Chapter 413 — The Target Is the Totem

She had not expected that the moment she let down her guard, Shi Jin would slip outside Tingxiang and nearly come to blows with the heirs of the Night Forest and the Dragon Empire.

"All right, all right." Shi Jin nodded.

"Also, you should have seen the Dark Elf Prince and the Flame Dragon King. As heirs of the Night Forest and the Dragon Empire, their standing within those powers is comparable to that of the Great Crown Prince, the Golden Dragon Crown Prince, of Mirage Abyss City, and their strength is not much inferior. So, little Shi Jin, when the World Tournament comes, be careful and do not overreach yourself. Competitors like them will not be few at the World Tournament."

"Even totems may well put in an appearance—that is not impossible either."

The Spirit Empress began to warn Shi Jin.

In the World Tournament, the Totem Kingdom held an advantage over the Seven Nations.

Their contestants were chiefly transcendent beings, bound to human beastmasters as masters and servants under a master-servant pact.

The World Tournament set limits only on the age of the human beastmasters.

And so the combat strength they could field was not strictly constrained.

Servants, after all, could be swapped at will; for a demigod totem power, raising legendary servants under three hundred years old was no great difficulty.

But on the Seven Nations' side, the pacts were chiefly human-led.

It is very difficult to directly contract with a veteran top-tier overlord; beasts like that are basically self-cultivated, and their strength is limited.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that some legendary tamers of the seven nations might choose to release one contract slot and then cooperate with some veteran guardian overlords within their country to fight in the World Tournament. The only problem is that such veteran overlords in the seven nations generally already have tamers—it is just that the tamers are dead—so they are very hard-pressed to accept a new master. Such conditions are difficult to meet. Unless the two generations of tamers share a blood relation, or the top-tier overlord is an exclusive mechanical overlord built by the nation at enormous expense, then there is still a certain possibility.

Another issue is that news of the World Tournament came too suddenly; there is only a one-year preparation period, which may not be enough time to temper and harmonize.

Still, the seven nations do have a certain advantage: the tamers of Totem Nation basically serve only one master, essentially a one-master-one-person system, and what they open up is a special exclusive beast-taming space. Among the tamers of the seven nations, by contrast, most raise a great many beasts. If battle breaks out, the number of beasts will definitely be an advantage.

"Mm, I see it. Truly powerful." Shi Heng nodded.

A top-tier overlord with the makings of invincibility, one that had even honed high-tier deterrence to perfection—just like Shi Jin facing Void Sandalwood back then, it was not something he could match at his current stage. It was even fiercer than Void Sandalwood. On his side, there really did seem to be no advantage at present.

He could only keep adding points and take things one step at a time.

Yet Shi Jin's expression was grave.

There were still totems?

Was this serious?

When the time came, against an overlord like the Flame Dragon King, he had a certain confidence, but a totem-level one...

Even if Ginseng Baby self-destructed, against a totem in perfect condition, it would absolutely be impossible to blow it up so easily.

No—he would have to be strict with Eleven and the others.

Before the World Tournament, all of them together had to have totem-level combat power!

"From here on, you will operate within Tingxiang," said the Spirit Empress. Lu Heng's cracking of the ruins had brought no small gain to Tingxiang, and she felt that Shi Jin would not be any worse.

"All right." Shi You had just answered, but at that very moment, his expression shifted slightly.

Some information surfaced before his eyes.

It came from the Tenth Bureau's illustrated codex.

He had already joined the intelligence bureau. The Tenth Bureau's codex could, in fact, share a great deal of important intelligence. Beyond that, the Tenth Bureau's codex had undergone special modification and possessed a very powerful function.

It could carry out communications while ignoring certain restrictions. With an ordinary phone, for example, he had no way at all to communicate with people in the Eastern Radiance Empire while in Tingxiang, but through the Tenth Bureau's codex, he could.

At this moment, the homeland was transmitting a message to him through the Tenth Bureau's codex.

Fang Lan had gone missing, suspected to have been drawn into a special ruin. At present the ruin could not be cracked, and the risks inside were unknown.

Fang Lan—the Eleventh Bureau trainee member who had summoned the Void Emperor ruin.

Clearly, something had happened to her. As Fang Lan's in-bureau guide, Shi Jin would certainly be among the first to receive the news.

"What is it?" Seeing Shi Jin's expression change, the Spirit Empress spoke.

"Your Majesty, something has happened over in the Eastern Radiance Empire. A member of the Eleventh Bureau has fallen into a ruin and her situation is unknown. She is only a trainee tamer—she may be in danger. I must hurry back and look into it."

Shi Jin could not spare a thought for touring the Tingxiang ruins now; the safety of the Eleventh Bureau's members was surely more important.

The Spirit Empress said nothing either, only nodding. "Then go and deal with it."

Since Shi Jin had already chosen a spirit beast, whether or not the ruins were cracked no longer mattered to the Spirit Empress. With Qi as a connection,

Shi Jin would presumably not be a stranger to Tingxiang in the future; there was no need to rush things.

"Mm." Shi Heng nodded and immediately prepared to return to the homeland.

At this time, the Dragon Palace exchange event had not yet ended—one could say it was still early. Apart from the sparring matches, the Dragon Palace overlords would naturally also go sightseeing in Tingxiang afterward, but Shi Jin definitely could not wait that long.

Unfortunately, Lu Yan and the Gem Cat could not be reached at this moment, so Shi Jin could only drag Qi away, say a word to the Ice Dragon, and head back to the homeland himself.

The Eastern Radiance Empire, the Void Capital.

This was the second time Fang Lan had come into contact with ruins.

Only this time, it had been somewhat sudden.

At this very moment, Fang Lan's parents were beside themselves with anxiety.

If Fang Lan's strength had already been enough to stand on her own, they would not be so frantic, but Fang Lan was only high-school age, had only just become a tamer, and her beast was still at the awakening level. With strength like that, meeting danger meant there was not the slightest power to resist.

Because of this matter, Feng Jin had also come to the place where Fang Lan had disappeared, and had called on other Eleventh Bureau members to try to communicate with the ruin and crack it.

Just as when Shi Jin had gone missing and met with trouble in the Martial Emperor ruin, these archaeological bigwigs all mobilized one after another.

Unfortunately, no matter who it was, no one could find Fang Lan, who had already been missing for several days.

Helpless, Feng Jin could only ask the Tenth Bureau to contact Shi Jin, hoping to see whether he and Lu Heng had any means.

The Eleventh Bureau's members were few to begin with, and Fang Lan, a future member, could not be allowed to come to harm during her trainee stage.

"How is the situation?"

Shi Jin had returned to the Eastern Radiance Empire very quickly. After arriving here, he immediately made contact with Feng Jin.

"You're back, Shi Jin."

"Do you still remember Fang Lan's two entry tasks?"