Just as the Temple Mages were left dumbfounded, the Roc King above the street began to shrink rapidly, finally reverting into the two-meter-tall Great Thunder Roc Bird.
"What's going on? Why did it turn back into Warrior-level again?"
"Could it be some kind of stimulant drug?"
"What kind of drug could enhance something to this degree?"
The Temple Mages muttered in disbelief—this scene had completely overturned their understanding.
At that moment, the Purple Wind Temple Mage crouched down, carefully examining the Executioner Peili's condition.
After confirming his death, his gaze shifted to the group inside the café where Mo Fan was.
By now, Mo Fan had already returned the Great Thunder Roc Bird into his Contract Space and was turning to the Temple Mages for help.
He and Zhao Manyan's injuries weren't too serious, but the café worker Li Yu'e was badly wounded and had even fallen into a coma.
With the Temple Mages' assistance, Li Yu'e was sent to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Purple Wind Temple Mage questioned Mo Fan about the "Roc King."
On the other side, Zhou Haoyu's group had already found a hotel to rest in.
As for Mo Fan being ambushed, Zhou Haoyu had somewhat anticipated it, though he wasn't worried for Mo Fan's safety.
Even without the Time Liquid as a trump card, with Mo Fan's current strength he could still hold out until the Temple Mages arrived.
Inside the hotel room, Zhou Haoyu and Mu Ningxue tangled together for quite some time.
For the next two days, the group didn't head toward their next trial point, but instead rested properly in the city.
The next trial country was Portugal. Compared to the United States, Portugal's strength was only average.
Two days later, the group boarded a plane to Tinoaia City in Portugal.
As soon as they got off the plane, they hurried toward the port.
While on the plane, everyone had already seen an enormous skeleton lying by the sea.
When they arrived at the port, the shoreline was already packed with crowds, voices rising in astonishment and fear.
As they walked closer and looked toward the coast, they clearly saw a colossal skeleton.
Seeing it from the plane hadn't been too shocking, but up close the sheer scale was overwhelming—their entire field of vision could barely contain it!
"Holy crap, what kind of demon could devour such a sea beast?!"
Zhao Manyan's face was full of shock. Having seen even larger Deep Sea Giants before, he wasn't too panicked.
Still, a demon capable of devouring something this massive… it had to be at least Monarch-level, right?
"This sea beast seems to be a Coastal Mammoth, but they usually dwell in the deep ocean. How could one appear here?"
Jiang Yu adjusted his glasses, puzzled.
"If this Coastal Mammoth died, doesn't that mean there's an even more vicious Monarch lurking nearby?"
Nan Jue voiced the concern in everyone's hearts.
A Monarch!
Even Super-level mages dared not provoke one lightly, and most of them had only just entered High-level not long ago.
However, since Zhou Haoyu had already demonstrated Monarch-level strength with the Flame Witch, the group wasn't too panicked.
"Captain, how that Coastal Mammoth died has nothing to do with us. Let's head to the national pavilion challenge as soon as possible."
Mu Tingying was the first to advise.
Nanrong Ni and Guan Yu also agreed, both siding with going straight to the challenge.
Zhou Haoyu took a few more glances at the skeleton. It seemed the Coastal Mammoth had died from being infested with Corpse Bugs.
Its entire body had been devoured by them!
Every year, people were infested by Corpse Bugs, eventually dying mysteriously. The cause of death was collectively called the "Drowning Curse"!
Zhou Haoyu wasn't overflowing with compassion, but if he could solve this Drowning Curse, it would benefit the entire world.
Even in China, many coastal cities reported numerous deaths each year due to the Drowning Curse.
On top of that, the bounty pool for solving the Drowning Curse was enormous. Zhou Haoyu had checked specifically—nearly three hundred and fifty million.
In the past few months, Zhou Haoyu hadn't forged any new Magic Tools or Artifacts, nor had he asked Mu Nuxin to sell anything on commission.
Other than the funds provided by his clan, he had no real source of income.
Previously, he had purchased several Galaxy Veins and the resources required for Flame Belle Yan Ji and the Flame Scorpion Tiger. After all that, he still had about seven or eight hundred million left.
At first glance, that still seemed like plenty, but Zhou Haoyu was also planning to buy Mu Ningxue a Wind Element Soul Seed.
Even though Mu Ningxue only cultivated Wind as her secondary element, it was still best to pair it with a top-tier Soul Seed.
Heaven Seeds were far too rare and not something one could easily encounter.
The vast majority of Super-level Mages only possessed Soul Seeds; those with Heaven Seeds were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Since Mu Ningxue's Ice Seed could evolve into a Heaven Seed, her Wind Element didn't absolutely need one.
Soul Seeds could still be artificially forged, while the method for creating Heaven Seeds had long since been lost.
But not completely lost—there was still one person who held the knowledge of forging Heaven Seeds.
That was the Moth Woman, Yu Shishi.
A top-tier Soul Seed that contained a Domain would cost at least a billion, so this "Drowning Curse" was something Zhou Haoyu had to solve, both for personal and greater reasons.
"Old Ai, take the others to the national pavilion challenge first. I'll need to leave the team for a while."
Zhou Haoyu looked at Ai Jiangtu as he spoke.
Before Ai Jiangtu could reply, Jiang Shaoxu immediately asked with suspicion, "Don't tell me you're planning to go back home again?"
The others also looked at Zhou Haoyu, confused.
"This Coastal Mammoth didn't die at the hands of another Monarch—it was afflicted by the Drowning Curse."
Zhou Haoyu explained.
"The Drowning Curse?"
Ai Jiangtu's face showed shock—he knew well enough what that meant.
Mages across the world had been helpless against this Drowning Curse. If Zhou Haoyu could resolve it, that would be the best outcome.
"Captain, do you need us to leave you a few helpers?" Ai Jiangtu asked.
"No need. I can handle this alone."
That very day, Zhou Haoyu discovered a rotting corpse in a residential district. From inside it, he pulled out a small insect.
That insect was clearly a Corpse Bug.
Zhou Haoyu didn't bother asking Lingling for assistance. With his seventh realm Spiritual Force, did he really need to worry about controlling one little worm?
As for accelerating its evolution, Zhou Haoyu had a much more straightforward and brutal method.
Every so often, he would personally select a stronger host for it to parasitize.
On and on it went—from the lowly Servant-class Sea Imps at the start, all the way up to the final Black Sea Pseudo-Dragon, all personally chosen by Zhou Haoyu.
This saved an enormous amount of time.
Once it parasitized the Black Sea Pseudo-Dragon, the Corpse Bug would finally complete its evolution into its Perfect Form.
After that, all Zhou Haoyu needed to do was harvest its vaccine tissue and deliver it to the Clear Sky Hunting Bureau—the Drowning Curse would be more or less resolved.
After waiting two days at sea, the Corpse Bug finally transformed into the Corpse Bug Pseudo-Dragon.
But once it transformed, the creature grew uncontrollable.
Without the slightest hesitation, Zhou Haoyu donned his Armor Robe and, in an instant, entered the depths of the sea.
With just a single glance, the Corpse Bug Pseudo-Dragon exploded into pieces beneath the waves.
After collecting the vaccine tissue, Zhou Haoyu immediately went to the Hunters Alliance, commissioning a Hunter Mage to personally deliver it to the Clear Sky Hunting Bureau.
...
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