King of Beasts

“No, Lord Guardian…”

“There’s no problem with fighting, but fighting now is actually a bit unfair.”

“My Panda is level 30 too, but it hasn’t undergone its first-stage evolution yet.”

“But Lu Ran’s pet beast has already evolved.”

It was clear that Youxiong Anlin still didn’t want to fight Lu Ran.

“Can we wait until my pet beast evolves and then fight?”

His analysis was so sound that no one could find fault with it.

The Panda Guardian looked at him: “Wouldn’t it be impressive for you and me if an unevolved one defeats an evolved one?”

Everyone fell silent: “…”

It seemed that both the Panda Guardian and Youxiong Anlin were a pair of jesters.

Neither of them seemed very bright.

“But his pet beast is a level 30 middle overlord species, only one Species level below you, Lord Guardian… This is too much of a challenge,” Youxiong Anlin nearly cried.

Challenging beyond one’s level also needs to respect the basic laws, right?

Even bosses of the same level in the Legendary Secret Realm were instantly defeated.

“What?”

The Panda Guardian was shocked, looking at Lu Ran with disbelief.

“You have an overlord species pet beast?”

That was something the Panda Guardian hadn’t expected.

Lu Ran smiled: “Right, what Youxiong Anlin said is correct. Evolved versus unevolved is indeed somewhat unfair. How about we wait until his pet beast evolves?”

Lu Ran had no quarrel with Youxiong Anlin and didn’t want to see him miss an opportunity.

Otherwise, the conversation would have turned into “No worries, I also have an unevolved pet beast; I’ll let my Erha fight with you.”

“Lord Guardian, please consider this,” Youxiong Anlin pleaded as if grasping at a lifeline.

The Panda Guardian fell into deep thought, feeling the absurdity. After sleeping on it, were all the young beastmasters of the future this powerful?

Already at level 2, to have contracted an overlord species pet beast?

In its barbaric era, there hadn’t been such people.

Although it had confidence in Youxiong Anlin, at that moment, the Panda Guardian hesitated.

After a moment, it shook its head.

Never mind, never mind.

Lu Ran was right. Once his clan’s younger members and the panda with both light and dark traits complete their first-stage evolution, they could fight fairly.

“Then let’s do as you said,” the Panda Guardian agreed.

Hearing this, Youxiong Anlin breathed a sigh of relief. That was close.

Although the Youxiong Clan wasn’t large in numbers, it wasn’t small either. Being favored by the Guardian was a stroke of luck, and clearly, Youxiong Anlin didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

If someone else were to take his place, he would have nowhere to cry.

He was also hoping to cling to the Guardian’s coattails and solo clear the Legendary Secret Realm.

“My good brother,” Youxiong Anlin thought to himself, casting a grateful look at Lu Ran, thankful for the big shot’s mercy. After I complete my first-stage evolution, we’ll see who wins!

“Giant panda! Giant panda!”

At this moment, Manager Ying couldn’t help but interject, saying, “You must have relied on that ‘super sleep’ Special Ability to sleep from ancient times till now, right?”

In ancient times, spiritual energy faded, but not every creature mastered a hibernation-like ability.

Those who didn’t, surely perished.

Manager Ying guessed that the Panda Guardian must possess an ability similar to the ‘super sleep trait’ discovered in the trial secret realm, allowing it to maintain a low energy consumption and pause its life functions during sleep.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for it to be so lively now.

“Right…” the Panda Guardian looked at Manager Ying and said, “Hm? You must be that ancient cat mentioned by the Youxiong Clan?”

As fellow ancient creatures, Manager Ying’s information had naturally been shared with the Panda Guardian by the Youxiong Clan.

The Panda Guardian was quite curious about this cat.

“That’s me,” Manager Ying calmly looked at the giant panda and said, “Guardian of the Youxiong Clan, do you have any treasures from ancient times? My main body is still in deep sleep, urgently needing a large amount of energy resources.”

“I’ll trade you with modern resources.”

“None!” the Panda Guardian felt this cat wasn’t a good beast and said, “Ancient supernatural resources have already decayed under the resurgence of spiritual energy, unless it’s something particularly advanced, but how could I possibly have that…”

Hearing the Panda Guardian’s words, Manager Ying showed a look of disappointment.

Upon hearing this, Lu Ran was momentarily taken aback. Damn, was this Panda Guardian just a pauper?

He had hoped to exchange for some resources… but it had nothing?

However, thinking about it more carefully, it made sense. Right now, it even depended on the Youxiong Clan to help forage for its food… It was in an even worse situation than Manager Ying.

Lu Ran felt that this trip had been a waste of time.

No, not entirely a waste; at least he had learned about the existence of an exclusive secret realm.

Lu Ran planned to visit Lujia Village again to investigate where the ancestral land of the village used to be. Who knows, maybe Lujia Village’s exclusive secret realm could still be found somewhere on the continent?

The divine deer antler… Could it be the key to the exclusive secret realm of Lujia Village?

The Panda Guardian had also mentioned that only some exceptionally powerful supernatural resources could resist decay even after losing their supernatural properties. The divine deer antler… seemed to meet this criterion.

Since the “secret realm key” held by the Panda Guardian was still functional, then the undecayed supernatural item inherited from the Ancient times by Lujia Village seemed to be the divine deer antler.

“So, if the Star-Moon Continent is indeed the prehistoric era of Blue Star, the historical timeline should be quite clear now,” Gu Qingyi said:

In the mythological era, the Four Great Creator Divine Dragons created the world.

Many years later, on the Star-Moon Continent, the human race emerged and developed beast taming abilities.

After the rise and fall of the Beast Taming Empire, there was a time when the human civilization might have reached its peak.

