Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

All the elderly officials looked at the photograph.

The life-form was enormous. It had a fish's tail, and its head looked somewhat like a toad's. It also had two long, thin arms.

All of them subconsciously felt that it wasn't a life-form from Earth.

Despite the fact that humans hadn't fully discovered all the lifeforms in the deep sea yet, no matter how one looked at it, this particular life-form simply didn't look like a life-form from Earth.

“At present, the Multi-Species Department's opinion is that we should carry out a large-scale investigation that's as detailed as possible of our country's seas.

“Otherwise, once there's a ma.s.s trespa.s.s of Third Realm cultivators in the country, the consequences will be unthinkable,” said Chen Jianguo incredibly seriously.

All the elderly officials felt oncoming headaches the moment they thought of having to carry out a large-scale investigation of the seas.

The costs involved and the degree of trouble it brought weren't something describable with words.

Most importantly, there was even the phrase 'as detailed as possible'.

Evidently, no matter how much effort they put into it, the final outcome would only be an investigation that was as detailed as they could achieve rather than a thorough investigation—because it was beyond their means.

Even though there had been rapid improvements in technology ever since the awakening of spiritual energy, as spiritual energy became richer and richer, a lot of places on Earth had also become more and more mysterious.

This was especially the case with the oceans. The effects of technology on the oceans were weakening along with it.

In spite of that, however, no one raised any objections. All of them expressed agreement.

This was because, in comparison to that, they couldn't afford the consequences of large numbers of Third Realm cultivators entering China even more.

The mere thought of the consequences made their scalps tingle and go numb. No one would be able to shoulder them.

No matter what, doing something was always better than doing nothing. What if they found it, right?

Shortly after the investigation was approved, a series of measures was implemented one after another.

Ranging from military affairs to media and the Internet, enormous and powerful organizations a.s.sisted the operation in every aspect.

From the next day after he saw the article onward, w.a.n.g Hu saw a large number of news articles about China's seas. Articles about other things were also interspersed in between.

At once, he knew that his guess had been on the mark. China was indeed intending to do something about the seas.

However, this had nothing to do with him. The only part that had any relation to him was that he still owed China two Third Realm cultivators' lives.

In any case, before China approached him, all he would need to do was just watch the show on the Internet—that would do.

Another few days pa.s.sed. On this day, all the animals finally completed their missions.

Every one of the 1,000-odd tigers had received a Second Realm Hui's meat each.

Coupled with how the animals had eaten as much as they could during the last few days, roughly two-fifths of the 3,000-odd Hui carca.s.ses were now gone.

The remainder was also enough to provide the animals in Tiger King's Cave with ample meals for some time.

w.a.n.g Hu had also summoned all the animals and verbally encouraged them, though he hadn't given them any rewards.

The reason for this was very simple—although they had contributed hard work and labor and completed their missions, they had also received large amounts of Second Realm meat.

Those were great sources of nourishment for them. Apart from at w.a.n.g Hu's, there was absolutely nowhere else they could pig out on it like what they were currently doing.

If it weren't because w.a.n.g Hu had too few subordinates and that those Second Realm meat couldn't be stored for long durations—on top of that, the effects would also weaken over time—and the fact that he also wanted his subordinates to grow and develop as soon as possible; w.a.n.g Hu would never allow the animals to eat the meat in such an unrestrained manner.

Even if they were his subordinates, they should also only be receiving rewards equivalent to the amount of work they put in instead.

Otherwise, if all they did was reap rewards without putting in any work, big problems would eventually occur.

In short, as compared to the rewards they had earned, the amount of work that the animals had put in this time was actually negligible.

In fact, w.a.n.g Hu was even planning to a.s.sign them more missions so that they could do some good hard labor.

It was only when they deeply understood and had experienced the feeling of receiving an amount of rewards equivalent to the amount of work they put in that they would try even harder to do their best in future missions, as well as develop a stronger sense of belonging and serve him more loyally.

