Luo Bing glanced outside the cave.
Night had already fallen.
Before he realized it, it was deep into the night.
"So it's already this late… whatever, I'll sleep first."
He dropped straight to the ground and fell asleep.
Before drifting off, he split off a sliver of consciousness to control White Zetsu, keeping watch outside the cave in case any alien beasts tried to sneak up on him.
Early the next morning.
Luo Bing stretched lazily and yawned, his eyelids heavy.
"Why do I feel like I pulled an all-nighter?"
"Is it because I was multitasking and controlling White Zetsu on night watch?"
Muttering to himself, he walked out of the cave, with White Zetsu following close behind.
With the Preta Path acting as a bodyguard, Luo Bing felt noticeably safer.
Along the way, his Rinnegan's perception was fully activated.
Any Tier-1 alien beasts that foolishly wandered too close were handed over to White Zetsu, who drained the spiritual energy straight out of them.
If they were too far away, Luo Bing didn't bother—chasing a few points simply wasn't worth the effort.
After White Zetsu absorbed the energy of several beasts, Luo Bing felt refreshed, his fatigue easing noticeably.
Of course, he wasn't wandering the valley aimlessly, hoping to bump into a divine beast by pure luck.
Luo Bing had self-awareness.
He wasn't some chosen child of fate.
There was no way he'd run into a divine-beast-turned-waifu who also threw herself at him—a double miracle like that simply didn't exist.
"Found it… the swamp."
After half a day of travel, Luo Bing finally arrived at a muddy marshland.
All around the area lurked a species of alien beast known as Shadow Rats.
He had seen them in textbooks.
Shadow Rats were E-rank, Tier-1 alien beasts with no offensive power to speak of, but they possessed extremely wide-ranging perception abilities.
They were excellent scouting-type alien beasts.
The human faction had long attempted to domesticate them for dangerous reconnaissance missions, but for various reasons, those attempts had always failed.
However—
With the Rinnegan's summoning and control abilities, dominating them would be effortless.
If he could control Shadow Rats and send them out to gather intelligence, it wouldn't take long before the rumored divine beast had nowhere left to hide.
With that thought, Luo Bing opened the Magatama Shop again.
Since he wasn't unlocking the third round of Six Paths abilities anytime soon, his remaining Magatama were just sitting there anyway.
−5000 Magatama
Obtained: Flesh Bud ×50
Remaining Magatama: 894,790
Next, Luo Bing raised one arm.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
Gravitational force surged outward, locking onto the Shadow Rats.
Countless Shadow Rats hidden in the swamp, bushes, and soil felt the pull of gravity and were dragged out of hiding.
One after another, they flew straight toward White Zetsu.
With the Rinnegan's ability to perceive spiritual energy trajectories, those Shadow Rats—masters of concealment—had nowhere to hide.
By now fully accustomed to his body, White Zetsu moved with lightning speed, implanting flesh buds into each Shadow Rat that came flying in.
The process was smooth and efficient, like an industrial assembly line.
E-rank Tier-1 alien beasts stood absolutely no chance against a Radiant Silver–level White Zetsu.
Otherwise, implanting the flesh buds wouldn't have been so effortless.
In no time at all—
Fifty tiny Shadow Rats stood neatly lined up before Luo Bing, each staring ahead with faintly glowing Rinnegan-patterned eyes.
Luo Bing examined his miniature army with satisfaction, then gave his order.
"Operation: Capture the Divine Beast. Commence."
The moment the command was issued, the rat swarm scattered in all directions, vanishing without a trace.
All of them were off to search for clues related to the divine beast.
"Perfect."
Luo Bing happily sat down on a large rock, resting while waiting for news from his rats.
"Let the rats work for me while I sit back and reap the rewards."
"I'm a damn genius."
An hour later.
The Shadow Rats had already scouted most areas of the outer Valley of the End.
Luo Bing rubbed his temples with a pained expression.
"Too much information… my brain can't process it all at once."
