Chapter 91: A Massive Haul!

Ryan truly hadn’t expected this.

He had casually used Spider Silk to collect a bunch of unconscious exotic beasts, only to stumble upon an unexpected treasure!

Initially, he had carefully inspected the beasts he had gathered, but most of them had turned out to be relatively worthless.

Just when he was about to finish his examination, however, he stumbled upon a tremendous surprise.

A Black Flame Leopard was actually among them!

Who would have thought that his unintentional act of opportunistically collecting those beasts would turn out to be such a stroke of luck?

At first, Ryan had even suspected that he was seeing things.

After all, the exotic beast looked only slightly different from the others. Mixed in with the other unconscious creatures, it was practically impossible to distinguish at a glance.

Its entire body had been scorched and charred, resembling a roasted suckling pig. Not a single strand of hair remained, and its original appearance had been completely disfigured.

If the beasts hadn’t been burned beyond recognition, Ryan might have been able to identify their species by examining their physical characteristics and comparing them with the illustrations in his mind’s treasure records.

Unfortunately, they had all been roasted into nearly identical shapes, making identification extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, there was one subtle difference.

Most of the beasts had turned a reddish-brown color after being scorched, whereas this particular creature was reddish-black.

Aside from the small amount of fresh blood that hadn’t completely evaporated, its skin appeared to have been black originally.

The moment Ryan noticed this anomaly, his spirits lifted.

Plenty of exotic beasts had entirely black bodies, of course. However, among the dozen or so creatures he had collected, this was the only one with such a distinctive coloration.

That alone made it worth investigating more closely.

Following the principle of better to investigate a thousand possibilities than overlook a single treasure, Ryan immediately transferred the suspicious creature into a separate beast pouch.

After carefully examining it several times, the scene that had just unfolded became inevitable.

He had confirmed it beyond any doubt.

This was indeed a Black Flame Leopard!

Although the creature was barely clinging to life, a careful examination revealed a faint trace of Abyssal Black Flame aura emanating from its body.

There was no mistaking it!

Ryan couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.

This expedition had been extraordinarily dangerous. He had narrowly escaped death several times, and his precious Godly Travel Boots had been destroyed in the process.

Yet, as long as he could obtain this Black Flame Leopard, the entire trip would have been worthwhile!

And even though the creature was on the verge of death, Ryan wasn’t particularly worried.

With the miraculous Boundless Creation Furnace at his disposal, he had ways to turn this unexpected discovery into a valuable resource.

In fact, whether the Black Flame Leopard ultimately survived or died, he stood to gain considerably.

Naturally, a living specimen would be far more valuable.

If the leopard died, he could still perform Disintegration Creation on its corpse, potentially obtaining an Abyssal Black Flame Bloodline Essence Drop.

Alternatively, he could extract a C-Grade Top-Tier Abyssal Black Flame Bloodline Essence Thread from its beast core and then use Advanced Creation to transform it into a complete Essence Drop.

The latter method was more reliable, but it also consumed significantly more Origin Stone energy than Disintegration Creation.

Even so, it was an acceptable price to pay.

After all, this would settle the target for sealing his second Boundless Creation Slot!

If he could successfully seal and control the Abyssal Black Flame Bloodline, the benefits would be extraordinary.

Just imagining the possibilities filled Ryan with excitement.

Speaking of which, this Black Flame Leopard had truly suffered a stroke of terrible luck.

The creature was renowned for its incredible speed, yet it had been unfortunate enough to be positioned dangerously close to Gareth when the latter unleashed the Great Character Flame Kill.

It had been caught almost directly in the center of the attack.

At the time, the leopard had never imagined that the human controlling the Fire Crow would actually burn his vital blood so recklessly and unleash such a high-grade flame combat skill with the strength of the mid stage of the Origin Ascendant Realm.

The leopard’s escape speed had been astonishing. It was only slightly slower than Ryan, who had been farther away and had begun fleeing earlier.

Unfortunately, even after pushing its speed to the absolute limit, it had been unable to escape the terrifying wave of flames.

Just as it was about to reach the edge of the attack, the merciless inferno swept over it.

Although it managed to escape the area of maximum destruction, it still suffered roughly seventy to eighty percent of the attack’s full power.

That was far more damage than Ryan had sustained at the very edge of the fiery aftermath.

The Black Flame Leopard was a fire-attribute exotic beast and possessed a natural resistance to flames. However, resistance didn’t mean immunity.

When faced with the combined might of a cultivator at the mid stage of the Origin Ascendant Realm and a Spirit-Rank Middle-Grade Combat Skill, even its natural defenses were woefully inadequate.

