Lu Wei easily accepted Qin Ruqing’s energy into her body.

She even proactively thought about the power Qin Ruqing had been seeking and naturally understood it as the power that Qingqing had been looking for.

On the other hand, things were a bit more troublesome for Feng Mingyue.

As a sword cultivator, Feng Mingyue was particularly sensitive to unfamiliar auras and energies.

When she unconsciously swung her sickle for the third time, trying to keep Qin Ruqing at bay, Qin Ruqing held down one of her hands (the sickle hand?).

“Fairy Mingyue, if we don’t hurry, the beast soldiers will be checking us soon.”

Feng Mingyue indeed sensed the commotion above the blood pool; it seemed something unusual had happened.

From Qin Ruqing’s expression, she also knew where this disturbance came from.

The mantis beast finally nodded, straining to suppress its instincts, and opened its sea of consciousness to let Qin Ruqing’s energy manually conceal its traces.

“Alright, now we’ll just practice normally and show the ‘appropriate performance’,” Qin Ruqing said after helping Feng Mingyue in the same manner.

She then returned to her initial position.

Above the blood pool, all the great demons guarding it emerged.

They opened their beast mouths and spoke in deep voices:

“All beasts in the blood pool come out and submit to inspection.”

“Repeat, all beasts come out!”

“No leaving the blood pool’s range. If you cross the barrier, you will be killed on the spot, regardless of the reason!”

One by one, the beast heads appeared and came ashore from the blood pool.

They were clearly unhappy, each exuding a gloomy and irritable aura.

Anyone would be displeased if their cultivation was suddenly interrupted midway.

If an accident occurred midway and energy reversed, it would be a grudge of life and death.

The guarding great demons ignored their dissatisfaction and took out a staff embedded with unknown beast cores, starting to inspect each one.

Qin Ruqing looked up and noticed that this staff was the same one used during the second round of selection.

The appearance seemed unchanged, but this time the inspection wasn’t done in groups of twenty; each beast received “special attention.”

The first round of screening didn’t reveal any abnormalities.

The great demon gave the beasts a sharp look and then asked:

“Among you, has anyone awakened a special divine power?”

Hmm?

What kind of question is that?

Some beasts looked alert, some were puzzled, and some seemed eager.

Awakening a special divine power shouldn’t be a bad thing, right?

But in this atmosphere, it didn’t seem like a good thing to mention.

Suddenly, a beast spoke up, “I, I seem to have opened an extra eye. Does that count?”

Qin Ruqing looked over in the direction of the voice and saw it was the foolish green-eyed wolf.

He looked very nervous.

There was indeed an extra slit next to the divine eye on his forehead, though it wasn’t fully open yet.

It was clearly the nascent form of a new eye, though asymmetrical and uglier.

Qin Ruqing couldn’t help but internally criticize it.

The great demon looked over, saw the extra eye on the green-eyed wolf, and his expression softened.

The nearby wolf king nodded and said, “Awakening a third divine eye at such a young age is indeed quite a mutation,” though it was still slightly less impressive.

A great demon examined the green-eyed wolf carefully, finding no issues, and offered a begrudging praise.

The expression was not one of surprise.

However, the green-eyed wolf was flattered and seemed unaware of the tense atmosphere.

Clearly, the real intention of these great demons was not to find beasts with awakened divine powers.

It was more likely to identify traitors or spies.

Some perceptive beasts noticed the clue, exchanged glances, and decided that even if they had awakened divine powers, they should remain hidden.

Soon after, the great demon asked another question.

“Among you, who has had contact with the human race, including in battle?”

This question was very straightforward.

The beasts became tense, with some emitting discontented sighs.

“Does the lord suspect that we have traitors among us?”

“We are all beasts who have been through multiple selections and are loyal warriors of the Beast God!”

“No beast doubts your loyalty. It’s just that there was a strange fluctuation in the blood pool earlier, so we need to check for safety. Claiming loyalty to the Beast God, can’t you even cooperate with this?” A beast with a (green face and tusks) roared, his voice echoing throughout the valley.

The beasts fell silent.

At this moment, Qin Ruqing stepped forward, with a serious expression, and said, “Lord, I am the patrol captain stationed in the human realm. Before returning to the beast realm, my team carried out a patrol mission and cleared traps set by the human race.”

The green-eyed wolf’s eyelid twitched but knew that he couldn’t hide the truth now and stepped forward as well.

The green snake, black leopard, and mantis beast followed.

They were all from the same patrol team.

The wolf king, standing among the demons, remained expressionless.

He knew about this; it wasn’t surprising for the rock tiger named Dashan to step forward.

During this blessing from the Beast God, most of the selected beasts stationed outside the human realm were responsible for attacking the human realm, as the purpose of the blessing was to fight against the human race.

Soon, other beasts emerged, and there were quite a few of them.

