31: Li Hongyang: I've turned myself into a slave.

The Crystal Armored Rat King's massive body crashed down, blood spreading across the ground.

Beams of light surged from within the Crystal Armored Rat King's body, condensing into a small sphere in the air.

【spirit seed】

【Quality: D】

【Notes: Upon hatching, a D-Rank soul seed 'Crystal Armored Rat King' can be obtained.】

However, before Lin Xingyu could make a move,

the rat swarm, realizing their king had been killed, instantly went berserk and charged madly towards him.

"Bring it on!"

Lin Xingyu shouted, raising his battle saber and rushing forward.

These were all Evolution Fruits; the more that came, the better!

To be honest, Crystal Armored Rats were harder to kill than other rats.

Their armor was very tough, and each slash wasted a lot of Lin Xingyu's Qi.

Fortunately, the wind-splitting blade was sharp enough; as long as he had enough strength, he could cut through.

Under Lin Xingyu's relentless attacks, he basically killed one with each strike.

The number of rats was diminishing at a visible rate... Before long, he had wiped out the entire swarm.

Lin Xingyu wiped the beast blood from his face and began to clear the battlefield.

This wave yielded 1 spirit seed and 6 Spirit Crystals.

This spirit seed was D-Rank, starting at 1000 units of Spirit Crystal on the market.

However, the biggest gain this time was still the Crystal Armored Rat corpses.

These were all evolution fruits.

As soon as the battlefield was cleared, Lin Xingyu suddenly heard a sound not far away.

He turned his head and saw someone quietly retreating.

"Li Hongyang?"

He knew this person; he was a Li Family member who had awakened a b-rank spirit seed during the Spirit Awakening Ritual.

Since he was a Li Family member, he couldn't be let go.

"Don't run!"

He shouted and chased in that direction... While Lin Xingyu was fighting the rat swarm, Li Hongyang had arrived nearby.

He had walked all the way, seeing numerous signs of battle but no beast corpses.

He assumed it was a fight between two beast swarms, with the victor devouring the defeated.

He didn't even think about the students participating in the trial.

After all, everyone was a newcomer; who could kill so many exotic beasts?

And even if someone did kill exotic beasts, they wouldn't want the corpses.

When he saw the scene before him, Li Hongyang was completely stunned.

He knew Lin Xingyu and knew that he had awakened the lowest-Rank spirit seed.

Originally, in his eyes, Lin Xingyu was a harmless weakling; he wouldn't even give him a second glance.

However.

Since the trial began, Lin Xingyu had consistently ranked first on the leaderboard.

And it was a landslide lead, much higher than the second place.

He had initially thought it was a namesake.

Or that Lin Xingyu had found some treasure, which led to him having so many points.

But when he saw Lin Xingyu fighting the rat swarm, he instantly overturned his previous assumptions.

Lin Xingyu had actually, by himself, wiped out such a large-scale rat swarm.

He roughly estimated that the number of rats was definitely no less than 200.

Crystal Armored Rats were notoriously difficult to kill; the consumption of killing them was far higher than other rat-like exotic beasts.

But this Lin Xingyu, he killed one with each strike.

This was absolutely a monster!

Seeing this, he dared not make a sound and had been hiding there.

But he always felt that hiding there wasn't safe and that he would soon be discovered.

After repeated consideration, he decided to sneak away.

However, he hadn't run far when he stepped on a branch, startling this monster.

Since he was discovered, he could only run for his life... Lin Xingyu was very fast and quickly caught up.

Without wasting words with Li Hongyang, he raised his saber and struck.

"Clang--"

With a crisp clang, a huge force sent Li Hongyang flying.

Li Hongyang's body landed several meters away on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"This is..."

It was then that Lin Xingyu noticed the armor on Li Hongyang's body.

【Earth-Splitting Rhino Heart Guard Armor】

【Quality: D】

【Notes: Hatched from a spirit seed dropped by an Earth-Splitting Rhino, possessing powerful defense.】

Li Hongyang raised his head in a disheveled state, his eyes met with Lin Xingyu's figure, holding a sharp blade and pressing closer with each step.

He instantly panicked, scrambling backward with his hands and feet, shouting frantically.

"Big brother! Spare my life! I..."

Before he could finish, Lin Xingyu raised the saber in his hand again and slashed at him.

"Clang--"

The wind-splitting blade was blocked by the light that lit up on Li Hongyang's body, sending sparks flying.

The armor formed a cyan light shield, enveloping Li Hongyang's entire body.

Li Hongyang, seeing himself unharmed, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He had been so flustered that he had forgotten he was wearing armor.

This was D-Rank spirit gear; a first-Rank Evolver couldn't break its defense!

Why was he afraid of him?

Thinking this, he instantly became arrogant.

"Haha, with your sewer spirit seed, you still want to kill me?"

"With my D-Rank spirit gear, what can you do to me?"

"Let me tell you, I am an important figure of the Li Family!"

Hearing Li Hongyang's arrogant words, Lin Xingyu also got angry.

"I don't believe I can't break through your turtle shell!"

He raised his battle saber and slashed at Li Hongyang repeatedly.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

...As time passed, Li Hongyang was starting to struggle.

This guy was simply a monster; he had been slashing for so long, yet showed no signs of weakening.

He couldn't win, and he couldn't escape.

Even the trial stone he had just pulled out was knocked away by Lin Xingyu.

Li Hongyang's spiritual power was running low; if this continued, he would be in danger.

"It seems I can only go all out!"

He injected all his spiritual power into the spirit seed, and his eyes began to glow brightly.

Just as Lin Xingyu raised his saber again, a System prompt sounded in his mind.

【Ding! Detecting host is under Mental Control, System automatically initiates countermeasure.】

A mysterious rune flashed out from Lin Xingyu's eyes.

It directly entered the top of Li Hongyang's head.

Li Hongyang felt as if his head had been struck by a heavy hammer, and intense pain instantly assailed him.

He clutched his head with both hands, his body curled into a ball, rolling on the ground ceaselessly, his face filled with an expression of agony.

【Ding! Countermeasure successful, Li Hongyang has become the host's Slave.】

"He actually tried to control me?"

"Serves him right! He turned himself into a Slave!"

Lin Xingyu opened the System panel and began to check Li Hongyang's information.

【Li Hongyang (Slave)】

【Rank: First-Rank Three-Star】

【spirit seed: Soul-Shaking Giant Ape (B-Rank)】

【Skill 1: Enhance, can amplify physical strength.】

【Skill 2: Soul-Shaking, can launch Soul attacks, causing confusion to enemies, and has a certain chance to enslave enemies.】

【Notes: A vessel for the Li Family's "blood replacement plan," now destroyed by the host.】

Seeing this information, Lin Xingyu suddenly understood; this guy was indeed an "important figure" of the Li Family.

"But what exactly is the blood replacement plan?"

"It seems the Li Family spared no expense; not only did they give him D-Rank spirit gear, but they also used Heaven And Earth Treasure to raise his strength to First-Rank Three-Star."

"Since he's already become a Slave, I'll reluctantly take him as a subordinate!"

He strode forward, grabbed the still twitching Li Hongyang, and turned to leave the place...