King of Soul Beasts

Dark-gold fur was one of the hallmarks of a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear. It stood well over four meters tall, its arms were exceptionally thick, and its upper body had broad, sturdy shoulders like a city wall. When it stood up, one could see that the front ends of its two huge arms were its terrifying Dark Gold Dreadclaws, the sharp giant claws alone measuring at least a meter long.

This is over. This thought flashed through the minds of Tang Chenfeng and the other two simultaneously.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was a solitary soul beast. Whether in offense or defense, it was among the most ferocious of all soul beasts, and the race even held the title of King of Soul Beasts.

In the world of soul beasts, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was an absolute peak-tier powerhouse, second in strength only to True Dragon-type Soul Beasts. Of course, if one truly encountered a mature Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, even a giant dragon might not necessarily come out on top against them.

If the soul beasts Tang Chenfeng and his group had previously encountered were placed before this Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, they likely wouldn't have been able to block even a single blow. Even in the history of soul beasts, Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bears stood at the absolute pinnacle.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear before them looked to be around four meters tall, meaning it had existed for at least a hundred years. Yet its terrifying nature lay right there—even as a century-old Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, when it crossed paths with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast, the latter could not necessarily escape unscathed.

Tang Chenfeng and his companions never expected to encounter such a terrifying soul beast on the fourth floor of the Soul Spirit Tower; their luck was truly rather poor.

They had arrived in an unfamiliar place and met an unfamiliar entity. This Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear had clearly noticed them and was charging toward them at an astonishing speed. At the same time, its forelimbs lashed out, moving so fast it looked like a streak of golden light as it attacked the trio.

If it were any other soul beast, Tang Chenfeng would have dared to claim he could contend with it no matter what, but facing this Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear...

Contend? Stop joking around, time to run.

Tang Chenfeng grabbed the vine Ye Hongling used to connect the three of them, pulled the other two to his side, and held them tightly. Then he leaped with all his might, springing into the treetops far away from the ground.

If they lacked the terrain advantage and were still in the octagonal hall from before, it would have been impossible for Tang Chenfeng and the others to evade this strike from the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.

The Dreadclaw swung by the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear produced a sharp whistle in the air it passed through, striking the ground solidly. The Dark Gold Dreadclaw left five deep gouges in the earth.

"Oh my god, so this is the strength of the strongest soul beast!" Ze Ping's trembling tone was filled with helplessness.

He had just said earlier that if they had good luck... but now it seemed their luck was truly less than stellar.

Seeing that it had missed Tang Chenfeng and the trio, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear bellowed continuously at them from beneath the tree.

Bears could generally climb trees, but the structure of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear's dreadclaws prevented them from gripping tree trunks, so this race could not climb trees. However...

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear beneath the tree swung its arm once more. That thick arm moved at no slow pace, slicing down like a dark-gold flash toward the tree in front of it.

With a loud crash of crack!, this giant tree, a full two meters wide, was chopped straight through the middle.

Such terrifying sharp claws! This thought arose in the hearts of the three simultaneously.

Helpless at this moment, the three of them had no choice but to flee from the tree, relying on Ye Hongling's vines to weave through the forest canopy. Only in this way could they skirmish with the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear below.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was massive in build, but its speed was completely disproportionate to its bulky size. Its running speed was extremely fast, and it made almost no sound, losing not an inch in speed to the trio darting back and forth through the treetops.

Even so, the three of them at least maintained a certain safe distance from it. Just as the trio debated whether or not to press the Distress Signal Device and leave the Spirit Platform, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear suddenly stopped and stood straight up.

Immediately afterward, it raised its right claw. At the same time, the dark-gold radiance on that giant claw flared brilliantly. A great sense of foreboding gripped Tang Chenfeng's heart, and the ensuing scene already surfaced in his mind.

Tang Chenfeng did not continue jumping to the next tree. Instead, using the tree trunk as leverage, he drove strength into both legs and leaped straight toward the side, carrying the other two with him.

A massive beam of dark-gold light descended in the very next instant upon the spot they had just occupied, cleaving apart everything in its path.

That was right, it cleaved apart everything.

