Chapter 17 The Hunt Begins

Five days later.

Inside a flat, black spaceship, sixteen Prison Clan Originlife beings were gathered in the command hall. Leading them was the Moyou Monarch, notable for his pair of emerald eyes. Tall and gaunt with a dark red cloak, he watched the scene ahead with great interest.

"Youfu Lord, stay with me. The rest of you lords, act as you see fit," the Moyou Monarch said leisurely.

"Yes, Moyou Monarch."

The fifteen Prison Clan lords responded respectfully.

They felt incredibly honored that the great Moyou Monarch was personally leading this team!

*Whoosh.*

The spaceship finally reached its destination, the Yinqie Star Alliance. The sixteen figures transformed into illusions and flew directly out of the ship.

They split into eight teams, some acting alone, others in groups of two or three, traveling in eight smaller spaceships.

*Swoosh swoosh swoosh—*

The eight small spaceships successively pierced through wormholes, heading to their respective targets.

The female Prison Clan lord, Youfu Lord, followed the Moyou Monarch to an unfamiliar starfield, gazing at the tiny life-bearing planet.

"Youfu," the Moyou Monarch said.

"Monarch," the slender Youfu Lord replied with a respectful bow.

"When the time comes, I'll merge into the fabric of real space-time and hide myself, lest I scare away our lovely prey," the Moyou Monarch said with a smile.

Youfu Lord was taken aback.

Lovely prey? Having served the Moyou Monarch for a long time, Youfu Lord knew his temperament well. He wouldn't be particularly interested in ordinary human Tier 10 Originlife beings.

"Does the Monarch have a special prey in mind?" Youfu asked.

"Indeed."

The Moyou Monarch nodded slightly. "A very special prey. You'll know it when you see it."

After a long while.

"The time is approaching. Prepare to descend upon that life-bearing planet," the Moyou Monarch said.

"Yes," Youfu Lord responded.

They had been inside the spaceship, but suddenly, the Moyou Monarch and the spaceship vanished without a trace.

An invisible force enveloped Youfu Lord, directly transporting her to the distant life-bearing planet.

This planet was one of the more prosperous in the Yinqie Star Alliance, boasting a population of over ten billion. Numerous spaceships were docked at the planet's spaceports. However, the moment Youfu Lord appeared on the life-bearing planet—

*Whoosh.*

An invisible force instantly shrouded the planet and the surrounding spaceport areas.

In an instant, the flesh and consciousness of every living being were completely devoured.

"Compared to the consciousness of the Prison Clan, human consciousness is so much more colorful and vibrant," the Moyou Monarch's voice echoed in Youfu Lord's mind. "Devouring ten times the population of the Prison Clan is nothing compared to the taste of human consciousness."

Youfu Lord couldn't understand.

Devouring consciousness?

Why not just kill them? Wouldn't a flick of the finger obliterate a life-bearing planet? Why bother devouring consciousness?

Of course, Youfu Lord only murmured this in her heart, not daring to speak it aloud.

"The power of the mind is full of endless possibilities. Youfu, if you want to take the next step and become a monarch, you must value the power of the mind," the Moyou Monarch's voice echoed in her mind. Perhaps influenced by the Nightmare World, the Moyou Monarch was only kind to those who also possessed high-dimensional power. As for the weaker Prison Clan lords… only the female lords could elicit some friendliness from him.

"If I want to become a monarch, do I also have to devour human consciousness?" Youfu responded mentally.

"Could you do it?" the Moyou Monarch asked.

"No."

Youfu Lord replied helplessly.

She was skilled at slaughtering and exterminating, but devouring consciousness? She didn't understand.

"Strengthen yourself first. If your self is too weak, devouring consciousness will only lead to losing yourself. Alright, hurry up and plunder," the Moyou Monarch urged.

"Yes, Monarch," Youfu Lord replied mentally and immediately began to act, plundering frantically on her own. The Moyou Monarch, on the other hand, remained fully integrated into real space in the form of the Nightmare World.

From the outside, it seemed as if only Youfu Lord was plundering.

Although the Moyou Monarch didn't care about these spoils, he still had to put on a show, otherwise how would he lure out the 'prey'?

"After the massacre of a planet with over ten billion people, the humans should attach great importance to it and may send that mysterious guardian," the Moyou Monarch waited patiently.

******

Black Iron Star, inside the manor.

Xu Jingming, Senior Brother Jian, and Senior Brother Yi Jiu were each focused on their own tasks.

"A mission has arrived." Xu Jingming, who had been focused on studying the knowledge of the 'Serpent Ring Model,' naturally set off immediately upon receiving the mission.

"Only five days have passed, and Junior Brother Wu Ming is already going out on a mission again?" Senior Brother Yi Jiu, reeking of alcohol, exclaimed in amazement, "At this rate, how many Prison Clan Originlife beings will he kill in a year? How much merit will he accumulate?"

Senior Brother Jian said, "Junior Brother Wu Ming used to be in the middle and rear of the Heavenly Python Cosmos Domain, and his area of responsibility was much smaller! Now that his strength has broken through, his area of responsibility has only increased to one-third of the cosmos domain."

"Even in the past, with only one-tenth of the missions, he still intercepted a lot of Prison Clan members," Yi Jiu said with a sigh.

"It can also indirectly save more life-bearing planets," Senior Brother Jian said.

……

Xu Jingming's first mission led him to a location with as many as three Prison Clan Originlife beings.

