Chapter 197: 197.Chapter 195: The Monster Race Emerges, Shocking the World

197. Chapter 195: The Monster Race Emerges, Shocking the World

The deep forest was shrouded in mist like a white dragon piercing the azure sea, a faint deep-green shadow visible within, as if an emperor sat enthroned; the northeastern tigers and other animals had their pupils gleaming with sharp light, standing upright on both sides.

The village chief prostrated himself devoutly on the ground, while beside him lay priceless ancient artifacts.

Ye Qin extended a few strands of his mental energy, sweeping over the artifacts; he had expected at least to find something bearing the traces of time, but no ripple came from the air.

Just as he was about to withdraw his mental energy, a flicker of doubt crossed his expression.

"Huh."

As his words fell, a piece of black jade floated up from among the artifacts, flying toward the depths of the mist.

This jade piece was pitch black all over, emitting a dark luster, carved into the shape of a swimming fish; at first glance, it also seemed to have a river of stars flowing through it, exquisitely beautiful to the utmost.

What attracted Ye Qin was not its unique appearance, but the aura emanating from within.

Ye Qin couldn't help but marvel, "What a strange temporal fluctuation—I've never sensed anything like it before; if I weren't careful, I might have overlooked it."

It turned out he sensed in this jade a fragment resembling the mottled flow of time.

"That's interesting."

Logically, this object should have met the conditions to form a temporal thread, yet it couldn't fully connect—truly strange, and the first time Ye Qin had encountered such a thing.

Ye Qin released more mental energy, carefully sensing the differences; white light enveloped the black jade, and the fish seemed to come alive, swimming continuously in midair.

"So that's how it is."

After his deduction, he realized the artifact was incomplete; the black jade was only a part, and because a piece was missing, this phenomenon occurred.

Only by fully joining the two parts could the temporal fragment within be activated.

This time the temporal fragment was especially peculiar, piquing Ye Qin's curiosity; he was determined to see what secrets it held.

"This black fish-shaped jade isn't complete; do you know where the other part went?"

Faced with Ye Qin's question, the village chief racked his memory; thanks to his decent recall, the transaction details on his computer noted roughly, "It should be in the British Museum."

"The British Museum."

Ye Qin fell into thought; he had previously employed the skilled thief Zhao Guo'an and a weasel together to search for artifacts bearing temporal aura.

However, considering the conditions at the time and their abilities, they could only bring back one item.

But now things are different; the animals' cultivation has reached perfection—if they took action, they could likely move the entire British Museum's collection back.

Moreover, Ye Qin now fears no emergence and no longer dreads humanity.

"Perhaps the time has come."

A remark out of the blue left the village chief puzzled, yet he felt a vague intuition that the Mountain God might be planning something major.

As he was pondering, the Mountain God's voice sounded again: "Just go back and wait for my orders."

After the village chief left, Ye Qin's gaze fell upon those animals.

"I need you to do something for me."

No sooner had he spoken than a low tiger's roar rose; the northeastern tiger thumped its chest, presenting a formidable appearance.

Ye Qin's gaze drifted into the void, carrying an air of profound mystery: "I want you to go to the British Museum."

"Roar!"

The northeastern tiger's roar shook heaven and earth, instantly startling countless birds; from the sound alone one could hear its excitement and exhilaration.

Ye Qin's mental energy blanketed the whole mountain; upon receiving the news, whether flying in the sky or swimming in the water, at that moment all the forest's animals boiled over.

Since the villagers emerged, the animals have been eager to show themselves, and now the time for their appearance has come.

The animals faithfully followed Ye Qin's orders and teachings, training constantly in the mountains; they rarely came down, and when they did, they merely wandered near the village.

Cultivation can raise one's cultivation level and realm, which is good, but day after day it inevitably grows tedious.

Now, having received Ye Qin's approval, they can go down the mountain openly, even crossing the sea abroad; one can imagine how delighted they would be.

Naturally, Ye Qin wouldn't let all the animals pour out at once; those who usually slacked in cultivation and lacked the realm were naturally filtered out.

Although this endeavor is to train the animals, it also requires bringing back artifacts, and the operation cannot afford failure.

Some animals regretted it so much their guts turned green, resenting their usual laziness for preventing them from going out with the others to see the world.

Needless to say, the northeastern tiger, along with foxes, weasels, and jackals, all belong to the ranks; the sky's flying creatures are indispensable as well, such as peregrine falcons, eagles, and red-footed falcons.

The most unfortunate are the aquatic animals; due to environmental limits they cannot stay long on land, so only a few go, and only that old turtle succeeded, joining the others.

Amid the envious gazes of fish and shrimp, the old turtle slowly crawled out; as an amphibian, using it as a carrier to transport the animals across the ocean is naturally the best option.

The animals Ye Qin selected each know magical arts and divine abilities; moreover, there are still spare talismans and dharma implements, which he also provides for them.

