King of Beasts

Chapter 167: Blade Cuts Flesh, Heart Cuts Soul

“This…”

At this moment, Gory really wanted to say, “You sure have a lot of demands.”

One moment you’re a Chef, the next you’re a Forgemaster…

However, even though Gory grumbled inwardly, his expression showed some helplessness in the face of Lu Ran’s dedication to the Holy Church.

If he didn’t offer his support, it would be irrefutable proof in the future that Gory was “disloyal to the Holy Church.”

Finally, with a twitching mouth, Gory said, “The Soul-Calming Stone I lent you is a Soul-type ore.”

“I do have a few more.”

They were all used to detect soul talent during missionary work.

Before Gory could finish speaking, Lu Ran interrupted, “Thank you, Gory. I’ve always felt something was missing when researching ‘soul cuisine.’”

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

Gory screamed internally, “You kid, you’re too far-fetched.”

Although he felt it was unrealistic, he still had to support it.

“Alright, I can give you one more Soul-Calming Stone to aid in your forging research. But that’s all I have,” Gory said.

He wanted to kick himself now. Why did he have to talk about artifact spirits with Lu Ran?

If he hadn’t brought it up, Lu Ran might not have even asked for the soul ore.

“Thank you,” Lu Ran smiled. Beside him, Hei Yu remained silent, feeling that Lord Gory was completely at Lu Ran’s mercy.

Necromantic cooking utensils…

At first, Lu Ran hadn’t even thought about it.

His aim was simply to forge a soul-reaping Blade, a weapon that could consistently harm souls.

Whether it had an artifact spirit didn’t matter.

But now that he thought about it, a Blade of Necromancy seemed more suitable as a soul cooking utensil than a simple soul-reaping Blade.

Of course, regardless of which one, for now, Lu Ran could only dream about it.

Following Gory’s instructions, Lu Ran and Hei Yu returned to the City Lord’s Mansion.

Meanwhile, Gory began dispatching people to investigate the movements of the imperial army.

The imperial army’s restlessness was not good news for Mingan.

“Let’s hope nothing goes wrong,” Gory sighed.

…

After returning, Lu Ran did not have Hei Yu taste-test again; instead, he chose to train alone.

Firstly, regarding the forging of the Blade of Necromancy and the soul-reaping Blade, although he had acquired another Soul-Calming Stone, there was no rush.

Having just a soul-reaping Blade wouldn’t be enough to cut soul consciousness; otherwise, someone from the Holy Church would have done it already.

As for the Blade of Necromancy, Lu Ran couldn’t forge it yet, but he roughly understood the Death Holy Church Forgemasters’ approach.

Their idea was to create a container suitable for the lingering souls in the land of death, helping them repair their souls and attracting these lingering souls in the process.

If the weapon and the lingering souls could perfectly integrate during this process, then a necromantic weapon would be born.

Unfortunately, although Lu Ran understood the theory…

He didn’t have access to a land of death suitable for nurturing a weapon. Even if he did, the process might take months or even decades.

The main issue was that he didn’t know how to forge the container for a necromantic weapon.

Similarly, even if a necromantic kitchen knife was created, whether it could cut soul consciousness remained uncertain. Most likely, it couldn’t.

They were merely “tools.”

The key might lie in the user’s understanding of “soul consciousness.”

Perfect tools, combined with a perfect understanding by the user, could achieve the “pinnacle of knife skills,” allowing them to perfectly cut the soul’s consciousness and energy.

So, Lu Ran decided to focus on improving himself first.

While General Ha trained his “sword intent,” Lu Ran also began his training.

Fortunately, he had the foresight to stockpile hundreds of lucid fruits. Otherwise, in a war-torn place like Feiming Province, acquiring training resources would be extremely difficult.

“Sudden Death King!”

“Roar???” The Sudden Death King appeared, looking bewildered.

“Train with me.”

The Sudden Death King thought for a moment and then asked how they would train together.

“Simple,” Lu Ran said. “You just need to stand there.”

As he spoke, Lu Ran took out a Cleaver and said, “Next, I’ll keep chopping at you with this Cleaver.”

Sudden Death King: ???

“Don’t worry, I won’t use much force. Besides, even if I used all my strength, I couldn’t break through your defense.”

The Sudden Death King was startled but then nodded in agreement. That was true.

“In short, you have only two tasks,” Lu Ran said, finding a piece of black cloth to cover his eyes.

Holding the Cleaver, he gave a light chop on the Sudden Death King’s tough scales.

“Your first task is to keep repeating a thought in your mind. When you feel pain, let me know.”

“Remember, it’s not physical pain, but the pain in your soul.”

With his eyes closed, Lu Ran fully activated his telepathy, capturing the emotional and conscious fluctuations of the Sudden Death King. He swung the Cleaver again.

