I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Lin Che held the Myriad Beast Source Core in his palm again, and the patterns on the crystal surface lit up again after coming into contact with his spiritual power.

The compressed ancient spiritual energy, like an old riverbed being awakened, spread along his meridians into the depths of his consciousness.

Perception expands outwards from the distance of a thousand miles, presenting the spatial outline of the entire second-layer secret realm, the distribution of spirit beasts, and the nodes of spiritual energy in the sea of ​​consciousness with extremely clear patterns.

"Find the most valuable ones first." His gaze swept across the densely packed points of light in his sea of ​​consciousness, identifying the location and bloodline rank of each spirit beast species.

The perception brought by the Myriad Beast Source Core is more intuitive than that of the system. The locations of those spirit beasts in the sea of ​​consciousness are like a star map that has been lit up. The size of each star corresponds to the scale of the population, and the brightness corresponds to the purity and rank of the bloodline. The lines connecting those stars record the distribution relationship between the populations and possible migration paths.

His divine sense stopped about two hundred miles to the southwest of the second level.

There was a valley surrounded by hills, in which several groups of dark gray figures were scattered. They were robust, with short, thick limbs, and the scales on their backs gleamed with a dull metallic luster under the simulated skylight. The luster showed alternating shades as the angle of the light changed, like the surface of an old bronze artifact that had been repeatedly polished.

The valley is surrounded by an arc-shaped wall made of natural rock, high enough to block the view of most predators, with only a gap of several meters wide on the south side as an entrance.

"That's... an Earth Armored Dragon Lizard." Lin Che recognized the type of spirit beast.

Earth-type dragon lizards are known for their defensive capabilities. Their scales are excellent materials for making heavy spirit armor, and the earth-type essence contained in their marrow has a great auxiliary effect on physical cultivation. They can shed their scales every five years, and can continue to do so for up to twenty years.

More importantly, this spirit beast has a relatively high reproductive capacity among dragon bloodlines, and its population expansion rate far exceeds that of other dragon spirit beasts. Under suitable conditions, a female individual can give birth to one or two eggs every three years, and the incubation period of the eggs is about six months.

With the mount-type spirit beast secret realm and the tens of thousands of combat-type spirit beasts previously acquired and sealed, what the Lin family lacks most now are spirit beasts that can produce spirit resources. Therefore, their next target is these types of spirit beasts.

"Let's go, two hundred miles southwest, there's a group of Earth Armored Dragon Lizards." He withdrew his senses and turned his feet in that direction.

The two-hundred-mile distance was covered in less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, thanks to their all-out effort.

When the valley came into view, the simulated sky was already transitioning to the tail end of dusk. The halo between orange-red and light purple was receding into a deeper darkness. The light in the valley was softer than the surrounding area, like a layer of warm-colored gauze that had been repeatedly diluted covering the scales of those dark gray spirit beasts.

At the southern entrance to the valley, several adult ground lizards were slowly pacing back and forth. Their steps were heavy and orderly, each step leaving a shallow indentation on the ground, which was then covered by grass blades the moment they lifted their feet.

The individuals patrolling the edge of the valley raised their heads simultaneously the moment they sensed the approaching presence. Their dark gray pupils contracted slightly in the twilight, but they did not utter a warning screech; they simply maintained an observational posture.

Lin Che stopped at the edge of the valley.

The Myriad Beast Origin Core continuously released gentle spiritual energy fluctuations in the palm of the hand. After these fluctuations came into contact with the group of Earth Armor Dragon Lizards in front of him, they outlined a more precise population structure in his sea of ​​consciousness.

There are approximately three thousand adult individuals, including over forty peak-level third-tier individuals, three fourth-tier individuals, and approximately five hundred sub-adults and cubs.

The entire population maintains an orderly distribution, with adult individuals forming a defensive perimeter, cubs and sub-adults active in the central area, and fourth-tier individuals in the deepest part of the valley. They are significantly larger than their counterparts on the periphery, and their scales take on a deeper dark gold hue in the twilight, with more intricate patterns on their backs.

"I'll try out the resonance contract of the Beast Origin Core."

A familiar spiritual energy fluctuation emanated from his palm, spreading outwards and transmitting into the depths of the valley at a fixed frequency.

The fluctuations were almost imperceptible to the naked eye in the air, but they triggered a series of reactions upon contact with the bodies of the earth-armored dragon lizards, like ripples spreading outwards after a pebble is thrown into a calm body of water.

The population, which had already begun to become wary, shifted from a red mood to a yellow mood in his perception.

He could clearly sense a special energy flow enveloping the group of earth-armored dragon lizards; that must be the resonance contract.

The network was like a net woven from countless fine threads, each thread connecting to the core of an individual's consciousness. At the center of the net, they converged into a thicker main vein, extending towards Lin Che's location.

