2: Chapter 2: Nurturing ferocious beasts with malevolent soil, ascending the path to divinity with a mortal body.

F-Rating.

The black rating font was like a resounding slap, fiercely striking everyone across the face.

The theoretical genius who had been the center of attention and held high hopes by everyone just a second ago was instantly reduced to the worst useless deity in the entire school the very next second.

Dead silence.

A silence like death.

The wind blew across the square, kicking up fine black stones on the ground and making a rustling sound that seemed exceptionally piercing at this moment.

Everyone widened their eyes in disbelief, staring blankly at the miasma hell on the altar with blank minds.

Ninety-nine square kilometers, and the initial kin numbered a full three hundred.

This area and this quantity even overshadowed the earlier SS-grade goddess Xiao Qingwu!

One must know that for the past 300 years, the largest newly awakened divine kingdom area had been no more than 100 square kilometers, and the highest number of initial kin was likewise three hundred.

And Lin Ye was now close to the theoretical maximum.

Such data was extremely rare for a super-large initial divine kingdom across the entire Federation.

Yet, this vast expanse of land was a worthless Miasma Wasteland.

Along with three hundred of the lowest-tier Scavenger Hounds...

A contaminating inferior divine kingdom, rated F-.

What an absurd and ironic combination.

The quietness on the playground was even more thorough than when Xiao Qingwu awakened.

But this time, the meaning of the quietness was completely different.

Xiao Qingwu's quietness was out of shock.

Lin Ye's quietness was because no one knew what to say.

Ninety-nine square kilometers, three hundred initial kin, yet the theoretical limit was paired with the lowest-tier scavenging creatures and a Miasma Wasteland where living beings struggled to survive.

It was like being given an abandoned skyscraper with only a stray dog living inside.

"Pfft—"

It was unknown who laughed first.

Then came the voices of Ye Feng's lackeys, each louder than the last:

"Ninety-nine square kilometers? Hahahahaha!"

"Scavenger Hound! F-tier! I'm laughing my ass off!"

"Theory number one is just this? As expected, it's all talk on paper!"

"Recommendation: Do not cultivate—original quote from the Bestiary, hahaha!"

Ye Feng gripped his stomach, shaking with laughter, his brows and eyes filled with undisguised mockery and exhilaration.

"I said it! The impoverished will always be the impoverished!"

He strode out of the crowd, raising his head to look at the cold and solitary young man on the altar, his voice arrogant and piercing:

"Lin Ye, aren't you good at putting on airs? Didn't you beat me in every exam?"

"Why aren't you talking now?"

Over eight hundred pairs of eyes fell uniformly upon Lin Ye.

Surprise, regret, sympathy, disdain, schadenfreude... Countless complex gazes intertwined, almost crushing the young man's frail body.

"What a pity for that handsome face that was just a tiny bit short of the reader lords, and that heaven-defying theoretical talent."

"What's the use of good theory? Divine kingdom talent is born destined; an F-tier has no hope of promotion in this lifetime."

"So what if it's ninety-nine square kilometers? It's all miasma, unable to nurture even the most basic psionic energy; it's just a toxic wasteland."

"I've seen those Scavenger Hounds in the Otherworld Bestiary; they're the lowest-tier saprophytic monsters that only eat carrion and mud, and their combat power is inferior even to wild dogs."

The discussions rose and fell like countless dense needles continuously pricking the young man on the altar.

On the podium, the grey-haired grade director sighed heavily, his turbid eyes filled with regret.

"What a pity, truly a pity. Such an exceptional brain, yet he ended up with the worst divine kingdom."

The young female mentor beside him gently shook her head, her tone cold: "His soul's foundation is tainted; it's highly probable his parents died in the abyss, and the abyss's residual pollution contaminated his soul. A born trash constitution, there's no saving him."

Amidst the crowd, the aloof young girl Xiao Qingwu tilted her head slightly, her clear eyes sweeping calmly across that patch of pitch-black miasma.

Her delicate brows furrowed imperceptibly for a moment, quickly returning to cold indifference.

No one pitied Lin Ye.

In the cruel era of divinity, inferior talent was in itself an original sin.

On the altar, the miasma slowly receded, shrinking back into the depths of Lin Ye's soul.

The youth still maintained his hand-raised posture, his clear and cold brows and eyes showing no change whatsoever, terrifyingly calm.

What others saw was a filthy, dilapidated wasteland divine kingdom.

