The state of Spirit Beasts was strange. They had an enormous population, and although their growth took a long time, unlike humans, they faced no cultivation threshold. As long as ordinary Spirit Beasts survived for 100,000 years, they could become Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
Though the road ahead might be filled with hardships, during the first 100,000 years, only death could limit a Spirit Beast's growth. Logically, there should have been many Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts, since countless Spirit Beasts were born every year.
Yet in reality, there were not many Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Considering the massive base population of Spirit Beasts, beings that had lived for 100,000 years were already exceedingly rare. Human hunting was certainly one reason, but the greater reason was hunting, slaughter, and conflict among Spirit Beasts themselves. Many Spirit Beasts died young after only a few years. This was one of the greatest problems hindering the development of Spirit Beasts.
To the Silver Dragon King, Di Tian, and even Bi Ji, this was perfectly normal. It was the law of the jungle among Spirit Beasts: survival of the fittest, and weakness was the original sin. Bi Ji would heal injured Spirit Beasts, but she would not interfere with other Spirit Beasts hunting for food. After all, when you saved a sheep, were you not also harming a wolf?
The growth of Life required energy. Apart from an anomaly like Ye Qing, most Spirit Beasts obtained their energy from food. For Spirit Beasts, preying on weaker Spirit Beasts was entirely normal. If not for the miraculous living power bank that was Tian Meng, who knew how many Spirit Beasts Di Tian, Xiong Jun, and the others would have devoured? Not to mention evil Spirit Beasts like the Man Faced Demon Spider, which took pleasure in slaughter.
For Spirit