Translator: Truth Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys “Young Master, watch out!” The Great Elder was resting nearby when Amber began to act strangely. He immediately leaped to his feet and attempted to attack Amber. From his perspective, Lu Ye’s Fated Beast had caught the rabies. The only way to deal with this situation was to kill the Spirit Beast before it harmed its master and everyone else around it. However, a flash of fiery red stopped the Great Elder in his tracks. He glanced at Lu Ye in astonishment while blurting, “Young Master?” “Just give me a moment!” Lu Ye ordered with a grim expression. Amber was the last Spirit Beast he expected to catch the rabies. The white tiger had been fighting by his side this whole time, and he was certain that it wasn’t injured once throughout the battle. With that in mind, how on earth did he catch the rabies? There was one thing that was markedly different between Amber and other maddened Spirit Beasts, however. Although the white tiger was staring at him with scarlet eyes and growling uncontrollably, it was equally clear that it was doing its best to maintain its sanity. Otherwise, it would have attacked him and everyone else around it already. Amber was Lu Ye’s Tamed Beast for more than two years, and it was restricted by the Bonding Pact bestowed by the Heavens themselves. Despite having caught the rabies, it didn’t lose its mind completely like the others. It was at this moment Lu Ye received a message via his Battlefield Imprint. As expected, it came from Yi Yi. Lu Ye looked up at Amber immediately after he finished reading the message. At the same time, Amber bowed its head before Lu Ye. There was a metallic glint, and before everyone knew it Lu Ye had stabbed his saber three inches into the back of Amber’s neck. The attack was so sudden that no one was able to react in time. Xia Qianqian and the girls were all staring at him in astonishment. Just a moment ago, the young man had stopped the Great Elder from killing Amber. Was it because he didn’t want Amber to die in a stranger’s hands, or… They realized they were wrong the second the thought crossed their minds. If Lu Ye truly wanted to kill his Tamed Beast, there were a number of vital spots he could have chosen that would make the death as painless as possible. Suddenly, everyone heard a strange cry from Amber. It almost sounded like a cicada’s cry. However, the battlefield was noisy enough that they weren’t sure if they had actually heard right. It was at this moment that Lu Ye pulled his saber out of Amber’s neck. Everyone’s gaze suddenly became affixed to the tip of the blade. There was what looked like a tiny cicada at the end of the saber. It was struggling and writhing furiously. Before they could see it clearly though, it suddenly exploded into a pool of black liquid! Lu Ye hurriedly enveloped the black liquid with his Spiritual Power before it could hit anyone. Then, he kept it afloat as everyone stared at the black liquid with varying expressions on their faces. At the same time, Amber relaxed the second the strange cicada was removed from the back of its neck. It shook its head once and looked up. The unnatural scarlet coloring its eyes earlier was no longer present. The back of its neck was still leaking blood, but this level of injury was at worst superficial to a powerful Spirit Beast like Amber. While staring warily at the black liquid being trapped within Lu Ye’s energy globe, it walked behind Lu Ye and stayed there. Lu Ye turned around and met Xia Qianqian’s eyes for a moment. Then, he said, “I found the reason the Spirit Beast went insane!” “What?” Xia Qianqian did not react immediately because she was still stunned by everything she had seen until now. Then, realization hit her like a hammer. “You mean, that thing you just removed earlier is…” “It’s not rabies or even a disease. It’s a parasite! A parasite is controlling all the Spirit Beasts!” Xia Qianqian’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you sure?” “One hundred percent!” If he was alone, he would not have been able to discover the truth so quickly. It was because the parasite that had buried itself into Amber’s neck had blended it perfectly with Amber’s aura. The camouflage was so perfect that he could’ve searched every inch of Amber’s body with his Spiritual Power and still not discover the insect in the end. In fact, this was precisely why the cultivators of the Myriad Beasts Domain never discovered the truth behind the Spirit Beasts’ madness. The parasite was so well hidden they couldn’t find it even after capturing some crazed Spirit Beasts and investigating their bodies thoroughly. Amber had Yi Yi to look after it, however. The girl had not shown herself ever since she entered this Hidden Realm. At the beginning, she didn’t notice anything wrong with Amber’s body either. Then it started acting strangely, and she hurriedly investigated its body for signs of abnormality. She immediately found the strange parasite and messaged Lu Ye about it. The parasite was so undetectable that Lu Ye still did not know when exactly Amber had caught the parasite. However, he was certain the parasite must be incredibly tiny when it infected Amber at the beginning; so tiny that it could elude even a cultivator’s senses. It swiftly grew in size once it had burrowed itself completely into Amber’s body. It was impossible to guess what its maximum size was, but it was the size of a cicada when Lu Ye had extracted it from Amber’s neck. Unfortunately, the parasite had exploded almost as soon as it was brought to light. Perhaps it was designed that way to avoid being discovered by the cultivators. Everyone around Lu Ye stared at the black liquid trapped inside Lu Ye’s energy globe closely. To their shock, it was swimming with many miniscule insects just as Lu Ye had theorized. No wonder it was able to remain hidden until now. After the others were done studying the black liquid, Lu Ye channeled his Fire Attribute Spiritual Power and burned every last drop of it. “Growl!” Amber transformed into its cat form and returned to Lu Ye’s shoulder. Then, it started growling as if it was making conversation with Lu Ye. It