Balz

Hu Li locked onto one of the handsome youths and gave a savage grin. "Two-legged sheep, become food for Master Hu!" He pounced straight at the boy with astonishing speed, his looming shadow engulfing the collapsed youth like a heavy truck. Yet the closer he drew, the more familiar the boy's face seemed. In mid-dash, his brain instinctively began searching for where he had seen this face before. Finally, a light seemed to dawn in his mind as a photograph of Yu Xian flashed into his thoughts. *Yu Xian!!!* Hu Li knew who Yu Xian was. After all, over a decade ago, Yu Xian had already possessed supreme dominance in Crescent Bay. Hu Li's pupils contracted, then slowly dilated, because the youth whose face had been filled with terror suddenly looked up and broke into a smile. If the boy had maintained that terrified expression, it might have been dismissed as a mere resemblance. But the moment this smile appeared, Hu Li knew he was done for. *Smack!* With a single slap from Yu Xian, Hu Li crashed heavily to the ground, gouging a massive human-shaped depression into the earth. "He really did come," Yu Xian said to Zhang Shou beside him, looking down at the unconscious Hu Li. Zhang Shou took it as a given. "Of course. Did you think Qilin was just sitting on its hands these days? We have diviners, we have big data analytics. If his disguise ability hadn't been so formidable, he would have been caught ages ago." "It really is impressive," Yu Xian agreed. Until Hu Li blew his own cover, even Yu Xian hadn't realized that the street vendor wasn't human. "Is he dead?" Zhang Shou asked. Yu Xian nudged Hu Li's head with his foot. "Not dead. I just slapped him into shock. With his vitality, he shouldn't die." "All right, then. We'll take him back to Bat as experimental material," Zhang Shou nodded. Yu Xian asked curiously, "Old Zhang, be honest with me. How many Star-rank powerhouses does Qilin have now? Has anyone broken through to Li Rank?" "There are a few at Star Rank, but Li Rank... Do you think Li Rank grows on trees? Crescent Bay hasn't produced a single Li Rank in all these years, let alone our side," Zhang Shou answered bluntly. At present, the only Star-rank powerhouse he could be certain of was Yu Lie, and even Yu Lie had advanced through the Star Divine Artifact advancement method at the expense of a vast amount of Qilin's internal resources. As for Star-rank powerhouses outside of Qilin, he only knew of one: Principal Zhang Daoqin. Yu Xian thought about it and realized it made sense. With Earth's resources, advancing from Star Rank to Li Rank was simply too difficult. Deciding to send Qilin some resources he had no use for, he produced a spatial bubble and said with a smile, "It's been a while since I visited headquarters. Come on, let's go check it out together." With that, the two dragged the unconscious Hu Li into the bubble and vanished in the blink of an eye. …… …… Death Calamity Sea, Four Seasons Red Island. Inside the barrier, burly monsters with heads resembling skinned rabbits were wandering around everywhere. Flames burned on their backs, and their grotesque, mottled bodies were made entirely of tumors. In many places, bones were completely exposed, appearing as though flesh was merely stuck onto bone rather than forming an integrated whole. "The power of this Abyss seems to be related to fire." "When the power of the Chaos Rabbit Abyss merges with the power of this Abyss, it gives birth to proliferating fire." Standing behind one of the monsters and gazing at the flames on its back, Leng Dajing thought to himself that these flames weren't truly burning; rather, they were constantly proliferating. Normally, fire without fuel would extinguish, but these flames maintained a continuous equilibrium. Before dying out, the fire would split and multiply, new flames replacing the old in an unending cycle of renewal. Precisely because the flames were proliferating rather than burning, the surrounding air wasn't consumed, and there was hardly even any change in heat. If this fire could be thoroughly understood, it would undoubtedly become a formidable power. Leng Dajing felt he had learned something new once again. As long as he continued advancing like this, sooner or later he would step into the realm of a Mighty One and draw closer to his ultimate goal... transcendence. "Roar!" Just then, a fight broke out among the distant monsters once more. Leng Dajing frowned slightly, but did not intervene. These monsters needed to eat, yet all the food on the island had already been devoured, driving them to cannibalize one another. While this reduced his pool of experimental subjects, the surviving monsters were usually stronger and possessed greater research value. Therefore, although Leng Dajing disliked having the monsters disrupt his research rhythm, he tacitly permitted this behavior and made no effort to prepare extra food for them. Up on the mountain. Two monsters were violently brawling. Both possessed the power of proliferation and were practically immortal and indestructible. As they battered each other, whenever one found an opening, it would tear off a chunk of the other's flesh and swiftly swallow it down. If there had been only two monsters, this stalemate would have dragged on for an exceptionally long time until one was completely consumed. However, there were far too many monsters here. The moment one side showed weakness, countless monsters would swarm forward and devour the disadvantaged creature entirely. Balz stood among the crowd of monsters. He did not know what he was, nor did he understand why he existed in this world. When consciousness first sparked within him, he was already one of these beasts. Ignorantly, he mimicked the other monsters, roaming the island aimlessly and following the pack to devour the losers of these fights. In just a few days, he had grown into a mature monster. Once there was nothing left to learn from the others, he felt empty and bored. The behavior of his kin had become completely predictable. He wanted to keep learning, to understand more, yet there was nothing on the island, nor could he find a way to leave. At this moment, one of the fighters began showing signs of defeat. The surrounding monsters instantly roared, surging forward to carve up the vanquished beast. Balz blended into the fray as well, tearing off a portion of flesh and blood to consume. Then he quickly backed away. Having squabbled over their uneven spoils, the monsters began a new round of fighting, while the rest scattered once more to await the next loser. *Don't they know that as long as they fight, a loser is inevitable, and therefore one of them will surely be eaten?* *If you don't fight, you won't lose, and you won't be eaten!* Balz watched the two battling creatures, deeply bewildered. Yet the moment a loser emerged, he swarmed forward again and snapped up a piece of its flesh. This time, however, his luck ran out. A monster nearby saw him eating, let out a displeased roar, and grabbed at his mouth to snatch the meat away—except he had already swallowed it. *Not good!* Balz realized that a fight with this fellow monster was unavoidable. The surrounding monsters had already backed away, and the creature lunged straight at him, jaws gaping to bite into him. The battle had begun. Balz didn't want to fight at all, but he knew full well he couldn't retreat, nor could he show weakness; otherwise, the surrounding kin would tear him to shreds in an instant. He didn't want to die. Then he had no choice but to kill this fool! Staring at the enemy before him, a resolute murderous intent flashed across Balz's pitch-black eyes.