For this purpose he specially refined a spatial storage dharma implement, so that everything can be stored inside, including those artifacts from the British Museum.

Once everything was ready, the animals set out on their journey; their troupe was so huge that even a single northeastern tiger would draw attention, so they could only move at night.

The sun set behind the western hills, the afterglow dragging a long tail across the sky; the outlines of the green mountains grew hazy, distant peaks like ink, and the villages at the mountain's foot lit their lamps.

After the mountain-dwelling animals finished their preparations, they too set out on the road.

Ye Qin stood on the highest ground, seeing them off; after the northeastern tiger led the animals away, the formerly lively forest fell silent all at once.

Now Ye Qin has only a few animals left beside him, all of whom stayed behind due to insufficient realm and cultivation level, their beast eyes enviously watching the departing animals' backs.

Sensing their despondency, Ye Qin said lightly, "Keep training diligently, and you too will have a chance."

Upon hearing Ye Qin's comforting words, the originally dispirited animals instantly perked up.

"Squeak!"

The North Sea, this is the maritime area nearest to Wu Du, located in the southern part of Guangsheng.

The azure sky reflected the clear seawater; a giant sapphire sparkled with rippling light, the waves edged with silver edging woven from wave patterns, striking the reefs and rolling up countless white snowflakes.

Seabirds leisurely flew over the sea surface, their long beaks suddenly plunging into the water; in the flash of lightning and stone, they snatched up several small silver fish.

Just as they were about to enjoy their tasty morsel, a sharp cry rang out from the air.

"Chirp!"

Those seabirds sensed a powerful aura, suddenly flapped their wings and left this place, not even bothering that the small fish in their mouths had fallen out.

Several tiny black dots appeared in the sky, at their lead was a huge blue eagle.

Its deep-gray feathers shone in the sunlight, like sturdy armor covering its whole body, its sharp, hook-tipped claws comparable to the hardest divine weapons.

Its eyes flashed with a sharp light, and combined with its massive size, it was simply chilling.

Blue eagles usually inhabit plains or forested mountains, so seeing one over the sea is utterly unbelievable, and behind it followed red falcons, eagles and other raptors!

Anyone who saw them would find it utterly strange, because the sea is not where they live.

The waves on the sea surface grew increasingly turbulent, as something approached; on the azure water appeared ancient patterns, as if mountains and rivers were imprinted within.

When it drew near and became clear, it was a huge blue-green turtle shell! Most astonishingly, the shell was covered with yellow weasels, foxes, jackals and similar animals.

In front of them was a peculiarly shaped boat, gleaming with a bright white light, inside which many animals stood, led by the Northeast Tiger!

Besides that, there were dharma implements similar to jade tablets and plates, all enlarged versions; apart from the flying birds, the animals of Longyuan Mountain, with the old turtle's help, either rode these implements and managed to cross the ocean!

The Northeast Tiger stood at the prow; as the sea wind blew, its fur all stood on end, its eyes sharp and spirited, its whole body exuding a pressure and aura that made all creatures in this sea area dare not approach.

As the helmsman, it could sense human auras nearby and completely avoid human shipping lanes, ensuring they would encounter no humans on this journey!

At the same time, these dharma implements themselves had a certain shielding function, able to block human signals and detection; thus this special team sailed across the sea without attracting anyone's notice.

Unbeknownst to them, they traveled all the way and finally arrived in Y Country.

Here in Y Country it was already deep night.

Night fell; compared to the daytime hustle and bustle, the British Museum was now silent to the extreme, only hearing the guards' pattering footsteps echoing in the empty corridors.

Since the previous theft incident, the surrounding guards had been increased considerably, though fortunately no similar incidents occurred afterward.

Tonight the sky was especially low, with no light in sight, the surroundings utterly silent, not a single insect chirp or bird call.

The guards on patrol didn't notice that, not far away in the bushes, countless faint lights suddenly flared up, only to vanish in an instant.

Unnoticed, a thin layer of mist rose; a guard noticed and frowned, 'How did the mist suddenly appear?'

Originally they thought the mist would soon dissipate, but it grew thicker and thicker; even with flashlights they could barely see a small patch of ground beneath their feet.

Everyone inexplicably felt uneasy.

"Everyone be careful, stay alert, guard against anyone sneaking in under this opportunity."

Hardly had the words finished when they saw a nearby companion suddenly widen his eyes, as if seeing a ghost; from fear his features twisted, he pointed trembling at his own back, like a patient having a seizure.

"What's wrong with you!"

He turned his head, saw the scene behind him clearly, and instantly cold sweat poured from his forehead, finally understanding why his companion had just made that expression.

All he saw was countless clusters of green ghost fire appearing deep in the mist!

Those ghost fires varied in size, floating in midair, truly bizarre to the extreme; unnoticed, they had already been surrounded by the ghost fires.

"What the hell is this!"

Those ghost fires also detected their exposure, sped up, almost flashing before their eyes; they faintly heard a strong wind rushing, something drifting past beside them.

