Two monsters, one with the body of a bull and the other covered in red scales, appeared in the room.
The bull-headed monster curiously asked, "Master, where are we?"
Su Nan didn't answer the two monsters. Instead, he said in a deep voice, "If you don't want to die, cooperate with me now and let me imprint this bloodline servant mark on your bodies."
"Bloodline servant mark!" The two monsters were startled, but then they resigned themselves and said, "Master, please go ahead."
Su Nan didn't hesitate and controlled the two marks to imprint on the bodies of the two monsters.
As soon as the bloodline servant marks entered their bodies, the two monsters instinctively tried to resist them. Their blood boiled, and they attempted to expel the marks from their bodies. For a moment, the marks couldn't enter their bodies.
"You better cooperate, or you'll face the consequences," Su Nan's voice resounded, making the two monsters shiver. They knew that if they expelled the marks now, it would only lead to their deaths.
With gritted teeth, they suppressed their instincts and made an effort to accept the marks. After two minutes, the bloodline servant marks were finally completely imprinted on their bodies.
At the moment the bloodline servant marks took root in the two monsters' bodies, Su Nan immediately felt a subtle connection with them. He had a feeling that with a single thought, he could make the two monsters self-destruct. At this moment, he could even sense their emotions. He had successfully controlled the two monsters!
"Very good, you are now under my command, and I won't mistreat you," Su Nan said with a smile.
Although the two monsters were not very powerful, only at the mid-level of the Spiritual Grade, they were the first batch of his subordinates in this world. He would rely on them to build his influence in the future.
"What are your names?" Su Nan asked.
The bull-headed monster said, "Master, I'm called Niu Dadan."
The monster covered in red scales said, "Master, I'm called Jia Laoba."
Su Nan nodded and said, "Now that you are in the city of Tianyun, I want you to gather information about the distribution of monsters here."
"Tianyun County?" The two monsters were puzzled for a moment, but then they quickly responded, "Yes, Master!"
After the two monsters left, Su Nan checked the time and logged out of the game.
Today at midnight, the second phase of the public beta would begin. Players who had obtained the qualification for the game were eagerly waiting.
On the forum, new posts were being created every minute.
"A guild called the Nine Heavens Guild is recruiting members, and there's no limit to the number. If you're a brother, come join us. Coordinates: Red Mountain County!"
"The War God Guild..."
It seemed that all the major guilds were trying to recruit members to take advantage of the public beta. Even the Dream Guild, which was led by Bai Mengmeng, was recruiting. Due to Bai Mengmeng's top ranking in the leaderboards, many players were interested in joining, although the majority were female players, with only a few exceptional male players being considered.
However, what surprised Su Nan was that the most discussed topic under the Dream Guild's recruitment post was not Bai Mengmeng, but rather a discussion about him.
"I heard that Wang Nan, the great god, is also in Donglin City. I wonder if Bai Meng, the great god, knows him?"
"I'm sure Bai Meng, the great god, must know Wang Nan, the great god. Maybe Bai Meng, the great god, can enter the top ten rankings, all thanks to Wang Nan, the great god."
"Wang Nan, the great god, is really mysterious. It seems that no one has ever seen him in the game."
"The upstairs person might not know, but Wang Nan is currently being desperately sought after by the authorities. I heard that they've turned Donglin City upside down in their search for him."
"I heard that they are preparing to conduct a thorough investigation of everyone in Donglin City to find Wang Nan. A thorough investigation?"
Su Nan's heart sank. He had planned to leave Donglin City today according to his schedule, but the game world was too vast to carry with him. Moreover, he had two game bracelets on him, so if he left through normal channels, he would inevitably be subject to scrutiny. However, if he left through unconventional means, he would disappear without a trace, which would be just as suspicious as revealing his true identity.
"I need to wait for the game's public beta to get my storage ring before I can decide," Su Nan muttered to himself. He had seen the official announcement that the storage ring would be obtainable in the public beta, but he didn't know the specific requirements or methods for obtaining it.
Su Nan logged into the game.
In the game world, the time was the opposite of the real world. It was night in the game when it was daytime in reality.
