Volume 1, Chapter 59: Could the Mystic Flame Empress Actually Be Developing a Thrill for Being Spoiled?

As an ancient powerhouse, the Profound Flame Empress possessed extraordinary vision and peerless discernment.

Without needing Lin Yao to offer extensive explanations, she already had a clear grasp of his Shadow Mark and Shadow Devourer abilities.

The Profound Flame Empress pondered inwardly, "This ant's Shadow Devourer is truly formidable! The efficiency of these Shadow Devourers in refining energy easily exceeds sixty, or even seventy percent! That means during the energy purification process, there is a loss of less than thirty percent. For this alone, it is simply miraculous!"

While thinking, the Profound Flame Empress closely observed Lin Yao's every move.

She discovered that no matter how far away the Shadow Devourers were from Lin Yao, a steady stream of pure energy aura continued to converge upon him.

This meant that the Shadow Devourers could refine pure energy for Lin Yao even across vast distances.

Not only that, but the Profound Flame Empress also noticed that Lin Yao seemed capable of bestowing the Shadow Mark upon other people or summoned beasts.

At this moment, beside herself and the Double-Winged Golden Cicada, everyone and every beast around Lin Yao bore a pupil-less eye-shaped Shadow Mark on them.

After a brief hesitation, the Profound Flame Empress spoke up, "Can you also bestow the Shadow Mark upon others?"

Lin Yao nodded, "Yes."

As he answered, Lin Yao quietly activated his [Shadow Beast Master] talent once again, successfully creating the thirty-fifth Shadow Werewolf.

Discovering that a large number of Purple-Horned Fiends had unexpectedly swarmed in here, not only was he completely unfazed, but he was also somewhat excited.

After all, in his view, these Purple-Horned Fiends could all be converted into the pure energy he needed to enhance his own strength.

Just then, the Profound Flame Empress spoke again, "This Empress wishes to exchange for a Shadow Mark with you."

This time, Lin Yao was not stingy at all. He directly took the Profound Flame Empress's delicate, boneless hand and "stamped" a Shadow Mark onto her palm.

The Profound Flame Empress was slightly taken aback.

She had originally assumed that Lin Yao would demand a series of conditions for something so precious, yet she never expected him to simply give her one for free.

This caused a rare, inexplicable ripple to stir within the Profound Flame Empress's heart.

If she had to describe it, it felt somewhat akin to being "pampered."

However, the Profound Flame Empress immediately dismissed the thought inwardly.

She would never harbor such emotions, and no one in this world was capable of pampering her.

Yet the next moment, the sycophantic voice of the Double-Winged Golden Cicada came echoing from afar: "Master, please bestow this humble one a Shadow Mark as well!"

In truth, the Double-Winged Golden Cicada had been salivating over the Shadow Mark for a long time, but had never found an opportune moment to ask.

Seeing how effortlessly Lin Yao had just given one to the Profound Flame Empress, it immediately seized the chance to come over and beg for one.

The Double-Winged Golden Cicada was naturally of the temperament to cast its net wide regardless of the catch; regardless of whether it would succeed, it would ask first and worry later.

Lin Yao feigned deep thought for a moment before smiling, "If you perform well this month, this master will reward you with a Shadow Mark. The same goes for the future."

Upon hearing this, the Double-Winged Golden Cicada was overjoyed.

Although it didn't get the Shadow Mark immediately, as long as it worked hard this month, wouldn't it get one in a short while!

At this moment, Lin Yao was treating the Purple-Horned Fiends purely as materials for grinding experience points.

Meanwhile, the other beast masters—including Qin Tanlang and the other two—were being slaughtered by the Purple-Horned Fiends to the point of wailing miserably.

Qin Tanlang was inherently a greedy, lustful man who abandoned all principles at the sight of profit. The moment a large swarm of Purple-Horned Fiends appeared, he was the first to turn tail and run.

As Qin Tanlang fled for his life, Zhao Wuji immediately slipped away right behind him.

