The night before the Beast King's Tournament, the Bowl of Fangs did not sleep. It festered. The air was thick with the scent of roasted meat, cheap ale, and the nervous sweat of five thousand beast tamers wondering if they would survive the morning.
Inside the barn of the disguised Twilight Stable, the atmosphere was grim. Moonbell and Gao Ming had returned from their reconnaissance mission, and the news was not good.
"The World Tree Shard is not just a trophy," Moonbell reported, her nine tails twitching with agitation. "It is acting as a seal. I sensed it. Beneath the Grand Arena, there is a fissure in the earth. The Shard is plugged into it like a cork. If we remove it to fix the Sky-Eater... whatever is down there comes up."
"And the Dark Beast Sect knows this," Su Ye leaned back in his chair, spinning a gold coin over his knuckles. "That's why they're here. They don't want to win the tournament. They want to create enough chaos in the arena to crack the seal, grab the Shard, and let the Void leak out."
"So we have to win," Lin Fan said, adjusting his leopard-print loincloth miserably. "We have to win the Shard to save our mountain, but if we take the Shard, we unleash a monster."
"We'll cross that bridge when we burn it," Su Ye stood up. "First, we have to survive the Qualifier. The rules say it's a 'Grand Melee'. Five hundred tamers enter the pit. Fifty leave. Anything goes."
"Anything?" Gao Ming asked, polishing his mirror suit.
"Anything," Su Ye grinned. "Which is unfortunate for them. Because we brought a shovel."
The sun rose over the crater like a bloodshot eye. The drums of the Grand Arena began to beat—a deep, resonant thrum made from the skin of thunder-rhinos. The sound vibrated in the chest, triggering the fight-or-flight response in every living creature within ten miles.
The gates of the arena groaned open.
"Entrants! To the pit!" the Ogre-Mage announcer bellowed, his voice amplified by magic.
Su Ye led his team out of the Tortoise. They walked through the jeering crowd, a motley crew of circus performers amidst a sea of hardened warriors.
"Look at the clown!" a scarred tamer laughed, pointing at Gao Ming. "He's going to reflect the sun into his own eyes!"
"Is that a pig in a diaper?" another jeered. "Hey, boy! I'll give you a copper for a slice of bacon!"
Zhu Zhu, floating in his Void Belt, turned his head slowly. His beady eyes locked onto the heckler.
"I will eat your lineage," Zhu Zhu whispered, his voice too quiet to be heard over the drums, but the heckler suddenly felt a chill that froze his marrow.
They entered the arena floor. It was a massive, sandy expanse littered with bones and rusted weapons from previous tournaments. The stands were packed with tens of thousands of spectators, screaming for blood.
High above, in the Emperor's Box (a platform made of mammoth tusks), sat the Beast King.
He was a mountain of a man, clad in armor made from dragon scales. He wore a mask of gold that covered the lower half of his face. Behind him loomed his beast—the Three-Headed Hydra. The Hydra was asleep, its three heads drooling venom that hissed as it hit the floor.
"Welcome to the cull!" The Beast King stood up, his voice booming without a microphone. "The rules are simple. Stay standing. If you are knocked out, you lose. If your beast flees, you lose. If you die... well, you lose. BEGIN!"
A gong sounded.
Instantly, the arena exploded into violence.
Five hundred tamers released their beasts. Roars, screeches, and howls tore the air. Flame bursts, ice spikes, and wind blades flew in every direction. It was a meat grinder.
"Formation: Turtle Shell!" Su Ye shouted.
His team didn't scatter. They huddled back-to-back in the center of the chaos.
"They're ignoring us," Luo Bing noted, deflecting a stray arrow with her hoop. "They think we're weak."
"Good," Su Ye planted his shovel in the sand. "Let them thin the herd. Lin Fan, set up the tea table."
"The... tea table?" Lin Fan stared at him. "Master, we are in a deathmatch!"
"I said set it up!"
Lin Fan sighed. He pulled a folding table and four chairs out of his spatial bag (disguised as a picnic basket). He set them up amidst the screaming carnage. Su Ye sat down and poured a cup of tea.
The sheer audacity of the move drew attention. A group of five tamers, leading a pack of Dire-Wolves, stopped fighting each other and looked at the circus troupe having a picnic.
