Beastmaster: I'm really just a forest ranger

Chapter 408 Regret Always Embraces Life
May 2th, evening.

The atmosphere in Venue C of the Donghuang Tournament elimination rounds reached a fever pitch.

The huge circular stadium was brightly lit, bustling with people, and occasionally lit up with fireworks.

The deafening cheers and colorful energy lights intertwined, illuminating the night sky as if it were daytime.

"Chen Yuan's Dawn and Dusk Fairy once again demonstrated powerful control and output capabilities. Faced with the Steel Armored Earth Dragon's impenetrable defense, can it find a breakthrough?!"

The commentator's voice resounded throughout the venue through the loudspeakers, filled with barely suppressed excitement.

In the center of the arena, the Morning and Evening Flower Fairy floated lightly in mid-air, her petite body shimmering with a pale golden halo, a stark contrast to the massive Steel Armored Earth Dragon opposite her, which was covered in thick metal scales and resembled a mobile fortress.

"roar~"

The Steel-Armored Earth Dragon let out a deep roar, its thick limbs stomping the ground, causing the entire arena to tremble slightly. It launched another charge, like a runaway heavy tank, rushing forward with an aura that seemed to tear everything apart.

Chen Yuan's sharp eyes spotted the enemy's weakness: a single charging path and difficulty in turning. He calmly ordered, "Now! Eclipse Beam!"

As soon as the command was given, the Morning and Evening Flower Fairy gracefully brought her arms together in front of her chest, and between her palms, pure energy symbolizing vitality gathered wildly at an unprecedented speed.

This energy contained an incomparably pure life force, and in an instant it formed a pillar of light that was condensed to the extreme and emitted a heart-pounding fluctuation.

The space around the beam of light was slightly distorted, as if even the light itself was being swallowed up by it.

boom! ! !
The eclipse beam shot out at a speed beyond visual perception, not in a straight line, but in a strange arc, accurately predicting and hitting the relatively weak joints of the armored earth dragon's side scales as it charged.

Rumble!
When the deafening explosion resounded, a plume of black smoke billowed out, obscuring everyone's vision.

"The eclipse beam hit the armored dragon precisely!"

As the commentator shouted excitedly, all the audience leaned forward, their eyes wide open, and at that moment the only sound in the huge venue was the rapid breathing.

As the black smoke gradually dissipated, the steel-armored earth dragon let out a painful howl, its charge coming to an abrupt halt.

The next moment, the massive body tumbled out due to inertia, crashing heavily to the ground. It struggled a few times but ultimately failed to get up again.

For a fleeting moment, the entire venue fell into an extremely brief silence, as if time had stood still.

Then, it erupted like a volcano that had been dormant for a long time!

"Won!!"

The commentator's voice suddenly rose to a crack: "After several minutes of fierce fighting, Dawn and Dusk Fairy successfully defeated her opponent with the final Eclipse Beam!"

"Chen Yuan and his Morning and Evening Flower Fairy have once again proven their strength with an impeccable performance! They have successfully advanced to the next round!"

A deafening roar of cheers, applause, and screams instantly engulfed the entire venue. Countless spectators stood up excitedly, waving their support items. The massive sound almost lifted the dome of the venue.

Looking at his fallen partner, his opponent's face was filled with regret and helplessness, but he finally took a deep breath and stepped forward to shake hands with Chen Yuan.

"Congratulations, Consultant Chen, I'm completely convinced."

Chen Yuan shook hands with him and nodded in acknowledgment: "Thank you for your kind words. It was a wonderful match."

Leaving the bustling venue, Chen Yuan returned to the players' lounge.

He was about to take a short break when his attention was drawn to the intense battle unfolding on the central screen.

That was a contest between Zhuang Jianbai and Lu Ran.

This was not the first time these two had clashed.

The two had a fierce battle at Yunhua Beast Taming Academy, which ended with Lu Ran easily winning.

After many days, the two, who were thousands of miles apart, met again and competed for the extremely valuable qualification spots.

After a fierce battle, the first pets sent out by the two have fallen, and now it is a duel between their main pets.

In the scene, Zhuang Jianbai's Winterhound is fiercely battling a giant ape.

As an elite student at the headquarters of the Eastern Beast Taming Academy, Lu Ran's main pet beast, the Blazing Fighting Ape, successfully advanced to the Morning Star quality after a period of hard work, and was named the Molten Core Giant Ape.

