Fang Wenyu listened to Meng Zhiyao, his eyes flashing behind his glasses: "The Monster in Wenqin City is also Level Four, plus there's Jiang Yan, a Level Three psychic Awakened One mentioned in the report submitted by Tang Ling's Eighth Group squad earlier. The current strength displayed by the Monster Association is definitely not weak."
"The nominal leader of this faction is the Jiang Yan you mentioned, but in my opinion, Jiang Yan is weak and is likely just a puppet standing at the forefront. There might be someone else behind the Monster Association," Meng Zhiyao said, offering his analysis.
Following the appearance of the King of the Deep Sea, numerous on-site videos and live streams appeared online. His subordinates immediately reported this to him, and Meng Zhiyao was initially shocked by the sudden appearance of the Monster.
However, he immediately ordered the network and signal in Liuyang City to be cut off. Ordinary people absolutely must not know about this, as it could easily cause chaos.
Fang Wenyu nodded upon hearing this: "Elder Meng, please mobilize people first to arrest those merchants who joined the Monster Association. They absolutely must not be allowed to escape!"
"I have already sent people over. We must strike hard against these black sheep," Meng Zhiyao said, his eyes narrowed with anger.
"Oh right, after you arrive, try your best to capture that Monster alive if possible. Those guys at the Research Institute are very interested in it," Meng Zhiyao said, apparently remembering something, looking at Fang Wenyu.
Fang Wenyu leaned back in his chair and replied casually, "Understood."
...Outside the Chen Family Villa in Liuyang City, Chen Xingwen quickly got into an ordinary van with Chen Yeliu.
"Drive quickly," Chen Xingwen urged the driver.
"It's gone, everything is gone," Chen Yeliu said, staring blankly at the receding villa.
They hadn't expected the Monster Association to suddenly jump out and oppose the state. When she received the call, she felt like her world had collapsed.
Seeing his granddaughter like this, Chen Xingwen comforted her: "Silly girl, wealth is just external possession. It's enough as long as we can survive.
Besides, didn't they say that once we reach abroad, they will give us the latest Enhancement Serum to use? Once we gain abilities, earning back the lost money will just be a matter of time."
Hearing this, Chen Yeliu managed a strained smile: "I hope we can escape."
As a major businesswoman, she was very clear about the consequences of funding an organization like the Monster Association that dared to openly challenge the state.
All the merchants in Liuyang City who had joined the Monster Association were fleeing; not a single one wanted to stay.
Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers away from Liuyang City, in a remote peanut field, a cloud cluster dozens of meters wide dropped from the sky onto the ground.
The cloud cluster dissipated upon landing, revealing a Cloud Ray and Jiang Yan standing on its back.
'I didn't expect the 3200 progress to fill up so quickly.' Jiang Yan felt the white glowing bead in his mind.
"Negative emotions are full. Do you wish to summon!"
'Summon!' With a thought, Jiang Yan initiated the summoning.
Buzz! A cluster of purple clouds appeared out of thin air. The next moment, in Jiang Yan's eyes, the purple cloud rapidly expanded in front of him.
Its speed was so fast that it immediately reached over a hundred meters, forcing Jiang Yan and the Cloud Ray to continuously retreat to make space for it.
'They really are getting bigger and bigger.' Jiang Yan looked at the enormous cloud cluster, then glanced at the Cloud Ray beside him.
Rumble!
Bursts of rumbling sounded inside the cloud cluster. The commotion lasted for more than twenty minutes before the purplish-black cloud finally dissipated.
A unique existence appeared before Jiang Yan. Jiang Yan's expression hardened as he watched the scene.
Before him appeared a hundred-meter-tall tree, pale white all over. Blood-red branches extended from the treetop, bearing countless dense skull heads.
A faint black aura was rising around the trunk. Compared to it, Jiang Yan's figure standing below seemed incredibly tiny.
Just one look made him feel that this thing was incredibly sinister, even more perverse than the Ghost Buddha.
"Woo woo woo!" The Cloud Ray began trembling and whimpering as it looked at the suddenly appearing bizarre skeleton tree, seemingly terrified of this existence.
The skeleton tree suddenly shrank the next second, transforming into a black speck of light that flew into Jiang Yan's mind
Information about the skeleton tree also appeared in Jiang Yan's mind.
skeleton tree: A unique existence from the First Layer of the Abyss, feeding on souls!
Dream of Degradation: Releases a gray mist covering an area of a hundred miles. All creatures within the range deemed targets by the skeleton tree will fall into a beautiful seven-day dream, during which their Soul Power will be gradually extracted! (The higher the mental strength, the higher the resistance, possibly even granting immunity to falling into the dream!)
soul crystal: Consumes absorbed souls to turn the skulls on the branches green and transparent. Absorption allows a creature to undergo one enhancement or evolution! (Each creature can only consume it once in its lifetime; a second consumption is ineffective!)
Great Tree Territory: Once the skeleton tree takes root in a location, its body hardness increases, but it cannot move for life. Moving means instant death! (The skeleton tree cannot move after rooting; it cannot physically attack nearby targets and is easily destroyed. Please protect it!)
Jiang Yan felt the skeleton tree information in his mind. After summoning Monsters so many times, only this skeleton tree truly shocked him; the others were merely surprising.
'An ability range covering a hundred miles—isn't this telling me to plant the tree directly in the city center?'
Jiang Yan's eyes flickered. This soul crystal was very appealing to him. Since it could allow a creature to evolve once, if his Monsters and Monsters used it, their strength would be significantly enhanced.
However, if he planted it, he would have to be prepared to directly challenge all the Awakened Ones of the Xuanjian Division, or even the Awakened Ones nationwide.
'No rush. Judging by the King of the Deep Sea's actions, I should be able to summon one more time.' Jiang Yan looked at the pearl of the abyss, whose progress had increased by 500 after the recent summoning.
pearl of the abyss: 500/6400
The progress displayed above was jumping very quickly, already reaching a rate of three hundred per minute.
Jiang Yan turned and stepped onto the Cloud Ray's back. Under his mental command, the Cloud Ray's body floated upward, generating cloud vapor around it.
Jiang Yan thus controlled the Cloud Ray, flying back and forth several kilometers above the outskirts of Liuyang City.
On a street in Liuyang City, the King of the Deep Sea was dragging Zeng Jianbai's leg with his left hand across the ground.
Zeng Jianbai's face was scraped raw by the ground as the King of the Deep Sea dragged him forward, his blood leaving a long trail on the pavement.
His chest rose and fell slightly, but he was too weak to even let out a scream.
"These humans run quite fast. I can't see a single figure anymore." The King of the Deep Sea looked left and right down the street; there was no one, clearly having been evacuated beforehand.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
A burst of helicopter roaring came from the distant sky.
The King of the Deep Sea looked up at the left side of the sky, where five black armed helicopters appeared.