King of Beasts

Two days later.

As Emerald Mountain suddenly transformed into a snow-covered realm, an exquisite divine sword was born.

Lu Ran, holding a large sword wrapped in ice and snow, was breathing heavily.

It wasn’t excitement or thrill, but sheer exhaustion.

To forge this sword, he had stayed awake for twenty-four hours straight, carefully fusing a thousand teeth with the help of a Flame Sprite.

“Quite handsome.”

Lu Ran looked at his creation and smiled.

[Name]: Winter’s Fang

[Level]: Exquisite

[Introduction]: Forged from a thousand high-quality ferocious beast teeth, this sword contains enhanced powers of the ice and wind species. The wielder can split the sword blade into a thousand tooth shards to attack. Each tooth possesses the power to become the core of a blizzard!

Initially, the weapon was somewhat cumbersome to forge for Lu Ran, appearing irregular, almost like a thick slab of iron.

However, the final product, with its winter-colored blade combined with the rugged appearance of the large sword, surprisingly looked bold and wild.

Moreover, the tooth marks on the blade, radiating a fierce light, were dazzling to behold!

Lu Ran was extremely satisfied.

Boom!!!

Holding Winter’s Fang, Lu Ran swung the sword in sync with Blizzard Sword Intent, instantly whipping up a tempest of snow that howled toward the sky!

The next instant.

The sky dramatically changed.

The entire cloud layer turned into a whirlpool of snow, brewing the terrifying force of a blizzard, seemingly ready to unleash a catastrophic natural disaster at any moment.

On Emerald Mountain.

A group of ferocious beasts wrapped in leaves shivered.

A dark crow stood at the edge of the sky, narrating the scene to them.

“Look!!”

“You’ve been too lazy, the Big King has unleashed his wrath, go train now!!”

At Lu Ran’s home, Manager Ying, with a cat paw, grabbed a weather elf child trying to run outside.

“Where are you going––––”

It hugged a cloud fluffy like cotton candy, blocking its path.

“Pitter-patter… pitter-patter… (Snow, snow…)”

“It’s just weapon forging, you don’t need to go see!”

…

“General Ha!!!”

At that moment, Lu Ran called out and summoned General Ha from the contract card, where it had been resting. It wasn’t that General Ha was slacking off; in fact, over the past few days, it had been the most diligent in special training among the pet beasts.

Training in the meteorite artistic conception was truly soul-crushing, and the Sudden Death King expressed a need to rest.

Dark Crow was busy managing the Green Sea and investigating the Fishman Empire, always working on expanding territory in collaboration with the Black Turtle to oversee the ocean.

Only General Ha kept pushing itself to the limit in relentless special training.

But life isn’t a machine; it always gets tired. After General Ha fainted during training, Lu Ran returned it to the contract card to rest.

From the fact that it had slept for an entire day, it was indeed overloaded.

“Woof.” Awoken and feeling the cold environment around it, General Ha was momentarily stunned, then quickly opened its eyes and looked at the Winter’s Fang in Lu Ran’s hand.

So familiar.

Too familiar.

It stuck out its tongue, panting happily.

“Awooo~~~~” Seeing the newly forged weapon by Lu Ran, General Ha ran forward, leaped up, and grabbed the Winter’s Fang that Lu Ran had stuck in the ground.

The next instant.

It landed on the white snow, where a flurry of fine snow danced up around it.

The blizzard force swirled around General Ha.

Boom!

The force of the snowstorm in the clouds also suddenly fell,

transforming into infinite snow and forming a snowfield vortex, swirling around General Ha, making it appear like an emperor of snow.

Its fur fluttered, and General Ha’s gaze was sharp. With a shake of its head, an impressive sword intent burst forth.

[Name]: Gale Sword Dog

[Species Level]: Upper Commander (Upper Sovereign)!

This sword had a greater effect on General Ha than the sword grass!

The sword grass had only helped General Ha reach the middle sovereign level, but this sword propelled it an entire level higher!

This was normal, after all, General Ha was inherently of the wind type, best suited for Blizzard Sword Intent. The grass-type power of the exquisite sword grass, although beneficial, was not its limit.

But this Winter’s Fang, specially customized by Lu Ran for General Ha, was a perfect match.

But this still wasn’t enough.

“Next, we need to cultivate an artifact spirit from Winter’s Fang.”

“And also develop a consciousness in the sword grass.”

“Let them become retainers of General Ha.”

