Titan Giant Ape

[Er Ming, Titan Giant Ape!]

Qin Chuan's eyes suddenly lit up, and the taut string in his heart loosened slightly. He immediately twisted around, redirected all his Soul Power, and charged at full speed toward the direction from which the Titan Giant Ape's aura was rushing in.

Tang Hao, who was pursuing relentlessly behind him, keenly caught Qin Chuan's change in direction. A cold snort spilled from his nose, and Soul Power erupted beneath his feet. He did not slow his pursuit in the slightest, sticking tight behind Qin Chuan.

The distance between them closed rapidly. At this moment, Tang Hao and Qin Chuan were less than three hundred meters apart.

A scorching, dense heat wave of Soul Power, wrapped in bone-piercing killing intent, surged at him without end, slamming heavily into Qin Chuan's back. It was as if a red-hot branding iron were pressed against his flesh, while a suffocating pressure wound tightly around his whole body.

At the same time, the Titan Giant Ape's aura ahead was also approaching at high speed. The increasingly heavy and majestic tremors of life trampled the earth, making the soil layer across the entire mountain forest tremble faintly and continuously. Broken stones rolled down through the gaps between tree roots with rustling sounds.

Boom!!

Deep, violent impacts rang out one after another from the towering ancient trees. Whole swaths of trunks shook violently, branches snapped and flew everywhere. This was not the sound of something turning over in its sleep—it was clearly the noise of an enormous body charging straight through, forcibly smashing aside the trees as it hurried forward.

Low, heavy beast roars came intermittently from deep within the dense forest. There was not the slightest trace of drowsy laziness, only anxiety and ferocity.

Qin Chuan forced his way through a tangled layer of shrubs, and his vision suddenly opened up. A broad, flat natural clearing appeared before his eyes.

In the center of the clearing stood an ancient tree that would take a dozen people to encircle, its diameter exceeding ten meters. And that towering figure, large enough to blot out much of the clearing, was striding toward him.

It burst out from the forest, its upright body already close to twenty meters tall, with not the slightest posture of dozing or resting.

Its entire body was covered in pitch-black, ink-like long fur, whipped by the wild wind until it rustled. Bulging knots of muscle were harder than refined iron, each pectoral larger than a millstone. Its fan-sized fists hung at its sides; a single palm alone was comparable to Qin Chuan's entire body. Each step of its thick limbs smashed deep depressions into the ground.

The sound of Qin Chuan bursting through the shrubs fell into its eyes. The Titan Giant Ape's massive stride abruptly halted, and its pair of dark-brown beast pupils, like giant basins, instantly locked onto Qin Chuan. Its gaze was sharp, without the slightest hint of sleepiness, filled only with vigilance and anxiety.

Qin Chuan did not hesitate in the slightest. He knew ordinary speech could not communicate with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast; only actions could convey his intent.

He swiftly lowered Xiao Wu, whose aura was weak and wilted, from his shoulder. Holding the girl's slender body steadily in both hands, he controlled his strength with precision and gently sent Xiao Wu toward the Titan Giant Ape.

The force was measured perfectly. Xiao Wu's frail body traced a smooth, gentle arc through the air, drifting lightly toward the giant beast.

The Titan Giant Ape's enormous body looked cumbersome, but its reaction was swift to the extreme. It raised a huge beast palm into the air and steadily caught Xiao Wu in its palm.

The girl's petite body landed in that broad palm like a mountain range, like a fragile withered leaf falling onto a towering peak. The contrast was so stark it was shocking.

The Titan Giant Ape lowered its head slightly, bringing its massive head close to its palm. Its nostrils kept flaring as it carefully sniffed the aura around Xiao Wu.

In just an instant, the emotions in its eyes changed dramatically.

The anxiety and vigilance originally in its gaze were quickly covered by a heavy solemnity, followed by towering rage surging up.

It clearly identified the source aura within the little one in its palm, one unique to a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit. Even though that vitality had been suppressed layer upon layer by external force and maliciously twisted, the perception of a fellow Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would never be wrong. This was Xiao Wu, whom it and Da Ming had protected together for a hundred years.

But in the next second, even more chaotic auras entered its nostrils: Xiao Wu's spiritual origin was shattered and disordered, most of the vitality in her body had been maliciously extracted, and traces of a stranger's vicious Soul Power corrosion still lingered in her skin, bones, and blood. That cold, tyrannical Soul Power scent was carved into its memory.

