"Rat City."

The next morning, Chen Fan looked at the town before him.

The walls were crumbling, desolate and dilapidated, looking no different from other ruined cities in the wilderness.

Suddenly, an odd noise reached his ears.

Chen Fan gazed over and saw a shadow deep in the alley, gnawing on a human leg.

The shadow had a huge mouth, its teeth the size of a human palm, stained with blood and bits of flesh.

The shadow wasn't human but a black rat beast standing over a meter tall, standing on its hind legs like a person.

It hadn't noticed someone observing it from a distance, continuing to enjoy its meal.

Chen Fan frowned, pointed his finger, and a streak of sword qi flew out, instantly piercing through the black rat's head. It didn't even have time to cry out before collapsing to the ground.

As it fell, the scene deeper in the alley came into view.

In the corner, over a dozen skeletons lay scattered, skulls randomly strewn on the ground; some hollow eyes still staring, sending a chill down one's spine.

Without lingering, Chen Fan headed for the nearest underground entrance.

"Sing a little tune, good brothers forever, three stars in the sky, prosperity through the seasons, five treasures, six sixes in harmony..."

This was the sound of people shouting while playing a game coming from a house far away.

"Hahaha, Third Brother, you lost again, drink up!"

Laughter erupted.

"Again!"

A disgruntled voice rang out, "I refuse to believe it, do I always have to lose?"

The shouting and cheering continued.

Chen Fan's gaze lingered for a moment before shifting to a nearby house.

He felt there were many people inside, but the atmosphere was frighteningly quiet.

"I've heard these ruthless people kill the men, elders, and children of nearby villages after raiding them, then imprison the women here. It seems the people in that house must be their captives."

Chen Fan sighed quietly.

These people are hard to save.

It would be easy for him to kill those few thugs now.

But what then?

What about the hostages? If they are not taken away, they'll still face death.

But taking them is no easy feat. Anshan City is over a thousand kilometers from here.

Moreover, his primary mission this time was to clear the Vajra Rat Swarm, not to eliminate the criminals here and rescue the hostages.

"Better not complicate matters for now."

After some thought, Chen Fan made a decision.

His movements were light, and he deliberately concealed his presence so well that even a True Essence Realm Martial Artist would have difficulty detecting him.

Thus, he progressed smoothly to the entrance.

This was a metro entrance; deep inside, it was pitch black, with occasional rustling sounds.

Chen Fan descended the stairs, his light footsteps echoing. Suddenly, the pitch black below was filled with dozens of blood-red eyes fixed on him.

The owners of these eyes were mid-level fierce beasts like the black-haired rat encountered before, their bodies covered in black fur, with sharp teeth and pointed mouths.

The next moment, twenty to thirty black-haired rats swarmed toward him.

Some even ran along the walls.

"Whizz whizz whizz whizz!"

Chen Fan pointed his finger repeatedly, dozens of sword qi streaking through the heads of the black-haired rats.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of black-haired rats were lying in a pool of blood, their bodies twitching.

Chen Fan frowned slightly; they were only mid-level fierce beasts. Even if he killed them, it wouldn't add much to his experience points, and the progress in basic boxing and kicking skills was minimal.

But, as they say, little by little.

If he used Protective True Qi to shock these black-haired rats to death, the experience points for basic martial arts would be negligible.

After walking a short distance, another dozen blood-red eyes appeared from the shadows.

Chen Fan killed them one by one with sword qi.

Time ticked by, and the number of black-haired rats encountered gradually increased.

Moreover, some were two to three meters tall, with speed and strength several times that of average rats.

Of course, for Chen Fan, it still just took a single sword qi.

Soon, the area was littered with black-haired rat corpses.

"What are you doing?"

Suddenly, an angry voice rang out.

Dozens of meters away, a tall, lanky man in tattered clothes glared hatefully at Chen Fan.

"Who are you?"

Chen Fan frowned.

"Why did you kill my children!"

The man didn't seem to hear him, his eyes blazing with rage.

"Your children?"

Chen Fan was taken aback, glancing at the corpse-strewn floor, then smirked, "Are you saying these rats are your children?"

"What do you know?"

