The Storm Valkyrie, with the support of Yue Yang, Xue Wuxia, and Princess Qianqian, hammered away for a full day straight and finally defeated the battered Volcanic Whale.

The Volcanic Whale had meant to hold out to the death, unyielding.

But the punishment it was taking was simply unbearable. The Storm Valkyrie was practically freezing it into a salted fish, and the most terrifying part was the torment of classmate Yue Yang’s minor law power combined with Pandora’s Box. Under the double assault of the minor law power and the Calamity god-force, the Volcanic Whale could neither live nor die, trapped without end in Yue Yang’s assorted experiments. In the end, seeing that Gray Wolf — that fellow — had swallowed the anglerfish whole and still wasn’t satisfied, looking every bit like it meant to gulp down another one, the Sky-rank demon beast had no choice but to lower its head and concede defeat to the Storm Valkyrie.

Xiao Wenli, who had gone after the Blazing Divine Eagle, finished her fight far faster than the Storm Valkyrie had.

The Blazing Divine Eagle, being fairly intelligent, knew there was no escaping this calamity.

Caught again and again by Xiao Wenli’s binding gift and left wounded, with no power at all to fight back, it let out a mournful cry and surrendered early.

The Chaos Phantom was single-mindedly devouring fire energy, and though the two Ghost-Fire Crows were willing to surrender, she paid them no heed — slaughtering volcanic elementals the whole way as she chased into the sea of fire, hunting the two Ghost-Fire Crows like a fish taking to water. Had she not been delayed a little along the way killing volcanic elementals, the two Ghost-Fire Crows would likely have lost their little lives.

Terrified, the two Ghost-Fire Crows swung wide in a great circle and fled to Yue Yang’s side, seeking his protection.

Faced with an opponent like the Chaos Phantom, if they didn’t surrender —

there was only one outcome.

That was to be devoured outright.

“A pity — we didn’t get any more information…” What Yue Yang wanted most wasn’t a few Sky-rank battle beasts, but more of the ancient secrets. Secrets about the six divine artifacts and the ancient runes above all — the more, the better.

“Take it slow. Perhaps only after we enter the Ruins of the Gods will we truly open the secret door to the ancient era,” Xue Wuxia comforted him softly.

“So what are we going to do with these battle beasts?” Princess Qianqian raised the question. Taking them out was a given; leaving them behind would be like releasing tigers back into the mountains, and of course Yue Yang would never do such a thing. The trouble was, beasts like the Volcanic Whale, the Fire Dragon Eel, the Blazing Divine Eagle, and the Ghost-Fire Crows were not only high-ranked but fully mature bodies, with almost no cultivation value left — after all, not every battle beast had the good fortune to enter the Rebirth Gate in the Beast Valley.

For Yue Yang, these beasts were fine for now and could make do, but before long they would surely pale beside beasts of limitless potential like Gray Wolf and the Chaos Phantom.

Yue Yang also disliked battle beasts whose strengths and weaknesses were both so glaring.

Their sheer, colossal size alone was enough to kill any interest he had in raising them.

The beasts that had surrendered — the Volcanic Whale and the Fire Dragon Eel, for instance — were all large or ultra-gigantic types.

Cultivation aside, if he brought them out and set them loose on the Longteng continent, it would be a real headache — beasts this powerful and this enormous would touch off an earthquake just by rolling over, throwing all sorts of places into chaos.

So even if he did take them out, he couldn’t put them on the Longteng continent.

And if he put them in the Heavenly Realm, one day they might just run off.

That wouldn’t be good either.

After turning it over in his mind, Yue Yang decided to park these “accidental” acquisitions in the “Thunder Fortress” on the sixth floor of the Sky Tower for the time being — the surface of the lava lakes there would be a paradise for them to live in.

“This thing is enormous — terrifying! But impressive, too. Sky-rank tier six, and an ultra-gigantic battle beast at that — trot this fellow out for show and it’d be absolutely first-class!” To Yue Yang’s surprise, the old codgers — Old Fox, Jun Wuyou, and the rest — all rushed over to the Thunder Fortress to gawk the moment they heard the news. Had Yue Yang not objected, they’d have wanted to invite the Volcanic Whale — which sent up a kilometer-high splash of lava with the slightest shift of its body — back to settle on the Longteng continent.

