The two flying creatures took their fight to the mountains behind Cloud Peak, and the commotion could be heard all the way back at the mountain. They returned hours later—the dragon bruised and battered, the dragonfish struggling to stay aloft.
As for the result? Yangos claimed it was a draw, but those who knew the dragon understood—it had definitely lost. It would’ve bragged nonstop if it had been an actual tie: “What’s so great about inheriting a level-nine legacy? It still couldn’t beat Grandpa Dragon!” But since the dragonfish couldn’t talk, the dragon could say whatever it wanted.
The Cloud Peak members who guessed the truth were stunned. Red Hair was already second only to Ye Zhongming in Cloud Peak. Before, with the dragonfish’s assistance, even Ye Zhongming had struggled against them. Now, with the fish-dragon surpassing Yangos, could they challenge their leader if they teamed up?
Everyone was curious, but they also knew Red Hair—now almost indistinguishable from a human—was utterly loyal to Ye Zhongming and would never do such a thing. But every group had troublemakers, and Cloud Peak was no exception. Little Tiger, for instance, kept egging Red Hair on to fight Ye Zhongming with the dragonfish.
Red Hair didn’t get angry. She just smiled and asked, “If I bring the dragonfish, does that mean Master can bring Yellow Ball and Yangos? If so, we’d definitely lose. If not, it’d mean we need to team up just to match him. Doesn’t that already answer who’s stronger? Besides, have you ever seen Master go all out? He can hold his own against dozens of level-eight monsters without faltering in that state. His strength is beyond question.”
Little Tiger shrank back, finally understanding Ye Zhongming’s power—peerless among those of the same level, his strength bordering on level nine.
With victory came the spoils.
This battle was the single most profitable engagement in Cloud Peak’s history.
According to the tally, Cloud Peak had obtained the corpses of two Level 9 lifeforms. After processing, they acquired two level-nine magic crystals, 35 tons of flesh, and over 1,000 materials (mostly from the hundreds of remaining feathers on the Nine-Winged Crow)
1,906 level-seven monsters, a staggering 270,000 level-six monsters, and millions of level-five and level-four monsters.
Faced with such gains, radicals like Little Tiger, Young Master Yun, and Tong Hu even suggested wiping out the remaining forces of the monster commander. After all, the survivors of this battle were the true elites—almost no level-fives remained, with most being level-six or higher. The number of level-sevens even exceeded Cloud Peak’s haul, making it no surprise they were tempted.
Even the more conservative members, like Guang Yao, Mo Ye, and Sister Rong, were tempted.
Launching a war turned out to be so profitable! Just this one battle ensured most of Cloud Peak’s evolved could advance to six stars—already two levels above the post-apocalyptic average!!!
It was terrifying.
They refused to believe even the Pig-Raising Soul Merchant, superpowers like the Resistance Zone and Glory Army, or even the God Hall (rumored to rival Cloud Peak’s tech) could match this!
As for the level-seven demon crystals—after distributing some to captains—they could fully upgrade the female guards.
An entire battle squad of 7-star evolved? The thought sent shivers down even Cloud Peak’s own spines!
Most of the top 30 in the national rankings were 7-star evolved. If the female guards were included, Cloud Peak would dominate the list!
As for 8-star evolved? Cloud Peak was about to experience another surge. All core members would receive a potion, as would outstanding fighters or those with special statuses (like Xiao Min).
Once that happened, the number of eight stars that evolved in Cloud Peak would shock half the nation!
A single word surfaced in many minds—invincible.
Perhaps, once everyone had evolved, Cloud Peak would truly stand above the entire nation, with no rivals left.
And that was just in terms of evolution levels. Once Ye Zhongming turned all those materials into equipment? An all-green-grade brigade?
The core members didn’t even dare dwell on it—the thought felt unreal.
Of course, gains came with losses.
In this battle, Cloudtop had expended 20,000 crystal grenades, nearly all micro-carved bullets, specialty ammunition, artillery shells, rockets, arrows, and other consumables. They used hundreds of thousands of demon crystals drained from weapon usage, over 20% of war fortresses damaged, and tens of thousands of pieces of equipment rendered unusable. Over 2,000 battle beasts were lost, and countless disposable personal items were used up.
And then there were the casualties.
Though the final battle didn’t last long, Cloud Peak still suffered heavy losses: Over 5,000 evolved killed, and nearly 1,000 were permanently disabled (forced to retire from combat).
The total losses were over 1/20th of their 100,000-strong force.
This was Cloud Peak’s heaviest loss since its founding.
High-level evolved weren’t spared either, and three seven-star captains were killed. There were over 100 six-star warriors who were killed or disabled.
Thankfully, no core members were lost. The worst injuries were to Tong Hu and Little Tiger, who only took two days to recover.
The casualty list was grim, but this was a decisive victory overall. Cloud Peak’s atmosphere remained jubilant, with spontaneous celebrations everywhere.
But some were still busy:
The Gene Life Lab was buried in experiments, with researchers working nonstop for days on the flood of monster corpses and materials.
The logistics department cataloged gains, managed inventory, and handled the fallen comrades.
And Ye Zhongming—turning magic crystals into evolution potions.
Spinning high-level wheels nonstop for three days, he finally used up all the crystals, yielding:
15 eight-star potions
592 seven-star potions
Too many six-star potions to count
When he returned to Cloud Peak, the manor witnessed its largest evolution frenzy ever!