Chapter 58

After finishing this part, Xu Chenglu’s voice paused.

Wen Li inhaled sharply: “You’re not saying that the secret realm we’re being tested on is in its merging phase with the previous B-grade secret realm, are you? The secret realm master of the emperor species? The Beastmaster Association really thinks highly of us mere high school graduates…”

“The secret realm we’re testing in is indeed the former B-grade secret realm ‘Xuan Volcano.’ It’s because of this that I worked hard to join the national ranking competition, hoping to bring the Red Venomous Turtle back to the original site of the secret realm…”

Xu Chenglu glanced at her, then whispered, “That Fire Blaze Land Turtle with the Flame Absorption Reaction was growing at an unbelievably fast rate as the master of the secret realm. The Bureau’s enforcers killed it just before it reached maturity.”

“Even so, it still evolved into the Anger Rock Black Tortoise at the very last moment…”

“My family has always wanted to breed a Fire Blaze Land Turtle with the Flame Absorption Reaction as its core skill, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to succeed up until now.”

“But even with just working towards this direction, the breeding of the Red Venomous Turtle has been smoother than before. Now it can almost overcome the limitations of its core skill, and it’s 100% likely to evolve into a Fire Blaze Land Turtle.”

Hearing this, Mu Huiyue couldn’t help but glance at him.

By studying a particular special skill and overcoming the limitations of the core skill to complete the evolution… Does this mean that Baiya also has such a chance?

“So I suspect that this is the area of the B-grade secret realm ‘Xuan Volcano’ that hasn’t fully merged yet.”

Xu Chenglu lifted his head and looked at the group as he spoke: “This is where the special Fire Blaze Land Turtle was born, which is why there’s an abundance of fire attribute energy here.”

“Although those fire-breathing fluid monsters are dangerous, they also provide an opportunity for fire attribute beasts to grow. My Red Venomous Turtle has absorbed flames twice, and its hidden energy value has significantly increased.”

Wen Li looked at her Yanshi Cat beside her. “If that’s the case, maybe A Miao has a chance to grow too?”

“Meow!” Yanshi Cat lay on the ground, its tail flicking behind it, burning with tiny flames, but it wasn’t very enthusiastic.

It didn’t like the smell of the flames here—it gave off a sense of eating something that had already been chewed and then vomited.

“Although it could still eat it… but there’s no way A Miao would really like it.”

Mu Huiyue slightly furrowed her brows, sensing that things weren’t as simple as they seemed.

If it were just the incomplete portion of a secret realm in its fusion phase, the readings from the investigator’s bracelet would be very clear, and there wouldn’t be any fluctuations like this.

Moreover, those crimson fluid crystals…

Compared to ordinary extraordinary creatures, they seemed more like a “part” of this region. They didn’t have independent consciousness, yet they could adjust their behavior patterns in response to obstacles. It appeared that a higher-level structure was in charge, coordinating them.

“Too bad that special Fire Blaze Land Turtle was directly killed,” Chen Jiashu said with some regret, stroking his chin. “To evolve into an emperor species during its growth phase—this is something unheard of. If it had been allowed to grow in the secret realm until now, what kind of creature would it have become…?”

“Perhaps we would have seen the ultimate form of an emperor species, or even an imagined species, as the secret realm’s master?”

Hearing this, Mu Huiyue suddenly looked at him.

Chen Jiashu was instantly stunned. He was actually a bit afraid of this formidable Miss Mu at school. When she looked at him like that, he instinctively shrank back. “…What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, that’s it.” Mu Huiyue suddenly understood.

The vague sense of déjà vu and the sense of dissonance that had been lingering in her mind since arriving here all connected into a clear chain of clues.

With a normal hidden energy value ranging from 10-20 million WP, excluding E-level or D-level secret realms, what else could it be?

—It’s an ultimate-level extraordinary creature.

The ultimate form is the peak of the growth stage for extraordinary creatures. It is incredibly powerful and unattainable.

However, from the perspective of energy balance, maintaining the ultimate form is actually difficult to stabilize long-term.

After all, sustaining the scale of the ultimate form consumes an astronomical amount of energy. Not to mention releasing skills, even the most basic actions like breathing and walking would consume a large amount of hidden energy.

Therefore, most extraordinary creatures, even imperial races and fantasy races, will temporarily de-evolve after reaching the peak of their growth. They will maintain their complete form for only short periods and break through when needed, completing a “minor evolution” to reach the ultimate form.

Even the guardian gods of Dayan, those mythical race ultimate-form extraordinary creatures, mostly remain in S-level secret realms, where the concentration of hidden energy allows them to sustain the ultimate form’s energy consumption.

For this reason, Mu Huiyue had never considered this direction.

She had been wondering why the hidden energy coverage had exceeded 100%, and the bracelet even showed a reading as high as 110%.

What if, instead of being in the secret realm, as the one detecting, she were inside the body of an extraordinary creature so large it exceeded imagination?

Mu Huiyue looked at Xu Chenglu and asked, “Was that special Fire Blaze Tortoise truly killed?”

“The investigation report later released by the Affairs Bureau says it was,” Xu Chenglu thought for a moment and continued, “The master of this secret realm couldn’t be from an imperial race. I suspect the Beastmaster Association set up a mid-tier monarch race, a high-level Fire Blaze Tortoise in its growth phase, as the final boss.”

“This tier, combined with the attribute boost inside the ‘Xuan Fire Mountain,’ would be enough to give all the participants a headache.”

“Then… I’m sure I can say this.”