But only Lin Ye himself knew what he had felt at that exact moment.

At the very instant the miasma surged and the divine kingdom manifested, a vast, ancient, boundless, and low voice directly resounded in his mind.

[Unknown, powerful, and matchless divine energy detected, mandatory conversion of divine vocation in progress!]

[Origin initial divine vocation: Beast God]

[Unlocked talent: Extreme Physique, Blood Boiling (Kin within the divine kingdom can enhance resistance to blows, toxins, and severe cold and heat, greatly improving survival capabilities in extreme harsh environments. Blood Boiling can massively boost the combat power of beast-class subordinates, but they will lose partial sanity and have only enemies in their eyes.)]

[Underlying logic being modified, counterattacking... Counterattack failed, the opponent's divine energy has been provoked, currently the opponent is matchless... Without causing unnecessary collateral damage, universe will self-inspection rules in progress...]

[Special gift: Shenzhou Will Source-Tracing Blessing (Shielding mode enabled, no living being can view it, including the current universe will.)]

[Hidden initial divine vocation: Ancestor Beast God (Unique)]

[Unlocked talent: Ancestral Tracing and Origin Nourishing (Can observe sparse ancient bloodline factors within birds and beasts, consume materials to evolve along a specified evolutionary route.)]

Cold and domineering golden characters forcefully chiselled into the deep sea of his consciousness, the handwriting ancient and ferocious, carrying a wisp of a pure and familiar warmth that pierced through dimensions.

That was an aura belonging uniquely to Shenzhou, the taste of his homeland that he had deeply buried in his bones and blood through two lifetimes of wandering.

The warm current savagely collided with his soul; the loneliness suppressed at the bottom of his heart for over a decade, the alienation of a strange world, and the helpless solitude burst forth with a roar at this moment. No one knew how much hardship a ten-year-old child had experienced to survive until now in this cannibalistic world.

Lin Ye's fingertips trembled violently in a way hard to detect, the heart in his chest beating wildly, and a near-manic ecstasy and bitterness tightly gripped his nerves.

He showed no outward loss of composure; only the corners of his mouth uncontrollably curled up slightly, pulling a rigid, eerie, and indifferent smile, his eyes hollow and cold, as if his soul had been extracted or as if he had gone completely mad.

In the eyes of outsiders, this genius who had fallen from his divine pedestal had ultimately been unable to withstand the blow of the F- rating and suffered a mental breakdown.

Nobody knew that beneath this morbid and eerie slight smile lay the scorching frenzy of an otherworldly wanderer reuniting with the gift of his homeland, an eighteen-year-old soul finding a sense of belonging once again.

"Shenzhou... You didn't abandon me..."

Something got into Lin Ye's eyes; a single tear dripped onto the ground at his feet.

Others could only see the grade shackles on the surface of the troop types.

But Lin Ye could see through to the primitive origin at the deepest part of the bloodline.

He lowered his gaze, his eyes passing through the black stone floor of the altar, as if piercing through space and landing on his own miasma divine kingdom.

Passing over the ugly, rotting flesh and blood, and through the dirty, turbid blood, he clearly saw that at the deepest part of every Scavenger Hound's skeleton, there lurked a trace of imperceptible pitch-black bloodline factor.

Ancient, ferocious, and domineering.

That was the Taotie bloodline.

It was a primordial fierce beast, the Taotie that gluttonously devoured the world!

[Scavenger Hound: Strength: 5, Agility: 5, Constitution: 8, Spirit: 12, Wisdom: 3]

[Source-Tracing: Source-tracing direction of the Scavenger Hound—Upward one tier: Miasma-Devouring Hound... Toward ancient tier: Tanbei... Toward mythical supreme tier: Taotie.]

[Note: Scavenger Hounds can be made to devour each other, with a high probability of producing favorable mutations, which can greatly enhance the Scavenger Hounds' ability to resist miasma. Upward source-tracing can use corpse cores...]

Everyone in the Source Realm regarded Scavenger Hounds as the lowest-tier trash kin.

But in Lin Ye's eyes, these three hundred ugly, useless dogs were all unawakened primordial fierce beasts.

Other people's divine kingdoms were filled with pleasant birdsong and fragrant flowers, brimming with spiritual energy.

So what?

My divine kingdom has monstrous miasma, and ten thousand beasts return to their ancestor!

