Matters Concerning Burial Spirit Ruins

"Burial Spirit Ruins? What kind of place is that?"

Inside a quiet cottage, Ye Kong and Lu Shengjun sat facing each other, each holding black or white chess pieces as they played on the board.

Hearing that Lu Shengjun wanted him to train in Burial Spirit Ruins, Ye Kong looked puzzled and began wondering what sort of dungeon it was.

"Of course it's a good place. For a genius like you below the Venerate Realm, it's quite a decent training ground."

Lu Shengjun smiled and began explaining.

"In ancient times, the Great Thousand World had an incomparably vast continent called the Divine Beast Continent. Back then, seventy to eighty percent of the Great Thousand World's Spirit Beast and Divine Beast races lived there."

"During the great war fifty thousand years ago, the Outer Domain Evil Tribe dispatched large numbers of Devil Emperor-level beings to launch a sneak attack on the Divine Beast Continent in order to weaken the Divine Beast Race, hoping to crush them in a single battle.

"During the war, they also used spatial methods to swallow and exile many important regions of the Divine Beast Continent into black holes. This forced many Divine Beast experts to divide their attention and drove them into a steady retreat.

"That battle was unimaginably brutal. Countless Super Divine Beasts died, and many Divine Beast races with powerful bloodlines were wiped out from then on..."

Recalling that dark chapter of history, a trace of sorrow and killing intent rose in Lu Shengjun's eyes. He said in a deep voice,

"Burial Spirit Ruins was one of those important regions swallowed by Black Hole Space.

"It was originally a trial ground created by Beast Tribe experts specifically to cultivate Spirit Beasts and Divine Beasts below the Venerate Realm, similar to the outer court of the Dharma Institute at Spiritual Mountain.

"Before that catastrophe, young geniuses from nearly every Beast Tribe could be found there. It was flourishing beyond compare.

"Unfortunately, fifty thousand years ago, that trial ground was also destroyed and exiled into the void. It was not until ten thousand years ago that Divine Beast Race experts sensed its location.

"Too many Spirit Beasts and Divine Beasts had been buried there, and it had become a land of ruins. That was why we called it Burial Spirit Ruins."

"I see. It seems quite a few Divine Beast experts must have left behind inheritances there."

Ye Kong rolled a white chess piece between his fingers and tapped the board, already considering how he could make a profit there.

Over the past three months, he had completely mastered Heavenly Eye. After testing it himself, he found it to be a supreme treasure-seeking art for exploring mountains and hunting for treasures.

"That's right. The Divine Beast Continent attached great importance to that place back then. Quite a few Super Divine Beasts were stationed there. Even experts from the Ancient Desolate Beast race, the bloodline progenitors of our Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe, fell there."

"Then if I go, won't I run into a whole bunch of Divine Beast Race geniuses?"

Ye Kong found that rather interesting. If some blind fool saw that he was human and tried to bully him, couldn't he learn from Huang and kill beasts, rob them, and roast them for dinner?

The Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe had never gotten along with the Phoenix Tribe or many other Flying Bird Tribes. It should be fine if he secretly killed a few, right?

"Not necessarily. Most Divine Beast races now have complete inheritance systems, and only those below the Venerate Realm can enter. Many Divine Beast races simply can't assemble a suitable team.

"Most of those who go are Spirit Beast races whose bloodline power isn't strong enough, but whose potential is still considerable. They hope to find essence blood there that can help them evolve into ancient Super Divine Beasts.

"If we hadn't detected the aura of Ancient Desolate Beasts there, we wouldn't have been interested in that place either."

Lu Shengjun shook his head, took out an illustrated booklet, and handed it to Ye Kong.

"This booklet was compiled from past experience and intelligence on other Beast Tribes. It records the formidable figures who may appear from each race this time. Take a look."

Ye Kong accepted the booklet and opened it. He found that it contained not only basic information, but also related images. By infusing them with spiritual energy, he could make them "move" like real people.

"This would work pretty well for blind dates."

That thought inexplicably surfaced in Ye Kong's mind.

Ye Kong skimmed through it. There were five people in total. Four of them had appeared in the original Divine Beast Plains storyline and had competed for the inheritance essence blood of the Three Beast Venerates.

As for the fifth, who had never appeared... his name was Jinjiu Master!

When Ye Kong saw the description of Jinjiu Master—"cultivates the secret arts of both Spiritual Mountain and the Golden Lion Tribe, adopted grandson of the Golden Lion Tribe's Great Elder, immense potential"—the corner of his mouth twitched.

"This guy really went back to acknowledge his ancestors? And he could do it so shamelessly?"

At that, Lu Shengjun's expression also turned strange. He coughed twice to ease the awkwardness.