In short, leading a group of subordinates wasn't as easy as one would imagine.

Neither was it as simple as the concept of 'everything would be fine as long as one was strong enough'.

Having enough strength was but a foundation; it had never been the be-all and end-all to everything. Being strong enough could only guarantee that one's subordinates wouldn't betray them while they were still alive.

However, what if one died?

What if someone threatened or enticed the subordinates with benefits?

Had the subordinates really done their best?

Throughout history, the way of leaders.h.i.+p had always been an art that was the most difficult and of the highest level—because it entailed managing a group of other people that learned all other forms of art.

Recently, whenever w.a.n.g Hu was free, he would look through Chinese books that were related to people management.

Although he wasn't managing humans, there were a lot of similarities between the two, and they were a great inspiration for him.

However, as nothing had happened recently, w.a.n.g Hu was unable to task them with any missions. He could only think about it again in the future.

Days went by, one by one. Although the commotion in China was pretty big, it didn't make international headlines. As such, they naturally didn't approach w.a.n.g Hu to make any requests either.

This day, on March 1, it was time for the martial arts tournament that w.a.n.g Hu had mentioned in the past.

The atmosphere throughout Tiger King's Cave became rather serious and grave. Even the group of little fellows became a lot more well-behaved.

Early in the morning, after all the animals were done reciting the Tiger King's and the tigers' rules and regulations under Su Ling and w.a.n.g Shan's supervision; w.a.n.g Hu arrived at the quadrangle together with Di Baijun.

“Greetings to the King and the Queen!”

All the animals immediately lowered their heads and shouted.

“Mm.” w.a.n.g Hu made a sound of acknowledgment. Then, his stern and imposing voice rang out. “March has come. It's time for me to check the fruits of your cultivation over the last two months.

“Only the strong can own more. I will give all of you even higher statuses and even more benefits.

“There's no need to hold back. When I feel that either party has lost, I'll naturally stop the match.”

Roar~!

“Understood.”

All the animals responded. Surging battle spirit, hints of brutality, and bloodthirstiness had already formed among them.

Every one of them desired higher statuses and more benefits, and they would never cede them to others.

“You may begin.” w.a.n.g Hu cast a glance at Su Ling.

Su Ling nodded and walked forward. She was the only one among the animals that didn't need to partic.i.p.ate in the martial arts tournament. Instead, she was the emcee and was in charge of hosting the tournament and ensuring that it proceeded smoothly.

“By the King's orders, the martial arts tournament officially begins now. Matches will be conducted one by one. Those whose names I call out are to come forward and take part in a match,” announced Su Ling loudly.

A moment's pause later, she went on. “The first match: w.a.n.g Shan versus Wu Gong.”

She then walked to the side after speaking.

Roar~!

“Hurry and get up here, Wu Gong.”

With a leap, w.a.n.g Shan came to the center of where all the animals were. Fairly eager, his gaze s.h.i.+fted to Wu Gong.

Wu Gong had a grim look in his eyes. However, he had no intention of conceding defeat at all.

They were all animals that had survived in the wild for many years; all of them understood.

No matter whether one could defeat the opponent or not—unless the disparity in strength was so great that there was no hope in winning at all; one absolutely mustn't easily chicken out and concede defeat.

Otherwise, not only would the other party not sympathize with them, but they would even be more firm and resolute in eating them.

Although the current situation in Tiger King's Cave was different and conceding defeat wouldn't lead to one being eaten, if he dared to concede defeat, he would definitely be looked down upon by all the other animals and be thought of as the weakest.

The subsequent impact it would bring to various aspects would be too great.

Although the force known as Tiger King's Cave had only just been established, a mini-society had already formed.

It wasn't limited to just the things on the surface. The Tiger King and the Tiger Queen stood at the top, so they naturally didn't need to bother themselves with anything.

However, the other animals couldn't do the same. They already had to take a lot of things into consideration by this point.

It was just like this particular issue at the moment—Wu Gong absolutely mustn't allow others to think of him as the weakest and the easiest to bully.

