Seven more demonic beasts flew out of the cave, all of them terrestrial types.
The feline morphology was the most common, accounting for five of them, though their appearances weren't identical; some merely resembled felines in posture, while others were true cats. Two of them looked exactly like the Bull-Tiger Beast—perhaps its offspring or members of the same pride.
One appeared canine, while another resembled a cross between a deer and an ox but leaned more toward the deer side. The final one was a similar hybrid but leaned more toward the ox side.
In short, they were a bizarre assortment, as if born from interbreeding different animals. Yet, despite their strange forms, they were oddly harmonious, likely the result of natural selection and genetic balance.
Though their shapes differed, these seven beasts were all formidable. As they fanned out in mid-air to confront Wei Huan's undead, they radiated powerful auras; they were all Grade 5 beasts.
Having killed many Grade 5 beasts along the way, Wei Huan was now certain that a Grade 5 beast acted as the patriarch of a clan. Such a clan could claim a territory exceeding one million square kilometers—roughly equivalent to being the king of a small nation.
This Grade 6 Bull-Tiger Beast was likely the King of Beasts in this entire region. It probably had at least a hundred Grade 5 beast clans under its jurisdiction, commanding a territory twice the size of Daxia.
Under normal circumstances, this Bull-Tiger ruled this land and enjoyed the tribute offered by its subjects. But when trouble struck, it was expected to hold the line. Seeing these Grade 5 beasts hide here when danger arose suggested the Bull-Tiger possessed some level of leadership responsibility.
However, just as Wei Huan thought this, he saw the battered Bull-Tiger retreat to the ground. After killing the last Grade 6 undead in its immediate path, it turned and burrowed into the cave.
It simply abandoned the seven Grade 5 beasts outside. It manipulated the surface lava to surge, sealing all entrances to the cave—a clear move to "sacrifice the pawns to save the king."
Wei Huan shifted his gaze from the sealed cave to the seven abandoned, trembling beasts. Without the Bull-Tiger's fire domain, these seven beasts looked pathetically isolated, watching with sheer terror as the undead closed in.
A second later, before more of Wei Huan's undead could arrive, the seven beasts—perhaps having pre-arranged a plan—suddenly bolted in four different directions.
Dot Mom, who had been waiting with her brood of Earth-Burrow Beasts, launched green webs that formed a ten-kilometer "Heavenly Net." Six of the beasts were caught instantly.
The webs burned with Nether Fire, a coldness that seeped into the marrow. Once caught, the more they struggled, the tighter the net became. The strands of Nether energy acted like butchering knives, slicing through hide and muscle to bite deep into the bone.
"Aooo!!"
"Roar!!"
"Moo!!"
Wails of agony erupted. These once-majestic Beast Kings were nothing more than common monsters in Wei Huan's hands, easily slaughtered en masse.
However, one beast was clearly specialized in earth-fleeing. Realizing the net was falling and escape was impossible, it dove straight into the soil.
This was indeed Wei Huan's weakness.
His undead army included burrowers, but none mastered Earth-element magic. Digging holes couldn't compete with the speed of a true fleeing technique; once it was underground, Wei Huan had no direct counter.
But Wei Huan refused to let this remain a glaring vulnerability. He gave a command, and the Facehuggers floating in the air transformed into meteors, slamming into the ground with thunderous explosions.
One after another, they crashed and detonated. The sound was a dense, unending roar.
From a distance, the sight of the Facehuggers bombarding the earth resembled an orbital strike from a Star Destroyer. The white beams of light were thick and fierce, piercing through the clouds and the sky to strike the ground, lingering like pillars of light.
The earth shuddered. The noise was deafening.
The fire domain the Bull-Tiger had cultivated for years was no match for this saturation bombing. The mountains crumbled, the ground fractured, and even the surging lava couldn't withstand the force of the Facehugger explosions.
After ten minutes of bombardment, Wei Huan raised his hand. As the smoke cleared, there was no trace of the mountains left—only a massive, smoking crater that seemed to reach toward the planet's core. The lingering haze spoke of the terrain's total defeat.
Mu Zhong swallowed hard and glanced at Wei Huan's profile, once again shocked.
'Too strong.'
