Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After turning back to fight and severely injuring the Horned Dragon King Barty and Fairy Dragon Shania, Yang Ling didn’t stop moving. He quickly subjugated the severely injured Horned Dragons with his blood, claiming all of them that were Level Surpassing Magical Beasts and above. A final tally revealed that among his new Horned Dragon army, there were over five hundred Level Surpassing Magical Beasts, twelve Low-level Deities, and eight Mid-level Deities. Including the Horned Dragon King and Fairy Dragon, there were a total of five Horned Dragons that were High-level Deities.
A bountiful harvest!
Using his vastly improved restrictions and Space Bind Wizard Technique, Yang Ling had achieved massive success in this ambush!
“Ophilia, mobilize whatever resources you need and set up a base for the Horned Dragons in Flying Dragon Valley, the sooner the better!” Yang Ling said as he waved his hands and swept the Horned Dragons into the Wizard Pagoda’s Space. He took off the Space Ring he had snatched from the dwarves. He continued, “Including the Dragon Eggs of the Horned Dragons, there is now a large number of Magical Beast Eggs in this Space Ring. We need a way for the Magical Beast Military Factory to make them hatch as soon as possible!”
As a splinter race of the Giant Dragons, the Horned Dragons had powerful abilities. They were comparable to the Dark Dragons in close combat, but they were a little faster. After conquering the entire tribe of Horned Dragons, Yang Ling secured all of them in the Wizard Pagoda’s Space. He didn’t even overlook the baby dragons that had just hatched, much less the Dragon Eggs. He was going to build a base of Horned Dragons within the Wizard Pagoda’s Space.
There were only a few hundred Horned Dragons right then, but their numbers might reach insane levels if Yang Ling allowed them to proliferate for a decade, a century, or even a millennium!
A normal person would turn to dust over such long periods of time, but to a powerful Divine-level Expert, the years seemed to slip past like a current. It was normal to spend several hundred, if not several thousand years every time they trained in seclusion.
“Yes, don’t worry, my Lord!”
The Blood Angel Ophilia bowed as she received her orders. She felt a little nervous, her face blushing a little when she saw Yang Ling smiling at her, and she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when Yang Ling turned to leave. Yang Ling was completely oblivious, and the Corpse Wizard King and the rest of the group didn’t notice anything, while the meticulous Demoness observed everything from the side.
She had been feeling dejected ever since she got separated from Richardson, frequently crying through the night, unable to get any sleep. However, her natural sensitivity brought Ophilia’s unusual actions sharply to her attention.
Yang Ling’s brows knitted as he saw the empty lakeside. Then he ordered, “Rodriguez, take some men and search for the Divine-level Magical Beasts that were originally living by the lake, especially of those Divine-level Twin-headed Chimeras. You have to find them as soon as possible!”
Originally, he had wanted to go after the rest of the Divine-level Magical Beasts after subjugating the Horned Dragons. He hadn’t expected the battle with the Horned Dragons to be so intense that it embroiled the ordinary Magical Beasts and caused even the powerful Divine-level Magical Beasts to flee in all directions!
Yang Ling didn’t mind losing most of the Divine-level Magical Beasts, but he couldn’t bear to miss the fifty Divine-level Twin-headed Chimeras.
The Twin-headed Chimeras weren’t adept in aerial battles, but their offensive capabilities on land were alarming. They could spew out corrosive acid that could melt even the sturdiest of meteors, which was even more terrifying than the Dragon Breath of the giant Dragons! Their land-based attacks got even stronger after they advanced to the Divine level, making them the nightmare of any land-based Magical Beast.
The flight speed of the Twin-headed Chimeras wasn’t exceptional, being significantly slower than the Divine-level Horned Dragons, Dark Dragons, and Purple Sky Condors. However, they had the advantage of being stable when they flew and capable of carrying heavy cargo. Another flying Magical Beast might only have been able to carry a few people while flying, but the Twin-headed Chimeras could carry as many as a hundred people at once!
Even though they weren’t adept in aerial battles and were relatively slow, the Twin-headed Chimeras weren’t completely defenseless against flying Magical Beasts like the Horned Dragons. When they encountered danger, they could use their innate talents to cast heavy protective spells that were as impenetrable as ten-thousand-year-old tortoise shells.
Powerful land-based attacks, superior hauling capacity, and alarming defenses made the Twin-headed Chimeras the perfect candidates for a unit of tactical bombers. If Yang Ling could equip Magical Crystal Cannons and Dragonbone Battle Carriages on their backs, then arm them with poison-filled missiles created by the Poison Wizard Alice, they would be capable of terrifying aerial assaults!
Yang Ling naturally wouldn’t let the Divine-level Chimeras escape now that he had found them!
“Leave it to me, my Lord!” The Corpse Wizard King bowed, then left to gather a large group of Magical Beasts and begin searching for the tracks of the Twin-headed Chimeras and the rest of the Divine-level Magical Beasts. The group moved quickly, soon disappearing into the horizon.
“Seylius, clean up the battlefield and see if there are any Horned Dragons that we missed!” After leaving behind a few other instructions, Yang Ling took out the Great Wizard Altar and sat on it. He took some time to cultivate the Life Graft Wizard Technique, hoping to achieve a breakthrough before he reached Moon River.
Two hours, four hours…
As time passed, the sky started to get darker and darker. Most of the Magical Beasts had left the area, and a rare silence fell around the lake. As he used the Great Wizard Altar, Yang Ling absorbed the majestic Spiritual Energy and Life Force around him, and he got a faint feeling that he was about to break through to become a high-level Soul Wizard. Unfortunately, the Corpse Wizard King and his group hadn’t returned!