Otherwise, who knew how much bullying he would have to suffer in the future? That was exactly how practical reality was.

“Come on.”

Wu Gong spoke in Mandarin. Perhaps due to the environment and the cell phone's influence, a great majority of the Transformation Realm animals were fluent in Mandarin. Only a scant few still couldn't speak it.

Roar~!

“Let's hope you can hang in there a little longer!”

A fairly excited w.a.n.g Shan let out a loud roar and charged forward straightaway.

As though accompanied by gales, his enormous body that stood at a shoulder height of 5.9 meters charged over with a loud whoosh.

Wu Gong naturally wouldn't take the blow head-on. His innumerable legs moved simultaneously as he ducked toward the side.

In the blink of an eye, an awfully fierce and intense grapple had begun.

w.a.n.g Shan undoubtedly held the absolute upper hand. Wu Gong didn't dare to face him head-on at all. He could only dodge constantly and then try to bite the other party in an attempt to achieve something with his toxins.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't bite the other party. In fact, he even suffered a few smacks from the other party's paws as a result, causing even his armor to break somewhat and blood to trickle from the wounds.

By roughly the half-minute mark after the start of the match, Wu Gong was already bleeding from several spots.

By the one-minute mark, blood covered a smaller half of his body, and his armor had broken in several spots.

There was nothing to be done about this. Be it his cultivation progress in the Transformation Realm or his species apt.i.tude, w.a.n.g Shan had firmly suppressed him in both. There was still quite a big gap between the two of them.

If it weren't for his ferocity and fearlessness in battle, as well as the fact that w.a.n.g Shan still fought with some boundaries because he knew that he mustn't really kill the other, one minute was more than enough for him to put Wu Gong out of action.

The animals watched the match with rapt attention. They didn't show much reaction toward Wu Gong's ferocity in battle because that was how it should be in their opinions.

w.a.n.g Hu and Di Baijun were also watching in case of accidents.

They had never thought of partic.i.p.ating in the martial arts tournament and maiming a few of the subordinates that they didn't have many of in the first place.

A sliver of satisfaction flashed across w.a.n.g Hu's eyes at this point. He thought the same way as well.

This was exactly what it should be.

If they didn't even dare to fight fiercely while he was here to guarantee their safety and didn't do so for the sake of their status, future, and benefits; then what was the point of having such subordinates?

Was he supposed to look at them like things that only looked good but were, in fact, useless?

Of course, subordinates with special uses didn't count. For example, that cowardly fox.

w.a.n.g Hu couldn't even imagine what kind of sight it would be if he forced her into a fierce battle.

After another minute, when he saw that Wu Gong's injuries had become fairly serious, w.a.n.g Hu said, “Alright, victory goes to w.a.n.g Shan for this match.”

Then, with a wave, a golden light entered Wu Gong, stabilizing his injuries and stopping the bleeding.

A somewhat unfulfilled w.a.n.g Shan nodded at his eldest brother and his sister-in-law. Then, he walked proudly to the side.

Wu Gong said respectfully to w.a.n.g Hu, “Thank you, my lord.”

w.a.n.g Hu nodded. After Wu Gong went to the side, Su Ling stepped forward and announced, “The second match: Jun Wen versus Zhu Ye.”

Matches were held one after another, with a total of eight matches in the first round. Every match went on until one party was almost heavily injured by the other.

However, it didn't take much time. The eight matches ended after just twenty minutes in total.

The eight victors were w.a.n.g Shan, w.a.n.g Liang, Jun Wen, Jun Yong, Ling Shuang, Xiong Zong, He Dingtian, and Sun Yuan respectively.

During the matches, Jun Yue was eliminated by w.a.n.g Liang.

The tournament continued without much of a break.

This time, the opponents were decided by drawing lots.

After Su Ling's efforts, the results were announced, and the matches continued.

“Second round, first match: Jun Wen versus He Dingtian.”