Chapter 485 — The First Rule Revival

"Thank you all for supplying the evolution materials."

Eleven's evolution was complete, and Shi Zhao was well satisfied.

At this moment, Eleven could finally be counted as a complete being.

Next came the task of pushing those four new skills to the brink of perfection as well.

"That iron-eating beast of yours is a bit absurdly strong," the Martial Emperor said. "Your other pets can effortlessly slay totems, and even contend with demigods, but I can sense that all of them are still at the overlord level."

"Their life growth tier has not yet reached totem."

Once the growth tier reaches totem level, the life form condenses as though into an origin, with extremely high plasticity—this is also the foundation that allows totem-level life to self-optimize its species and skills. In this state, a pet's life fluctuations shift somewhat; peers or even lower-tier life may not easily detect it, but for experts, one can faintly sense the essential difference between overlord-level and totem-level life.

Shi Yan said: "It's simply that they built a solid foundation."

After half a year of bitter cultivation, Eleven and the others had brought all their super-tier racial skills close to perfection, and some of the taught super-tier skills had already reached perfection. Add to that the growth amplification from quasi-divine skills and mythic species, and it could be said that even without quasi-divine skills, without a beastmaster's amplification, Eleven and the rest all possessed the combat power of top-tier totems.

If they used quasi-divine skills, faith skills, or received Shi Ying's enhancement, then they would be invincible below demigod, at the very top rung of top-tier totems, comparable to the Dragonman Empire's Tyrant Dragon King.

Without such strength, Shi Cen would not have dared to say he could go even with a demigod.

"Look at it—full of fighting spirit." The Martial Emperor glanced at Eleven, then turned to his own iron-eating beast and said: "You should evolve soon too. After you evolve, we'll prepare together and discuss how to deal with the Fallen Madness." The Martial Emperor looked again at Cen Yu.

"Mm." Shi Heng nodded. "I'll have my assistants step up the research on my end."

On Lin's side, work had already begun on how to locate the Fallen Madness and restrain its self-detonation—in truth, Donghuang had started this line of research long ago.

Taking history as a mirror, if one wanted to capture the Fallen Madness alive, finding a way to restrain and seal its skills was essential. Otherwise, a single self-detonation from the Fallen Madness would leave not even renewable resources—not even resource scraps.

Among these, Donghuang had always kept backups of tech weapons designed to restrain self-detonation; they were not aimed solely at the Fallen Madness. However, such weapons were extremely rare, comparable in number to divine-forbidden taboo weapons. As for the technology to locate the Fallen Madness—unfortunately, since the modern Fallen Madness was too cunning and had mastered countermeasures against technology, it had not yet succeeded.

But the Fallen Madness of this era had never seen a mechanical-type, so it likely had no such awareness yet. Using its fragments as a medium, it should be easy to find it. "To restrain the Fallen Madness's self-detonation, I still need some materials..." Shi Li said.

"What materials?" the Martial Emperor asked.

"Faith objects of the Four Holy Beasts. To evolve the Four Holy Beasts, Your Majesty the Martial Emperor must have collected quite a few." Shi Jin grinned.

Lin's side planned to take a different approach, combining Bug's anti-magic Four Holy avatars with the power of technology to seal off the Fallen Madness's self-detonation. But relying on its and Bug's power alone would surely not be enough to seal the Fallen Madness—they could only burn money.

The faith objects of the Four Holy Beasts were excellent for burning money, capable of maximally amplifying Bug's power. The Martial Emperor's eyelid twitched: ....

Four Holy Beast objects? You certainly don't hold back!

Hearing Shi Ying's request, the Martial Emperor suspected that Shi Jin had long had his eye on his collection. He had no other hobbies.

He simply liked collecting antiques, especially those related to the Four Holy Beasts. After becoming emperor, he had placed every Four Holy Beast faith object that could be found within Donghuang's borders into the Imperial City.

Beyond his fondness, the faith power contained in these objects was also tied to the cultivation of the Four Holy Beasts, making them exceptionally rare. And now Shi Jin was asking for them outright—the Martial Emperor could not help but feel the sting.

"Use some, take some back!" Shi Zhao said.

Historical records showed that the vast majority of Donghuang's Four Holy Beast faith antiques were lost after the fall of the Martial Emperor's dynasty. Apart from the iron-eating beast evolution materials, since Shi Jin was here anyway, naturally he wanted a share of these as well.

"I understand." To destroy the Fallen Madness, the Martial Emperor endured it.

Next, the Martial Emperor's iron-eating beast also successfully evolved into a Demon God Iron-Eating Beast by devouring nine Fallen Madness fragments. Its aura grew even more immense, and it faintly showed signs of becoming the Martial Emperor's foremost battle pet.

A demon-god aura bloomed from that iron-eating beast; its gaze was deep and dark, brimming with supreme power, its confidence overflowing.

"Success! Donghuang's second... no, wait, third Demon God Iron-Eating Beast!" Ji Li was overjoyed at the sight. "I wonder when my iron-eating beast will be able to evolve again."

"Your iron-eating beast's will still needs tempering, otherwise it will struggle to withstand the Fallen Madness fragments." General Ji Yunzhong glanced at Ji Li.

"Brother Ji is right. Mengzhu, you still have room to improve, but that day is not far off. With Brother Shi Jin's help, once the Fallen Madness is dealt with, everyone will be able to evolve." The Martial Emperor smiled at Ji Li. He and General Ji Yunzhong were sworn brothers; before he took the throne, he had relied greatly on the iron-eating beast tribe's support, so he naturally cared deeply for Brother Ji Yunzhong's daughter.

Otherwise, he would never have put her in charge of caring for the young royal iron-eating beast he had chosen.

"This kid's gotten stronger again." Seeing the Martial Emperor's iron-eating beast after its evolution, Chongxuan cursed and grumbled on the Martial Emperor's pet side. It looked like, relying on himself alone without merging with the Nether Serpent, he probably could not beat this little bear anymore.

Before the Martial Emperor's iron-eating beast evolved, the Martial Emperor had released his other battle pets one by one to witness the evolution together.

The Martial Emperor's current nine great battle pets: the Iron-Eating Beast, the Pseudo-Azure Dragon, the Pseudo-White Tiger, the Pseudo-Vermilion Bird, Chongxuan, the Nether Serpent, the Martial Emperor Armor, the Tree of Life, and the Ethereal Time Monkey.

Among them, Shi Jin was naturally most familiar with Chongxuan. He felt rather emotional—the great turtle Chongxuan of the original timeline surely never imagined that he would travel back into the past, meet the Martial Emperor, and even plot with him to destroy the Fallen Madness.

"Roar." At this moment, the fully evolved Demon God Iron-Eating Beast glanced at Chongxuan and the other pets—especially the old turtle Chongxuan—with a rather smug expression. From today on, it would be the Martial Emperor's strongest trump card!!!

With all nine inscriptions maxed out, it already had that foundation!

"Don't get full of yourself. First, respond to its enthusiasm." Chongxuan muttered, looking at the little panda beside Cen Yu, which was puffing away—straight punch, straight punch, uppercut, left hook—warming up.