Not far behind them.
Gu Yuena sat quietly on a smooth jade stone. Her beautiful violet eyes shimmered with an unusually fervent light.
"Another chance to observe the rewards bestowed by the Sky Screen up close."
Gu Yuena silently considered this.
As long as she could see the path along which the Sky Screen's power flowed, she was confident she could follow the clues and find the being behind it.
Besides, Bi Ji growing stronger would be a tremendous help to her as well.
Just as all the Ferocious Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest waited in anticipation.
High above, purple clouds rolled once more across the sky.
Several lines of enormous golden text appeared with a mighty divine force, crashing into view at the center of the Sky Screen.
[Soul Beast Ranking, Seventh Place: Emerald Swan Bi Ji.]
[Identity: Leader of the Emerald Swan Clan in the Star Dou Great Forest, wife of Beast God Di Tian.]
Boom!
These few simple lines struck every human Soul Master's heart like a heavy hammer.
At that moment, the entire Douluo Continent fell into deathly silence.
A moment later.
The comments on the Sky Screen went completely berserk.
"Holy crap! Di Tian's wife?!"
"That Beast God Di Tian, whose ranking hasn't even been revealed yet but whose name has already resounded across the continent—is he really a Soul Beast from the Star Dou Great Forest?"
"Oh my god, the Star Dou Great Forest's foundations are terrifying!"
"Spirit Hall used to call itself the strongest force on the continent. Compared to these old monsters hidden in the Star Dou Great Forest, what the hell is it?"
"Exactly! There's Di Tian, Bi Ji, King of Ten Thousand Demons, the Nine Heavens Demon Eye Holy Tree, and Xiong Jun, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear... Is the Star Dou Great Forest trying to defy heaven?!"
Spirit Hall.
Inside the Pope Palace.
In the dimly lit hall, Bibi Dong sat upon the papal throne, a symbol of supreme authority.
Earlier.
When she saw that Xiong Jun had ranked only ninth and King of Ten Thousand Demons eighth.
Bibi Dong had even begun considering how to hunt down the injured Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
After all, the Soul Rings and Soul Bones of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear clan were an irresistible temptation to any Soul Master.
But now.
As she looked at the lines of information appearing on the Sky Screen, Bibi Dong sat utterly dumbfounded in her papal chair.
Her long, pale fingers gripped her scepter tightly, and her knuckles had turned slightly white from the force.
"The Star Dou Great Forest... How can it possibly be this powerful?"
Bibi Dong murmured in disbelief.
She had once thought that the Star Dou Great Forest contained only two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, and that Spirit Hall could bring them into its fold whenever it wished.
But now, it seemed...
Those so-called Forest Kings probably weren't even worthy of lacing the shoes of these truly terrifying beings!
At one side of the hall, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan looked pale as he asked in a trembling voice:
"Your Holiness, should we put our plan to hunt the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear on hold for now?"
Bibi Dong closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the emotions surging within her.
After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes. A resolute light glimmered in them.
"No. We proceed as planned."
"Although Di Tian is the ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest, according to the information I've obtained, Xiong Jun has never gotten along with him."
"As long as we move quickly enough to kill Xiong Jun before Di Tian can react, he won't start an all-out war with Spirit Hall over a dead rebel."
As she spoke, Bibi Dong's gaze fell once more on the name King of Ten Thousand Demons.
"And that King of Ten Thousand Demons... The Top-Grade Immortal Spirit Grass he obtained is an unparalleled treasure, rare in all the world."
"Such an Immortal Herb must have tremendous benefits for a Soul Master's Second Martial Soul."
"If we get the chance, we'll take King of Ten Thousand Demons as well and seize his Immortal Herb!"
Bibi Dong's words brimmed with undisguised ambition and greed.
Just as the entire continent reeled over the relationship between Di Tian and Bi Ji.
The scene on the Sky Screen changed once more.
An enormous phantom of an Emerald Swan slowly took shape in the sky, radiating a sacred, inviolable majesty.
Immediately afterward.
The Sky Screen began revealing the traits of the Emerald Swan clan.
[Clan Trait: The Emerald Swan is the supreme being among healing Soul Beasts. The life energy within its body is pure, without a trace of impurity.]
[For that very reason, Emerald Swans have almost no means of attack while growing. Their flesh and Soul Power are the finest life-extending tonics for any Soul Beast or Soul Master.]
At the sight of these lines.
The entire Soul Master World went red-eyed.
"No means of attack?"
"The life energy in their bodies is a life-extending tonic for every living thing?"
"My god, they're walking ten-thousand-year ginseng fruits!"
"If we could catch one, wouldn't we live a hundred years longer—or even change our fate entirely?"
Countless reclusive old monsters nearing the end of their lives began breathing heavily, their eyes filled with frenzied greed.
"But... how did such a strange and fragile Soul Beast manage to live for six hundred thousand years?"
Someone in the comments raised the question.
In the Soul Beast world, where the weak were prey to the strong and brutal battles raged every day, it was nothing short of a miracle for a Soul Beast with no attack power but treasure in every part of its body to survive!
As if answering everyone's question, the Sky Screen flickered slightly and began showing Bi Ji's life as she grew up.
It was an ancient stretch of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The Bi Ji on screen was still a small, white swan, with a cultivation of less than ten thousand years.
And yet.
In that ancient age, when heaven and earth were torn apart and countless Soul Beasts died fighting over territory.
The little swan dragged her exhausted body across one battlefield after another.
She turned her pure life energy into showers of green light, silently healing the dying Soul Beasts.
Among those shown.
There was a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, not yet grown, gravely wounded by its enemies.
There was a Demon Eye Demon Tree, its roots snapped by a tribulation and on the brink of death.
There were even countless ordinary, low-ranking Soul Beasts.
Scene after scene flashed by. Every one showed Bi Ji saving lives without asking for anything in return.
Above them, several lines of text glimmering with a faint golden light slowly appeared.
[Bi Ji's own cultivation had, in truth, not even reached the hundred-thousand-year mark.]
[Out of the boundless love in her heart, she saved countless powerful beings in the Star Dou Great Forest over tens of thousands of years.]
[Every Soul Beast she had helped willingly gave up part of its cultivation and merged it into Bi Ji's body. Only then was her lifespan pushed all the way to the terrifying height of six hundred thousand years.]
[Bi Ji's standing in the Star Dou Great Forest is unparalleled. Some Soul Beasts dare defy even the Beast God Di Tian's orders, but at Bi Ji's word, the forest's countless Soul Beasts would all fight to the death.]
Before you continue