[I’ll remember this grudge,] the Sudden Death King kept repeating.

Lu Ran, using his telepathic superpower, captured its conscious fluctuations, attempting to help the Sudden Death King “cut off hatred.”

“Blade cuts flesh, Heart cuts soul.”

Although Lu Ran’s telepathic superpower was not a combat ability, it was still quite a hack. For instance, previously, the space hamsters had failed to hide their mental fluctuations, allowing Lu Ran to capture their hostility.

Now, Lu Ran was clearly using telepathy to assist in his training of soul sword intent.

By capturing the emotional fluctuations of his enemies through telepathy, he aimed to cut them with a sword!

Although he wasn’t sure if it would work, Lu Ran felt it was entirely reasonable. If he could harm the Sudden Death King’s soul with just a supernatural Cleaver, wouldn’t that be soul sword intent?

Of course, Lu Ran wasn’t just practicing blindly.

If a few swings didn’t work, he would take out the Soul-Calming Stone and use it to extract the Sudden Death King’s soul.

Then, using telepathy, he would sense the differences in the Sudden Death King’s feelings when attacked by himself versus when attacked by the Soul-Calming Stone.

This comparative approach allowed Lu Ran to deepen his understanding of soul damage.

And that wasn’t all.

Although the Cleaver didn’t cause any damage, constantly being chopped at did annoy the Sudden Death King.

At such times, Lu Ran would put down the Cleaver and release flames, attacking the Sudden Death King with the Flame Sprite.

Similarly, whenever the Sudden Death King could feel that its soul was being scorched rather than its body, Lu Ran considered it progress. This meant he had successfully combined ordinary flames with telepathy, transforming them into a soul flame.

And so it went.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lu Ran stuck to 8 hours of practice each day, consuming one lucid fruit per hour. After five days, he and General Ha had spent several hundred thousand crystal coins.

General Ha also needed the lucid fruits. Although its training methods were not as scientific, it had a Talent for weapon mastery and a strong soul Comprehension.

By reverse Super Beast Mimicry, Lu Ran could temporarily borrow its weapon mastery Talent, increasing his own training efficiency.

On this particular day,

The Sudden Death King was enduring the usual beatings.

Although Lu Ran’s Cleaver attacks were annoying, the Sudden Death King had grown accustomed to them over time, treating them like a mild scrape.

However,

What had always been mundane attacks changed today. As a blue gleam flashed in Lu Ran’s eyes, the Sudden Death King suddenly felt a sharp pain in its soul and let out a startled cry, immediately standing up.

Boom!

Its massive body rose, and Lu Ran was taken aback, locking eyes with it.

Simultaneously,

Lu Ran glanced at his own information, noticing some changes.

[Species]: Human

[Beast Taming Level]: Level 1

[Beast Taming Skills]: Super Beast Mimicry, Flame Sprite

[Special Abilities]: Telepathy, Blizzard Sword Intent, Flame Dragon Sword Intent, Soul Sword Intent!

[Soul Sword Intent]: A special attack derived from combining swordsmanship with telepathy, capable of directly slashing the enemy’s soul!

“Wo Cao,” Lu Ran exclaimed loudly.

“Woof??” General Ha rushed out from inside, holding a sword grass in its mouth, as if to say, “Wo Cao is with me.”

“You idiot, General Ha. This time, I’ve taken the lead again.”

Lu Ran grinned excitedly, holding the Cleaver.

Damn, those five days and the 800,000 crystal coins’ worth of lucid fruits were not wasted after all.

Soul Sword Intent, huh?

Good, it’s done!

Lu Ran glanced at the Soul-Calming Stone, feeling that the next step could be to try forging this thing into a Soul-Reaping Blade.

What kind of sparks would fly when combining a Soul-Reaping Blade with Soul Sword Intent, which can attack the mind and soul?

“Woof, woof, woof!” At this moment, General Ha was dumbfounded. It worked? Why was it Boss Lu who succeeded first…?

“Want to learn?”

“I can teach you.” Lu Ran looked at General Ha calmly.

This dog, it really thinks its Comprehension is out of this world without a beastmaster showing off?

On the other hand, the Sudden Death King also started looking eagerly at Lu Ran.

“You can’t learn it.” Lu Ran pouted. “I’ll try later to see if I can really cook up some harmless soul cuisine.”

“By then, I’ll roast a few Dragon Souls for you to eat.”

“But speaking of which,” Lu Ran looked into the distance, “it’s been almost a week.”

Why has there been no movement from the challengers of the Empire faction?

After some investigation, Missionary Gory did find that the Empire’s remnants were recruiting civilian beastmasters nearby.

