May 21st, at Limit Martial Hall headquarters, inside Hong's training room.
"Ah Mu, you called Hong and me here together this time. Is there something important?"
Thunder God was rarely this serious. Shen Mu had spoken with the two of them the previous night, his expression and tone exceptionally grave, making them both take the matter seriously.
Shen Mu nodded slightly. "There are two matters."
"First, my tamed beast, the East Sea Azure Dragon, discovered a martial artist secret technique beneath the sea called the 312-Style Force Technique."
After speaking, Shen Mu took out a blue-gold plate from his spatial ring, corroded by the depths of the ocean for an unknown length of time.
Blue gold was the raw material used to forge Kelo Alloy. Humanity had first discovered blue gold on the moon.
However, finding blue gold in the ocean was normal, because according to scientific theory, the moon had separated from Earth during Earth's earliest formation.
There was even speculation that the Pacific Ocean had formed because of the moon's separation.
Inscribed upon the blue-gold plate was a secret technique written in the universe's common language, the same language as Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 9. Humanity had long since learned to translate it.
After Hong scanned the blue-gold plate with his auxiliary optical computer, a translated version was projected onto the virtual screen before them several seconds later.
Hong immediately saw what it was. "This is a martial artist force technique from the universe, and it can even amplify defense!"
Thunder God murmured, "So defense can be amplified too. Brother Hong, we took the wrong path."
Shen Mu spoke up, interrupting them. "There is also bad news that Brother Hong needs to know."
"While exploring the ocean this time, the East Sea Azure Dragon discovered that a third Beast Emperor had been born in the seas, and it is extremely powerful."
"A third Beast Emperor!" Hong's expression turned solemn as well. The two Beast Emperor monsters of Earth's oceans were each high-level Planet-Level beings. Moreover, Hong could not kill them in the water.
Seeing this, Shen Mu continued, "Not only that, according to the information relayed by the East Sea Azure Dragon, there are over a thousand King-Level Monsters in the ocean!"
"What!?"
"There are actually that many!"
Hong and Thunder God's expressions changed drastically.
In truth, Shen Mu did not know exactly how many Planet-Level monsters existed in the seas. The East Sea Azure Dragon's memories contained only a little over three hundred.
But Shen Mu was a transmigrator. Before transmigrating, he had once marveled that during the Golden Horned Beast incident, more than nine hundred King-Level Monsters had appeared in the seas. Humanity surviving until Luo Feng's rise could only be called good luck.
"So my current plan is to have the East Sea Azure Dragon infiltrate the Oceanic Beasts. If anything happens, we will know immediately."
As Shen Mu's words fell, Hong and Thunder God both nodded slightly.
"That could work, but... Ah Mu, can your tamed beast truly be trusted?" Thunder God asked.
Hong had concerns as well. "Previously, this East Sea Azure Dragon approached humanity only to escape the Beast Emperor's pursuit. Now that you have used Mu Ya Crystal to raise it to the seventh level of the Planet-Level, if it turns against us, that will be troublesome."
Shen Mu smiled. "There is absolutely no need to worry about that. I also obtained a special Mentalist secret technique. The East Sea Azure Dragon is now completely under my control. With a single thought from me, it will die."
"Then there is no problem." Thunder God nodded slightly. Neither of them asked how Shen Mu had obtained his secret technique.
Shen Mu continued, "Now that we know the number of Oceanic Beasts, we must prepare for the worst. We need to increase our combat readiness in preparation for a war that could break out at any time."
Hong gave a grunt. "Leave this matter to me. I will contact the five major nations."
After Shen Mu returned to Kyoto Base City, he first went to Bohai Bay.
The faintly glowing Primal Nucleus shot out from the East Sea Azure Dragon's body and entered Shen Mu's body.
Next, Shen Mu needed the East Sea Azure Dragon to explore the ocean. It might die at the Golden Horned Beast's hands, so it was better to keep the Primal Nucleus within his own body.
