Beast Tide Backlash! Di Yao Subdues the Beasts with a Glance, a Hidden Elder Palace Agent Appears!

The Sun Crow King stood atop a Withered Wood.

Golden-red flames slowly flowed along its wings.

It did not flee at once.

Nor did it attack immediately.

It was watching Di Yao.

The instincts of soul beasts were more direct than those of humans.

It could sense that within the human child before it lay an aura that filled it with fear—and longing.

The sun.

A sovereign.

If it swallowed him, perhaps it could truly cross the thousand-year threshold.

Yet if it approached, that higher-ranking power would crush it until it could barely breathe.

Yue Guan narrowed his eyes.

"This little thing is not simple."

"Ordinary Sun Crows do not possess such intelligence."

Gui Mei said in a low voice, "Its mutated bloodline is nearing maturity."

"Give it a few more years, and it may evolve into a higher-tier Flame Bird."

Di Yao said, "So we cannot wait."

Hu Liena frowned.

"You really want to choose it yourself?"

"This is not a choice."

Di Yao looked at the Sun Crow King.

"It can only belong to me."

As soon as he said that—

The Sun Crow King suddenly let out a piercing cry.

"Caw—!"

Golden-red flames erupted.

The surrounding Withered Wood ignited in an instant.

It spread its wings, sweeping a barrage of fiery arrows toward Di Yao and the others.

Yue Guan was just about to act when Di Yao raised a hand.

"Do not kill it."

Yue Guan paused.

The barrage of flaming arrows came crashing toward them.

Hu Liena instinctively wanted to shield him, but then she saw a Dark Gold Sun emerge behind Di Yao.

It was not fully unleashed.

Only a faint wheel of light.

Yet the flames fired by the Sun Crow King slowed abruptly when they came within thirty feet of Di Yao.

As if the flames themselves had recognized a higher master.

Di Yao took a step forward.

The Sun Crow King's wings visibly trembled.

Hu Liena's pupils constricted.

So this was Demon Emperor Di Jun?

It did not rely on brute force to suppress its foe.

Even the instincts of soul beasts hesitated before it.

Di Yao continued forward.

"A soul beast one step short of a thousand years dares bare its claws at me?"

The vicious gleam in the Sun Crow King's eyes surged.

It seemed to have been enraged.

But just as it prepared to erupt again, violent tremors suddenly came from the other side of the forest.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Trees collapsed.

Soul beasts roared.

A mass of chaotic auras rushed in from afar.

A Soul Sage guard's expression changed.

"Elder, there is a beast tide!"

Yue Guan's gaze instantly turned cold.

"This is not on a beast tide route."

Gui Mei's voice dropped even lower.

"Someone tampered with this."

Hu Liena released her spiritual power, and her expression changed as well.

"Something is wrong."

"These soul beasts seem to have been provoked by something."

"I smell Beast-Attracting Incense."

Before her words had faded, the first wave of soul beasts charged out of the forest.

Blazing Wolves.

Black-Striped Panthers.

Iron-Claw Eagles.

Red-Tail Snakes.

There were quite a few of them. Their cultivation ranged from ten years to a hundred years, and several ferocious beasts nearing a thousand years were mixed among them.

Their eyes were red, their instincts clearly thrown into chaos by the Beast-Attracting Incense.

But after charging into this area, all of them slowed for a beat.

Because Di Yao stood at the very front.

Hu Liena's expression darkened.

"Get back!"

"You do not have a soul ring yet. If you get swept into this, you will die!"

Di Yao did not retreat.

Instead, he took another step forward.

Hu Liena panicked.

"Are you insane?"

Di Yao stared at the approaching beast tide.

"I want to see just how much Demon Emperor Di Jun can suppress."

Hu Liena gritted her teeth.

"Is this really the time to test that?"

Di Yao did not answer.

The Dark Gold Sun fully emerged.

The Dharma Image of Demon Emperor Di Jun opened its golden eyes behind him.

At that moment, every beastly roar in the forest seemed to be viciously strangled by an invisible hand.

The first Blazing Wolves to charge forward came to an abrupt halt.

Their claws carved long tracks across the ground.

Several with lower cultivation dropped low on the spot, fearful whimpers rumbling from their throats.

The Black-Striped Panthers' fur bristled as they retreated.

The Iron-Claw Eagles lost balance in midair, nearly plunging headfirst to the ground.

The Red-Tail Snakes coiled up, their pupils shrinking into thin slits as they did not dare advance another inch.

Hu Liena was stunned.

She knew Di Yao's martial spirit could suppress Beast Spirits.

