.

"It's been a while since anyone challenged the most difficult level."

Lin Xiuzhu looked at Lu Ran with curiosity.

“A human beastmaster... In that case, I’ll give you two options. One, we each send out a single familiar. Two, we have a team battle."

Lu Ran mulled it over for a bit.

"Would your ace familiar happen to be a panda? Judging from your shirt, you seem like a huge fan of them."

"You haven't heard of me?"

"Uh..." Lu Ran was stumped. "Are you famous?"

"Never mind."

Lin Xiuzhu didn't ask any more questions. She was actually a core member of the Panda Army. Anyone of decent strength from the myriad races would know her. It was strange that Lu Ran would choose this difficulty level without knowing who she was.

Although it wasn’t entirely impossible. The most agitating thing to her was his comment about her shirt. Clearly, Lu Ran's husky t-shirt similarly lacked the aura of a powerhouse. It actually reminded her of someone else.

"Make your choice."

"1v1.”

Lu Ran didn't want to waste too much energy, so a one-versus-one battle would be easier.

"Then let's begin."

As soon as she finished speaking, a massive summoning array appeared before Lin Xiuzhu. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, and a gigantic panda appeared.

"Roar!"

The enormous panda swung a massive paw towards Lu Ran as it hurtled toward him like a bus. Within its palm, fire and lightning bloomed and radiated with intense power. This attack was enough to intimidate most living beings across the known universe.

Just a simple glimpse of the panda’s power made Lu Ran's blood boil. This panda beast actually reminded him of the original Genesis Dragon. The feeling originated not from its power, but rather from its bloodline!

The female giant told him that the Cosmic Overlord was currently the Panda King. At that level, it would be a simple matter to upgrade their own bloodline. Lin Xiuzhu was likely a follower of the Panda King, and her familiar received a blessing from the Panda King themself.

Boom, boom, boom!

With a flash, space began collapsing. The panda’s power far surpassed the Divine Tree’s and the Torch Dragon’s. Its Thunder Flame Palm was on par with the Flame Spirit attacks that he would pummel Sudden Death King with during training, while the aura was on par with Six-Path Flower’s.

Lu Ran had seen pandas back in Xia, but never one this powerful. If this one was already on this level, how strong was the Panda King?

"Captain Doofus!" Lu Ran casually called out.

A ray of sword light flashed before him and collided with the oncoming attack. The collision kicked up a huge cloud of dust. With it, a husky wielding a sword created by focusing its sword intent held the panda in a stalemate.

Crackle!

The exchange surprised Lin Xiuzhu, but the surprising thing wasn’t his familiar’s power. Rather, it was what his familiar was.

A sword-wielding husky?

They even have matching shirts! Its sword energy is really something else, though. If not for the fact that I’m looking right at it, I would’ve assumed that it was a relative of Crimson Eye.

Crimson Eye was a phoenix that Lin Xiuzhu once came across, which evolved from a heroic sword.

Boom!

Captain Doofus and the panda both unleashed a sudden burst of energy that caused another devastating explosion. Without its kin, Captain Doofus' combat power had a significant drop.

To offset this, it spent the last six months training to use Limitless Sword. Now, even without its kin, its overall strength had actually increased since their battle in the final secret realm.

"Awoooo...”

After being blown back by the initial exchange, Captain Doofus slid back until it finally dug into the ground hard enough to stop itself. Its eyes burned with fighting spirit.

Not bad!

The panda wore an equally serious expression as it felt the intense stinging pain in its palm. The earlier clash looked like an even match, but it was clear that the pain was a sign that it was actually lacking in power.

The flash of sword light was so blinding that it couldn’t see clearly for a moment. In that brief second, it seemingly saw the scene of a star being cut apart within the darkness.

After a brief pause, Captain Doofus sent out several sword rays, each imbued with a different intent, aimed to uncover its opponent's weaknesses.

Facing the barrage of attacks, the massive panda didn’t back down in the slightest. A shimmering glow covered its body and transformed into a suit of dark-silver armor. It was able to tank every single one of Captain Doofus’ attacks. Not only was it able to match Captain Doofus’ power, but it had a formidable defense to boot.

Roar!

The barrage was only able to leave a few superficial wounds across the panda’s body. It attacked again, but it wasn’t anything Captain Doofus felt concerned about. It opened its mouth and unleashed the Star Splitting Sword Intent.

Sword Control!

Bang!

Captain Doofus’s sword intent was far above the norm, and it inevitably penetrated the panda’s defenses. Unfortunately, the panda remained unfazed as Captain Doofus leapt into the air.

Bang!

Cracks stretched across the ground, and Lin Xiuzhu's gaze shot upward.

"What...?" Lin Xiuzhu’s expression suddenly changed.

The creature in the sky was no longer the husky from earlier. It now looked like a werewolf with three heads and six arms.

