Chapter 587 562: Unexpectedly a Top Journal Big Shot

This turn of events came faster than he had anticipated.

He looked at Lu You.

Lu You's expression was like someone suddenly called on to answer a question they hadn't heard. Her bright eyes blinked, her lips parting slightly before closing again. She clearly hadn't processed what was happening.

From her perspective, everything was happening too fast.

There were so many people, so many Pet Beasts, right in front of them.

To think that thirty Beastmasters would pledge themselves to two students.

At this moment, her mind seemed to freeze, and she could only look at Gu Ming instinctively.

Her eyes were filled with those three words: "What to do?"

"Sirs, we are only a pair of Four-star Beastmasters. How could we possibly take on such a great responsibility?"

Gu Ming's tone was modest, but his mind was already racing.

'Leading such a large group would definitely slow down my journey south.'

'Thirty people, each with two to four Pet Beasts, and many of them are injured.'

'These people aren't Flying Pets. I can't just have Cyan Treasure and Ah Kun carry them into the air.'

'Even if they have seven Flying Pet Beasts among them, they don't have the capacity for heavy transport. I haven't seen any Flying Pets with a Spatial Attribute.'

'In other words, if I take them with me, my travel speed will be drastically reduced.'

But Gu Ming was no fool; he didn't refuse them outright.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the scattered Black Feathered Birds in the distance were regrouping.

After a brief period of chaos, their formation was becoming tight once more.

A few of the larger Black Feathered Birds were cawing, their calls combining in what seemed to be a rare group Combined Technique, merging into waves of low-pitched screeches.

The sound pierced through the valley and into everyone's ears, making their eardrums vibrate and taxing their minds.

Although he couldn't understand the specific meaning of the bird calls, the continuous, combined screeching was clearly more than just a simple show of force.

Gu Ming quickly extended a wisp of his Divine Sense to scan the system notifications.

The system explained that he had encountered a large Demon Fiend army in the forbidden zone.

Fortunately, most of the Demon Fiends were restricted by the various laws and forces of the forbidden zone.

The rules of death native to the forbidden zone were like an invisible net, densely woven across the land.

The higher the star-level of the Demon Fiends, the greater the restrictions they faced, which gave him and this battered squad an opportunity to work together and slay the attacking Demon Fiends.

The next message that popped up from the system made his pupils shrink.

「The distant Black Feathered Birds are casting "War Order: The Black Feather's Call".」

This bird call was a war order several tiers lower than the war horns of the Dragon Race.

Although it was a lower tier, it still had the effect of summoning Demon Fiend troops to their location as reinforcements.

Gu Ming closed his eyes, focusing on the new, hazy information churning in his mind: the war horn's effective range was approximately three kilometers.

'Three kilometers.'

A rough tactical map immediately formed in Gu Ming's mind.

With the Black Feathered Bird leader as the center, all Demon Fiend troops within a three-kilometer radius that could receive the signal would be summoned.

'And in this forbidden zone, what does three kilometers mean?'

'It means that all the enemy units that didn't appear in the last encounter...'

'...might all be summoned here.'

'If Lu You and I try to break out alone, we'll be easily tied down by these Black Feathered Birds.'

'Even if my Flying Pets could take to the sky, they'd be intercepted by the flock of Black Feathered Birds during their ascent. We'd be slowed down until we're completely surrounded by Demon Fiends swarming in from all directions.'

'So, for the two of us to continue pushing south would be extremely dangerous.'

'But if I cooperate with this Beastmaster team, the situation will be completely different.'

'The combined combat power of thirty-two people—even if most of them aren't combat specialists—is definitely stronger than two people fighting alone.'

Gu Ming's gaze swept over each member of the Iron Gate Fortress team again, this time more carefully than before.

Next to the middle-aged male Beastmaster were two medium-sized canine Pet Beasts with dark gray fur, likely of the gray wolf species.

Unfortunately, the muscle definition in their legs wasn't well-developed, probably due to a lack of High Tier carnivorous Spiritual Materials during their upbringing. Their potential was similarly capped between Four and Five-stars.

The young female Beastmaster's Wind Cat seemed to have plenty of Speed but lacked Attack Power.