Even though he had always known Wei Huan was ridiculously powerful, seeing him actually cut loose made Mu Zhong realize his own perception fell far short of Wei Huan's true capability.
Furthermore, this use of Facehugger bombs was different from before. Wei Huan's tactical application of the undead army involved ideas that were simply out of reach for others. He was always able to achieve victory through new combinations in the heat of battle. Such thunderous methods and overwhelming power left even his own people in awe.
Wei Huan didn't know if the Burrow beast was dead. This wasn't the Challenge World, where one could confirm a kill by checking for dropped loot. He tried to summon its soul but found nothing. However, that didn't mean it had survived; if it had died deep in the earth where he couldn't see, he wouldn't be able to seize the spirit.
Now, he held the souls of six Grade 5 beasts. Ignoring their physical forms, he extended his soul tentacles into their spirits, meticulously discerning their attributes and abilities.
Wei Huan was still a bit unskilled with this new process. Beside him, Mu Zhong didn't disturb him, methodically continuing his own work.
"Found them yet?" Mu Zhong asked via the Heart of Steel, video-calling Brother Hammer.
Hammer's large face appeared on the screen. Even with his "Passerby" talent, he couldn't be ignored in a direct conversation like this. In the background of the video, Hammer was piloting a hover-bike through the air; he had left the vehicle at some point. Accompanying him were thirty Gamblers, including the captain.
Hammer's honest, plain face was set in a serious expression. While staring ahead, he reported: "Enemy presence detected... closing in... distance to engagement: ten, nine, eight... three, two, one!"
Immediately, a familiar roar echoed from the distance.
It was the Bull-Tiger Beast—the one that had "sold out" its subordinates and burrowed away to escape.
From the start, Wei Huan hadn't intended to kill this Grade 6 beast personally. He had plenty of lethal methods, but using simple zerg-tactics wouldn't have finished a Grade 6 beast so easily. He knew the beasts of this world were smart enough to flee when they sensed danger.
The reason he hadn't used a heavy blow to kill it earlier was to drain its energy, creating a perfect opportunity for Hammer and the others to find their "True Selves."
Thirty Sequence 6 "Martial Empresses" and "Flicker" Gamblers hunting a weakened Grade 6 beast was enough to let them fight to their hearts' content and gain insights during the battle.
Human Challengers—perhaps because they were raised in the "greenhouse" of the Challenge World—often lacked the raw 1v1 combat power of native beasts. Moreover, in this world, equipment attributes were suppressed. The "defense" that warriors valued so highly was far too fragile against a beast's claws.
This 30v1 battle was a guaranteed victory for the humans, but one mistake could still be fatal. It was the perfect opportunity to experience the "reality" of this world.
While Hammer led the team to kill the fleeing Bull-Tiger, Mu Zhong didn't have the vehicle follow them. He kept an eye on Hammer's status while deploying a massive number of robots and probes to the Bull-Tiger's lair to scavenge for resources.
Wei Huan's bombardment had been a show of force, meant to intimidate. Such a ruthless strike inevitably destroyed some resources, but fortunately, the robots still found many treasures in the ruins.
When the first gem saturated with dense energy was delivered to Mu Zhong, he read the projection from the Heart of Steel: "Flame Energy Stone: Contains concentrated fire-element energy. Can be forged into equipment or absorbed by Fire-type Challengers for cultivation. Significantly boosts the power of fire-based abilities."
Wei Huan's fingers were loosely curled, holding the phantoms of the six beasts. Visible green silk threads extended from his forehead, piercing into the brows of the souls.
[Psychic] was a Sequence 4 ability of the Gravekeeper path. Wei Huan used it with ease, managing to listen to Mu Zhong's report while handling six souls at once.
He noted: "It's very similar to the Nether Stones I condense."
Mu Zhong nodded. "This world has many energy-rich minerals containing the Five Elements, or Nether and Holy energy. But none are as concentrated as those found where a Beast King lives. You were right—the strong hoard treasures. Just like us."
Wei Huan remarked: "The strong remain strong."
"Yes," Mu Zhong agreed. "The strong occupy better resources, so they naturally grow stronger."
"Keep digging. There must be more."
"Mm."