The importance of the annihilated life-bearing planets, the size of their population, and the number of detected Prison Clan members were all factors in determining the priority! Of course, some life-bearing planets had weaker detection capabilities, and the accurate number of Prison Clan members couldn't be detected even after they were destroyed.

Xu Jingming's mission destination was the highest priority.

"Three Prison Clan members."

Xu Jingming, dressed in a finely tailored black robe, descended from a high dimension onto this desolate life-bearing planet, this once extremely prosperous planet, whose original life had already been extinguished.

High-dimensional descent brought with it endless light!

Xu Jingming was like a god in the light!

"What?"

"How can it be so fast?"

"It's a Tier 10!"

The three Prison Clan lords, who were plundering spoils, were terrified because there had been no warning beforehand. This terrifying human Originlife being had appeared within the planet's atmosphere as soon as he arrived! They were too close.

Moreover, the endless light had already enveloped the entire planet, leaving them nowhere to hide.

The light also concealed terrifying lasers that incinerated the three Prison Clan lords into nothingness.

"Mission completed." Xu Jingming was unwilling to waste any time. While notifying the Primordial Research Institute through the virtual world network, he waved his hand to collect the spoils.

Immediately afterward, the second mission arrived.

Without hesitation, Xu Jingming left this life-bearing planet and headed to another location.

During a wave of plundering operations, Xu Jingming had to seize the time to intercept enemies in two locations.

This time he was faster, successfully intercepting the Prison Clan at the second location.

In two missions, he had killed a total of five Prison Clan lords.

"I wonder if there will be another wave of operations," Xu Jingming stood on the top floor of a skyscraper, looking at the city, looking at the planet, silently waiting.

……

At the same time, in another location.

Youfu Lord was naturally slower plundering alone. After plundering for a full 28 seconds, a team of Originlife beings appeared. There were nine of them in total. As soon as they appeared, dazzling starlight illuminated all directions, and space-time began to distort. A huge 'net' had enveloped the planet and was rapidly shrinking, attempting to completely bind Youfu Lord.

The nine human Originlife beings looked at the female Prison Clan lord with cold eyes, showing no pity.

On the battlefield, the combat strategies of humans and the Prison Clan were completely different.

The Prison Clan didn't care much about death. The Prison Clan members plundered in a relatively dispersed manner, resulting in a higher casualty rate.

The human race was different.

Tier 9s generally formed teams and were equipped with powerful technological weapons! A Tier 9 Originlife team equipped with technological weapons issued by the Cosmic Human Alliance was enough to match a Tier 10.

Even if they encountered a Prison Clan Tier 10 monarch, they could fight for a while and had a good chance of escaping.

Therefore, the casualty rate was relatively much lower.

But…

After all, this was a battlefield, and battlefields naturally had casualties!

"Hmm?"

The invisible Nightmare World descended. Compared to it, this life-bearing planet was like a drop of water in a vast ocean. The nine human Originlife beings' expressions changed drastically, and the AI of their technological weapons issued alarms.

"Warning, high-dimensional power detected."

"Warning, high-dimensional power detected."

The technological weapons equipped by the nine Originlife beings were already very powerful. They even hindered the manifestation and infiltration of the Nightmare World, but ultimately they couldn't stop it.

*Poof poof poof poof poof poof poof poof poof!*

The nine people, like nine bubbles, burst instantly.

"Ah."

"Where is this?"

"No—"

The consciousness of the nine Originlife beings was dragged into the Nightmare World, where they were devoured by monsters one after another.

"Alas."

The figure of the Moyou Monarch emerged from the illusion. He sighed softly, and if one looked closely at his emerald eyes, one could see nine human faces struggling within.

"I was waiting for the prey I most desired, but instead, these nine small fries were sent to me," the Moyou Monarch glanced at the technological weapons left behind by the human Originlife team. With a thought, the Nightmare World collected them. "Human technological weapons are indeed powerful. The legendary forbidden weapons… even the Primogenitor is wary of them. It's unbelievable! Technology has actually reached such a level."

"Monarch," Youfu arrived.

"Let's go. I've been exposed," the Moyou Monarch said. "The humans won't let that lovely prey come."

"The Monarch did kill nine human Originlife beings after all," Youfu said.

"In less than a hundred years, do you know how many Prison Clan lords that mysterious guardian 'Dark Gun' has killed?" the Moyou Monarch said with a smile.

"I've heard it's quite a few," Youfu said.

"Although we've reduced the frequency of plundering in the star alliance he guards, it's estimated that at least a thousand Prison Clan lords have died at his hands," the Moyou Monarch said. "And I've been fighting on the front lines for over ten thousand years, and I've only killed two or three thousand human Originlife beings in total. How long has he been fighting?"

Youfu Lord respectfully said, "Battle records don't mean everything. Strength is the most important thing. That Dark Gun doesn't even dare to fight against Tier 10s."

"Yes, strength is the most important thing. It doesn't matter if some Prison Clan lords die. The weak will be eliminated anyway," the Moyou Monarch said.

"Yes, even if there are mistakes in the selection, the excellent ones will still be resurrected," Youfu said.

"Let's go. As long as that Dark Gun continues to take action, I'll soon encounter him," the Moyou Monarch said. "He's a good prey." The nine human faces hidden in his emerald eyes had already been mostly destroyed, and the remaining ones were still wailing in pain.

*Whoosh.*

Silently, the Moyou Monarch, carrying Youfu Lord, disappeared without a trace.