The Molten Core Giant Ape is as large as a mountain, over five meters tall, and its entire body is covered with thick armor that looks like cooled lava. A blazing orange-red light faintly shines through the gaps in the armor, as if magma is flowing inside its body.

Its face was ferocious, with fangs bared, and each time its two giant fists, burning with rage, slammed into the ground, they left charred craters and sparks flew, and a violent aura swept across the entire area.

The Winter Hound is at a significant disadvantage in terms of attributes; Zhuang Jianbai was once easily defeated by it.

However, after the defeat, Zhuang Jianbai reviewed the game more than once, and carefully studied Lu Ran's match videos before this match to prepare a strategy.

On the field, thanks to Zhuang Jianbai's excellent command and its own agility, the Winter Dog kept maneuvering and was not easily defeated.

"Woo!"

The Winterhound opened its mouth and exhaled an extremely cold breath, attempting to freeze the movements of the Molten Core Giant Ape.

However, the Molten Core Giant Ape's defense was extremely formidable. With a roar, its armor glowed brightly red, managing to withstand the onslaught of the cold breath. At the same time, its fists blazed with fierce flames, and it slammed into the Winter Hound with overwhelming force!

boom! boom! boom!
The battle was extremely fierce. The Winter Hound narrowly escaped fatal attacks time and time again. The power of ice and fire collided wildly in the center of the arena, creating a large cloud of white mist.

However, the elemental advantage and the gap in absolute power gradually became apparent, and the Winter Dog's condition rapidly declined under the spread of the flames, leaving it panting heavily.

The flames spread, the chill receded, and Zhuang Jianbai's brows furrowed deeply.

Finally, the Molten Core Giant Ape seized the brief moment of stun after the Winterhound dodged, and its massive body unleashed a speed disproportionate to its size, crashing into the Winterhound with a deafening roar amidst scorching flames!

"Ugh——!"

The winter dog was in excruciating pain and let out a painful yelp before being thrown back and crashing to the ground some distance away.

Its body was charred black, and after struggling a few times, it was unable to stand up again.

The referee blew his whistle, declaring Lu Ran the winner.

"Winter Hound is incapacitated!"

In an instant, the entire stadium erupted in enthusiastic cheers for the winner.

Lu Ran raised his arms high, accepting the cheers of the audience. The Molten Core Giant Ape roared in front of him, and the man and his pet looked spirited and triumphant.

Immediately, Lu Ran looked down on the entire audience, his lips curving upwards, and his arrogant expression was displayed on the big screen. He stared at the camera, narrowed his eyes, and raised his right index finger to his lips, exuding arrogance.

At the other end of the venue, Zhuang Jianbai stood quietly in place, as if the deafening noise around him had nothing to do with him.

His gaze lingered on the Winterhound lying on the ground, its breath weak and listless. Those usually calm and resolute eyes were now filled with indescribable complex emotions.

He walked slowly forward, squatted down, and gently stroked his companion's cold, scorched fur with tender, slow movements.

Zhuang Jianbai raised his head and looked up at the tens of thousands of unfamiliar faces cheering for the victor in the stands, the colorful lights flickering on his face.

The enthusiastic cheers surged like a tide, yet seemed to be separated by an invisible barrier, becoming blurry and distant in his ears.

A cold, bitter feeling silently surged and spread in his heart, permeating every corner.

He pursued it for so long, worked so hard for so long, but in the end he still fell on the road to a higher stage.

After a long while, Zhuang Jianbai slowly stood up, his face showing no resentment or anger, only a calmness after a hard-fought battle.

Thanks to Consultant Chen, he had long been accustomed to this kind of plot.

He gazed at the arena where everyone had poured out their passion and sweat, and spoke softly, in a voice only he could hear:
"Perhaps, regrets are always a constant throughout life."

Inside the live stream, as Lü Hao watched Zhuang Jianbai leave alone, the usually jovial Lü Hao sighed, "Sigh, Zhuang Jianbai has lost too."

"There are too many strong people in the Donghuang Tournament. Even he couldn't advance to the finals."

"Fortunately, our Qin Province still has Advisor Chen and Xia Heng. As long as they win one more match, they can advance to the finals."

"Wow, two contestants from Qin Province will appear in the finals. Just thinking about it is awesome."

Meanwhile, the live stream chat was flooded with comments.