"Keep an eye out for anything you can use."
"I will," Mu Zhong said, a smile appearing on his face.
As the excavation continued, Hammer's team was still locked in combat with the Bull-Tiger. Hammer's squad was actually quite unbalanced in terms of class composition. Without Captain Xue to act as a tank or the "unkillable" Xu Qingqiang, a team of Hammer (Warrior) and Gamblers attempting a head-on assault on a Grade 6 beast was difficult and full of openings.
But these were the classes they had on hand, and since the goal was to help them find a way to boost their power through combat, taking risks was necessary. To ensure they achieved a breakthrough, Wei Huan didn't even send undead to stand by as backup; he feared that if they had a safety net, they would lose that "all-or-nothing" determination.
Wei Huan eventually fed the six beast souls to different undead. One beast—the deer-ox hybrid covered in scales—was eaten by a Shura Horse. The horse subsequently grew a full set of scales, increasing its defensive power several times over.
This was the only useful combination.
Wei Huan told the AI: "Monitor this species. Alert me if you encounter more."
Mu Zhong, who had been quiet for a while out of worry for Hammer's team, snapped back to attention. "That one? A Qilin?"
Wei Huan looked at him.
Mu Zhong said: "Never mind. Calling it a Qilin feels like a sin. Let's just call it a Deer-Headed Ox."
Wei Huan narrowed his eyes in appreciation of the successfully evolved, scaled Shura Horse. Finally, he had a second Hero-grade Shura Horse.
For some reason, after Moji became Elite-grade, no other Shura Horse had reached that level, which meant they couldn't be upgraded to Hero-grade (Pseudo-God). He had assumed it was a racial rule—like how there could only be one Earth-Burrow Queen. But even with Moji away for so long, no second Hero had emerged. This left the Shura Horses lacking top-tier combat power, and since they couldn't fly, they had gradually become a second-rate unit in Wei Huan's hand.
Now, Wei Huan had finally created a second Hero Shura Horse. Moreover, perhaps because the souls it devoured could "fly," this Shura Horse gained the ability to hover. Intrigued, Wei Huan sent the new Hero charging toward Hammer's location to test its abilities.
Its movement speed was impressive; it galloped through the clouds like a blur, disappearing in an instant. Wei Huan's left eye flared with green flame as a Magic Eye Lord with massive wings followed close behind.
Mu Zhong's furrowed brow relaxed. He had been worried about Hammer, but seeing Wei Huan send reinforcements allowed him to focus back on the ruins.
Through the Magic Eye Lord's vision, Wei Huan finally reached the battlefield. He saw the scarred Bull-Tiger being methodically hunted by the squad. Whether it was the Gamblers or Hammer, their "feel" for combat had changed. Wei Huan couldn't be sure if they had found their "True Selves," but the battle was clearly benefiting them.
The Bull-Tiger, a titan of this world, was being whittled down. Its final, indignant roar echoed far and wide before it collapsed in a pool of blood. The scaled Shura Horse arrived too late to join the kill, and since Wei Huan was too far away to easily seize the soul, he commanded the horse to devour the Bull-Tiger's spirit on the spot.
The scaled Shura Horse tore into the struggling spirit. Weakened by death, the Bull-Tiger's soul was helpless and was consumed entirely.
The Shura Horse's aura skyrocketed. Six bumps bulged on its forehead as if horns were about to sprout. Wei Huan watched with anticipation, but suddenly, the horse's body began to twist and deform. It looked as if its DNA were collapsing. Strange bubbles bulged from its body and burst, spraying foul-smelling corpse water that acted like a potent poison; grass and trees withered and turned black instantly upon contact. Even the soil became pitch-black wasteland.
"Careful, it's going to explode!"
"Fall back!"
"That liquid is toxic!"
The special ops team warned each other and retreated quickly. But before the horse could detonate, the Hand of the Undead appeared, grabbed it, and pulled it into the void. The ripples faded, and the crisis was averted.
"Return to base," Wei Huan commanded through the tactical headset.
The thirty team members—some wounded, some with destroyed vehicles—helped each other back. Despite their injuries, their faces shone with the joy of victory. Some were already eagerly discussing their discoveries and improvements. This world was like a training ground where the path to power was easily found.
