32: White Teeth Evolution
The Yao Beasts outside the valley were gradually approaching. Xie Ning and Mo Yu both frowned, staring intently at the heart fire stamen.
The White Wolf seemed to know that this thing was for itself, so it worked extra hard, spitting out mouthfuls of flames without any hesitation.
On the other side, the Supersonic Mantis seized an opening, sliced through the Yao Beast inside the cave with one strike, flew back to the ground, and charged toward the group of venomous snakes slithering over.
Under the waving of its two blade-arms, grass flew everywhere, mixed with chunks of snake meat. The scent of green grass mingled with a fishy stench, permeating the air.
Hearing the footsteps of the Yao Beasts outside the valley getting louder, Xie Ning dared not delay. He grabbed Mo Yu's arm and ran toward the stone wall.
“Let's head up first. We'll leave things here to Little Mantis.”
Mo Yu nodded, struggling to keep up with Xie Ning's pace.
Fortunately, the stone wall wasn't smooth, and the slope wasn't quite vertical. After a short run-up, Xie Ning stepped repeatedly with a 'deng-deng' sound, jumped into the cave, turned around, and reached out his hand:
“Hurry, come up!”
Mo Yu mimicked Xie Ning's method, starting with a run-up and then stepping on protruding rocks. She narrowly managed to reach Xie Ning's outstretched arm and successfully climbed into the cave.
At this moment, that group of Yao Beasts had already rushed close. In the dark of night, they looked like clusters of flames.
It was no wonder they were attracted by the heart fire stamen. This was a pack of Fire-type Flame Lions, social Yao Beasts that loved all things fire-attributed. To them, the heart fire stamen was no less enticing than catnip is to a cat.
“Little Mantis, stop those lions! Don't let them get near White Fang!” After saying that, Xie Ning looked at the White Wolf again. “White Fang, don't stop! Keep breathing fire, use your maximum strength, the more intense the better!”
Now was a race against time.
There were over thirty lions in that pack. To block them all was a massive challenge for the Supersonic Mantis. If even one broke through the defense and attacked the White Wolf, it would interrupt the blooming of the heart fire stamen and cause harm to the White Wolf, creating hidden dangers for the upcoming evolution.
In the end, a human's body was just too fragile; they would die at a touch and couldn't help at all.
Watching the pack of Flame Lions rush over, the Supersonic Mantis's arms danced, sending arcs of blade light crashing into the pride. This threw the lions into chaos, causing them to pile up, but the few in the lead ignored everything and charged forward.
At this moment, there was only madness in their eyes.
As several lions rushed in front of it, the Supersonic Mantis's blade-arms suddenly extended, exceeding its own height to a full 1.5 meters. With a cross-slash of the two long blades, four lion heads rolled onto the ground. Blood gushed out, splashing over half of the Supersonic Mantis's body.
“So powerful...” Mo Yu watched, tongue-tied.
Xie Ning hadn't expected the Supersonic Mantis to have this ability to extend its blade-arms.
After killing four lions in one hit, the Supersonic Mantis continued to fire long-range blade arcs, shifting the pride's attention toward itself. It flew in mid-air, leading the pride in circles; if any lion dared to fall behind, it would perform a decapitation without a second word.
The White Wolf, protected by it, also didn't stop breathing fire for a single moment.
In this short amount of time, its control over fire became slightly more natural, and the color of the flames it produced was a bit deeper than before.
Nourished by its flames, the heart fire stamen had reached a critical moment. The outer petals had all bloomed, leaving only the innermost stamen still protected. This stamen was the very purpose of Xie Ning's trip.
At this time, the scent emitted by the heart fire stamen grew even stronger. The lion pride no longer paid any mind to the Supersonic Mantis's attacks, charging in unison toward the heart fire stamen.
Seeing this, the Supersonic Mantis gave up on long-range attacks and dove down, charging into the pride to block the front. Its small body was actually able to wrestle with the lions, but the pride ultimately won on numbers. Whether through fire attacks, collisions, or bites, the Supersonic Mantis was forced to gradually retreat toward the White Wolf.