Lin Ye slowly withdrew his right hand, a trace of icy miasma lingering on his fingertips.

He raised his eyes, his indifferent gaze landing directly on the boisterously laughing Ye Feng below, his eyes devoid of anger or humiliation, holding only a sheet of icy calm.

Today's mockery was of no consequence.

Today's contempt would be repaid a hundredfold another day.

"What? Stunned silly by the blow?!"

Ye Feng took two steps forward, deliberately raising his head to look down condescendingly at Lin Ye on the altar, his tone dripping with mockery: "Do you want me to spare you a bit of low-grade faith liquid? After all, we're classmates, and I can't bear to see a genius like you fall into the mire."

The two lackeys beside him immediately chimed in, chiming with sarcastic tones.

"Young Master Ye is magnanimous! Unlike certain people who occupy the top spot in the grade and put on a high and mighty act, only to turn out to be an F-trash."

"So what if it's ninety-nine square kilometers? I heard that contaminated divine kingdoms can't even produce basic resources; you'll probably have trouble eating in the future."

Lin Ye slowly walked down the altar, his lean figure brushing past the three of them without stopping, leaving behind only a cold whisper—not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of all three:

"A-grade Thunderstorm Berserk Rhino, not bad."

"Pity, in my eyes, it's still trash."

As his words fell, the youth did not stop his stride, walking straight through the clamorous crowd and heading alone to a secluded corner of the square.

His tone was calm, without fury or roars.

Yet that extreme calmness was even more unsettling than fury.

The smile on Ye Feng's face instantly froze, his complexion darkening gloomily.

He stared fixedly at Lin Ye's lonely back, grinding his teeth with a cold sneer, his eyes filled with murderous intent: "Stubborn to the end. I want to see just how arrogant an F-tier useless deity can be."

On the west side of the square, beneath the secluded shade of tung trees.

Lin Ye leaned against the rough tree trunk, the slightly chilly autumn breeze stirring the stray hairs on his forehead.

The surrounding crowd intentionally distanced themselves from him, as if avoiding some kind of ominous source of pollution.

Everyone was staying away from him.

After all, in the cognition of the people in the Source Realm, demigods with contaminated divine kingdoms would most likely be eroded by abyss energy, have their minds twisted, and degenerate into monsters.

Loneliness, ostracization, prejudice.

This was the first lesson brought to him by the F- rating.

Lin Ye didn't care in the least; he was already used to being alone.

Having crossed through two lifetimes, he was inherently a solitary traveler.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at his own palm.

A wisp of pitch-black, fine miasma slowly circulated in his palm.

The filthy miasma feared by outsiders was, to him, supreme nourishment for cultivating primordial fierce beasts.

"Ninety-nine square kilometers of divine kingdom..."

Lin Ye murmured in a low voice, a sharp, piercing gleam flashing across the depths of his eyes.

Others disliked the miasma for being too heavy.

But only he knew that the larger the divine kingdom's area, the stronger its later-stage carrying capacity.

This Miasma Wasteland scorned by the world was the ultimate fertile soil best suited for the growth of primordial fierce beasts.

"Three hundred Scavenger Hounds..."

The corners of his mouth curled up into a faint, cold smile.

Right now, they were rotting, lowly Scavenger Hounds.

Before long, they would be the world-devouring primordial Taotie.

Right at this moment, the old-fashioned black psionic phone in his pocket vibrated slightly.

The screen lit up, popping up an official push notification.

[Federal Divinity Center Notification: High-risk contaminated divinity detected, ID 7349, holder Lin Ye.]

[Judgment: No cultivation value, recommended to abandon advanced studies and enter ordinary livelihood college!]

[Warm reminder: To prevent the spread of contamination, please do not open the divine kingdom entrance without authorization.]

Lin Ye glanced at it casually, tapped the screen with his fingertips, and directly deleted the message.

Ordinary livelihood college?

He had never considered that from the very beginning.

The wasteland others didn't want, I want.

The useless dogs others despised, I raise.

Since this heaven and earth gave me the worst starting hand, I shall defy the heavenly dao, rear fierce beasts with miasma, and ascend the divine path with a mortal body.

Lin Ye closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his mind, actively connecting to his own miasma divine kingdom.

Amidst the pitch-black torrent of consciousness, the ancient Ancestor Beast divine seal slowly rotated, emitting a dim and profound glow.

The next moment, his vision descended directly upon that dead, black wasteland.