“Master is truly magnificent…” The fat toad Jude trembled all over with excitement.

As Yue Yang’s servant, its own standing rose with the tide.

Not just the merchants who wanted something from it — even Innate warriors would give it a courteous nod when they saw it.

Because Yue Yang’s haul this time was so rich, Elder Nangong, Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor, the Underworld Emperor, and others came to have a look as well. When they saw that, on top of subduing a Volcanic Whale several kilometers long, Yue Yang had also captured a Blazing Divine Eagle and a Deep-Sea Fire Dragon Eel — and even two Ghost-Fire Crows that, for all their Sky-rank tier two strength, were as timid as mice…

In the end, Tianzhu traded away the Heaven Devil Hall’s signature treasure, the “Grand Celestial Demon Pearl,” in exchange for these two Ghost-Fire Crows, to be given to Tianjian — the newly Sky-ranked number-two powerhouse of the Celestial Demon people.

The Underworld Emperor watched and drooled; he wanted to make a trade too.

But his own treasure, the “Eye of the Underworld,” was only a Sacred-rank item — nowhere near as potent as a sub-divine artifact like the Grand Celestial Demon Pearl — so he could only look on, helpless, as Tianjian formed a contract with the Ghost-Fire Crows. As for the Fire Dragon Eel and the Blazing Divine Eagle, those he couldn’t even set his mind to: both were too strong and too intelligent, and he had no confidence he could fully subdue them. They might well betray him and flee one day, and by then he wouldn’t have any tears left to cry. Yue Yang, for his part, had taken an interest in the “Eye of the Underworld,” and thumping his chest, he gave the Underworld Emperor his word that he would definitely find him a beast that was both powerful and worth cultivating.

The Great Demon King Barut, who arrived a step late, also wanted to trade Yue Yang for a battle beast.

But he wanted nothing else — he wanted a black dragon.

He even claimed that riding a black dragon was a Demon King tradition handed down from the ancient era… As if a black dragon were so easy to ride? Yue Yang, having pocketed the “Demon Bottle,” held his tongue and let it slide.

“Because of my cultivation, I won’t be heading straight to the Trial Grounds just yet. I’ll be knocking around the Heavenly Realm these next few days, and if I come across a suitable battle beast, I’ll be sure to keep you in mind. Trust my eye — I guarantee I won’t steer you wrong!” Yue Yang chuckled to himself: so these old codgers had quite a few treasures on them after all — he’d simply have to squeeze them harder to wring the rest out.

“Cultivation is still what matters most — just let these things take their natural course!” What Elder Nangong valued above all was Yue Yang himself, and he urged him not to let it distract him too much.

“Of course, of course, I’ll look when I have the time. Still, I’m certain a suitable battle beast will fall into my hands before long!” The Underworld Emperor had enormous faith in Yue Yang. Had Yue Yang told him the truth — that the tier-eight Perfect Innate Sovereign, the Inferno Sovereign, held an utterly invincible advantage within a sea of fire — it would surely have scared him half to death.

“Does no one really want the Fire Dragon Eel and the Blazing Divine Eagle?” Yue Yang made one last sales pitch.

“Powerful is all well and good, but they’re far too intelligent, and an intelligent, fully grown battle beast is very hard to truly tame.” The Dragon Emperor even hinted that if Yue Yang didn’t intend to contract them, he’d do best to kill them and spare himself future trouble.

The Deep-Sea Fire Dragon Eel and the Blazing Divine Eagle, these two beasts, did possess a certain intelligence, but there was no chance of raising them into Sacred Beasts.

Of course, they still held a little cultivation value.

