A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's Sneak Attack, Qian Ni's Breakthrough and Awakening—Dead Monkey, How Dare You Touch My Lackeys?

The Soul Beast horde hadn't deliberately targeted the Shrek group or the Dragon Duke and Snake Granny.

But the chaotic scene of beasts fleeing in all directions was even more dangerous than before.

"Yiran!" Seeing that their granddaughter had also been taken, the Dragon Duke and Snake Granny could no longer care about anything else.

No matter how powerful the Titan Giant Ape was, they had nothing to fear.

Their granddaughter's safety was what mattered most.

"Dragon-Snake Combined Strike!"

The couple immediately circulated their Soul Power. The Dragon Cane and Serpent Cane struck against each other, unleashing a blast of energy in which dragon and snake intertwined. It swept aside the beast horde as they gave chase in the Titan Giant Ape's direction.

The fact that Xiao Wu had been abducted left Tang San frozen on the spot for a moment.

"Xiao Wu!" He snapped out of it and immediately tried to chase after her, only to be stopped by Dai Mubai.

"Little San, calm down!" While dealing with the stray Soul Beasts rushing toward them alongside Ma Hongjun, he grabbed Tang San and tried to persuade him.

"Xiao Wu's gone! How am I supposed to calm down? Let go of me!"

Tang San struggled desperately, heedless of everything else.

Slap—

While protecting Ning Rongrong, Zhao Wuji swung over and slapped Tang San hard, thoroughly waking him up.

"The Soul Beast horde is in chaos now! Are you trying to get everyone killed?

"Form up! Engage the enemy! Mubai and I will hold the outside. Ning Rongrong and Oscar, support from the center! Ma Hongjun and Zhu Zhuqing, watch both sides. Tang San, keep your Blue Silver Grass ready for rescue at all times!"

Zhao Wuji issued his orders rapidly.

Everyone immediately sprang into action.

"Master..." Zhu Zhuqing's voice suddenly rang out.

"Master, master, master my ass! If we survive this, I'll roll Qian Ni into a ball and kick him around, or I won't call myself Zhao Wuji!"

Without even turning around, Zhao Wuji berated her furiously.

Yet Zhu Zhuqing wasn't angry. Instead, she quickly finished what she had been about to say.

"It's safe near Master. The Soul Beasts don't dare approach him."

Everyone was startled and turned to look, only then noticing a bizarre phenomenon.

No matter where the scattered Soul Beasts charged, they instinctively avoided the area where Qian Ni was.

Meanwhile, the Shrek group not far from Qian Ni was being relentlessly rammed by the Soul Beast horde, despite having powerful Soul Masters like Zhao Wuji and the Dragon Duke among them.

It was as though Qian Ni was the truly terrifying presence.

Hiss—

Zhao Wuji wanted nothing more than to slap himself for what he'd just said. There was no time to hesitate any longer!

The Soul Beasts' charge was becoming increasingly chaotic and unpredictable. Although the Shrek group was only a little over ten meters from Qian Ni, countless Soul Beasts streamed through the space between them.

He grabbed Ning Rongrong and Oscar and hurled them toward Qian Ni.

Whatever strange thing was going on with Qian Ni, he was now the Shrek group's only way out.

He, Zhao Wuji, was a Soul Sage with the Mighty Vajra Bear martial soul. He could survive amid the beast horde, but that didn't mean those children in their twenties and thirties could.

Ning Rongrong traced an arc through the air, with the chaotic beast horde directly beneath her.

She screamed in terror, but then suddenly remembered something. In a panic, she pulled out a Bamboo Copter from her Soul Tool and pressed it onto the top of her head.

Buzz—

Her body instantly steadied in the air, and she slowly descended beside Qian Ni.

"Quick! Everyone, use the Bamboo Copters Qian Ni gave us!"

When they had been surrounded by Soul Beasts earlier, the presence of ten-thousand-year avian Soul Beasts had made the Bamboo Copters useless.

But now that the Soul Beast horde was in complete disarray, they had become their lifeline.

The others quickly pressed the miraculous little devices onto their heads, narrowly avoiding the torrent of Soul Beasts crashing beneath them as they slowly flew toward Qian Ni.

Oscar, however, was a step too late. He trusted Zhao Wuji completely, so the moment he was thrown out, he instinctively hugged his legs and curled into a ball. He was also falling faster than Ning Rongrong.

By the time Ning Rongrong shouted about the Bamboo Copter, Oscar had already slammed butt-first into the ground beside Qian Ni, nearly knocking the breath out of himself.

Watching his companions fly steadily toward him, Oscar couldn't help looking somewhat resentful.

"You couldn't have reminded me sooner..."

Zhao Wuji might not have been considered an upright Soul Master by others.

But to the Shrek Seven Monsters, he was still a fairly decent teacher.

Even now, he remained on the outermost edge, covering the Seven Monsters' retreat.

Just as he was about to enter the safe zone created by Qian Ni's killing intent...

A sinister fox cry suddenly rang out.

"Not good! A sneak attack!"

"Teacher Zhao! Watch your back!"

The Seven Monsters all shouted warnings, but Zhao Wuji could already feel the fierce wind rushing at him from behind, along with a cold, rancid stench.

At the critical moment, he turned his face sideways. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a pair of dark-red beast eyes within the shadow behind him.

Pitch-black fur, and Soul Power carrying an aura of death leaking from its entire body.

A ten-thousand-year Whirling Burial Fox!

