The horns blared across Great Meng City, and a bloody battle erupted, staining the earth red.
Great Meng City's armored cavalry fought against all the exotic beasts attacking the city.
The armored cavalry of Great Meng City had prepared in advance. They spread out their battle lines and raised their defensive formations, keeping tens of thousands of exotic beasts outside the city.
The two sides fought fiercely. Blood flowed like a river, corpses piled like mountains, and severed limbs littered the ground. The roars and screams of beasts rang without end.
Chen Bao charged at the forefront, holding off the Wild Boar King, one of the two Treasure Beast Kings. The other, the Meng Snake King, charged into the trench defenses, unstoppable.
This Meng Snake King, with a lifespan of eight thousand years, was a hundred meters long and possessed hundreds of thousands of pounds of strength. It rolled its body, tearing through the defenses and breaking past the trenches.
It rampaged forward, spraying blood like rain. Many of Great Meng City's Divine Cultivation experts died horribly at its hands.
It opened its mouth and spewed venomous mist that swept over them like a rising tide, killing dozens of experts in one breath.
Great Meng City's armored cavalry refused to retreat. Several Jieyin experts led their troops in a charge, fighting the Meng Snake King in a bloody battle, but they still weren't its match.
Fortunately, the Grandmaster Mansion sent out a Giant Warship, which raced toward the Meng Snake King and unleashed its full firepower. Giant arrows and powerful bolts rained down.
The experts of one of the Three Retinues leaped from the Giant Warship and joined the defenders in a bloody battle against the Meng Snake King.
The battle erupted in earnest. Countless fighters on both sides fell, and the fighting was utterly brutal.
At the other end of the battlefield, Liu Chengfeng's bloody fight against a two-thousand-year-old exotic beast was also nearing its end.
The two-thousand-year-old beast grew weaker as the battle dragged on. It had lost too much blood and vitality, and its injuries were worsening. It was already at the end of its strength.
Liu Chengfeng, by contrast, grew stronger with every clash. He was covered in blood, but showed no trace of fatigue.
His blood and vitality only surged more fiercely with each fight, and his wounds healed rapidly. He drove the two-thousand-year-old beast back again and again.
At last, the Thunder Sound Staff crashed heavily into its head. A crisp crack rang out as its bones shattered. The beast let out a mournful cry, its brains and blood bursting out as Liu Chengfeng beat it to death with a single blow.
After killing the beast and taking its true blood, Liu Chengfeng's fighting spirit soared. He searched for his next opponent.
"Damn your mother—"
As Liu Chengfeng weaved through the battlefield, casually killing several beasts that were only a few hundred years old, he suddenly heard someone curse.
It was the language of exotic beasts, incomprehensible to Divine Cultivators, but Liu Chengfeng understood it.
"Ah Yuan?" Liu Chengfeng was startled. An exotic beast was angrily cursing and muttering. It was Ah Yuan's voice.
Liu Chengfeng crossed the battlefield and spotted a fierce battle at its edge. It really was Ah Yuan.
At that moment, Ah Yuan had been trapped by the Ascending Wu Clan.
The Ascending Wu Clan had set up a grand array, using thirty-six experts as its foundation. They cradled a cauldron, burned spirit stones, and scattered witch incense.
The witch incense spread like mist, shrouding an area hundreds of meters across and forming a maze-like array.
The Hidden Witch Array was one of the Wu Clan's great techniques. It could befuddle the mind, and its poisonous incense could halt one's blood and vitality, leaving the body weak.
Inside the Hidden Witch Array, Ascending Wu Rong and an old man in green robes were joining forces to attack Ah Yuan. The old man was the Path Clearing Envoy.
Befuddled by the Hidden Witch Array and poisoned by the witch incense, Ah Yuan's strength was suppressed. He charged left and right, unable to break out.
Ascending Wu Rong and the Path Clearing Envoy were both experts of the Reception Divine Treasury, with formidable strength. They unleashed all their blood and vitality.
One was surrounded by billowing witch energy, the other by surging green qi. Together, they did everything they could to suppress Ah Yuan.
In a one-on-one fight, neither Ascending Wu Rong nor the Path Clearing Envoy would have stood a chance against Ah Yuan.
But trapped inside the Hidden Witch Array, Ah Yuan had given Ascending Wu Rong and the other man an opening to suppress him.
Ah Yuan had fallen into the disadvantage. Several wounds on his body were deep enough to expose bone, and blood poured from them.
The Hidden Witch Array's poisonous mist left Ah Yuan frustrated and disoriented. Unable to find his way, he flew into a rage and shouted curses at them.
