A Card In Hand

Chapter 12: Evolution, the Demonic Rock Giant!

The radiant glow of the Celestial Formation filled the entire cave.

Even from ten thousand meters away on the ground.

Looking out from the top of Cliff of the Crimson-Eyed Flying Dragon.

It was unobstructed.

For a long while.

The light gradually faded.

The cave slowly returned to tranquility.

The Stone Giant, now integrated with the Rock Sand Beast by Li Ao using the secret methods of the Celestial Formation, possessed a brand new body.

Now, it stood ten meters tall, not only did its form more closely resemble that of a human, but it also had an additional layer of sand armor made of flowing sand.

More importantly, its rank had ascended from high-level Bronze to early-stage Silver, significantly improving the quality of its core energy composition.

Advancing across levels is the most challenging evolution for all war beasts.

If they cannot break through on their own potential.

If they cannot evolve by themselves.

Then they must absorb a higher quality crystal core of their kind to possibly undergo what can be called a great transformation, evolving into a higher realm of life.

Acquiring a higher quality crystal core means that a beast must defeat an enemy far stronger than itself, which is easier said than done!

If the Stone Giant had not been integrated with the Rock Sand Beast by Li Ao using the Celestial Formation.

It would never have had the chance to defeat its opponents.

Li Ao transformed the Stone Giant into a card.

Light.

Soft as a ribbon.

An orange glowing card then appeared before him.

Demonic Rock Giant: Elemental type, humanoid war beast, early-stage Silver, pure elemental core, rocky body, magical sand armor.

Talent – Rock Body: The Demonic Rock Giant possesses a hard rocky body, impervious to external forces damaging its energy core unless its source energy defense is breached. The Demonic Rock Giant can merge into the ground to travel or draw from the earth’s energy to heal its damaged parts. As long as its body isn’t more than eighty percent damaged, it can reconstitute itself with magical sand. The Demonic Rock Giant is fearless, a formidable force on the battlefield.

Li Ao glanced at the top right corner, where his combat power read: 1025.

“After a great deal of effort, I finally managed to evolve it successfully,” Li Ao didn’t care much for the Demonic Rock Giant’s current combat power; he was delighted because it had successfully evolved, allowing for further improvements in the future.

Otherwise.

A Bronze-level war beast would forever be capped at the peak combat power of one thousand.

For instance, the Steel Golem that Prince Jinxi failed to take with him, and the Flaming Gold Lion that had grown up alongside him, were prime examples.

A combat power of one thousand was impressive for newcomers.

A dream come true.

But in Li Ao’s eyes.

A thousand combat power was merely the basic threshold for a war beast.

If this was its ultimate limit, then it wasn’t worth keeping.

The evolution of the Demonic Rock Giant was just the beginning; Li Ao planned to enhance it further, evolving it into a Gold-level Obsidian Giant, Magma Giant, or Mountain Giant.

He couldn’t possibly bring a Silver-level war beast to the Celestial Realm; the future war beasts, including the Shadow Giant Wolves under his feet and the Stone Bear used for deceit and disguise, must at least evolve to Gold-level.

Li Ao raised his left hand, and the surrounding rocks swiftly gathered like flowing sand, forming an enormous rocky arm.

Arm of Stone Control: The master of the Demonic Rock Giant could freely manipulate rocks into any combat form needed.

This was a new skill granted to the master following the successful evolution of the Demonic Rock Giant.

“Excellent!”

Li Ao was quite satisfied with this skill.

Crack! Crack!

The previously damaged Steel Golem suddenly stirred.

Struggling, it crawled towards Li Ao, not to surrender but to continue fighting as per its last command; without its master’s orders, it would fight until the end.

Boom!

It raised its broken giant hand and heavily struck down towards Li Ao, who watched calmly.

Li Ao stood leisurely at the gap created by two broken fingers, his expression serene and detached.

“Prince Jinxi has far too many war beasts awaiting contracts; he won’t miss one more. Goodbye!”

Li Ao raised the giant halberd and swung it down fiercely.

A silver light tore through the sky, and a crescent-shaped slash wave easily bisected the dilapidated Steel Golem.

This relentless crescent slash wave surged forward wildly.

It sliced through the rock walls.

Zooming through the air at high speed.

After cutting a rift through the sky, it rapidly moved away, turning into a light arc that vanished into the horizon.

