Chapter 118: Objective Achieved

"This... is this the master of Lord Liefeng?!" Rooney was instantly dumbfounded when he saw Du Long, a young man whose strength was merely at the fourth stage of the Cyclone Realm.

In its mind, how could the human master of a powerful being like Lord Liefeng be a mere youngster with such meager strength?

"Rooney! This is my master, Liefeng, and he is also the Lord of Fengli County, Lord Du Long!" Little Lie, clearly dissatisfied with the Flame Tiger King's underestimation of its master, spoke in a rather blunt tone.

"Rooney pays respects to the Lord!" Realizing it had spoken out of turn, Rooney hurriedly tried to make amends with its actions.

It knew well that becoming a subordinate to this human was inevitable, so it had no choice but to accept its fate. Seeing how sensible it was, Little Lie’s expression softened.

"Very good! Rooney, rest assured! The promise Liefeng made to you just now will certainly be fulfilled! Although my strength is currently a bit weak, I believe that in the near future, you will feel incredibly fortunate for the wise decision you made today!" Du Long promised nonchalantly.

"Thank you, my Lord! Since Rooney has submitted, I will serve you with all my heart and strength!" Upon receiving Du Long’s personal guarantee, Rooney’s tone became much more earnest.

"Excellent!" Du Long beamed. "Rooney, I heard there are several other Flame Tiger packs in this area?"

"Yes, my Lord! Within a radius of nearly a thousand miles of this volcanic cluster, there are a total of three Flame Tiger packs. Besides the largest one I lead, there are two others, each with about three to four thousand members."

"Haha! I didn't expect yours to be the largest pack!" Du Long replied with a smile.

"You flatter me, my Lord!" Rooney said with a mix of pride and modesty.

"Rooney!" Du Long cast a sharp gaze across the mountains and plains filled with Flame Tigers. "I heard what you and Liefeng said earlier. Just like the Armored Rhinoceroses, I will not conscript your entire tribe. Aside from leaving behind the old and weak, I will also leave some of the young and strong to ensure the safety of your tribe!"

"Thank you for your mercy, my Lord!" Rooney replied, moved to tears.

"It’s nothing! Since you have submitted to me, you are one of us now! I, Du Long, naturally wouldn't mistreat any of you. Don't worry! Even if we go to the battlefield in the future, I will do my best to ensure you are deployed only when it is as safe as possible!" Du Long waved his hand and laughed. "Haha! Rooney, the Armored Rhinoceros tribe in the Monster Swamp possesses a collective lightning attack skill. Do you have any powerful attack methods of your own?"

Rooney was stunned for a moment, but soon realized this was an opportunity to showcase its strength to its new master. The greater the strength, the more it would be valued in the future, and the more benefits it would naturally receive!

"No problem! Please, Master, observe the strength of my Flame Tiger tribe!" Rooney nodded, then let out a roar toward the sky. The Flame Tigers scattered across the mountain ridges responded to its call and began to gather.

Five or six thousand Flame Tigers assembled in one place made for a truly spectacular sight. These Flame Tigers seemed quite afraid of the big lion, Little Lie, and one by one, they gathered behind their king, Rooney, waiting for further orders.

"All tigers, prepare the Flame Tiger King Bomb! Target that boulder the size of a small hill, five hundred meters away!" Rooney commanded loudly.

Following its order, all the Flame Tigers opened their gaping maws toward the boulder five hundred meters away. Within their mouths, roaring flames began to ignite, and spheres of fire gradually took shape.

"Fire!" Rooney let out a thunderous roar. Thousands of fireballs streaked across the sky like meteors, heading straight for the boulder!

Under the startled gaze of Du Long and his companions, thousands of fireballs slammed into the area around the boulder one after another, creating a massive, violent explosion. When the smoke and dust cleared, the hill-sized boulder had vanished, reduced to a field of debris!

"This... this is too powerful, isn't it?!" Du Long couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Hehe, you flatter us, my Lord!" the Flame Tiger King, Rooney, replied with a smug look.

Just as Du Long was about to speak, a golden light suddenly darted from his chest. A small, brilliant creature appeared abruptly on his shoulder—it was the little golden snake that hadn't been seen for a long time!

However, the little golden snake had changed beyond recognition. Four bulges had formed on its abdomen, clearly revealing the shape of limbs with five claws!

On its forehead, two more bulges had sprouted into two adorable little horns, and beneath its smooth snake-like jaw, two cute little whiskers had grown!

"Big Brother Du Long! What happened?!" Little Jinjing, who had been cultivating in Du Long's arms and hadn't appeared for a long time, finally made a grand return, clearly startled by the explosion.

"Wow! Little Golden Snake, how did you become like this?!" After staring for a long time and finally recognizing Little Jinjing, Princess Huofeng exclaimed, interrupting what Du Long was about to say.

"Sister Huofeng, I inherited my father's legacy, and after cultivating for a while, I turned into this!" Little Jinjing replied, a bit embarrassed.

Huofeng was about to continue questioning, but Du Long immediately cut in, "Xiaofeng! We can discuss this later! Little Jinjing, it was just these Flame Tiger packs launching a collective Flame Tiger King Bomb at a boulder ahead! Nothing major!"

