"Steelwing Moth has lost the ability to fight—victory goes to Rainbow Dragon Hatchling!"
"Let's congratulate Li Lingyin for becoming the first contestant to advance to the semifinals of this year's Middle Cup!"
"Li Lingyin!!"
"Rainbow Dragon Hatchling!!"
As the battle ended, waves of cheers erupted from the spectator stands.
In just a few short days of competition, Li Lingyin had relied on her high-spirited momentum, skillful control, and the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling's popularity to win over a large number of fans, becoming the most popular contestant of this year's Middle Cup.
However, after this battle, she didn't say her signature line—"What a delightful battle."
After shaking hands with her opponent and greeting her fans, she hurriedly left the arena and ran back to the contestants' lounge.
"Quick, quick, quick—the award ceremony is about to go live! Everyone, hurry and watch the stream!"
Entering the lounge, Li Lingyin urged the others while pulling out her phone and eagerly opening the app.
The other kids in the lounge looked at each other in confusion.
Over the past few days, the officials had released previews across multiple platforms, announcing an award ceremony to honor the Howl Hounds who had sacrificed themselves in recent years.
Howl Hounds were one of China's signature police Pet Beasts, and also a common "house-guard dog" in rural areas. They were extremely popular and widely known as loyal Pet Beasts.
Because of this, the event had gained strong support from many Beast Tamers and widespread public attention.
Its popularity on social media was enough to rival Jiang Xing's announcement of the "Friendship Theory."
Even now, before the official stream had begun, the view count had already surpassed one hundred million!
Countless people were paying attention to this ceremony.
But…
"Li Lingyin, you just advanced to the semifinals—shouldn't you be studying your opponents?" another contestant, Wang Haoyuan, couldn't help but ask. "What's so interesting about an award ceremony?"
"Yeah." Several other contestants nodded in agreement.
It wasn't an evolution conference—what was there to watch?
Could some brand-new Pet Beast really appear?
If Li Lingyin could hear their thoughts, she would definitely say—
Actually, yes!
As a former assistant, Li Lingyin knew about the Death Secret Realm and the Undead Guardian Hounds.
Recently, she had also messaged Jiang Xing and learned that he would be participating in this award ceremony.
Combining those two factors, it wasn't hard for her to guess—had her teacher already cracked the mystery of the Undead Guardian Hounds, leading to this ceremony?
Thinking about how those fallen Howl Hounds might return as heroic spirits, Li Lingyin was naturally filled with anticipation!
The competition could wait—this was a chance to witness history!
Seeing that Li Lingyin ignored their words and stared eagerly at her phone screen, the other contestants grew curious as well and opened the livestream.
What exactly made this ceremony so appealing?
Very soon, at exactly ten o'clock, the official livestream went live on time.
However, what appeared on screen was not the solemn memorial park the children had imagined—but a battle arena.
Inside the arena, six Magnet Orbs combined into formation, unleashing dazzling lightning that struck forward with force.
On the other side, a black-and-purple wolfman wreathed in flames stood in front of a young man, blocking the attack before letting out a roar and launching a counterattack.
Seeing the footage, whether it was Li Lingyin or the other viewers, everyone was stunned.
"What is this—a battle video?"
"Wasn't this supposed to be an award ceremony? Why did it turn into a Beast Taming battle?"
"Technical glitch?"
"@Director, you switched to the wrong feed!"
The audience's first reaction was that a broadcasting accident had occurred—the director must have switched to the wrong livestream.
However, this was the world of Beast Tamers, and Beast battles were undeniably one of the most popular forms of content.
So although the viewers were confused, they were still drawn in by the battle on screen.
Very soon, some viewers noticed that the young man commanding the flame wolfman seemed to be the recently rising rookie researcher—Jiang Xing!
The moment they realized this, their curiosity surged even higher, and they began paying closer attention to the battle itself.
For example…
"Eh, what kind of Pet Beast is that flame wolfman? Does anyone know?"