Wei Huan's Magic Eye Lord followed them back, but his attention shifted elsewhere.
Inside the Great Tomb:
The Shura Horse exploded the moment it arrived. The foul liquid, saturated with dense Nether Power, splashed across the Tomb. The effect was immediate—the soil touched by the energy became richer, and the undead living upon it grew visibly stronger.
Wei Huan stared at a section of the Tomb that had just improved, an idea forming in his mind.
'Perhaps this is the way?'
Rather than uncertain fusions or evolutions that might fail, why not crush these spirits into fertilizer to nourish the Nether soil? Improving the level of the Great Tomb was also a form of evolution.
He realized that instead of trying to cultivate strange, uncontrollable new units, it was better to "deeply plow" a single path. He commanded the undead that had consumed Grade 5 souls but failed to evolve to return to the Tomb and self-destruct.
Why not just let the captured souls explode? Because they were disobedient; he would have to refine them first to command them. It was faster to let the undead eat them and then explode.
Though Grade 5 souls were weaker than Grade 6, there were many of them. After all forty-plus Grade 5 souls detonated, the exterior of the Great Tomb was coated in a layer of energy. The rising Nether Power became visible to the naked eye. The undead army within felt as if they were being tempered by Nether Fire; their skeletons and muscles slowly became more solid.
It was a slow evolution that required time, but it was a fundamental improvement.
Wei Huan decided that swallowing beasts for evolution would be reserved for elite high-end units. For the rank-and-file, it wasn't worth the risk of "hybridization" failures. Sister Crow's evolution had been a stroke of luck—she had a strong base as a Hero, and the soul she ate was top-tier for this world.
Seizing souls to build the Great Tomb was the correct, fundamental way to raise the quality of his legion.
Wei Huan pulled his consciousness back and heard Mu Zhong say, "New discovery?"
Wei Huan nodded, a faint smile on his lips. Mu Zhong knew him well enough to read the subtle change in his expression. Looking at Mu Zhong's smiling eyes, Wei Huan asked, "And you?"
Mu Zhong held out his hand. "Look at this."
Wei Huan saw a forest-green stone the size of a palm. It was translucent and lustrous; even without touching it, he could feel the vibrant nature energy in the air.
"A Nature Stone?"
Mu Zhong nodded. "The strong really do have the best resources. I found what might have been a storehouse; it had stones of various attributes, and I found this Nature energy. Also..." Mu Zhong put away the green stone and flipped his hand to reveal a blue-and-white stone with spiral patterns. "Look at this one."
Wei Huan felt a strange sensation from the stone. One second it felt like it didn't exist—it was "empty"—and the next, it felt as if countless stones were being sliced and scattered before him.
"A Space Stone?"
"Yes!" Mu Zhong nodded. "The Heart of Steel says these are extremely rare. They'll help Gamblers cultivate, and if we put them on a Star Gate or a Starship, we can achieve spatial travel."
Wei Huan was puzzled. "I understand spatial travel—the Pilot sequence 6 is Starship Pilot and sequence 7 is Star Gate Master—but where would we go? The Challenge World is full of danger. Even if we can hop between worlds, without enough combat power, we're just going there to die. I've never understood the point of the Pilot sequence."
Mu Zhong thought for a moment. "Maybe it's for traveling between the Challenge World and the True World? Since this world is so different, if humanity can get a foothold here, it might be our chance to escape the Challenge World entirely."
Wei Huan countered, "This world isn't easy either. And the Challenge World makes humans stronger; what does this world offer? It's useful to us Challengers, but its benefit to ordinary humans is limited."
Even with Mu Zhong's intelligence, he couldn't immediately argue; he knew Wei Huan was right. They were at the forefront of humanity, yet there were still so many mysteries.
Wei Huan gazed at the distant mountains and the ruins below. "Don't think too much. We can't see the truth because our vision isn't high enough. I believe that in the higher-level worlds, we will find the answers we can't find now."
"True," Mu Zhong agreed. He put away the energy stones and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Wei Huan. "We just have to watch our step. Whether what lies ahead is an escape from the cage or a dead end, we must move forward. Only by moving forward can we fight for a chance at life."