The man seemed deeply hurt, "They are beasts, but more reliable than humans. They will never betray me! But humans, on the other hand, will laugh and talk with you one moment, then kick you aside without hesitation when danger comes."

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand. Since you killed my children, I'll kill you to avenge them!"

With that, the man put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Instantly, a massive black-haired rat, five to six meters long and over three meters tall, appeared out of nowhere.

Its eyes, like red lanterns, shone brightly in the dark underground tunnel.

"Go, my dear child, tear his body and feast on his flesh!"

The man laughed hysterically.

The massive black-haired rat bared its fangs and charged at Chen Fan.

But just as it took one step, a sword qi struck, causing its head to explode, scattering red and white matter all over.

"Boom!"

With a loud crash, the headless giant rat collapsed, completely lifeless.

The tall, lanky man behind him was like a choked chicken, unable to make a sound.

He stared dumbly at the body, struggling to comprehend how his hard-won elite black-haired rat died just like that.

"How did you control it?"

Chen Fan asked curiously.

The Soul Shifting Technique he tried on fierce beasts had no effect.

But the man could summon an elite black-haired rat with a whistle, and it obeyed him implicitly.

Could it be a unique technique?

"You think I'll tell you? Dream on!"

The man turned to run.

Two streaks of sword qi flew out, breaking both his legs, causing him to crash to the ground.

This seemed to bring him to his senses.

"W-What do you want?"

He turned, his face filled with terror as he looked at Chen Fan, "I warn you, I'm with the Double Dragon Association. If you hurt me, our members won't let you off!"

"Really?"

Chen Fan walked forward step by step, a smile on his face, "I'd like to see how they won't let me off."

He indeed didn't plan to complicate things this time.

But if someone provoked him, he wasn't in a good mood to tolerate it.

One kills one, two kill two.

Just like this obviously unstable guy here, if he stayed put, it wouldn't have been a problem.

"Our association leader can command Commander-level fierce beasts. If you dare kill me, believe it or not, you won't walk out of here today?"

the man gritted his teeth.

"Really."

Chen Fan nodded slightly. No wonder the Awakened Association's attempts at eradication failed; it turned out the fierce beasts and criminals here were of the same ilk.

"It seems it's not just the Vajra Rat Swarm to eliminate, but also the Double Dragon Association."

Chen Fan thought and commanded, "Tell me the technique you used to control these fierce beasts."

"Dream on!"

The man retorted immediately.

"I knew you'd say that."

Chen Fan's eyes flashed, and he immediately controlled the man's mind.

Soon, he got what he wanted.

[Beast Taming Technique (12%): Completely Ignorant]

Apparently, this technique, called the Beast Taming Technique, was how the man controlled the fierce beasts.

Unlike boxing and weapon martial arts, this technique was quite unconventional, much like a dark art.

Chen Fan noticed there was no prompt for completing it in his mind.

"This means I don't currently meet the conditions to unlock this technique."

Chen Fan muttered but wasn't surprised; after all, he had never dabbled in such unconventional methods before.

"Let's treat it as an unexpected gain. If I can collect it all later, great; if not, it's no big deal. Moreover..."

Chen Fan had concerns about whether controlled fierce beasts could also be controlled by Commander-level or Beast King-level fierce beasts.

He wasn't worried about these fierce beasts turning on him but feared they might attack others.

He shook his head, killed the man with a sword qi, and continued forward.

After a brief moment of peace, more black-haired rats surged from all around.

Additionally, people nearby heard the commotion.

Seeing the floor littered with black-haired rat corpses, many had puzzled looks on their faces.

Although these were mid to high-level fierce beasts, their numbers were daunting, posing a life-threatening danger even to them if pursued.

But what did the person who killed these black-haired rats intend to do?

Soon, Chen Fan's path was blocked by a few fierce-looking men wielding weapons, with his retreat cut off.

"Masked guy, you're not from Rat City, are you? If you were, I'd remember your face."

The man ahead spoke with a hostile tone, "Take off your mask and let us see."

"Yeah, take off the mask, or we won't be polite."

"Could this guy be from the Awakened Association, sent here to investigate?"

"That's easy; just kill him like the others, chop his body, and feed it to the rats!"

They laughed loudly.

Outside, they would avoid anyone from the Awakened Association. But here, it was their turf.

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