Lin Mo knew very well that being able to achieve the final victory was inseparable from the contributions of himself, Ning Xi, Strong-Maned Pig, as well as the support of the NPC army and Dragon Soul Guild.
But the White Fox was the finishing touch.
If not for her unleashing such a heaven-defying life-saving divine skill, turning around a situation that should have been certain death and protecting Lin Mo, there was absolutely no way Lin Mo could have survived that wave of the Dark Ruler's bloodline skill just now.
And once he and Ning Xi died, the Dark Ruler left with 1 HP would have gone straight into Wang Junjie's hands.
At this moment, Lin Mo couldn't help but marvel, "Even in a soul-sealed state, she can still use such a heaven-defying life-saving divine skill to protect her master."
"As expected of the only divine pet in the entire server."
You have to know, what Lin Mo painstakingly obtained from Pet Ambassador Andrew was only a wisp of the White Fox's remnant soul.
Even a remnant soul possessed such tyrannical power.
One could imagine: the fully restored White Fox would definitely be even more heaven-defying.
And to revive the White Fox through this remnant soul sealed inside the Soul Gem, turning her into a real divine pet, only required consuming one Race Core.
Right now, the Shadow Race Core in Lin Mo's hand was the final crucial step for him to obtain the divine pet White Fox.
So Lin Mo eagerly took out the Soul Gem from his backpack.
"Revive, Ah Li!"
As he spoke, just as Lin Mo was about to fuse the Race Core into the Soul Gem to lift the White Fox's seal, he was shocked to discover that the two couldn't be fused at all.
"What's going on?"
"According to the Soul Gem's requirement, isn't the method to lift the White Fox's seal just to consume any Race Core?"
Filled with doubt, Lin Mo checked the attributes of the divine artifact Soul Gem, and suddenly his heart trembled.
Because he discovered: the White Fox's soul that had originally been sealed inside the Soul Gem was gone.
At this moment, recalling what the White Fox had said when she protected Lin Mo and Ning Xi by casting a shield as the Dark Ruler released its bloodline skill at death's door, Lin Mo seemed to suddenly realize something.
He opened the battle log and checked the record from that moment—
[Ding ~ Princess of the Heavenly Fox Race · Liya used Bloodline Skill · Heavenly Blessing. You have obtained Heavenly Fox Protection!]
"She actually used… a bloodline skill?"
On the way to Shadow City earlier this morning, Ning Xi had already heard everything from Lin Mo about the divine pet White Fox Ah Li.
At this moment, seeing Lin Mo's grave expression, Ning Xi asked, "Brother Lin Mo, what price has to be paid to use a bloodline skill?"
Lin Mo said in a deep voice, "In the world of Divine Oracle, precisely because bloodline skills are extremely powerful, what they consume isn't mana, but HP. In other words, they consume life."
"Ah Li only had a wisp of remnant soul left. Her life force was already almost gone… She poured all of her remaining life into activating Heavenly Blessing to protect us."
At this moment, Ning Xi's heart trembled as well, "Brother Lin Mo, are you saying… Ah Li is dead?"
Unconsciously, Lin Mo recalled the words Pet Ambassador Andrew had said when he entrusted the Soul Gem to him.
He knew that the Heavenly Fox Race had always valued emotions and repaid kindness.
But he never expected that to protect him, Ah Li would willingly sacrifice herself.
What's more, Lin Mo hadn't even really done anything yet, he couldn't even be considered Ah Li's benefactor.
Even if the NPC army had suffered massive casualties and was nearly wiped out, even if Lin Mo was about to face the punishment of having his level reset to zero, it wouldn't have shaken him.
Because he had already prepared himself to start over from scratch.
With Ning Xi, an SSS-grade talent holder, assisting him, Lin Mo's level could be raised again very quickly.
Just like when Ning Xi had dropped back to level 0 before, Lin Mo had brought her level back up within just a day or two, and now she ranked second on Blazing Ember City's level leaderboard.
However, at this very moment, because of Ah Li, Lin Mo suddenly felt an unprecedented heaviness and sense of collapse in his heart.
Right at this moment, Wang Junjie's unrestrained laughter sounded in his ears, "Rulebound! So what if you killed the BOSS?"
"So many of your NPC soldiers died, you're still going to suffer a huge penalty!"
"See that? Your ending is about to become just like mine!"
———
At the same time, on the outskirts.
Because they were far enough away and hadn't been wiped out by the Dark Ruler's bloodline skill, the Chaotic World Guild players looked at the corpses of NPC soldiers scattered across the city and burst into mocking laughter.
