Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

The moment those words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent, and the expressions of several students who had been whispering changed.

Although they had heard that Lin Qingxue had survived from Black Dragon Mountain, they did not know the specifics of what had happened.

Little did she know, she had actually met the White Tiger King long ago.

Su Wan's pupils contracted slightly, and she asked, "What did you say?"

Lin Qingxue's face was pale, and her voice was hoarse: "That day, when we entered the outer perimeter of Black Dragon Mountain, Professor Zhao died at its hands, and I almost died too."

At this point, a hint of pain flashed in her eyes: "If I hadn't escaped to Black Dragon Lake in the end, I wouldn't be alive today."

Lu Cang's face instantly darkened. He stared at the White Tiger King, his grip on the knife tightening once more.

After Professor Zhao's death, the Ninth Bureau immediately organized a team to investigate. The final target was identified as the White Tiger King.

Unfortunately, the White Tiger King escaped into the depths of Black Dragon Mountain, and due to the deterrence of the Azure Lotus Forbidden Zone, they were unable to continue their pursuit.

Unexpectedly, when we met again today, the White Tiger King had not only fully recovered from his injuries, but had even become a member of the Azure Lotus Lord's household.

This feeling made Lu Cang's chest feel tight; it was too stifling.

The White Tiger King heard Lin Qingxue's words and opened its eyes.

The golden tiger's eyes fell on Lin Qingxue, scrutinizing her. After a moment, it seemed to finally remember something, and said in a deep voice, "So it was you."

Lin Qingxue froze, and the White Tiger King said coldly, "You're still alive."

Lin Qingxue forcibly suppressed her fear, looked up at the White Tiger King, and questioned, "What did Professor Zhao do wrong?"

The White Tiger King looked at her and said with a sneer, "You entered my territory, is that wrong?"

Lin Qingxue asked incredulously, "So you killed him?"

"When humans enter the mountains and forests to hunt strange beasts, gather spiritual herbs, and seize crystal cores, have they ever asked the beasts if they were at fault?"

"You humans can kill beasts, so why can't I, the king, kill people?"

These words silenced everyone around, even Lu Cang, who was momentarily speechless.

Humans can hunt alien beasts and seize crystal cores, so why can't alien beasts hunt humans?

This thought crossed many people's minds, plunging everyone into silence.

Lin Qingxue's face was pale. She hated the White Tiger King. Professor Zhao died at its hands, and she herself almost died under its claws.

This fear and hatred cannot disappear just because of a few words from the White Tiger King.

But she couldn't deny that the world today was no longer the world it used to be.

The White Tiger King glanced at her, his voice icy: "You hate me? Fine, come and kill me anytime you have the guts."

At this point, it looked back towards the abandoned well, its tiger eyes flashing with cold light: "But now you'd better get lost, because I'm going to guard the gate."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a low tremor came from the depths of the abandoned well once more.

Wisps of black smoke emerged from the cracks in the rubble, as if countless tiny tentacles were trying to crawl out of the ground again.

The White Tiger King suddenly raised its front paw and stomped down heavily.

boom!

The ground collapsed, and the white-gold tiger demon surged into the ground along the edge of the crack. The black gas that had just emerged was instantly dispersed, and a venomous hiss came from the depths of the crack.

The White Tiger King roared, "If you dare to come out again, I will tear you to pieces."

Seeing this, Su Wan took a deep breath and decisively ordered, "All students and the wounded must evacuate immediately."

Lu Cang said, "The Ninth Bureau combat team will retreat thirty miles to establish an outer blockade line. Without orders from headquarters, no one is allowed to approach the abandoned well."

The Ninth Bureau members had complicated expressions. They all understood what this meant: the polluted rifts within the human territory would ultimately have to be guarded by a demon king.

This left them feeling uneasy, but everything that had just happened proved that with their current strength, they simply couldn't defend this place.

The students helped the wounded to evacuate. Zhao Feng was carried onto the vehicle on a stretcher. His right arm was already immobilized, but his face was still pale.

Jiahao had bandages wrapped around his chest and was being supported by two classmates; he was walking with a slight stagger.

He glanced back at the White Tiger King lying beside the abandoned well, his eyes no longer showing the arrogance he had before.

Today's battle shattered his illusions about awakened beings; he realized that awakening doesn't mean instant success.

Faced with the true demon king and the corrupted monster, they were still pitifully weak, and Lin Qingxue was the last to board the bus.

