Murakami Yasuyo.
At the age of 20, he used 2 million Donyang coins, accumulated by three generations of his family, to purchase an opportunity to awaken his Beast Master talent.
Fortunately, he was luckier than 99.9% of people; with this very first awakening, he successfully awakened his Beast Master talent and became a glorious and great Beast Master.
It has been 15 years since then.
In these 15 years.
For the first 10 years, he signed a contract with the Beast Master support organization, Oryza Palace, to serve the Qian Gu Family behind Oryza Palace.
The Qian Gu Family, one of the ten great families of Donyang.
During this period, he enjoyed all the mundane luxuries.
Money, beautiful women, worldly power.
Anything he desired, he could easily obtain simply by completing the not-so-difficult tasks assigned by Oryza Palace on time.
However.
Unlike other Beast Masters who gradually became decadent, only knew how to indulge in pleasure, and completely became tools of Oryza Palace and its backing, the Qian Gu Family, Murakami Yasuyo was different.
As time went on, Murakami Yasuyo gradually grew tired of everything.
He was tired of money; even piles and piles of Donyang coins laid before him, he treated them as waste paper, finding it too much trouble even to light a cigarette with them.
He was tired of beauty; even those charming maid groups, and young women more beautiful and enchanting than movie stars, failed to pique his interest.
He was tired of power; those so-called powerful and wealthy individuals in the mundane world, company bosses, factory owners, successful people who once flaunted their power in front of him and his parents and relatives, no matter how much they bowed and scraped before him, he couldn't be bothered to even glance at them.
Gradually, the only thing Murakami Yasuyo cared about was one thing.
Power! Transcendence! Beast Mastery! Youth! Longevity! Even immortality!
Entering the world, then leaving it.
Experiencing the mortal world, ultimately shedding all superficiality and returning to one's true self—such examples are very, very rare.
In the lowest echelons of Donyang's Beast Master circle, on average, only about one in ten thousand would appear.
Murakami Yasuyo was once again favored by the goddess of luck; he was precisely such a fortunate person, suddenly enlightened and awakened, escaping the quagmire of the mundane world.
He rediscovered the true self a Beast Master should possess, and this true self was even purer and more resolute than that of other Beast Masters, for it was a heart tempered by the trials of the mortal world.
Having rediscovered his Beast Master's true self, Murakami Yasuyo dedicated all his energy to Beast Mastery and the pursuit of transcendence.
However, as time passed.
Murakami Yasuyo gradually discovered that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break through to Tier 1, reaching the level of even the most ordinary Beast Masters of the Qian Gu Family.
It was as if an invisible barrier was firmly holding him back.
He didn't understand why this was.
He even spent a large amount of his savings and accumulated favors to consult the Beast Masters of the Qian Gu Family.
Their answer was that he wasn't working hard enough, that his opportunity hadn't arrived yet.
However, the truth was not so.
By chance, he met a traveling Beast Master from the Holy Heaven Ancient Kingdom, and by a twist of fate, he helped that Beast Master from the higher kingdom with a small favor. Only then did he learn the truth from that person's mouth—a truth that filled him with despair.
Donyang's Beast Master circle.
From the very beginning, it had been guided in the wrong direction by the lies woven by the ten great families, including the Qian Gu Family.
Commoner Beast Masters in Donyang, without accidents, simply could not break through to Tier 1 and truly step into the transcendent realm.
Not only that.
The method commoner Beast Masters used to enslave demonic beasts for battle was also completely wrong.
Directly capturing and enslaving wild demonic beasts.
Not only was their combat power inferior to that of battle pets and spirit beasts, but the energy feedback demonic beasts provided to Beast Masters upon improvement was also meager, miscellaneous, and chaotic.
Such energy simply could not allow a Beast Master to break through to Tier 1.
Forcibly breaking through to Tier 1 could instead lead to energy conflict and backlash, resulting in terrifying consequences.
Understanding everything, he was angry, resentful, wanting to seek revenge on the ten great families, including the Qian Gu Family, and even wanting to retaliate against the nation of Donyang.
But gradually, he gave up.
Because he, a mere Beast Master below Tier 1, with battle pets that were all trash demonic beasts, going to take revenge on the Qian Gu Family would probably result in him being drowned by a single spit from anyone casually stepping out.
Although he gave up on revenge, Murakami Yasuyo did not give up on the path of transcendence.
He constantly visited veteran commoner Beast Masters, especially those who, like him, had awakened and no longer indulged in worldly pleasures. He discussed and exchanged ideas with them, and also researched various materials.
He even moved to the capital city, Kyoto, this free city of Donyang.
Because here, he could occasionally meet traveling Beast Masters from other countries.
Finally, heaven rewards the diligent.
Murakami Yasuyo found a method that would allow him to break through to Tier 1, return to the correct path of a Beast Master, a method that was extremely dangerous but also had the highest feasibility.
That is, to correctly contract a spirit beast of at least mid-Lord Rank bloodline, and it must be a single-attribute spirit beast.
Only then could he use the high-quality, pure attribute energy feedback to suppress other miscellaneous energies, forcibly break through to Tier 1, and then, after forcibly breaking through, sort out the other miscellaneous energies in his body. In this way, he could embark on the correct path of Beast Master transcendence.
Of course!
The greater possibility was that he would be unable to withstand the intense energy feedback during the breakthrough process and directly explode on the spot.
Even so.
Rather than never breaking through to Tier 1 and watching himself slowly age, Murakami Yasuyo preferred to fail the breakthrough and explode on the spot.
Unfortunately, spirit beasts that have been tamed for thousands of years by humans, constantly refined to be close to humans, are exclusive preserves of the ten great families. Commoners in Donyang simply cannot obtain them. Let alone mid-Lord Rank bloodlines, not even a single common soldier-rank spirit beast from other countries, not even a single hair or scale, is available.
