Xue Ling Arrives

In the depths of the sea, the Demon Empress might be able to suppress the Sea Princess, whose Spiritual Power was formidable, but actually subduing her was nearly impossible.

Di Tian nodded to show that he understood. He did not care about a top-tier fence-sitter like the Sea Princess. That was the benefit of growing stronger—he would use the traditions of the Soul Beast race to make her both obey his orders and answer his summons.

Besides, he was quite grateful that the Sea Princess had united the Sea Soul Beasts' strength. It saved him from having to seek them out one by one. Not only would that be troublesome, but he might easily come up empty-handed.

The Soul Beast Bureau's current policy was already clear: the main line was to unite and revive the Soul Beast race, divided into the two branches of terrestrial Soul Beasts and marine Soul Beasts, ultimately converging on the goal of wresting living space from humanity and triggering a massive eruption of the Power of Faith.

Di Tian was not worried about the Sea Soul Beasts. They would be easy to suppress and gather, and there was plenty of time.

The only thing that concerned him was the terrestrial Soul Beasts, who had suffered the worst at humanity's hands. Among them, only Di Tian and Xiong Jun could still stand tall, while Ten Thousand Demons King barely counted as half of one.

Gu Yuena was busy with romance, Da Ming and Er Ming were wavering, Bi Ji specialized in healing, and as for the other ferocious beasts with two or three hundred thousand years of cultivation, their combat power was only comparable to that of human Super Douluos. They simply could not compete in the Final Chapter Peak Competition. Against humanity's Limit Douluos, they would basically be serving themselves up as fodder.

It was not that Di Tian could not fight in the Final Chapter Peak Competition alone, but that would easily make the many terrestrial Soul Beasts feel that the revival of the Soul Beast race depended entirely on a single supreme powerhouse, giving off a strong sense of a broken succession.

Hope born from despair—if that hope was not powerful enough, fervent enough, or stable enough, then that faith would remain weak, perhaps even be severely diminished.

Now, he needed to find a way to make the existing ferocious beasts stronger in a short time.

"The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well in Sunset Forest... Hmm... it has many immortal herbs, and that treasure land can increase cultivation speed tenfold."

"No, no. Soul Beasts are ultimately different from humans. Even if their cultivation speed increased tenfold, it would not add much cultivation or combat power in a short time."

"The Holy Spirit Cult's many evil secret arts... Tch, their side effects are enormous. Even the Demon Empress endured them with great difficulty."

"Devouring Soul Beasts like the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King to rapidly increase cultivation... Uh, this plan should be ruled out entirely. The Soul Beast race is already on the verge of extinction; it cannot endure that kind of devastation."

Career-minded Di Tian lowered his eyes in thought, completely failing to notice the woman standing on the distant continental shoreline, where blue seas, clear skies, and golden sands met.

It was Xue Ling, who had traveled all the way from the Far North Land to the southernmost end of the continent, with a small beast perched on her shoulder.

Her breathing was hurried and her chest rose and fell sharply. She had presumably only just arrived.

Her jade nose twitched as she caught a familiar scent.

"It's the same aura as the one on Di Tian's reverse scale. Did he go underwater?"

Whether from the excitement of having guessed Di Tian's whereabouts or the exhaustion of such a long journey, no one knew.

Her snow-white little feet stepped on the beach, and her jade-like toes suddenly curled, fine grains of sea sand gathering around them.

Yet in the next instant, those curled white toes relaxed again.

"Di Tian, Di Tian! Over here, over here!"

Xue Ling gazed into the distance, her sapphire-blue eyes shimmering brilliantly.

That light, penetrating voice reached Di Tian's ears. Snapping out of his thoughts, Di Tian raised his head and locked onto its source.

"Xue Ling?"

Before the questioning voice had fully faded, his figure flashed. In the next second, he was already standing before Xue Ling.

"Why are you here?"

With a subtle sweep of his senses, he discovered that the Black Dragon Reverse Scale he had given the Titan Snow Demon King now hung around Xue Ling's neck.

"Titan and Bing Ji only allowed you to come out after forcing you to bring my reverse scale, right?"

"Mm-hm, mm-hm." Xue Ling nodded repeatedly. Just as she was about to speak, she saw the black-robed Demon Empress suddenly appear at Di Tian's left side.

Her heart instantly jolted. She ducked behind Di Tian's right side, using his tall frame to hide her comparatively petite body. Only a small head peeked out as she watched the Demon Empress nervously.

The gesture startled the Demon Empress. A look of remembrance welled in her eyes, and she could not help but sigh inwardly.

Sigh~

Once upon a time, she had been like that too—a silly, foolish little woman.

After composing herself, she said to Di Tian, "Don't worry. The Soul Beasts in the Far North Core Circle are fine."

Hearing those words from the Demon Empress, the clever Xue Ling immediately caught the hidden implication and became unhappy at once.

So they thought she had run off with the reverse scale, abandoning her home and responsibilities.

Pouting, she retorted, "The Far North Land is my home. How could I possibly abandon it?"

"I brought a Far North Soul Beast with a special spatial talent. Using the spatial marks left in the Far North Core Circle, it can teleport inanimate objects."

"If the Far North Land encounters danger, it can directly teleport the reverse scale back. I'll return immediately as well."

She pointed to the little beast standing on her shoulder—the Far North Soul Beast with the special spatial talent she had mentioned.

Upon seeing Di Tian and the Demon Empress, two great powers of the Soul Beast race, the rather ferocious-looking little beast trembled, whether from fear or excitement, and sent a message through Spiritual Power.

"G-greetings, Beast God."

Di Tian gently stroked the little beast's head with his palm, calming its mind and stopping its trembling.

Xue Ling wrapped her lotus-like arms around Di Tian's outstretched arm.

"I forgive you for tattling on me in my own home."

"But don't forget what you promised me. We pinky-swore."

"My cultivation speed is very fast. I can definitely help you, help the Soul Beast race."

Di Tian looked Xue Ling over from head to toe.

He mused to himself: A humanoid soul beast—the Ice and Snow Elf—did indeed cultivate very quickly.

Unfortunately, she still could not compare to a true human.

Hmm? Humanoid, humanoid...

Xue Ling could naturally sense Di Tian's gaze fixed on her. It had gone from initial appraisal, to contemplation, and finally to excitement and exhilaration.

That excitement and exhilaration bore a seven- or eight-tenths resemblance to the looks Xue Ling had received from many male humans.

Along the way, she had drawn countless glances, and in the eyes of quite a few humans, she had seen the primal desire to reproduce and mate.

At that thought, her cheeks flushed.

"What are you looking at? If you still don't say anything, I'll take it that you haven't changed your mind."

Yet the response she received was somewhat beside the point.

"Come, follow me!"

Di Tian grabbed her hand, called to the Demon Empress, and set off in a certain direction.

On the road.

Xue Ling's snow-white little face went from a faint blush to a bright red.

She saw that the excitement and exhilaration in Di Tian's eyes had not faded. Instead, they grew even more intense.

Clearly, she thought Di Tian was now just like those humans filled with the desire to reproduce and mate.

Although Xue Ling was innocent by nature, she still knew most of what there was to know about mating and reproduction. She had even witnessed it several times firsthand in the Far North Land.

For soul beasts, whose customs were relatively open, mating and reproduction were instincts, not something shameful.

But while she did not object to mating with Di Tian, this was only their second meeting. It was far too soon—far too soon even for soul beasts!