"They mock us!" the Wolf Tamer roared. "Kill the clowns!"
The pack of ten Dire-Wolves charged, their jaws dripping with saliva. They were Tier-3 beasts, fast and vicious.
"Incoming!" Gao Ming shrieked.
"Zhu Zhu," Su Ye sipped his tea. "Are you going to let those dogs interrupt your breakfast?"
Zhu Zhu looked at his plate of pancakes. He looked at the charging wolves. The wolves were kicking up sand. Sand was getting on his syrup.
Zhu Zhu's eyes turned violet.
Squeal. (Rude.)
The pig floated up. He didn't attack. He just opened his mouth and let out a sound.
OINK.
It wasn't a normal oink. It was a Void-Frequency Grunt. It bypassed the ears and vibrated the spinal cords of the wolves.
The charging wolves froze mid-stride. Their predatory instincts were momentarily overwritten by a primal, cosmic confusion. They looked at the pig. The pig looked like an apex predator disguised as ham.
"Sit," Zhu Zhu commanded in his posh toddler voice.
The ten vicious Dire-Wolves, confused by the authority radiating from the diaper-wearing swine, sat down.
The Wolf Tamer gaped. "What are you doing?! Attack! Kill the pig!"
"They can't," Su Ye called out, buttering a biscuit. "They recognize royalty. Now, Lin Fan. Remove the trash."
"Yes, Master."
Lin Fan stepped forward. He activated his gauntlets. [Magnetic Repulsion: Maximum.]
He punched the air. A shockwave of magnetic force slammed into the stunned wolves and their tamers. They were blasted backward, flying across the arena and crashing into the wall.
"Home run!" Su Ye cheered.
The spectacle attracted more attention. A massive man riding a War-Elephant saw the scene.
"Trickery!" the man bellowed. "My elephant is deaf! Your sonic tricks won't work! Trample them!"
The War-Elephant charged. The ground shook.
"Luo Bing," Su Ye didn't look up. "The elephant is overheating. Cool it down."
Luo Bing stepped out. She twirled her hoop. Ice magic condensed around her.
"Ice Path!"
She cast a sheet of frictionless ice directly in the elephant's path.
The massive beast hit the ice. Elephants are not designed for figure skating. Its legs went out from under it. It slid past the tea table at forty miles per hour, trumpeting in panic, and bowled into a group of unsuspecting sword-cultivators.
"Strike!" Su Ye marked a scorecard.
The crowd in the stands began to cheer. They loved violence, but they loved comedy even more. The "Mystic Menagerie" was putting on a show.
"This is efficient," Su Ye noted, checking the numbers. "Two hundred down. Three hundred to go."
But then, the mood shifted.
From the far side of the arena, a green mist began to spread. Tamers caught in the mist didn't fall asleep; they went berserk. Their eyes turned red, and they began attacking their own beasts.
"Poison," Moonbell (who was hiding in Su Ye's shadow) whispered into his mind. "Neurotoxin. It's the Dark Beast Sect."
Through the chaos walked a figure. He wore a mask made of a snake's skull. He was the Viper Lord, one of the disguised assassins Su Ye had spotted earlier.
He wasn't fighting. He was walking calmly, releasing green gas from canisters on his belt. His beast, a massive Corrosion Python, slithered beside him, melting anyone who got too close.
"He's clearing the board," Su Ye stood up, kicking the table aside. "He's killing everyone to ensure he wins."
The Viper Lord locked eyes with Su Ye.
"The Warden," the Viper Lord hissed, his voice sounding like dry leaves. "You survived the Spire. You survived the fleet. Let us see if you survive the venom."
He pointed a finger. "Kill him."
The Corrosion Python lunged. It was fast—a blur of green scales. It opened its mouth to spray acid.
"Little Sun!" Su Ye shouted. "Spicy noodle!"
The golden chicken, who had been napping on Gao Ming's head, woke up. It saw the giant snake.
To a normal bird, a snake is a predator.
To a Solar Eclipse Crow, a snake is just a long worm.
Little Sun hopped down. It fluffed its feathers. It didn't fly away. It ran toward the python.
The Python sprayed a jet of acid strong enough to melt steel.
Little Sun opened its beak and caught the acid. It gargled it. It spit it back out as a fireball.
PTOOey!