"Zhuang Jianbai is destined to be second best, he's destined to never win the championship."

"Championship? They couldn't even make it to the finals this time."

"It can only be said that he was lucky not to run into Consultant Chen this time, otherwise his Dao heart would have collapsed and he would have lost his little pearl."

"Sigh, the difference between people is so big. Some people give their all and stop here, while others play around and advance all the way."

The matches continued, and finally the round of 32 to 16 was over.

They only need one more round of matches to advance to the finals.

As soon as the list of advancing players was released, the match-up list for the next round quickly appeared on the big screen.

Chen Yuan looked up, his sharp gaze sweeping over the familiar and unfamiliar names before finally narrowing and fixing on the column displaying his own name. [Chen Yuan (Qin Province) VS Jiang Wenning (Shanghai)]

Upon seeing the name "Jiang Wenning," Chen Yuan's fingers paused almost imperceptibly.

A rare glimpse of extremely complex emotion crossed his face, which remained calm even during the fiercest battle.

He then opened the fruit factory's group chat, which was already flooded with messages.

Chang Yuhuan: "There are two contestants from Fruit Factory among the top 16. The four of us together are really amazing."

Li Junyue: "Congratulations to both of you. Keep up the good work and strive to advance to the finals."

Jiang Wenning: "The match list is out. My next match is against Chengzi."

Chang Yuhuan: "???"

Li Junyue: "."

Chen Yuan stared at the chat box, his eyes flickering slightly, before falling silent for a moment.

He then tapped the screen and sent a message: "I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence. It seems we've all been set up by the capital. The competition committee won't allow us to advance at the same time."

Jiang Wenning replied quickly: "Actually, it's a good thing. I've wanted to fight you, Chengzi, for a long time, but I haven't found the opportunity or prepared properly."

"The Eastern Glory Tournament is the perfect opportunity for me to challenge you."

"After so much training, I think I'm ready."

"Orange, go all out, don't hold back, I want to see just how big the gap is between us."

"Hmph, but don't underestimate me, or you might crash!"

Upon seeing the messages, Chen Yuan chuckled silently. He typed for a long time, then deleted all the messages and replied, "Okay."

That night, the atmosphere in the conference hall was much more somber than usual.

Under the soft lighting, only a few people were sparsely seated around the long conference table.

After another round of brutal elimination matches, the original five-person team is now down to just Chen Yuan and Xia Heng.

A silent pressure permeated the air.

Zhang Hao stood in front of the projection screen and sent two sets of compiled materials to Chen Yuan and Xia Heng respectively.

His gaze swept over the two of them, his tone unusually serious, yet he deliberately slowed his speech, attempting to ease the tension:

"Brother Yuan, Xia Heng, here is detailed information about your next opponent. As you both know, at this stage of the competition, there are no weaklings left."

He paused, his voice becoming even gentler: "The association is very satisfied with how far you've come. In the upcoming competitions, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just relax, give it your all, and show the spirit of Qin Province's Beast Tamers."

Immediately, he looked at Xia Heng: "Xia Heng, your opponent is Liu Jinglan from Fire Continent. He is very strong, but he is a fire-type specialized beast tamer."

"If you face him, you have the advantage in attributes. As long as you play steadily, you have a high chance of winning."

Xia Heng didn't speak, he just nodded.

Then, Zhang Hao turned his gaze to Chen Yuan, a hint of complexity in his eyes: "Brother Yuan, your opponent is contestant Jiang Wenning."

The name made Chen Yuan's eyelashes flutter slightly. Zhang Hao didn't say anything more, just nodded.

The meeting concluded briefly.

Xia Heng stood up first and blocked Chen Yuan's way as he was about to leave.

This young man, who hadn't had much contact with Chen Yuan, now had a burning, unwavering flame in his eyes. He stared directly at Chen Yuan, his voice low yet incredibly clear:

"Advisor Chen, I hope to face you again on the final stage."

"This time, I will prove to you the progress I have made during this period."

Chen Yuan looked at the undisguised fighting spirit in Xia Heng's eyes and a faint smile appeared on his face.

He didn't directly respond to the challenge, but simply patted Xia Heng on the shoulder and said calmly, "It's not too late to talk about this after we get to the finals."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and walked out of the conference room.

The corridor was dimly lit. Chen Yuan had only taken a few steps when he saw Shi Gang and Zhuang Jianbai standing together not far away.