In Donyang, commoner Beast Masters can only normally obtain demonic beasts.
However, demonic beasts are fine.
If they are not inherently close to humans, then so be it.
If affinity is difficult to raise, there's nothing to be done.
As long as he captures the cub of a mid-Lord Rank demonic beast, first erases its intelligence, then contracts it using normal contract methods, at worst, he can use it as a disposable breakthrough tool pet. After advancing to Tier 1, he can find other ways out, either join one of the ten great families and become their servant, or find a way to travel to a foreign country.
Thus, in order to obtain a mid-Lord Rank demonic beast cub, Murakami Yasuyo spent a full 5 years in the Mist Forest, staking it out.
For this, he even specifically formed a demonic beast hunting group.
On one hand, hunting demonic beasts to earn funds and resources for his future departure from Donyang.
On the other hand, investigating various demonic beast populations in the Mist Forest, especially those Tier 4 overlords, to see if any cubs had been born.
Finally, a while ago, two months ago!
Murakami Yasuyo staked out not the cub of some regional overlord demonic beast, but a naturally mutated Lost Trail Deer cub!
Ordinary Lost Trail Deer have grayish-white antlers on their heads, emanating a faint Illusion Attribute mist.
However, this mutated Lost Trail Deer cub had jade-like antlers, especially beautiful and lustrous under the moonlight, glowing brightly.
Through continuous tailing, collecting its excretions, and the remnants of leaves it chewed, and after professional analysis and testing, Murakami Yasuyo learned the attributes and bloodline rank of this mutated Lost Trail Deer cub.
Light Attribute!
Not Light and Illusion, but pure Light Attribute!!
mid-Lord Rank!!
At that moment, Murakami Yasuyo was ecstatic.
He believed that this mutated Lost Trail Deer cub was a gift from heaven.
Because the Light Attribute is the purest and inherently possesses purification abilities, and compared to other advanced attributes, it causes the least harm to the human body and is the most gentle attribute. If he used Light Attribute energy to help him break through to Tier 1, his success rate could increase by at least 30%!
This Lost Trail Deer.
No, it shouldn't be called a Lost Trail Deer.
How could trash like a Lost Trail Deer be compared to it!?
Having already considered it his possession, Murakami Yasuyo named it Moon God Deer. Yes, even the common word 'moonlight' Murakami Yasuyo felt was unworthy of it; only 'Moon God' was fitting enough.
To capture this Moon God Deer.
Murakami Yasuyo invested all his savings from these years, purchasing many expensive and special foods that only Light Attribute spirit beasts liked to eat.
Step by step, he lured it from the depths of the Mist Forest's middle layer to the outer edge of the middle layer.
Then, he and his team very smoothly captured and sealed this Moon God Deer.
Afterward, they only needed to successfully leave the Mist Forest to complete their great task.
However, as expected, an unexpected event occurred.
Something they had never anticipated happened: as soon as they captured and sealed the Moon God Deer, they were surrounded by hundreds of demonic beasts.
It was as if the Moon God Deer was bait to lure them.
It was as if all of this was an ambush, waiting for them.
Sacrificing most of their enslaved demonic beasts, and even their demonic beast hunting group of 15 people, only 3 remained alive.
Murakami Yasuyo and the two remaining team members barely broke out of the demonic beast encirclement.
Unfortunately, the demonic beasts still pursued them relentlessly, even forming a small-scale beast tide as a result.
Bang bang!
Two gunshots, not from spirit-patterned hot weapons, but ordinary gunpowder weapons.
For demonic beasts below Tier 1 and not specialized in physical defense, gunpowder weapons were still effective.
But against demonic beasts or spirit beasts above Tier 1, they were largely ineffective; a Tier 1 demonic beast or spirit beast could easily block gunpowder firearms with a single skill.
However, for dealing with humans whose Beast Master level was below Tier 1, the effect was excellent.
With these two gunshots.
The two Beast Masters lagging behind in the group, one male and one female, were shot, one in the abdomen and one in the thigh.
"Brother."
The male Beast Master looked at Murakami Yasuyo in disbelief.
The female Beast Master's face was even more filled with despair; she and Murakami Yasuyo were lovers.
Although she was the one who pursued him, still, it shouldn't be like this.
"Yasuyo!"
The female Beast Master cried out mournfully.
Bang bang.
Their answer was two more gunshots.
"I'm sorry, An Zi."
"I'm sorry, Ryota."
"But please, for my sake, for my path to Beast Master transcendence, please, you two, buy me a chance to live!"
"I will not forget you."
"In the future, when I achieve success and become a true Beast Master who controls transcendence and is omnipotent, like those of the ten great families, I will repay you."
"I will take good care of your families and relatives."
"If any of them can awaken and become Beast Masters, I guarantee that they will embark on the true Beast Master path from the very beginning, unlike us who took the wrong path from the start. I will give them care no less than that of the Star Rock Federation."
After speaking, he didn't wait for their reply.
Murakami Yasuyo turned and left, continuing his desperate escape.
Meanwhile, the two Beast Masters, the male called Ryota and the female called An Zi, cursed in anger.
Then, in less than a moment, they were swallowed by the beast tide.
After two brief screams, all sound completely ceased.
Although very short, the sacrifice of the two still bought Murakami Yasuyo about 10 seconds of time.
...
Hovering high in the sky, Lin Chuan watched all of this.
At this moment.
Lin Chuan's expression was incredibly complex, his lips moving, unable to speak for a long time.
He had originally decided to save these three people.
He was just waiting for the three to run a bit further, to an open area ahead that would allow White Snow to swoop down and quickly leave, then he would act to rescue them.
He hadn't expected...