wasn’t. To be specific, Yi Yi was translating everything Amber was saying and conveying it to Lu Ye via the Battlefield Imprint. The girl was Amber’s Ghost Spirit, so she understood its thoughts perfectly. This was one area even Lu Ye, the white tiger’s owner, could not hope to do better even with the Bonding Pact of the Heavens, the Life Energy Art and the Beast Pact Art tying them closer than ever before. At best, Lu Ye could make some simple conversation with Amber. He could not discern its exact thoughts like Yi Yi could. Lu Ye pretended to nod his head to Amber’s growls as he read Yi Yi’s messages. Xia Qianqian asked curiously, “What is it saying?” She had never seen such an intelligent Spirit Beast until now. Unfortunately, Yi Yi wasn’t done conveying Amber’s message yet, so he just pretended he hadn’t heard her and kept nodding his head… A while later, he finally said while pointing, “It said it felt something from that direction when it was being controlled by the parasite!” “Okay. What does that mean, exactly?” “It’s not sure, but it could feel an invisible connection between the parasite and whatever’s in that direction!” “Is it the source of the madness!?” Xia Qianqian’s eyes lit up immediately. The reason the Spirit Beasts went insane wasn’t because there was something wrong with them, but because their body had been taken control by parasites. Now, Amber was saying that it felt an invisible connection between the parasite and “something” that lay somewhere down that direction. It was impossible not to think that this “something” might just be the root of all evil. Assuming they were right, then the path ahead of them was finally clear. All they needed to do was to head there and eliminate the root of all evil. “Great Elder! Do you know what the Spirit Beast might be referring to?” Xia Qianqian spun toward the old man. “Let me think… Down that direction is…” The Great Elder muttered thoughtfully before his eyes suddenly lit up with realization. Lu Ye noticed the reaction and asked, “Tell me, Great Elder.” “It’s where the Black Tortoise Sect used to reside, and…” A frown overcame the Great Elder’s features. “It is also where the madness first appeared before sweeping across the entire Myriad Beasts Domain.” His answer was the final nail in the coffin. Lu Ye and Xia Qianqian had no doubt that whatever Amber had sensed most likely resided in the Black Tortoise Sect. “But… the Black Tortoise Sect was wiped out a long time ago, and we never found anything when we went to investigate it.” “You investigated the crazed Spirit Beasts and never found the parasite either. Is it that surprising that you might’ve missed something during your search?” Xia Qianqian retorted and earned a shameful look from the Great Elder. In his opinion, they would not have discovered the existence of the parasites if his Young Master wasn’t close enough with his Fated Beast that he could understand its words. Technically speaking, they couldn’t be sure that the Black Tortoise Sect was the root of all evil. However, it was the best answer they could come up with with the information they currently had. Lu Ye and Xia Qianqian exchanged a knowing look with each other. There was no saving Bilandia if they chose to remain where they were. At this rate, the city could give it their two hundred percent, and they would still be overwhelmed in the matter of days. The fall of the city would mean that the Myriad Beasts Domain had failed to deviate from its current path of extinction. Horrible, horrible things were going to befall the natives and even the cultivators Jiu Zhou if they allowed that to happen. In fact, now that he thought about it, traveling to the source of the problem and solving it once and for all was the only path to survival. It would be extremely dangerous, but it was the only chance they might survive this. “We’re going to have to gather a team,” Lu Ye said solemnly. “I’ll contact them right away,” Xia Qianqian replied before she began messaging her acquaintances. Xia Qianqian was a Ninth-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator, so her social contacts were way bigger than Lu Ye’s as a matter of course. There had to be someone in this Hidden Realm that was on her list of contacts. “Young Master, are you planning to…” The Great Elder began. Lu Ye thought for a second before telling the truth, “Great Elder, we’re going to the Black Tortoise Sect! It might hold the answer to all our problems.” “You want to head there now?” The Great Elder blanched immediately. The Spirit Beasts were currently sieging the city. To leave now was to push against the endless tide. It was dangerous to say the least. “It will be too late if we don’t leave as soon as possible. Death is the only thing that awaits us if we stay here!” The Great Elder instinctively wanted to advise against such a dangerous course of action, but when he really thought about it, he realized that Lu Ye was speaking the truth. So, he nodded and declared, “You’re right, Young Master. To stay here is to die a slow and painful death! In that case, I will speak with Liu Wuzhai and see if he can spare some men to aid us on our quest!” Lu Ye nodded approvingly. “That’s a good idea!” Obviously, the bigger the team, the higher their chances of success would be. “Please give me a moment, Young Master!” The Great Elder said before flying straight toward the lord’s residence. A while later, a cultivator flew over from a distance and landed in front of them. He said in a lazy voice, “Are you aware you’re going to lose battle points if you leave your post at a critical time like this, Xia Qianqian?” Lu Ye was caught off guard by the voice. [Why does he sound so familiar?] He turned toward the source of the noise and saw a round, fat man. His face was full of fat, and his eyes were narrowed into slits. He wore a beaming smile and carried a round belly in front of him. Lu Ye was well and truly surprised. He never expected to encounter the man here. In fact, he never even saw him before they entered the Hidden Realm. As if noticing Lu Ye’s gaze, the fat man looked over and met Lu Ye’s gaze. His eyes glinted, and his smile grew even wider than before.