Chapter 62

When the White Tiger appeared, the high school students on the cloud were all stunned, their expressions frozen.

Among them, Wen Li was the most dramatic. She stared at the figure hovering in mid-air in disbelief, crossing her hands over her chest as if trying to calm her heart, which felt like it was about to leap out of her chest.

“Oh my God… Oh my God… Is that the Beastmaster of the White Tiger?”

“How could I possibly deserve to have the goddess Alo come to rescue me… wuwuwu…”

The girl, tears welling up in her eyes, grabbed her friend’s hand. “Huiyue, quick, pinch me! Let me see if I’m dreaming…”

Mu Huiyue, amused, pinched Wen Li’s cheek.

Usually, this kind of thing would be the work of Flamestrike Meow, but now there wasn’t enough room for more pets on the Chaos Thunder Cloud, so Wen Li instinctively turned to her.

Wen Li, confirming that she wasn’t dreaming, displayed the blissful expression of a fan who had accidentally encountered their idol in person.

Mu Huiyue didn’t have much impression of the name “Alo,” but of course, she remembered “Beastmaster of the White Tiger.”

In fact, every person from Dayan would remember this legendary title.

Forty years ago, at the first world competition of the “Origin Spirits,” the person who triumphed over all strong opponents to win the championship was none other than “Beastmaster of the White Tiger,” Su Luo from Dayan.

What was even more terrifying was that she had swept the world stage with just the White Tiger as her companion.

Mu Huiyue had seen discussions about her on the forum of the Bureau of Secret Realms. It was mentioned that Su Luo, the Beastmaster, not only possessed the battle talent of Contract Fusion but also had a second unique beastmaster talent, called [Contract One and Only].

A gifted individual could only have one contract spot in their lifetime, no matter how much the beast space or the Beastmaster’s rank grew or changed.

In contrast, all the boosts from the Beastmaster would be concentrated on this one and only pet, maximizing all its abilities.

Moreover, the feedback the pet provided to the Beastmaster would also become more concentrated and beneficial.

Originally, the already peak-level mid-tier Emperor-class species, the Frost Flame Tiger, was able to break through its limits and evolve into the Miracle Fantasy species, the White Tiger. The Beastmaster talent, Contract One and Only, played a decisive role in this.

After winning the world competition, up until now, Su Luo, the Beastmaster, had never contracted any pet other than the White Tiger, so the speculations on the Bureau of Secret Realms forum were probably true.

Considering the time, Su Luo should be over sixty years old now, but she still looked like someone of Mu Huiyue’s age. The feedback and amplification brought by her beastmaster contract were evident.

No wonder Wen Li was so excited.

Although Su Luo, the Beastmaster, hadn’t appeared much in public in the past decade, to every Dayan person who loved beast battles and cared deeply about the world competition, she remained the goal to chase and even surpass on their path.

Mu Huiyue felt a bit emotional. She hadn’t expected that the legendary White Tiger Beastmaster would now serve in the Bureau of Secret Realms and be her direct superior.

While she was thinking, the White Tiger Beastmaster, in her fused state, suddenly raised the tiger-tooth long knife high.

The intense energy field expanded sharply around her, as if with a tiger’s roar in mid-air. In an instant, the heavens and earth seemed to be stirred by it.

“Holy crap…!”

Xiang Xun’s expression changed, and he immediately urged the Chiyu Eagle forward. “Chiyu, use Sky Feathers ahead! The Beastmaster in the Chaos Thundercloud, get a larger elemental shield around all of you!”

The person named, Chen Jiashu, quickly issued the command to the Chaos Thundercloud. The energy layer of the elemental shield expanded like a blown-up bubble, soon enveloping the five people in the misty clouds.

Almost instantly as the elemental shield completed, a massive shockwave hit. The mist evaporated in the high heat, swirling into a vortex that covered the sky above the desolate island in layers.

Amid the hazy fog, a clear tiger’s roar echoed. The white-haired Beastmaster plunged down from the sky, the tiger-tooth blade aimed directly at the Angry Lava Turtle’s volcano, accelerating once, twice, and then a third time.

In the high sky, three waves of energy expanded outward in rapid succession, each wave faster and broader than the last. Sparks of high heat spilled from around the White Tiger, resembling a burning meteor as it plummeted downward with a sharp whistling sound.

S-Class attack skill—Star Shatter!

The sound of the colossal collision reverberated through the sky, followed by a deafening explosion of energy, instantly sweeping across the entire island.

The people still suspended in mid-air were thrown away by the shockwave from the turbulent air.

Even though the Chiyu Eagle’s Sky Feathers had already neutralized much of the residual shockwave, the remaining energy still caused the elemental shield to creak and strain under the pressure.

The group watched in fear as the overloaded elemental shield began to show signs of breaking.

Previously, the Chaos Thundercloud had managed to withstand the eruption of the Angry Lava Turtle’s volcano, but now it seemed to be struggling. Cracks gradually appeared on the shield.

“I told you to give a heads-up before launching a big move, Big Boss A Luo…!”

Xiang Xun, flying beside the shield, couldn’t help but complain. Though it was a sign of trust in his abilities from his superior, suddenly being hit by Star Shatter was really testing his composure!

The Chiyu Eagle raised its wings again, using the Wind Feathers to carry everyone within the shield further away.

If the volcanic eruption earlier had been a free-fall ride, then the experience of being blown through the air right now was undoubtedly a rollercoaster. After enduring the intense turbulence, the elemental shield finally stopped.

