Third Host

In the mountain forest churning with black mist, several hundred villagers huddled tightly around the City God Statue, terror and despair written across every face.

The golden radiance emanating from the City God Statue had now shrunk to a radius of merely twenty or thirty feet.

Outside the circle, countless wolves, tigers, leopards, and other beasts formed from the black mist relentlessly battered the last line of defense.

Their eyes gleamed with savagery as they chose their prey, eager to devour them!

Such a horrifying sight filled every villager who had come to clear the mountain and build the road with boundless regret.

They never should have, under any circumstances, defied the warnings and admonitions passed down by their ancestors. Blinded by the money and grain promised by Chen Yuanwai, they had entered the mountain to fell trees and build roads, provoking the Fierce Spirit entrenched within Thousand Peak Mountain!

As the black mist steadily closed in, the villagers, with nowhere left to retreat, could only desperately scramble onto the altar.

They treated the City God Statue as their last lifeline.

They wept and screamed, praying as they trampled one another and even broke into fights.

Some were carelessly shoved beyond the range of the golden light, only to vanish into the black mist amid anguished wails.

At this point, everyone realized that the increasingly dim City God Statue could no longer protect them.

Amid the chaos, the statue toppled from the altar.

The golden light vanished in an instant.

The black-mist beasts surrounding them roared as one and pounced upon the villagers, who had dissolved into complete chaos.

Threads of mist rapidly burrowed into their noses, mouths, and ears.

The villagers, whose minds had already crumbled, immediately let out beastlike howls. Their eyes turned scarlet one after another as they seized the companions beside them, clawing and biting each other.

Flesh split open, blood sprayed everywhere—it was a scene straight out of hell!

Meanwhile, the City God Statue beneath the villagers' feet cracked inch by inch, and golden light surged wildly from its countless fissures.

Boom!

From a mile away, Zhang Yuan saw a thick pillar of golden light suddenly shoot into the sky.

The golden radiance tore through the shroud of black mist and surged straight into the heavens!

Yet the beam was but a flash in the pan, vanishing after only two or three breaths.

The gap it had blasted open was refilled by mist in the blink of an eye.

Nor was that all. The black mist sweeping through the mountain forest seemed to have been enraged, its expansion and spread abruptly accelerating.

Wherever it passed, all living things were laid to waste!

Countless birds, beasts, snakes, and insects dwelling among the trees and grass fled desperately as though the end of days had arrived.

Zhang Yuan, who was fleeing as well, felt his scalp go numb. He sensed that something was terribly wrong!

Run! Run! Run!

Only one thought remained in his mind.

A compatible genetic organism has been detected!

Just as Zhang Yuan had fled a little over a hundred paces, a striking notification suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

The Divine Nest had actually been triggered at a time like this!

Fuck!

Zhang Yuan's feelings were beyond words.

Over this period of time, while hunting and gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains each day, he had continuously searched for a new host.

He wanted to fill the final vacant nest chamber in the Divine Nest.

Yet after investing a great deal of time and effort, Zhang Yuan had found nothing. He had even begun to lose heart.

At one point, he had believed that there was no third kind of Extraordinary Lifeform within the Crow Spirit's territory that the Divine Nest could contain.

Who could have imagined that, at this critical moment of life and death, a new host target would actually appear!

What should he do?

Zhang Yuan did not slow his pace, but his heart was tangled with indecision.

Desire told him that this was his opportunity. If he gave up and missed it, he might never have such luck again.

Yet reason warned Zhang Yuan at the same time not to indulge any suicidal impulse.

After all, an opportunity only counted if one lived long enough to seize it!

Desire and reason clashed violently in his mind.

In the end, reason prevailed over desire.

Zhang Yuan lowered his head and sprinted wildly onward!

Suddenly, a flash of golden yellow swept past him from the corner of his eye.

Zhang Yuan instinctively turned to look.

To his astonishment, that golden-yellow flash was a huge golden grasshopper.

The giant grasshopper was mixed among countless fleeing insects, but its distinctive color and texture made it especially eye-catching!

Naturally, Zhang Yuan was familiar with grasshoppers.

Back when he could not catch any prey, he would often catch some and roast them to eat.

They could at least provide a little protein.

But a grasshopper this large, with such an unusual color—

This was Zhang Yuan's first time seeing one.

Could it be...

Zhang Yuan thought of a possibility. His heart suddenly pounded, and his mouth went dry.

I'll risk it!

The next instant, he explosively launched himself forward, spreading his arms as he pounced at the giant golden grasshopper.

Zhang Yuan suspected that it was the Extraordinary Lifeform that had triggered the Divine Nest!

He had originally given up already.

But this thing had flown right in front of him. If he did not at least try to catch it, there would be no justifying it!

The giant golden grasshopper had just landed atop a patch of grass.

It swayed twice, then spread its wings and took flight.

Without warning, a figure lunged toward it, extending a clawlike hand that snatched at the grasshopper like lightning.

The golden grasshopper had only just taken off and was caught completely off guard, immediately seized dead-on!

I got it!

Zhang Yuan hit the ground and rolled with the momentum.

A sharp pain shot through his palm.

The giant grasshopper in his hand struggled desperately, its thick hind legs covered in spikes slicing open his palm!

Zhang Yuan paid it no mind and immediately activated the Divine Nest.

The grasshopper in his hand vanished in an instant!

Host: Zhang Yuan

Realm: First Order (Open Force)

Divine Nest: Level 1 (45%)

Host: Level 2 Black Giant Ant (18%) / 4x Strength

Host: Level 2 Jade Mantis (5%) / Intermediate Blade Technique Proficiency

Host: Level 1 Golden Grasshopper (1%) / 2x Agility

Vitality: 105/112

Source Essence: 2.7

Three days ago, after Zhang Yuan continuously invested Source Essence, his second host, the Jade Mantis, had successfully advanced.

Its original Beginner Blade Technique Mastery had accordingly become Intermediate Blade Technique Proficiency.

After that, he had saved all the newly acquired Source Essence rather than investing it into either of his two hosts or the Divine Nest itself.

Now that he had unexpectedly contained a new host, this stockpiled Source Essence immediately came in handy.

The extraordinary ability this Third Host, the Golden Grasshopper, could grant its host was undoubtedly just as practical as that of the Black Giant Ant!

Strength and agility were attributes that complemented one another perfectly!

Zhang Yuan was overjoyed, so much so that he nearly forgot about the danger looming close at hand.

His instincts told him that the reason he had managed to pounce on the Golden Grasshopper in one try without missing was absolutely due to luck.

After all, this creature's extraordinary ability was agility!

But Zhang Yuan's joy lasted only a moment.

He discovered that the danger facing him was not only still growing—it was also sweeping toward him from every direction.

Zhang Yuan looked around, and everywhere his gaze reached was filled with dense black mist.

The worst-case scenario had arrived.

Forget escaping—he could no longer even tell which direction was which!

Zhang Yuan's heart turned icy and sank again and again, as though it were plunging into a bottomless abyss.

Faced with this outcome, all his desperate flight earlier had been nothing but a joke.

Like a fish caught in a giant net, no amount of struggling would make any difference!

With a bitter smile, Zhang Yuan drew the long blade tied to his back.

Even if he died, he would fight one last time!

At that moment, a black feather flew out from Zhang Yuan's chest.

It floated silently before him!