"I didn't expect it either. More than a year ago, when Grandfather was returning to the mountain, he happened to drop him off with the Golden Lion Tribe's Great Elder. Somehow, that fellow managed to make the Great Elder extremely happy, and the old man gladly acknowledged him as his adopted grandson."

"His talent is genuinely excellent too, even better than Jin Qingtian of the Golden Lion Tribe, who has already shed his spirit and transformed into a god. He's currently a Three-Headed Lion, and he truly has hope of becoming a Golden Nine-Headed Lion in the future.

"That Great Elder is one of the few remaining Nine-Headed Lions in their tribe. Encountering such a... freakish talent, it isn't strange for him to take him as a grandson."

"Ahem. Anyway, you don't need to worry about him. Just watch out for the other four. They all come from extraordinary backgrounds. You won't lose out no matter which one you capture."

"Huh? Senior Brother, what do you mean? Is our Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe going to war with the other Divine Beast races? Do you want me to capture beast hostages?"

Ye Kong was startled and blinked in bewilderment.

"Of course not. This is mainly for your own sake."

Thinking of his grandfather's instructions, Lu Shengjun felt somewhat embarrassed. What kind of mess was this?

Ye Kong stopped tapping his chess piece and sat quietly, pondering every possibility.

"When you cultivated to the Spirit Soul Realm, didn't you refrain from refining a Spirit Beast Essence? That gives you an opportunity to drag a beast into this."

"Uh... so you mean you want me to capture a Divine Beast and form a Bloodline Link? To win allies for our Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe?"

After hearing Lu Shengjun's heavily suggestive words, Ye Kong, who knew the original story well, immediately thought of the life-and-death Bloodline Link.

This was a more advanced method of obtaining Divine Beast power than simply refining an essence. In theory, if one side died, the other would die as well.

Moreover, for Divine Beast races that wished to join forces, this sort of relationship was far more worthwhile than a political marriage.

"Exactly! Junior Brother, you truly are incredibly clever!"

Lu Shengjun felt that talking with smart people was easy. A slight hint was all it took for them to understand.

"Capturing someone is easy enough, but Senior Brother, forming a Bloodline Link requires them to be willing too. That won't be easy, will it?"

"It's not that I doubt my own abilities. It's mainly that all four of them are Divine Beast geniuses from Flying Bird Tribes.

"Those feathered birds have always been arrogant and generally look down on humans. They're nowhere near as warm and friendly as our Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe. This will be difficult."

Ye Kong spread his hands, emphasizing the difficulties as he tried to get a little more support.

"That's true. We've never gotten along with those dead birds from the Phoenix Tribe, and we don't get along especially well with the Heavenly Crane Tribe either.

"How about this? Focus your target on Kong Ling of the Nine-Colored Peacock Tribe and Zong Qingfeng of the Kunpeng Tribe. We won't force the issue with the other two. Capturing them would be useless; we might as well roast and eat them!"

Lu Shengjun waved a hand grandly, patted his chest, and pointed at the booklet with a sly grin.

"Heh heh, as far as I know, Kong Ling has a rather dense Ancient Myriad Spirit Bird bloodline, so his potential is considerable. Our tribe just happens to have Myriad Spirit Bird essence blood in storage.

"As for Zong Qingfeng, he comes from the Kunpeng Tribe. Ancestor Kunpeng, like my grandfather, is a top Beast Tribe expert at Late Saint Grade, and they've had dealings several times.

"If you can't handle them, just find an opportunity to knock them out in secret and drag them back. Leave the rest to Grandfather and me!"

With that, Lu Shengjun took out a circular badge carved with a monkey-head design and placed it in Ye Kong's hand.

"Also, on behalf of our tribe, I'm appointing you as a Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe Friendship Ambassador. When you go out in the future, keep your spirits up and don't disgrace us!"

Good lord, Ye Kong could only think, good lord.

While he had still been thinking about secretly making barbecue, his senior brother was already planning to capture people and use threats and inducements on them. This bandit style suited his tastes perfectly.

"Good! With those words from you, Senior Brother, I can rest easy and start causing trouble."

Ye Kong's eyes gleamed as he put away the Badge. He was officially part of the higher ranks now, more or less. Calling himself a high-ranking officer later shouldn't be a problem.

Since he had been promoted, shouldn't he let his little brothers advance as well? Maybe he could give them the title of security corps leaders, the "Four Great Vajras"?

"There is one more thing you need to watch out for."

Lu Shengjun's face turned serious as he said in a grave voice,

"Several thousand years ago, experts from the Outer Domain Evil Tribe also discovered traces of Burial Spirit Ruins. Since quite a few Evil Tribe experts died there as well, then..."

"You may very well encounter young geniuses from the Outer Domain Evil Tribe there! You must be careful!"

Ye Kong smiled calmly, rubbing his wrist as sparks lit up in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother. They're just Evil Tribe members. If I don't encounter them, so be it. But if I do, I'll kill however many there are!"