Someone had gravely injured and coerced Xiao Wu!

The Titan Giant Ape's thick hind limbs slammed into the ground. The entire clearing shook violently, and its enormous body stood fully upright. Its body, over twenty meters tall, almost pierced through the layers of tree crowns above, while its pitch-black long fur danced wildly in the wind.

It lowered its head again and sniffed Xiao Wu, who lay weakly in its palm. After confirming the girl's injuries were severe, its huge beast pupils abruptly turned, and its fierce, sharp gaze locked straight onto Qin Chuan.

Seeing this, Qin Chuan immediately raised both hands high and spread them open, assuming a completely harmless posture.

He knew very well that a Hundred-Thousand-Year soul ape possessed extraordinary intelligence. No words were needed; body language alone could convey intent.

Qin Chuan first raised a hand and pointed toward the direction in the dense forest behind him where Tang Hao was pursuing, then lowered his head to look at the dazed Xiao Wu in its palm. Finally, he raised his hand and made a gesture of escorting her away, clearly indicating that the enemy was behind him and that he had come to entrust Xiao Wu to it in search of protection.

The Titan Giant Ape stared heavily at Qin Chuan for two breaths.

The intelligence tempered by a hundred thousand years allowed it to distinguish clearly that the young man before it had gentle Soul Power and not the slightest malice toward Xiao Wu. The true enemy who harbored killing intent and had gravely injured Xiao Wu was coming right behind the young man.

And that Soul Power aura following behind him was something it would never forget for as long as it lived: Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao.

The Titan Giant Ape knew that now was not the time for revenge. Saving [Xiao Wu] was what mattered!

Thinking this, it carefully tucked Xiao Wu in its palm into the dense, thick black long fur at its waist, firmly enclosing her like it was protecting a cub, cutting off all harm from external force.

After doing all this, the Titan Giant Ape turned its enormous body. Like a moving black mountain, it strode at top speed toward the depths of the Star Dou and the direction of Life Lake.

With every step, soil and shattered stones collapsed and splashed in all directions. The heavy pounding of its run echoed continuously through the forest. In the blink of an eye, it had charged out of the clearing and vanished amid the layers of dense woodland.

Qin Chuan stood where he was, watching the towering back of the Titan Giant Ape as it carried Xiao Wu away. He let out a long breath of stale air that had been trapped inside him for a long time.

Xiao Wu was finally safe.

With Er Ming escorting her back to Life Lake, and Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, already waiting at the bottom of the lake, the two great Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts would protect her together. Even if Tang Hao exhausted all nine soul rings and pursued her with his full strength, he would have no chance of succeeding.

But Qin Chuan had no time to feel even the slightest relief. A bone-piercing chill had already enveloped his entire body.

Tang Hao was here!!

Whoosh—

A gray shadow tore through the forest barrier, so fast only an afterimage remained. In the blink of an eye, it landed steadily at the edge of the clearing.

Tang Hao's disheveled black hair drifted in the wind. The hem of his gray cloth robe had been torn open by sharp branches in several ragged slits, and the surging Clear Sky Soul Power around him carried a thick scent of blood.

His gaze swept first toward the dense forest in the direction the Titan Giant Ape had left, and a trace of wariness flashed quickly through his eyes. Two great Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts joining hands—even he was unwilling to clash with them head-on.

The next moment, those eyes filled with crimson blood vessels abruptly pulled back and locked firmly onto Qin Chuan in the center of the clearing. Dense killing intent coiled toward him like something tangible, suffocating.

Qin Chuan slowly turned and faced Tang Hao directly. Less than fifty meters separated them.

The atmosphere across the entire clearing froze in an instant. The breeze in the forest stilled, and every sound of insects, birds, and beasts around them vanished completely.

Within a thousand meters, all low-level soul beasts and flying insects were shaken by the terrifying Soul Power pressure Tang Hao released without restraint. They fled in every direction like mad, not daring to linger for even a moment.

Tang Hao stared at Qin Chuan's face, his pupils suddenly contracting slightly.

He recognized him.

Three years ago, in a valley of the Star Dou Great Forest—the youth who had appeared out of thin air and forcefully withstood a blow from his Clear Sky Hammer; the young man who had stirred up the painful memories of Ah Yin buried deep in his heart with nothing but a single white soul-ring skill.

"Kid, it's you again."

Tang Hao's voice was low and hoarse, suppressing a towering fury that seemed on the verge of bursting through his chest, every word carrying a bone-piercing chill.