The resulting damage was devastating.

Severely injured and barely alive, the Black Flame Leopard had collapsed not far behind Ryan.

Unfortunately, escaping one disaster had only led it into another.

First, it had been caught in Gareth’s terrifying attack. Then, before it could recover, Ryan had casually collected it along with the other beasts, sealing its fate inside a beast pouch.

From beginning to end, it had never managed to escape its misfortune.

"Hahaha! This is a massive haul!"

Ryan grinned, his excitement evident.

"Before the city gates close, I’d better hurry back and start creating. If this Black Flame Leopard dies before I can do anything, it’ll be a tremendous waste!"

With that thought, he quickly packed up his belongings.

Moving with renewed energy, he dismantled the Disguise Formation and stored its components inside his spatial ring.

WHOOSH!

Taking advantage of the cool night air, Ryan’s figure blurred as he shot toward Ashfall City at full speed.

He couldn’t afford to waste another moment.

...

Inside Ashfall City — Winters Manor, Cole Residence

Since his secluded cultivation spot wasn’t far from Ashfall City, Ryan arrived home shortly afterward.

During his absence, his family members had remained inside the Cole Residence, avoiding unnecessary outings.

Having only recently moved into their new mansion, they had initially been excited by their improved living conditions. However, the novelty had gradually worn off, and boredom and frustration were beginning to set in.

With little to occupy themselves, they had retired early despite the fact that it wasn’t particularly late.

Watching this, Ryan secretly resolved to arrange some meaningful activities for his family as soon as possible.

They had finally escaped their previous hardships and moved into a comfortable home. It was time for them to start enjoying their new lives instead of remaining cooped up indoors.

On his way back, Ryan had also passed the temporary residence prepared for Jake within Winters Manor.

Light was shining through the windows, indicating that someone had already moved in. A sign hung outside the courtyard gate.

"In Closed-Door Cultivation. No Disturbances."

Ryan smiled faintly.

He guessed that Jake had successfully returned to his temporary residence while he and Gareth were locked in their delaying battle.

Now that he was back, Jake had probably retired early to rest and recover from his injuries.

At the time, the exotic beasts from Ashfall Forest had been focused entirely on Gareth, creating an excellent opportunity for Jake to escape.

As long as he avoided running blindly into the approaching beasts, his stealth technique would have allowed him to slip back into the mansion without much difficulty.

However, Jake’s fractured arm and Ethan’s paralysis remained serious problems.

Both injuries were particularly troublesome, and at least two second-tier Limb Restoration Pills would be needed to treat them.

Unfortunately, Ryan didn’t have any of those pills on hand.

Since Jake had already retired for the night, Ryan decided not to disturb him. He could wait another day or two before addressing the matter.

With that settled, Ryan continued upstairs and entered the cultivation room on the third floor.

After locking the door, he walked over to the windowsill and sat down cross-legged.

Once his mind had settled, he retrieved two items from his spatial ring: the Winters Token and a cyan jade token.

He examined them closely, comparing their appearance and material.

"That’s strange. Why does this City Lord Token look almost identical to the Winters Token? Even the material is the same. The only obvious difference is the color."

Ryan frowned as he turned the two tokens over in his hands.

The cyan City Lord Token was the one he had received from the tall city gate guard on his way back into Ashfall City.

Before they parted, the guard had repeatedly reminded him to find an opportunity to meet the city lord.

The moment Ryan had received the token, he had felt a strange sense of familiarity. At the time, however, he hadn’t yet returned home, so he had put the matter aside.

Now that he could examine the two tokens side by side, he finally understood the source of that familiarity.

They were almost identical!

Yet the more he examined them, the more puzzled he became.

One was a distinctive waist token belonging to the Winters Family, while the other was an official token issued by the City Lord’s Mansion.

They represented two entirely different forces.

So why were they made from the same material and crafted in nearly the same design, differing only in color?

The resemblance was so striking that they looked as though they had been forged together as part of a single set.

Why, then, had two different organizations given him tokens that appeared to share the same origin?

Ryan couldn’t make sense of it.

"Forget it. I’ll find out when I meet the city lord."

After thinking it over without reaching any conclusions, he shook his head with a wry smile and stored both tokens in a separate compartment inside his spatial ring.

"Hehe, now for the exciting part!"

The confusion quickly faded as his attention returned to the spoils he had collected.

"Same rules as always. Let’s start by counting everything and see how much I can create this time."

With a faint smile, Ryan injected a trace of Origin Energy into his largest spatial ring and began meticulously examining the unprocessed spoils of war stored inside.

It was time to see just how much wealth this dangerous expedition had brought him.