Liu Chengfeng didn't understand formations either, so he opened the Sky Eye in his mind and looked toward the Hidden Witch Array.
An array of the Hidden Witch Array's level was riddled with flaws beneath the Sky Eye's power to see through illusions. He saw through it at a glance.
"Cross Wind Hall, take the Kan position, retreat through the central gate..."
Liu Chengfeng shouted, reminding Ah Yuan how to break the array.
When Ah Yuan heard Liu Chengfeng's voice, he was overjoyed. He let out a roar, his body rolling like a giant dragon as he crossed Wind Hall, took the Kan position, and retreated through the central gate...
The moment he broke out of the array, Ah Yuan became a hidden dragon rising from the depths, unstoppable.
With a roar, his fangs jutted out like long blades, piercing the chests of more than a dozen Ascending Wu Clan experts.
Screams rang out one after another. The Hidden Witch Array was shattered, terrifying Ascending Wu Rong and the Path Clearing Envoy. They immediately turned to flee.
"Ha, ha, ha! Brother, you saved my life."
Ah Yuan laughed wildly and charged toward Liu Chengfeng.
Liu Chengfeng was also puzzled. Why hadn't Ah Yuan stayed on Little Meng Mountain? Why had he ended up with the exotic beasts of Great Meng Mountain?
"Traitor! He's colluded with exotic beasts to attack Great Meng City!"
Ascending Wu Rong had wanted to take the true blood of a five-thousand-year-old exotic beast. He hadn't expected Liu Chengfeng to ruin everything. Enraged, he led all his men in a charge toward them.
"Young Master Ye, that Liu fellow is a traitor. He's colluded with the exotic beasts!"
As he charged toward Liu Chengfeng, he also complained to the Grandmaster Mansion.
One of the three Giant Warships above Great Meng City immediately changed course and raced toward Liu Chengfeng and the others on the battlefield.
The whoosh of arrows split the air. The Giant Warship unleashed its full firepower, sending a torrent of giant bolts and arrows toward Liu Chengfeng and Ah Yuan.
"Let's get out of here first."
Liu Chengfeng leaped onto Ah Yuan's back. Riding him, he turned and fled, charging out of the battlefield.
"Traitors! You won't escape—"
The Ascending Wu Clan's experts and the Giant Warship overhead pursued them relentlessly.
Ah Yuan roared and charged into Great Meng Mountain. Familiar with its terrain, he swerved through the peaks and valleys, leaving the Ascending Wu Clan and the Grandmaster Mansion's Giant Warship behind.
The enraged Ascending Wu Clan returned to Great Meng City and immediately demanded an explanation from the Cloud Rising Sect, accusing the Fourth Elder and the others.
"City Lord, the Cloud Rising Sect colluded with exotic beasts to attack Great Meng City. They deserve death. The sect must be wiped out."
"Bullshit! Ascending Wu Rong, stop slandering people!"
"Everyone saw it with their own eyes. That Liu boy led an exotic beast out of the battlefield. If that isn't collusion, what is?"
"City Lord, I stake my life on this. I'll put my own head on the line. Isn't that enough?"
The Fourth Elder had no way to defend himself. He knew that Ah Yuan had been with Liu Chengfeng back on Little Meng Mountain.
"Take him away."
Chen Bao didn't immediately sentence the Fourth Elder. As an elder of the Cloud Rising Sect and a member of the imperial family, the Fourth Elder's life carried considerable weight.
"Get the people out of Great Meng City. There's an estate outside the city."
As he was taken away, the Fourth Elder quietly instructed Jiang Yu to lead the others out of Great Meng City.
The Ascending Wu Clan was determined to wipe them out. Their accusation was plausible, and the Grandmaster Mansion wouldn't let the matter rest. The Fourth Elder's status as a collateral member of the imperial family wouldn't protect Jiang Yu and the others for long.
The Fourth Elder secretly arranged for Jiang Yu and the other disciples to leave.
"Ha, ha, ha! I've broken through the five-thousand-year mark." After leaving the Ascending Wu Clan and the Grandmaster Mansion behind, Ah Yuan laughed and shared the good news with Liu Chengfeng.
An exotic beast's lifespan wasn't something it simply lived out; it depended on its cultivation.
"How did you end up mixed in with the exotic beasts of Great Meng Mountain?" Liu Chengfeng asked, puzzled.
"Ah, Little Meng Mountain isn't a place I can stay anymore. You have no idea what a huge mess has broken out there."
"You mean the sacrificial ceremony?"
