A Grueling Battle

Giant Axe's expression turned grave as he explained rapidly, "Void Beasts are special lifeforms, beloved by the origin of space. They are born with the ability to teleport. They were already exceedingly rare when the universe was first born. I never expected there to be one here—and it has even reached the Stellar level ninth order!"

Golden Horn felt a headache coming on. Such a powerful special lifeform, and it was so hostile toward them!

But he was no pushover either. Then let them fight and see who was truly the strongest!

He had assumed that, since they were all at the Stellar level, Golden Horn and Giant Axe were both invincible among those of the same rank. Yet the moment they clashed with the Void Beast, Golden Horn discovered that it was absurdly fast. Its teleportation talent had been honed to perfection. One moment it would still be far away, and the next it would abruptly appear before or behind him, its movements utterly beyond the bounds of ordinary footwork.

Several wounds appeared in succession across Golden Horn's scales. None were deep, but the Void Beast attacked too frequently. If its attack power had not been relatively weak, he would likely have been badly injured after only a few exchanges.

Giant Axe immediately swung his giant axe and rushed in to support him, but his experience was exactly the same as Golden Horn's. Just as his battle axe locked onto the target, before the axe strike could land, the Void Beast would vanish into thin air and reappear elsewhere in an instant.

It was clearly two against one, yet it felt like one against two. The two of them were being suppressed by a single opponent and could only barely defend themselves, protecting their vital spots from attack. They could not find any chance to counterattack at all.

Before long, both of them were covered in wounds.

Golden Horn was furious as well. He had been battered the entire time, with nowhere to vent the rage building inside him. Being somewhat less agile, he was quickly identified by the Void Beast as the weaker link, and it began focusing its attacks on him.

Golden Horn gritted his teeth and activated his body-refining secret art once more, pushing his defense to the limit. The golden membrane of light doubled in thickness, while the muscles beneath his scales bulged. Then he simply stood where he was and stopped moving.

Since he could not catch it, he would wait for it to attack.

A sharp pain came from his leg again. Golden Horn knew that if he counterattacked now, the other party would definitely vanish instantly again. So he neither dodged nor evaded, enduring the blow head-on.

Seeing Golden Horn like this, the Void Beast thought he had given up resisting. It immediately increased the force of its attacks and did not hurriedly disappear again.

The longsword pierced Golden Horn's thigh. The Void Beast wanted to pull out its sword and retreat, waiting for another chance to attack as it had before, but this time, Golden Horn gave it no opportunity.

His muscles suddenly tightened, forcibly clamping down on the longsword embedded in his leg. At the same time, a deafening roar exploded from deep within his throat!

This was no ordinary roar, but a sonic attack secret art from his inherited memories. Its killing power was mediocre, and its only use was to make the opponent lose focus for a second. Moreover, it was most effective the first time it was used. Once the enemy was on guard, its effect would be greatly reduced.

Golden Horn had always thought this secret art was useless. He had never expected it to prove so useful now.

At the instant the Void Beast lost focus, Golden Horn thrust out both palms and snapped them together. This time, he was going to seize it.

Just as he touched its wing, the confusion in its eyes rapidly faded. Golden Horn was about to move even faster when it vanished in an instant. All he managed to tear away were a few feathers.

Golden Horn was about to toss them aside when he suddenly remembered that his first clone still lacked a suitable target. And wasn't the Void Beast's formidable spatial teleportation ability the perfect choice?

Golden Horn calmly stored the feathers in his internal space.

The Void Beast reappeared several dozen meters away. Seeing the missing feathers on its wings, it trembled with rage. The silvery-white radiance around it fluctuated violently, clearly gathering strength for an even more terrifying attack.

However, just as it was preparing to unleash a secret art and teach this rude giant beast a brutal lesson, it suddenly whipped its head toward the north—the core of the secret realm.

It cried, "Oh no!" Before the words had even faded, it vanished once more.

When it reappeared, it was already at the edge of their vision.

Golden Horn and Giant Axe exchanged glances, both somewhat puzzled. They had no idea what could have drawn away such a powerful enemy.

Moreover, the speed at which it had departed was far greater than when it had attacked them. They could not sense at all how it had instantly appeared so far away.

"It left?" Giant Axe put away his battle axe, though he remained vigilant.

Golden Horn had no intention of pursuing it either. The two immediately sat down where they were and circulated their cultivation techniques to recover from their injuries.

Though the battle had not lasted long, both of them had been seriously injured. If the other party had not suddenly left, they would have had to prepare to flee for their lives.

A short while later, the bleeding finally stopped. Their outward appearance had improved considerably. Though they were still covered in wounds, the injuries no longer bled. Even with the Golden Horned Beast's formidable physique, it would take several days to fully recover.

Golden Horn glanced at Giant Axe in surprise. This Human Race member's recovery ability was absurdly strong too. The Human Race's physical body was supposed to be rather ordinary according to his inherited memories. Perhaps Giant Axe was an exception. Golden Horn did not dwell on it.

Suddenly, Golden Horn and Giant Axe both turned toward the north. Powerful fluctuations were coming from that direction.

The two exchanged looks. Such intense fluctuations meant that a great treasure had surely appeared. Should they go and take a look?

Golden Horn hesitated slightly. Though the two of them were strong, they had just gone through a fierce battle and had yet to recover from their injuries. Besides, that fellow who could teleport had already gone over. Even if they went, they could not defeat it.

Giant Axe urged, "Fortune is found amid danger! Now that all races are competing for supremacy, the Human Race is already at a disadvantage. If we do not dare to take risks, we will never seize any opportunities."

Golden Horn fell silent for a moment before finally nodding.

"Let's go."

Thus, Golden Horn and Giant Axe cast aside their distracting thoughts, lowered their bodies, and cautiously headed toward the center.

Along the way, powerful figures occasionally swept overhead. Some traveled alone, while others moved in groups of three or five, and none had weak auras.

The two were in no hurry. After all, the more powerful figures who went there, the fiercer the fighting would become, and the longer it would take to determine who the treasure belonged to.

Along the way, they discovered quite a few more Blue Fruit Trees. Naturally, Golden Horn and Giant Axe did not let them pass by. They took the opportunity to pick several dozen Blue Fruits and stored them in their respective space rings.

As they traveled, they continued recovering from their injuries while constantly consuming the Blue Fruits they had gathered earlier, trying to improve their strength a little more before the great battle arrived.

Though they had not deliberately rushed, half a day later, they still arrived at the core region.

The sight before them made Golden Horn's pupils contract.

Within several kilometers around them, hundreds of powerful beings from various races had gathered, some standing and some sitting. Though most were at the Stellar level, there were more than a dozen at the Universe level. Every one of them had a deep and unfathomable aura, and the law fluctuations around them intertwined, creating immense pressure.

At the center of the crowd stood the Void Beast that had fought Golden Horn and Giant Axe earlier.

But at this moment, its aura was far stronger than before, almost touching the threshold of the Universe level. A faint red glow radiated from its entire body, making it even more frenzied and bloodthirsty than before.