Mu Huiyue slowly regained her senses after a while, still dizzy. She looked through the crackling elemental shield at the direction where the fierce battle was taking place.

It wouldn’t be accurate to call it a fierce battle. The Angry Lava Turtle’s massive body was simply too large to react in time to the White Tiger’s attack.

Star Shatter directly pierced through the Angry Lava Turtle’s shell, passing from the top of the volcano all the way to its base.

The strike transformed the entire island into a sea of flowing fire, with shattered lava spewing everywhere. Countless plants were burned and vaporized by the extreme heat, leaving no trace of what once was a wood-element fusion-period secret realm.

As for the condition of the Angry Lava Turtle itself…

Mu Huiyue’s eyes widened slightly. Beneath the shattered volcano, the enormous tortoise that had occupied over half of the island had completely vanished.

The Ultimate Body—Angry Lava Turtle—had endured the White Tiger Beastmaster’s thunderous blow, but at some point, it had disappeared entirely.

…

…

Nova Region, unknown underground structure.

The laboratory was brightly lit, with countless electronic screens flashing different images. The largest screen in the center displayed a still image of the Angry Lava Turtle being struck by Star Shatter.

Click, click.

A strange, rhythmic sound echoed through the laboratory.

It was a very faint noise, like the sound of a pen cap being removed and replaced.

However, in the otherwise silent laboratory, it was more jarring than the hum of the electronic devices.

[Existence confirmation failed, target B4523 has been confirmed to dissipate.]

The voice speaking in this heavy atmosphere was devoid of any emotion—an artificial synthesized electronic voice. It was the laboratory’s AI system, dutifully reporting the real-time progress of the project.

[Reset target failed.]

[Reset target failed.]

[Reset target f…]

The third failed report was interrupted by the click of the pen cap. The technician pressed the cancel button, halting the futile attempts.

She turned to look at the person seated at the back, her voice trembling, “Chief…”

Another crisp click sounded as the man referred to as “Chief” twisted the pen in his hand, his tone seemingly filled with confusion.

“Who told me that B4523 had absolute stability, which is why we designated this turtle as the first step of the ‘Descension Plan’?”

The laboratory fell silent, no one daring to answer him.

The AI system blinked green, as if preparing to activate the audio system to respond to the Chief’s question, but a technician next to it quickly pressed the mute button.

“It was me…” The Chief capped his pen, as if having a sudden realization. “It was based on the calculations between me and [Gabriel], determining that B4523’s stability reached 96.28%. It was destined to evolve into the ultimate form—Angry Lava Turtle.”

“Then, can someone tell me why the target individual, with 96.28% stability, was killed with a single strike and continues to fail at being reset?”

The laboratory remained dead silent. Every technician working on this project knew that the Chief’s questions were not to be answered.

However, there were always exceptions who never learned.

[Existence proof failure probability is 3.72%, attempting to capture mutated data source.]

The laboratory AI activated another audio system, trying to use data to answer the Chief’s question.

The technicians instinctively held their breath, but this time, the Chief’s nerves did not snap. He stared thoughtfully at the frozen image, twisting the cap of his pen once again.

Click.

The subtle and rhythmic sound effectively stimulated his brain, prompting him to think about the overlooked questions.

“Adjust the capture direction to ‘Past’, with the range set from Beta0005 to Beta57125 lines.”

[Range entry successful, executing…]

[Execution completed.]

“This is…” The technician who received the first capture data result showed an astonished expression.

“B4253’s stability has exceeded 90% in the past across all ranges, consistent with future validation results.”

“Only here, only in Alpha0001, is there an exception, with stability approaching zero.”

Alpha0001 is the foundation of all hypotheses, so even if it falls outside the range, it is still included in the capture results.

“The final result of the mutated data source is probabilistically inferred to be a human individual, the Beastmaster from Dayan, Su Luo… the one who just killed B4253 with a single strike.”

Upon hearing this result, the Chief’s brow furrowed slightly.

Without him needing to give further instructions, the technician and the intelligent mainframe immediately began tracing the relevant event’s origins.

“We found it, a report from twenty years ago by the Dayan Secret Realm Affairs Countermeasures Bureau.”

This wasn’t an encrypted report, just an ordinary B-level secret realm investigation result, so the intelligent mainframe quickly located it without much effort.

“The investigation result of the B-level secret realm ‘Xuan Volcano’ discovered the B-level fire element secret realm’s core resources, as well as a fire-type land turtle individual with the special talent core skill [Flame Absorption Reaction].”

“…During the battle, it evolved into the Angry Rock Xuanwu, and was subsequently killed by the lead A-level investigator, Su Luo.”

The sound of the chief removing the cap of his pen stopped.

It had been killed twenty years ago, and thus could never evolve into the ultimate form.

And now, once again, it had been killed by the same person, leading to countless reset failures.

This meant that in [Gabriel]’s calculations, no matter how many times the ultimate form of the Angry Rock Xuanwu came, this Dayan Beastmaster could easily eliminate the target just as he had the first time.

The chief picked up the pen and used the small circular decoration at the top of the pen cap to frame the frozen image on the electronic screen, centering the girl transformed into the White Tiger within the ring.

The image within the ring gradually shrank, getting smaller and smaller, from Su Luo to the deserted island secret realm, then to the Jingzhou region, and finally stopping at the full map of Dayan.