One of the ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts that the Titan Giant Ape had driven over to surround the Shrek group earlier!

The other ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts had fled when the Titan Giant Ape departed.

Only it had remained behind, hoping to pick up easy spoils amid the beast horde's chaos.

The Whirling Burial Fox was a dark and venomous Soul Beast that loved the corpses of powerful beings most.

It didn't care whether they were Soul Beasts or Soul Masters.

And Zhao Wuji, a Soul Sage, was precisely the prey the Whirling Burial Fox had set its sights on.

Zhao Wuji was currently in midair. Though the Bamboo Copter allowed him to fly freely, he still had nowhere to brace himself, leaving the Mighty Vajra Bear's advantages completely unusable.

He could only barely twist his body aside and raise his left hand before the Whirling Burial Fox's fangs.

He intended to trade injury for injury! He would restrain this cunning ten-thousand-year Soul Beast first, then kill it once he reached the ground!

Why would Zhao Wuji fear a mere ten-thousand-year Soul Beast?

A fierce expression appeared on Zhao Wuji's face. Every muscle in his body swelled as he prepared himself completely.

Beast! Let's see whether your teeth are sharper, or my Zhao Wuji's Mighty Vajra Bear is tougher!

The stench from the Whirling Burial Fox's mouth washed over him. Strings of saliva stretched between the fangs of its upper and lower jaws.

The two were almost touching!

Screech—

An icy, terrifying killing intent arose from nowhere and pierced straight through the Whirling Burial Fox's brain.

In an instant, its soul shattered into fragments. Its huge body stiffened for a moment before losing control and crashing into Zhao Wuji, sending them tumbling together.

Bang!

Man and fox hit the ground. Zhao Wuji immediately raised his foot and kicked the Whirling Burial Fox's body three meters away.

The remaining Seven Monsters quickly gathered around Qian Ni, guarding against the ten-thousand-year Soul Beast that had launched the sneak attack.

Just as Zhao Wuji was about to pursue it and kill the Whirling Burial Fox with his own hands, another voice stopped him.

"Move aside. Coming through."

A fair hand pressed down on Zhao Wuji's shoulder. Still in combat mode, he instinctively tried to knock it away.

But that palm was like the steel pillar of a hydraulic press, utterly unmoving atop Zhao Wuji's shoulder. Instead, it rebounded his force back at him.

"Who is it?!"

"Me!" Qian Ni appeared from behind Zhao Wuji.

He had actually finished meditating!

Qian Ni's appearance left Zhao Wuji stunned for a moment. He didn't even notice when the hand on his shoulder disappeared.

Qian Ni took one step toward the Whirling Burial Fox, and in the next instant, he was already beside the ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.

"Be careful!" Zhao Wuji still wanted to warn him, but then he saw an unbelievable sight.

The Soul Beast hordes around them, which had been in utter chaos and fleeing in every direction after the Titan Giant Ape's departure, seemed to have suffered some sort of mental shock.

Killing intent swept outward!

The air trembled for an instant.

Every Soul Beast in sight went limp and tumbled into heaps as they ran.

Birds fell from the sky, and beasts froze in place.

White, yellow, purple... countless Soul Rings floated up from the Soul Beast horde.

It was as though all their souls had been crushed at the same moment, leaving them utterly dead.

The scene deeply shocked the Seven Monsters and Zhao Wuji.

And among all those yellow and purple Soul Rings, the single black ring beside Qian Ni was especially glaring.

"You... you..."

No matter how stupid Zhao Wuji was, he should have known who had caused the sight before him.

He pointed at Qian Ni, unable to say a word.

Soul Power overflowed from Qian Ni's body. With a casual gesture, the black Soul Ring belonging to the ten-thousand-year Whirling Burial Fox flew over and wrapped itself around him.

He grabbed it! It was refined in an instant!

A ten-thousand-year fourth ring! Soul Ancestor!

Soul Power Rank Forty-Two! Several days of uninterrupted full-force meditation had naturally brought Qian Ni to the Rank Forty threshold!

This Whirling Burial Fox had nearly sixty thousand years of cultivation. Who knew how it had fallen into the Titan Giant Ape's hands? Now, it had contributed two ranks of Soul Power to Qian Ni!

While everyone's minds were still frozen, Tang San suddenly rushed out. Holding two Mushroom Sausages, he quickly stuffed one into his mouth, kicked off a Soul Beast corpse, and flew in the direction the Titan Giant Ape had left.

Oscar's Flying Mushroom Sausage allowed its user to fly at the speed of a Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent for one minute.

"Little San! It's dangerous!" Dai Mubai and the others cried out in alarm, anxiously looking toward Oscar and Zhao Wuji.

Although the Soul Beast horde before them had died in droves, many chaotic Soul Beasts remained farther away.

Wasn't Tang San simply going to his death?

Oscar gave a bitter smile. "Xiao Wu was taken away. Little San begged me. How could I refuse him?"

Just as everyone was at a loss over what to do, Zhu Zhuqing came back to her senses and approached Qian Ni.

"Master, Yiran, she also..."

Qian Ni raised a hand and interrupted her.

"I know. Stay with the group. We'll bring her back.

"Dead monkey, if you wanted to grab a rabbit, then grab the rabbit. How dare you touch just anyone's people!

"I think Wang Wei's talking about red beans—you've got lovesickness!"

A blue-gold wing extended from his back. Four pitch-black Soul Rings encircled his body as he turned into a streak of black and vanished from everyone's sight.