Bear Lord: This Bear Just Doesn't Feel Right Unless He Gets Beaten Up-ski

"What do you mean, Bear Lord?" Bi Ji's willow-leaf brows shot up as she glared at the king of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bears. "Are you trying to defy Di Tian's arrangements?"

She actually understood what this was about—ever since Dark Cloud announced that she was giving up on facing the seven-hundred-thousand-year Great Tribulation, the king of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bears had been challenging her authority within the Star Dou Great Forest, hoping to take her place as Star Dou's second Fierce Beast.

He did not even want to wait ten thousand years.

But he was now using the Auspicious Beast as a pretext in front of so many Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. That was going too far.

"I don't mean anything by it. It's just that Tiger Empress, as a Dark Nether Tiger, has shadow attributes formed from the overlap of darkness and space. Meanwhile, this Auspicious Beast is clearly of the light attribute. It naturally wouldn't be suitable for the Tiger Empress to nurse him," Bear Lord said.

Unconcealed greed filled his eyes. "Besides, one of the female bears in my family has just given birth as well. Though the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear clan has 'gold' in its name, we do not wield Elemental Power ourselves. The energy in our milk is purer and more natural, making it more suitable for raising the Auspicious Beast."

If they could truly become the Auspicious Beast's foster mother, the benefits the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear clan could gain would be endless.

"Moreover." A trace of mockery and disdain appeared on Bear Lord's face. "After the Tiger Empress gave birth, you must have suffered a great loss of vitality, right? You haven't appeared before everyone in human form for nearly a thousand years. At a time like this, you should be resting and recuperating. How can you still protect the Auspicious Beast? I'm doing this for your own good."

"So, you want to fight me?" Tiger Empress tilted her head, then picked up Wang Rui, who was sleeping soundly atop her two front paws, by the scruff and stuffed him into Bi Ji's arms.

"Perfect. I haven't stretched my muscles in a thousand years either." The black tiger nodded to herself, bloodthirsty battle intent appearing in her eyes.

Ever since she had decided to have a cub for fun, this combative tigress had restrained her temper. By now, she was nearly at the end of her patience. Bear Lord had conveniently walked right into the line of fire, giving her a perfectly legitimate reason to fight. How could Tiger Empress not be excited?

The king of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bears choked, starting to regret his actions. He had merely wanted to probe Tiger Empress's bottom line. He had not expected her to immediately escalate matters to clawing each other.

Fight Tiger Empress... Bear Lord, who had been beaten up by this tigress for hundreds of thousands of years, twitched.

But at this point, he could not back down. The king of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bears snorted inwardly. He did not believe that Tiger Empress's strength had remained completely unaffected after giving birth. If he could defeat her outright, perhaps he could even make this tigress bear him a cub.

Tiger Empress Dark Cloud had no mate, nor were there any other powerful tiger-type soul beasts in the Star Dou Forest.

Yet she would rather find tiger-type soul beasts below a hundred thousand years old to borrow seed from than seek out Bear Lord.

That infuriated the king of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bears, who was wholeheartedly devoted to expanding his race.

"Then let's fight! You think I'm afraid of you?" The giant bear let out a heavy breath as dark golden light wrapped around his limbs and rose.

"Heh. Shadow Realm, open—" Dark Cloud's icy voice rang out. The black shadow beneath the giant bear suddenly boiled, the ground under the darkness vanishing and leaving behind only endless, deep, terrifying void.

The shadows became a swamp, swallowing the giant bear's limbs.

What? What kind of move was this? Bear Lord was horrified.

He had challenged Tiger Empress many times before and had seen her fight Di Tian, Myriad Demon King, and the others, but he had never seen her use a move like this.

He tried to break free from the shadowy swamp. His terrifying power even blasted tiny spatial cracks around his body, yet he could not move that patch of shadow in the slightest.

The more he struggled, the faster he sank. In the end, he was completely swallowed by the darkness.

"He lasted longer than I expected..." Dark Cloud murmured. Then the black giant tiger calmly and elegantly stepped into the shadows, disappearing within them as well.

"What kind of new move is that?" Myriad Demon King sucked in a breath of cold air and began considering what he could do if he ever faced Tiger Empress.

While stroking Wang Rui's bright golden fur, Bi Ji spoke unhurriedly. "Dark Cloud only came up with this move recently. Shadow Realm is formed by layering space within her innate domain. It clings to shadows and uses darkness as a gateway. With darkness and space overlapping, it creates a space of its own."

The Emerald Swan narrowed her cunning emerald eyes. "Dark Cloud probably didn't call you when she tested this new move because you were all in seclusion at the time?"

Yet her eyes plainly said: Heh, you were deliberately excluded.

Dark Cloud's Shadow Realm was filled with viscous darkness. Unless one could suppress her in the darkness attribute or possessed a powerful light attribute, ordinary enemies would suffer greatly upon entering the Shadow Realm.

But Dark Cloud had already reached the level of Ultimate Darkness through sheer comprehension... The only way to deal with this move was probably to avoid touching shadows and being dragged into the Shadow Realm.

Yet how could that possibly be easy?

Before long, Bi Ji's eyes dimmed again.

When Di Tian had first seen Dark Cloud's Shadow Realm, he had lavished praise upon it before sighing in regret.

Given enough time, if Dark Cloud could grant this separate space elemental circulation and an energy cycle, this space might even grow into a small world.

But she did not have the time.

"Damn, shutting the door and beating the bear," Scarlet King's left head muttered, only to be bitten by the middle head.