Su Nan took out the Fire Spirit Soul and began his daily feeding ritual. With the full mastery of the Dual Serpent Bloodline, his control over the Fire Element had greatly increased. What used to take three minutes to feed now took five minutes, allowing him to absorb more power from the Fire Spirit Soul.
After five minutes, both the Fire Spirit Bloodline and the Serpent Bloodline had been completely consumed, and his spiritual energy began to rapidly replenish the Fire Element power.
He once again felt a stronger connection with the Fire Spirit Soul.
The flames within the crystal casing danced like a fire spirit, radiating joy towards Su Nan.
Given the frequent use of the foresight ability, Su Nan didn't hesitate to try again to refine the Fire Spirit Soul.
Unfortunately, there were no surprises this time, and he failed once more.
"I wonder if there's a way or a treasure that can speed up the refining process," Su Nan thought.
Based on the previous two attempts, Su Nan was not disappointed. He put away the Fire Spirit Soul and took out something else—a Dragon Turtle Egg.
During his time with Ji Changfeng and the others, he had never had the opportunity to try and replenish the vitality of the six dragon turtle eggs he had obtained as a quest reward. Now, he finally had the chance.
He first prepared a wooden basin large enough to hold all six dragon turtle eggs and filled it with water. Then, he took out the Life Source awarded as a quest reward.
"I hope this works," Su Nan muttered as he looked at the display.
Life Source was extremely precious and couldn't be wasted without certainty.
"You know that in order to hatch the six nearly lifeless dragon turtle eggs, you must first replenish their vitality."
"You take out the Life Source and plan to dilute it, using it to replenish the vitality of the six dragon turtle eggs."
"Life Source is a concentration of pure life force. As soon as a drop enters the water, a rich vitality instantly permeates the water."
"Your attempt has worked. One minute later, you notice that the six dragon turtle eggs have begun to change, slowly absorbing the vitality from the water."
"Two minutes later, the vitality of the six dragon turtle eggs begins to increase, and they start to absorb the vitality from the water at a faster rate."
"Three minutes later, the
six dragon turtle eggs, hungry for vitality, start to devour the vitality in the water."
"The first foresight ends. Do you want to continue?"
"Feasible!"
Su Nan breathed a sigh of relief, no longer hesitating. He broke the crystal containing the Life Source, and the emerald green liquid dripped into the water, releasing a surge of life force.
He waited in silence.
Three minutes passed, and the six stone-like dragon turtle eggs had become noticeably smoother on their petrified surfaces.
The vitality in the water remained extremely rich and hadn't decreased much. The six turtle eggs continued to greedily absorb the vitality.
More than ten minutes passed, and the rate at which the six eggs absorbed vitality gradually slowed down.
It wasn't that the vitality in the water had diminished; it was because the six eggs had become "full."
When the six eggs stopped absorbing vitality, Su Nan picked up one of them. At this moment, the egg looked completely different from before.
The stone-like outer shell had turned snowy white, and the interior was filled with a vibrant vitality.
[Dragon Turtle Egg: A dragon turtle egg that has remained unhatched for hundreds of years. With the infusion of life force, it can be hatched when placed in a suitable location.]
The description of the dragon turtle egg had changed. It was no longer described as an egg with nearly depleted vitality.
"The first step is complete," Su Nan sighed in relief.
Fortunately, he had the Life Source, or he wouldn't know how long it would take to complete this step.
He collected all six turtle eggs and then looked at the water they had been soaking in. Su Nan's eyes lit up.
Although most of the vitality in the water had been absorbed by the six dragon turtle eggs, there was still a small portion left.
Don't underestimate this small portion; its richness far exceeded the vitality replenishing potions he had seen in the Tian Gong Pavilion in Jiuting County.
He couldn't help taking a sip.
Instantly, the rich vitality burst within him, and he felt invigorated with each breath.
It was easy to imagine that if he were heavily injured right now, he would recover quickly.
The vitality surged within him, seemingly searching for a purpose, and ultimately flowed toward his spiritual energy.
His spiritual energy also welcomed it eagerly, devouring the vitality like a delicious meal.
In a moment, his spiritual energy increased by almost half.
"Vitality can be converted into spiritual energy!" Su Nan's eyes brightened.
While spiritual energy couldn't compare to elemental energy, it was still not far off.
