Beast Taming Secret Art

On the ruins of City 003.

The Gray-Furred Ape King grew and shrank, leaping and hammering with his fists, but could do nothing to the black-clad figure before him.

Instead, the saber and flying daggers pierced wound after wound into his body.

Fortunately, his regenerative power was immense. Even after his eyes and head had been blown apart, he had recovered.

The Water-Like Body ability was exceedingly rare. It let him grow and shrink, leaving his body without any vital points, almost like an immortal physique.

But such a powerful ability had a flaw. Diamond Body, for example, increased physical strength by one order, allowing the body to withstand spiritual force three orders above its own level. Water-Like Body did the opposite, weakening physical strength by one order.

When it had been at the first order of the Planetary Grade, its body had been stronger than an Apprentice Level body, but only slightly stronger than that of a peak Ninth-Order Apprentice. That was why Dongguan had managed to cut his way into its body back then.

Now, at the Planetary Level Second Order, its physical strength had only reached that of an ordinary first-order Planetary Grade being.

That was precisely why he had lost his battle against the Blood Moon Azure Wolf King.

Water-Like Body was a miraculous survival ability, but it weakened combat power.

At this point, Dongguan had also realized the problem.

He did not know the Long-Armed Ape King's ability, but he could tell that no matter how he attacked, he could not kill him.

If he simply let him go, how could he do justice to Li Yao's efforts?

He had already noticed that Li Yao's Black God Set had reverted to an armguard, its original form.

Unless its owner deliberately deactivated it, the Black God Set would only do that when its owner died.

In other words, Li Yao was already dead.

In the original story, his finest moment had been breaking through to the Planetary Grade at the execution ground, only to become a prop for Luo Feng to demonstrate his strength.

But now, as a Ninth-Order Apprentice equipped with the Black God Set, he had forcibly held back the Planetary Level Second Order Long-Armed Ape King.

Compared with his fate in the original story, he was practically a hero now.

Dongguan did not want his sacrifice to be in vain.

"Since neither a warrior nor a Controller can deal with you, let's try an Illusionist." Scarlet flashed through Dongguan's eyes.

Secret patterns took shape in his sea of consciousness and followed his spiritual force as he forcibly drove them into the Long-Armed Ape King's head.

"Awoo!" The Long-Armed Ape King let out a mournful cry.

Water-Like Body only affected his body. His soul had not changed.

According to the Psychic Fundamentals book from Hong, an Illusionist's spiritual force weakened by one level upon leaving their own sea of consciousness, then by another upon entering an enemy's. They needed to be three levels stronger to kill their opponent.

But that was only the simplest, most brute-force method available to an Illusionist.

If an Illusionist truly needed to be three levels above an enemy to kill them, how could that path stand alongside the Controller path, which only required an advantage of one level, as one of the two paths for Psychics?

The principle behind Dongguan's Beast Taming Secret Art was to form secret patterns and drive them into an enemy's mind, where they would draw in and assimilate the target's spiritual force, ultimately resonating with it to establish control.

At first, it had only worked on Lord-level Monsters because success required his spiritual force to surpass the target's in quality.

After further development, it could be used on opponents of the same order. If the difference in quality was small, quantity could make up for it.

And the Long-Armed Ape King was clearly not a monster specializing in mental abilities.

Gradually, a trace of scarlet flashed through the Long-Armed Ape King's golden eyes.

Boom!

Ten flying daggers struck together.

At the Planetary Level Second Order, his base strength was two million kilograms. With tenfold amplification, that became twenty million kilograms.

Such tremendous force blasted the Ape King's body apart once again.

But like flowing water, he gathered himself back together.

After he reformed, there was another trace of scarlet in his eyes.

The saber swept out, cutting him in half at the waist.

He healed again, and the scarlet deepened.

Gradually, the Ape King's eyes changed color completely.

"Kneel," Dongguan commanded.

The Ape King's own will still struggled, but in the end, he knelt and bowed low before Li Yao's corpse.

"Awooo!" The Blood Moon Azure Wolf's mournful howl came from afar.