Roar!
A dragon's roar echoed out, and the East Sea Azure Dragon directly transformed into transparent liquid, seemingly vanishing into the depths of the endless ocean.
"Whew, I hope the gap is not too great."
Shen Mu was not certain of the Golden Horned Beast's current realm, but according to his estimates, it was at least at the seventh level of the Planet-Level.
Even the Golden Horned Beast had to follow the laws of the universe in its evolution without external interference. The further it evolved, the slower its progress became.
Based on the Golden Horned Beast evolving to the first level of the Star-Level in one year, it had most likely reached the seventh level of the Planet-Level or even higher by now.
The actual situation was much as Shen Mu had expected. At this moment, in the deepest depths of the Pacific Ocean.
Terrifying lightning erupted from the pitch-black, lightless seafloor. Within the boundless bolts of lightning, a colossal dragon over a thousand meters long struggled.
Within the vast domain of lightning, a black afterimage gleaming with faint golden light could vaguely be seen darting rapidly back and forth.
Each pass left terrifying wounds across the Thunder Dragon Emperor's body.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, the Thunder Dragon Emperor let out a mournful cry, then prostrated himself in the depths of the sea, expressing submission to that figure.
Although the Thunder Dragon Emperor's intelligence was no weaker than a human's, his horizons were ultimately limited. He simply could not understand why this monster before him, despite not being particularly large, possessed such terrifying strength, speed, and defense.
Only then did the figure that had grievously wounded the Thunder Dragon Emperor reveal itself. It was a lion-like monster with dark golden pupils, a pair of wings on its back, and a body covered in black scales.
A black horn grew from the head of this strange beast. At its very tip was a gleam of brilliant gold, from which endless golden patterns spread across its entire body.
Compared to the Thunder Dragon Emperor's enormous thousand-meter-long body, this strange beast was only 160 meters long, seeming incredibly small.
"Roar!"
The Golden Horned Beast let out a roar, conveying a message: it ordered the Thunder Dragon Emperor to mobilize the King-Level Monsters to gather metal, the harder the metal, the better.
The Thunder Dragon Emperor trembled as he lay prostrate on the seafloor, letting out a soft roar in response to the strange beast.
The next moment, the Thunder Dragon Emperor fled from the strange beast as though escaping for his life. Although he was deeply dissatisfied, he did not dare defy the strange beast's command, or he might truly perish.
After defeating the Thunder Dragon Emperor, the juvenile Golden Horned Beast looked toward the ocean's surface.
A vast number of humans lived on land, where there was an enormous amount of metal.
But its inherited memories told it that humans were extremely dangerous. However, based on the information it possessed, there were no Star-Level beings among the humans of this planet.
As long as it could evolve to the Star-Level, it could go ashore and devour those massive metal buildings, the War Bases.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, a long howl from afar startled the Golden Horned Beast. A seventh-level Planet-Level psychic energy fluctuation swept outward.
"Wuu!"
The Golden Horned Beast cried out happily. It seemed it could gain another little underling to dig up metal for it.
At first, the Golden Horned Beast had eaten several King-Level Monsters, but they had been of no help at all to its evolution. Later, it began driving King-Level Monsters to mine metal for it.
Although the quality of this metal was poor, it was better than nothing and offered a tiny bit of help to its evolution.
After an intense battle, faced with the terrifying Golden Horned Beast, the weak East Sea Azure Dragon humbly prostrated himself on the seafloor, expressing submission to the Golden Horned Beast.
Far away in Kyoto Base City, Shen Mu slowly opened his eyes.
"Ha, only the eighth level of the Planet-Level!"
The eighth level of the Planet-Level. That made things much easier.
Shen Mu began making his calculations. The pitiful juvenile Golden Horned Beast had no idea that it had just taken in a traitorous underling.
It was time to let it experience the treachery of the human heart.
Before you continue