Chapter 131: Oceanic Creatures

"So strong…"

Only when Ding Huan's figure vanished beyond the steel defense line did Fan Yibing murmur to herself.

She had no idea Ding Huan hadn't relied on his own strength, but on the gene toxin mist he had crafted.

Nong Yizhen, who stood nearby watching the battle, looked pale; only now did he understand just how powerful the warrior Zhong Chi had spoken of truly was.

Zhu Qinjiang glanced at Nong Yizhen, his tone cold:

"Dean Nong, you've been clever all your life—why be foolish now? If not for Zhong Chi's plea, you'd already be dead."

Nong Yizhen took a deep breath; if he had still harbored resentment before, seeing Ding Huan withstand the demon dragon and then chase it down left him not a shred of defiance.

"Alas, I was blinded by profit."

At this point, he had no reason to hide it—hadn't his support for Shi Changyi and others been motivated by the Zhan Shen Crystal?

"So Zhong Chi earned Teacher Ding's friendship, while you merely escaped death by Teacher Ding's mercy."

Li Chuan chuckled.

He had no intention of sparing Nong Yizhen's face.

Nong Yizhen was dean of one of the Top Ten Academies of Blue Planet—he was too.

Continuous cries of dying beasts reached them; Fan Yibing finally snapped to awareness:

"Senior Zhong is clearing beasts outside—we must hurry to help."

The battle disc, struck by the demon dragon's claw, swayed violently, nearly tumbling beyond the defense wall; Zhong Chi broke into a cold sweat.

Fortunately, while his control over the battle disc was average, his adaptability was decent.

Seeing the demon dragon no longer pursued, Zhong Chi simply commanded the battle disc to fire cutting beams in all directions.

Inside the defense line, he had hesitated to risk harming allies; now, amid the beast horde, he had no such restraint.

The beams spewed from the battle disc relentlessly slaughtered every beast within sight; within moments, Zhong Chi's disc had killed hundreds of thousands of beasts.

Without the demon dragon's presence, many beasts, having seen their leader grievously wounded and fleeing, also began to flee.

One led to two.

One beast fleeing triggered nearly all the rest; after Zhong Chi slaughtered hundreds of thousands, the remaining beasts surged toward the Undersea Highway.

Zhong Chi had no intention of sparing these beasts—he simply drove the battle disc behind them, relentlessly pursuing and slaughtering.

Almost all the beasts of South America had gathered here; Zhong Chi's pursuit left piles of beast corpses along the Undersea Highway.

When Fan Yibing and others opened the steel gates of the defense line, they were stunned by the sea of dead beasts before them.

Since the battle against gene beasts began, humanity had never killed so many beasts at once.

"That's over a million, isn't it?"

Dou Qingzhi stared blankly at the endless piles of beast corpses stretching to the Undersea Highway, unable to help but speak.

"Likely more—Senior Zhong slaughtered all the way through; nearly all of South America's beasts may be extinct today."

Li Chuan said.

Fan Yibing immediately understood what she must do; without hesitation, she ordered the commander beside her:

"Open the Human Corridor defense line. Assign two armies to clean the battlefield; the rest follow me to reclaim South America."

With this order, South America—long seized by beasts—returned to human hands.

…

A Foundation Establishment demon dragon was different—it could fly.

Yet the demon dragon's speed slowed further, while Ding Huan, standing on his homemade wooden raft, accelerated ever faster.

Ding Huan was highly satisfied with his gene toxin mist; without it, he could never have defeated this demon dragon.

This demon dragon was a Foundation Establishment beast, and the gap between Foundation Establishment and non-Foundation Establishment was a vast chasm in Dao cultivation.

To defeat a demon dragon renowned for combat, he needed to reach Foundation Establishment.

Ding Huan feared the demon dragon might dive into the ocean.

Though he had left a spirit mark, whether he could still track it after it entered the sea remained uncertain.

Ding Huan soon realized he had worried needlessly—less than an hour later, the demon dragon plummeted from the sky.

Before the demon dragon could touch the water, Ding Huan raised his hand and slashed a wind blade toward it.

The demon dragon, once impenetrably tough, was effortlessly decapitated by Ding Huan.

Ding Huan's gaze fell upon the corpse; he found its meridians already dissolved, its insides reduced to sludge.

That it had reached this far was a miracle.

Such potent gene toxin mist.

Even Ding Huan himself was secretly startled—thankfully he had prepared the gene toxin mist in advance; otherwise, today would have been difficult.

Fortunately, Old Zhong had intervened in time; otherwise, he would never have had the chance to use the gene toxin mist.

Dragging the demon dragon's corpse to a nearby reef island, Ding Huan immediately extracted its core.

The core was intact; Ding Huan was satisfied—this demon dragon's core was far more valuable than the great owl's.

After stowing the core, Ding Huan tried to retrieve the dragon sinew—but found it already dissolving under the gene toxin mist.

The dragon scales were similarly corroded; though still usable now, he knew they would soon grow brittle.

He had been fast—if not, he might not have even obtained the core.

Pulling out his halberd from the demon dragon's body, Ding Huan dug a simple grave on the reef island and buried the beast there.

After all, it was the strongest creature on Earth—give it a dignified burial.

When Ding Huan returned to the Human Corridor defense line, he saw countless Federation soldiers pouring out along the Undersea Highway.

His spirit sense swept outward—the Undersea Highway was already piled high with the corpses of all manner of demonic beasts.

Looks like Zhong Chi did well—he'd driven the battle disc straight into South America.

Fan Yibing, as the overall commander of the frontline, naturally wouldn't miss this chance to eradicate the monstrous beasts completely, and directly ordered the Federation Army into South America to clean up the remnants.