The fireball hit the Python in the face. The snake hissed in pain, rearing back.
"Now, Gao Ming! The dazzling!"
Gao Ming activated his mirror suit. He angled himself to catch the sun and reflected a concentrated beam directly into the Python's eyes.
The snake was blinded. It thrashed wildly.
Su Ye charged. He didn't use a sword. He used the Ancestral Link.
He leaped onto the thrashing snake's back. He slapped his hand onto its scales.
Zzzzt.
"Connection Established."
[Subject: Corrosion Python.]
[Ancestor: The World-Serpent Jormungandr (Distant Cousin).]
[Complaint: "My stomach burns. The human feeds me poison to make my venom stronger. It hurts. I want milk."]
Su Ye's eyes narrowed. "Another trash owner."
He spoke into the spirit realm.
"Hey, snake. Your stomach hurts because you're eating garbage. You want the pain to stop?"
"YES..." the snake's spirit hissed.
"Then stop listening to the idiot in the skull mask. He's the source of the poison. Bite the hand that feeds you."
Su Ye broke the connection. He jumped off the snake.
The Python stopped thrashing. Its slit pupils dilated. It looked at Su Ye, then it looked at the Viper Lord.
"Attack him!" The Viper Lord screamed, shaking a control talisman. "Why are you stopping? Melt him!"
The Python hissed. It remembered the pain in its gut. It remembered the poison canisters.
It turned on its master.
"No! Bad snake! I command you—"
CHOMP.
The Python didn't kill him (that would be against the rules), but it swallowed the Viper Lord whole, trapping him in its muscular throat. It squeezed.
The Viper Lord passed out from lack of oxygen. The Python spat him out onto the sand, covered in slime, defeated.
The crowd went silent. Then, they roared.
"He turned the beast!"
"The Clown is a Beast Whisperer!"
Su Ye dusted off his hands. "Snake, go drink some milk. And brush your teeth."
The Python bowed its head and slithered away, dragging its unconscious master out of the ring.
"That's one spy down," Su Ye muttered.
Around them, the fighting had stopped. The remaining tamers looked at Su Ye, then at the giant Python fleeing the scene, then at the pig eating pancakes.
They realized something. They didn't want to fight the circus.
One by one, the remaining contestants dropped their weapons or feigned injury.
"Oh no! My leg!"
"My beast has... uh... anxiety! I forfeit!"
Within minutes, the arena was clear. Only fifty tamers remained standing, and most of them were huddled as far away from Su Ye as possible.
The gong sounded
.
"THE QUALIFIER IS OVER!" The Ogre Announcer bellowed. "THE SURVIVORS WILL ADVANCE TO THE BRACKET ROUNDS!"
Su Ye gathered his team. They were sweaty, covered in sand, and Lin Fan's fake mustache was peeling off.
"We made it," Luo Bing exhaled.
"We made a scene," Su Ye corrected. He looked up at the Emperor's Box.
The Beast King was looking down. He wasn't looking at the crowd. He was looking directly at Su Ye.
The King raised a hand. He pointed at Su Ye. Then he made a slicing motion across his throat.
"He knows," Moonbell whispered from Su Ye's shadow. "He knows you aren't a clown."
"Good," Su Ye shouldered his shovel. "I hate wearing makeup anyway."
As they walked back to the tunnel, Su Ye felt a vibration in his pocket. It was the Black Ring—or rather, the replacement communication stone he had linked to the one the spider-bot was carrying.
A message appeared.
[Package Delivered.]
[Status: The Heavenly Sword Sect has just declared a crusade against the Dark Beast Sect. The Eastern Border is burning.]
Su Ye grinned.
"Phase one complete: Infiltrate the Tournament. Phase two complete: Start a war to distract the bad guys."
"What is Phase three?" Gao Ming asked, trying to un-stick his cape from a piece of gum.
"Phase three," Su Ye looked at the massive World Tree Shard glowing in the center of the arena.
"Phase three is the heist. We aren't waiting for the finals.
Tonight, while everyone is sleeping... we're going to steal that tree."
"Steal it?" Lin Fan squeaked. "Master, it's rooted in the ground! It's fifty feet tall!"
"I have a shovel," Su Ye said. "And I have a pig. Between the two of us, physics is just a suggestion."