Wilderness: I Tame Beasts to Survive

Chapter 434: Chapter 292: Route 2

’Probably not.’ Han Ning shook his head. ’The Second Elder clearly knows the Dragon Blood Race is in Night Nether City, and he even knows about the Gray Demon Whale. If he were in league with Barry, Barry would have attacked Night Nether City long ago.’

Considering the Second Elder was once a Priest, he might have some connection to the High Priest. Han Ning knew he had to use his panel’s Authentication function when he received the Second Elder. Only after confirming the man posed no threat could he bring him into their fold.

In his plan, the Second Elder’s strength was only a notch below the Five Great Ancestors. If Barry truly came, he might even be able to help them hold him off for a while.

All of this was predicated on the Second Elder not being a problem.

There was no time to feel grief or sorrow for the gravely injured Akatos and Qing Dou. The crisis of Barry’s impending arrival followed too closely. After offering a few words of comfort to Qing Fan, Han Ning left Night Nether City without a moment’s rest to find suitable Puppets.

Currently, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s ability could create at least fifteen Subordinate Insects. It would be a waste not to use those slots.

He planned to find some Abyssal Race Beast Masters nearby, convert them directly into Puppets, and dispatch them to the major entrances of the Grudge Abyss to act as monitors.

...

Time passed... 「Five days later.」

The once-empty landing platform was now bustling with activity.

Two days prior, all the Beast Masters and Soul Beasts in Night Nether City had already relocated their living quarters onto the landing platform, gathering closely around Grey.

That morning, a visitor arrived outside Night Nether City.

An azure meteor streaked across the sky, plummeting straight toward the Wall of Nether Fire.

A deafening crash resounded.

Chilling, frosty air billowed out, and a massive figure emerged from the spreading mist.

Han Ning, Qing Fan, and the others, who had been waiting, immediately went to greet him.

"Second Elder..." Qing Fan and a group of Dragon Blood Elders walked up to a burly, ice-blue beetle and bowed to the tall figure who had just landed with a thud.

The frost dissipated, revealing a ferocious, rugged, lizard-like blue head.

The Second Elder snorted softly, exhaling two plumes of cold air. In a gentle voice that belied his appearance, he asked, "Is that you, Ah Fan? How is your father?"

Although this was the first time Qing Fan and the Second Elder had met, hearing the elder’s gentle and concerned tone made him feel an immediate sense of closeness. He replied with great respect,

"Father is still in a coma, but at least his life is not in danger."

The Second Elder nodded at his words, then turned his gaze to Han Ning, whose appearance was so different from the Dragon Blood People. The corners of his mouth pulled back slightly, revealing a row of sharp fangs.

"You must be the human Beast Master Qing Dou mentioned—Han Ning?"

"I am. Welcome, Second Elder. Let’s talk inside." Han Ning stepped aside and gestured for him to enter.

The Second Elder’s gentle demeanor took him by surprise. Aside from that ferocious head of his, his words and actions had the air of a perfect gentleman.

Han Ning had already used his Puppets to confirm that the Second Elder carried no aura of Darkness or corruption, nor was his brain infested with a Subordinate Insect.

Now, Han Ning was almost certain that the Second Elder and High Priest Barry were enemies. The history of the Dragon Blood Race itself suggested as much.

’Not bad. Young and promising!’

After that simple pleasantry, the Second Elder’s lizard-like face instantly turned serious. He walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Han Ning and the others through the Nether Fire Wall, the massive ice-blue beetle following closely behind.

"I’ve come this time to deliver a piece of news that was just confirmed last night."

As he spoke, the Second Elder lifted his blue cloth robe, revealing that his lower half consisted of only a single, thick leg.

"The Five Great Ancestors have just received an order from the Divine Hall. All the Ancestors are to personally lead the Insect Masters into the Grudge Abyss from three different directions simultaneously. They are to search for Akatos and the hidden location of the Dragon Blood Race within the Abyss."

