103: Chapter 103 Suppressing Demonic Beasts, Plotting Talent!

Clang!

The heavy chains shook violently, sparks flying from the friction, causing dust to fall from the walls of the entire cell in flurries.

A Wild Boar Demon, with a body as massive as a mountain of flesh, was twisting its torso frantically.

Each stomp of its thick hooves on the ground triggered a dull tremor.

To lock down this ferocious beast, special chains as thick as a thumb were not only wrapped around its body, but the barbs at the ends were driven deep into the gaps of its shoulder blades.

With every violent struggle, large amounts of thick black blood flowed down the iron chains, pooling into dark red puddles on the floor tiles.

But this beast knew no pain, its massive body still crashing madly within the narrow cage.

A violent wind spread outward with its impact, causing the clothes of several jailers outside the cell to flap loudly.

"Quick, hold the winch!"

"This beast is too strong, the winch is about to snap!"

Several jailers gripped the outer bronze winches with both hands, the veins on their arms bulging.

Along with the Wild Boar Demon's frantic collisions, the winch fixed to the ground made an overwhelmed cracking sound, and fine cracks even appeared on the surface of the mechanism.

Suddenly.

The Wild Boar Demon's front hooves crushed a bluestone slab beneath it, sending stone fragments flying.

It forced a sudden lunge forward, pushing against the chains embedded deep into its marrow.

Most of the flesh on its back was torn by the chains, but using this terrifying explosive force, it thrust two thick, sharp tusks through the gaps in the iron bars.

Squelch!

A dull sound of flesh being pierced rang out.

The jailer at the very front had no time to dodge; the rough, sharp tusks pierced directly through his chest, and the immense momentum tossed him into the air.

Hot blood poured down the tusks.

Two thick streams of white mist snorted from the Wild Boar Demon's massive nostrils, blowing the dust on the ground in all directions.

With a toss of its head, the corpse was flung away by the great force, slamming heavily against the distant wall and leaving a striking bloodstain as it slid down.

"Retreat! Get out of here, fast!"

Seeing this, the remaining jailers immediately let go of the winch and scrambled backward to retreat, closing the heavy iron door.

For them, imprisoning an adult high-Rank Yao Beast was a stroke of bad luck they wouldn't encounter even once in several years.

These ferocious beasts, recently captured from the deep mountains of the wilderness, carried a primitive tyranny and bloodlust.

In the first few months of being locked in the Heavenly Prison, they couldn't adapt to the dark and narrow environment and would often fall into extreme mania.

This period was also when the Internal Affairs Department saw its highest casualty rate.

Often, the brothers lost within a single month would completely deplete the pension quota for more than half a year.

...

Inside the duty room in the distance,

Chen Ran ignored the noise outside, his gaze fixed on the case file in his hand, which emitted a faint scent of ink.

On the rough paper, information about this Yao Beast was recorded.

"Captured in the Moon-Watching Mountain Range, destroyed three merchant caravans in a row, injured hundreds, and leveled two villages along the way..."

Chen Ran ran his fingertips over the edge of the paper, extracting useful information.

The Moon-Watching Mountain Range stretched for thousands of miles, situated a hundred miles away from the capital.

It was filled with miasma year-round, with towering ancient trees and extremely complex terrain; even the most seasoned hunters didn't dare to go deep.

The Demon-Slaying Squad of the Demon Suppression Division usually wouldn't fight to the death with Yao Beasts in such treacherous deep mountains and old forests.

If this Wild Boar Demon hadn't run out of the mountain range's outskirts and repeatedly attacked merchant caravans on the official road, seriously hindering the transport of supplies to the capital, it would probably still be reigning supreme in the forest.

Chen Ran closed the case file and tossed it onto the desk.

Currently, only this newly delivered Wild Boar Demon had been assigned to their sector.

As for the other Wolf Demon captured with it, due to its higher danger level, it had already been escorted to a deeper area of the Heavenly Prison.

Not long after.

The commotion outside the cell gradually died down.

...

Liu Mingyu stood three zhang away from the cage, his hand gripping the hilt of his waist saber slightly tighter.

He looked at the mountain-like body in the shadows and swallowed hard.

"What on earth did this thing eat to grow to such a size?"

"Brother Chen, this hot potato has landed in our jurisdiction; we're in for a tough few months.

Just cleaning the cell for this beast every day will probably cost lives."

Liu Mingyu's face was pale, and a layer of fine sweat broke out on his forehead.

In the Internal Affairs Department of the Heavenly Prison, Yao Beasts were definitely the most headache-inducing existence.

The grand Formation inside the Heavenly Prison suppressed the Demonic Qi within them, preventing them from using many techniques, but the Physical Body strength of these beasts alone was enough to tear a normal jailer apart.

Clack.

Chen Ran's boots stepped on the bluestone floor as he walked straight forward.

Liu Mingyu's eye twitched, and he instinctively reached out to pull Chen Ran's sleeve.

"Stand a bit further away. This beast just tasted blood this morning, and its ferocity hasn't been fully suppressed yet. Don't get too close, watch out in case it suddenly goes wild."

"No matter."

Chen Ran didn't stop, just waved his hand dismissively.

His attention had been drawn to several lines of golden text popping up in his vision.

[Prisoner: Broken-Tusk Boar]

[Realm: Sixth Rank Early Stage]

[Sin Value: High]

[Talent: Copper Skin]

...

"It actually has a Talent."

Chen Ran observed this and thought to himself.

Yao Beasts are different from humans; not every Yao Beast possesses a Divine Ability.

Previously, to test the mechanism of the heavenly book of prison suppression, he had personally captured several low-Rank Yao Beasts and locked them in.

