Chapter 684: Heaven

The remaining small area was cleared by Xu Jingming in less than two hours, yielding 18 liters of Divine Blood from the Thunder Tyrant King.

Altogether, the Divine Blood collected amounted to nearly 500 liters!

"Five hundred liters of Divine Blood—I wonder how much my physical body will strengthen after consuming it!"

Xu Jingming's eyes burned with an unprecedented fervor.

Of course, before consuming the Divine Blood, he must first find a relatively safe location.

Just as Xu Jingming prepared to find a place to consume the Divine Blood, Ling Shuang, barely seventy kilometers away in the depths of the wilderness, was about to reach her destination.

Beneath the blazing sun, she wore a tight black combat suit, barefoot, with no combat boots on her feet.

Yet her pale feet did not touch the ground directly—they hovered ten centimeters above the surface.

Each step propelled her forward by over ten meters, her body light as a swallow thanks to her Spatial Ability.

"Along this entire journey, I didn't encounter a single eighth-rank Crimson Flame Snake..."

A faint frown of confusion crossed Ling Shuang's delicate, pale face.

This was her sixth day in the wilderness; she had already penetrated over six hundred kilometers into its depths.

Although eighth-rank Crimson Flame Snakes were rare, there should still have been some traces of them.

Yet along this entire path, not only had she seen no Crimson Flame Snakes, she had barely encountered any beast controlling fire-element abilities.

That was why she had pressed onward, heading toward the location recorded in her mission intel.

"Less than five kilometers left—should be close."

Thinking this, Ling Shuang slightly quickened her pace.

But the closer she got to her destination, the more something felt wrong.

Crimson Flame Snakes were eighth-rank fire-element beasts, preferring dry environments, especially soaking in magma.

Even without natural magma, an eighth-rank Crimson Flame Snake could easily create its own.

Though the wilderness plants were tough, most could not survive near magma.

Thus, the closer one got to a Crimson Flame Snake's territory, the sparser the vegetation should become.

Yet now, with less than one kilometer remaining, the surrounding plants remained lush and dense.

She could not even smell the distinctive sulfur odor of magma; the air's temperature and humidity remained perfectly normal.

"This is not the characteristic behavior of a normal fire-element beast's territory."

Ling Shuang's gaze sharpened; she drew her SSS-grade alloy short sword from her space ring and approached her destination with heightened caution.

When she finally arrived, she found the place utterly empty—identical to any other part of the wilderness, with not a trace of an eighth-rank Crimson Flame Snake.

"What's going on? Did the mission intel get corrupted?" Ling Shuang frowned sharply.

But logically, that shouldn't be possible—this was an eighth-rank Grand Master-level mission from Thunder Martial Hall.

Even Director Liu Shan would never fabricate such a mission.

After all, reporting this to Su Qingli would make Liu Shan suffer greatly.

"Roar—"

Suddenly, a beast's roar echoed from not far ahead.

Unlike the usual savage, bloodthirsty cries of ordinary beasts, this roar was calm, almost dull, and not particularly loud.

Yet Ling Shuang's face turned pale.

Space had been frozen.

As a Spatial Ability user with an S-rank ability, when activated,

the surrounding space felt like a pond, and she, a nimble little fish, could freely swim, teleport, and move through it.

But now, that pond had frozen into solid ice—she could no longer move freely.

Shhh—

The space ahead blurred, then a beast was teleported into view.

The beast resembled a wolf, but its fur was an unusual pure white.

Five sharp horns protruded from its head, like a crown.

Unlike the crimson eyes of ordinary beasts, its eyes held no trace of red.

Instead, they were clear and profound, as if holding a starry sky within.

Though merely a beast, it radiated the refined, otherworldly aura of a human sage.

"Ninth-rank Beast Sovereign—Cangkong White Wolf!" Ling Shuang's face turned deathly pale.

Like human Ability users, beast clans also contained beasts with diverse powers.

The Cangkong White Wolf was one such beast clan; most had no special abilities.

They relied solely on their thick hides and tough bodies in battle, ranking among the weakest in the beast clans.

Yet a tiny fraction of Cangkong White Wolves would naturally evolve, gaining control over space during growth.

Once this Spatial Ability manifested, they became among the most elite beasts in the entire beast clan.

Such Spatial variants were exceedingly rare and never appeared on frontline battlefields.

Yet here, one existed—and it had reached the terrifying ninth rank!

Under its suppression, Ling Shuang could not use her Spatial Ability to escape.

"It took our Lord Cangkong himself to come out.

Ling Shuang, you are the highest-ranking among this group."

At that moment, a melodious voice rang out as over a dozen figures emerged from the forest.

All wore the Blood Moon robes of the Heaven's Mandate Cult, their forms concealed beneath the fabric.

Only the leader, the Tianyao, wore a form-fitting pure white combat suit.

Her fiery figure was laid bare by the tight fabric.

She strode forward with long legs, her slender waist swaying gently, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Heaven's Mandate Cult..." Ling Shuang's expression darkened.

One beast, one human—two ninth-rank experts!

Plus four eighth-rank Red Archbishops of the Heaven's Mandate Cult.

If her Spatial Ability were functional, she might still escape.

But now that space was sealed, her chance of escape was virtually zero.

"How did you know I'd be here?" Ling Shuang asked coldly.

To ambush here in advance, the Thunder Martial Hall's mission must have been compromised.

But she needed to know exactly where the leak occurred.

Was it the mission intel that was leaked—or was Liu Shan himself compromised?

"No surprise—you're the Grand Director of Thunder Martial Hall with an S-rank Spatial Ability, still trying to extract information even now."

Tianyao pressed her hand to her chest and laughed sweetly:

"But unfortunately, you have no chance to escape, and I won't reveal our intelligence source.

All you need to do now is die peacefully, like the others!"

With those words, Tianyao's beautiful face was now suffused with murderous intent: "Attack!"

PS: Three or four chapters tonight—take Ling Shuang!