The burly Shi Gang placed one hand on Zhuang Jianbai's shoulder, his tone filled with brotherly concern as he rambled on:

"Little Bai, don't take it to heart. Victory and defeat are common in war. Which great beast tamer hasn't risen from defeat after defeat? Look at me, I was like that not long ago."

Zhuang Jianbai lowered his head slightly, the shadows obscuring most of his face, making his expression unreadable.

He listened in silence until Shi Gang finished speaking, then suddenly spoke, his voice a little hoarse: "What about Consultant Chen? He seems to have never failed."

These words startled Shi Gang, who was about to continue comforting him. His mouth opened, but the rest of the words stuck in his throat.

He rubbed his stubble-covered chin, pondered for a long time, and then said with a mix of helplessness and sincere admiration, "Advisor Chen, he's probably from a completely different world than us."

"People like him are not within the scope of our usual discussions."

Zhuang Jianbai didn't say anything more, but simply lowered his head even further.

In the shadows, a very faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Once upon a time, he was a novice, full of vigor and ambition, and was recognized as the number one genius beast tamer in Qin Province, until one day he came to that small mountain village.

With each challenge and each failure, his goal gradually shifted from "defeating" to "catching up," only wishing to be able to reach their level.

Now, having undergone a higher level of transformation and witnessed firsthand the despairing gap between them, he has a clearer understanding of the enormous chasm that lies between him and Chen Yuan.

At this moment, he no longer yearned to surpass or even stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone; only a small but persistent thought remained in his heart:
I hope that one day, my efforts and perseverance will be recognized by Consultant Chen, even if it's just a little bit.

Chen Yuan listened quietly at the corner, without disturbing him, but simply turned around and walked towards the training ground in the hotel's basement.

The training ground was brightly lit, with only the low hum of the equipment in operation.

With a thought, Chen Yuan summoned all the little guys.

Cola immediately assumed a wary stance upon emerging, Spark elegantly preened its feathers, Dawn and Dusk Flower Fairy floated quietly, Egg looked around curiously, and Youmi had already found a corner to doze off.

"tomorrow."

Chen Yuan's voice rang out in the open space, attracting the attention of all the little ones, "Our opponents are Yuzu and her Moon Frost Cat."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cola, who was always the most eager to fight and excited at the mention of a battle, suddenly drooped his ears and let out a hesitant low groan.

It scratched the ground with its paws, looked up at Chen Yuan, and its azure eyes were filled with a rare look of struggle.

"Ow"

Aside from Electric Flying Cat himself, every farm member knew that Electric Flying Cat was interested in Ice Crystal Cat.

Moonlit Frost Cat is an advanced form of Ice Crystal Illusion Cat, and Electric Flying Cat will definitely be even more obsessed with it.

If I accidentally hurt Moon Frost Cat tomorrow, Electric Flying Cat will definitely be very sad and upset, right?

When we get back to the farm, Electric Flying Cat might still try to fight me.
The thought of Electric Flying Cat possibly having teary eyes and bristling fur in protest gave Cola a sudden headache.

Chen Yuan keenly sensed Cola's emotional fluctuations. He walked over to Cola, gently rubbed its fluffy head, and smiled:
"It's okay, Cola. Giving it your all is the greatest respect you can show them."

"I believe Yuzu and Yuehua Shuangmao are also looking forward to fighting against us when we are in the best condition, so let's play freely and give it our all tomorrow."

Upon hearing Chen Yuan's words, the hesitation in Cola's eyes gradually disappeared, and it nodded vigorously, letting out a howl.

Sorry, Electric Flying Cat, I might beat up your goddess tomorrow.

After calming Cola down, the little ones started their training, and Chen Yuan's gaze fell on Egg in the corner.

Egg was holding the dragon scale, eyes closed and focused, with faint red energy flowing around its body.

Suddenly, Egg opened its eyes wide, opened its dragon mouth, and a pillar of fire, which was clearly more condensed, hotter, and closer to pure orange-red than before, shot out!

boom!
The pillar of fire struck a specially made target in the distance, producing a dull bang. The target's surface was instantly left with charred marks, and even the edges showed slight signs of melting.

In the firelight, Egg's dragon eyes sparkled with excitement and a sense of accomplishment.

Upon seeing this, Chen Yuan's face immediately lit up with a joyful smile.

It's not far from Eggman successfully mastering this fire-type skill.

(End of this chapter)