35: The mark of the demon general! The mantis arm blade evolves!

A series of prompts sounded.

But Ye Ze temporarily ignored them, instead focusing intently on a certain part of the Nightshade Jackal’s corpse.

He discovered an unexpected problem:

【Soul Control Imprint—from Fiend General-Soul Devouring Fiend, used to remotely control the target's actions.】

A Soul Control Imprint from a Fiend was hidden beneath the fur on the Nightshade Jackal’s neck, completely invisible to the naked eye.

“So, it was a Fiend causing trouble…”

Amidst his surprise, Ye Ze instructed the Mantis, “Check if there are any other enemies around?”

The Mantis’s Compound Eyes flashed red, and he affirmed, “None, Master.”

With that, he obediently stood beside Ye Ze, awaiting his evolution…

Ye Ze nodded.

No wonder a single Nightshade Jackal could control so many Level 30 beasts; it turned out there was someone else controlling it!

Even the Nightshade Jackal itself was being controlled.

It was being used as a smokescreen by this Fiend General-level entity.

Recalling what Captain Qin City of the guard team had said earlier, the reason for the recent unrest in Qingfeng City’s wilderness was likely inseparable from the Fiends.

If it had been anyone else, they probably would have considered the Nightshade Jackal to be the mastermind.

But they wouldn’t have expected a culprit behind the culprit.

“Even Fiends are playing schemes now?”

All Fiends have been kept as strictly as possible within the Abyss by the Demon Suppression Army…

They probably want to break through human defenses using schemes and tactics.

However, thinking about these things now isn’t very useful; improving one’s strength is the most important thing.

Otherwise, by the time one truly faces a Fiend General-level entity and realizes the threat, it will be too late.

Ye Ze first put away the two pieces of equipment dropped by the Nightshade Jackal: the Night Ghost Dagger and the Night Ghost Soft Armor.

Both were Rare Four-star, Level 30 equipment. He had no use for them, so he would give them to the Panda to consume when he returned.

Then he looked at the Mantis’s evolution panel:

【Hunter—can evolve the following body parts】:

【Arm Blades】【Exoskeleton】【Compound Eyes】【Wings】

According to the talent description, evolving each part grants a corresponding ability increase.

However, the specific improvement effects were currently invisible.

He could just pick one arbitrarily.

Ye Ze considered the Mantis’s opinion: “Where do you want to evolve first?”

Upon hearing this, the Mantis excitedly raised both of his Arm Blades, his meaning self-evident.

As a Hunter, he cared most about body parts that represented offensive power.

Ye Ze nodded, “Alright, then evolve the Arm Blades!”

With a thought, a flash of purple light swept past.

The Red-Eyed Mantis’s pair of Arm Blades were enveloped, and in an instant, the Arm Blades re-emerged with an even more peculiar brilliance.

From the outside, the blade part had lengthened slightly, and the dark crystal-like energy fluctuations on the surface were much stronger.

【Ding! Evolution successful, current level: Arm Blades +1!】

【Arm Blades +1: Strength +20, Damage Coefficient +20%, Critical Rate +20%, Defense Ignore +20%, Skill ‘Void Slash’ Level +1!】

Ye Ze was greatly surprised, “The improvement is actually this significant!”

The increase from one evolution was even greater than that from a Rare-grade weapon of the same level!

After evolving his Arm Blades, the Mantis’s Strength reached 195 points, surpassing the Panda’s by 4 points.

Furthermore, the Legendary skill ‘Void Slash’ increased from Level 6 to Level 7.

The skill damage changed from the original Strength * 1200% to 1400%!

The overall improvement was quite substantial!

And this was only a Level 1 evolution…

If he reached a super-large team dungeon, there would certainly be many ‘powerful enemies’ inside!

How satisfying would it be to evolve then!

Ye Ze now had even more anticipation for Qingfeng City’s team dungeon!

Beside him, the Mantis was very satisfied with his newly evolved Arm Blades.

But then, he suddenly sensed something and instantly flashed, disappearing into the void.

Ye Ze was about to extract the entries… when he heard someone approaching from behind him, saying:

“Are the beast horde leaders all dead?”

The voice was a bit rough and familiar.

Ye Ze turned around to see a burly man, about 1.9 meters tall, with deep brown curly hair, casually wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

He was instantly surprised, “City Lord Wan?”

“Hey! Little Ye Ze!”

The person who arrived was none other than City Lord Wan Feipeng of Lin Yuan City, a Sixth-tier Hunter.

With his strength, dealing with a beast horde attack of this level was truly like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

“I was just bored out of my mind, saw the attack notification, and came to take a look…”

Wan Feipeng said casually as he walked up to Ye Ze.

Ye Ze believed this, because the main reason Wan Feipeng could be a City Lord was his formidable strength; his daily affairs were handled by his assistant.

Ye Ze told him about the situation with the beast horde leaders.

Wan Feipeng casually glanced at the Nightshade Jackal’s corpse and snorted indifferently:

“I thought it was something, but it’s just an intelligent magical beast!”

“Having the guts to attack the train…”

Incidents of intelligent magical beasts launching attacks were not uncommon in the wilderness, and Wan Feipeng didn’t take it seriously at all.

“No, City Lord.”

Seeing this, Ye Ze directly pointed out the hidden Soul Control Imprint to him, “It’s a Fiend controlling it!”

Although he didn’t know what schemes that Fiend General-Soul Devouring Fiend had?

But it didn’t matter, reporting it was the right thing to do!

Instead of keeping the secret to himself, it was better to directly disclose it to the big shots who had the ability to solve it, and let them worry about it!

Engaging in a battle of wits with Fiends? Ye Ze was too lazy to spend time on that!

He would just focus all his time on leveling up and getting stronger. Once his strength was sufficient, he would just steamroll them! Who cared what schemes they had?

Upon seeing the problem Ye Ze pointed out, Wan Feipeng immediately became serious.

“A Fiend General-level imprint?”

“Can’t these damn Fiends just stay in the Abyss?”

Discovering that it was a Fiend General-level tactic, even Wan Feipeng couldn’t help but look at it seriously.

If not handled properly, a single Fiend General could even destroy a small to medium-sized human city!

“Wait…”

As Wan Feipeng pondered, he suddenly realized something and sharply looked at Ye Ze:

“These Level 30 Nightshade Jackals and Night Wolves, did you kill them all by yourself?”

“And this imprint, did you discover it too?”

His strength certainly couldn't be hidden, so Ye Ze nodded and admitted it.

As for the discovery of the imprint, he shamelessly attributed it to 'his esteemed mentor, Liu Boyan of the Investigation Department'—hmm… very reasonable.

Unexpectedly, Wan Feipeng’s eyes immediately lit up, as if he had seen some treasure!

“Damn it, my Lin Yuan City has finally produced a true genius!”

He once again used his familiar rogue-like gesture, putting an arm around Ye Ze’s shoulder.

At this moment, it seemed even the matter of the Fiend General was no longer important.

Not even First-tier, yet he solo-killed three Level 30 magical beasts! And all of them were Elite-grade or higher!

Isn’t this stronger than the geniuses in Central China’s prosperous region?

“My young brother, you absolutely must promise me one thing…”

Wan Feipeng was overjoyed, but then hesitated, “No, it’s still a bit lacking.”

He looked at the corpses on the ground, then grinned, revealing a wild smile:

“Young brother Ye Ze, for yourCredit today, I’ll grant you military merits!”

“If you can get even stronger after the team dungeon…”

“I’ll take you to a good place then!”

Ye Ze: ???