"The moment the news reached me, I paid the price of a leg, burned my Spiritual Power, and forcefully broke through my clan’s guards to come here. If my guess is correct, the Five Great Ancestors already know of my defection and have made their move ahead of schedule."

Hearing the Second Elder’s words, everyone’s expression turned grim.

Barry’s retaliation was coming faster than they had imagined.

At that moment, everyone felt a heavy pressure settle over them.

The Five Great Ancestors!

When they first met Nia, they had heard of the Five Great Ancestors’ fearsome reputation. To put it bluntly, they were the progenitors of all Insect Masters, the strongest few combatants on the entire Insect Continent.

As soon as they passed through the Nether Fire Wall, Han Ning leaped onto Egg Pancake’s back. Pointing toward the distant landing platform, he said in a low voice,

"This means... Barry’s side doesn’t know our exact location yet. Let’s go! We have to use this time to leave the Abyss."

Qing Fan’s gaze shifted to the back of the ice-blue beetle behind the Second Elder. He could just faintly make out a few small figures hiding under its carapace, and he frowned instinctively.

"Second Elder, did your family not come with you?"

Hearing this, Han Ning couldn’t help but inspect the beetle’s back as well.

Several pairs of pure, cyan eyes peeked through the gaps in the carapace, curiously observing the creatures around them.

"They died. All of them died on the way here. Only these ones are left." The Second Elder’s expression remained stern, and he didn’t explain further. Only the spiritually perceptive Han Ning noticed the deep sorrow hidden in the depths of his eyes.

’Once they’re here, they’re one of us.’ Han Ning fell silent and signaled for Egg Pancake to speed up.

Soon, the group arrived above the landing platform.

Grey, whose body now exceeded 2,300 meters, had a visibly different appearance compared to when it had just broken through to Lord IV.

On its broad back, buildings of various heights had been constructed. These colorful human-made structures stood upon it like small mountains.

Spiritual Arrays placed everywhere for illumination emitted a soft, natural light, clearly illuminating the scene on its back.

Dense crowds of people and Soul Beasts moved about, and the occasional spark of Spiritual Energy announced that the work of drawing the Spiritual Arrays was not yet complete.

"I’ll go gather everyone scattered throughout Night Nether City and have them return to the Gray Demon Whale immediately," Dean Wu announced from the side before quickly departing on his Soul Beast.

Thanks to the urgent coordination of Dean Wu and others, all of Night Nether City’s supplies had been completely transferred onto Grey within five days.

"Truly a sight to behold. In all my life, I’ve never seen a Soul Beast of such immense size," the Second Elder murmured, his mouth slightly agape as he stared at Grey, who was resting quietly on a soft grassy mat.

"Let’s go down first and get the Second Elder’s identity registered and his permissions entered." Han Ning pointed to a spot below Grey and was the first to descend.

The intensely curious Second Elder followed suit, directing his beetle to land behind Han Ning.

Then, as he tried to follow Han Ning forward, a wall of dark purple electricity materialized out of thin air. Fine sparks of lightning flickered, forming a thin curtain that blocked his path.

Just then, Han Ning walked over holding a terminal that resembled a smartphone. He first gestured for the Second Elder to have the little ones on the beetle’s back come down. Then... holding up the terminal, he began taking pictures of the group before him, speaking as he did so:

"Second Elder, for security purposes, please provide a drop of blood from yourself and your descendants. Our Spiritual Array needs it for identity registration."

This was one of the functions of the data collection system developed by Zhou Mingkai.

It used the Spiritual Array’s bloodline analysis and human technology’s biometric recognition functions for two-factor authentication to prevent infiltration.

For ease of management, every Beast Master and every Soul Beast had to have their biological information registered.

At the Second Elder’s signal, five figures tumbled down from the beetle’s back.

There were three boys and two girls in total. They all shared the characteristic appearance of the Cyan God Armor Beetle Masters. The oldest looked to be no more than twelve or thirteen, while the youngest were two little Cyan God Armor girls, one about three years old and the other around five or six.

The two little girls were hugging their older brothers’ legs, staring fearfully at the terminal in Han Ning’s hand.

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