Li Qian could no longer suppress the wry smile on his face.
He looked at Central Beach, which had transformed into a scene of apocalyptic disaster, and couldn’t help but mutter to himself, "What kind of rotten luck is this? Why does trouble follow me everywhere I go?"
’Let’s see... From the Cloud Mist Mountain incident, to the Lingshui River Reservoir incident, then the Mechanical Desecration Association’s attack, and after that the near-disaster on the Flying Ship, and now this... So many things have happened in such a short time,’ Li Qian couldn’t help but wonder. ’Am I some kind of bad luck magnet?’
"Forget it. No point dwelling on it," Li Qian said helplessly as he stared at the terrifying scene before him.
He had wanted to go and help—and of course, he was curious to witness the battle up close—but considering it was a battlefield for six Emperor-level Pet Beasts, he gave up on the idea.
Going up there now would be no different from serving himself up on a platter.
With that in mind, Li Qian didn’t hesitate for a moment. He got moving again, sprinting back toward the city.
What he didn’t know was that as he retreated, high up on the top floor of the tower he had just passed, several figures were leaning against the railing, gazing out.
Their gazes were all locked on the same spot: the nearby coastal waters.
There, the six Emperor-level Pet Beasts had begun to fight.
There were five figures in total. They watched the battle scene in silence.
After a moment, a small old man wearing shorts and a tank top was the first to speak. "Everyone, I don’t think we need to pay too much more attention to the situation here."
"Those three beasts down there are certainly strong, but compared to our own carefully raised Pet Beasts, the difference in power is still quite obvious."
Another person chimed in, an elegant and stately middle-aged woman. "They’re just three wild Emperor-level Pet Beasts. Without the enhancement of a Beast Master’s Beast Taming Talent, trying to break through to Zhonghai City is nothing but a fool’s dream."
The middle-aged woman pointed toward a certain direction out at sea and continued, "For us, the biggest problem right now should be over there, right?"
Hearing this, everyone understood what place the middle-aged woman was referring to.
They were speechless, not knowing how to respond.
Seeing this, the middle-aged woman couldn’t help but sneer. "What, you big shots tuck tail and run the moment something like this happens?"
"Old Lady Shi, don’t you spout such nonsense! Who tucked tail? I’m as hard as a rock..." A burly, dark-faced man’s expression darkened even further as he heard this, and he retorted.
"If you’re so hard, then why don’t you go stick it to them!" the middle-aged woman called "Old Lady Shi" shot back, continuing the verbal jab.
A rather refined-looking middle-aged man standing near the center covered his face with his hand. "You two, that’s enough."
"Your combined age is nearly a hundred, and you’re still talking so crudely. If the younger members of your families heard you, what would happen to your reputations?"
The burly, dark-faced man curled his lip dismissively. "I don’t care. Everyone in my family knows that I, Old Zhao, am just a crude fellow."
"Unlike a certain someone, who’s a teacher shaping young minds at Zhonghai Beast Taming University. So much for professional ethics."
Another person spoke up, the last one present. He was a handsome and elegant young man who looked to be around thirty.
"Four seniors, I believe we must first resolve the crisis at hand. As for the matter at the bottom of the sea, until the Saint Spirit seniors arrive, it’s useless for us to devise a strategy."
The refined middle-aged man nodded in agreement. "Ping Sheng is right. No matter what we discuss here, it’s pointless. We’ll have to wait for the Guardian God seniors to arrive before we can proceed."
The small old man in shorts and a tank top chuckled, looking completely harmless. "This matter requires careful long-term planning. Careful long-term planning."
The hall at the top of the tower quickly fell into silence.
After another moment, the burly, dark-faced man broke the silence. "Something about this whole situation seems a little strange."
"We’ve known for a long time that there’s an Unstable Rift in the Milo Trench of the East Sea."
"In the past, we’d just reinforce it before its active period, and that would solve the problem."
"This time, how did it suddenly expand into a Dimensional Rift? There was no warning at all."
As the burly man spoke, the confusion on his face deepened.
Hearing this, "Old Lady Shi" didn’t make a sarcastic comment this time. Instead, she joined the analysis. "For an Unstable Rift to suddenly upgrade into a Dimensional Rift... this is definitely not simple. It might be the work of those vermin pulling the strings from behind."
"The vermin behind the scenes... who are you referring to? The Mechanical Desecration Association, the Ancient Divine Teachings, the Black Divine Teachings, or the Demon God Palace?" the small old man in shorts and a tank top asked, following her lead.
"They all are suspects." "Old Lady Shi" shook her head and fell into deep thought. After a moment, she uttered four words.
"Could it have something to do with those few Pet Beasts?" the handsome young man named Ping Sheng suggested as a possibility.
The refined middle-aged man shook his head. "Unlikely. We’re all well aware of what kind of character those Pet Beasts have."
"If we didn’t want to leave a training ground on the Ancestral Star for the younger generation, we would have wiped them out long ago."
At this, the refined middle-aged man paused for a few seconds before continuing, "In fact, the reason Qiu Saint let them live was partly to use them to guard the oceans."
"And yet, in this incident, those guys were the first to run."
The middle-aged woman, "Old Lady Shi," nodded. "I agree. They don’t have the ability to do this."
"Their survival on the Ancestral Star is a result of our deliberate choice. They know full well the consequences of angering us."
"You could give them a hundred backbones, and they still wouldn’t dare to do something like this."
"Yu Lian has a point!" Just as "Old Lady Shi’s" voice fell, a streak of light flashed, and a figure abruptly appeared, speaking in a gentle voice.
"Qiu Saint!"
"Qiu Saint!"
"..."
When the figure appeared, all five of them greeted him politely, the reverence in their voices obvious.
"I have already contacted the Coral Monarch, the Eight-armed Luo Zhang, and the Celestial River Lion. This matter indeed has nothing to do with them."
The man called "Qiu Saint" was a Saint Spirit Level expert. His hair and beard were half-white, and he looked quite old, but he was in excellent spirits.
After briefly explaining the situation, he continued, adding, "And just as Yu Lian said, they have neither the ability nor the guts to do such a thing."
"So it was the Cultists pulling strings behind the scenes?" the refined middle-aged man asked immediately.
"There are indeed traces of their activity." Qiu Saint walked to a round table on the top floor and was the first to sit down.
The others followed his lead and sat down as well.
After sitting, he continued to explain, "However, in this matter, they were merely taking advantage of the situation. The main cause of the current state of affairs isn’t actually man-made."