Yan Hai and Lan Ran had also successfully slain the Blood Moon Azure Wolf. The two battles had ended almost simultaneously.

The viewers watching through satellites could see everything clearly.

The Long-Armed Ape King was stronger than the Blood Moon Azure Wolf.

Yan Hai's side had two fighters. Although Dongguan's side also had two, Li Yao had only held the Ape King back early on to stop him from escaping.

What puzzled everyone in the end was why the Long-Armed Ape King knelt before Li Yao's corpse.

Dongguan stepped forward and picked up the black armguard from Li Yao's body.

"Stop." The shout came from Councilor Yan Hai.

Despite his graying hair, his strength approached that of a Speaker.

"What?" Holding the black armguard, Dongguan narrowed his eyes at the two of them.

He strongly suspected that the pair had deliberately dragged out their battle.

Otherwise, how could they have finished fighting just when he did? How could there be such a coincidence?

"I won't allow you to seize Li Yao's property, even if he has fallen." A trace of sorrow crossed Yan Hai's eyes as he looked at Li Yao's corpse.

He and Li Yao had been friends since the great nirvana period. How could he possibly have wanted him dead?

He had simply underestimated Li Yao's determination.

He and Lan Ran had been assured of victory against the Blood Moon Azure Wolf King, but if they had rushed, its desperate counterattack might have injured them or even killed one of them. That would have been far too great a price.

As for pursuing the Long-Armed Ape King, that was a Planetary Level Second Order monster. Li Yao was only a High-level War God. Even with the Black God Set, he should have given up. Why had he been so persistent?

"What makes you think I'm seizing Li Yao's belongings?" Dongguan waved the Black God Set armguard in his hand. "Looks to me like you're the ones who want to steal it."

"It's already in your hand." Yan Hai's expression darkened.

Lan Ran stood beside Yan Hai, joining him in pressuring Dongguan.

As a veteran Councilor, she knew about the relationship between Yan Hai and Li Yao. As someone who had fought alongside him just now, she also knew the details of the battle.

She knew Yan Hai was genuinely concerned about Li Yao's property being stolen. It was the Black God Set, after all.

"Heh." Dongguan chuckled and sent out his spiritual force. The gray ape rose to his feet, his scarlet eyes fixed on the pair.

Dongguan knew Yan Hai had never been a man of good character, but he had not expected him to steal even the belongings left behind by a companion from the great nirvana period.

If this was a standoff, it was two Planetary Level Second Order fighters against one Planetary Level Second Order fighter and one first-order fighter. Who was afraid of whom?

"You dare collude with a monster? Did you have something to do with Li Yao's death? You want to steal his Black God Set!" Yan Hai demanded fiercely.

Lan Ran's expression was solemn as well.

Neither side trusted the other, and they remained locked in a standoff.

The atmosphere was heavy with murderous tension.

Then someone arrived, breaking that tension.

"Yao, I'm here." Holding a bottle of the Water of Life, Vina rushed over, heedless of the three Councilors' imposing auras.

She froze at the sight of Li Yao's shattered body, then stepped forward and poured the Water of Life from the bottle into his mouth.

But Li Yao was already dead. How could he drink the Water of Life?

"Yao, stop joking. Let's go home," Vina said in awkward Chinese.

She reached out to help Li Yao up, only to lift half a head.

"No!" Her heart-wrenching cry was so helpless, so sorrowful.

Dongguan glanced at Yan Hai and Lan Ran, and the three abandoned their standoff.

Li Yao's Black God Set now had someone to claim it.

The three watched in silence, all feeling downhearted.

Even those watching through satellite screens who had grudges against Li Yao and his family could find no joy in this moment.

"My condolences." In the end, Yan Hai stepped forward.

Finally, Vina rose, her eyes red from crying, and walked toward Dongguan.

Thinking she had come to reclaim the Black God Set, Dongguan held out the black armguard.

"This is what Li Yao left behind. He was a hero."

Vina took the Black God Set armguard, her expression strange, traces of madness flickering across her deathly pale face.