“Woof woof woof-” As Lu Ran muttered, General Ha barked loudly, asking for the name of the sword.

“Winter’s Fang,” Lu Ran replied.

General Ha bared his teeth.

Lu Ran handed over the sword grass and the Sky-Cleaving Sword to him.

“What are you doing?” Lu Ran asked, as he tossed the sword grass and the Sky-Cleaving Sword to General Ha.

“Woof!” General Ha was brimming with energy.

What else but practice sword control!

Feeling armed with new weapons, he sensed he was a step closer to the sword domain.

With the formidable great sword in his mouth, he felt much clearer in the head.

However, looking down at the two swords at his feet, General Ha with the sword in his mouth fell into deep thought.

Pacing back and forth, all flustered.

“Ha ha.” Seeing this, Lu Ran laughed heartily and said, “You used to handle one with your mouth and one with your tail, now you have three swords in total. Stumped, aren’t you?”

“Sword control then, let the two swords float.”

Lu Ran suggested nonchalantly, as it didn’t really matter; the King of Swords could only be triggered once, based on the highest quality weapon carried.

Due to the physical limitations of General Ha’s body, Lu Ran had developed the ability for him to control multiple swords simultaneously.

Whether it was developing the future technique of ‘All Swords Returning to One’ or ‘Sword Shielding the Body’, both would rely on sword control.

Though he wouldn’t benefit from the King of Swords boost, he would at least gain from the weapon mastery boost.

However, after Lu Ran finished speaking, General Ha paused to ponder on the spot and showed a disdainful expression.

That wasn’t cool enough!

Saying so, General Ha, to Lu Ran’s slight astonishment, threw the Winter’s Fang from his mouth.

Immediately thereafter.

He howled skyward.

“Awoo~~~~”

His body erupted with wind force, a furious white current chaotic and earth-shaking, whipping up more snow and ice.

This surge of wind force swept upwards, much like how the Sudden Death King, in his lizard form, once shaped himself into the Thunder Dragon form. It seemed General Ha also wanted to envelop himself within a giant energy apparition.

Wind force continuously shapes energy, constantly outlining its form.

General Ha, at some unknown moment, had managed to learn this technique.

In an instant, General Ha shaped a Werewolf Phantom, which seemed like a fusion of Lu Ran and himself-both cool and quirky.

“Awooo!!!” The next moment, the Werewolf Phantom spread its arms, wielding Sword Grass in one hand and the Sky-Cleaving Sword in the other, while Winter’s Fang, swept up by the Gale, flew up again to be caught in the white Werewolf Phantom’s mouth.

General Ha, in his three-sword style Werewolf form, makes his entrance!

Within the apparition, General Ha’s main body revealed an intelligent expression as it looked towards Lu Ran.

“Bark! (Boss Lu, isn’t it cool?!)”

Lu Ran: ???

Three-sword style, huh!

Lu Ran’s teeth ache.

So, you inherited this from the Sudden Death King who stopped using energy apparitions, huh!

Indeed, with General Ha’s Comprehension and Talent, it could easily replicate the energy techniques mastered by other pet beasts. Combined with weapon mastery, the three-sword style didn’t hinder its performance.

…

Currently, the ferocious white Werewolf Phantom, wielding three weapons, continuously swung them about.

Ahead, the snowstorm devastated the trees ahead like a phantom sword dance.

It presented a silly yet cool dissonance.

Perhaps because this werewolf was primarily shaped after the image of Erha.

Seeing that General Ha could now amuse itself, Lu Ran reluctantly shook his head.

“As expected of you, keep up the good practice.”

At this moment, General Ha had already consumed the Boundary Breaking Root gifted by Pig Deity.

It now possessed a certain affinity for space.

Combined with superb energy compression skills and top-level swordsmanship Comprehension through the Sword-Formed Soul, Lu Ran felt that even if General Ha hadn’t grasped a domain yet, after the fusion with the Ultimate Perception Trait, it would be nearly there.

Lu Ran pondered.

On the evolution of General Ha’s foundation-body, mental, and soul.

Physically, its teeth, claws, and bones had undergone numerous enhancements.

Always practicing energy compression, General Ha’s body was as tempered as that of the Sudden Death King.

With the maintenance from the divine deer pendant, it had reached its limit.

Even before the Sudden Death King’s evolution, its scales could not perfectly defend against General Ha’s teeth and claws.

Now, these had been imbued with spatial properties, making them flawlessly impeccable.

