Earthshaking Tremors, the Black Ape Emerges

After finishing the last sip of fresh fish soup in his bowl, Tang Wulin chatted with Brother Guanglong for a while longer before leaving with Xie Xie.

They had forgotten to take a taxi when they came. On the way back, they chose to walk to help digest their meal.

Halfway there, two figures entered Tang Wulin's view.

They were a young man and woman. The young man was tall and handsome, while the young woman was exceptionally beautiful, with delicate features and a pair of clear, bright, captivating eyes that seemed able to speak.

As the two parties passed each other, Tang Wulin reluctantly withdrew his gaze. Looking at Xie Xie beside him, he asked with an ulterior motive, "Xie Xie, that young man's hair and eyes were both ice-blue, just like our classmate Xu Xiaoyan's. Could he also be from the Xu Family?"

"Mm." Xie Xie nodded proudly. "That guy is Xu Xiaoyu, the Xu Family's heir. His Martial Soul is the Ice Staff, the Xu Family's inherited Martial Soul. He's also Eastsea Academy's number one genius."

"However, after our batch of freshmen enrolled, his title as Eastsea Academy's number one genius changed hands."

"What about the other one?" Tang Wulin pressed while the opportunity was hot.

"You mean that beauty from earlier?" Xie Xie answered without hesitation. "No idea."

"Still, she's so beautiful that she must be some famous school belle or influential figure at our academy. Just ask any upperclassman or a well-informed freshman, and you'll find out."

"Isn't Yun Xiao, who shares our dorm, known as the little strategist? Just ask him."

After saying that, he wore an expression that said, "Brother, I get it."

Seeing his little secret exposed, Tang Wulin instantly blushed.

That night, the goddess of darkness draped the sky in a hazy veil.

Meng Xinghe sat on his bed as an ancient azure mark slowly took shape in his palm.

"It's about time."

The ancient mark shattered at once. Meng Xinghe closed his eyes as well, sitting cross-legged on the bed in meditation like an empty shell that had lost its soul.

Some time earlier.

Deep underground, thousands of meters below the surface, three figures broke through an ancient formation that had operated for thousands of years and entered an unfamiliar space.

The place resembled a massive underground rock cavern. Jagged rocks rose from the ground, while countless stalactite-like formations hung from above.

At the center of the cavern, a colossal object resembling an inverted mountain peak hung downward, pressing heavily against the back of a gigantic black ape dozens of meters tall.

The black ape's limbs were bound and fixed by pitch-black chains. A silver needle, enlarged by an unknown number of times, pierced in through the crown of its head and emerged from its rear.

"Is this Senior Tai Tan, the one we're looking for?"

"It can't be wrong. The Golden Ancient Tree branch's guidance won't be wrong."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's join forces and tear apart everything binding Senior Tai Tan."

A dragon's roar rang out. An elderly woman among the three shadowy figures transformed into a black dragon, with nine soul rings circling her body—six black and three red. A Titled Douluo!

However, when her dark-attribute dragonfire breath struck the pitch-black chains, it not only failed to burn them apart but triggered this place's self-defense mechanism.

Ancient runes lit up across the black chains, and the silver needle piercing the black ape also began to shine.

The rocks in the cavern gathered together, transforming into a stone guardian that was crystal-clear throughout, as though carved from jade.

The black ape became a massive power source, its strength continuously extracted by the chains and silver needle before being transferred through the air into the stone guardian—the Jade-forged Golem.

Feeling the powerful aura radiating from the Jade-forged Golem, the three figures' expressions darkened.

"Peak Quasi-God!"

"I'll hold it back. Heaven's Favor, go rescue Senior Tai Tan with Yueyue!"

The speaker let out a roar, and a boundless ocean appeared out of thin air. That was his Martial Soul, the Sea.

This person was none other than Vast Sea Douluo Chen Xinjie, a Limit Douluo powerhouse at the Quasi-God level.

"All right, be careful." Heaven's Favor Douluo glanced at Old Chen, who was intercepting the Jade-forged Golem alone. His Martial Soul, the Heaven's Favor Spear, appeared in his hand, and he joined Light and Dark Douluo Long Yeyue in destroying the objects sealing Senior Tai Tan.

For years, Shrek had been searching under the Golden Ancient Tree's guidance for the places where Senior Bull Python and Senior Tai Tan had been sealed.

At last, they had found Senior Tai Tan's sealing site today.

They had thought the rescue would be easy. Who could have expected that the evil being who had sealed Senior Tai Tan would leave behind such a contingency, using the sealing objects to drain Senior Tai Tan's strength and create a peak Quasi-God Jade-forged Golem?

Fortunately, their rescue party consisted of one Quasi-God and two Demigods. If they had been three Demigods, then against a peak Quasi-God Jade-forged Golem that knew neither pain nor fatigue, this rescue operation could only have ended in failure.

The longer Chen Xinjie fought, the more alarmed he became.

His cultivation was also at the peak Quasi-God level. Fighting at sea, he could even draw with his martial nephew, the Atlas Douluo, the strongest man in the world.

Yet now, facing this Jade-forged Golem, he had fallen into a disadvantage after only one exchange. He was being suppressed by his opponent and gradually began to feel overwhelmed.

"So strong!"

Chen Xinjie gritted his teeth and shouted at the other two, "Hurry up! This stone guardian has absorbed Senior Tai Tan's power. I'm no match for it and can't hold on much longer."

"We can't go any faster," Heaven's Favor Douluo shouted. "If these things can bind Senior Tai Tan, they definitely aren't ordinary objects. They won't be easy to destroy!"

Even with his peak Demigod cultivation, using the Heaven's Favor Spear Intent to drive the Heaven's Favor Spear and concentrate force at a single point, he could only leave a tiny crack in the pitch-black chains.

"This won't do."

As Heaven's Favor Douluo pondered, his eyes turned toward the massive silver needle piercing the Titan Giant Ape, and a glint flashed through them.

"This silver needle should be what seals Senior Tai Tan's soul. If we pull it out, perhaps Senior Tai Tan's soul can awaken and help us destroy the other two sealing objects."

Long Yeyue, who was doing her utmost to destroy the inverted mountain-like object suppressing Senior Tai Tan's back, stopped at once. Her black dragon wings spread, carrying her to Tai Tan's forehead. Her two black dragon claws gripped the blunt end of the needle, and she pulled outward with all her strength.

Of the three, only Long Yeyue possessed a beast Martial Soul, and she even had twin top-tier beast Martial Souls. In terms of pure physical strength, she was the strongest here, so this crucial task naturally fell to her.

With Long Yeyue's efforts, the needle tip protruding from the Titan Giant Ape's rear began to retract, moving upward all the way until it was finally pulled free from the crown of its head.

The instant the silver needle was removed, the Jade-forged Golem's strength plummeted from peak Quasi-God to Demigod. Chen Xinjie, who had been suppressed for so long, seized the chance and sent it crashing into the cavern wall with a towering tsunami.

"You've been pressing this old man for so long. Now it's finally my turn to strike back!"

Just as Chen Xinjie was about to press his advantage, the cavern around him suddenly began to shake violently, as though an earthquake had struck.

Instinctively, he looked toward where Senior Tai Tan was.

The black ape, dozens of meters tall, opened its enormous eyes. Struggling, it tugged at the chains and threw back its head in a long howl.

The mournful howl echoed through the rock cavern for a long time, so sorrowful and lingering that it brought tears to all who heard it.