Her second Pet Beast was a petite, cream-colored raccoon dog with no signs of battle on its body. It looked more like a support-type companion pet.

A few people further back had large, transport-type carapaced Pet Beasts with specialized tools for harvesting medicinal herbs mounted on their carapaces.

Gu Ming observed them while calculating in his head:

'Only about ten of them are skilled in combat.'

'They each have three or four pets, and many of those Pet Beasts are critically injured.'

'Take that gray wolf-dog, for example. Its hind leg has a deep gash. Even though it's been bandaged, its gait is clearly unsteady.'

'And that four-armed ape—it can't lift one of its right arms. Its shoulder must be badly broken.'

'After this battle, these injured pets won't be able to fight. They'll only be able to recuperate in their Beast Taming Spaces.'

'This means the Iron Gate Fortress team's actual combat strength is dwindling even further.'

Tie Chenfeng had been watching Gu Ming's expression the whole time.

Gu Ming's gaze held the air of a superior officer inspecting a subordinate's troops.

In other words, Gu Ming was indeed considering taking them under his command.

He was just still weighing the pros and cons.

Especially whether the non-combat personnel were worth bringing along.

Before Gu Ming could voice his concerns, Tie Chenfeng cupped his fists again.

This time, his tone was more urgent than before, but he remained extremely deferential:

"Mr. Gu, although our squad has many non-combat personnel, after being tempered by battle, their Pet Beasts have all learned at least some Combat Skills."

"That Paralysis Rabbit, the one that releases paralyzing gas, was once able to hold off five Four-star Demon Fiends on open ground for a good ten-plus seconds."

"Our artisan's Iron-Backed Lizard has learned the Solidification armor ability and can serve as a temporary barricade on the perimeter."

"And our Alchemist's Pet Beast has low Attack Power, but it can refine temporary recovery items in a short amount of time."

"While their individual combat Skill Levels may be low, if we deploy them strategically based on the terrain and situation, we can use each Pet Beast's unique abilities to cause trouble for the enemy."

Hearing this, Gu Ming nodded lightly. Similar ideas had just flashed through his mind as well.

'If I just see these thirty people and their Pet Beasts as a battered troop, then they're indeed a burden.'

'But if I can make good use of their varied abilities, combine that with a controlled environment, and use large-scale crowd-control skills to seize the initiative... '

'...then with the collective wisdom and experience of Beastmasters, we could make many seemingly useless skills produce unexpected results in specific situations.'

'The Paralysis Rabbit's disorienting gas could be combined with the forest's visual cover for a dual interference effect. The Iron-Backed Lizard's temporary barricades could be set up in the gaps between vines to form small defensive lines.'

'Then I can concentrate the team's combat specialists, focus their power. As long as we don't run into a Six-star Demon Fiend, basically nothing will be able to stop our assault.'

In that case, the Iron Gate Fortress team would no longer be a liability holding him back.

He nodded.

His young face didn't show much change in expression, but like Teacher Tang, it inexplicably projected a calm and steady aura.

"If you don't mind fighting under the leadership of a mere Four-star Beastmaster like myself, then follow me to Lanqi City."

His tone betrayed no emotional fluctuation, as if he were stating a matter of course.

Then he paused, as if remembering something, his gaze sweeping over every face present.

There was anticipation, unease, relief, and also hesitant deliberation.

"Oh, right. I forgot to give a more detailed self-introduction."

"I am from Lanqi City, currently studying at Zhou Capital Wenquxing University. I'm a rising sophomore."

His tone remained calm as he spoke, but the two titles he announced next made many people's pupils widen simultaneously.

"Perhaps you've heard of my representative works, the *Foundation Establishment Evolution Method* and the *Qi Refining Evolution Method*."

When Gu Ming had first spoken, the crowd didn't have much of a reaction.

After all, everyone could already tell that the two of them were genius students from a prestigious university, with extraordinary backgrounds and abilities.

But the instant the names *Foundation Establishment Evolution Method* and *Qi Refining Evolution Method* dropped like a bomb,

the crowd's expressions froze. They never expected him to be... *that* top-journal genius.