Old Zhao had no time to ask more questions and immediately took the lead.
Ning Chengyi deliberately fell back a little, drawing closer to Bibi Dong. He gently sniffed the scent coming from her, and his brows furrowed slightly. It was not her scent.
Could he have discovered it? Bibi Dong's heart lurched. Her delicate hands instinctively clutched the sides of her clothes, but her face remained calm as she followed the group closely.
"Help... help me..."
His piercing screams echoed through the surroundings, but no one answered.
Li Qiuping propped himself up with both hands and dragged himself along. His lower body was already a bloody mess, and even his manhood looked like a blur of mosaic pixels. The agony felt like ten thousand ants gnawing at his bones, making his entire body convulse as cold sweat kept breaking out across his forehead.
"My precious thing... I hadn't even gotten to use it properly... how could it be gone?!"
He raised his head. His gold-rimmed glasses had long since fallen somewhere unknown, and his severely nearsighted eyes were filled with bloodshot fury and venom.
"You bitch named Zhu! I, Li Qiuping, cannot live under the same sky as you! I'll make my father catch you and torture you day and night! Ten thousand men will taste you, and a thousand will take turns with you!"
Li Qiuping kept roaring, but the beasts' cries rolled like thunder, and the ground trembled more violently with every moment.
When he narrowed his eyes, he saw countless crimson eyes suddenly flickering in the dense woods.
In the next second, Li Qiuping's expression changed drastically. Fear surged into his heart like a rising tide. He struggled to get up, but his lower body was already crippled. He could only wriggle like a maggot-a maggot... waiting to die!
"Dad... Dad! Come save me!"
He screamed and sobbed, his voice choked with tears and despair.
"Dad, you have to catch that bitch! Our family still has no heir, I..."
"Save me! Someone, please save me!"
As he watched soul beasts arriving in twos and threes, tears mingled with blood and gradually blurred his vision. The terror in his eyes stretched to its breaking point.
"A Pleasure Ape..."
"No, don't come any closer!"
Looking at the first soul beast to appear, Li Qiuping began trembling. The world in his nearsighted eyes grew ever clearer.
"Roar!"
The Pleasure Ape seemed to have spotted a sumptuous feast. It beat its chest and stamped its feet, letting out cries of delight.
"No-!!!"
Li Qiuping let out a shrill, tearful scream as the nearly two-meter-tall Pleasure Ape hoisted him straight onto its shoulder.
Ape god... activate!
In the next moment, Li Qiuping experienced life's darkness. His piercing screams lingered around the great tree without end.
"Quick, faster! The beast tide is coming in force!"
"Uncle Zhao, aren't we heading deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest?"
Bibi Dong frowned. If they entered the inner region, she had absolutely no way of handling it with her current strength.
"Yes, but we're only going to the border. There's a cliff there, with a cave beneath it. It's big enough for all of us to hide from the beast tide!"
Old Zhao did not slow down as he spoke. Instead, he picked up his pace, because the trembling of the ground seemed to be drawing closer and closer.
"We're almost there! Have those support-type kids give everyone another round of healing, then we'll head down the cliff!"
Seeing the cliff drawing near ahead, Old Zhao shouted urgently at the others who were nearly at their limits.
Soul beasts had already caught up with them, though they were not strong, only at the Soul Master level.
The few people bringing up the rear with Old Xu dispatched them swiftly and cleanly. But the smell of blood drove the already frenzied soul beasts into an even more terrifying ferocity!
"Old Xu, take the children down first. We'll hold the rear."
"That's right. We've spent years roaming this forest. It's only a beast tide!"
"Old Xu, take good care of my child."
"Dad!"
"Dad, we're not going down! We'll wait for you!"
Almost all the people with Old Zhao had children here. Resolve filled their faces as they solemnly watched the soul beasts gathering in ever greater numbers.
