Staring at the brand-new side quest he had obtained, Qi Ye couldn't help but take a deep breath after seeing the mission rewards.

As expected, the rewards for the side quest chain became more generous the further it went; as long as he completed this side quest issued by the System, it would increase the rank limit of his Followers by one, meaning that as a Rank 3 Beast Leader, he could now command Rank 4 Followers.

And if he himself advanced to Rank 4, he could command Rank 5 Followers!

This was an absolute enhancement!

In addition to that, he could also obtain a clue about a juvenile Divine Beast.

A Divine Beast?

Qi Ye wasn't sure what type of Divine Beast this was—did it refer to various legendary Divine Beasts from Blue Star stories, or a native Divine Beast within the Corrupt Forest?

But no matter what it was, it would definitely be stronger than all the Followers in his territory! Otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of being called a Divine Beast.

At the thought of potentially taming a Divine Beast, Qi Ye's heart surged with excitement, and his blood began to flow faster.

He quickly put away the necrotic solution in his claws; this was an item capable of transforming an Otherworld Rift and opening an s-rank Necromancer Dungeon.

If ordinary Adventurers encountered an s-rank dungeon, they would probably be scared out of their wits and wish they could leave immediately, but for an dungeon of the same rank, as long as Qi Ye entered and summoned his Followers, clearing a Rank 3 s-rank dungeon would be as easy as slicing through vegetables.

Da Huang leaned in and asked curiously, "Master, what did you find?"

Qi Ye coughed, turned around, and said with a smile, "A good thing, of course!"

The next time he entered an dungeon, out of the two Followers he could summon, he would definitely bring Da Huang along.

Da Huang suddenly felt an instinctive chill and shrank his neck. "Whenever Master looks at me like that, I feel like I'm going to be unlucky, woof!"

"Unlucky? Haha, how could you be unlucky? Don't worry, the next mission will be very easy; you can just treat it like a vacation," Qi Ye said, shaking his head.

If he had been teleported into an dungeon before, alone as a single bird, it would have almost replicated his situation when he first entered the Corrupt Forest, but this time, he wouldn't do that.

"Yay! Vacation!" Da Huang's eyes lit up, and he stuck out his tongue.

Afterward, Qi Ye brought Da Huang to the Follower dormitory and met the group of Adventurers.

He chose not to expose himself, instead using the sound-transmitting stone to have Da Huang repeat his words and speak with the Adventurers.

"I am a Follower of the Lord of Spirits, responsible for guarding this territory, woof!" Da Huang couldn't help but add a "woof."

"You did not rashly attack us or harm the subjects of this territory, and the Lord of Spirits is very pleased."

"You can stay here, or you can wander freely in the southern part of the Sacred Lake District; a Flame-tailed Fox will Guide you, woof!"

"But do not approach the center of the Sacred Lake District, otherwise the Lord of Spirits will be very angry, and the consequences will be severe."

After Da Huang finished speaking, he wagged his tail. His tone was calm yet carried a sense of majesty, making the Adventurers in the room feel a different kind of warmth.

He turned his head and saw a group of Azure Ice Rats in charge of logistics squeaking on the stone bridge of the Sacred Lake District, calling for nearby residents to gather.

"It's just in time for dinner, so you should eat first. The Guide will be here soon."

Da Huang wiggled his butt, preparing to leave.

Liao Yunqi reached out and shouted, "Wait a moment, Big Brother Dog!"

"Big Brother Dog?" Da Huang was stunned for a moment, then grinned; no one had ever called him "Big Brother" before, and he felt delighted.

Only Qi Ye felt that the title was a bit... something, but he couldn't really refute it.

"Is there something you need from me, woof?"

"I am a Captain in the Great Xia Dynasty military. I wonder if I could ask you to pass a message to the Lord of Spirits? I would like to introduce him to the Great Xia military; perhaps we will have opportunities for cooperation in the future."

Liao Yunqi felt like he had heard of the Lord of Spirits somewhere before but couldn't recall where. He just felt that he couldn't miss the chance to secure a good relationship with the Lord of Spirits for Great Xia Dynasty.

Qi Ye pondered for a moment. In that world, he had also been a citizen of Great Xia Dynasty and still had a good impression of it, but that didn't mean he would work himself to the bone for them. After all, he had already become a Sparrow and would be the Beast Leader of many creatures in the future, having little left to do with humans.

"Why should we cooperate with you?" Qi Ye had Da Huang ask.

Liao Yunqi was momentarily at a loss for words. "Uh..."

After a moment of silence, he came up with some scenarios beneficial to Qi Ye. "For example, we can help you resist Beast Tides and jointly combat Otherworld Invasions."

"Or we could trade resources and share technology through Otherworld Instance Dungeons."

It didn't seem very appealing; after all, Qi Ye was in the Corrupt Forest while they were on Blue Star. Even if they really needed to cooperate, it would be difficult for them to help each other.

Then, he thought of Ding Ren, Guan Bingru, He Chenyang, and the others on Blue Star. Regardless, it was necessary to deepen ties with human forces on Blue Star; he had nothing to lose anyway.

Furthermore, there was something he needed the military behind Liao Yunqi to find—the star fragments he had been longing for. He had once asked Ding Ren to look for them, but there was no information. This item was either extremely rare or held a powerful strategic position, monopolized by the Blue Star Adventurers Alliance and the government, making it almost impossible to obtain.

Qi Ye nodded inwardly and had Da Huang say, "Then go find Ding Ren in Fengjiang Province."

Qi Ye stopped thinking about it and simply pushed the matter to Ding Ren in Fengjiang Province. Since he had already designated him as his agent on Blue Star, it was better for any matters on Blue Star to go through him rather than directly to himself.

He figured that Ding Ren had already garnered attention from various parties, including the greed of evil forces. Having the military's care and providing him with more resources for cultivation would be a good thing.

Liao Yunqi was in a good mood and bowed. "Alright, thank you very much! Please trust us, we definitely won't let you down."

"If there's nothing else, I'm leaving, woof!"

As Da Huang left, the crowd began to discuss, and for a moment, various exclamations filled the room.

"Wow, Big Brother Liao, you're actually a Soldier of Great Xia Dynasty."

"And this dog's background is the Lord of Spirits—could he be a Deity from the Otherworld?"

"What's the situation at the Alien Demon Battlefield? Can our Great Xia Dynasty still hold on?"

Liao Yunqi remained calm and answered everyone's questions one by one, though he also stated he was unclear about the details regarding the Lord of Spirits.

"Don't worry, the Alien Demon Battlefield has only swallowed a few small countries so far. Great Xia Dynasty's defensive line is very stable; there's no problem."

The wooden door opened, instantly silencing the noisy atmosphere. Everyone held their breath as they saw two animals enter the room.

Two Azure Ice Rats, one in front and one behind, carried a wooden tray as wide as a person into the room. On the tray lay a piece of Blue Fire Spider abdomen meat roasted over a fire, sprinkled with salt found by the lake and collected seasonings.