"Teacher Ding, how is the demonic dragon?"

Dou Qingzhi had remained on the frontline; seeing Ding Huan approach, he hurried forward to ask.

"There will be no more demonic dragon," Ding Huan signaled for Dou Qingzhi to rest easy.

Dou Qingzhi was overjoyed:

"I'll notify General Fan right away. Let's celebrate here—starting today, Earth's fate will be in our own hands."

He had stayed behind specifically to wait for Ding Huan; everyone else had followed the Federation Army into South America.

Everyone who participated in this gene-monster extermination operation would gain boundless benefits; no one wanted to stay here.

Ding Huan waved his hand:

"I'm leaving. Tell Old Zhong to take care. Also, I'd like to ask Director Dou to help me with two things."

Dou Qingzhi answered with absolute decisiveness:

"Teacher Ding, give your orders—I'll get it done, whatever it takes."

Ding Huan didn't hesitate:

"Then thank you. First, I need some hide and blood from monstrous beasts—preferably from higher-grade ones."

Although he hadn't begun studying talismans yet, Ding Huan knew that demonic beast hide and blood were among the materials used to make them.

The journey into the cosmos will be long; having these materials will help pass the time.

Dou Qingzhi immediately waved his hand, and a transport soldier ran over.

"Go collect ten thousand monstrous beast hides, and gather the beast blood too. Remember—get higher-grade beasts."

"Yes." The soldier hurried off to carry out the order.

Ding Huan walked over to the giant gorilla and pulled it down from the spike on the wall.

In just a few motions, he peeled off the gorilla's hide and collected some of its blood.

The gorilla had been hanging there too long; there wasn't much blood left.

Dou Qingzhi walked over beside him:

"Teacher Ding, what's your second request?"

Ding Huan slashed with a wind blade, splitting open the gorilla's skull, revealing a demonic core.

Even Dou Qingzhi felt envy upon seeing it—this was the core of a Level Nine monstrous beast.

With such a core, not even selling it would be necessary; just keeping it nearby would draw endless envy.

But this core belonged to Ding Huan.

Whatever Ding Huan owned, no one dared claim it unless he spoke first.

Otherwise, even to deter monstrous beasts, the core would have been stolen from the hanging corpse.

"Director Dou, the second thing is this: after things here are settled, go to Luohe City."

"Behind Luohe University of Martial Arts stands a ten-thousand-year-old cypress. This tree is no ordinary thing—surround it with a radius of several kilometers and declare it a forbidden zone."

Ding Huan was certain the ten-thousand-year-old cypress had something strange about it; he always had a feeling it was waiting for him.

So he dared not go near it.

Dou Qingzhi laughed heartily:

"I thought it was something big—this small matter, Teacher Ding, rest assured, I'll handle it perfectly."

Ding Huan handed the giant gorilla's demonic core to Dou Qingzhi:

"Director Dou, I'm giving this to you."

"I can't accept this—it's yours, Teacher Ding," Dou Qingzhi quickly refused.

Ding Huan laughed:

"What I give to Director Dou, no one dares complain—just take it."

Hearing this, Dou Qingzhi no longer refused, and happily tucked the core away:

"Then thank you—I didn't expect staying here would bring me benefits."

After chatting with Dou Qingzhi for just a while, a pile of monstrous beast hides and over a dozen barrels of beast blood arrived.

Ding Huan didn't take all of it—only selected some to be sent aboard the Blue Star, then bid farewell to Dou Qingzhi.

He waved to Qu Yi and Qi Xinyue, who were waiting for him:

"Let's go, Qu Yi—you're coming back with me to Yiling City. This place isn't suitable for you."

He was about to leave Earth, and had no intention of saying goodbye to Zhong Chi.

Perhaps he'd never return in his lifetime—what meaning would "goodbye" hold?

Once aboard the Blue Star, Ding Huan spotted a dark, dull object.

"Big Brother Ding, this was delivered by Director Dou—he said it's what General Fan promised you," Qu Yi said.

"Hmm, General Fan is decent—she keeps her word. Let's head to Ocean Genetics first."

Ding Huan was very satisfied.

…

The headquarters of Ocean Genetics lies in the Ocean District outside Niulu City.

As one of the world's three largest biopharmaceutical companies, Ocean Genetics' strength rivals that of some nations.

Unlike other firms, Ocean Genetics is a classic family-run enterprise.

In the Ocean Genetics zone of Niulu City, a city-within-a-city has nearly formed.

When Ding Huan piloted the Blue Star here, it was just after work hours.

The dense crowds made it hard to believe this was a time of chaos.

The products of Ocean Bio are simply too popular—supply can't possibly meet demand.

Ding Huan landed the Blue Star at Ocean Bio's helipad, and immediately several security and staff members approached to inquire.

Because they had received no notice of any visitor arrival, this aircraft had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

In their eyes, the Blue Star was just an aircraft, albeit one with an unusual exterior.

"Where is your chairman?" Ding Huan asked casually of the security guard who came forward as he stepped down from the Blue Star.

"Who are you?" One guard blocked Ding Huan; another even drew a pistol and pointed it at him.

"I'm here to visit Wells."

Ding Huan walked smilingly toward Ocean Bio's tallest building, the Seven Stars Tower.

His spiritual sense had already scanned it—inside the Seven Stars Tower, a group of people were discussing something.

"Stop! If you don't stop, I'll shoot!"

Upon hearing Ding Huan say he was here to visit Wells, the guard with the pistol knew it was definitely a lie.

Ocean Bio was founded by Wells, but Wells had long since retired.

The current head of Ocean Bio is Wells's son, Wemajin, and his grandson, Anderson.

(That's all for today's update—please support with monthly votes! Good night, friends!)