But seeing an entire beast tide crushed by a single glance was something else entirely.

This was not a soul skill.

He did not even have a soul ring yet.

It was simply the rank of his martial spirit.

It was simply because the Demon Emperor Manifestation behind him had opened its eyes once.

Yue Guan also lost his usual teasing expression.

"Gui Mei."

"Mm."

Gui Mei's voice was deep.

"This child's suppression of beasts is even more terrifying than we thought."

Di Yao's face turned slightly pale.

Suppressing so many soul beasts was a burden even for him in his current state.

But he did not withdraw his power.

He looked toward the Sun Crow King atop the Withered Wood.

The Sun Crow King had wanted to use the chaos to flee.

But when the Demon Emperor Manifestation appeared, the flames around its body briefly drew in.

Its bird head lowered for an instant as well.

Just that instant.

Di Yao's eyes lit up.

"As expected."

"You are afraid too."

As if humiliated, the Sun Crow King screeched and erupted with flames.

But before it could rush from the Withered Wood, a black shadow suddenly sprang from the woods at the side.

The man was incredibly fast.

Dressed in gray, he had concealed his aura deeply.

His target was not Di Yao.

It was the Sun Crow King!

Hu Liena immediately realized what was happening.

"Someone is trying to steal the soul ring!"

A cold gleam flashed from the Gray-Clad Man's dagger as it shot straight for the Sun Crow King's vital point.

If he killed the Sun Crow King first, ownership of its soul ring would become uncertain.

Di Yao's plan for his First Soul Ring would be forcibly ruined.

Yue Guan's eyes turned icy.

"Courting death!"

But the Gray-Clad Man had clearly come prepared.

His Fifth Soul Ring lit up, and his speed surged again.

A Spirit King!

A hidden Spirit King agent had actually been lurking on the outskirts of the soul hunt.

And his target was precise.

He was not here to kill Di Yao.

He was here to destroy the soul ring.

Di Yao's gaze turned utterly cold.

"The Worship Hall?"

Hu Liena gritted her teeth. "It could also be the Elder Palace!"

Di Yao did not press the matter.

Who it was did not matter.

Anyone who dared touch his soul ring was an enemy.

The Gray-Clad Spirit King's dagger was only a foot away from the Sun Crow King's eye.

Suppressed for an instant by the Demon Emperor Pressure, the Sun Crow King failed to evade completely.

A cold smile appeared in the Gray-Clad Man's eyes.

But in the next instant—

The shadow behind him moved.

Gui Mei's voice seemed to crawl out of hell.

"Who gave you the nerve?"

Pitch-black ghost-shadow chains stabbed out from the ground.

One wrapped around the Gray-Clad Man's leg.

One wrapped around his arm.

Another pierced straight through his shoulder blade.

"Ah!"

The Gray-Clad Man screamed as he was violently yanked from midair.

The dagger grazed past the Sun Crow King's feathers and embedded itself in a charred tree trunk.

The Sun Crow King let out a furious, piercing shriek.

Gui Mei appeared behind the Gray-Clad Man and planted a foot on his back.

"Talk."

"Who sent you?"

The Gray-Clad Man gritted his teeth, black blood suddenly seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Poison.

Gui Mei snorted coldly and reached out, using shadow Soul Power to forcibly seal his throat.

"You want to die in front of me?"

"You're not worthy."

Yue Guan's expression was equally terrifyingly grim.

"The hunting party had barely left Spirit City, and someone already dared to make a move."

"Looks like some people really are getting desperate."

Hu Liena looked at Di Yao.

She had thought Di Yao would be furious.

But Di Yao merely watched the Sun Crow King.

That gaze was frighteningly calm.

"Take the Soul Ring first."

"Keep him alive. We'll interrogate him slowly."

Hu Liena froze.

"You're not angry?"

Di Yao said indifferently, "Anger can't make you stronger."

"A Soul Ring can."

The Sun Crow King had already become completely enraged.

Golden-red flames surged around it, forcefully breaking through part of the Demon Emperor's suppression as it dove toward Di Yao.

Di Yao stepped forward, the short blade in his hand leaving its sheath.

Hu Liena asked urgently, "Are you really going to do it yourself?"

Di Yao fixed his gaze on the Sun Crow King.

"It is my First Soul Ring."

"I have to deliver the final blow."

The Sun Crow King dove down amid billowing flames.

The Dark Gold Sun behind Di Yao shuddered violently.

The auras of man and crow collided fiercely in the center of the charred woodland.

Hu Liena clenched her fingers tightly.

She suddenly understood.

Di Yao was not unafraid of death.

He was simply more afraid of wasting an opportunity.