In those fierce little eyes, a blazing fire called "greed" burned.
"ROAR!!!"
Xiong Jun abruptly stopped, threw his head back, and let out an unwilling roar that made the ancient trees around him tremble.
"Why?!
Why did that little scorpion from the Far North get tenth place?!
And get such a great reward!"
Xiong Jun turned to Di Tian, a red-eyed madness in his gaze.
"Boss! That reward means exemption from heavenly tribulations!
If I had it, then with another two hundred thousand years of cultivation on top, I'd even dare to rip that Qian Daoliu guy apart!
Why hasn't the Sky Screen announced the next one yet?
It's gotta be me!
It's gotta be me, old Xiong!
My Sky-Rending Claw bows to no one but you, Boss!
No matter how hard Ice Empress's shell is, I can crush it to pieces!"
Di Tian stood with his hands behind his back. His golden eyes remained deep and inscrutable, but his hands, hidden in his sleeves, had clenched into fists.
Exemption from heavenly tribulations...
For Ferocious Beasts like them, who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, those words were more lethal in their allure than godhood itself.
Every tribulation was a narrow escape from death.
Even he, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, had no certainty of surviving the next one.
"Calm down."
Di Tian drew a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, and spoke in a low voice.
"Since Ice Empress made the ranking, it must cover the entire Soul Beast Realm.
With your strength, you do have a chance."
At Di Tian's words, the fervor in Xiong Jun's eyes only grew. He stared fixedly at the sky, muttering over and over:
"It's gotta be me... It's gotta be me... Give me two hundred thousand more years, and I'll be invincible..."
Perhaps it had heard Xiong Jun's prayer, steeped in resentment and longing.
After a brief silence, the scene on the Sky Screen began to shift again.
The image of the snow-covered Far North shattered, replaced by a lush, dense forest, brimming with ancient, untamed wildness.
At the familiar sight, the Ferocious Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest instantly held their breath.
"Is that... the Star Dou Great Forest?!" Bi Ji exclaimed, covering her mouth.
The image rapidly zoomed in.
In a field of jumbled rocks in the forest's core region, a terrifying beast, over fifteen meters tall, roared up at the sky.
Dark-golden fur covered its entire body, every strand standing on end like a steel needle, gleaming with a suffocating metallic sheen.
Most striking were its disproportionately thick arms and the dark-golden claws, several meters long!
In the image, a hundred-thousand-year-old Black Dragon—not Di Tian—swooped toward it.
But the giant bear neither dodged nor flinched. A cruel grin split its face as it swung its right claw!
"SHRAAAK—"
Space itself seemed to tear open in that instant, leaving behind five pitch-black spatial rifts.
The hundred-thousand-year-old Black Dragon, renowned for its formidable defense, was torn to pieces by that single swipe, raining down like scraps of paper in a storm of blood!
Violence!
The purest, most extreme violence!
No flashy tricks—only raw power and destruction!
The image froze on the giant bear, drenched in dragon blood, throwing back its head in a savage laugh.
Then the golden characters that had shaken the entire continent crashed down!
[Top Ten Peak Soul Beast Ranking]
[Ninth Place]
[Identity: Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear · Xiong Jun]
[Affiliation: Star Dou Great Forest]
[Cultivation: 470,000 years]
[Species: Patriarch of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear clan, possesses Behemoth bloodline]
[Reason for Ranking: The true King of Destruction of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Though its cultivation is not the highest among the Ferocious Beasts, its bloodline is exceptionally formidable, and its offense and defense are abnormally powerful, placing it above all other soul beasts.
Its pair of Dark Gold Terror Claws is especially terrifying, capable of ignoring defenses and tearing through space.
It is a born war machine. In terms of destructive power alone, even the Ferocious Beasts ranked above it would not dare face its edge head-on.
If not for its somewhat weak spiritual power, it would rank even higher.]
As they read the domineering introduction on the Sky Screen and watched the image of Xiong Jun tearing the Black Dragon apart with his bare claws, the area beside Life Lake fell briefly silent.
Then—
"ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR!!!"
A thunderous burst of laughter rang out.
Xiong Jun sprang upright, pounding his chest with both massive paws. The blows boomed like war drums.
"That's me!
It really is me!
Hahahaha!"
"Ninth place!
I, old Xiong, am ninth! One place higher than that Ice Scorpion!"
"Did you see that, Scarlet King?!
Did you see that, Ten Thousand Demon King?!
I made the ranking!
I made the ranking!"
Xiong Jun was completely lost in delirious joy, a flower practically blooming across his ferocious bear face.
He didn't care at all about the words "somewhat weak spiritual power" in the evaluation. All he saw were "Ninth Place" and "King of Destruction"!
But most importantly...
Xiong Jun abruptly stopped laughing. His greedy little eyes fixed on the Sky Screen, and drool poured from his mouth like a waterfall.
"What about my reward? Hurry up and give it to me!"
"The Ice Scorpion got two hundred thousand years of cultivation and exemption from heavenly tribulations for tenth place. Since I'm ninth, old Xiong should get at least three hundred thousand years, right?!"
"Come on! Golden light! Shoot me already! Shoot me good!"
Watching Xiong Jun's utterly shameless display, his backside stuck out as he waited for a windfall from the heavens, Di Tian's mouth twitched. His head began to ache.
But the gravity in his eyes did not fade.
Even a Ferocious Beast like Xiong Jun, with four hundred and seventy thousand years of cultivation, had only made ninth place...
The ranking was far more impressive than he had imagined.
And since it ranked them by strength...
Di Tian looked up at the Sky Screen, silently calculating.
If Xiong Jun was ninth and Ice Empress tenth, then of the eight remaining places...
Snow Empress was sure to make the list. Bi Ji might make it through her support abilities, and Ten Thousand Demon King had a chance too.
What about him?
As the widely acknowledged Beast God of the present age, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King with eight hundred and ninety thousand years of cultivation, where would he rank?
First?
No...
A silver figure and a golden one flashed through Di Tian's mind: his Lord and the young Lord, currently in Suotuo City.
With his Lord and the young Lord in the running, first place was out of the question.
But apart from them, who in the world could surpass him?
He should make the top three, surely?
Then Di Tian thought of the Evil Emperor on the Sun Moon Continent and the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King in the ocean.
They were both threats.
Still, fifth place was the worst he could do!
As Xiong Jun waited impatiently and Di Tian's thoughts raced, the words announcing Xiong Jun's reward finally appeared on the Sky Screen, before the eyes of the assembled beasts!
Just as Xiong Jun's gaping maw stretched almost to his ears and drool pooled beneath him, his long-awaited boon finally descended from the Sky Screen!
[TOP.9 Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear · Xiong Jun ranking concluded. Moved by the heavens, the Heavenly Dao grants a boon!]
[Reward: Complete Bloodline Ancestral Reversion · Evolution!]
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