It was a creature like a mountain, its pitch-black fur glimmering faintly beneath the dim starlight and moonlight.
Though it moved on all fours, its shoulders still stood well over seven meters high.
If it stood upright, it would probably exceed fifteen meters in height.
It looked like both an ape and a gorilla. Other than its lantern-sized eyes shining with a yellow-crystal luster, its entire body was black.
At night, if it did not move, its body would be almost impossible to see.
Its physique was immensely powerful, brimming with masculine strength. Not only was it enormous, but every part of its body was covered in muscles more terrifyingly solid than granite, the protrusions resembling little hills.
Watching the massive ape charge toward him, Meng Chen looked stunned.
Bro, Xiao Wu isn't even with me. Why did the Titan Giant Ape still show up?!
"Little one, do you need me to intervene?" Ye Xishui asked Meng Chen.
A mere Titan Giant Ape of over ninety thousand years—if an ordinary Titled Douluo encountered it, they would most likely flee in panic or even lose their life.
But before Ye Xishui, it was nothing worth mentioning.
"Not yet. I don't sense any hostility from this Titan Giant Ape."
Meng Chen gently shook his head and had Ye Xishui hide herself first, lest the Titan Giant Ape notice her.
Ye Xishui concealed herself. The Titan Giant Ape strode forward with earth-shaking steps, crossing several miles in an instant and appearing before Meng Chen as though it had teleported, looking down at him from above.
"Roar!"
The Titan Giant Ape let out a low roar at Meng Chen, then extended its enormous palm toward him.
Seeing that the Titan Giant Ape not only had not harmed him but had actually reached out to him, Meng Chen was a little bewildered.
What was this supposed to mean?
Meng Chen looked at the Titan Giant Ape, pointed at its palm, and cautiously asked, "You want me to stand on it?"
Hearing that, the Titan Giant Ape nodded, then gave another low roar, as if urging him to hurry up.
After hesitating for a while, Meng Chen finally jumped onto its palm.
The instant Meng Chen landed in its hand, the Titan Giant Ape's mouth curled slightly, revealing a humanlike look of teasing. Meng Chen immediately had a bad feeling.
Just as he was about to jump down, the Titan Giant Ape closed its five fingers and tightly clenched Meng Chen in its hand, giving him no chance to get off.
The next moment, Meng Chen experienced what a Douluo-version pendulum ride felt like!
The Titan Giant Ape wildly swung its arm. Clenched in its hand, Meng Chen felt the world spin around him. It was even more thrilling than a pendulum ride or a drop tower, and he felt absolutely awful.
"Holy shit, shit, shit, shit!! You fucking—don't, don't shake me! I-I feel like my soul, soul is about to be shaken, shaken right out of me!"
"Bleurgh! Bleurgh! Bleurgh!!!"
"Brother, slower, slower! I want to get, get off!"
Hearing Meng Chen's miserable wails from the shadows, Ye Xishui covered her mouth and chuckled.
More than half an hour later, the Titan Giant Ape finally stopped and tossed the pale-faced, violently vomiting Meng Chen onto the ground.
Meng Chen sprawled on the ground in despair, his eyes vacant, looking as though he had been completely played to pieces.
Seeing that Meng Chen was already done for, a trace of contempt appeared in the Titan Giant Ape's eyes. It raised a middle finger at him.
Seeing that middle finger, Meng Chen glared furiously at the Titan Giant Ape. He struggled to climb up from the ground, shakily stood straight, wiped the corner of his mouth, and returned the gesture.
"You damned black gorilla, just you wait!"
The Titan Giant Ape snorted disdainfully, then pointed toward a nearby gorge and let out several low roars before turning and walking toward it.
Although Meng Chen did not know what the Titan Giant Ape meant, it seemed to be telling him to follow.
Supporting his still-uncomfortable body, Meng Chen followed after it.
Before long, the large and small figures arrived at the entrance of the gorge.
