The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

As usual, Chen Guan stepped forward and skillfully picked out a few cores of decent quality from the dust.

Li Yan leaned against the wall, watching the figure squatting on the ground diligently picking up trash, his eyes twitching uncontrollably.

No matter how many times he tried, he still couldn't adapt; this genius was just too down-to-earth.

The twentieth floor.

The corridors here are exceptionally wide, guarded by a Void Hydra, a creature the size of a small shuttle.

The nine ferocious snake heads can simultaneously spew out energy breaths of different attributes, forming a destructive elemental storm.

"Eighth tier, elemental hybrid attack, beware of its regeneration..."

Li Yan stopped halfway through his sentence.

Because the coffin had already been rushed up there.

Faced with the overwhelming nine-colored breath that could melt the entire corridor, Chen Guan neither dodged nor avoided it; a flash of crimson flame appeared on the scythe in his hand.

Raging flames.

A crimson blade of light, condensed to its fullest extent, slashed out against the elemental storm.

Wherever the blade flashed, all elemental energy was ignited, vanishing into thin air like erased pixels.

A thin red line appeared on each of the nine heads of the multi-headed snake.

The next moment, all nine snake heads slid off simultaneously.

The massive body crashed to the ground, leaving behind only a core the size of a basketball, inside which seemed to contain a nine-colored nebula flowing.

Chen Guan stepped forward, satisfied with the core, and then habitually kicked around to see if there were any scraps that had escaped.

Li Yan watched all of this in silence, and finally just let out a long sigh.

Fine.

He was too young and naive to think that a mere eighth-level cultivator could make this kid stop and linger.

If it were six months ago, this kid wouldn't even need to risk his life; he would have been killed by those blind monsters.

This kid might actually be able to break through this tower.

The two continued upwards.

As they stepped onto the spiral staircase to the twenty-third floor, Chen Guan stopped for the first time.

It's not because the monster is too strong.

In my arms, the leopard, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly twitched.

"Awooo..."

A suppressed whimper escaped from deep within its throat, filled with pain.

Chen Guan's heart sank, and he immediately looked down.

The leopard's soft purple fur stood on end, and tiny purple arcs of electricity crackled and sputtered uncontrollably across its body.

Its body was trembling, its limbs were curled up, as if it were struggling in a nightmare.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Guan squatted down, gently placed the leopard on the ground, and put his hand on its back.

A scalding heat came from his palm, making him flinch.

Immediately afterwards, the scalding heat quickly turned icy cold, becoming extremely unstable.

"It's out of control inside its body."

Li Yan walked up to him without him noticing, his tall figure casting a shadow, his voice heavy with emotion.

He could sense that an abnormally large energy was surging within the little leopard, like a volcano about to erupt.

The source of the energy was the core of that Void Crystal Turtle from before.

The aftereffects of that feast are only now truly kicking in.

"Awoo! Woo..."

The leopard's whimpers grew more and more painful, and even glistening tears welled up in the corners of its tightly closed eyes.

Deep within its purple fur, faint black lines were quietly emerging, carrying an ominous aura.

Its body is being forcibly transformed by that overwhelming void energy.

Just then, from the depths of the twenty-third floor corridor came an unsettling sound of shells scraping together.

A gigantic monster, resembling a combination of a spider and a scorpion, slowly crawled out of the darkness.

Its head, composed of countless compound eyes, locked onto the two humans at the top of the stairs, emitting a threatening hiss.

Another Tier 8 Guardian.

But this time, Chen Guan didn't look up, nor did he give the monster any attention whatsoever.

All his attention was focused on the little creature struggling in pain at his feet.

"Teacher, please keep an eye on things for me."

Chen Guan said without looking up, his voice no longer calm, but frighteningly deep.

Li Yan did not answer, but simply took a step forward, his mountain-like body blocking the coffin and the newly appeared monster.

For the first time in this tower, his bronze eyes ignited with true lightning.

The general's duties can be suspended.

But I can't let anything happen to my student's summoned beast.

"Aww—"

A sharp, mournful cry escaped from the leopard's throat.

Its beautiful purple fur now looked as if it had been splashed with thick ink, with streaks of dark, void-like patterns growing wildly from under its skin, trying to completely devour the pure purple color.

Scalding hot and icy cold alternate wildly within its small body, each transition accompanied by the subtle sound of bones shifting.

Chen Guan's face was so dark it could drip water.

He knelt on one knee, his hand hovering over the leopard's back, and could clearly feel the loss of control within its body.

Two completely different forces were tearing each other apart within its body.

One type is the leopard's original thunderous power, which is purely domineering.

Another type of void energy originating from the core of the crystal turtle, extremely cold and gloomy.

The latter is trying to drag the former, along with the leopard's very life force, into the abyss.

"I knew it." Baal's voice rang in his mind, unusually devoid of his usual schadenfreude: "The power of the void isn't something just any little cat or dog can digest. This little guy's foundation is too weak; he can't withstand it."

It's important to understand that leopards aren't a particularly powerful species to begin with, and their current status is largely due to Chen Guanhua's popularity boosting their ranking.

Now, it is trying to mutate again, and its race is its biggest constraint.

Barr's words are not without merit.

But Chen Guan ignored him.

He tried to input a wisp of his mental energy to soothe the wound, but the moment that wisp of mental energy touched the wound, it was shattered.

No.

A head-on confrontation will only make the situation worse.

"Waaah..."

The leopard's consciousness was already blurred, its golden vertical pupils were out of focus, and its painful instincts made its four paws scratch white marks on the hard ground.

In its perception, it was sinking into a cold, dark ocean, with countless unseen hands pulling at it, trying to tear it apart and reassemble it into a strange monster.

It wanted to call for help, but couldn't make a sound.

Just as it was about to be completely swallowed by darkness, a familiar scent stubbornly drifted over, becoming the only thing it could grasp in its descent.

It tastes like dried anchovies.

There's also barbecue.

And there was also the comforting scent emanating from its owner, like the scent of grass after the rain.

Leopard's scattered consciousness instinctively struggled toward that wisp of aura.

It doesn't want to become another monster.

It hasn't had enough of the roasted meat its owner made.

boom!

A loud bang, accompanied by a pungent, burnt smell, shook the entire corridor.

That eighth-tier spider-scorpion monster had already been blasted into countless flying crystal fragments by Li Yan's punch.

He turned around and walked to Chen Guan's side, his tall figure looming over him.

"Every life, at the critical juncture of advancement, must undergo a high-stakes gamble."

"Humans are, and so are animals."