The appearance of a big rat stirred the White Tiger’s interest. His gaze sharpened, as if ready to fight the rat king at the drop of a hat.

“Relax, Little White. He’s on our side,” Jiang Chen chided with a smile.

Little White licked his lips. “This big rat is pretty interesting. I really feel like it’d be a good fight.”

He’d been a little depressed. He was the youngest among the four sacred beasts and the weakest in combat. He’d always wanted a good brawl, but never had a suitable candidate available to him.

But this rat king, while a little weaker, was almost at his level. The prospect of such an opponent raised his spirits.

The rat king grimaced. “The Astral White Tiger’s bloodline is invincible head-on. Please don’t bully a poor Goldbiter Rat.”

The tiger deflated like a balloon. “So you’re a coward. What’d you grow so big for? What a waste. Seems like a fight’s not in the cards.”

Jiang Chen laughed. “Alright, let me introduce him. He’s the Goldbiter King, you can call him Ole Gold. His tribe descends from the ancient Goldbiter Kingrats, a tribe capable of swallowing everything in creation. No one dares provoke them. They’re not that strong individually, but you can’t outbreed them, and will end up overwhelmed by their sheer numbers in the end. That’s their greatest asset.”

Goldbiter Kingrats!

The four beasts weren’t strangers to that name thanks to their hereditary memories. Their expressions turned unnatural. They certainly didn’t want to provoke Goldbiter Kingrats either.

And descending from the Goldbiter Kingrats, it wasn’t out of the question for the Goldbiter Rats to evolve back into their ancestors. 

“Ole Gold, I trust you’re not unfamiliar with the four sacred beasts?”

The crafty rat king chuckled. “Hehe, I’ve always admired such noble and lofty existences. Everyone, please offer your support to me in the future, since we’re all on the young lord’s side.”

The Vermillion Bird looked at the rat king, all smiles. “Ole Gold, how many descendants does your tribe have right now?”

The rat king thought it over, then shrugged casually. “All in all, about three to four hundred millions?”

The bird’s smile vanished instantly, but reappeared almost as fast. “Young lord, I know now what card you were talking about.”

The Black Tortoise also grew interested. “Legends speak of Goldbiter Kingrats swallowing all of the heavenly planes, leaving nothing and no one untouched. Even the strongest metal can become their food. Is that true?”

“It is.” Jiang Chen smiled. “Ole Gold, I’m headed to the Immortal Sacred Land. A battle against golden demons is perhaps waiting for us. It’s a good opportunity, but also a trial. Maybe more than half of your tribe will die afterward, but the survivors will be greatly strengthened. A golden demon’s body is comparable to metal, it’s great nutrition for your kin. What say you?”

The rat king’s narrow eyes glinted keenly, betraying his intense desire.

Because of its incredible fertility, his tribe had never been afraid of death. Instead, opportunities to strengthen their bloodline were what they lacked most.

They would throw themselves without hesitation at any such chance.

Each strengthening was a transformation for the entire tribe, a transcendence of their limits.

They had evolved time and again after meeting Jiang Chen. Their combat ability was now at least a hundred times higher.

There was no end to such evolution, or at least, they hadn’t met such a ceiling yet. There was still enormous room for them to grow.

“Young lord, we aren’t called Goldbiter Rats for nothing. I might not be that confident if you pit me against a demon forefather, but we can’t miss out on large scale battles. As long as they number less than one hundred thousand, I guarantee we’ll gnaw them to the last until there’s not a trace left!” The rat king nowadays spoke with new-found confidence.

His tribe was longer the same the same one Jiang Chen had first met back then.

“Very well. Ole Gold. I rarely see this kind of zeal in anyone. That’s what I like most about you. This battle will be a good chance to see what your tribe’s made of. Show me that nurturing you for this long was well worth it,” responded Jiang Chen serenely.

The sacred beasts were fully aware of how powerful this card was.

Wasn’t the Goldbiter Rat tribe the golden demons’ nemesis? Against the golden demons’ unmatched physique, innumerable human cultivators would have lost their lives. 

But for the Goldbiter Rats, the same physique was a choice morsel.

Jiang Chen quietly departed three days later, the sacred beasts in tow.

As for An Kasyapa, he’d already left one day prior.

Jiang Chen had entrusted the Divine Veluriyam’s escape talisman to the man. Not that he couldn’t have used it himself, but the Measure of Heaven could roughly serve the same function, so the talisman wasn’t strictly necessary.

He traveled light. The sacred beasts stayed hidden while he did his best to look like a wandering cultivator to avoid unwarranted attention.

Although Immortal was the closest sacred land to Winterdraw, it was still quite a distance away. To avoid the demons’ eyes and ears, he chose not to use an airboat, opting to fly by himself instead. The speed of his journey inevitably suffered for it.

Demons were omnipresent along the way, but there was still no signs of a large-scale mobilization. Many places showed signs of frequent demon presence, but hadn’t been fully captured yet.

In fact, quite a few defending forces seemed plagued by internal conflicts. Many had ulterior motives and wanted to fish in troubled waters. The situation didn’t seem all that pressing outwardly, but in reality, imminent danger lurked just below the surface.

Jiang Chen slowed down once he approached the sacred land’s territory. Golden demons were obviously much more active in the vicinity. He spotted many of their patrols, while human cultivators were a rare sight this close to the border.

It was extremely difficult for humans to draw near. Trying to slip inside incognito seemed too complex a task to be realistically feasible.

But he wasn’t in a hurry to attack. Judging by the current situation, the sacred land hadn’t been fully captured yet. There was still room to salvage the situation.

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