Mu Huiyue exhaled softly and voiced her speculation, “Compared to a secret realm with an unmerged region, it’s more likely that we’re inside the ultimate form, the Furious Rock Xuanwu.”

As soon as Mu Huiyue finished speaking, everyone turned to look at her.

Even Lin Fei showed a somewhat surprised expression. It took the group a while to comprehend this wildly imaginative guess.

“We’re inside… the Furious Rock Xuanwu?” Chen Jiashu repeated, his face filled with disbelief.

“The only evolved Furious Rock Xuanwu should have been killed by an agent of the Affairs Bureau twenty years ago.”

Lin Fei said, “Even if it wasn’t killed, any wild extraordinary creature deemed dangerous by the Affairs Bureau would never appear on the examination grounds.”

“Why would you say that, Huiyue?” Wen Li asked.

“I don’t understand why the individual that should have been killed suddenly appeared either, but after ruling out all other false assumptions, the remaining option, no matter how unbelievable, is the most likely reality.”

Mu Huiyue briefly explained her speculation about the normal hidden energy values.

“That’s just your speculation. The sudden appearance of the ultimate form… Do you know what the ultimate form represents? It’s not like the growth phase, mature phase, or complete form, where you can evolve step by step.”

Chen Jiashu still didn’t want to believe it, but after saying this, he fell silent. Such basic knowledge about Beastmasters was something Mu Huiyue, as a top student, knew a thousand times better than he did.

“I think… Mu Huiyue’s speculation is very likely true.”

Xu Chenglu, who had been silent until now, finally joined the discussion.

He still had a look of disbelief on his face, but as the Beastmaster most familiar with the Chi Lian Tortoise lineage present, the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

Whether it was extraordinary creatures or the secret realm’s protective mechanism, both were difficult to explain in the face of the crimson liquid-like existence.

But if they were indeed inside the massive Furious Rock Xuanwu, then these indestructible deep red rock walls might actually be the biological structure within the Furious Rock Xuanwu’s body. And the crimson liquid could be a sort of immune system-like internal cleansing mechanism?

Without self-awareness, biologically active, releasing high-temperature flames to eliminate foreign objects when encountered, and when it proved difficult to eliminate them, switching to a different operational mode to accelerate the cleansing…

At present, they were hiding in a depression covered by rock wall material, not being detected by the immune system, so they were temporarily safe.

The most important thing was that the Furious Rock Xuanwu, or rather the Chi Lian Tortoise lineage, did indeed use flames to cleanse impurities from its body.

Because it was an evolutionary, fully purified internal circulation flame, the Chi Lian Tortoise was particularly good at absorbing it, which is why it had seen such rapid improvements in a short period of time.

Xu Chenglu, thinking it over, voiced his speculation.

As if to support his words, the Chi Lian Tortoise happened to burp at that moment, and the volcanic rock on its back cracked along the seams, spewing out several streams of blazing crimson flames.

“Looking closely, it really does resemble the Chi Lian Tortoise’s flames,” Wen Li observed as she watched. “…Just like those fire-breathing monsters chasing after us.”

“Meow-ow!” Flame Strike Meow stretched out its claws.

It knew it! The fire here had a weird, vomit-like smell! Wasn’t it just the stuff inside the stupid turtle’s belly?!

Wen Li laughed, reaching out to pet Flame Strike Meow’s head. Fortunately, she hadn’t let the little cat absorb those flames like the Chi Lian Tortoise.

Seeing that Xu Chenglu believed it, the others were mostly convinced as well, and the atmosphere fell silent again.

Even knowing that they were inside the Furious Rock Xuanwu… what should they do next?

Xu Chenglu was more worried than anyone. He knew the Furious Rock Xuanwu’s habits, and the flame’s immune mechanism wouldn’t stop.

Once it detected that these sudden “impurities” appearing inside its body couldn’t be removed, the immune mechanism would grow stricter, producing more crimson crystals and spewing flames over a larger area to dissolve everything.

The time they could remain safe in this depression was very limited. If they didn’t manage to escape before then…

Mu Huiyue had also thought of the same thing. She looked at Xu Chenglu. “How will the Chi Lian Tortoise expel the impurities it can’t dissolve from its body?”

Xu Chenglu froze for a moment and instinctively answered, “…Sneezing?”

Similar to some aspects of human immune mechanisms, when the Chi Lian Tortoise ingests undigestible food scraps or is invaded by other attribute-based hidden energies, it expels the impurities from its shell by sneezing.

Mu Huiyue remembered seeing similar information on the Affairs Bureau forum and confirmed it once again with the Chi Lian Tortoise expert present.

Xu Chenglu crouched down, feeling for the position of the Chi Lian Tortoise’s throat, and gently squeezed it.

The Chi Lian Tortoise immediately tilted its head back, opening its mouth wide and taking a deep breath. Then, with a loud bang, the volcanic rock on its back suddenly split open, spewing out a large burst of flames, mixed with small pebbles.

“Just like that,” Xu Chenglu’s technique was very skilled.

Most Chi Lian Tortoises were slow-moving creatures. In addition to flames, they also ingested various volcanic rocks to help with digestion, often experiencing indigestion. Every Beastmaster of a Chi Lian Tortoise had to master the technique of making the tortoises sneeze.

Chen Jiashu glanced at the Chi Lian Tortoise, then at the thoughtful expressions of the others. An absurd thought slowly began to form in his mind.

“You don’t mean to say that the Furious Rock Xuanwu has a similar function, do you…?”