It seemed that shared vision through the Rinnegan wasn't entirely a blessing.
At least until his Rinnegan reached Lv.3, simultaneously receiving input from fifty different viewpoints was extremely taxing on his mental capacity.
No choice—his brain just wasn't built like a supercomputer.
After finally sorting through the information—
There was no sign of the divine beast.
However, Luo Bing did discover an excellent spot for farming points.
A large group of B-rank, Tier-1 Golden Ant Guards lived there.
Many examinees, tempted by the prospect of contracting a high-quality spirit beast, were lured in by lone Golden Ant Guards acting as bait.
Before they realized what was happening, they had already wandered into the ants' territory.
By the time they noticed they were outnumbered, it was too late.
Countless ant guards swarmed in, surrounding them completely.
A classic honey trap.
Luo Bing understood this well.
Not everyone had conditions as favorable as his, casually setting their sights on divine beasts.
For many Beast Tamers, contracting a B-rank spirit beast was already an unreachable dream.
Plenty of people would be proud just to cultivate their spirit beast to C-rank over a lifetime.
No wonder the examinees lost their rationality and took the bait.
This was the best opportunity they'd ever have to leap ahead of countless others.
Even if given another chance, they'd probably still gamble everything on it.
What they didn't expect was that something as precious as B-rank alien beasts would appear in groups.
Of course—
If they had paid attention in class, they would've known that Golden Ant Guards were eusocial creatures centered around an Ant Queen.
They frequently acted alone to lure prey into encirclement zones.
Even some Tier-2 alien beasts occasionally fell into their traps.
"B-rank alien beasts, huh?"
"Even if they're only Tier-1, they should be worth a decent number of points—especially with that quantity."
Decision made, Luo Bing and White Zetsu immediately set off.
After jogging for a while, they arrived at a dense forest thick with vegetation.
This was the Golden Ant Guards' territory.
From deeper within, the sounds of battle could already be heard.
Activating the Rinnegan's Insight, Luo Bing saw through layers of lush green leaves and spotted a group of survivors surrounded by ant guards, struggling desperately.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't really resistance.
They were hiding inside a three-dimensional defensive barrier generated by a defense device.
After all, most examinees were only at Mountain Bronze Tier 1.
There was no way they could withstand a direct assault from B-rank Golden Ant Guards for long.
Once the defense device ran out of energy, their situation would become truly dire.
The man-tall Golden Ant Guards repeatedly snapped their massive mandibles, each bite causing the barrier to dim further.
"Feng-shao, you're from one of the four great families of the Imperial Capital. You have to have some life-saving trump cards from your elders."
"It's already come to this—stop holding back and use them already!"
Inside the barrier, someone noticed the device was nearly out of power and cried out desperately to a calm, handsome young man.
That young man was Feng Lan of the Feng family—
and also Feng Chen's only descendant.
His long hair flowed freely, a sword hanging at his waist.
He didn't look like a modern student at all—more like a wandering swordsman from some bygone era.
Feng Lan gave a helpless smile.
"I used all my trump cards earlier… just to look cool. Left them all at home."
"This Star-Eclipse–level defense device was something someone slipped into my storage ring when I wasn't paying attention. No idea who."
As he spoke, he gently stroked the hilt of his sword and said calmly,
"No matter. Death is like the wind—
always by my side."
"Damn it! If you hadn't tried to show off, we wouldn't be stuck here!"
Another person snapped back in frustration.
Feng Lan raised an eyebrow slightly and flicked his robe.
"If not for my moment of carelessness, how could mere Tier-1 alien beasts have gotten close to me?"
"…I'm done. You're practically halfway into the grave already—can you not keep posturing?"
The others wore expressions of utter despair, unable to accept the reality of their impending deaths.
"God, I was wrong!"
"I officially withdraw from the Church of Atheism—please, send an angel down and save us!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Someone had already lost all hope and begun praying to the heavens, kowtowing furiously on the ground.
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