Chapter 1135, Quasi-Mythical Grade

Translator: Silavin

 

“Hold on. Do not attack it just yet.” Ouyang Bai Ge watched the Bronze Qilin within the flames and addressed Lu Fan directly. “It seems like the Bronze Qilin has detonated its own Slaughter Heart, activating all of the Ancient God Power that the Slaughter Ancient God left sealed within it. Killing it now will not benefit us that much. If we let it fully merge with the Slaughter Heart, both its Grade and Level will soar. When that happens, killing it would yield far more Experience Points. That way, your next Level Ups will come sooner.”

 

The moment Lu Fan heard that, he lowered his hand.

 

‘Pigs were always fattened before the slaughter.’ Lu Fan naturally understood this principle. If letting the Bronze Qilin get stronger and gain more Levels meant it would yield far more Experience Points, that was an option worth taking.

 

So, no one moved. Every one of them granted the Bronze Qilin the time and the opening it needed to evolve.

 

Before long, the flames and their shockwaves began to pull inward.

 

The fire condensed into something tangible, retracting upon itself and coiling around the Bronze Qilin until the creature was entirely encased inside a vast cocoon of solidified flame that left Lu Fan unable to see what was transpiring inside.

 

Yet he could sense it without looking. From inside the cocoon, a terrifying pressure was steadily mounting. This was the kind of pressure one could not simply dismiss.

 

“Interesting…” Lu Fan narrowed his gaze, fixing it on the cocoon. “This Bronze Qilin has truly become something formidable. If I didn’t know what it actually was, I might really mistake it for an Ancient God rather than something like an Ancient God Slave.”

 

Ouyang Bai Ge gave a slight nod in agreement, then added. “Indeed. The Seven Stars of Slaughter are categorically different from ordinary Ancient God Slaves. A typical Ancient God Slave receives only a single strand of Ancient God Power bestowed by the Ancient God, granting them a fragmentary grasp of its application, with only modest gains in actual power.”

 

“The Seven Stars of Slaughter, however, are something else entirely. What they received is the essence of Ancient God Power. That Ancient God Essence is something only an Ancient God can truly possess. This is something virtually never shared with another being.”

 

Lu Fan considered this for a moment, then smiled. “So, from what you are saying, Teacher Ouyang, this Bronze Qilin is essentially a Pseudo Ancient God?”

 

Ouyang Bai Ge paused to reflect. “Calling it half a Pseudo Ancient God may be a stretch.”

 

“If you were to eliminate the Slaughter Ancient God, and then kill the rest of the Seven Stars of Slaughter, leaving only the Bronze Qilin as the last surviving creature of that lineage… then calling it the Slaughter Ancient God would not be wrong. Though, to be precise, that version of the new Slaughter Ancient God wouldn’t even qualify as a Low Tier Ancient God.”

 

Lu Fan quietly laughed, then found another thought taking shape. “Since the Bronze Qilin carries Ancient God Essence, something only Ancient Gods should possess, could I use it to claim the Slaughter Ancient God’s Divine Seat?”

 

It was a question Ouyang Bai Ge had never considered. For a long moment she was at a loss.

 

When she finally replied, she shook her head with an exasperated half-smile. “That I cannot say with certainty. After all, throughout history, the Seven Stars of Slaughter lived and died alongside the Slaughter Ancient God. No one has ever conceived the idea of seizing the Slaughter Ancient God’s Divine Seat from them, let alone entertained the notion of doing so through the Seven Stars themselves.”

 

She paused, then shook her head again. “I truly don’t know. My hypothesis is that if you could extract the Ancient God Essence from within the Seven Stars of Slaughter, perhaps you might obtain… a portion of the Slaughter Ancient God’s Divine Seat?”

 

“A portion of a Divine Seat?” Lu Fan sighed with quiet amusement. “This is a concept so new I have no idea what to compare it to. Never mind. Once we take down this Bronze Qilin, we can work through it at our leisure.”

 

Almost before the last word left his lips, movement erupted from the direction of the Bronze Qilin.

 

*Crack!*

 

The sound of shattering glass rang out. Fissures had split open across the cocoon, and they were spreading fast, branching outward until they covered the entire surface.

 

“It’s coming! Get ready!” Lu Fan’s warning carried sharply over the battlefield, and the others snapped into combat posture without delay.

 

*Boom!*

 

The cocoon shattered apart. Fire and smoke erupted in all directions.

 

From within the billowing haze, a massive silhouette advanced with slow, measured steps. Its aura descended upon the battlefield like a collapsing sky. The Intimidated effect radiating from it was almost comparable to Xiao Ye’s Black Dragon Pressure.

 

Lu Fan narrowed his eyes to study the figure emerging from the smoke.

 

The Bronze Qilin that stepped forth had been transformed beyond recognition.

 

Its frame remained imposing. Yet compared to before, it carried a more refined, distilled quality to it. The earlier flames seemed to have tempered its body into something more concentrated, more elegant. The creature standing before them now bore almost no resemblance to what it had been.

 

And not merely its presence. Its physical form had undergone a dramatic change as well.

 

The bronze colouration had been completely shed, replaced by a shifting, iridescent metallic lustre. It was a seven-coloured sheen that suggested its very bodily composition had fundamentally been altered, reborn from the inside out.

 

A layer of fine, dense scales had emerged across its body. Scales that resembled Dragon Scales, yet also recalled those of a serpent.

 

Every mechanical component that had once studded its frame was gone without trace. If before it had resembled a machine assembled from interlocking parts, it now looked as though it had been cast from living metal. Every trace of mechanical part had been stripped away. It moved differently too; its body now possessed a fluidity and responsiveness that its former body could never have allowed.

 

Its Attribute Panel had changed accordingly.

 

Its Level had risen once more to a staggering 180. And its Grade had surpassed Legendary. Now, it was Quasi-Mythical Grade.

 

It was the first time Lu Fan had ever seen the word ‘Quasi’ appear before ‘Mythical’.

 

Ouyang Bai Ge, with her extensive experience, explained the designation to him. “Quasi-Mythical indicated that the Bronze Qilin had completed its metamorphosis and its power now vastly exceeded the Legendary Grade. But there is a threshold remaining that it could not cross. This is like the boundary separating a Giant Dragon from a Dragon King, one Legendary, the other Mythical.”

 

“A Giant Dragon may be formidable. Through countless methods, it might push its power and Bloodline Power ever higher. But a Giant Dragon was still a Giant Dragon. Without Dragon King’s Blood in its veins, it could never become a true Dragon King. It would forever stand at the doorstep of Mythical Grade, unable to break through. Such a Dragon would be designated Quasi-Mythical too.”

 

“Since it had touched the threshold of Mythical Grade, but it could not truly cross it, could not claim the power that lay on the other side. So for the Bronze Qilin to have attained Quasi-Mythical Grade as a Monster, it is nothing short of extraordinary.”

 

Lu Fan estimated that if the Bronze Qilin were to be unleashed upon the world at this moment, it would be capable of overturning it. No one alive could stop it.

 

And now, even he needed to exercise caution.

 

His Dragons were all genuine Mythical Grade. They were half a Grade above the Bronze Qilin in terms of classification. Yet the gap in Levels had completely shifted the balance. The raw power of his Dragons had been overtaken by the Bronze Qilin with ease.