King of Beasts

Green Sea.

After dealing with the Black Dragon, Lu Ran felt completely at ease.

He thought he could relax a bit during the transition from level 3 to level 4, but unexpectedly, he had to deal with the troublesome Black Dragon.

However, the pressure from the Black Dragon also brought him significant gains.

With the divine deer’s gift and the rise of the dark crow legion…

“Finally, I should be able to take a break for a couple of days.”

General Ha would take care of nurturing the sword spirit and sword grass, allowing the three dogs to practice sword intent and the Combined Sword Domain on their own.

The sea was under the watch of the dark crow and the black turtle.

Even the ordinary crows, Lu Ran planned to have Fang Lan nurture them.

This was the life the King of the Green Sea should enjoy. If he had to do everything himself, it would be too exhausting.

However, Lu Ran also knew it wasn’t realistic to completely step away from all nurturing tasks.

For instance, he still had to personally forge an artifact spirit stone tablet as promised to the black turtle.

Moreover, he had to personally take General Ha, the sudden death king, and the cloud baby to the arena for a level up.

“No wonder so many beastmasters only nurture one or two pet beasts. It’s truly exhausting to handle more.”

As Lu Ran stretched, he had already planned his next steps. He would first help Professor Ye transplant the Death Forest, and then focus on nurturing new necromancy equipment.

Since he planned to forge a necromancy weapon for the black turtle, Lu Ran intended to forge several at once. After all, nurturing one or multiple is the same; doing them together saves effort and reduces the need to frequently enter the necromancy secret realm.

After some calculations, Lu Ran realized he could forge a necromancy shield for the sudden death king to serve as a future retainer, which was part of the original plan.

Additionally, he could make a sword spirit similar to the corpse dog for Master Jiang Dou.

This old man never stopped causing worry. Lu Ran thought the Old Gentleman should just relax in retirement like the black turtle, but unexpectedly, he recently acquired a black card contract and, at his age, became a beastmaster…

To be fair, the Old Gentleman is quite formidable.

Given his decent combat strength and that Lu Ran had gifted him a supernatural being with good potential, he directly achieved an SS rating in the novice secret realm.

He’s quite proud of it now.

To ensure the Old Gentleman’s safety in the future, Lu Ran, as his disciple, needed to prepare something for him. A sword spirit pet beast seemed very suitable for Master Jiang Dou. Р

Preferably a sword spirit from a sovereign species.

Now, Fang Lan’s family and Master Jiang Dou were Lu Ran’s only remaining relatives, and he didn’t want the Old Gentleman to meet the same fate as the senior brother, the Eagle Hero, who ultimately fell in the breakthrough secret realm.

“But with the old man’s strength, it’s hard to imagine him failing,” Lu Ran shook his head.

Master Jiang Dou was even more formidable than him. This old man had, immediately after contracting a pet beast, comprehended the Rainbow Sword Intent.

He didn’t rely on any supernatural skills; he purely comprehended sword intent with his human capabilities.

This talent surpassed even Lu Ran’s by many folds, likely a culmination of decades of swordsmanship experience.

It should be noted that Lu Ran only learned through a combination of various skills like super beast mimicry and weapon mastery…

The older generation just has its unique prowess.

However, when the Old Gentleman mentioned this achievement to Lu Ran, there was no hint of boasting or delight in his tone.

After all, even a dog had comprehended something as advanced as the “sword domain,” so mastering sword intent didn’t seem to be a big deal.

From the perspective of the Old Gentleman, as an apprentice beastmaster, mastering sword intent might not be something to celebrate, but from Lu Ran’s perspective, it was impressively strong. Master Jiang Dou truly was one of Xia Country’s top-level swordsmanship masters.

Lu Ran believed that if he gave a little push, the Old Gentleman might become the No. 2 former guild leader, killing the younger generation effortlessly with his elder might, bringing some shock to the youth of the Fourth Generation.

“Hehe.” The more Lu Ran thought about it, the more interesting he found it, feeling that he must gift the Old Gentleman a sword spirit.

Thinking of this, Lu Ran called Manager Ying.

“Meow?”

“Manager Ying, I’m planning to visit the necromancy secret realm in a couple of days, how about sending a clone to be my bodyguard?”

“Get lost.” Manager Ying sneered, “You now have the ruins space and the flock of crows; what are you afraid of? Who could pose a threat to you? You’ve matured and should stand on your own!”