Everyone hurriedly dodged in panic; the ghost fires had no attack intent for the moment, and at close range a few golden animal hairs drifted down slowly from midair.

Before they could understand what had happened.

"Beep beep beep!"

The museum's alarm system blared a piercing siren, accompanied by a clattering noise—the sound of shattering glass!

All the guards' faces changed; they rushed inside, and after seeing the scene clearly, everyone stood frozen in place.

The display cases that originally held precious artifacts were all empty, the floor littered with broken glass, obviously forced open by violence, and the nearby cabinets bore sharp claw marks.

Not far away, several jackals extended their sharp claws and teeth; a cold light flashed in the air, and the cabinet's glass shattered instantly.

Everyone couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air, knowing this glass was made of special material, even bullets could not penetrate it.

But under the jackals' claws, it was no different from fragile white paper.

Before they could recover from the great shock, several yellow shadows snatched the artifacts and vanished from sight.

The culprit needed no explanation; at this moment they finally understood what the ghost fires they saw in the mist were.

These animals had clear division of labor, seamless coordination, and the whole process took only a few seconds.

Just by entering this Asian exhibition hall, the artifacts had already disappeared by more than half; the guards' faces were grim to the extreme, "What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and stop these animals!"

No wonder they were so shocked; the scene before them completely overturned their worldview.

"Roar!"

Only a tiger's roar was heard, and the whole ground trembled with it.

Seeing the white-furred, tiger with a hanging forehead appear before them, everyone's faces showed disbelief, as if they were hallucinating.

A huge shadow loomed over their heads; a tiger as tall as a small mountain appeared before them, the king character on its forehead mighty and imposing, its sharp fangs able to bite through their throats in one snap, bringing immense pressure upon them.

The pressure of the king of the forest is not something anyone can face directly, let alone now that the Northeast Tiger's realm and cultivation level are laid out here, though compared to Ye Qin the difference is truly enormous.

Yet it was more than enough to intimidate these humans.

If one said those earlier jackals, yellow weasels and such merely surprised them, the sudden appearance of the tiger brought them only shadow and fear.

The guards couldn't care about anything else; in immense terror they grabbed their guns and fired wildly.

"Bang bang bang!"

The next second, something that shattered their eyeballs happened again.

That tiger's speed was unbelievably fast, nimbly dodging the bullets fired at it.

"Roar!"

Again came a deafening roar, only to see the tiger's mouth actually spew out a fireball!

Having thought what they had seen already was fantastical enough, they didn't expect something even more fantastical to follow; that fireball split into many in the air and lunged fiercely at them.

For a moment the guards were flustered, busy putting out the fire, unable to attend to the tiger.

The originally quiet museum was now in chaos, lights blazing bright as daytime.

Several guards, trembling with fear, hid in the corner, picked up their communicators, and reported the situation to their superiors.

"The British Museum requests support! We're being attacked by monsters here!"

After receiving the message, the local government thought it was a prank, but seeing the location displayed, it was indeed the British Museum area.

"Monster attack? How is that possible!"

The guards also knew this was hard to believe: "This is footage filmed on the scene; you'll know after watching it. Send people over quickly—we can't hold out much longer!"

A faint tiger's roar could be heard from the other side, and then the communication was unilaterally cut off.

Government officials stared at each other, then immediately opened the video sent over.

Looking at the content on the screen, everyone thought they hadn't woken up.

Countless animals gathered inside the museum; those who didn't know thought it was a zoo.

The key is that these animals' methods are all extraordinary; jackals' sharp claws can easily shatter special glass, and some animals can even fire balls of flame and lightning—things beyond scientific reason.

Such a scene, which would only appear in novels or movies, is now unfolding right before their eyes.

Everyone's mouths fell open, "Monsters, monsters!"

"Quickly notify the mayor—something big has happened at the museum!"

No wonder the people at the museum said they were attacked by monsters.

The museum's guard forces, in the face of these animals, were utterly inadequate—nothing but punching bags.

After receiving the news, the mayor's face turned grim; realizing the gravity, he immediately issued an order: "Quickly mobilize nearby military forces and rush to support the museum!"

The remaining guards in the museum were still putting up a desperate resistance, but the animals were simply too fierce—some could spit fireballs, some could release lightning, and some could shoot water arrows, making defense impossible.

They could even dodge bullets; after the struggle, aside from losing some fur, they were unharmed, while the museum side suffered heavy casualties.

The Northeast Tiger's gaze fell upon empty space, as if sensing something.

"Roar!"

As he let out his roar, those animals also lost the will to fight, scattering to the museum's exterior and vanishing into the night—no matter how the guards tried to stop them, they couldn't.

With the departure of that animal army, only a mess-strewn museum and an empty exhibition hall remained.

The exhibition hall's person in charge rushed over upon hearing the news; seeing the empty museum, his knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground.

"It's over! Completely over!"

"A museum without artifacts—can it still be called the British Museum?" (End of chapter)