Upon sensing the fluctuation, the adult individuals in the group of earth-armored dragon lizards simultaneously raised their heads, with the outermost dozens spreading out to both sides in an even rhythm, making way for a path leading into the depths of the valley.

Meanwhile, the three fourth-tier beings deepest in the valley slowly stood up and walked heavily toward the edge of the valley.

The three-headed earth-armored dragon lizard was a size larger than its counterparts, with a shoulder height of nearly ten feet. The scales on its back gleamed with a dark golden luster in the twilight. With each breath, it exhaled tiny, yellowish-brown specks of light from its nostrils. These specks of light spread outwards at an extremely slow speed after being exhaled, and then dissipated into the twilight after a few breaths.

The leading male stopped about ten feet away from Lin Che, its deep voice echoing through the valley: "Greetings, Inheritor. The Earth Armor Dragon Lizard tribe is willing to submit to you."

Lin Che was taken aback, not expecting the resonance contract to be so effective.

However, during the subsequent detailed conversation, he realized that the resonance contract only made the Earth Armor Dragon Lizard clan feel close to him and not hostile towards him. The real reason they submitted was because they were also part of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect's heritage and always remembered their mission.

The one that can unlock this mission is the Origin Core of Ten Thousand Beasts.

With his possession of the Origin Core of Ten Thousand Beasts, he could easily subdue any group of spirit beasts here.

However, just to be on the safe side, Lin Che decided to form contracts with the chieftain of each spirit beast species.

Of course, this task was completed by Lin Xuanqing.

She extended her right hand, and a contract mark condensed from spiritual power appeared in her palm. The mark shone with a warm blue light in the twilight, and fine spiritual patterns on its edges were slowly rotating, rearranging the direction of those patterns with each rotation.

The leading male lowered its head and gently touched the surface of the mark with the scales on its forehead. A thin stream of soul blood seeped out from the gaps in the scales and merged into the mark.

The soul blood flickered at a fixed frequency the moment it merged, and then was completely absorbed by the mark.

The moment the contract was completed, the mark left a very faint blue line on the male's forehead, which disappeared under the scales a few breaths later and only became visible under specific angles of light.

"Done." With the contract completed, Lin Xuanqing began to collect all the Earth Armor Dragon Lizards present into his spirit beast bag.

For this ultimate exploration of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect's inheritance, the Lin family prepared a large number of spirit beast bags. These bags were woven from specially made spirit silkworm silk and lined with multi-layered spatial folding arrays. Each bag was large enough to hold thousands of medium-sized spirit beasts.

"Next location, 180 li southeast, a swarm of Azure-winged Mantises." His divine sense locked onto the next target through the perception of the Myriad Beasts Source Core.

The Azure Winged Mantis, a wind-attribute creature, excels in speed and possesses a pair of incredibly sharp blades, making it an excellent material for weapon crafting. These blades naturally fall off upon reaching adulthood, and the hardness and sharpness of each pair of blades are comparable to third-tier spirit iron. In the hands of a weapon craftsman, they can be forged into lightweight cutting-type spirit weapons.

The team set off again.

Over the next few hours, they subdued seven groups of spirit beasts, each of which had been selected by the Myriad Beast Source Core and confirmed to have high breeding value.

Among them are the Golden-backed Wolves, known for their group cooperation. Their backs become covered with a layer of hard, golden fur when they reach adulthood. This fur can be used as a flexible base material when refining weapons.

There are Azure Water Turtles that can freely switch between water and land. Their carapace will naturally form a layer of water-elemental membrane after they reach adulthood, which can be used to make magical artifacts for underwater breathing.

There are thunder toads that use sound waves as their main means of attack. After they die, their sound sacs condense into a rare material called "thunderstone," which is the core component for making sound wave-based magical artifacts.

After each group completed the contract, Lin Xuanqing collected them into the spirit beast bags in batches. Once the bags were full, they were sealed one by one, and labels written in spirit ink were affixed to the seals, recording the species, quantity, and contract status of the spirit beasts in the bags.

By the time the seventh population had been subdued, it was already late at night in the simulated sky.

After confirming that the last spirit beast had been sealed into the spirit beast bag, Lin Xuanqing took out the spirit testing array plate again.

The pale blue halo appeared even brighter against the dark blue dome, and after a brief pause, it resumed its southwestward trajectory.

The deflection was more intense than ever before, increasing by about five degrees every ten breaths. This intense deflection created a continuously extending dark blue light trail on the surface of the jade slip. The direction of that trail was different from all the previous deflection points; it was steeper and more rapid.

"There's another node here." Her voice was exceptionally clear in the silence of the night, the words lingering in the air for a few breaths before being completely carried away by the night wind. "The direction is due south-southwest, about a hundred miles away, with a deflection exceeding the sum of all the previous nodes. The concentration of spiritual energy may continue to rise as you approach."

This area has obviously been explored by the other two, but unexpectedly there is still one place they have overlooked.