"Quick, quick, get down!" Old Xu picked up a girl and used the rocks jutting from the cliff face to descend steadily. Only one person could go down that rock wall at a time. Though the line was orderly, the risk was still too great, and the pace too slow.
Getting all seventy-odd people down would take at least ten to twenty minutes.
"Little Zhu, be careful."
"Young brother, I don't know what you came here for, but now we've dragged you into this too. I'm truly sorry."
Old Zhao glanced at Ning Chengyi as he spoke.
After all, Ning Chengyi had contributed a great deal along the way, yet he had not obtained a soul ring. Instead, he had offended Li Qiuping and drawn the Fierce Wolf Group's attention.
Now he was trapped deep within a beast tide, his life hanging by a thread.
"It's fine, it's fine..." Ning Chengyi said with a smile, taking a flask of wine from his Storage Ring. He had brought it from the Nightglow Tower.
Seeing Old Zhao and the others like this today, he could not help feeling compassion.
"Here, have a drink. Once those beasts come up, we'll each show what we can do!"
"There are too many of us. Getting down is too slow, so we have to buy some time. Right now they're still under a hundred years old, but there's no telling what the soul beasts behind them will be like."
Ning Chengyi took a deep swig, then tossed the flask to Old Zhao. Old Zhao froze briefly, but then seemed to realize something. He drank deeply and let out a hearty laugh.
The others then passed it around, each taking a mouthful.
"That hits the spot! Today's mission is to protect you all and get little Zhu home safely. Brothers, don't hold back!"
"Hahaha, of course, Brother Zhao! My child's already down there, so I can rest easy. I've got to kill a few more. If we survive, they'll be worth a tidy sum!"
"Exactly, Old Zhao. Don't worry about us."
The dozen or so men all laughed heartily as they spoke, without the slightest fear in their eyes. Amid their banter, they joined forces and slaughtered several soul beasts.
"Quick, hurry!"
A few of the younger soul beasts tucked children under both arms and carried them down. After Old Xu came back up, he called, "Little Zhu, your turn."
"Uncle Xu, I'll hold the rear. You go first!"
"But..."
Boom!
Suddenly, Bibi Dong's Soul Ancestor aura erupted. Yet she did not reveal her martial soul; only her soul rings and soul power surged and flowed around her.
"A Soul... Soul Ancestor?!" Old Xu and the others instantly widened their eyes, disbelief written all over their faces.
"Uncle Zhao, go first and take him with you. I'll hold them off for a while!"
Bibi Dong stepped forward, her soul power spreading outward like ripples. She moved like a phantom, wildly slashing with the machete she had used to dig up medicinal herbs.
Slash!
Boom!
Soul power surged all around her, and the pressure of a Soul Ancestor swept across the scene like towering waves in a raging sea. With the machete in her hand, she cleaved a lunging soul beast clean in two.
"Little Zhu, it's just us now."
"Go!"
Bibi Dong wasted no more words. "Young brother, let's go!"
"You first. I'll hold the rear!"
Ning Chengyi looked at Bibi Dong standing atop the pile of soul beast corpses. Her clothes were stained with blood, yet she stood as awe-inspiring and inviolable as a god of war.
Though he knew this was no time to play the hero, some strange impulse made him stay. A purple soul ring unfolded around him.
"This..." Old Zhao and the others were instantly dumbstruck. The young brother they had thought needed looking after turned out to be a hidden expert.
"Go!"
His tone was much like Bibi Dong's. Old Zhao and the others exchanged glances, then stopped hesitating and sent the others down.
"Old Xu, what did you come back up for? Help!"
"Everyone else, get down now!" Bibi Dong frowned, sensing an unprecedented pressure. Ning Chengyi's brows were tightly furrowed too, his gaze fixed on the depths of the forest. "Together! Hurry, let's go!"
Bibi Dong abruptly turned and shouted, but seven people still remained at the cliff's edge, and there was only one way down.
"Roar!!!"
An earth-shaking roar suddenly exploded through the air!
Before you continue