Amidst an earth-shattering rumble, the hard cavern mouth rapidly deformed, and countless tons of rock, with a terrifying rumble, peeled from the mountain walls.

Unstoppable, it carried countless fragments of rock, forming a sky full of stone rain that thundered down.

Li Ao, with a calm expression, transformed the silver cloak and giant halberd back into the Shadow Halberd, and stored it back in the Shadow Path.

Returning to his original form, his innocent-looking appearance seemed rather out of place on the devastated battlefield.

Corpses littered the ground.

They lay scattered all around the battlefield.

“Clean up the battlefield; pick up anything useful,” Li Ao commanded, summoning the Stone Bear.

As a Black Iron creature, it wasn’t qualified to participate in the battle, but it could certainly clean up afterward.

The two Shadow Giant Wolves had already begun their work.

They collaborated effectively.

Extracting the most valuable Golem’s Heart from the remnants of the bisected Steel Golem.

The Stone Bear, moving cheerfully, made its way toward the decapitated Shadow Leopard, but one of the Shadow Giant Wolves swiftly appeared in front of the Shadow Leopard, blocking it.

Well then!

The Shadow Leopard was a lost cause; time to change targets.

The Stone Bear then targeted the Large-Eared Shadow Bat, whose crystal core was still decent.

The other Shadow Giant Wolf that had just delivered the Golem’s Heart to Li Ao burst from the shadows on the ground, snatching away the corpse of the Large-Eared Shadow Bat right in front of the Stone Bear.

The Stone Bear had no choice but to re-target the Hunting Hound, which had turned into a pile of shattered debris.

As for the Purple-Tentacled Evil Eye.

It had never considered it a target it could aim for from the start.

If the Shadow Leopard could not do it, the Stone Bear didn’t expect that in the end, it couldn’t even get a hold of the Large-Eared Shadow Bat’s carcass.

With a bit of a grudge, it dug out the already damaged crystal core of the Hunting Hound, looked around to see that its master was too busy to pay attention to it, while the Shadow Giant Wolves, having finished extracting the crystal cores, were busy skinning the Shadow Leopard and Large-Eared Shadow Bat… As for the Demonic Rock Giant, the big fool stood motionless, only knowing how to follow its master without any orders, not doing anything else.

It was so hungry.

Maybe sneaking a few bites wouldn’t hurt?

By the time the Stone Bear came trotting back, burping satisfactorily and ingratiatingly presenting the Hunting Hound’s crystal core to Li Ao, the two Shadow Giant Wolves had already dragged everything valuable back to the Shadow Path.

The Stone Bear noticed that the two Shadow Giant Wolves even forcefully dragged the relatively intact left arm of the Steel Golem into the Shadow Path.

This was the first time it felt a bit panicked.

This can’t go on!

At this rate, this boss would be outdone by these two ‘little brothers’!

“You’re so slow!”

Li Ao took the crystal core of the Hunting Hound and glared at the Stone Bear with a bit of dissatisfaction.

It was over.

What to do if the master is unhappy?

Eating a lot and doing little, even it wouldn’t be pleased if it were the master.

The Stone Bear really hated its gluttony, raised its bear paw, and smashed it hard on its own head several times, warning itself not to be greedy next time!

“Prince Jinxi is keeping the Light-Feathered Golden Eagle and the Flaming Gold Lion, and his base combat power is still there; he should not withdraw from the newcomer trials,” Li Ao pondered for a long time, supporting his chin with his fingers.

As a prince, Prince Jinxi had countless idle war beast cards, and it was his lack of endurance that previously prevented him from contracting more war beasts.

After returning, someone behind Prince Jinxi should help him temporarily control the curse, allowing him to contract a few more war beasts to replenish his combat power, thus making it unlikely for Prince Jinxi to drop out of the newcomer trials.

Not participating in the trials, how to achieve good results to enter the Pantheon?

How to become a superstar without entering the Pantheon?

Li Ao didn’t think Prince Jinxi would give up the competition.

Just wait!

Past life’s deep hatred and grudges.

Of course, it couldn’t just end with a beating.

Li Ao decided to go back and torment him publicly once more.

The number one newcomer?

The only superstar of this newcomer trial?

It’s time to show everyone your technique of searching for teeth on the ground!

Li Ao turned the Demonic Rock Giant and the Stone Bear into cards, along with the two Shadow Giant Wolves, and leaped down from the collapsing cave’s gaping entrance…