"No idea—I've never seen that kind of Pet Beast before…"
"Is it a Moonround Werewolf?"
"That's obviously a fire-type—since when is your Moonround Werewolf fire-type?!"
"I ran an AI image scan on it. There's no matching entry in the Compendium—it looks like an unknown Pet Beast…"
Watching Jiang Xing command the flame wolfman in battle, and recalling the many results he had recently announced, the audience suddenly realized something… could this be a brand-new Pet Beast?!
At that moment, everyone's enthusiasm was ignited. Completely drawn into the scene, they began watching the battle intently, trying to analyze the Pet Beast's data…
As the fight progressed, the more they watched, the more shocked they became—
Based on visual estimation, both sides were at Low Commander Level.
But due to the Magnet Orbs' innate ability, the six of them combined together were effectively launching attacks as six Low Commander-level units at once!
This kind of sixfold offensive power was enough to defeat the vast majority of opponents at the same level.
However, the Crimson Flame Guardian Hound fighting them showed no signs of falling behind. After enduring multiple attacks, not only did its momentum not decline in the slightest, it actually seemed to grow stronger the longer the battle went on…
No—that wasn't just a feeling. It was the truth!
In most Pet Beast battles, "life" and "combat power" are inseparably linked.
As injuries accumulate, strength, speed, and other attributes gradually decline—that's perfectly normal.
Even the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling couldn't defy this rule.
Yet before everyone's eyes, this Crimson Flame Guardian Hound took repeated hits, its body accumulating heavy injuries—yet its combat power didn't drop at all.
If anything, its speed visibly increased, and its flames swelled more and more.
At first, it was trading blows evenly with the Magnet Orbs—but as the fight went on, it gradually entered a berserk state, unleashing wave after wave of flaming punches, completely suppressing them!
A Charge-type ability? Absorbing lightning energy to grow stronger?
No—if it were the ability known as the "strictest father of the lightning element," it wouldn't be taking damage at all.
Judging from this performance, it was clearly the more injured it became, the stronger it grew—
The moment they reached this conclusion, the audience was stunned.
What the hell, man?!
This ability is downright cursed!
In the end, as they watched the Crimson Flame Guardian Hound smash through the Magnet Orbs, leaving them completely unable to continue fighting or recombine,
the audience felt a mix of emotions—complex and hard to describe.
Those Magnet Orbs really held on for a long time.
All their strength lay in their combination, and without a Beast Tamer's support, losing to such a cursed Pet Beast was only natural.
That said…
Could this be a brand-new evolutionary form discovered by Jiang Xing?!
Last time it was the "get-knocked-down-and-get-back-up" Dragon Hatchling build—this time it's a "the more you fight, the stronger you get" wolfman. What is this guy doing, researching "forbidden beasts" every single day?
This is outrageous!
I need to join immediately!
The audience's excitement was completely ignited. They were intensely curious about this brand-new Pet Beast, desperate to learn everything about it.
However, just as the battle ended, the video cut off abruptly.
Jiang Xing didn't explain the Pet Beast's origin at all—instead, it directly switched to the next video.
The next clip was also a Pet Beast battle.
The combatants were two police officers, each commanding a purple-black puppy in battle.
With the Crimson Flame Guardian Hound as a reference, the audience quickly realized that these two identically colored puppies, both with flame-like scarves, were likely the base form of that wolfman.
They watched eagerly, analyzing the purple-black puppies—
The Crimson Flame Guardian Hound was a completely new Pet Beast, so no one could find a match for it.
But the purple-black puppies were different. People soon noticed that if you removed the flames and color scheme, their appearance was extremely similar to Howl Hounds—practically identical…
Wait, Howl Hounds?
Why were we watching this livestream again?
…An award ceremony for fallen Howl Hounds?
…And the combatants are police officers?
In an instant, many viewers' pupils shrank as their scalps went numb.
These mysterious Pet Beasts… could they be…
"Howl Hounds"!!?
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