“I’m busy, hanging up now. Besides, every country wants to invite me to open a branch, I’m seizing this opportunity to accept more gifts while the spotlight’s on.”

“Don’t overthink it, it’s simply because I’ve exhausted too much energy this time and don’t have the strength to create a clone. You’re on your own.”

Click!

The call ended.

Lu Ran: ?

“Busy, everyone’s busy. Being busy is good!” Lu Ran muttered through gritted teeth as he hung up.

He had originally wanted to share the intelligence about the divine deer’s clone, but oh well, it seemed the cat didn’t have the good fortune to hear it. He decided to talk about it later.

Manager Ying couldn’t be relied upon, but Lu Ran wasn’t too worried. Indeed, as long as he prepared properly, he could handle traveling alone just fine.

On the other side, Lu Ran didn’t have to wait long before Professor Ye and Fang Lan hurriedly arrived.

Both of them had already heard about Lu Ran’s third breakthrough secret realm being in the Divine Tree Continent.

They also learned that Lu Ran had collected countless ferocious plant resources from there.

Professor Ye, wearing glasses, appeared excited. She hadn’t expected to receive such good news just after relaxing from the tense Black Dragon incident. For a botanist, the Death Forest Lu Ran mentioned was incredibly tempting.

Fang Lan felt the same way. She felt as if her wish had magically come true; she had asked Lu Ran to find some ferocious plants, and he had actually been teleported to the Divine Tree Continent…

“Love you to bits.”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch-” As soon as she saw him, Fang Lan gave Lu Ran an enthusiastic hug. Lu Ran initially thought she was just expressing gratitude, but then he suddenly realized her strength had become surprisingly strong, as if she was showing off.

“Let go, what’s happening?”

“A reward from the breakthrough secret realm, a beast taming skill, the Ten Thousand Poison Body,” Fang Lan said, releasing her grip with a smile.

“What is that?” Lu Ran escaped from her grasp. Although his main combat strength came from the Flame Sprite and sword intent, his physical strength was also considerable, and Fang Lan, not even in pet beast fusion state, had managed to cause him pain?

“The stronger the poison of the pet beast, the stronger the beastmaster’s physique and poison resistance become.”

“Isn’t that perfectly suited for you?” Professor Ye remarked in surprise. “That’s an excellent skill.”

“After all, it’s an SS rating,” Fang Lan smiled slightly. “But enough about me, Lu Ran, where are the plants?”

Lu Ran sighed and said, “Come with me and see for yourselves first.”

With that, he took out the branch of ruins and activated its power.

Professor Ye and Fang Lan looked around curiously.

The next moment, a ripple of space immediately enveloped the three of them.

Simultaneously, within the ruins space, the figures of the three began to materialize.

At this moment, General Ha and the Sudden Death King weren’t training here; instead, they were resting inside Lu Ran’s black card.

The outcome of the Black Dragon incident was unpredictable, and if necessary, they would need to join in and battle the sea beasts. Naturally, they couldn’t afford to waste their energy. Fortunately, the dark crows managed to resolve everything in the end, leaving them unused.

“Uh…”

Upon entering the ruins space, Professor Ye and Fang Lan were both taken aback. The entire area was covered in uneven craters, resembling a post-apocalyptic world hit by meteorites.

In the distance, a lush green forest stood out like an oasis in the desert.

In fact, this ruin had a self-repair function similar to the training secret realm of Infinite City. However, clearly, it hadn’t yet restored the environment that the Sudden Death King had wreaked havoc on in such a short time.

Lu Ran didn’t explain the environment. Instead, he summoned General Ha to lead the way into the Death Forest.

The ferocious plants over there were mindless and wouldn’t recognize people. If Lu Ran and the others went directly, they’d certainly be attacked. However, with General Ha leading and simulating the legendary breath, it was enough to intimidate these plants.

“Wooof!” General Ha, upon being summoned, exuded a majestic aura. After a calm glance at the group, it whipped up a gale that transported them to the edge of the forest.

At the same time, its domineering energy leaked, intimidating the ferocious plants and dampening their fierce instincts.

“Just as promised, take whatever ferocious plants you need,” Lu Ran generously stated once they arrived.

“Although, to be honest, none of this is particularly useful to me. Once you transplant to the Green Sea, you can do as you see fit.”