"That's not all. Do you remember that Demon Imp?"
Liu Chengfeng nodded. That Demon Imp really had been terrifying—powerful enough to wipe out an entire kingdom.
"I'm telling you, it was an eighty-thousand-year-old ferocious beast, the Beast Emperor's great general and the lord of Qing Continent."
Beasts with lifespans of more than ten thousand but less than a hundred thousand years were called ferocious beasts.
"Lord of Qing Continent?"
Liu Chengfeng was startled too. The four great powers—the Qiuchi Kingdom, the Flying Phoenix Kingdom, the Nangong Clan, and the Dragon Ascending Holy Sect—all lay within Qing Continent.
Qing Continent was one of the Nine Continents of Qingmeng.
"Dead. No idea who killed it. And it wasn't the only exotic beast that died. You know those three giant beasts at the God Tomb?"
"Didn't they escape?" Back then, before the God Tomb, he had watched those three giant beasts flee with his own eyes.
"Escape my ass. They're all dead, and nobody knows who killed them."
Ah Yuan shuddered. These were ferocious beasts that had ruled their own territories, yet they'd been killed just like that.
"That giant ape carrying the copper staff was the lord of Cloud Mist Marsh, a ferocious beast with a lifespan of more than twenty thousand years. The other two giant beasts were no weaker."
"They were killed just like that, without a sound or a trace."
Liu Chengfeng fell silent for a moment. He had witnessed how powerful those three giant beasts were.
"So that's why you came here?"
"It's not that simple. Things are in chaos among us exotic beasts too. The lord of Qing Continent is dead, the lord of Cloud Mist Marsh is dead, and even the Mountain Lord of Great Meng Mountain died during the grand sacrifice."
"Now there's no Mountain Lord over the exotic beasts anywhere in Qing Continent. They're fighting bloody battles over territory. I don't know what's happening on Qing Continent's high-level battlefield."
"In Cloud Mist Marsh, several Beast Emperors are fighting to the death to become Mountain Lord. It's the same in Great Meng Mountain."
"The Wild Boar King and the Meng Snake King were fighting to become Mountain Lord. They agreed that whoever conquered Great Meng City first would become Mountain Lord."
"I left Little Meng Mountain with nowhere to go. I happened to have a distant relative in Great Meng Mountain, so I came to stay with him. I didn't expect to get dragged into this mess. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lifted a finger for them."
"Something enormous happened on Little Meng Mountain. It's no longer a place for beasts to stay. How did you end up here, then?" Liu Chengfeng had no choice but to tell him about his search for Nangong Renshe and a cultivation technique.
"Nangong Renshe? I know about him."
"You do?" Liu Chengfeng was overjoyed.
"A few days ago, I heard that someone had stayed in the mountains. I'll take you there."
Without another word, Ah Yuan took Liu Chengfeng and raced into the vast Great Meng Mountain.
When they reached a mountain stream, Ah Yuan called over the nearby exotic beasts and questioned them.
He learned that an injured expert had indeed stopped here for a short while.
Liu Chengfeng used Celestial Body to communicate with the trees and rivers. Combining the information he gathered, he was able to confirm that Nangong Renshe had been here.
Knowing that Nangong Renshe was still alive, Liu Chengfeng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Nangong Renshe had stayed here, but he was badly injured and had fled in haste.
"We'll definitely find him."
Liu Chengfeng's spirits lifted, and he followed the trail with Ah Yuan.
Nangong Renshe must have been pursued by the Ascending Wu Clan and fled in a panic, escaping deep into Great Meng Mountain.
After shaking off the Ascending Wu Clan, he had probably rushed blindly in his panic and gotten lost in the depths of Great Meng Mountain.
Liu Chengfeng and Ah Yuan followed the trail for more than five thousand li, crossing a Sky-Propping Giant Peak.
Ahead lay a vast, mist-shrouded expanse of water, as though it were a labyrinth.
Giant beasts roared within this maze, and their bestial aura rolled in waves.
What was astonishing was that all kinds of strange phenomena appeared within the maze.
An ancient city flickered in and out of sight. A giant skeleton, like a mountain, moved through the fog. A spring of fire gushed forth, and an eerie giant tomb loomed beneath a tombstone that reached the heavens...
In the deepest part, it seemed that a sun and a moon were chasing each other. Beneath them lay corpse after corpse.
They seemed to be bowing in worship to the sun and moon.
Every strange phenomenon made one's hair stand on end. The moment anyone entered Cloud Mist Marsh, they stepped into a world of bizarre wonders from which it was difficult to emerge alive.
Before you continue