Chapter 473 — Overlords of Land and Sea

"Alright. Just wonder who the League's sending as examiner this time..." Lu Heng was rather nervous.

After all, Ye Xing had failed twice in a row to challenge for a title...

Though her strength had improved enormously over the past half month with Shi Ying's help, she still lacked confidence—her opponent was, after all, totem-level.

"Relax. Let me get ready," Shi Xiao said with a smile.

There wasn't much for him to prepare—just notifying his pet beasts.

At present, several pet beasts weren't by Shi Jin's side; they had all gone off to train on their own.

Buggy, for instance, had gone to rural areas where the Four Holy Beasts were worshipped, absorbing faith power up close and putting on little miracles—bringing favorable weather and the like.

Then there were Eleven and Susu, who had both gone off to the sea. Eleven had dived into the deep ocean to train its sea-combat ability using the crushing pressure of the deep seabed, while Susu had plunged into the ocean to absorb the sea's power and further strengthen its Spirit of the Calm Sea.

Though through the Vast Sea Contract it could draw on oceanic power anywhere, the efficiency was certainly fastest while actually within the ocean.

[Activate: Long-Distance Communication.]

Shi Jin was in Donghuang and still had a few pet beasts with him, so his safety was assured. He thus felt at ease letting them roam, since with his top-tier telepathy he could communicate with them anytime something came up.

Even though Buggy had now run off to Divine Capital—ridiculously far from him—Shi Cen could still reach it through an "online meeting."

This was the strength of a beast tamer with a high-tier telepathy talent—support ability second to none.

Of course, Shi Jin's being this formidable also had to do with his powerful spiritual force and his mastery of max-level telekinesis. Other telepathic tamers of the same level couldn't reach such an absurd sensing range.

"You lot—time to come back," Shi Jin said.

In Divine Capital, a little green bug lying atop a stone statue of the Azure Dragon raised its head and went "ji."

Just as well—it was hungry too.

In the deep-sea region of the East Sea, on the seabed, a group of pandas holding their breath had been fighting purely with their bodies.

Upon hearing the voice, most of the pandas immediately went pop-pop-pop and turned into bubbles,

leaving only one, which swam rapidly upward.

Whoo-whoo-whoo!! Going home!

"Ning. (Right away right away right away.)" Somewhere in the ocean, Susu responded at once as well.

Though both were in the ocean, it and Eleven weren't together—mainly because Eleven's fighting on the seabed was too big and disruptive; even bare-bodied brawling disturbed it too much. "Eh."

"Susu, where are you? Near the Battle Isle?"

Shi Jin was in the middle of pinpointing her when he suddenly realized that Susu seemed to be right near the Battle Isle. He could not help saying, "Susu, just stay put for now. We'll come over in a bit."

"Ning! (Okay—)" said Susu.

The Battle Isle.

An artificial island, built specifically as a combat facility, one of the several man-made structures in Donghuang capable of withstanding the highest combat fluctuations.

Here, it could withstand battle fluctuations up to the totem-class at its peak; it was generally the combat venue where Donghuang's beast tamers challenged totem-class lifeforms.

When legendary tamers of Donghuang challenged for a title, it was in most cases here.

The place Shi Yan and Lu Heng were heading next was also this way. At this very moment, in the waters leading to the Battle Isle, a middle-aged man with a Western face, white skin, and blue eyes stood aboard a massive ship, gazing ahead.

The titled legend of Kamikaze stationed with the Nine Luminaries Alliance—the Fire God, Jones.

The Nine Luminaries Alliance had its headquarters on Alliance Isle; its governing members were drawn jointly from the beast tamers of the seven nations. Their work consisted mostly of handling affairs concerning the totem nations, along with exploring ruins and secret realms and extracting resources in certain public regions—it was the seven nations' official external body.

Each of the seven nations kept at least one titled legend stationed on Alliance Isle. Great powers like Donghuang, Kamikaze, and Snowfield kept two titled legends stationed there, and the number of ordinary legends was even greater.

Apart from certain important matters, challenges by legendary tamers of various nations for titles were also handled by the Alliance body. Generally, tamers from other nations were made examiners, and together with the Alliance's guardian deities they would assess the challenger.

Kamikaze's Fire God Jones had evidently become the examiner for Lu Heng's assessment this time. Of course, the one actually conducting the assessment was not him, but a guardian deity who served as his partner.

A giant green bullfrog over ten meters tall, draped in a cape of green leaves, a twig clamped in its mouth, its eyes squinted shut.

The Alliance guardian deity, the Forest King, of the wood-attribute Forest Frog clan. During the War of Totems, it had defected to the Nine Luminaries Alliance to avoid being killed—one of the guardian deities who had done so. For over a century it had toiled with trembling diligence, mainly taking on safe work like sparring and assessments. Apart from work, the vast majority of its time was spent in "hibernation slumber."

What the Forest King had never expected was that after enduring so long, it had now finally become an Alliance elder, a senior figure of the Alliance, with no small status.

Choices really did matter!

"Slept three whole years at a stretch—so hungry, so very hungry." The Forest King looked at the Fire God Jones.

"Donghuang ought to have food prepared. Once we reach the Battle Isle, there'll be some," said the Fire God Jones with a bitter smile. "The food prepared on the ship—you've already eaten it all. And we'd prepared the same amount as usual..."

"Next time you come to pick me up, prepare more. My strength must be about to rise again—I feel like my appetite's been growing these past few years." The Forest King gazed out at the sea.

"Can I eat the little fish and shrimp here?"

The Fire God Jones said, "Of course you can. This isn't the Dragon Palace sea region, and we haven't entered Donghuang's waters. It's just that the little fish and shrimp in a place like this don't have much nutrition."

"I'll just treat them as snacks. I'll swim alongside you through the sea," said the Forest King.

With that, it leapt into the sea with a splash. Seeing this, the Fire God Jones shook his head. The ship sailed on, calm and steady.

As for the Forest King, it had already dived to the seafloor to give itself a feast.

Just as the Fire God Jones had said, there truly were no nutritious creatures in these waters.

The vast majority were awakening-class sea fish. The Forest King opened its great maw, kicked its legs, and with an easy leap swallowed dozens of sea fish whole—yet eating them was like eating nothing at all; it barely felt a thing.

"Croak." The Forest King sighed. If it could do it all over again, it did not want to be a totem-class lifeform.

Its strength had grown, true, but in exchange it had lost a certain joy—the joy of eating its fill and stuffing its belly.

For a totem creature like it, stuck in the middling ranks, the idea of eating its fill every day was simply unrealistic. It could only offset hunger by sleeping—and the moment it stirred, it grew even hungrier!

"Work again. I'd better eat a lot before work."

"Though this time's assessment subject—Jones just said it's a level-seven telepathic beast tamer?"

"Not even level eight, and a telepath at that. This one should be easy." As it mused, the Forest King dove deeper, searching for transcendent-class and commander-class sea fish to eat.