Two Soul Beasts Scared Witless

After Ao Zhan and Qian Renxue left the Pope's Bedchamber, Qian Xunji remained sitting on the bed in a daze.

Suddenly, he chuckled softly, his voice filled with self-mockery.

"I really am getting old. Little Zhan actually taught me a lesson."

Yet he looked extremely relaxed, as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

Meanwhile, Qian Renxue held Ao Zhan's arm, a smile blooming across her face. She was no longer as heartbroken as before.

"Brother Zhan," she called, "thank you."

Ao Zhan looked into her eyes and smiled. "It's nothing."

The next day, Ao Zhan informed Qian Daoliu and the others, then headed for the Star Dou Forest alongside Di Tian.

However, Little Angel insisted on coming with him.

Di Tian had no objections, and Ao Zhan naturally had no issue with it either.

Only the Seven Great Elders were worried, so they had Golden Crocodile, Xiong Shi, Azure Luan, and Guang Ling accompany them.

Led by Di Tian, the group swaggered straight into the Star Dou Forest.

The Star Dou Forest was the continent's largest gathering place for soul beasts. Among soul beasts, its status was roughly equivalent to Spirit Hall's status in the world of soul masters.

More soul beasts lived here than anywhere else on the continent, and the deeper one went, the stronger the soul beasts became.

But when those soul beasts sensed the aura emanating from Di Tian, the overlord of the Star Dou Forest, they all fled at the first sign of danger. The group encountered no obstruction whatsoever and arrived smoothly at the depths of the Star Dou Forest—the Lake of Life.

The lakewater was emerald green, as though it had been formed from an enormous piece of jade melted into liquid. Beneath the sunlight, it shone with a lustrous pale golden glow like flowing starlight.

Dense life force rippled within it, making Azure Luan unable to stop himself from praising it. "What a picturesque place."

Di Tian smiled. "This is the treasure of our Soul Beast Clan."

Gurgle, gurgle...

At that moment, large bubbles emerged across the tranquil lake surface, as though some colossal creature was about to burst out of the water.

Splash!

Two enormous soul beasts appeared. One had the head of an ox and the body of a snake, while the other was a black gorilla whose muscles seemed harder than granite.

These two were the publicly known overlords of the Star Dou Forest—the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.

If ordinary people encountered these two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, they would likely have already decided where they wanted to be buried. Yet apart from Qian Renxue, everyone present had the strength to grind these two soul beasts into the ground.

"Humans?!"

The Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape's pupils contracted when they saw Ao Zhan's group behind Di Tian. Just as they were about to attack, they felt a mountain-like pressure crash down upon them.

"Insolence!" Di Tian's face darkened as he pinned the two soul beasts firmly to the ground, leaving them unable to move.

"Roar!!!"

The two soul beasts roared furiously. As Star Dou Overlords, when had they ever suffered such humiliation?!

"You brazen madman! You dare attack the Forest Emperor and the King of the Forest! Are you trying to make an enemy of the Star Dou Forest?!"

The deafening voices of the two soul beasts rang out, but they had no idea what kind of existence stood before them.

"Di Tian, it seems your control over your subordinates isn't very good. Even two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts dare bare their teeth at you." Ao Zhan teased Di Tian.

Still, the reactions of these two soul beasts truly puzzled him. As guards of the Lake of Life, shouldn't they know what lay within its core region?

After all, the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena, was hidden here. It would have been impossible for these two soul beasts to reside here without the consent of the Fierce Beasts.

Di Tian felt utterly humiliated. As the Beast God of the Star Dou Forest, he had been roared at by two gatekeepers, and Dragon Venerable had even witnessed the joke.

He sighed. "They have never seen me. When they advanced to become Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, Ten Thousand Demon King and Yuan Lie, the chief of the Titan Giant Ape Clan, recommended them to me. Seeing that both had reached one hundred thousand years, I told Ten Thousand Demon King and Yuan Lie that they could remain at the Lake of Life. I never appeared before them from beginning to end."

"Although I am called the Beast God, that was a very, very long time ago. After that, I remained in the depths of the Lake of Life until I went to seek you out, Dragon Venerable. To the soul beasts of today, the title Beast God Di Tian is nothing more than a legend. Naturally, these two fellows do not know of my existence."

Ao Zhan and the others nodded in understanding.

"Wait. You said the chief of the Titan Giant Ape Clan was called Yuan Lie. Does that mean this fellow isn't the chief of the Titan Giant Ape Clan?" Ao Zhan asked, pointing at the Titan Giant Ape.

Di Tian nodded. "That's right. The Titan Giant Ape Clan is one of the top soul beast clans in the Star Dou Forest. There is more than one Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in the clan. This one has only just reached one hundred thousand years, while Yuan Lie's cultivation has already reached one hundred ninety thousand years. Compared to Yuan Lie, it is merely a child."

Ao Zhan was somewhat speechless after hearing that. So this so-called King of the Forest was not even the chief of its own clan. What gave it the nerve to call itself the King of the Forest?

Its clan chief probably was not that bold either.

After Di Tian finished explaining, he looked at the two fools with murderous intent. The aura of a 780,000-year Fierce Beast erupted, and an enormous phantom of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King appeared behind him, roaring in fury.

"You two fools! You don't even know who I am?!"

In an instant, the sky darkened. As a dark-element dragon king, and the son of the Dark Dragon King among the Nine Great Dragon Kings, Di Tian's rage was equivalent to the descent of darkness.

The Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape were nearly swallowed by that overwhelming Fierce Beast aura.

When the Sky Azure Bull Python saw that Golden-Eyed Black Dragon, it was so frightened that its soul nearly fled its body. It recalled a legend that had circulated through the Star Dou Forest for ages.

The legend said that long ago, there had been a Black Dragon Beast God in the Star Dou Forest. Its strength was unfathomable, and no soul beast could defeat it. It had been the true overlord of the Star Dou Forest.

But that legend was far too ancient. The soul beasts born later in the Star Dou Forest had never seen that Beast God, causing them to believe it was merely a legend.

Furthermore, after becoming a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Sky Azure Bull Python had grown arrogant. It believed that in the entire Star Dou Forest, aside from the chief of its younger brother's clan and that terrifying soul beast who had brought it here, it was the strongest.

For some unknown reason, those two soul beasts also kept themselves completely isolated from worldly affairs. As long as no one attacked the Lake of Life, they would not interfere.

Thus, as the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape became increasingly active, more and more soul beasts and visiting soul masters learned of their existence. Their fame grew greater and greater, until they were eventually called the Forest Emperor and the King of the Forest.

They had always enjoyed the glory and awe brought by those titles. Over time, they themselves came to believe that they were the emperor and king of the Star Dou Forest.

But today, the Black Dragon Beast God had appeared, and they had actually called themselves "Emperor" and "King" in front of it!

They had truly courted death to the utmost extreme!