ACSP: Chapter 184: Ancestral Reversion of Strange Beasts, Super-Kage Level Divine Strange Beasts!
Outside the borders of Jinghai City.
Deep within the dense forest that served as the bottleneck route connecting the coastline to the city gates, Yang Ke and He Gen were perched comfortably on a massive tree branch, waiting in ambush. The two of them had been stationed at this outpost for quite some time, yet the expected vanguard of Dongdao Contractors landing from the coast had still not shown their faces.
The entire forest was unnervingly quiet, wrapped in an absolute, suffocating silence.
"There isn't a single soul out here. Could the Boss's judgment have missed the mark this time?" Yang Ke muttered, his anxiety flaring as the muffled echoes of thunderous explosions and distant screams drifted over from Jinghai City behind them.
His [Perception Technique] had been active without a single moment of rest, micro-scanning the entire perimeter, but it hadn't picked up a single human frequency. The total lack of feedback involuntarily caused him to question Jiang Chen's tactical blueprint. Perhaps the invading naval force had bypassed this classic route entirely, utilizing a different vector to infiltrate the city.
"Is it possible that the East Island forces who landed earlier have already slipped past us and concentrated all their numbers inside Jinghai City?" He Gen murmured after a moment of tense calculation.
Yang Ke's brow furrowed deep in thought. He opened his mouth, just about to voice his agreement, when a sudden, violent spike of pressure detonated right within his sensory grid.
A monstrously powerful aura had abruptly materialized inside his perception range. Surrounding that central gravity well, dozens of smaller, frantic Chakra signatures were moving at high velocity.
"Someone's approaching... but the composition is completely wrong..." Yang Ke's face shifted instantly. He surged to his feet, his eyes locking onto the dense foliage in the direction of the incoming signatures.
He Gen stood up right beside him, his hand instantly dropping to his weapon. "What's the situation? Is it an entire division?"
"No, it's not a massive army," Yang Ke whispered, a sweat drop forming on his temple. "But the core signature... it doesn't feel like a human Contractor at all. It feels exactly like a [Strange Beast]. And the raw mass of that monster's energy is staggering—it's easily pulling Kage-level strength."
"What?! A Kage-level Strange Beast?" He Gen was completely struck dumb on the spot, his eyes widening in shock. "This is an established human territory! How could a calamity of that caliber just wander into a civilized zone?"
It was common enough for minor Strange Beasts to prowl the wilderness near human settlements, but a Kage-level entity was a walking natural disaster. Their presence here defied all standard logic.
After all, no matter how much they cleared out Strange Beasts, in the uninhabited areas deep in the forest, there would always be some Strange Beasts running out from time to time.
However, most of those Strange Beasts with Kage-level strength already possessed a certain level of intelligence and would definitely not easily set foot in places where humans lived.
Because in their eyes, humans are also a highly dangerous species.
"I'm not very clear on the specific situation either; let's head over there and take a look first."
Yang Ke pointed in a direction, then formed hand seals to use [Stealth Technique], slipping into the void and flying rapidly toward that side.
Seeing this, He Gen immediately followed closely behind.
...
Moving with suppressed speed, the two scouts slipped through the dense canopy, rapidly closing the distance until they arrived at the coordinate where the Dongdao Contractors had clustered.
But the moment they parted the heavy foliage, the horrific spectacle before them made both men freeze in the shadows, drawing a sharp, collective gasp of utter shock.
Tearing through the clearing was a colossal, nightmarish serpent measuring well over a hundred meters in length. Its entire scaled body was completely enveloped in a roaring vortex of blood-colored flames, thrashing violently as it engaged in a frantic, bloody melee against hundreds of panicked Dongdao Contractors. The monstrous creature defied the laws of nature—two jagged, primitive horns sprouted from its skull, four massive reptilian claws gouged deep craters into the earth, and its front torso was densely carpeted in a thick, coarse layer of black fur.
This was no longer a standard reptilian mutation.
It was a primitive, cataclysmic Flood Dragon.
"That... that's a [Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon]!" Yang Ke hissed under his breath, his eyes wide with terror. Even though he had meticulously deployed his [Stealth Technique] to mask their presence and dampen the sound, his trembling voice still vibrated clearly in He Gen's ears.
Hearing the specific classification, He Gen's face instantly drained of all color.
According to the historical archives of the New Era, the exotic beasts roaming the wild lands were originally standard wildlife native to the Blue Star. Following the cataclysmic dimensional shift, they had undergone violent biological mutations under the volatile influence of otherworldly energy.
As a universal rule, the ultimate combat ceiling of a mutated beast was strictly dictated by the raw predatory baseline and lineage it possessed prior to the mutation.
