New Soul Beasts

"Really?"

Some Demon Race members whose strength did not even match Xiong Jun's found that this voice was also lingering in their ears after arriving here. Covering their ears did nothing; they could only block it out with their minds.

"I didn't hear it. You have to actively connect to it yourself."

Gu Yuena swam through the air, her spiritual domain automatically blocking out that mental message.

"Xiong Jun!"

Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked at Xiong Jun, a faint smile in her voice.

"Auspicious Beast, did you find it?"

Xiong Jun still could not figure out where it was. He had just searched the area again with his spiritual power.

"Did you search beneath your feet?"

Three-Eyed Golden Lion was nearly unable to hold back her laughter. This guy really had not caught on.

"Beneath my feet?"

Xiong Jun was a little dumbfounded. When he had searched with his spiritual power, he had indeed scanned underground as well, down to about five meters, making sure not even an ant escaped him.

The gathered demons all smiled. Xiong Jun had searched everywhere, yet the other party had never moved from where it was.

"No wonder Xiong Jun had such a hard time finding it. It really is rather deep."

Gu Yuena did not join in mocking Xiong Jun. Instead, she continuously sent her spiritual power deep into the soil. After penetrating several hundred meters, she finally locked onto the source of that mental message.

"Stop laughing. You might not have thought of it either if you'd come here."

Di Tian spoke up and lightly rebuked the gathered demons, though his tone carried an unconcealable hint of amusement as well.

Xiong Jun had disgusted him every day in the past. Aside from when Di Tian was in seclusion, Xiong Jun would come challenge him to a fight every few hundred years, pestering him again as soon as he recovered from his injuries.

It was not enough for Di Tian to hate Xiong Jun, but he was still quite pleased to see Xiong Jun suffer this sort of setback.

Xiong Jun sent his spiritual power underground and likewise found the "ghost" that had been haunting him all this time.

"Damn it, come out!"

Unable to save face, Xiong Jun stomped heavily with his right foot. The earth let out a rumbling wail.

The ground beneath them began to tremble without pause, the disturbance growing ever greater. Then, from the gathered demons' perspective, they began to rise higher and higher as the earth steadily lifted into the air.

An earthy yellow halo enveloped the land, keeping the soil beneath them from collapsing.

The gathered demons exchanged looks and took flight, hovering in the air.

Since that unknown creature was buried underground, Xiong Jun decided to dig it out, even if he had to lift several hundred meters of earth directly into the air.

The enormous commotion threw the Soul Beasts within the forest into panic, and they fled farther away one after another.

The massive chunk of earth moved silently through the air, like a wordless fortress of war.

Xiong Jun gently exhaled. In the past, he would never have dared imagine that he could accomplish something like this. Back then, it would have been impressive enough if he could barely leave claw marks more than ten meters deep in the ground with Sky-Rending Claw.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"Where am I going?"

Those three sentences lingered in the ears of the gathered demons. Hovering in the air, they silently watched the "creature" within the deep pit.

It was an incomparably massive silver ore vein. Freed from the restraints of the soil, it began to wriggle within the pit.

"This is..."

Xiong Jun finally saw the creature that had been buzzing endlessly in his ears. It was actually a metal ore vein that had developed intelligence.

With a massive piece of metal as its core and the various metals within the ore vein as its body, it twisted and coiled within the pit like a metal dragon.

"Is this the new change Lu Master told us to watch out for?"

Ten Thousand Demons King let out a deep breath. Metal developing intelligence was something that had never happened in the past hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of years—yet he had witnessed it today.

"This metal conducts spiritual power rather well, and it seems capable of storing a portion of it too, with relatively slow dissipation."

Gu Yuena lightly drew a Wind Blade across the body of the "metal dragon," transferring a small piece of the severed metal onto her dragon claw for testing.

"Perhaps it is precisely because of this property that it is only now beginning to develop intelligence. And because of that hazy intelligence and its vast spiritual power, it can send out that call for Xiong Jun to hear."

Di Tian murmured as he looked at the "dragon" in the pit.

"That means everything in Star Dou Great Forest could possibly develop intelligence and begin transforming into demons. Maybe one day, when you sit on a rock to rest, the rock will say, 'Get off me, you fat bastard.'"

Scarlet King said as his three heads swayed back and forth, and the gathered demons instinctively turned their gazes toward Xiong Jun.

"I'm muscular, not fat!"

Seeing everyone staring at him, Xiong Jun protested indignantly.

"With a metal ore vein of this scale, once its intelligence fully awakens, even ordinary gods might not necessarily be able to defeat it. Its refined body alone would be enough to give its opponent a hard time."

A faint smile appeared on Di Tian's face. Although the other party did not belong to the usual Soul Beast race, it could still be considered a new Soul Beast. Demons had to keep pace with the times; they could not become obstacles against the tide of the era.

"What if we refine its body into Magic Treasures?"

Xiong Jun looked down at the metal dragon still writhing below and smiled maliciously.

"Then you might get beaten to a pulp by it!"

Scarlet King mocked him while shaking his heads. Of course he just blurted out whatever came to mind. Constantly breathing fire was exhausting enough already, and now Xiong Jun wanted him to keep breathing fire to refine the thing into Magic Treasures? Dream on.

"That sounds pretty good. It's sturdy and can take a beating, a fine target for combat practice. It can even move and fight back."

Zi Ji was eager to try. None of the other demons wanted to fight her every day. Now that this new race had appeared, perhaps it would finally let her fight to her heart's content.

"This metal ore vein is probably only several hundred meters long. There must be longer ore veins on the continent, thousands or even tens of thousands of meters long. Or the famous mountains scattered everywhere—if they all develop intelligence..."

Gu Yuena's voice grew quieter and quieter.

The gathered demons looked at their current bodies, only a few meters tall. Though these were transformed forms, most of their true bodies were still smaller than those ore veins and mountain peaks.

"Go back and cultivate properly!"

"At least we'll be able to survive one of their attacks!"

No one knew who said it first, but the remaining demons quickly echoed the sentiment.

"Xiong Jun, pay closer attention when you insert the formation pillars. If you hear voices in any other places, record them. When you have time, scan underground more often."

Gu Yuena looked at Xiong Jun and spoke with a serious expression.

"After all, you were the first to encounter it. Perhaps you have some affinity with it."

"As you command, my lord~"

Xiong Jun's face fell, but he still agreed.

"Demon Spirit, when you have nothing to do, stay here and talk to it. Teach it some basic knowledge about Soul Beasts and the Demon Race. At the very least, make sure it recognizes itself as a Soul Beast in the future."

Gu Yuena turned to the small purple beast beside her and gave the order.

"As you command, my lord."

Demon Spirit's soft, sweet voice rang out. It could draw talismans anywhere, and when it had nothing to do, it could also chat with the other party.

"Let us welcome the rebirth of the Soul Beast race together!"

"Thank Lu Master."

Gu Yuena slightly lowered her head.

"Thank Lu Master."

The gathered demons lowered their heads at the same time, expressing their gratitude to Lu Wu.

Within the deep pit, the metal ore vein danced wildly like a giant dragon, as though performing a ritual dance of gratitude.

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