But most of those only had brute strength, and their panels were empty.

Only those with pure Bloodlines and powerful strength, the high-ranking Yao Beasts, could possibly awaken a Divine Ability unique to themselves.

This Sixth Rank Early Stage Broken-Tusk Boar's Realm could only be considered average among Yao Beasts, yet it actually contained the [Copper Skin] Talent.

Chen Ran stood before the cell, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding bars and the Formation patterns on the ground.

After confirming all the containment facilities were intact, he turned and left.

Liu Mingyu had long felt this place was eerily cold; seeing Chen Ran finish his inspection, he immediately shuddered.

"Brother Chen, let's go. This beast's stench is too overpowering."

Chen Ran nodded slightly, and the two of them retreated from the dark area side by side.

...

In the Heavenly Prison, there is an unwritten rule for dealing with newly admitted ferocious Yao Beasts.

For the first seven days, cut off their water and food.

First, it is to significantly weaken their vigorous physical strength and reduce the risk for the guards;

Second, it is to use this extreme hunger to wear down the stubbornness in their bones.

As long as they are made of flesh and blood, even the most ferocious Yao Beast will slowly become weak if they don't receive any energy supplements for a long time, eventually having to bow their heads to the jailers.

Five days later.

Chen Ran carried a heavy wooden bucket in one hand, filled with prisoner food that emitted a pungent, foul stench.

It was a mushy substance boiled from various leftovers mixed with low-quality Yao Beast internal organs.

He walked with steady steps, neither fast nor slow, to the front of the cell door.

At this time, the Wild Boar Demon was curled up in the corner of the cage.

Compared to its physique when it was first brought in, it had clearly shrunk by a large margin.

Thud.

Chen Ran casually tossed the wooden bucket full of prisoner food inside the bars; the bucket hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Dinner time," he said calmly.

Feeding this kind of incompletely tamed Yao Beast was recognized in the Internal Affairs Department as a life-threatening task.

Although the subsidies provided by the higher-ups were extremely generous, still no one dared to take it.

No matter how much silver there was, one had to be alive to spend it; if one was even slightly careless in this job, the person delivering the food would become the Yao Beast's extra meal.

When Chen Ran had initially taken the initiative to accept this job, his colleagues looked at him with avoidance, and naturally, no one competed with him for it.

Inside the dark cage.

That massive body, which had been motionless, suddenly twitched violently after smelling the bloody scent emanating from the wooden bucket.

The next moment.

Clang!

The chains on the ground suddenly tightened, making a piercing grinding sound.

The Wild Boar Demon's massive body lunged up, opening its tusk-filled mouth and biting the entire half-man-high wooden bucket.

Crack!

The hard, thick wooden planks shattered under its bite force.

Wood and the foul-smelling mush inside were chewed up in a few bites and swallowed directly into its belly.

After swallowing the food, it stuck out its barbed tongue and licked the scraps from the corners of its mouth.

In those cloudy eyes, a red light lit up again.

It raised its massive head, its gaze locking onto the human standing outside the bars, who was incomparably small in comparison.

Its chest suddenly contracted inward, and a nauseating gurgling sound came from its throat.

Immediately after, it opened its mouth wide, and a stream of thick green acid, mixed with an extremely foul smell and strong corrosiveness, sprayed out like an arrow.

The acid sliced through the air, making a sizzling burning sound.

If an ordinary person faced such a close-range ambush, even a tiny drop would corrode through their flesh in an instant.

However, Chen Ran's steps did not move an inch.

Facing the incoming lethal acid, he calmly raised his right hand and gave his wide sleeve a sudden flick forward.

Bang!

A majestic force of blood and qi surged out of his body, condensing into a visible, invisible wave of air.

That glob of thick green acid flying in mid-air hit an invisible wall of air firmly and stalled suddenly in mid-air.

Then, it was forced back by the counter-shock at an even faster speed.

Sizzle!

A large mass of acid smashed entirely onto the Wild Boar Demon's own torso.

Thick white smoke billowed up, and a pungent burnt smell quickly spread.

On the rough surface of this Broken-Tusk Boar, a layer of dark, metallic luster appeared.

After the white smoke dissipated, the area that should have been corroded into a deep pit only had a few shallow charred marks, not even penetrating the skin layer.

"Relying entirely on the Physical Body to withstand corrosion—is this the manifestation of the [Copper Skin] Talent?"

Chen Ran nodded slightly as he watched this scene.

Unlike [Skynet], which leans toward perception and control, [Copper Skin] is a pure physical enhancement Talent.

Its defensive power is not only several times greater than that of Yao Beasts of the same Rank, but it also has extremely strong resistance to various abnormal attribute attacks.

"Just right. Most of my current Cultivation Techniques lean toward the Physical Body. With this Talent, it should be a great help."

Chen Ran slowly raised his right hand.

In his palm, a faint, dark, and cold red light began to condense rapidly.

The aura of the Blood Transformation Great Art quietly circulated.

The surrounding air temperature plummeted, and the power of blood and qi continuously compressed and entwined in his palm, forming circles of distorted halos.

All the blood light converged at a single point, turning into a fingernail-sized, bright red, translucent Blood Seed.

The Wild Boar Demon inside the cage sensed extreme danger; it frantically pulled at the chains, its hooves desperately stomping the ground as it retreated.

"Don't worry, the process is very quick."

Chen Ran flicked his finger.

That blood-red seed turned into an afterimage and sank directly into the Wild Boar Demon's brow.

Accompanied by a shrill roar, the Wild Boar Demon's massive body crashed heavily onto the ground.

After a few breaths, the depths of the Heavenly Prison returned to complete silence.