Mentally, its various sword intents were the best manifestation of its achievements.

And soul-wise, with Lu Ran’s soul enhancement Talent and the resources of the Cult of Necromancy, its soul had been perfectly tempered, just like the Sudden Death King’s.

Lu Ran’s soul enhancement Talent naturally excels in nurturing the souls of pet beasts. By cultivating the Sudden Death King, he brings its soul closer to that of a True Dragon, and by cultivating General Ha, he makes its soul akin to a Sword Soul. Cultivating the Dark Crow, on the other hand, is about perfecting its adaptability, allowing its soul to exist outside its body for extended periods.

This might also be one of the reasons why the Dark Crow developed a twin Talent.

In any case, the evolution conditions for General Ha are not bad either, but clearly, it is not yet satisfied among the three pet beasts, each more tangled than the last.

Unlike the Sudden Death King and Dark Crow, which rely solely on resources for evolution, General Ha seeks to build a stronger foundation before evolving.

Evolution, in this sense, means a transformation that integrates the total strength of a pet beast from levels 1 to 30, naturally including various energy techniques and skill foundations.

If one masters a powerful skill like a domain, and combines it with substantial resources, General Ha feels it could become even stronger.

…

Half a day later.

“Stop training.”

While General Ha continued to learn about the Sword Domain, Lu Ran suddenly spoke up, holding a mobile phone.

The dashing Werewolf Phantom turned its head to look at Lu Ran, who said, “I’m taking you to a secret realm for training.”

“Woof?” General Ha dispersed the phantom, and several swords fell to the ground as it looked puzzled.

A secret realm?

Other than the Legendary Secret Realm, isn’t fighting bosses in other secret realms just like playing with babies?

But the Legendary Secret Realm had already been cleared, hadn’t it?

“It’s the real-world secret realm.” Lu Ran smiled slightly. Just moments ago, the Youxiong Clan had contacted him, informing him that the Youxiong Clan’s trial secret realm had opened once again and asked if he was interested in taking on the challenge.

Lu Ran was certainly interested.

Meanwhile, on the other shore island, according to the latest intelligence, it had been completely seized by Xia Country.

Naturally, the existence of the other shore island, as it crumbled, had also been exposed to the International Alliance.

Now, Xia Country and the International Alliance are engaged in a debate over the ownership of the necromancy secret realm on The Other Shore.

However, it is expected that Xia Country will ultimately emerge victorious, as Lu Ran’s technology, which is critical for securing a stable source of death skill books, holds all other nations by the throat. Without his technology, their intentions to stabilize these skills remain questionable.

Currently, Lu Ran is waiting for the situation to stabilize before he challenges the necromancy secret realm.

In the meantime, exploring the Youxiong Clan’s trial secret realm would be a good choice.

“Whoo~~” General Ha’s eyes light up. Although he is clueless about what a real-world secret realm is, he wouldn’t miss a chance to fight.

…

The King of Green Sea is setting out, and as his top lackey, the Dark Crow was the first to receive this intelligence.

In the past, its greatest headache was managing to stay by the King’s side while also overseeing the Green Sea.

Now, having fused with the necromancy clone trait, this problem has been elegantly solved.

Due to the Twin Curse, it now has two bodies, and the traits of both are shared.

This means that both the Crow of Curses and the Crow of Death can use the necromancy clone trait to further split off another necromancy clone.

Four crows converge in the skies of the Green Sea. Two main bodies fly towards Lu Ran, while the two necromancy clones remain to continue managing the Green Sea.

Though the clones are not as powerful as the main bodies, they are certainly formidable. Any Fishman daring to approach will not escape the Dark Crow’s claws.

The nanny cat, still caring for the weather elf, gazes at the sky where the Dark Crow is skillfully manipulating its clones and falls into deep thought.

“I feel like this guy will eventually surpass me in the art of cloning.”

“A new generation of crows replaces the old cat…”

“Pitter-patter…”

Manager Ying looks towards the approaching weather elf.

“Pitter-patter… (Is being able to clone impressive?)” it asked.

As it spoke, it split from a single cloud into dozens, filling up the ceiling.

“Pitter-patter… (A new cloud replaces the old cat…)”

Manager Ying: ???

“You, an elemental creature, want to compete in this too???”

Something is off, very off. Although it has always been under her care, why is Cloud Baby’s personality gradually deviating, becoming less like her and more like Lu Ran? They are both quite vexing to cats!

…