This confirmed Missionary Gory’s belief that the Empire’s remnants were determined to reclaim Mingan. Therefore, the necromancers in the city had been preparing for war during this time.

However, the other side had been slow to take action.

Lu Ran was getting anxious. Although if the other side did nothing, he could win without a fight and complete the task smoothly, he felt that his rating wouldn’t be high that way.

“No, I need to perform.”

“If this continues, it won’t work. I can’t just keep training. After completing the breakthrough task, I’ll continue researching Soul Sword Intent.”

“The urgent priority is to get my breakthrough task rating to SSS-level.”

“Since the other side isn’t attacking, I’ll learn from the person who previously infiltrated the City Lord’s Mansion and ‘sneak attack’ the higher-ups of the Empire faction to prompt the war to happen quickly.”

Lu Ran made up his mind. Although it was a bit arrogant and dangerous, he was more worried about getting a poor rating on the breakthrough task, resulting in no good rewards. After all, one only gets one reward for a Level 1 breakthrough secret realm; if you miss it, it’s gone.

“The reason the opponent dared to come alone to the necromancer faction’s base camp is because they relied on their Space ability, which made them confident that no one could harm them, allowing them to escape safely.”

“If I’m going to launch a sneak attack, I must first prepare an escape route. Our advantage… should be ‘air superiority,’ right?”

After fusing with the Nature Control trait, General Ha’s control over the wind was flawless.

Not only could it perfectly walk on air at high speeds, but it could also summon gales to hinder pursuers. Lu Ran felt that General Ha could easily carry him into the sky and deliver a big surprise to the Empire faction from above.

…

While Lu Ran was plotting,

The Princess’s faction had also been actively preparing these past few days, such as gaining a deep understanding of the necromancer system and formulating battle strategies.

Another aspect was persuading the Imperial Army.

The Sunlight Knight’s infiltration did indeed provoke an intense reaction from the Death Holy Church.

This intense action also allowed the Empire faction to capture an extraordinary breath, fearing that the necromancer faction might launch an attack.

“Captain Kane, we responded to the Imperial Army’s call to participate in the fight against the necromancer cult. We’re here to train, to seek justice, and to help the weak, not to stay on guard with you.”

“The nine of us have decided to attack Mingan on our own. Are you sure your Beast Taming Legion won’t join us?”

“There are still many innocent civilians in Mingan, and many beastmasters who are about to be harmed. Are you just going to watch them suffer under the necromancer cult’s persecution?!”

The Glory Knight spoke solemnly to the highest commander of the Empire’s remnants, a Level 2 beastmaster, Army Commander Kane.

“We can’t stand it any longer. This is our final request•no, demand. We demand that the Beast Taming Legion joins us in the attack.”

“Glory, don’t rush. This matter…” Captain Kane was sweating profusely, feeling conflicted. At this time, waiting for reinforcements was clearly the best option. The military order was also to guard the perimeter. Rushing in now was too irrational.

However, the Glory Knight’s words repeatedly struck at Kane’s heart. Indeed, if they could liberate Mingan a day earlier, many more citizens of the Empire might be spared from the necromancers’ persecution.

“Hmph, as I said, if you’re afraid, we can charge the front lines ourselves.”

“It’s not about fear.” Captain Kane pondered deeply.

In truth, what troubled Kane the most wasn’t the safety of the Empire’s citizens.

Although he felt a twinge of guilt, so many people had died over the years that he couldn’t possibly save them all. After all, he was just a Level 2 beastmaster.

What really made him hesitate was the strength of the Glory Knight and his group.

The Princess of Light and the three Knights of Light had already demonstrated their power to the Imperial Army.

Especially the Princess of Light’s strength, which even made Kane, a Level 2 beastmaster, feel apprehensive.

This led Kane to conclude that this group had an extraordinary background, probably second-generation beastmasters from a powerful faction undergoing training.

If these people attacked Mingan on their own and then got injured or worse, their influential background would surely blame him for not joining the assault. This could spell disaster for his troop of remnants.

The consequences might be worse than the direct attack on the city.

On the other hand, if they could leverage this group’s strength to capture the city and please them, it might lead to great future prospects.

“Alright.” Over the past few days, Kane’s psychological defenses had gradually been broken down. He said, “Glory, the citizens of Mingan are suffering under the cult’s persecution, and it pains me deeply. To hell with the military orders!

The necromancy forces in Mingan are showing signs of withdrawing. To prevent them from spreading, we must advance our attack!”

“We need your help. Let’s attack together!”

“That’s more like it.” The Glory Knight smiled.

Finally, they could officially lay siege to the city. He was quite curious now whether the mysterious person who had injured Sunlight would appear in the battle. This person had terrified Sunlight, and their Knights Order needed to avenge Sunlight.