73: Film industry

"platinum egg Incubation Condition: Incubate in an environment devoid of light. The darker the place, the stronger the Dark Attendant that will be born!"

This was the incubation condition for the second platinum-level demon beast egg that Su Ze had drawn.

If Su Ze had no clue about the strong gravity environment required for the previous platinum egg, then he indeed had some leads regarding the lightless place this one needed.

This was also why he chose to give the previous egg to Guo Linshan and keep this one for himself.

"A place devoid of light? You mean the Shadow Realm? What do you want to go there for?" Lin Xi said leisurely.

That's right. The reason Su Ze sought out Lin Xi was because the Shadow Realm, where Lin Xi's beast, the Nightmare Lord, lived, was the place most fitting the description of a 'lightless place.'

Unlike the Monster Beast World, the Shadow Realm is not another complete, independent world existing separately within this one.

Rather, it is a part of the world, its dark side, which can also be understood as the world's shadow.

The shadow of any object is an entrance to the Shadow Realm.

Shadow-Attribute Demon Beasts can all enter the Shadow Realm through shadows to conceal themselves, a method commonly used by the Fusang Dark Guards.

Lin Xi's Nightmare Lord is a Dual-Attribute Demon Beast with both dark and spirit-attributes.

That's why he could have the Nightmare Lord split off a clone to hide in Su Ze's shadow and protect him.

Shadow-Attribute Demon Beasts are relatively scarce. It's said the Fusang Dark Guards were able to obtain enough of them only after reaching some kind of deal with the Shadow Realm.

But aside from that, the only person Su Ze had encountered who possessed a Shadow-Attribute Beast was Lin Xi.

Therefore, if he wanted to go to the Shadow Realm to incubate the platinum egg, he absolutely had to ask for Lin Xi's help.

Facing Lin Xi's question, Su Ze took out the platinum egg and answered, "I need to improve my own strength!"

Lin Xi gave him a somewhat surprised look but didn't say much else. He just stood up from his lounge chair and said, swaying slightly, "Come, follow me inside!"

Seeing this, Su Ze hurriedly followed behind him. Xu Yao also wanted to follow, but Su Ze stopped her, saying, "I'll be fine. It'll just be a moment. You wait outside first."

Her current strength was too weak; it was no longer convenient for her to get involved in Su Ze's battles. The less she knew, the better.

"Alright..." Xu Yao stopped in her tracks, feeling a bit aggrieved.

Seeing this, Su Ze apologetically ruffled the top of her head.

Once inside, Lin Xi didn't waste words.

His shadow suddenly came to life as if animated, wrapping around the feet of both of them.

This was another benefit of Shadow-Attribute Demon Beasts: they could stay in the Shadow Realm to improve their strength without needing to enter the Beast Tamer's beast taming space.

This greatly reduced the time a Beast Tamer needed to summon their beast.

Just as Lin Xi's shadow expanded and spread beneath their feet, the solid ground suddenly became like water, causing the two to instantly fall through.

The moment the feeling of weightlessness hit, before Su Ze could even open his mouth to scream, he felt his feet touch the ground, landing safely.

"Whew... Are we here already? Is this the Shadow Realm?"

Su Ze looked around and found that compared to the real world, the surroundings were indeed much grayer and darker.

A dim sun hung in the sky, as if dead, casting extremely cold and faint light, preventing the Shadow Realm from being pitch black.

The Shadow Realm also grew many plants, but the branches of those seemingly dead and withered trees were all extremely twisted and deformed.

From time to time, a huge vertical pupil would open on a tree trunk, staring fixedly at anyone who looked at it.

Eerie and terrifying.

He looked back at Lin Xi and found the other man still looking utterly unfazed.

Of course, he had probably entered the Shadow Realm countless times.

Beside him, the Nightmare Lord finally revealed its true appearance within the Shadow Realm.

Contrary to what Su Ze had imagined—an indescribable black monster covered in tentacles—

"He" actually looked exactly like Lin Xi, just much darker, like a human.

Just like... Lin Xi's shadow.

"What's so surprising about that?" Lin Xi said, instructing Su Ze as he looked at his expression. "Your diamond rank demon beast could take human form right after birth. Although the Nightmare is a platinum-level beast, its level is much higher. Isn't it normal for it to be able to Shapeshift?"

"It's just that when Nightmare shapeshifted, he chose the form of me, the one he's closest to."

platinum-level demon beast bloodlines are only one rank lower than diamond rank. Although they cannot Shapeshift, being able to communicate with humans right after birth is not a problem.

However, if they want to Shapeshift, they must be fully mature first.

This meant... the Nightmare Lord's level was as high as the platinum-level cap of ninety!

Lin Xi was also very likely a level ninety Beast Tamer!

Also the principal of Azure Dragon Beast Taming University, the strongest in Beishan City back in the day.

Compared to Lin Xi, the current Xiao Xu, Guo Linshan, and Yu Shenghuo seemed to have a rather large gap.

"What are you standing there dazed for? I've brought you to the Shadow Realm. If you have something to do, do it quickly," Lin Xi urged from the side.

Humans cannot stay in the Shadow Realm for too long. He wasn't like those Fusang Dark Guards whose bodies and minds had been eroded by shadows.

But Su Ze said somewhat awkwardly, "Teacher Lin Xi, even the Shadow Realm isn't completely without a trace of light, is it?"

He pointed at the sky and said, "That sun, although its light is very dim, does indeed bring some illumination to the Shadow Realm. It's not the completely lightless place I'm looking for."

Hearing this, Lin Xi smiled and said, "You're greatly mistaken there. Have you heard of 'things turning into their opposites when they reach the extreme'?"

"The Shadow Realm, as the place with the densest and most abundant dark element, is precisely why that sun was born."

"But, contrary to expectation, it does not represent light, but the most pure darkness!"

Su Ze nodded upon hearing this, but he still wasn't sure if this truly met the platinum egg's incubation conditions.

Seeing his hesitation, Lin Xi said, "If you are looking for the darkest place, I do know of one. It's a place that was once a fragment that fell from the Shadow Realm's dark sun."

"Because it separated from the dark sun, it didn't reach the condition of 'things turning into their opposites,' and became pure darkness."

Su Ze quickly nodded upon hearing this. Lin Xi then had the Nightmare Lord, who looked exactly like him, lead the way ahead.

The place Lin Xi mentioned wasn't far.

Soon, Su Ze saw what he called the ultimate darkness.

It was a dark meteorite as huge as a six-story building, devouring all light around it. Besides 'darkness,' there was almost no better language to describe it.

Yet, despite being so dark, this meteorite had many flat humanoid figures with extending tentacles going in and out of it, like diligent bees collecting honey.

Looking closely, one would see that their two longest tentacles were indeed just like bees carrying pollen, tightly clutching some halos of light that were either multicolored or chaotic and turbid.

Su Ze glanced back at the Nightmare Lord. This characteristic was very similar to the Nightmare clone that had once hidden in his shadow.

Sure enough, the usually taciturn Nightmare Lord spoke up: "This is my dwelling place. They are all Nightmares, my children."