When this beam of dark-gold light swept past, there was not even much sound. Trees, rocks, and the ground it crossed were all severed by that terrifying dark-gold radiance, just like a sharp blade slicing through—everything was neatly cut apart.

This was the signature ultimate skill of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw! This was a terrifying offensive technique capable of severely wounding even the body of a giant dragon.

Yet the bulky form of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear bounded into the air at this moment. Its terrifying explosive jump made it look as though it were soaring into the sky, catching up to the trio in a near-instant.

Tang Chenfeng and the others were in midair right then, with nowhere at all to hide. The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear's dreadclaw was about to descend, yet they didn't even have the chance to press their Distress Signal Devices.

With two sounds of boom! clang!, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw struck the three of them squarely.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw flashed past, and the figures of Ze Ping and Ye Hongling were instantly cleaved apart, turning into points of light that vanished, while Tang Chenfeng was sent flying as if slammed by a heavy blow.

Waves of gasps had already broken out in the observation room. One had to remember that damage sustained within the Spirit Platform would feed back into a person's mental state; being hacked into several pieces by a Dark Gold Dreadclaw was definitely not a pleasant experience.

Two of the three Spirit Platforms had already stopped working and popped out from the wall because the people inside had died.

The Spirit Platform opened, and as expected, the two people inside were unconscious, deathly pale, and convulsing all over. Fortunately, Ling Wei was right beside them. The hands of this top-tier Healing System Soul Master on the continent were actually trembling slightly—not because she lacked confidence in healing them, but because watching her own children get hacked apart alive tore at her heart.

Only then did she notice one thing: "Why hasn't Chenfeng come back yet?"

The screen at that moment showed that directly in front of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, a figure lay limp in a crater on the ground, still struggling to stand up.

When the Dark Gold Dreadclaw was about to descend earlier, Tang Chenfeng had once more summoned the Star God Armor to block that fatal blow for him, and combined with the damage-sharing effect of Ye Hongling's Life Link, it had spared him from death. Even so, the formidable impact still sent Tang Chenfeng flying. Facing the Dark Gold Dreadclaw, even the Star God Armor forged from Soul Forging materials was completely torn apart by that strike, and Tang Chenfeng's left arm had suffered a comminuted fracture.

Tang Chenfeng had always been someone who refused to admit defeat. Clearly suffering heavy injuries, he refused to press the Distress Signal Device. It was as if some force supported him, igniting the flames of fighting spirit within Tang Chenfeng's heart. He didn't want to give up; he still wanted to struggle to his feet and keep fighting.

Right then, inside the pocket of Tang Chenfeng's real-world clothes within the Spirit Platform, an azure Treasure Orb—his Starlight Stone—began to emit a peculiar colorful radiance as it slowly floated out of Tang Chenfeng's pocket, then gently merged into his right palm as if it possessed consciousness.

Naturally, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear saw this sole survivor. To it, Tang Chenfeng was now a fish on the chopping block waiting to be carved up, so it launched its offensive against the only target left in the arena.

The staff outside the arena wore faces full of anxiety. "Why isn't that child pressing the Distress Signal Device? If this goes on, his mental state will suffer severe damage!"

"Is there a way to force an exit?" Ling Wei asked anxiously from the side.

Faced with her question, the staff could only shake their heads helplessly.

On the screen, Tang Chenfeng finally struggled to stand back up. At this point, his left arm was already injured and could no longer move, hanging limply at his side.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear had already charged forward, its dark-gold dreadclaw hacking down toward the top of Tang Chenfeng's head.

Some people in the observation room had already closed their eyes; they didn't want to witness the scene of this child being cleaved into two halves.

Clang! But what echoed was not the sound of flesh being torn apart, but the sound of something snapping.

Everyone present widened their eyes in disbelief. It was indeed snapped into two halves, but it wasn't Tang Chenfeng—it was the Dark Gold Dreadclaw that had broken in two.

"How is this possible?" Everyone present was shaken to the core.

When all gazes focused on Tang Chenfeng's fist, they saw that his fist seemed to be wrapped in a layer of raging, burning azure flames.