As the dark shadow appeared, the water in the Lake of Life quickly returned to its normal color.
A huge shadow appeared at the bottom of the lake.
The surface was calm, but danger lurked beneath.
"Brother Chu Feng, something seems off about this lake!"
The water in the Lake of Life had suddenly returned to normal, catching Qian Renxue's attention.
Her beautiful eyes turned toward the lake. At the bottom, she spotted a strange shadow.
The shadow continued to grow larger, becoming clearer by the moment.
It was pitch-black, so dark that the light couldn't reveal its true form.
The shadow gave Qian Renxue a strong sense of danger, a feeling that seemed to come from her very soul—as though it were her natural enemy.
Chu Feng was focused on the spot where Bibi Dong had been, waiting for her to drop a Spirit Bone. Hearing Qian Renxue's puzzled voice, he turned to look down at the Lake of Life.
At some point, the water had become clear again. It looked as if Bibi Dong had never polluted it, as though the earlier contamination had been nothing but an illusion.
Gold of Life lay beneath the lake. It contained life energy, which could restore anything, so it was no surprise that the Lake of Life could purify itself.
But Chu Feng soon noticed a shadow on the lakebed.
It was enormous, covering the entire bottom of the Lake of Life.
The shadow grew clearer and slowly rose from the lakebed.
Vast power surged from beneath the lake. The water level rose, and a whirlpool spun into being at the center.
"Whoosh!"
At the center of the whirlpool, a black bolt of lightning tore open the air. A gigantic black claw emerged and lunged straight at Chu Feng and Qian Renxue.
The claw rapidly grew larger. In the blink of an eye, it covered half the Lake of Life.
It was not only enormous; the darkness it radiated was terrifying.
Its sharp talons looked capable of tearing through anything.
It wasn't a tiger's paw, a bear's paw, or a dog's paw. It looked more like a black chicken's foot, but it had five claws.
As a Transmigrator, Chu Feng recognized the claw's owner at once.
The Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King—Di Tian!
He hadn't expected to disturb him after all.
Awakening Beast God Di Tian meant that the other Ferocious Beasts below had all awakened, too.
Even the Silver Dragon King had likely awakened.
Though the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King was also a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, he was different from other Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. His body carried the purest Dragon Clan bloodline.
More than that, his bloodline came from the Dark Dragon King, and he wielded the ultimate darkness attribute.
He also possessed the Yin-Yang Complementarity soul skill. Di Tian was truly invincible beneath the gods.
If the Divine Realm hadn't forbidden Spirit Beasts from becoming gods, the power within Di Tian would have been enough for him to become a god at any moment.
As the strongest beneath the gods, Di Tian's status was beyond question. His attacks were not to be underestimated.
Especially this claw—it might well have been his ultimate technique: the Dragon God Claw.
The Supreme Dragon God had personally taught him the Dragon God Claw. It was a true divine skill, and its power far surpassed that of the Great Sumeru Hammer, even when augmented by an auxiliary divine skill.
The Dragon God Claw focused on offense. Its attack power ranked among the highest of all divine skills.
It was the Dragon God Claw that had cemented Di Tian's position as the strongest beneath the gods.
Once Di Tian used the Dragon God Claw, every powerhouse beneath the gods had to avoid its edge.
After thinking for a brief second, Chu Feng decisively activated Etherealization to evade the attack.
It wasn't that he feared Di Tian's Dragon God Claw. He simply knew that caution was the key to staying safe.
There were seven Ferocious Beasts in Star Dou Forest. Only Di Tian had appeared so far, while the other six were still watching from the shadows. Chu Feng couldn't give them any chance to ambush him.
Etherealization took effect, and Chu Feng and Qian Renxue entered an ethereal state.
The instant they did, the enormous black dragon claw swept through them. Its tremendous force cleaved through the space where they had been standing, carving out five spatial rifts of different widths.
Protected by Chu Feng, Qian Renxue stared at the five spatial rifts behind her. Her brow twitched.
Her breathing quickened.
A deep sense of dread filled her.
She couldn't imagine what would have happened if Chu Feng hadn't used Etherealization to avoid the claw. If it had struck them, the consequences would have been terrifying.
They would have been torn to pieces.
What shocked Qian Renxue even more was that Star Dou Forest contained such a terrifying Spirit Beast, in addition to the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.
She had never heard of it. None of Spirit Hall's records mentioned any other powerful Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in Star Dou Forest besides the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.
This Spirit Beast was no weaker than her grandfather.
If her grandfather had taken that claw, he would have died on the spot.
Qian Renxue couldn't understand it. She truly couldn't.
If such a powerful Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast lived in Star Dou Forest, how could Spirit Beasts be suppressed by human Spirit Masters and reduced to sources of Spirit Rings?
The reason human Spirit Masters could suppress the Soul Beast Clan and turn Spirit Beasts into sources of Spirit Rings was that humanity's strongest fighters surpassed those of the Spirit Beasts. Humans could destroy the Spirit Beasts with ease.
And there was something else...
Qian Renxue stared at the Lake of Life below, a trace of confusion rising in her heart.
A Spirit Beast like this lived in the lake, yet she hadn't sensed it at all.
Her spiritual detection couldn't find it, either.
Even the other woman's clone had failed to notice it when she was knocked into the lake.
Everything about this was bizarre.
Her spiritual power couldn't probe the Lake of Life, and this terrifying Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had appeared from nowhere.
Qian Renxue felt that the lake before her was shrouded in mystery, making her want to explore it.
But she knew her own limits. She wasn't strong enough to explore the Lake of Life yet.
She would need to reach at least her grandfather's level.
Or become the Angel God.
"Don't worry. He can't do anything to us while we're ethereal."
Chu Feng saw Qian Renxue staring at the spatial rifts Zhang Ditian's claw had torn open behind them and spoke to reassure her.
"I'm not worried, and I'm not afraid. I'm just curious, and I don't understand.
"How could such a powerful Spirit Beast exist in Star Dou Forest? If one like this lived here, then it stands to reason that Spirit Beasts couldn't be kept confined to the forest by humans, or be turned into sources of Spirit Rings."
[Asura God Trial, Second Trial issued: Subdue the Black-Eyed Golden Dragon King before you and investigate his origins. Trial rewards: Increase the age of all Spirit Rings by ten thousand years; Asura God's affinity +30%.]
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