The Chaos Phantom had been itching to eat them all along, to absorb their fire energy, but Yue Yang wouldn’t give her the chance — instead he had the Quasi-Elemental-bodied Death Reaper Mantis girl contract the pair of them. The Death Reaper Mantis girl, plus the two great beasts — and should she one day advance to Divine Beast — with all three joining forces and coordinating with one another, they’d be able to hold their own down the road. This was the best solution Yue Yang finally hit upon: one small beast leading two large ones. So long as their attributes weren’t mutually opposed, enemies were sure to find them quite the headache!

Gray Wolf’s belly was bloated and swollen, and no one had any idea it had swallowed a giant, grotesque-faced anglerfish.

Even now it still hadn’t finished digesting the thing.

Everyone else had been too busy ogling the captured battle beasts to pay it any attention.

It wasn’t until they returned to the Heaven’s Web Imperial Palace that little Shuang’er noticed something was off about the doggy.

“Big brother, what on earth is wrong with the doggy? Look — did it eat something it shouldn’t have? Why can’t it even close its mouth?” Yue Shuang stood up on her tiptoes and, with a bit of effort, stroked Gray Wolf’s forehead.

“This is what gluttony gets you!” The instant Yue Yang said it, little Shuang’er went white as a sheet.

In a certain respect, the little girl’s fondness for snacks could rival Gray Wolf’s gluttony outright.

The moment she heard that gluttony could leave you in such a state, she hurriedly clapped a hand over her little mouth, terrified that hers might end up like Gray Wolf’s — the jaw dislocated so long that the mouth was damaged, so that for a while it couldn’t close no matter how it tried.

Gray Wolf’s mouth hung crooked, but it was quite pleased with itself all the same — not just anyone could swallow a Sky-rank tier four anglerfish.

Once it digested this anglerfish, its strength was certain to take a great leap forward.

A crooked mouth for a few days was nothing at all!

“What? You don’t even want candy?” Yue Yang produced some candy to tempt the little girl the way he always did, but, afraid that eating too much would leave her unable to close her mouth like Gray Wolf, she refused for all she was worth, so nearly bursting into tears. In the end, it was Xue Wuxia who took her off to find Fourth Mother, and only then did Yue Yang get some peace. Princess Qianqian, on the pretext of not disturbing Yue Yang’s cultivation, cheerfully carried the Qiluo Umbrella off to find Yue Yu.

“Study it at your leisure, and if you turn up any secrets, we’ll discuss them then.” Princess Qianqian left with a light, brisk step, plainly in excellent spirits.

“The Grand Celestial Demon Pearl really is a fine thing! The Eye of the Underworld isn’t bad either — and even this Demon Bottle Barut gave me carries a strange sort of energy. They all seem to be treasures from the ancient era; this is a good chance to study them.” Yue Yang had originally meant to pore over and thoroughly puzzle out the ancient flame-rune array the Inferno Sovereign had drawn, but the Sick Beauty and Yue Yu were both out, and unwilling to waste time later going over it all again with them, he simply decided to wait until they returned. As for the Grand Celestial Demon Pearl he’d obtained in exchange for the Ghost-Fire Crows, Yue Yang couldn’t make out any deeper secrets in it for the moment — but he did notice that the Eye of the Underworld somehow seemed as though it could be set into the hollow at the center of the Twin Masks’ brow.

Could it be that the hollow at the Twin Masks’ brow was meant, at its center, to hold an eye?

Because of its seal, the Twin Masks had originally been nothing more than a Gold-rank treasure.

After Yue Yang had burned and reshaped its surface many times over with Nirvana Flames, the battered, broken thing had recovered almost completely, its power now approaching the sub-divine artifact tier.

The brow area that Yue Yang had taken for a fractured gap actually held a perfectly formed circular hollow. He had tried everything, yet never found a filler that fit, and had assumed the central piece had been shattered and lost. It wasn’t until the Underworld Emperor brought out the Underworld clan’s treasure, the “Eye of the Underworld,” and Yue Yang set the two side by side, that he discovered, to his astonishment, that it really did seem to fit.

This pair of Twin Masks still had one last seal that had yet to be undone — so just what kind of secret did it still hold hidden within?

The truth — what could it possibly be?

(End of Chapter 893)