45: Big scene

Only after putting enough distance between themselves and the battlefield did Chu Jingyu and the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast stop to rest against the trunk of a giant tree.

From the brocade pouch in his robes, Chu Jingyu took out two Origin Rune Stones. He tossed one into the mouth of the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast, while holding the other in his hand to quickly absorb the energy within.

Chu Jingyu sighed inwardly; this Beyond the Border was truly dangerous, and one might encounter an attack if not careful.

However, the overall situation was much better than he had anticipated, as the number of Source Beasts was far lower than he had expected.

Moreover, since entering the dense forest, he had not even encountered a single Mortal Rank Source Beast, which seemed somewhat wrong.

Unaccountably, a sense of worry arose in Chu Jingyu's heart; could some sort of 'big event' be about to happen in this dense forest?

After resting for a moment, Chu Jingyu had the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast scout the surrounding environment once more.

Relying on the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast's excellent perception of the earth's veins, they were able to bypass some Source Beasts with terrifying Aura in the dense forest ahead of time, and they also collected quite a few Mortal Rank spiritual materials.

Chu Jingyu preserved the roots of most of these, hoping to bring them back in the slim chance they could be replanted.

After all, there were two Source Beasts at home that possessed skills to promote the growth of spiritual materials; if they could be successfully planted, it would be a sustainable source of income for the Family.

Unknowingly, the sky gradually darkened.

The 'sun,' which trailed long red ribbons, set, replaced by a 'full moon' encircled by rings.

Although, as an Intermediate Alien Tier Contract Master, Chu Jingyu's physical fitness and vision had been greatly enhanced, it was still not ideal to operate in the darkness under low light conditions.

Furthermore, Beyond the Border, the Source Beasts active at night were even more troublesome than those during the day.

Chu Jingyu and the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast chose a relatively open area where they could see the full moon in the sky through the gaps in the branches.

Compared to other places, the light here was clearly better.

The Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast plunged its pincers into the ground. Moments later, a pit three meters square appeared before it, and as it expended energy, the depth of the pit continued to increase.

Once it reached a depth of about a dozen meters, Chu Jingyu and the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast jumped into the giant pit together.

Then, the soil at the edges of the pit began to converge again. In just a few moments, the ground returned to its original state, and the existence of the pit could no longer be detected.

Inside the three-meter-square earthen pit, there was still plenty of space left for Chu Jingyu and the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast.

The Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast closed its eyes tightly, as if fallen into a deep slumber. Chu Jingyu placed his hands on its carapace, and then the same golden light radiated from both of them; now, their breaths merged as if they were one.

This was a relatively obvious difference between an Uncommon Rank Contract Master and a Mortal Rank Contract Master.

The obvious difference between a Mortal Rank Contract Master and an ordinary person was that all physical attributes were enhanced, and one could issue commands to their Source Beast through a mental connection.

The difference between an Uncommon Rank Contract Master and a Mortal Rank Contract Master was that the former could establish a deeper mental connection with their Source Beast, allowing for empathy with the Source Beast when not being interfered with by others.

At this time, the Source Beast and the Contract Master could perform energy feedback, where the party with the higher Realm would slowly feed back energy to the party with the lower Realm, thereby gradually bringing their Realms closer together.

Furthermore, because their breaths were merged, some non-intense, non-combat type skills could also be perceived simultaneously.

Sometimes, because the Source Beast received a bonus from the Contract Master's Mental Energy, some skills would receive a positive enhancement.

Chu Jingyu and the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast were currently in this state of empathy.

A layer of invisible ripples slowly spread through the ground, and a magical perception appeared in Chu Jingyu's mind, as if a three-dimensional image were flashing before his eyes.

Chu Jingyu knew this was information fed back by the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast's [Heart of the Earth].

In the image, directly above the deep pit they had dug, a giant bear with rock fragments embedded in its front and back was lying down. The faint moonlight fell upon its body, turning into a layer of faint fluorescent particles that merged into its physique.

The Rock Bear was famous for its immense strength and thick hide. After reaching adulthood, it could generally reach the strength of an Intermediate Alien Tier, and special individuals could reach the strength of a High-levelDifferent Rank, making it a very troublesome Source Beast.

Naturally, information regarding this Source Beast surfaced in Chu Jingyu's mind.

Seven hundred meters to the northwest, a giant tree with many aerial roots hanging down, which looked out of place among the broad-leaved giant trees nearby, appeared in his consciousness.

Its aerial roots hanging from the branches shuttled through the forest from time to time, bringing back the corpses of several Source Beasts after a short while. Then, the flesh and blood were slowly absorbed by the aerial roots; a small deer-like Source Beast was sucked until only a layer of deerskin remained in just over ten minutes.

Chu Jingyu had never seen this type of Source Beast and did not know its information, but he did know the information about the small deer it had slaughtered.

The Forest Horn Deer was famous because its antlers resembled the branches of a green tree. Its species could stimulate plant growth, and it possessed excellent jumping ability, which was also its ability to survive Beyond the Border.

However, its own combat ability was poor, and it could only serve as prey here. Although Contract Masters with the means would not choose to contract it, its meat was very popular among Contract Masters and was also a great tonic for them.

Sighing inwardly, "Poor [Forest Horn Deer]," Chu Jingyu then turned his attention to the rest of the information fed back.

About one kilometer to the northeast, a spiritual flower with seven-colored petals was blooming quietly in a rock crevice.

About three kilometers to the southeast, there was a small stream where fish emitting a certain kind of Spiritual Light were quietly absorbing the moonlight.

Thirty meters deep underground to the southwest, a strange stone the size of a millstone was breathing, its volume oscillating between expanding and contracting.

After silently noting down this information, just as Chu Jingyu had the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast retract its skill, they saw a shocking scene.

An extremely massive meteor shower carrying flames descended from the sky.

These flaming meteorites smashed onto the giant trees; their trunks snapped instantly, the moisture on the verdant trees evaporated in an instant, and then they burned like torches.

Visually, this was a flaming meteor shower that could cover a range of nearly a hundred miles; the dense forest, which had been lush just a moment ago, instantly turned into a fiery purgatory.

Chu Jingyu vaguely saw, within the flaming meteor shower, a large red bird trailing a long tail of flames shuttling through the meteor shower, emitting high-pitched cries as if calling for more meteor showers to descend.

Furthermore, quite a few meteorites fell directly above the giant pit where Chu Jingyu and the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast were staying.

The [Rock Bear] that had been lying on the ground, sensing the arrival of danger, let out an angry roar at the sky, but upon seeing the meteor shower covering the entire visible sky, its Aura instantly withered.

It hurriedly raised its hands over its head, and a giant rock larger than its own body was condensed out, but a meteorite with a flaming tail smashed down; the giant rock did not even withstand it for a second before instantly shattering into tiny powder, and the [Rock Bear], famous for its thick hide, was instantly smashed into meat paste, then burned into nothingness by a ball of fire.

Seeing the extremely miserable way the [Rock Bear] died, Chu Jingyu's eyebrows twitched wildly, and the shadow of death instantly descended upon his heart.

"Damn it, it seems that today is truly not a suitable day to go out."