The Corpse Wizard King finally returned the next morning, covered in filth. He had a dejected expression. “My Lord, we encountered many Abyssal Demons along the way and were almost surrounded. But… After exhausting all of our ideas, we still didn’t manage to find the Divine-level Twin-headed Chimeras!”
The Corpse Wizard King shook his head and gave a bitter smile. The Graveyard of Deities and Demons was just too large. His group had no problems spreading out like a web and searching the area around Como Lake, but things became much harder when they increased the radius of their search. Even if the Corpse Wizard King had a dozen times as many troops under his command, it wouldn’t have made a difference! And the search was made even more difficult by the Abyssal Demons!
Seeing the Corpse Wizard King’s bloodshot eyes, Yang Ling knew that he had already tried his best. He deliberated for a moment and decided not to push it any further, then leaped onto a nearby Flying Dragon.
“If we really cannot find them, then don’t worry about it. Let’s leave immediately. Perhaps we will encounter other Chimeras along the way to the Moon River!”
Yang Ling gathered the rest of the Magical Beasts, but didn’t recall the teams of Horned Bee Beasts and Vampire Bats that were tasked with scouting for ore mines.
Riding on the speedy Twin-legged Flying Dragons, the group advanced rapidly, heading toward the faraway Moon River. Along the way, the Vampire Bats responsible for scouting for ore mines spotted several veins of ore. Yang Ling instructed the Corpse Wizard King to record their coordinates on a magical crystal ball, so they could be prepared to excavate the next time they entered the Graveyard of Deities and Demons.
One day, two days…
The closer they got to the Moon River, the more Abyssal Demons there were patrolling the area. The Evil Demons usually traveled in groups of five, but they also formed into larger bands from time to time. Perhaps because there were so many Abyssal Demons patrolling the area, Yang Ling encountered fewer and fewer Divine-level Magical Beasts. The Magical Beasts were also exceptionally cautious, and they usually fled long before Yang Ling and his group could get close. They didn’t manage to obtain any other Magical Beasts for two weeks, which left them unable to expand the scale of the Magical Beast Army.
However, even though he didn’t manage to tame any more Divine-level Magical Beasts, Yang Ling did learn a lot about the distribution of mines in the area!
Yang Ling carefully guided his forces around large groups of Abyssal Demons. When they encountered lone Abyssal Demons or careless Abyssal Demon teams, however, Yang Ling would instruct his most powerful forces to attack them in one fell swoop, tampering with their Soul Energy. Along the way, his Soul Energy had expanded drastically, and so the strength of his Soul Wizard Techniques and restrictions had also improved correspondingly. He was now much closer to advancing to high-level Soul Wizard.
“My Lord, there’s a giant base of Evil Demons before us, and there is a huge number of Abyssal Demons patrolling the area. Should we head through the forest to avoid them?” When he received the reports of the scouting Horned Bee Beasts, the Corpse Wizard King was overcome with worry.
They were only a few days away from the Moon River. They had gotten this far without much trouble, but as they inched closer to their target, there were just too many Abyssal Demons patrolling the area! The outcome would be disastrous if the demons noticed their tracks and surrounded them!
“Let’s rest for a night at the valley over there, then make our way around the area through that forest tomorrow morning!” Yang Ling answered after deliberating for a moment. He put away the Flying Dragons and the many Horned Bee Beasts scouting the area, then led the Corpse Wizard King and the rest of the group to sneak carefully into a neglected valley. He set up a restriction behind them as a precaution.
It was getting deeper into the night. The Corpse Wizard King and the rest of the group seized the time to meditate. On the other hand, Yang Ling took out a sharp carving knife, carefully and slowly carving a small wooden puppet. Over the last few weeks, he had gained a further understanding of the Life Graft Wizard Technique as his Soul Energy increased. After repeated carving attempts, he was getting more and more practiced in creating wooden puppets.
Practice makes perfect!
Soon, the chunk of Purple Sandalwood had turned into a small, lifelike puppet in Yang Ling’s hands. Eyes, eyebrows, nose… All of its features were exquisite and delicate.
After finishing up with the carving, Yang Ling started setting up a restriction on the body of the wooden puppet. His massive Mental Energy poured outward, a thick Crystal Mist enveloping the wooden puppet as he carefully layered on the restrictions bit by bit. Unfortunately, just as he was about to succeed, the wooden puppet snapped into two. His experiment had failed once again!
“Why am I so unlucky? I was so close!” Yang Ling took a deep breath, then took out a new chunk of Purple Sandalwood and started carving once more, again layering restrictions onto the puppet.
Once, twice…
After failing time and time again, Yang Ling now had a number of broken puppets by his side and a large pile of wood shavings around him. However, he didn’t give up. He focused his concentration on each attempt, and he felt as though he gained another level of understanding with every failure. He could faintly sense that he was just a thin line away from success.
Buzz…
Sometime later, the wooden puppet in Yang Ling’s hands let out a crisp ring and started to tremble gently, absorbing the spiritual energy in the surroundings as if it were starving. Mysterious symbols started appearing on its body as a luster shone through its eyes. It looked alive and seemed to have a certain spiritual quality.
“With my soul as a price and Blood Essence as the lure, Life Graft!” Yang Ling let out a low grunt, touching a drop of blood to the transformed wooden puppet. In that instant, the symbols on the body of the wooden puppet started to shine and spiral quickly, releasing a familiar ripple of energy.
A silent scream spread far and wide, through time and space. All of the slumbering Abyssal Demons in the base were instantly jolted awake, instinctively sensing a terrifying, unknown power.