For other martial practitioners in the Secret Energy system, spiritual energy was mainly used to restore physical strength, heal injuries, and recover elemental energy and mental power.
But for him, it had even more uses.
He could fully utilize the conversion between spiritual energy and elemental energy to enhance his recovery of other powers.
"Not bad, this is a good thing."
"In future battles with monsters, as long as I have sufficient vitality, I won't fear running out of power."
Looking at the water in the basin, Su Nan planned to buy a few jade bottles.
A wooden basin couldn't contain the escaping vitality in the water. Only by using jade bottles could it be better preserved.
He temporarily stored away the wooden basin, changing its appearance. Then, he headed back to the Tian Gong Pavilion.
At night, Tianyun County City was like two completely different cities compared to daytime.
While it was bustling during the day, it was eerily quiet at night.
The streets were deserted, devoid of pedestrians, resembling a ghost town. Even if there were occasional figures, they were all martial practitioners.
The Tian Gong Pavilion was one of the few places still in operation, but it was a far cry from its daytime business.
After more than ten minutes.
Su Nan left the Tian Gong Pavilion once again.
In his hand, he held a piece of paper, and in his storage ring, there were two fewer bodies of spirit-level monsters!
"In ancient times, there were twelve auspicious beasts, conceived by the fortune of heaven and earth. Due to the limited capacity of heaven and earth, only one of each auspicious beast can exist in the world. When an old auspicious beast dies, a new one can be born."
"The Black Tortoise is one of the twelve auspicious beasts, born in places rich in water element energy, possessing the ability to control the essence of water."
Compared to the description of the Fire Spirit Soul, the description of the Black Tortoise was shorter but the price was higher.
"Only one of each auspicious beast can exist!"
"Doesn't that mean that out of my six dragon turtle eggs, only one can hatch?"
After reading the description, Su Nan's face didn't look good.
He had just replenished the vitality of all six eggs, and now he was told that only one could hatch.
It seemed like he had wasted a considerable amount of vitality for nothing.
"The Black Tortoise is born in places rich in water element energy? It seems I'll need to find a location with abundant water element energy to hatch the dragon turtle eggs."
"Where in Tianyun City can I find such a place?"
Su Nan wanted to return to the Tian Gong Pavilion to buy information about locations rich in water element energy, but he restrained himself.
He had just bought information related to dragon turtles, and if he immediately bought information about places with abundant water element energy, it would be too obvious that he possessed dragon turtle eggs.
Even if he changed his appearance, it could still raise suspicion.
"I wonder if there are any lakes or rivers nearby Tianyun City where water element energy is abundant."
Even if he didn't know where it was rich in water element energy, he could be certain that such a place would likely be a lake or river.
As he was thinking about it, he suddenly sensed a feeling of fear from the two monster subordinates, Niu Dadan and Jia Laoba, through their connection with him.
"What's going on?"
"Are those two monsters in danger?" Su Nan furrowed his brows.
To make two mid-level spiritual-grade monsters like them afraid, the adversary had to be at least at the peak of the spiritual-grade level.
"Alright, today's routine of hunting monsters hasn't been done yet. Let me see who dares to harm my people."
After transforming into Lang Shisan's appearance, he quickly followed the connection between himself and the two monsters.
At the same time, he used a foresight opportunity cautiously.
On a street called Wenshang Road in the northern part of Tianyun City.
A horned monster had blocked the path of two other monsters.
"I've seen the spiritual-grade monsters of Tianyun County, and you two are not from here. Where are you from?" The horned monster asked.
The two monsters who were stopped were Niu Dadan and Jia Laoba.
Niu Dadan replied, "We are here on the orders of our master, passing through this area. Senior, there's no need to make things difficult for us."
"Our master?" Hearing this, the horned monster was taken aback.
Both of them were spiritual-grade monsters, and the person who could control them was likely of the Profound Grade!
"Who is your master?" the horned monster asked.
The two monsters exchanged a glance and replied, "Our master is from the Skywolf Clan."
They didn't mention Su Nan's name because they knew that even if they did, the horned monster probably wouldn't have heard of him.
Instead, the reputation of the Skywolf Clan carried more weight.
(End of this chapter)