CHAPTER 96: CHAPTER 96: RETURN OF THE KING

The cloaked man looked at the desperate group, his eyes filled with a sickly madness.

"Haha, so these are the so-called geniuses. Now kneel down and beg for mercy, and perhaps I might spare your lives." The cloaked man sneered.

Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces turned grim, but they did not choose to plead.

"You’re neither human nor ghost, and you think we should beg you for mercy? One day the Blood Beast will devour you, and you won’t even know how you died." Qian Jiadong mocked.

Qian Jiadong’s words seemed to hit a sore spot, as the man glared at them, his murderous intent nearly tangible.

"Let’s see if you all will still have such tough mouths in a moment. Kill them." The cloaked man’s voice was cold.

The Blood Beast finally responded to its master’s call, letting out a roar and beginning its counterattack.

One by one, the Two-headed Poison Wolves fell at its feet, a large amount of blood bringing it back to its peak state.

The Wolf King watched its kin being slaughtered, letting out a sorrowful howl and launched a final charge at the Blood Beast with its heavily injured body.

At this moment, Lei Yao had refined both fruits completely and seemed unable to suppress the star power within any longer.

Lei Yao suddenly opened its eyes and let out a deafening roar, with the star power inside it charging through the barrier like a wild horse breaking free.

Lei Yao felt a cracking sound within, the barrier that had restrained it shattering in an instant.

Rich star power surged through it, and at that moment, it felt unprecedentedly powerful, making it involuntarily let out a roar of satisfaction.

Chu Chen sensed the rapidly rising aura in Lei Yao and his long held tension finally eased.

Suppressing his inner joy, he quickly summoned the Slaughter Atlas to try giving Lei Yao a second talent.

He swiftly turned to the page with the Cyan-Back Bear, then began attempting to extract its talent.

The result was surprisingly smooth, with the entire process consuming no slaughter value.

Chu Chen suppressed his excitement and quickly tried to grant Lei Yao the second talent.

At this moment, a few small words appeared before his eyes.

"Confirm granting Thunder Ape the F-level talent, Beast Soul Power?"

Seeing this, Chu Chen didn’t hesitate at all and immediately clicked confirm.

At that moment, a dazzling golden radiance burst out from the Slaughter Atlas, with a golden beam of light shooting into Lei Yao.

Chu Chen found that the slaughter value consumed was only one hundred points.

He thought for a moment, as if realizing something—the amount of slaughter value consumed when bestowing the Guardian Beast talent seemed related to the talent’s level.

Of course, this was just a guess; he couldn’t be sure yet.

At this point, Lei Yao kept its eyes closed, its mind flooding with memories. These memories seemed hidden within it, only surfacing after it broke through to the War General Level.

As Lei Yao was digesting these memories, a massive beast soul shadow emerged behind it.

This beast soul shadow stood over ten yards tall, its muscles bulging like iron, its body entwined with lightning, resembling an awe-inspiring Thunder God.

Suddenly, an incomparably pure soul power surged within Chu Chen’s body. He was prepared for this, as it was Lei Yao’s feedback upon breaking through to the War General Level. He had a premonition that as long as he refined this soul power, he could break through to Soul Warrior Level.

However, time was pressing, and he could only temporarily suppress the urge to break through.

To be safe, Chu Chen consumed another hundred slaughter value to elevate Lei Yao’s second talent to E-level.

Beast Soul Power, E-level: Temporarily boosts Guardian Beast’s power by four percent, consuming soul power.

Seeing this, Chu Chen could only silently curse—the boost was terrifying.

Unbeknownst to him, Lei Yao had already digested all the memories that surged in its mind, slowly opening its eyes filled with confidence.

"Let’s hurry over, they probably can’t hold out any longer." With that, Chu Chen took the lead heading towards the Two-headed Poison Wolves’ lair.

At this moment, the Blood Beast was clutching the Wolf King’s artery, frenziedly absorbing its blood, and its aura was slowly rising.

Once the Blood Beast drained all the Wolf King’s blood, it suddenly threw back its head and let out a roar of satisfaction, with its entire aura erupting like a geyser.

But this surge only lasted a few beats before stopping.

Clearly, the Secret Realm’s rules were too suppressive, forcibly halting its breakthrough momentum.

However, it was already a half-step Commander Level; once it left the Secret Realm, it could smoothly break through to Commander Level.

The Blood Beast let out a dissatisfied roar, its fury completely unleashing its ferocity.

Its aura surged, a thick blood mist erupting from its body.

The cloaked man hastily calmed it, saying, "Don’t get mad, there’s still enticing blood over there untouched. Take them out, and we can leave. Breaking through afterward won’t be too late then."

Hearing this, the Blood Beast seemed to find an outlet, gazing at the group with a cruel smile.

Everyone was shocked—the Blood Beast’s expression was identical to a human’s.

This also indirectly proved that the Blood Beast’s intelligence was no less than a human’s, with its emotion changes similar to humans.

The Blood Beast slowly approached the group, each step like treading on their hearts.

Everyone’s faces changed, watching the slow approach of the Blood Beast with fear-filled eyes.

Soon the Blood Beast was upon them, and the Guardian Beasts launched a suicidal attack to protect their owners.

They gave their owners a reluctant look, then charged straight at the Blood Beast.

Whether using claws or teeth, they launched fatal assaults against the Blood Beast.

The Blood Beast’s expression remained unchanged, as these attacks posed no threat whatsoever.

It couldn’t even be bothered to retaliate, allowing the Guardian Beasts to attack.

Seeing the Blood Beast getting closer, the fear in everyone’s hearts grew exponentially.

Their bodies began to tremble, stepping back instinctively, some even losing control, their hearts pounding like a drum.

If this continued, they wouldn’t be scared to death, but would go mad from fear.

Thus, they needed an outlet to release their emotions.

Zhao Peng glanced behind, seeing nothing, and couldn’t help but curse loudly, "It’s all Chu Chen’s fault. If he hadn’t told us to hold off the Blood Beast, we wouldn’t be in this predicament."

"Yeah, if we chose to flee, we might still have a chance."

"That guy must have fled with Ji Mingyue while telling us to hold off the Blood Beast."

"Right, it’s all a conspiracy, and we’ve all been played by him."

"Damn it, even if I’m a ghost, I won’t let him off."

"Enough, he’s not like that." Mu Chengxue said solemnly.

"Heh, you’re still defending him at this point? You must be a fool."

At this moment, a cold voice sounded from behind, "Perhaps I shouldn’t have come back to save you."

Everyone quickly turned to look behind and found it was Chu Chen who had spoken.

Seeing this, they all showed expressions of shame.

Chu Chen, seeing this, didn’t wish to argue with them, but nodded towards Mu Chengxue.

In this situation, being willing to trust him proved that Mu Chengxue was a friend worth having.