"Attacking a boulder in the distance?" Little Jinjing responded blankly. Its gaze darted around, and then it suddenly opened its mouth. A scorching fireball shot out like an electric bolt, heading toward another boulder hundreds of meters away in a different direction.

The small fireball expanded rapidly in the wind, eventually turning into a flame sphere several meters in diameter. Under the stunned gaze of everyone, it slammed fiercely into that rock formation!

With a deafening roar, the entire boulder shattered into pieces before the shocked eyes of all the humans and beasts!

"Hehe! Is that how you shatter a boulder? It's quite easy..." Little Jinjing said with extreme nonchalance before darting back into Du Long's arms. Just before leaving, it added, "I'm going back to cultivate! Don't make such loud noises and interrupt my cultivation!"

The scene was left with a group of stunned spectators. The Flame Tiger King, Rooney, who had been quite proud just moments before, felt incredibly awkward. The combined efforts of thousands of its clansmen seemed only slightly more effective than that of the little creature.

The shock caused by Little Jinjing gave Rooney a completely new understanding of this mysterious human, Du Long, and the initial trace of contempt finally vanished!

"Wow! Husband, what kind of monster is Little Jinjing?! How does it have such terrifying strength?! Tell me, quickly..." Seeing Little Jinjing unleash such horrific combat power, Princess Huofeng’s curiosity immediately surged again.

It wasn't just her; even the big lion, Little Lie, was no exception. It hadn't been with Du Long long, and during this time, Little Jinjing had been in seclusion, so Little Lie didn't know that such a terrifying little thing existed on Du Long.

Although it had felt a breath on its master that made it fearful, it had initially thought it was the beautiful ring spirit who always communicated with it. But the moment it saw Little Jinjing, it understood: the source of the fear it felt was indeed this little creature, whose strength was supposedly inferior to its own!

"Alright, we can talk about this slowly when we have time later! Time is tight! Let's hurry to the other two Flame Tiger packs! Once we subdue them, we still have other things to attend to!" Unfortunately, Du Long clearly didn't want to discuss Little Jinjing in this setting, and Huofeng had to temporarily suppress her curiosity!

"My Lord! Then let Rooney lead the way for you!" the Flame Tiger King, Rooney, said respectfully. The mysterious power Du Long had displayed caused a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in its attitude.

And so, Du Long and his two companions rode on Little Lie's back, flying at a low altitude, while the fourth-stage Flame Tiger King, Rooney, ran at full speed beneath them, racing toward the northwest!

About an hour later, they finally arrived at the territory of the second Flame Tiger pack in the Flaming Mountain region. They did not occupy an active volcano like Rooney's tribe; instead, they lived in a valley between three active volcanoes!

On the way, Rooney had already briefed Du Long on this pack. The strongest among them was only at the peak of the third stage. As a result, Du Long and his companions didn't need to hide; they rode Little Lie directly into the sky above this much weaker pack.

When the majestic big lion suddenly transformed in mid-air, releasing its terrifying aura without reservation, the three thousand-plus Flame Tigers below were petrified.

Soon, the Flame Tiger King, Rooney, arrived from the ground and began to communicate with the king of this pack. Upon learning that even a fourth-stage king like Rooney had submitted, this Flame Tiger King didn't hesitate and immediately expressed its willingness to submit to this fifth-stage Flaming Unicorn Lion!

For ease of management, Du Long directly placed this pack under Rooney’s command, letting it help manage them.

Rooney accepted this gladly. In fact, it had long wanted to subdue the other two tribes, but had never found the right opportunity; trying to subdue them by force would have likely resulted in mutual destruction.

This time, with the help of Liefeng, the King of Monsters with fifth-stage strength, it finally subdued this long-coveted Flame Tiger pack without shedding a drop of blood!

Seeing that it was not yet late, Du Long decided to continue to the final Flame Tiger pack, intending to finish the task in one go. Once that was done, his mission would be successfully completed!

The last pack was located several hundred miles to the southwest of the Flaming Mountain. The entire pack consisted of over four thousand Flame Tigers, and their strongest king was also only at the peak of the third stage.

It seemed that the low bloodline intensity of the Flame Tiger species resulted in their generally low strength. Among the three major tribes, only Rooney had reached the early fourth stage, and it was only after reaching that level that it naturally became the king of its tribe.

Like other monster species, the Flame Tigers followed the law of the jungle; to be king, one had to rely on strength!

Given the dual threat of Little Lie and Rooney, this last pack should have submitted quickly.

However, the leader of this pack was clearly not a rational creature and actually wanted to unite the entire tribe to resist. Unfortunately, faced with the terrifying pressure of Little Lie, only a few tigers responded to its call; the rest of the Flame Tigers were, without exception, lying on the ground trembling, lacking the courage to stand up and resist.

In response, Little Lie used its terrifying speed to strike, successfully taking out the few troublemakers in the blink of an eye. With no leader left, this pack finally submitted to Rooney's command.

With this, including the Armored Rhinoceros tribe in the Monster Swamp, all three of the largest Flame Tiger tribes in the Flaming Mountain had been brought under Du Long's command!