Before he even looked down, Meng Chen sensed an incredibly dense thunder-element aura below, vast as an ocean. It even stirred excitement in his Thunder Hell Vine martial soul.
He immediately looked down and saw a huge number of thunder-element Soul Beasts trapped within the gorge—at least six or seven hundred of them.
Purple-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragons, Furious Thunder Dragon Lions, Golden Thunder Pengs, Violet Lightning Leopards, Jade Thunder Bamboo, Thunder Demon Bears, Thundercloud Eagles...
There were flying ones, running ones, plants, animals—everything imaginable.
Meng Chen turned back toward the Titan Giant Ape in disbelief and instinctively asked, "Did you injure all of these?"
"Roar, roar!" The Titan Giant Ape proudly raised its head. They were merely Soul Beasts under fifty thousand years old; beating them was easier than swatting flies.
As for how it had brought down those flying in the sky, one use of Gravity Control and they had crashed.
Meng Chen gave the Titan Giant Ape a thumbs-up.
"You're seriously incredible. I was wondering why I couldn't find any thunder-element Soul Beasts. Turns out you caught them all here. But why aren't they running away?"
"Roar, roar, roar!" The Titan Giant Ape tried to explain to Meng Chen in beast language.
Because the gravity in Heavy Cloud Ravine was different from elsewhere—six or seven times that of the outside world—and with its intimidation added on top, these captive Soul Beasts did not dare leave.
Meng Chen could not understand it, but that did not prevent them from communicating.
"So you brought me here to let me choose one of the Soul Beasts below as my Soul Ring?" Meng Chen asked again.
The Titan Giant Ape nodded, then pointed at the many Soul Beasts in the gorge and made a grabbing motion with its hand.
Its meaning was obvious: whichever one Meng Chen chose, it would catch.
The Titan Giant Ape's body language left Meng Chen deeply surprised.
This was only his first time meeting the Titan Giant Ape. Why was it helping him hunt Soul Beasts?
Could Xiao Wu have asked it to help? Did Xiao Wu come to the Star Dou Great Forest too?!
Meng Chen secretly guessed, feeling somewhat helpless.
Didn't I tell her to stay at Heaven Dou Academy... Forget it. It was her good intention, after all.
Meng Chen looked toward the thunder-element Soul Beasts in the gorge. There were many varieties, most around ten thousand years old, with the strongest only slightly over twenty thousand years.
Before fusing with the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone, the cultivation of these Soul Beasts would have suited him perfectly.
But now, his physical constitution had strengthened considerably. Ye Xishui estimated that he could withstand at least a Soul Ring of thirty or forty thousand years.
Meng Chen kept scanning the Soul Beasts below, searching for one that suited him.
Within the gorge, a vast number of thunder-element Soul Beasts gathered together.
Violent, chaotic thunder elements filled the area to an extreme degree, already forming a spectacular sea of lightning, enough to excite creatures that fed on thunder.
Whoosh!
A streak of purple lightning flickered among the beast pack. Wherever it passed, the thunder elements weakened considerably. It drifted through the sea of lightning like a fish, yet voraciously devoured the thunder energy in the gorge like a glutton.
This anomaly quickly caught Meng Chen's attention. His Thunder Hell Vine was especially sensitive to thunder energy.
Meng Chen tried to track that purple streak of lightning, while Ye Xishui's slightly astonished voice rang out beside him.
"Little one, it's an Innate Thunder Spirit! You must catch it. It is the most suitable Soul Ring for you!"
Innate Thunder Spirit!
Hearing those words, Meng Chen's heart trembled.
Was this for real? The Star Dou Great Forest actually had an Innate Thunder Spirit!
That was a lifeform like the Heavenly Snow Woman, condensed from the purest thunder-element essence of heaven and earth!
~
PS: The four updates are done. I feel like I'm getting used to it now. From now on, there will randomly be three or four updates, with the release time set for 11 p.m. every night!
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