Only Su Muqiu, Dragon Soul Whisper, and Dragon Soul Aoshi were truly worried about Lin Mo.
"According to Divine Oracle's rules, during the period when a player hires NPCs, once the NPCs die, after the hiring period ends, the employer will receive a punishment equivalent to their own death."
"Looking at this situation, the NPC soldiers under Rulebound probably lost at least several hundred. That means he'll suffer a penalty equivalent to dying several hundred times. Not only will his level drop straight to zero, he'll probably also be put on Blazing Ember City's wanted list "
"What a pity! A generation's number one on the leaderboard is about to fall."
On the other side, Han Ruoxi looked at the tragic scene on the field.
Although this was originally the outcome she had hoped for, to cripple Lin Mo so that Ming Yuexin would kick him out of Divine Nation, and then she could take the opportunity to recruit him into Blood Dance, now that things had actually reached this point, Han Ruoxi felt a pang in her chest.
"If I hadn't advised Wang Junjie to target Rulebound's NPC army, maybe things wouldn't have developed to this…"
As soon as she finished speaking, Blood Dance Berserker beside her comforted her, "Second Miss, there's no need to blame yourself so much. In the end, the outcome is still good, Rulebound got the BOSS."
"The only thing he lost is his level. On the contrary, this actually benefits our plans going forward."
Blood Dance Berserker looked at the NPC corpses scattered across the blood-soaked ground and said to Han Ruoxi, "Once Rulebound suffers the punishment, his level resets to zero, and he's placed on Blazing Ember City's blacklist, becoming wanted across the city—"
"With Ming Yuexin's personality, she'll definitely kick Rulebound out of the guild immediately. At that point, when he's isolated and helpless, we'll step in to help him resist the city's pursuit teams. He'll definitely join our Blood Dance Guild."
Han Ruoxi nodded. In her guilt-filled eyes, a trace of expectation couldn't help but appear again, "Rulebound, don't worry. Even if you drop to level 0, in my eyes, you're still number one on the leaderboard."
"Once you join Blood Dance, I definitely won't treat you unfairly."
———
News of the battle in Shadow City was quickly deliberately spread online by someone with ulterior motives.
One passed to ten, ten passed to a hundred, and it quickly reached Ling Xue as well.
Because of this, in the Divine Nation Guild core management group, the K7-level high-ranking members openly launched criticism against Lin Mo without any restraint, even though Lin Mo himself was also in the group.
[Divine Nation · Pangu: "I'm sure everyone has already seen it. It's all over the internet now. Vice Guild Master, you caused heavy casualties among your NPC army in Blazing Ember City just to kill one BOSS! @Rulebound"]
[Divine Nation · Fuxi: "In my opinion, he's still too young, lacking consideration in his actions. I said it long ago, how can someone so young like Rulebound shoulder the responsibility of Vice Guild Master? This level of battle shouldn't have involved taking NPC troops into such danger "]
[Divine Nation · Erlang Shen: "Hiring NPCs has always been a double-edged sword, nothing more to say! External public opinion is just noise, we don't need to stir things up internally. At least Rulebound defeated that Tier 5 BOSS and didn't let it fall into enemy hands!"]
[Divine Nation · Nuwa: "Exactly! What does ability have to do with age? Isn't our Boss Ling young and accomplished too? Big bro, are you throwing shade at Boss Ling? @Divine Nation · Fuxi"]
[Divine Nation · Fuxi: "That's not what I meant…"]
[Divine Nation · Yinglong: "That may be true, but after this incident, the Vice Guild Master is about to face the severe penalty of having his level reset to zero! We can't expect him to bring benefits to the guild later, and instead, the guild will have to spend huge resources to train him again!"]
[Divine Nation · Yuanshi Tianzun: "And the Vice Guild Master just took office and already made a major enemy out of Chaotic World Guild for our Divine Nation in Blazing Ember City! Should Boss Ling reconsider the Vice Guild Master's capability?"]
Clearly, in the massive Divine Nation Guild, dissatisfaction toward Lin Mo, who had just joined and jumped eight levels straight to K8 plus Vice Guild Master, wasn't limited to Divine Nation · Judge alone.
Countless pairs of eyes were watching Lin Mo with envy and resentment.
Ling Xue immediately made a statement in the group, ["Effective immediately, Rulebound will enter a three-day observation period. During this period, his rank will be temporarily reduced to K7, his Vice Guild Master position revoked, and he will be demoted to Guild Elder. His original position will be restored only if he regains first place on Blazing Ember City's level leaderboard before the observation period ends."]
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