"A hero? You're actually calling Yao a hero? Hahaha, that's hilarious."

"What is it?" Dongguan asked, bewildered.

"Did you have a hand in A Wei's death?" Vina demanded.

"Absolutely not," Dongguan answered firmly. "I don't know Psychological Suggestion or anything like it. How could I have tampered with him?"

This time, he did offer an explanation.

"You don't?" Vina stared blankly, then pointed at the Long-Armed Ape King standing nearby. "Then how do you explain him? Why does he obey you?"

"I took control of him," Dongguan said openly.

In the War God Palace, Ister, Catlan, and the other Psychics watching through the screen all jolted.

"If you can control him, why couldn't you use Psychological Suggestion on A Wei? Excuses, all excuses!" Vina screamed hysterically.

Yan Hai and Lan Ran stood beside Vina, protecting her in case Dongguan lashed out in humiliation and anger.

But Dongguan did not fly into a rage. Instead, he said calmly, "First, controlling this fellow and so-called Psychological Suggestion are two different things. Second, I hadn't even developed this control method back then. Finally, if I'd wanted to target Li Wei, I would never have used Psychological Suggestion. He certainly wouldn't have survived, and you wouldn't have had any evidence, even though I hadn't broken through at the time."

Hearing "developed," Ister was deeply shocked in the War God Palace. He had researched this kind of beast taming secret art himself. Using illusions to temporarily control a monster far weaker than himself was possible, but it could not fight in that state, and maintaining control required constant mental effort. That hardly qualified as a beast taming secret art.

Then he reconsidered. "Developed" did not necessarily mean creating something from nothing. Dongguan might have obtained a fragment from some Ancient Civilization Ruins and worked it out from there. Translation and study were still research.

Even so, excitement stirred in his heart. There were countless monsters in this world. Taming one of the same order would effectively double his combat power.

Back at the ruined battlefield, Vina listened to Dongguan's reasons without saying whether she believed him. She merely laughed and shouted hysterically, "He killed my son, then killed my husband and destroyed my family! Just because you've taken control of him, we're supposed to let him go?"

Then she said to Yan Hai and Lan Ran beside her, "Can you help me kill him?"

She said nothing about attacking Dongguan. Attacking a human Councilor would violate the rules no matter what. Even though Li Yao had died horribly, the two Councilors would never agree.

But killing a monster, even one under someone's control, would at most offend Dongguan himself.

"So you want to kill him." Dongguan looked at Vina.

"Yes, why not? I want to kill him, unless you kill me first!" Vina shouted, growing ever more hysterical.

Instead, she left Dongguan puzzled.

After a few seconds of silence, Dongguan said, "If you want to kill him, then do it."

To be honest, his control secret art still had flaws compared with Soul Enslavement. He could not force the target to commit suicide. Otherwise, its instinct to survive would reawaken its will, and he might even lose control.

He had originally been very interested in the Long-Armed Ape King's ability, but seeing Li Yao die before him had left him feeling heavyhearted, or perhaps guilty. If he had been a little faster, perhaps Li Yao would not have died.

"He's very hard to kill. If you attack, I might lose control. If you want to kill him, work out a method first," Dongguan warned.

"You're really letting me kill him?" Vina asked, somewhat confused.

Phantom Demon Katelan of her Polenas Family was a Psychic. She knew a little about beast taming and understood how difficult it was. That was also why she still believed Dongguan had something to do with Li Wei's death.

As for Dongguan being hunted, within her self-consistent reasoning, she believed it had all been an act.

In the end, the Long-Armed Ape King died.

At the final moment, his scarlet eyes returned to their golden color, but the light had gone out of them, just as it had for Li Yao.

Dongguan lost his chance to study him, but he discovered something: sometimes, if you killed a seemingly undying creature over and over again, it would eventually die.

Lan Ran reached out and froze Li Yao's remains together. Then the four left the wilderness zone and returned to the base city.

As for any monsters along the way, none dared show themselves. Even their king was dead.