Furthermore, Zhao Wuji didn't even dare to return to the Zhao family estate, fleeing elsewhere with only a few trusted aides.

Had they actually managed to swiftly eliminate Xia Mengying, Zhao Wuji naturally wouldn't have been reduced to such a plight.

Yet this time, unexpected upheavals had occurred repeatedly within the small pocket dimension, and his original plan had already failed utterly.

Now that Xia Mengying had broken free, the Rose Family would inevitably seek to settle accounts with the Zhao family.

If Zhao Wuji remained in the Zhao family, it would undoubtedly be a dead end.

Even having a young master of the Rose Family backing him from the shadows would be of no use.

With Qin Tanlang and Zhao Wuji each fleeing with their respective entourages, Su Longtao finally realized the situation was dire and wanted to slip away as well.

Regrettably, his luck was bad, and lacking the decisive speed of the first two, he found himself utterly trapped with no way out.

At this moment, Su Longtao and the beast masters they had previously hunted down were all being frantically butchered by the Purple-Horned Fiends.

While Qin Tanlang and Zhao Wuji were holding down the fort, Su Longtao's faction had relied on sheer numbers, and the other beast masters hadn't dared to do anything to them.

Yet now that Qin Tanlang and Zhao Wuji had vanished without a trace, the enraged beast masters naturally intended to settle all old scores with Su Longtao.

Caught in the dual pincer attack of the Purple-Horned Fiends and the furious mob of beast masters, Su Longtao's group simply could not hold out for long and would sooner or later become food in the bellies of the Purple-Horned Fiends.

At that exact moment, a puppet draped in a black robe suddenly appeared among the crowd.

This combat puppet was being remotely controlled by Old Wang.

As it turned out, those massive hordes of Purple-Horned Fiends that had suddenly poured into this small pocket dimension had broken through along the spatial rift Old Wang had opened when he fled.

Originally, there were several sealed spatial rifts within this small pocket dimension, and Old Wang had forcibly torn one of them open upon his departure.

The other end of that rift happened to connect directly to an encampment of the Purple-Horned Fiends.

Right now, Old Wang was thriving over there, having become a trusted advisor and mastermind to a high-ranking Purple-Horned Fiend.

Remembering that he still had an "old flame" left behind in this pocket dimension, he immediately manipulated a combat puppet to return and search for Zhou Meiting.

At this moment, Zhou Meiting was still draped in the oversized black robe Old Wang had left her back then, so Old Wang located her without expending much effort.

Zhou Meiting harbored a bone-deep hatred for Old Wang and his crew; given the chance, she would undoubtedly kill them with her own hands.

However, upon seeing the combat puppet sent by Old Wang and learning of his intentions, she did not refuse the olive branch he extended.

After all, even if she had to endure some torment after being rescued by Old Wang, it was still far better than dying in this damned place.

As Old Wang's combat puppet was evacuating with Zhou Meiting, one of Lin Yao's Shadow Werewolves happened to catch a glimpse of the black-robed puppet from a great distance.

Because the distance was too vast, and he only caught a blurry glimpse through the Shadow Werewolf's vision, Lin Yao could not confirm whether the figure he saw was indeed Old Wang.

He thought to himself, "Neither Qin Tanlang nor Zhao Wuji are anywhere to be seen, and their fates are unknown. Su Longtao is on the verge of death and will soon become fodder for the Purple-Horned Fiends. But this Old Wang... is truly difficult to kill. Even now, this fellow is still bouncing around."

Lin Yao did not direct the Shadow Werewolf to pursue and eliminate Old Wang.

After all, the Shadow Werewolf was too far away from Old Wang, and the surrounding battlefield was utter chaos; it was nearly impossible for him to precisely command the Shadow Werewolf to hunt Old Wang down.

However, it mattered little. Compared to hunting down Old Wang, wiping out the remaining Purple-Horned Fiends was far more important.

As long as all the Purple-Horned Fiends in the vicinity were wiped out, his beast master level would undoubtedly break through to rank 14.