King of Beasts

After some time.

Accompanied by the eerie cries of the snakes, they were eventually thrown into the cauldron to cook.

No, to temper their bodies.

Despite the extremely high temperature and the violent blood of the dragon king, their skin and flesh almost burst open.

However, the nutritional value inside quickly transformed their bodies through their almost-bursting skin and flesh.

“Roar!!!”

During this process, Lu Ran also summoned the massive sudden death king. Seeing the pet beasts of the Jiao Dragon team unable to endure this level of heat and violent power, it roared in frustration as if to say “you should be doing better”.

The roar, infused with Dragon Might, was undeniably effective, quickly jolting some nearly unconscious jiao snakes awake.

Reverse use of Dragon Might!

“Hang in there, hold on! But why does it smell so good?” On the other hand, Lu Bing and the others were distressed seeing their snake pets writhing in pain inside the cauldron. But they knew that to become stronger, some price must be paid.

With the “encouragement” or rather “intimidation” from the sudden death king, ten minutes later, the cauldron of dragon transformation blood soup was simmered dry, all its essence completely absorbed by the nine jiao snakes in the cauldron.

At the moment, although these jiao snakes crawling out seemed a bit dazed, as their beastmasters, Lu Bing and the other eight could feel the terrifying power contained within their bodies, all swallowing their saliva in unison.

The blood in their entire bodies had seemingly undergone a qualitative change, glowing golden. On the surface of their bodies, there were no obvious burns; instead, a layer of hard scales appeared.

“OK, the next step is to fuse the Dragon Blood trait.”

Seeing this, Lu Ran continued guiding the Jiao Dragon team members, who nodded instantly and approached their pet beasts, handing over the pre-prepared trait crystals.

Awake now, these jiao snakes could clearly feel the attraction of the Dragon Blood trait crystals, their eyes shining as they crawled towards their beastmasters!!

Buzz!!!

One snake pet after another began to fuse with their Dragon Blood trait crystals.

This was not a first-stage evolution but rather a fusion trait in the second sub-stage of the first-stage evolution.

Even so, the nine jiao snakes fusing with the Dragon Blood trait still caused a formidable wave of energy, plunging the sky over the entire guild’s residence into darkness in an instant.

Boom!!

In the dazzling light of evolution, a faint Dragon Might emanated, and although it fell short of the tangible awe of a sovereign, this power originating from an immense bloodline still exerted a strong pressure on weaker creatures.

“This is…”

Suddenly, someone seemed to perceive the astonishing transformation of the pet beast, a smile of delight appearing on their face.

“Roar!!!”

Without making them wait too long, soon, amidst the evolution lights on the ground, a pet beast was the first to complete its evolution.

Chaotic Gales appeared out of nowhere, surging upward, as a significantly larger figure took to the skies, revealing its form.

It was a jiao snake covered in azure scales. Compared to its previous snakelike body, its scales were more prominent, and even small dragon horns had developed.

With a fierce appearance, it seemed to fly in the air by instinct, its powerful body displaying a Domineering Energy as it opened its large mouth to roar, actually expressing gratitude to Lu Ran and the sudden death king.

Subsequently, one after another, jiao snakes with various attributes soared into the sky. They varied in color, but all shared a defining feature: the extremely noticeable scales covering their bodies like dragon scales, appearing to provide incredible defense.

Each with its small horns, regardless of its attributes, seemed to grant them the ability to fly, allowing them to soar through the sky menacingly!!

Undoubtedly, having absorbed the sudden death king’s blood of the dragon king… their defense is likely their most remarkable attribute.

[Name]: Azure-scaled Jiao

[Attribute]: Wind

[Species Level]: Upper Commander

[Growth Level]: Level 20

After casually checking some data, Lu Ran then looked at the other jiao snakes and noticed that all nine Jiao Dragons had now reached the upper commander species level.

Moreover, amidst the cries of amazement from the Jiao Dragon team members, Lu Ran could tell without a doubt that these Jiao Dragons must have perfectly fused with the Dragon Blood trait and awakened a very powerful species talent.

Of course, their biggest gain at the moment should be something else…

“Roar!!!”

One by one, the Jiao Dragons released their powerful Dragon breath under the satisfied gaze of the sudden death king. The fluctuations in their bodies further shaped them, completing the transformation needed to narrow the gap to a true Dragon Clan body. They not only grew four limbs and dragon claws but a few even sprouted wings.

With the artistic conception of the dragon and the shaping of the dragon, these jiao snakes had achieved the same milestone as the Tyrannosaurus Rex members of the Tyrannosaurus Rex team. They had all mastered the artistic conception of the dragon!

At this moment, even though they were not sovereign species, with their powerful Dragon’s Bloodline and artistic conception of the dragon, they absolutely possessed the capability to hold their ground against lower sovereigns without being easily crushed.

“Village chief…” Members of the Jiao Dragon team looked at Lu Ran with excitement.

In response, Lu Ran merely smiled gently and said, “This can be considered as the Jiao Dragons thriving in water.”

The fourth-generation beastmasters of Lujia Village all possessed commendable talent. However, because they were not second-generation beastmasters, they had fewer opportunities and couldn’t fully exhibit their talents, requiring time to grow.

Now, having acquired Jiao Dragon pet beasts, Lu Ran had effectively accelerated their growth. Whether they could become powerful and obtain more resources thereafter would depend on their own efforts.

After everyone shared their individual experiences, Lu Ran issued another command: each of the nine members would form a team and attempt to solo clear a level 1 abyssal difficulty secret realm.