For instance, docile creatures transformed from common livestock or domestic animals generally occupied the absolute bottom of the food chain, offering negligible threat. Conversely, apex predators that were already bloodthirsty and lethal—such as apex wolves, grizzly bears, or lions and tigers—achieved terrifying power grids post-mutation. The most dominant among them could easily match, or even butcher, a max-level Jonin Contractor.
Beyond standard mutation, however, a microscopic percentage of wildlife possessed a rare genetic probability to trigger a phenomenon known as Atavism or Deification.
If a dominant tiger experienced an atavistic regression, its DNA would awaken the ancient traits of its prehistoric ancestors, morphing it into a colossal saber-toothed beast with fangs like broadswords, its combat threshold instantly skyrocketing to match a Kage-level powerhouse.
As for the legendary Deified creatures—entities that completely crossed the threshold into mythical folklore—their existence remained an unconfirmed, terrifying myth that no modern Contractor had ever lived to document.
However, some people online have claimed to have seen such creatures before.
They claimed that the city they were in was destroyed by a giant turtle carrying a stone tablet on its back.
The appearance of that tablet-carrying giant turtle was extremely similar to the legendary deified creature, the Tablet-Suppressing Black Tortoise.
Furthermore, its strength could already rival a max-level Super Kage Contractor; otherwise, it would have been impossible to destroy a city.
The Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon appearing before Yang Ke and his companion may not count as a deified exotic beast, but it is a legendary creature possessing dragon bloodline.
An exotic beast of this level has at least Shadow-level strength.
The reason Yang Ke could recognize this 'Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon' at a glance was because someone had encountered this type of flood dragon beast on the sea and posted photos online.
"Isn't the Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon an exotic beast that inhabits the deep sea? How did it appear here?"
He Gen said with a solemn expression.
Yang Ke stared fixedly at the chaotic battlefield, his eyes tracking the frantic movements of the Dongdao Contractors as they clashed with the roaring Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon. A sudden realization struck him, and his expression turned incredibly thoughtful.
"This monster didn't wander here by accident," Yang Ke whispered, a grim edge to his voice. "It was almost certainly lured here by these Dongdao bastards. If I remember the naval maps correctly, there's a treacherous, uncharted deep-sea trench cutting right through the waters between their East Island and our Great Xia. That must be its nest."
He Gen's brow furrowed deep into a tight knot as the puzzle pieces clicked together. "Those lunatics deliberately dragged a deep-sea exotic beast all the way onto the mainland? What the hell are they playing at... could they actually be trying to hunt it?"
"Does that even need asking? What else could a massive operation like this possibly be for?" Yang Ke's tone grew heavy with immense gravity. "The ancient lore dictates that high-tier exotic beasts have a rare chance of harboring hidden [Summoning Scrolls] within their spiritual cores. These Dongdao invaders are trying to slaughter the Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon to force the scroll to drop. If they actually pull this off, their military faction will instantly gain an absolutely loyal, Kage-level Summoned Beast."
He Gen let out a cold, venomous snort. "It's a damn good thing we scouted this out in time. If we had stayed back at the city gates, these animals might have actually succeeded right under our noses."
A predatory light flickered deep within Yang Ke's eyes as he adjusted his posture on the branch. "Get ready to move on my mark. The moment these people exhaust themselves killing the Lihuo Demon Flood Dragon, we will strike from the shadows and steal the kill."
"I know the drill, you don't have to tell me twice," He Gen grunted, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his weapon.
The strategic value of a Kage-level Summoned Beast was entirely equivalent to adding an actual, living Kage-level Contractor to a nation's military roster. If the East Island forces successfully secured the contract for a primordial dragon, it would spell absolute disaster for the defensive lines of Great Xia.
Silently fading into the dense foliage, Yang Ke and He Gen maintained their flawless ambush positions within the high canopy, their eyes hyper-focused on the evolving tactics of the Dongdao vanguard. As they scanned the battlefield, the sheer destructive performance of two specific combatants immediately locked their attention.
To their surprise, both of the high-output leads were women.
The first was a elegant woman draped in a traditional combat kimono, her fingers blurring through hand seals as she unleashed the terrifying power of the [Ice Release Kekkei Genkai]. With a simple wave of her hand, she could instantaneously condense thousands of lethal, high-velocity ice needles from the humidity, freezing the dragon's localized water vapors into massive, reinforced crystalline cages with astonishing kinetic power.
The second was a striking, blue-haired warrior with her hair tied back into a high, commanding ponytail.
The advanced technique she deployed shared a striking mechanical similarity to standard Ice Release, but the results were utterly terrifying—the jagged, piercing crystals she manifested from the air were a deep, suffocating crimson. They glowed with an eerie, unnatural light, tearing through the forest like frozen shards of blood.
...