"Those two little guys don't stand a chance of making the ranking." Long Yun set down his wine cup, his tone utterly flat.
As soon as he said that, the drinkers around them fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"Kid, what do you know?"
A burly man slapped the table and stood up, his face full of contempt.
"Those are the two great kings of the Star Dou Great Forest, Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts with top-tier bloodlines! And you call them little guys?"
"Exactly! Looks to me like you've had too much to drink and are just bragging to show off!"
"Young man, if you want to impress a pretty girl, at least come up with something more believable."
Faced with the wave of mockery around him, Long Yun remained composed. He didn't even look at them.
Qian Renxue furrowed her pretty brows slightly.
She also felt that Long Yun's words were rather exaggerated.
Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were beings that struck fear into the hearts of Soul Masters across the continent.
Yet, looking at the man's calm, placid face, she couldn't quite make up her mind.
The composure he showed, unfazed even as Mount Tai collapsed before him, truly didn't seem like the recklessness of someone spouting nonsense.
The golden light above the Sky Screen gathered once more. Even more dazzling characters appeared before everyone.
[Rank 10: Xiong Jun]
[Species: Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear]
[Cultivation: 450,000 years]
When those words, "450,000 years," appeared clearly before the world,
the entire Soul Fighting Tavern fell silent in an instant.
"Clatter!"
Someone's wine cup slipped from their hand and shattered on the floor.
Gasps rose one after another throughout the tavern.
The drinkers who had been laughing so brazenly just moments ago now stared wide-eyed. Some even rubbed their eyes hard, wondering if they were seeing things.
"F-Four hundred and fifty thousand years?"
The burly man who had slapped the table stammered, his voice trembling.
"This is ridiculous! Rank ten is already 450,000 years?"
"Those Hundred-Thousand-Year Titan Giant Ape and Sky Azure Bull Python don't count for shit next to this ranking!"
Everyone in the tavern turned as one to look at Long Yun in the corner.
Their eyes were filled with shock.
Who exactly was this man?
How did he know there were beings in the Star Dou Great Forest even more terrifying than Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?
"He must've guessed!"
Someone swallowed, muttering stubbornly under his breath.
"How could anyone really know about monsters at this level?"
Qian Renxue was stunned.
Her clear, limpid eyes were full of shock, and her red lips parted slightly. Her noble, sacred air was shattered in that instant.
She stared fixedly at Long Yun, his earlier words echoing wildly in her mind.
He had lived for tens of thousands of years and witnessed the rise of gods.
Could everything he'd said really be true?
Shrek Academy.
On the shabby training field, the atmosphere was so awkward it was suffocating.
Yu Xiaogang, who had just been standing with his hands behind his back, acting profound as he lectured on the state of the world, now had a face red as a beet.
It was as if someone had slapped him hard across the face.
Only a moment ago, he'd been swearing that rank ten couldn't possibly exceed a hundred thousand years.
The next moment, those words—450,000 years—stabbed him in the eyes.
Tang San and the others exchanged glances. Not one of them dared speak up and provoke Grandmaster just then.
Yu Xiaogang suddenly waved his arms and roared, his face flushed red.
"Fake! This has to be fake!"
He bellowed in helpless fury.
"I've spent most of my life studying Martial Soul Theory. There's absolutely no such thing as a 450,000-year Soul Beast in this world! That Sky Screen must be some kind of illusion!"
Spirit Hall, Pope Palace.
Bibi Dong stared at the number on the Sky Screen, a storm surging in her heart.
"450,000 years... A being of that level of strength is only ranked tenth?"
After her initial shock, a feverish gleam lit up in Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes.
She drew a deep breath, her chest rising and falling sharply.
If she could find this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear named Xiong Jun, kill him, and absorb his Soul Ring...
Just how powerful would that boost be?
It would be countless times stronger than hunting the Titan Giant Ape and Sky Azure Bull Python!
In the deepest part of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian looked grave.
He gazed up at the Sky Screen, his dark golden eyes filled with confusion.
"With that fellow Xiong Jun's Sky-Rending Claw, and 450,000 years of cultivation, I thought he'd at least make fifth or sixth."
Di Tian murmured, his massive dragon tail swaying unconsciously behind him.
"How did he end up at the bottom, in tenth place?"
A sense of foreboding rose in his heart. Could something terrifying still be hiding on this vast Douluo Continent, something even he, the Beast God, knew nothing about?
At the bottom of the abyss.
Gu Yuena hovered in midair, a flicker of surprise crossing her stunning face. But before long, that surprise turned into deep anticipation.
The stronger the Soul Beasts revealed by the Sky Screen, the more credible the ranking became.
And the more incredible the power of the Heavenly Dao behind it seemed.
Her hope of bringing Long Yun back to life was growing, little by little!
In Xiong Jun's territory.
Xiong Jun pounded his chest and stamped his feet in anger, his massive paws leaving one crater after another in the ground.
"I refuse to accept this! That Heavenly Ranking is blind!"
Just as he was raging, the Sky Screen changed once more.
Dazzling golden light wove together in the void, forming a vast, moving image.
[Battle Record: Once used his ultimate skill, Sky-Rending Claw, to injure the Beast God Di Tian head-on.]
In the image, a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear as huge as a mountain roared at the sky, its whole body surging with a ferocious aura capable of destroying heaven and earth.
Standing opposite him was the Beast God Di Tian, clad in black.
He stood like a deep pool beneath an imposing mountain, his aura as vast as the sea.
The Xiong Jun in the image struck without hesitation.
His enormous dark golden claws ripped through the air.
Space tore open like a strip of cloth, and five terrifying spatial rifts, laced with the power of destruction, rushed straight toward Di Tian.
The might of that strike was enough to change the color of heaven and earth.
Even Di Tian, powerful as he was, couldn't completely dodge the sudden attack.
His black robe was torn, and a clear, bloody gash appeared across his chest.
Seeing this, Xiong Jun in the real world immediately puffed out his chest.
He looked around smugly, his nose in the air.
His earlier embarrassment vanished without a trace.
Injuring the Beast God was a feat he could brag about for the rest of his life.
But the very next second,
the image suddenly shifted.
The wounded Di Tian flew into a rage.
Black dragon breath surged into the sky, blotting out the sun.
Di Tian flashed forward and slammed a heavy fist, imbued with the power of ultimate darkness, into Xiong Jun's face.
Then came a one-sided, savage beating.
The once-arrogant Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was nothing but a giant punching bag before the enraged Black Dragon King.
He was smashed into the ground and beaten without the slightest chance to fight back.
The Sky Screen showed every second of the brutal thrashing in vivid detail.
Xiong Jun in the real world froze in place.
He'd just been boasting about beating Di Tian to a pulp. Now his face burned as if he'd been slapped.
This Sky Screen really wasn't giving him an ounce of face!
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