Cyclops Clan

"Cyclopes? Twin Cyclopes?" Long Zhanye froze.

He recalled what Elder Gu had said earlier. So the "ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts missing an eye" referred to them?!

He had heard of these Soul Beasts before and only knew that they lived in certain special areas deep within the Star Dou Great Forest.

Their spiritual power was exceptionally strong, and they were extremely rare and dangerous. He had always assumed they were powerful spiritual-type Soul Beasts.

"That's right." Old Man Gu confirmed, "Their attribute is precisely 'Chaos'!"

"Or, more accurately, their attribute is 'unstable Chaos'!!"

"They do not possess any fixed, single attribute. Instead, they spontaneously develop different attributes according to their surroundings, their emotions, and even changes in the moon and stars!"

"They might possess the Light Attribute one moment, then turn into the darkness attribute the next. They might be blazing fire during the day, then become icy water at night..."

"Light and darkness coexisted, water and fire intertwined. Within them, these forces existed and transformed in a strange, chaotic fashion."

A hint of fanaticism entered Old Man Gu's voice. "Soul Beasts like these can be called oddities among Soul Beasts. Naturally, they are also the finest living specimens for researching the Chaos Attribute!"

"Their Soul Rings very likely contain that primal, undifferentiated Chaos Power. For your Heavenly Eye Martial Soul, they are the best possible choice!"

Long Zhanye's heart surged with excitement. This knowledge completely overturned everything he had previously understood.

Only then did he realize the uniqueness of his Heavenly Eye Martial Soul.

At the same time, he understood why Old Man Gu had taken this matter so seriously, even personally bringing him here.

Old Man Gu led Zhua Yun and Long Zhanye deeper into the southeastern region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

This direction gradually approached the border of the Star Luo Empire and belonged to the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

There were countless varieties of Soul Beasts here. Thousand-year Soul Beasts roamed about, while quite a few ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts also appeared. The environment was far more complicated and perilous than the outer regions.

Old Man Gu walked ahead with his cane, his steps unsteady, yet his eyes occasionally swept over the surrounding terrain as if recalling something.

As they walked, he seemed to remember certain long-buried events.

Or perhaps to ease the tedium of the journey, he suddenly spoke and threw out a question.

"Whether Cyclopes or Twin Cyclopes."

"Their bloodline quality is not weak. They are born with mastery over the power of the Chaos Attribute, and their spiritual power far surpasses Soul Beasts of the same rank."

"But... do you know why the entire Cyclops clan has almost never produced a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"

Long Zhanye blankly shook his head. His understanding of this clan was limited to what Old Man Gu had just told him.

Zhua Yun thought for a moment and cautiously answered, "Teacher, is it because their 'unstable Chaos' attribute makes cultivation exceptionally difficult?"

"Heh." Old Man Gu chuckled and shook his head. "Quite the opposite."

"Precisely because their attribute is 'Chaos,' they are, in a sense, closer to the world's primordial energy. Cultivating is actually easier for them than for many Soul Beasts with singular attributes."

"Oh? Then why..." Zhua Yun's curiosity was piqued as well.

Old Man Gu halted, leaning on his cane as he gazed into the depths of the forest. His voice lowered. "Because..."

"Deep within the Star Dou Great Forest lives an emperor among Auspicious Beasts."

"It is called—the Three-Eyed Golden Lion."

"The Three-Eyed Golden Lion?" Long Zhanye and Zhua Yun murmured at the same time.

They had vaguely heard this name before. It seemed to be connected to ethereal concepts such as fortune and auspiciousness, but they knew little of the details.

"That's right, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion." Old Man Gu confirmed.

"Though it is called an Auspicious Beast and carries the continent's fortune, it is also an exceptionally powerful Soul Beast in its own right."

"She possesses not only formidable spiritual power, but also the two ultimate attributes, Ultimate Light and Ultimate Fire. With merely ten thousand years of cultivation, she can rival a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!"

"And one of her favorite foods... is Cyclopes, especially Cyclops eyes and Brains."

This information sent a chill through both Long Zhanye and Zhua Yun. She fed on such a powerful Soul Beast clan?

Old Man Gu continued, "In order to ensure that this Auspicious Beast has a stable, abundant, and 'high-quality' food supply."

"The true rulers of the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest—those Fierce Beasts with cultivation beyond two hundred thousand years!"

"Joined forces to confine the entire Cyclops clan within a fixed, relatively isolated region."

"That place is under their strict control."

He paused, his tone growing grave. "More importantly, Cyclopes themselves possess intelligence far beyond that of Soul Beasts with the same cultivation!"

"Once they grow beyond sixty thousand years, the Chaos Attribute within their bodies undergoes a certain qualitative transformation!"

"Their strength skyrockets. With sixty thousand years of cultivation, they can even directly contend with some ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts!"

"To the Fierce Beasts that regard Cyclopes as a 'food reserve,' this is an utterly intolerable threat."

"So," Old Man Gu's gaze swept across the two youths.

"Those Fierce Beasts established an unwritten rule: whenever an individual Cyclops exceeds fifty thousand years, it will be closely watched!"

"And once there are signs of a breakthrough to sixty thousand years—even before it reaches sixty thousand years—those powerful Fierce Beasts will personally act and kill it! They crush the threat in the cradle!"

"This... is the greatest reason why the Cyclops clan can almost never produce Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."

There was a trace of lament in Old Man Gu's voice over the cruelty of the jungle's laws.

"They are penned in and restrained. Their strongest individuals are regularly 'harvested,' and the entire clan's upper limit was locked in place from the very beginning."

Long Zhanye and Zhua Yun felt a chill in their hearts. So that was it!

Despite their powerful bloodline, they were raised and restricted like livestock by even stronger beings. The cruelty of such a fate was truly sigh-inducing.

"However," Old Man Gu abruptly changed the subject, "when I was young, I once followed the sect master before last and accidentally entered that confined Cyclops territory."

"The scale of it... tsk, tsk, it was truly enormous. As far as the eye could see, they were densely packed together. There must have been tens of thousands of them!"

"Though the high-ranking individuals are strictly controlled, there are absolutely quite a few Cyclopes around ten thousand years old."

"So, finding a few suitable ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts will not be difficult for us."

His brow furrowed again. "The real difficulty is... how to approach them and lure a target out alone."

"Cyclopes have an extremely broad range of spiritual perception," Old Man Gu explained.

"Though they are confined within a certain area, they possess an intense sense of territory, and their spiritual network is even harder to describe."

"Ordinary Spirit Masters, even Title Douluo, may be caught by their Spirit Detection from dozens or even hundreds of miles away."

"Once discovered, they may face the vigilance of the entire clan and could even draw the attention of patrolling Fierce Beasts."

"If we wish to infiltrate without making a sound and precisely hunt one of them, it will be harder than ascending to heaven."

Long Zhanye could not help frowning as well. "Then... Elder Gu, how can we approach them without being discovered?"

Hearing this, Old Man Gu abruptly turned his head. His expression darkened as he gestured at Long Zhanye with his cane.

His tone was reproachful. "How? You foolish brat, why aren't you quickly taking it out?"

"Take out? Take out what?" Long Zhanye was stunned by the question, his face full of confusion.