At this time, the Star-Moon Continent experienced a drastic change, presumably the first fading of spiritual energy.

As the supernatural dissipated, to preserve the seeds of civilization, the highly developed human civilization established Infinite City, waiting for the revival of spiritual energy and the continuation of the beast taming system.

Years passed again.

Spiritual energy warmed.

Countless lives evolved back into the supernatural.

Manager Ying and the Panda Guardian were beings from this stage.

The first descent of Infinite City selected a group of Ancient humans to become beastmasters.

But before long, there was a trend of fading spiritual energy again.

To maintain their power, a group of powerful supernatural beings in nature chose to protect human tribes in exchange for the Power of Faith.

This marked the so-called totem tribe era.

The Panda Guardian is in this stage, interacting with the Youxiong Clan and learning about Infinite City and beastmasters.

Manager Ying, on the other hand, is one of those “reclusive creatures” that is isolated from the world, so its knowledge about these matters is not very clear.

However, none of this could stop the inevitable.

The supernatural disappeared once again, and Infinite City closed.

Some special ancient creatures, such as Manager Ying, the Panda Guardian, and the Fishman King, tried everything to choose hibernation.

Until modern times, when there was a second warming trend of spiritual energy.

Infinite City reappeared, and choices were made for beastmasters and ancient creatures to awaken…

After Gu Qingyi finished her analysis, everyone nodded. Now, the Star-Moon Continent is considered to be the prehistoric civilization of Blue Star, which, in Gu Qingyi’s view, is now certain.

After all, the Divine Deer is a retainer of the Creator Divine Loong and became the guardian deity of Lujia Village in ancient times…

If it were not the same world, how could the Divine Deer have come from the Star-Moon Continent to Blue Star?

Perhaps, led by the Divine Deer, a group of legendary lives successfully hibernated from the era of the Star-Moon Continent to the ancient times of Xia Country.

“Alright, everyone, you can relax now.”

“The Panda Guardian has been protecting our human species since ancient times and is completely trustworthy.”

“Spreading its news will, on one hand, enhance Xia Country’s international influence, preventing ferocious forces like the Fishman Empire from encroaching on the land. On the other hand, it’s also because our Youxiong Clan alone cannot provide enough resources for the guardian,” Youxiong Jiyuan said.

“Roar!!!” The Panda Guardian lazily sat in a chair.

Actually, its decision to become the guardian of a beast taming tribe was simple: firstly, the tribe’s pet beasts were almost exclusively iron-eating beasts, with rich experience in breeding them.

Secondly, as the spiritual energy slowly faded, it felt increasingly powerless and wanted to find an “old folks’ home” that provided meals and accommodation to enjoy the latter half of its life.

Even though the spiritual energy has revived now, the Panda Guardian has grown accustomed to being looked after and living a provided-for life.

Thus, it is still very willing to continue as the guardian deity. It also learned that, with its current strength, it is almost invincible in this era. Moreover, the iron-eating beasts have apparently become the national treasure species of this country, which is very comfortable.

“Understood.” Once Gu Qingyi learned the situation regarding the First Generation, she felt reassured.

As the Youxiong Clan stated, the addition of the Panda Guardian is undoubtedly beneficial for Xia Country.

“Let’s leave it at that, then. Oh, by the way, is your secret realm available for challenges now?” the petite superhuman, Lin Nian, suddenly asked.

Youxiong Jiyuan responded to her inquiry, “I’m sorry, although the real-world secret realm can be challenged indefinitely, it has a cooldown period-open for one day every seven days. However, on the day it is open, there’s no limit to the number of people who can enter.”

“The time for the next opening hasn’t arrived yet, but I will notify everyone as soon as it’s available.”

“Never mind then. I wasn’t interested in ‘armoring’ or ‘super sleep’ anyway. Since there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.” Lin Nian waved her hand, about to leave, but was stopped by Gu Qingyi.

“Hold on,” Gu Qingyi said.

Lin Nian wasn’t interested in the ‘armoring beast taming skill’ or ‘super sleep trait,’ and actually, neither were the other First Generations present.

Although these two skills seemed appealing, especially to newcomers, what they were really after were those unique and powerful traits.

Even Lu Ran, a Fourth Generation, wasn’t interested in these two drops.

Thus, the appeal of challenging this secret realm wasn’t very strong for them, especially since, as the Youxiong Clan mentioned, most resources had to be allocated to feeding the Panda Guardian-they certainly didn’t have time to act as its caretaker.

Let tomorrow’s gullible visitors tackle the secret realm challenge.

There are already enough challenges in Infinite City’s secret realms.

“What’s up?” Lin Nian was grabbed and turned to see Gu Qingyi with a sweet smile.

“Don’t rush off just yet. Now that you’re here, let the Youxiong Clan treat you to dinner before you go.”

The three members of the Youxiong Clan present: ???

That’s what she said, but shouldn’t we be the ones making that offer?

“Also, I need to discuss something with the five of you. Please stay a bit longer,” Gu Qingyi said, looking at the First Generation members and then at Lu Ran.

Lu Ran, understanding the situation, realized what was happening.

Dr. Gu must be planning to take advantage of the presence of several First Generation members to confront them about the necromancy issue!

After all, if the dark crow were to evolve later, the truth about necromancy couldn’t be kept hidden.

Soon, in the Evolution Secret Realm, numerous international beastmasters would witness Lu Ran evolve a necromancy pet beast.

Contracting with necromancy, at least currently, is not accepted by mainstream society and is sure to cause a huge sensation… Lu Ran might become a target, providing various countries a legitimate reason to challenge him, and it’s very likely that they would confront him on the spot.

In such a scenario, Xia Country would definitely need to send enough bodyguards to accompany Lu Ran for the evolution, and the current lineup of six First Generation members… is just right!