Lin Che took the jade slip, glanced at it, then held the Myriad Beast Origin Core in his palm, extending his senses in that direction.

Somewhere a hundred miles away, his divine sense touched a basin surrounded by dark gray rock walls.

The structure inside the basin was much larger than any previous inheritance space. The density and rhythm of the array patterns far exceeded anything seen before. The direction of each array pattern was almost completely parallel to the adjacent array patterns, forming a pattern on the stone wall that looked like an old woven fabric that had been repeatedly combed.

In the deepest part of that space, his senses touched a pedestal cast from a single piece of bronze, above which floated a scroll wrapped in blood-red silk threads.

The aura on the surface of the scroll flickered at an extremely slow frequency, and with each flicker, it drew the surrounding spiritual energy toward the center. The force of this attraction was stronger than ever before, like a slowly rotating vortex that sucked in the surrounding spiritual power bit by bit.

"Let's go to this last stop."

The team advanced rapidly southwestward in the dead of night.

The terrain in that area was different from the places we had passed through before. The hills were steeper, and the slopes were covered with bare rocks, mainly dark gray, and sparse drought-resistant vegetation.

The dryness in the air was gradually replaced by a warm feeling as we approached the target. That warmth carried a hint of rust, penetrating deep into our lungs with each breath and leaving a very faint metallic aftertaste with each exhale.

After traveling about a hundred miles, a basin surrounded by dark gray rocks appeared ahead.

The basin's edge is separated from the surrounding hills by steep rock walls, with only a narrow entrance on one side.

The layer of spiritual light at the entrance was thicker and darker in color than any other place before, and its operation was slower. The interval between each flash was about thirty breaths. That slow rhythm made the layer of spiritual light look like a bronze mirror forgotten on an old wall, its surface covered with a dark patina accumulated over time.

Lin Che stopped in front of the entrance.

Divine sense probed inward along the edge of the spiritual light layer, and after passing through a long corridor paved with bronze, it touched the internal structure that was larger than any space before.

The stone walls on both sides of the corridor are covered with dense inscriptions. The style of those inscriptions is from the same period as the characters below the portraits of the sect leaders he had seen on both sides of the stone steps, but the content is different. These inscriptions record the various steps of a certain refining method in a concise way that has been repeatedly refined.

At the end of the corridor was an archway made of dark gold stone, with the outline of a spirit beast similar in shape to the emblem of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect carved on the door. The spirit beast's shape was between a lion and a tiger, and its four feet were standing on auspicious clouds made of flame patterns.

Lin Che pushed open the archway.

The space behind the door was much larger than he had expected.

The dome of that space was supported by several layers of progressively curved stone beams. Between each layer of stone beams were gaps filled with spirit stones. The light of those spirit stones in the dead of night took on a diluted blood-red hue, enveloping the entire space in a cool and uniform dark red halo.

In the center of the space stood a huge pedestal cast from a single piece of bronze, and a scroll was covered by an extremely thin layer of aura.

Lin Xuanqing walked to the pedestal, lowered her head to examine the inscriptions, and gently ran her fingers along the grooves on the edge of the scroll, comparing the direction of the characters segment by segment before raising her head, her voice trembling: "This is... the method for forging the Chi You Banner?"

Lin Che, walking beside her, also recognized the item by looking at the inscriptions around them.

"It seems my Lin family really won't lack natal magic weapons!"

Anyone familiar with the history of the Myriad Beasts Sect knows the power of the Chi You Banner. It is a core magical artifact of the sect, exclusively for beast-taming cultivators.

Lin Che stepped forward and activated the token.

Familiar spiritual energy fluctuations emanated from his palm and spread outwards. When they came into contact with the spiritual light layer on the surface of the pedestal, the spiritual light receded slowly to both sides like water being blown by the wind, revealing the complete contents of the scroll surface.

Lin Che's finger stopped on the line of words embroidered with blood-red silk thread on the edge of the scroll. The words gleamed faintly in the dark red halo.

"Where the battle flag points, all beasts bow their heads, the four spirits return to their places, and our might extends to the four seas."

The scroll is made of the hide of some kind of ancient spirit beast, and the surface is written with dark red spirit ink, showing the complete method of making the Chi You Banner. From the drawing of the banner to the forging of the flagpole, from the setting of the array eyes to the binding conditions of the four spirit warriors, every detail is recorded in an extremely precise way.

He tucked the scroll into his sleeve and turned to look in the direction of the entrance to the space.

In the simulated sky, the deep night is transitioning to dawn at an extremely slow pace, and a very thin transition line between dark blue and light blue has appeared at the edge of the dome.

"The traditions here are probably gone; we should go and join them."

As spirit beasts, Bi Yu and Chi Lin naturally could not escape the perception of the Myriad Beast Source Core in Lin Che's hand.

According to his perception, the three of them had already explored the entire simulated secret realm, and all the spiritual energy deflection points had been discovered, so there was no need to stay here any longer.