The group made their way forward. The closer they got to the Devil Fruit, the more excited they became.
    Bi Feng scanned the surroundings and, inadvertently, his gaze landed on Lu Shiqian’s hand!
    Wei Mo’s also erupted at that moment!
    “Slow down a bit. Usually, there are some strange beasts guarding this place. Let’s be more careful!” Bi Feng said.
    Wei Mo grabbed Lu Shiqian, lifted his head and announced, “Even if there are strange beast guards, I’ll send them flying! Brat, you better remember this! I’ll be the one to protect this woman!”
    Lu Shiqian speechlessly twitched her mouth. This guy is so overbearing! But he’s still Wei Mo so I don’t really mind. In general, she acknowledges few people. But once she acknowledges someone, she can accept everything about that person. On the contrary, she’s stone-hearted and ruthless to people she doesn’t acknowledge!
    Someone suddenly shouted, “Over there!”
    In an instant, everyone went crazy as they rushed forward. The treasure snatching has officially begun!
    The Devil Fruit was green and grew on a strange, leafless plant. Two petals protected it, as if it were crystal delicate. It also released a fragrant aroma.
    Except, this treasure wasn’t easy to get. It was guarded by a transparent, five-colored Crystal Scorpion! This scorpion was as big as a washbasin and quietly waited beside the flower, not giving the incoming crowd a second glance. This scorpion’s arrogance has basis: it is a 10-star magic beast!
    Wild magic beasts are divided into four ranks: 1 star to 10 stars, Mortal Rank; 10 stars to 30 stars, Earth Rank; 30 stars to 70 stars, Heaven Rank; 70 stars and above, God Rank. 
    Therefore, 10-stars is the boundary between the Mortal Rank and Earth Rank and magic beasts can upgrade their magic beasts skills. For example, if Hong Jin reaches 10-stars, he can strengthen the skills of both Yin and his master. It can raise the power of Lu Shiqian’s attack by one or two times and allow Yin to temporarily use fire attribute attacks. This is like a cheat code!

 

 

 

    Of course, usually people can only contract with one magic beast at a time while a peerless genius may be able to contract with, at most, two or three. There was only one person in history that had ever contracted with four magic beasts, but he had vanished thousands of years ago.
    Yet, Lu Shiqian this abnormality can contract with an unlimited amount of magic beasts! Think about it for a minute. If tens or hundreds of magic beasts reached 10-stars and broke through, what kind of cheat would that be? How unfair would that be?!
    Lu Shiqian is also dreaming of contracting with more magic beasts, even Yin and Hong Jin are enthusiastic about it! They increased in star level by one whole level after forming a contract! This is a god-sent blessing! It’s even more effective than eating heaven’s medicine!
    And so… one human and two beasts looked towards the scorpion with burning eyes.
    The Crystal Scorpion: a mutation that happens once in 100,000 ordinary scorpions and its venomous and antidotal properties are extraordinary! Those nobles of course all wish they could obtain this rare magic beast but they are scarcely seen, the chances of coming across one is extremely small. Even if they do see one, without a Magic Beast Tamer, it’s hard to make it actually tame it.
    The 10-star Crystal Scorpion naturally stunned all the people here to snatch the treasure. These people weren’t like Lu Shiqian who already has two high-rank magic beasts. To them, just having one good magic beast is enough! Magic beasts are expensive and could cost anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of gold coins! This kind of cost is hard to bear! Furthermore, actually taming it requires a Magic Beast Tamer and in general, only one in a hundred mages would become a Tamer. They are usually granted high statuses, to ask them for help… hard! Even meeting a magic beast that was 3-stars or higher is rare enough, yet they were now seeing a 10-star one!
    However, the Crystal Scorpion looks beautiful and unconsciously lowered their guards. When someone couldn’t hold back anymore and went to snatch the treasure, Lu Shiqian clearly saw a scheming flash through the scorpion’s eyes. 
    High level magic beasts are intelligent and are capable of thinking. This is something that everyone present knows. 
    It’s just that they were unaware of exactly how high it actually was. To them, even if a magic beast was intelligent, that’s only when compared to other beasts. How could they possibly compete with humans? Therefore, even though they were rather wary, they still looked down on its intelligence.
    The one who tried to snatch the treasure wasn’t some random passerby: it was actually Raging Fire’s commander Li Ming! He snuck around the back with his team and slowly inched closer towards the scorpion. 
    Even though his idea was okay, the scorpion didn’t pay it any attention at all! Eyes rotating 360 degrees, it immediately saw the team’s movement. It used its two large claws to break through the ground and suddenly, waves of scorpions, spiders, and other things poured out from within the cracks. Spiders, snakes, all kinds of creatures covered the ground.
    This sudden change shocked not only the Raging Fire team but also everyone else!
    No wonder why the Crystal Scorpion wasn’t worried at all, it had made plans since long ago!
    “Run!” Wang Ming screamed out in fright, rolling and crawling on the ground. He was the one closest to the Crystal Scorpion and was ruthlessly bitten by a flower-like spider. His face immediately swelled to the size of a pig’s head. 
    Everyone retreated back by 10 or so meters including the anti-poison team. 
    For things to escalate to this level made everything a lot trickier and even though they were all reluctant to retreat, they couldn’t think of any better method to break through. They also don’t have the ability to.

 

 

 

    The final petal had also opened up. The Devil Fruit was almost ripe!
    “Hmph, this thing is still mine in the end!” Wei Mo’s hair fluttered as he used his other attribute water, which he rarely used in this form, and launched it towards the poisonous creatures like a bomb!
    Lu Shiqian also followed closely and prepared to rush over.
    Bifeng’s heart suddenly tightened: sh-she… how is she so brave?
    The people who had recovered from their shock couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes. The Rank 7 High Mage rushing up is acceptable, but you— a mere Apprentice Mage— are also rushing forward?!  You must know that the lowest star rank of the beasts is still two stars! The only thought these people had was: she’s gone crazy!
    Lu Shiqian didn’t care what others thought and took advantage of the opening Wei Mo created by attracting the attention of all the venomous creatures, including the Crystal Scorpion. She lightly said, “Yin, merge bodies.” Silver-colored armor instantly wrapped around her body. Because she didn’t merge souls with Hong Jin, her hair was still black so it didn’t attract too much attention.

(DL Scanlations)