Fox King's mouth twitched at those words, but he forcibly held back his laughter.

"Bi Ji, aren't you worried about Dark Cloud?" Myriad Demon King frowned as he looked toward the shadows. "Tiger Empress has just given birth, so her vitality must have been damaged to some extent, right? And Dark Cloud deliberately prolonged the time she spent nurturing her child to a thousand years... Leaving aside our personal relationship, let me put it bluntly: with Bear Lord's brains and temperament, he absolutely cannot take Star Dou's second position."

"It's just... Bear Lord might not necessarily win." Bi Ji spoke softly.

"Why not? Dark Cloud may have six hundred ninety thousand years of cultivation, but her bloodline is not particularly strong." Myriad Demon King caught the faint darkness in Bi Ji's tone. "In terms of bloodline alone, she cannot compare to the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear clan, which can fight above its level. And now her vitality has been greatly damaged... I'm afraid victory will be difficult."

"Because Dark Cloud can now fight without any reservations." Bi Ji lowered her head, her jade-like fingers unconsciously tightening until Wang Rui, whom she was clutching, let out a sleepy whimper. She startled and immediately loosened her grip.

"When I examined her body a hundred years ago, I found that she had once burned her life force in battle." She looked up at Myriad Demon King, warning hidden within her emerald eyes.

"I see," Myriad Demon King said blankly.

Fierce Beasts naturally all possessed techniques that could burn life force to increase their power. But every one of them faced the test of the Heavenly Tribulation. Unless they were at death's door, none would risk their lives so recklessly, fearing that damage to their foundation would affect their tribulation.

A six-hundred-ninety-thousand-year Fierce Beast who dared to burn her life force in battle... Even Di Tian would likely find it difficult to stop her unscathed without using the Dragon God Claw.

At that moment, the darkness element within the forest suddenly stirred again. The shadows of the trees abruptly connected into one, transforming into a stretch of deep darkness.

A massive black tiger stepped out of the shadows... It seemed Tiger Empress had won.

Then the black tiger leaped into the air, transforming into a woman amid a haze of purple-black light.

The woman was over two meters tall, dressed in a short, fur-trimmed bandeau top and tight leather pants. A tiger tail like a steel whip extended behind her, lashing impatiently through the air.

Unlike the relatively softer figures of ordinary women, this woman had long legs and a full chest, but the lines of muscle across her body were especially distinct. Perhaps because she had only recently given birth, however, her abdominal muscles were slightly blurred.

Even so, if Wang Rui were awake right now, he would definitely have to praise her as quite the muscular beauty.

The woman had short black hair with purple-tinted ends, a pair of black tiger ears atop her head, and dark purple tiger stripes across her face.

The feline eyes beneath her thick black brows contained none of a young woman's sweetness. Instead, they shone with fierce, intimidating light. Even without anger, she exuded authority.

Anyone standing before this woman would immediately understand that she was a Fierce Beast in human form, the uncrowned queen of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Enough. Disperse," Dark Cloud said coldly.

The Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts gathered nearby to watch the show immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

The shadow beneath Dark Cloud's feet suddenly expanded, spitting out a massive dark golden bear.

It was Bear Lord.

But Bear Lord looked rather miserable now. There was actually a bald patch on his head, and blood dripped steadily from one of his ears.

...No wonder Dark Cloud had chased away the spectators first. If other Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts saw Bear Lord in such a sorry state, they would probably face retaliation from him three times a day.

Fox King and Scarlet King's eyes were full of undisguised schadenfreude, while Myriad Demon King simply laughed aloud and mocked him. "Oh my, Bear Lord. It's only been a quarter of an hour. How did you go bald already?"

"Bi Ji, heal him. I'm going back first." Dark Cloud took Wang Rui, who was sleeping like a dead piglet, from the Emerald Swan's arms, held him against her chest by the armpits, then stepped into the shadows and vanished.

"Tiger Empress! Just you wait!" Bear Lord roared. He glared furiously in the direction Dark Cloud had left, though no one noticed the faint trace of fear in his eyes.

...Anyone who had been locked in a lightless void and beaten senseless would be scared.

Whether Dark Cloud would live to see the day Bear Lord got his revenge, no one knew. But every Fierce Beast present understood that Di Tian would be giving Bear Lord a savage beating next.

Who told you to question the big boss's decision?

Meanwhile, Dark Cloud carried the Auspicious Beast back to a cave very close to the Lake of Life.

A purple giant dragon stood guard at the entrance, stretching out her foreclaw and enthusiastically poking at a little black tiger cub.

I'm definitely going to create quite a few original characters for the soul beast faction.

For example, Tiger Empress Dark Cloud and Fox King, who have appeared so far.

But let me make this clear first: neither Tiger Empress nor her cub has anything to do with Blue Butterfly from Soul Land 4. Just pretend Blue Butterfly hasn't been born yet. Mainly because I really don't want to use Soul Land 4's settings—they retconned themselves way too much. Zi Ji's species changed from Hell Demon Dragon to Abyssal Demon Dragon and then to Dark Demon Dragon. That's how bad it got.

I rather like the setting for Tiger Empress, and I've had a lot of fun writing her. In terms of combat power, if she burns her life force, she can probably fight Di Tian to a draw—provided he doesn't use the Dragon God Claw or directly suppress her with his attributes. That might be a little too strong.

But it's fine. She dies when the main story begins! It won't affect anything!

Also, this book got signed! Yay!