Beside them, Professor Ye wore a look of envy. If only she could have a capable younger brother like Lu Ran.

“Then I’ll take you up on that offer!” she said.

“Xiaolan, see which one you like,” Fang Lan said with a rosy complexion, her eyes sparkling. She promptly summoned her Daxia wolf spider. Her poison spider had fused with the Poison Plant Control trait, allowing it to transform unawakened, ordinary plants into toxic ones that could be wielded as weapons.

After acquiring this trait, Fang Lan had modified quite a few ordinary plants, but with limited success. She had considered purchasing ferocious or spiritual plants from botanists, but these exquisite plants were rare worldwide and not for sale. Meanwhile, the ordinary ferocious and spiritual plants available offered minimal enhancement to her pet beast.

Now, with an entire Death Forest brought back by Lu Ran, Fang Lan felt as if she were in paradise.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Catching the scent of numerous exquisite plants, the spider Xiaolan scurried quickly. Lu Ran and Professor Ye exchanged glances and followed with Fang Lan, curious to see what plant the Daxia wolf spider would choose.

Before long, Xiaolan arrived at the core area of the Death Forest and found a small seedling, gleefully waving its limbs.

“Huh? What’s this?” Fang Lan asked, puzzled, as she stopped.

“This…” Professor Ye focused her gaze, her expression turning to one of surprise.

“Huh?” Lu Ran was dumbfounded too. “You guys really know how to pick.”

Fang Lan’s pet beast had ignored the spiritual and ferocious plants that would awaken into sovereign species, not caring for even the commander species.

Lu Ran’s eye twitched. This spider had gone straight for the gift from Qing Lianshan-a gift that was the best Lu Ran had received over there.

“Is this… a seedling of the spiritual energy mother tree?” Professor Ye exclaimed, astonished by the high-quality spiritual energy emitted by the seedling.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s a spiritual plant that, upon awakening, can reach the level of a lower overlord species. It’s the plant with the highest potential in this entire forest,” Lu Ran said, looking at the seedling. Nearby, there was actually a seed of a plant belonging to the lower sovereign species, a reward from the breakthrough secret realm, but it paled in comparison to the spiritual energy mother tree seedling.

It wasn’t even as impressive as the sword grass.

Lu Ran planned to assess its abilities later; if it wasn’t particularly useful, he’d simply give it away.

“Xiaolan wants this one?” Lu Ran asked.

“Yes,” Fang Lan nodded. “It seems to be really interested in this.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The spider danced excitedly once more.

Through telepathy, Lu Ran heard its inner voice.

[Lu-Ge, Lu-Ge, I want this one, please. I can transform the spiritual energy it releases into high-concentration toxic spiritual energy! It’ll be really powerful then!]

“Really??”

At first, Lu Ran thought that the spider might not be making a sensible choice by bypassing so many ferocious plants and selecting this auxiliary spiritual plant. But upon hearing the spider’s idea, Lu Ran was taken aback.

Wow, you’re a genius.

Transforming a spiritual energy mother tree into a Ten Thousand Poison Mother Tree?

Lu Ran realized this might actually work. For Green Sea City and the ruins space, ordinary spiritual energy, no matter how abundant, wasn’t very meaningful-it would at most accelerate the leveling-up of ordinary supernatural beings in Green Sea City.

However, transforming the spiritual energy mother tree into a Ten Thousand Poison Mother Tree would be a game-changer. Firstly, Fang Lan would gain a poison plant with overlord potential as a combat asset. Secondly, the toxic spiritual energy would not only serve as a weapon but also aid in nurturing poison-type creatures.

For Lu Ran, who planned to cultivate an army of poison crows, this would be more effective than ordinary spiritual energy.

“I don’t have any issues with it. Thinking it through, it’s quite cost-effective,” Lu Ran said, touching his chin. “But Xiaolan is still just a commander species. Are you sure it can transform a spiritual energy mother tree with overlord potential into a poison-controlled tree?”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

If it could indeed be transformed, that would be incredible. Even though Fang Lan’s poison spider was only a commander species, having an overlord-potential poison plant seedling would let her dominate sovereigns. The Golden Generation would have to flee for their lives upon encountering her.

“Woof, woof woof!” As Lu Ran expressed his doubts, General Ha looked on with a nonchalant expression… Subduing an overlord seedling?

No problem, it would lend a helping paw!