Most of these beasts had “encounters” with humans, mostly hostile ones.

Qin Ruqing and her companions blended in and did not stand out at all.

This time, the inspection was more thorough.

Three major demon beasts conducted the investigation together, using their spiritual powers, and the Wolf King, with all five eyes open, cooperated in the inspection.

When it was Qin Ruqing’s turn, she even proactively leaned forward, her tiger eyes firm, and said, “My lord, please inspect me carefully. My loyalty to the Beast God is absolutely genuine!”

The Wolf King signaled her to calm down and once again used his five eyes to examine her, focusing particularly on the weaker parts of her spiritual sea.

Seeing that this rock tiger had a strong and powerful soul with a great deal of aggression, and sensing the external probe, the soul in the spiritual sea took on the form of a tiger and roared at him, even adopting a threatening stance.

The Wolf King found this amusing rather than problematic.

If the beast warriors’ souls were shrinking away from such an inspection, that would indeed be strange.

The other major demons also noticed this and, like the Wolf King, found this rock tiger perfectly normal.

Soon, the inspection passed, and the focus moved to the other beasts.

At this point, Wu Mu arrived and inquired about the results.

The major demons reported that everything was fine.

Wu Mu’s red eyes showed deep thought and dissatisfaction with the outcome.

The Wolf King, unperturbed by Wu Mu, who was the Beast Emperor’s son and now a representative of the Beast God, was indifferent to his dissatisfaction.

He was more concerned with his own interests.

“Is the prince not satisfied with the results? Should we have everyone checked again?” The Wolf King’s tone was casual, with a hint of mockery.

He felt that Wu Mu was just looking for trouble.

Wu Mu disliked the Wolf King’s attitude and said, “Did you inspect thoroughly? The recent disturbance was clearly abnormal.”

The Wolf King remained unmoved, “If you’re not satisfied, you can do the inspection yourself.”

Wu Mu’s eyes darkened, and he asked in his mind, “Ancestors, could he really not be a spy sent by the humans?”

The powerful voice in his mind responded with some subtlety, “He truly isn’t; his talent is remarkable, though he’s not very bright.”

Wu Mu continued, “But traitors can’t be detected even with the Divine Eyes.”

“Then maybe there’s nothing wrong,” came the reply.

Wu Mu hesitated, “Can’t you see any issues?”

The voice in his mind seemed to chuckle, “If you could completely relinquish control of your body, I might be able to detect something.”

Wu Mu remained silent, his hesitation clear.

Giving up complete control of his body was not something he could easily agree to.

The mental voice ceased speaking, and the inspection ended with little outcome.

Many beasts felt confused and frustrated, sensing they had been tricked.

Qin Ruqing swished her tail and nudged the Wolf King with her nose, “My lord, we haven’t finished soaking in the blood pool yet. Can we go back?”

Feng Mingyue, standing behind Qin Ruqing, felt she had seen something new today.

She couldn’t understand how a pure human like Qin Ruqing could be more beast-like than actual beasts.

Black Panther looked at Qin Ruqing, finding her tiger-like appearance quite adorable.

The Wolf King, initially speechless, realized that they should indeed be concerned about the blood pool.

After all, it was important not to let today’s disruption halt their plans.

The major demons exchanged glances and said, “Go back to the blood pool.”

Not only did Qin Ruqing seem to breathe a sigh of relief, but other beasts also visibly relaxed and looked at Qin Ruqing with gratitude.

Good brother, well done.

The immersion in the blood pool lasted ten days.

Although some beasts may have been there for a longer time, Qin Ruqing and the others left when they noticed the main forces starting to withdraw.

—It was time to flee.

After such a dramatic turn of events, it was best not to stand out and attract attention.

Qi Rong and the others waited anxiously at the base of Tianxing Mountain.

Disguised as beasts, they didn’t dare carry any human communication jade slips, and they were unfamiliar with the long-distance communication methods of the beasts. They could only wait.

Rui Fenhua reassured them, saying, “Waiting isn’t so bad. If we went up, we might have been discovered and encountered problems.”

Qi Rong thought she didn’t understand him at all and said irritably, “With your luck, you’d probably manage to escape even if discovered.”

Rui Fenhua shook her head seriously, “My good luck is limited. Once it’s used up, it’s gone and needs time to recover.”

This piqued Qi Rong’s interest. “Your good luck can be accumulated? You don’t use it? Isn’t that like being a miser? Why not share some with me?”

The pink-eared head of the Rui family shook her head vigorously, “No way! My good luck is very precious and must be used where it’s most needed!”

“Hmph~” Qi Rong instantly lost interest, thinking that with her non-interventionist approach, when would that “most needed” moment ever come?

He gave up on chatting with Fenhua and turned his attention to the pangolin beast sitting comfortably nearby.