Chapter 157: Domain — Heaven’s Net

Zhao Ling and Liu Erlong wandered leisurely through the depths of Sunset Forest, but after searching all morning, they still hadn't found a suitable ten-thousand-year spirit beast.

As they strolled further, it was already noon when Liu Erlong's stomach suddenly growled loudly, causing her to smile at Zhao Ling somewhat awkwardly.

Zhao Ling simply pulled out a wild boar spirit beast carcass from his storage space. He gathered some dry branches and prepared to roast the wild boar meat.

Last time at the forest's edge, he had killed quite a few low-level spirit beasts. Even after over a hundred people at the residence ate for days, not even a fifth of the meat had been consumed.

So Zhao Ling had ordered the servants to salt and sun-dry most of the meat to make jerky, enough to feed the entire household for a long time.

Only a small portion of the meat had been kept in his storage space for emergencies like this.

After cleaning the wild boar's skin and internal organs, Zhao Ling washed the meat several times. Then, using his Canglan Sword, he carved it up and skewered the meat on wooden sticks.

To ensure they had their fill, each skewer held around a pound of lean meat.

They worked seamlessly together. After all, during the recent barbecue parties back at the estate, they had already gotten some practice and were quite used to it.

Once the skewers were ready, Liu Erlong began seasoning them with salt, pepper, chili powder, and more. It took over half an hour to finish marinating them all.

Zhao Ling grumbled, "If I'd known this would be such a hassle, I would've had the servants clean and marinate all the meat in advance and store it in my space. That way, we could just grab it and cook anytime. Now we have to do it all ourselves—what a waste of time."

Liu Erlong shot him a glance. "Whose fault is that for not planning ahead? Stop complaining and get the fire started."

With that, she grabbed some dry kindling and directly released her spirit. Immediately, the blazing Immortal Dragon Phoenix spirit appeared behind her, with two yellow and one purple spirit rings circling her.

She exhaled a stream of high-temperature flames, instantly igniting the kindling.

With a slight smirk on her lips, she looked at Zhao Ling with a hint of pride. "Fire lit. Isn't your Long'er amazing?"

Zhao Ling twitched his lips. Was this woman treating herself like a human lighter? All that just to start a fire?

Even though he thought this way, seeing her expectant face waiting for praise, he quickly smiled and nodded. "Amazing! My Long'er wife is so awesome. You can even breathe fire—your husband is impressed!"

"Hehe…" Liu Erlong giggled sweetly, cheerfully arranging the skewers in a circle around the fire.

This was the most primitive method of roasting—no grill, just placing the meat around the flames. However, they needed to manually turn each skewer to cook the meat evenly.

Otherwise, the side facing the fire might burn while the other side remained raw.

As the meat roasted, an incredibly tempting aroma wafted through the air.

Even though Zhao Ling and Liu Erlong had eaten barbecue for days recently, they couldn't help but drool at the smell.

What they hadn't expected, however, was that the aroma would lure in six or seven ten-thousand-year spirit beasts.

These spirit beasts had crept in as close as 50 to 200 meters away, greedily eyeing the skewers of sizzling meat.

But instead of charging in immediately, they cautiously sized up Zhao Ling and Liu Erlong.

They were also watching each other warily—none of them wanted to charge in only to end up being someone else's dinner.

Though the spirit beasts couldn't detect Zhao Ling's Title Douluo-level strength, their instincts warned them of danger, keeping them from acting rashly.

Meanwhile, Zhao Ling and Liu Erlong were casually roasting meat while carefully observing the beasts.

Suddenly, Liu Erlong's eyes lit up. She winked at Zhao Ling and said, "Husband, look at that Firehorn Rage Dragon—it looks like a perfect match for my current spirit."

"Firehorn Rage Dragon, huh?" Zhao Ling followed her gaze to a crimson draconic beast with flames dancing across its body and a slender frame. He raised his brow in recognition.

He seemed to recall that beast from the original series—wasn't it the spirit of that guy from Blazing Academy? What was his name again? Something like Huo-something. And didn't he have a beautiful younger sister named Huo Wu?

The original described Huo Wu as stunning, with long, waist-length wavy hair, delicate features, and fair skin.

Judging from the current timeline, that girl probably wouldn't be born for another ten years or so—Zhao Ling couldn't say for sure.

He relaxed his brows and smiled, asking Liu Erlong, "Long'er, since you think that spirit beast suits you, shall your husband catch it for you?"

Then, for the first time, Zhao Ling released the domain of his Nether Demon Suppressing Tower: Heaven's Net.

Heaven's Net was a domain centered on Zhao Ling, covering a 500-meter radius. In a way, it formed a sealed world—outsiders could not break in.

And those inside the domain couldn't leave without Zhao Ling's permission.

Even those far stronger than him couldn't escape by brute force. If they tried to break through the space barrier, they would simply reappear inside the domain again.

It was like one of those horror movies, where people think opening a door will let them escape, only to find themselves right back in the same terrifying room.

Of course, Heaven's Net wasn't invincible. If Zhao Ling wasn't within its area of effect, the domain would collapse on its own.

Also, if enemies within the domain managed to kill him, the domain would naturally dissipate.

As Zhao Ling activated Heaven's Net, an invisible barrier surged up around a 500-meter radius. In the blink of an eye, a massive spherical domain formed.

Now, unless Zhao Ling allowed it, no one—be it flying or tunneling underground—could escape this domain. Trying to do so would be nothing more than a fool's dream.