“I hope you all can make it onto the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard. Infinite City No.7’s leaderboard might be tough to crack, but you can aim for other Infinite Cities’ leaderboards. It’s time for you to start earning resources,” Lu Ran declared.

At his command, the group dispersed like a pack of hungry wolves, with all nine heading toward Infinite City No.3!

It couldn’t be helped; Infinite City No.3 was the stronghold of Lujia Village, and they wanted to let their fellow villagers witness their achievements.

…

That day, in Infinite City No.3.

Pluto, a second-generation beastmaster from the Star Cluster guild, and Dog King, another second-generation beastmaster from the Circus guild, were enjoying drinks at a bar in Beastmaster Square.

Although they had been rivals in the past, the appearance of the Legendary Secret Realm compelled many major guilds to set aside their grudges and collaborate.

Legendary Secret Realms are such massive undertakings that no single guild can conquer them alone.

Even some small countries couldn’t assemble a team capable of tackling a Legendary Secret Realm and had to collaborate with other nations to strategize.

At present, Pluto and Dog King had chosen to form an alliance, but even so, they were still far from being able to strategize against a level 1 Legendary Secret Realm.

“Sometimes I think we should just give up and break through to level 2 sooner,” Dog King lamented, taking a sip of his drink.

“What’s the rush?” Pluto, with a more robust psyche than Dog King, replied as he looked at the barmaid beside him and placed his bottle next to her. “Here, why don’t you comfort this guy a bit?”

The barmaid smiled gently and said, “There’s really no need to be too anxious; even now, the number of people in Xia Country who have cleared a Legendary Secret Realm isn’t that high.”

“No need to compare yourselves to those big shots like Passerby A and those monsters. Excluding them, you two are among the most outstanding fourth-generation beastmasters in Xia Country.”

“Look, Dog King, Pluto, your pet beasts are both in the top ten on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard. The potential…”

Before she could finish.

A string of announcements burst forth suddenly.

[Regional Announcement: Divine Beast Leaderboard, Commander Species Leaderboard updated.]

[New Entry on Divine Beast Leaderboard, Species: Azure-scaled Jiao.]

…

[New Entry on Divine Beast Leaderboard, Species: Purple Lightning Jiao.]

…

[New Entry…]

…

[Ranking, ascended to fourth place on Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard!]

…

[Ranking, ascended to fifth place…]

…

[Rank…]

A cascade of announcements plunged Beastmaster Square in Infinite City No.3 into silence. Inside the bar, Pluto and Dog King sobered up instantly, their backs straightening abruptly.

The barmaid next to them looked baffled.

Naturally, Pluto and Dog King were even more perplexed, feeling as though they must have misheard something.

Until the silence of the bar was pierced by a startling exclamation.

“What the heck, what’s happening? How did several people suddenly make it onto the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard, and geez, they’re all Jiao Dragons?!”

“What’s going on, this is insane.”

“Damn, nine people made it onto the leaderboard. That’s intense. They completely pushed the previous nine off, including Pluto and Dog King.”

“Wait a second, nine Jiao Dragons? Where did they come from?”

Hearing the discussions, Pluto and Dog King widened their eyes in shock. They both got up simultaneously and walked towards the beastmaster square. They saw a group of people gathered around the divine beast leaderboard, discussing fervently.

“This-” Pluto looked up at the leaderboard and saw his two pet beasts had been pushed out of the top ten by a bunch of mysterious entities, causing his mental state to collapse. This felt worse than not finding a way to clear the Legendary Secret Realm.

Day by day, it was already frustrating enough to be overshadowed by Lu Ran. But now, Lu Ran had ascended to the overlord leaderboard. Who on earth were these new figures?

Where did these mysterious entities come from?

“Jiao Dragons-” Dog King seemed to regain his composure faster than Pluto. His face turned grim as he said, “Only two people in Xia Country have the capability to cultivate powerful sub-dragon pet beasts.”

“Dragon Tamer, Gu Qingyi.”

“Dragon Chef, Lu Ran, aka Passerby A.”

“This team…couldn’t it be a Loong-type team cultivated by Lu Ran, similar to his Tyrannosaurus Rex team, could it?”

Dog King had hit the nail on the head. Just as he wanted to ask Pluto if this reasoning made sense, he saw Pluto staggering as if he were about to faint from heatstroke.

“Damn it.” Dog King quickly supported him.

…

The emergence of the Jiao Dragon team shocked Xia Country!

Dog King’s analysis was known to many others. At this moment, countless beastmasters fully understood that the nation had stepped up its efforts. The Eagle Federation had its Tyrannosaurus Rex team, and now Xia Country had its Jiao Dragon team, which might not be inferior.

On the beast taming university forum, the comments were ceaseless.

ID Hard to Fail: [666, Lu Ran is awesome! This Jiao Dragon team must have been cultivated by Lu Ran!]

ID Professor from Master Lin: [Impressive. Not only is he powerful himself, but the beastmasters he trains are also exceptional. Haha, but I’m more curious about the psychological impact on the combat department mentors. These people who made it onto the leaderboard must be students from the beast taming university, right? The comparison in teaching standards is clear as day. Time to step up your game!]

ID Dream of Raising Dragons: [Help, how do I join this Jiao Dragon team? It’s so cool dominating the leaderboard!]

Having returned to the beast taming university, Lu Ran hadn’t expected the Jiao Dragon team to be so formidable, sweeping the leaderboard in Infinite City No.3. He scratched his head and could only marvel, not surprised it was his handiwork after all.