Seeing this, Xie Ning raised his hand and traced the Beast Taming Skill—Elemental Armor Transformation.
As the Beast Taming Skill landed on the Supersonic Mantis, the strange energy within its body formed into a set of invisible armor through a special combination, providing the Supersonic Mantis with a certain amount of defense.
Next, Xie Ning prepared the Poison Flame and other Materials needed for evolution. He stared fixedly at the stamen, counting the seconds in his heart.
“Now!”
The moment the heart fire stamen's core bloomed, Xie Ning rushed out of the cave, grabbed the heart fire stamen, and slid down the slope.
After landing, he didn't touch the scalding stamen. He took out the other prepared evolution potions and poured them into the White Wolf, then held the stamen in front of it. At this moment, a hint of hesitation appeared on his face, but it didn't last long before he pulled it back.
Xie Ning looked at the White Wolf with a serious expression.
“White Fang, if you eat this flower, you will begin to evolve. But this process is very painful. If you endure it, you will become stronger; if you can't, you might be injured or even die.”
Xie Ning ultimately chose to let the White Wolf make the decision itself.
The White Wolf's evolution was different from the Supersonic Mantis's.
The Supersonic Mantis had undergone a Mutation. Combined with the characteristics of the Insect-type, even if the transformation was painful, there wouldn't be much danger to its life.
But for the White Wolf's evolution, Xie Ning had chosen Origin Evolution. As the name suggested, it involved evolving the elemental Origin within the body, causing the elements to transform, which in turn triggered changes in appearance and abilities. This was currently the most suitable path for it, but the process would be very painful and carried a certain amount of risk. Success depended on the Materials and also on willpower.
The White Wolf first turned its head to look at the Supersonic Mantis, which was stumbling back while defending against the lions for it, then looked at the serious and worried Xie Ning. It lowered its head, opened its wolfish maw, and swallowed the stamen.
“Boom!”
In an instant, flames surged upward.
Immense fire elements ignited within the White Wolf's body. Flames overflowed from its seven apertures, sweeping over its entire body. These flames carried the energy of the Poison Flame and the heart fire stamen.
“Awoo!”
In its pain, the White Wolf let out a long howl. It was exactly when the moon was high in the sky; the bright moonlight fell upon it, and a burst of white light erupted.
The blinding white light forced Xie Ning to cover his eyes.
The white light of evolution brought unknown changes. Every time it appeared, it was exciting, but the Flame Lion pride did not like this light at all.
They realized the heart fire stamen had been eaten. In their rage, their offensive became even more fierce. The Supersonic Mantis, unable to withstand the overwhelming numbers, was beaten back repeatedly, and wounds gradually appeared on its body.
After all, it was a speed-type Demon Tamers Beast. Facing off against dozens of Yao Beasts head-on was still quite difficult.
Finally, some Flame Lions broke through the defense. Seven lions rushed toward the White Wolf in a line, either spitting fire or roaring, revealing their ferocious nature.
Just then, the white light gradually faded, and a massive figure wreathed in flames stepped out. The Flame Lions' fire fell upon it and was immediately extinguished.
Seeing the seven lions rushing over, this white figure erupted with a column of deep red fire that shot ten meters into the air. Two lions that were too close were instantly charred to cinders, while the other five were burned and retreated one after another.
The white figure glanced at them, then dragging a long tail of fire, it forced back the lions surrounding the Supersonic Mantis and dove into the pride, fire light shining brilliantly.
Just now, the Supersonic Mantis had been protecting it. Now, it was its turn to protect!
This figure was precisely the evolved White Wolf.
Its pure white body, carrying deep red firelight, was invincible within the pride. Even those Flame Lions whose Rank was higher than its own didn't dare to step forward out of fear of the flames on its body.
For a moment, the pride was scattered and fled, but before they could run far, they all collapsed to the ground wailing.
After forcing back the pride, the figure extinguished its flames and joyfully pounced toward Xie Ning!
Only then did Xie Ning see the System notification.
[Ding! Evolution successful! Fire Wolf (Elite Low Grade) has mutated into Poison Flame White Wolf (Excellent High Grade)! Gained evolution value * 10]