Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

”This is much larger than the previous jadeite cabbage.”

The entire crystal cluster was nearly 40 centimeters tall, feeling heavy and quite solid.

Su Chen placed it into his heavy-duty mountaineering pack. With his current physical conditioning, the added weight was nothing to him.

Also, to ensure this mineral deposit continued to attract demonic beasts—and perhaps even lure in some unwitting ”miners”—he used his Engineer Shovel to loosen the soil, exposing more of the broken crystal fragments.

Once that was done, Su Chen packed up his tools and set off once more.

He reactivated his watch’s backtracking function.

BEEP!

’Path activated!’

A brand-new digital trail began to form.

He started forward, following the faint sound of the rushing river.

The drone he had launched the previous evening had already conducted a preliminary aerial survey of the terrain ahead. Su Chen pulled out his phone to review the footage.

The drone’s 100-megapixel lens was incredibly powerful. Even though the image quality was somewhat compressed during the file transfer, the picture was still perfectly clear.

The most striking feature was a sunlit path cutting diagonally from the heart of the dense forest.

The path conveniently skirted the nearby swamps and bogs, following the lay of the land until it led to the Forest Canyon.

Such a wide, open road didn’t mean it was safe, however.

Quite the opposite.

Because it was bathed in sunlight and led directly to a water source, this sunlit path was undoubtedly a major migration route for demonic beasts.

Su Chen had been on the sunlit path for a minute. The towering, ancient trees on either side formed a continuous line, resembling the ramparts of an ancient city wall.

There was no mist along the way, and all sorts of prints were clearly visible in the soil.

Besides bear tracks the size of washbasins, there was another, stranger type of large footprint, pressed into the earth like giant stone mortars. Judging by their depth, the sheer weight of this unknown, massive demonic beast dwarfed that of a giant bear.

’It probably went toward the swamp.’

’It couldn’t be a demonized species resembling a rhino or a hippo, could it?’ he wondered.

After walking a bit farther, Xiaoye’s keen sense of smell picked up several scents. Up ahead, Su Chen could even see a giant Demon Dog pinning down a deer-like beast. Its massive, bloody maw gaped open as it ripped away a huge chunk of flesh.

The deer’s hooves had stopped struggling, and its eyes were dim and lifeless.

’Is that the Dog King?’

Su Chen was slightly surprised.

The Demon Dogs he had encountered before were all within the range of what one might consider large dogs. But this one, while having a similar face, was a true giant. Its back arched like a small hillock, making it tower over even tigers and leopards.

But just as the Dog King was indulging in its meal...

WHOOSH!!

The sound of something slicing through the air rang out as a massive, dark mantis figure erupted from the woods in a surprise attack.

Its bladed forelimbs, raised high like a grim reaper’s scythes, came chopping down from above.

The Dog King reacted in a flash. It instantly released its prey, threw its head back, and spat a scorching jet of heat that pierced straight through the mantis’s form.

However, no blood or gore splattered from the air.

The scorching jet had only pierced a distorted afterimage. In other words, it had struck nothing but air.

’Is that a clone or an Illusion Technique?’

Su Chen, watching from the sidelines, was intrigued. Even more interesting was the deer. The creature, which had been on the verge of death just a moment before, suddenly surged with immense vitality. Its flesh visibly regenerated, and it healed from its mortal wounds in a flash.

It kicked out violently with its hind legs, the force of the blow creating a shockwave that slammed squarely into the Dog King’s flank.

The dog’s body, weighing hundreds of pounds, was actually knocked back several steps. Without a backward glance, the deer bolted forward like lightning and, in less than a breath, vanished deep into the dense woods.

And so, just moments after stepping onto the sunlit path, Su Chen had witnessed a truly bizarre spectacle.

An unimaginably massive Dog King.

An elusive Phantom Mantis, its true form never seen.

A forest deer that could instantly recover from mortal wounds.

As expected, any demonic beast that dared to travel an open road had a few tricks up its sleeve.

However, having been thoroughly humiliated and with no other outlet for its rage, the Dog King’s scarlet eyes locked onto the distant human figure.

With a roar, it charged recklessly forward, its fiery red fur rippling.

’It doesn’t have rabies, does it?’

Su Chen couldn’t imagine provoking a newcomer immediately after receiving a potentially fatal blow from the side.

The sheer recklessness of the move was baffling.

’Either it’s completely lost its mind, or it’s just that confident in its own power.’

As the beast launched its attack, his loyal guardian, Xiaoye, didn’t hesitate to charge forward and meet it head-on.

HUM!

Su Chen lightly tapped his axe handle. Through a mental Resonance, wisps of Wind Fluff began to swirl and envelop his body. He gripped the axe in one hand, while his free right hand smoothly drew the Small Straight Knife from his belt.

The next second, his form became incredibly nimble. He stepped forward at full speed, sweeping across the path like a cyclone and charging menacingly right behind Xiaoye.

And Xiaoye, with its invisible acceleration—not to mention its reality-bending Shadow Shifting ability—was destined to seize the initiative.

SWISH!!

A Shadow Claw struck from the side, slashing viciously into the Dog King’s right flank. Xiaoye used the momentum to kick off the beast’s side, leaping onto its back and lunging for the vital spot on its nape.

The Dog King roared in fury, flames erupting all over its body. It leveraged its massive size to thrash violently, managing to fling the creature from its back several meters away.

It immediately switched targets. Sensing a familiar, surging inferno rise up, the Dog King went completely berserk and resumed its charge.

It charged with the force of a small tank.

To ensure he was within throwing range, Su Chen, buoyed by the light Wind, took up what seemed to be a very dangerous position.

For the Dog King, a distance of over ten meters could be crossed in less than a breath.

But...

A Flying Knife, released from his hand, shot out like a meteor to block its path, becoming an insurmountable obstacle.

BOOM!!

Flames shot into the sky as a blazing wave of fire, carrying with it a disintegrating power, engulfed the Dog King.

Its forward charge came to an abrupt halt.

But Su Chen didn’t let his guard down.

The giant mantis was surely lurking in the shadows.

To ensure nothing could go wrong, he had activated his Awakening state the moment he attacked.

At that moment, his Perception spread out like a spiderweb, and the faintest disturbance in the airflow from the distant woods sent him a clear signal.

Sure enough, the very instant the Flying Knife found its mark, a mantis figure swooped down from the canopy high above. The air shimmered, and the figure split, both an afterimage and the real thing lunging down at him.

The one on the left was the real body; the one on the right, the clone.

Because time seemed to slow, Su Chen was able to use his Insight to distinguish the real from the fake. For one, the Phantom Clone was a shade darker overall.

The Flying Mantis was also known for its speed, and it was still capable of high-speed maneuvers even within his ”bullet time.”

But it wasn’t enough.

The creature still couldn’t escape the shackles of time.

Ultimately, it was too slow!

Su Chen shot forward. The Wind Gauze enveloping him caught the surrounding airflow, causing his speed to skyrocket. He suddenly leaped, achieving a staggering eight-meter-high jump.

To prolong the ”bullet time” effect and ensure his body’s full potential was unleashed, he activated his Awakening state a second time, forcibly extending this transcendent condition.

Then, gripping his axe with both hands, Su Chen swung it forward. While still in midair, he unleashed an ultimate Wind Blade that sliced the Flying Mantis in two at the waist.