Among them, beast tamers who achieved a certain ranking in the Sword Trial Assembly could enter the Heavenly Sword Ruins to undergo stronger trials, and those who performed outstandingly would have a chance to receive the sword dao inheritance of the Heavenly Sword Demigod. Shi Jin had clearly set his sights on this ruin—and what he had his eye on was not merely the sword dao inheritance.

He intended to infiltrate the Heavenly Sword Ancient Kingdom, take part in this Sword Trial Assembly, and enter the ruins to obtain that god-level resource which no one to this day had managed to acquire. Even the sword-type demigods of later ages had never won the recognition of the Heavenly Sword Demigod; one could well imagine how difficult this final resource was to obtain.

Among the beast tamers of the present-day Heavenly Sword Kingdom, there was probably not a single one who dared to covet it.

But after thorough investigation, Shi Jin found that he might not be entirely without a chance.

He had passed the trials of a whole host of gods—why would he fear the test of a mere demigod?

This ruin granted its rewards based on the sword dao talent and potential of those who entered. Shi Jin had already maxed out Crimson Pupil's sword dao will and fused it with other skills into a super-tier sword body. With sword dao talent like that, and then possessing himself, opening a Taiji Domain, and unleashing the Sword of Intersection, it might not be unprecedented in the world, but it ought to be one of a kind.

To walk away with a god-level metal using top-tier god-level sword dao—that was hardly excessive, was it?

By then, with the god-level metal resource and the demigod's sword dao inheritance in hand, Crimson Pupil ought to complete its perfect evolution as well.

Of course, right under the noses of the demigods and totems of the Heavenly Sword Ancient Kingdom, at the Sword Trial Assembly before entering the ruins, Shi Jin absolutely could not expose Crimson Pupil, nor his beast-taming rank or identity. After all, the identity of a World Legend was far too conspicuous.

Even setting that aside, the Legendary tier alone was too dazzling in a totem nation. Young Legendaries were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns; one suddenly appearing would certainly raise suspicions. Once exposed, there was no way he could easily enter a Heavenly Sword Ruin guarded by a demigod.

But Shi Jin was not without options.

Shi Jin planned to use his second beast-taming space to contract Xiao Ji and Ya Ya, and under the identity of a beast swordsman, infiltrate some faction, participate in the Sword Trial Assembly, and use his second team to quietly secure a fairly ordinary ranking, earning the chance to enter the Heavenly Sword Ruins.

Ya Ya and Xiao Ji could use swords too! Xiao Ji's Sword of Severing Space, Ya Ya's Water Blade!

With that, plus a simple disguise, he would not rouse the suspicions of the current demigods of the Heavenly Sword Ancient Kingdom.

Of course, Qi could use a sword as well, but it was too obviously of the elven race—where in the Heavenly Sword Ancient Kingdom would one find an elf?

Also, before going, he would have Lin modify Xiao Ji a bit. An overlord-race mechanical dragon was still too conspicuous; turning it into an ordinary earth-walking dragon would be nice, and it was a local specialty beast anyway. As for Ya Ya, that was even easier: though it had surfaced in Inatera and exposed both its platypus form and its abyssal demon duck form, a platypus wielding water blades was a mainstream beast in the Heavenly Sword Kingdom and would not draw attention at all.

Moreover, having Ya Ya evolve into a transitional form before its abyssal demon duck evolution was no difficult matter.

Shi Jin could be said to have laid out all his plans: once he entered the ruins under the identity of a high-level beast tamer or a master-level beast-taming genius, with no demigod supervising, he could summon Crimson Pupil without restraint to conquer the ruins.

Once he obtained the god-level resource, he would emerge and escape directly through the Canghai Ruins—a perfect clean getaway.

"Are you really sure there's no problem…" Lin Shuo fell silent. If Shi Jin were merely touring a demigod's domain, he would not have worried. But Shi Jin was going to snatch a god-level resource right under a demigod's nose.

"No problem. I still have Senior Dragon God's demigod protection." Shi Jin added, "Combined with the teleportation of the Canghai Ruins, it's an unsolvable combination—Senior Dragon God and Senior Shenyuan have already confirmed it." "Well, then." Since Shi Jin had put it that far, Lin Shuo had nothing more to say.

"Still, we have no footing at all in the Heavenly Sword Kingdom. Once you're there, you must act with utmost caution. When do you plan to set off?"

"In the next couple of days." Shi Jin intended to first train Xiao Ji and Ya Ya a bit. Like Xiao Zi, he had not paid these two much attention, and although his second beast-taming space had reached level four, he had not contracted a single life form with it yet—it was time to pick one to contract.

Rest for a day to adjust.

My condition was decent these past few days, but it's fallen apart again these last two. My sleep schedule is a mess, I lie in bed unable to catch my breath, my head spins all day, and I haven't managed to adjust after a whole day. I think it's still a lack of exercise, but I have old injuries from surgery, and I can't exercise before the new surgery, so I really don't have the condition for fitness. I can only drag it out and make a big adjustment after this book is finished. Today I'll take a day off to rest and get my body back in shape.

Fortunately, Beast Taming has now been updated to 2.44 million words. According to the planned outline, the book is already two-thirds of the way through, approaching its later stages. A few more months, maybe half a year, and it should be ready to wrap up. By then I'll probably take half a year off directly for surgery.

As the title says, I'm taking a day off today. I'll adjust back and resume normal updates as soon as possible. My apologies!