She stood in front of the car door and looked back. The White Tiger King's enormous body lay prostrate beside the abandoned well, like a small white mountain.

It didn't look at her again, nor did it explain or apologize, because it was the Demon King, and it never thought it was wrong.

Lin Qingxue clenched her fists, sighed, and felt a deep sense of powerlessness welling up inside her.

Su Wan walked to her side and said softly, "Let's go."

Lin Qingxue nodded, bent down to get into the vehicle, the armored vehicle started, and the abandoned village outside the window gradually disappeared into the distance.

Su Wan and Lu Cang felt heavy-hearted. Even a powerful being like the White Tiger King could only obey the orders of that being in the Azure Lotus Forbidden Zone. Just how powerful was that being?

At the same time, in the middle of Heilong Lake.

Through the Azure Lotus Mark within the White Tiger King's body, Chu Zhou had already witnessed everything that had happened in the abandoned village.

He didn't care about Lin Qingxue's reaction. He hadn't let Lin Qingxue leave out of kindness.

Subduing the White Tiger King was not for the purpose of guarding the rift for humanity; his purpose from beginning to end has always been singular.

Protect Black Dragon Mountain, devour and evolve, and survive.

How humans view Black Dragon Mountain and the White Tiger King is irrelevant.

A system notification sounded at that moment.

"Ding, pollution node detected in Linjiang City."

Current pollution level: Moderate.

"Should we establish a temporary quarantine site?"

Chu Zhou did not hesitate: "Establish."

"Ding, temporary quarantine site successfully established."

"Guardian: Lord White Mountain".

"Quarantine area: 30 li (approximately 15 kilometers)."

"This node will continue to provide a small number of evolution points."

"Current evolution points: 3748000/5000000".

"Distance to Tier 6: 1252000 Evolution Points"

Looking at the system panel, Chu Zhou felt little joy, because this was already the second contaminated node.

Blackwood Snake Valley, the abandoned well in Linjiang City, and the underground ancient city of Black Dragon Lake—these things are gradually surfacing, and they are appearing at a faster pace than in the previous life.

"The second spiritual energy tide is probably coming very soon."

Chu Zhou murmured to himself. He needed to seize the opportunity before the second spiritual energy tide arrived to quickly upgrade to the late stage of the fifth rank, and then break through to the sixth rank in one fell swoop.

Having become the first mutated beast to reach the sixth rank, Chu Zhou continued his cultivation.

Just as things were temporarily calming down in Lingnan, thousands of kilometers away, in Changbai Mountain, a blizzard raged.

Inside a makeshift military base, the lights were on.

Lei Zhenyue stood in the command center, his face terribly grim. On the screen, footage of the first failed operation to hunt the king was playing repeatedly.

Above the snow-capped mountains, missiles slammed down, flames shot into the sky, and everyone thought that the Tiger King of Changbai Mountain had been hit.

But the next second, the transport convoy on the west side was attacked.

The giant tiger with white fur and blood-red stripes stood atop the wreckage of the transport vehicle, carrying the corpse of a second-tier awakened individual in its mouth.

His tiger eyes were full of human mockery.

Lei Zhenyue stared at the screen, his face extremely gloomy. The first operation to hunt the king had failed miserably, not because of insufficient firepower or manpower.

Instead, they were tricked by the tiger king from the very beginning. It used a decoy to lure missiles to bomb the snow-capped mountains, while its real body circled around and attacked the transport team from behind, all within just ten minutes.

Thirteen members of the Ninth Bureau were killed in battle, three late-stage Tier 2 Awakeners were devoured, and one early-stage Tier 3 Awakener was crushed on the spot.

The complete annihilation of the entire transport team was a disgrace that Lei Zhenyue could not accept.

Beside him, a Northeast branch official whispered, "Director Lei, the second operation plan is ready."

Lei Zhenyue turned around and said in a deep voice, "Speak."

The person in charge immediately opened the map: "This time we will not rely solely on long-range firepower. We will establish a blockade line along the entire 30-kilometer perimeter."

"Set up bait in the middle layer, using the corpses of third-tier alien beasts and polluted crystal cores to lure the Tiger King out."

"The core decapitation squad will be led by you personally. The accompanying personnel are Zhao Han, peak third-tier ice element, Han Lie, late third-tier fire element, and Shen Qinghe, peak third-tier mental element. There are also two fire support squads."