It spread out all six arms, each of its hands holding a sword infused with a unique sword intent. It held another sword in each of its mouths. This was its signature nine-sword style.

"You can also transform! I underestimated you," Lin Xiuzhu admitted.

The current Captain Doofus felt like a completely different creature. It reminded her of another person’s familiars that reached the pinnacle of Primary Divine.

It still seems to fall a little bit short. Is it because I still haven’t given it a Seed of Transformation? It still isn’t quite as strong as the panda. It does still have the Limitless Sword up its sleeve, but if we use that, the entire Dream Net might collapse.

Its decision to use Soul Evolution is perfect for wrapping this up quickly. I just wonder if the panda can take it.

Once Captain Doofus activated Soul Evolution, it essentially transformed into a sword demon and slashed at Lin Xiuzhu. In its current form, it didn’t put the panda in its eyes at all. To push its enemy into exerting its maximum power, Captain Doofus aimed straight for its beastmaster.

As the sword slash shot through the air, the entire battlefield shook.

"What a monster!"

Although it was just a simulation, Lin Xiuzhu was still able to express her disbelief at Lu Ran’s strength. She had never met someone so strong without hearing about them first.

With a wave of her hand, her familiar transformed into a suit of armor, which she immediately equipped herself with. The armor obviously looked like a panda and came with a set of boxing gloves.

However, in the end, Lin Xiuzhu couldn’t stand up to the sword demon and faded away after being decapitated.

Captain Doofus landed back on the ground and turned to look at its fallen opponent with a hint of dissatisfaction. Since neither of them was there with their real bodies, it could tell that Lin Xiuzhu held back as well.

[Congratulations! You've passed the highest difficulty evaluation and became a level 9 VIP member of the Cosmic Dream Net.]

[Would you like to view your membership privileges?]

On the now-empty dream battlefield, Lu Ran stared at the fading fragments of his opponent. The Infinite Plunder skill still hadn't taken effect.

"Does the skill not work in the Cosmic Dream Net? How useless. I guess it's because of the fact that we’re in a virtual world. I guess I will have to hunt down more powerful opponents in the real world going forward."

Lu Ran shook his head and entered the Cosmic Dream Net’s main city.

***

Shortly after the battle, in the Cosmic Dream Net’s headquarters on Blue Planet, the real Lin Xiuzhu accessed the Dream Net. She entered a room accessible only to those with the highest level of access. Inside the room, a white-haired girl in a mecha suit sat cross-legged in mid-air.

When Lin Xiuzhu entered, the white-haired girl turned and excitedly exclaimed, "You're finally here!"

"What's up, Lin? Why did you call me so suddenly?" Lin Xiuzhu asked with a smile.

If other Cosmic beings were present, then they would be extremely shocked to see this white-haired girl. It was none other than the Mechanical Cosmic entity of the Corporation.

"The simulation you left in the Dream Net long ago was defeated by someone," Lin replied.

As she spoke, she opened a recording of the battle. Once she watched the entire thing, Lin Xiuzhu was astonished to say the least.

"Who is he? Why does he look like a human beastmaster from Blue Planet?"

"I don't know his background, but he logged into the Dream Net from the Overlord Territory using the ID ‘Pedestrian A’. I tried investigating him using the Dream Net, but his strength is beyond imagination. All of the data is blank, so there was nothing for me to find.

"I'm afraid that he could force his way into the Net without any assistance from the proper equipment. Originally, I thought he was a powerful new human being trained by Sybas, but something feels off. His true strength... might be on the Cosmic level!"

"Cosmic?" Lin Xiuzhu exclaimed in disbelief.

"Are you sure? Even that person isn’t capable of something like this. He was only able to get you up to the Cosmic rank, and your other two companions are still stuck at the Primary Divine rank."

"I don't know either. He gives me a very mysterious feeling. His familiar’s power surpasses his own, but his life force seems to have already reached the Cosmic rank.

"I can't see through him at all. If I met him in reality, then I might have a better grasp, but my main body has gone off with Master, and the others to god knows where.

"I suspect that he's a powerful being who snuck in from a parallel universe. I'll send a message to the others, so keep an eye out."

"Okay..." Lin Xiuzhu nodded, still looking at the young man on the screen.

"He's probably not a bad guy. What kind of villain would walk around in a Husky t-shirt? That dog was quite powerful. It even beat my top familiar. However, back then, my panda still hadn’t mastered its most powerful skills. If we fought in real life right now, I would sweep him."

"No, don't even think about fighting!" Lin shook its head. “Anyone below the Cosmic rank should avoid making contact with him. I don't think he's a good person. I'll have Teacher Ying contact him instead. At the moment, Teacher Ying is the only Cosmic Level we can get a hold of immediately."

The Teacher Ying it spoke of was actually the weakest Cosmic being in the universe, but still a Cosmic being nonetheless.