The Forty-Thousand-Year Saber-Toothed Demon Tiger!

Yang Que and Huang Dabiao pressed deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest!

Both men moved cautiously, suppressing their auras. They feared waking a powerful Soul Beast that might swallow them whole—and feared even more that revealing themselves would draw the pursuers on their tail. That would be trouble!

After all, the two of them were no match for those six. Even if they unleashed their strongest attacks together and dealt the group a heavy blow, they had to prepare for the worst!

At Yang Que's current strength, handling one or two Soul Kings was no problem. Three or four would beat him bloody!

To deal with the pursuers behind them, he needed to reach the Soul Ancestor level—a Soul Ancestor in the truest sense, not one who had yet to absorb his Soul Ring!

The two kept moving deeper. Along the way, they encountered plenty of terrifying Soul Beasts!

There was an Explosive Armor Bear nearly ten thousand years old, a Mandala over ten thousand years old, and a pangolin nearly thirty thousand years old!

There was even a Lightning Leopard nearly sixty thousand years old! That creature was no easy opponent. Its defenses might not be strong, but its speed and attack power were renowned among Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts!

They suppressed their auras with all their might, afraid that one careless moment would draw it out to devour them alive!

Huang Dabiao was puzzled. They had walked so far and encountered all kinds of powerful Soul Beasts, yet the Leader had shown no intention of making a move. He was curious what sort of Soul Beast the Leader wanted to absorb.

After a while, Huang Dabiao could no longer hold back his curiosity. "Leader! What sort of Soul Beast are you looking for? We've gone so deep already! If we keep going, we might run into an overlord-level Soul Beast! I've read up on the history of the Star Dou Great Forest. Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts live here!"

Yang Que smiled. Nonsense! Did he think I didn't know there were Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in there? I know better than he does! But somehow, my luck's rotten today!

Why is it so hard to find a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with a demonic nature?

Yang Que shook his head. "No rush! You saw my Martial Soul just now. What did you think?"

Huang Dabiao pondered for a moment. "It felt violent and bloodthirsty!"

Yang Que nodded. "You're right, but that's not all. My Martial Soul is the Soul-Slaying Sword. It carries emotions taken to extremes: violence, bloodlust, greed, and more. You could say it has a powerful demonic nature!"

Realization suddenly dawned on Huang Dabiao. "So you need to find a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with a demonic nature?! That won't be easy!"

"It won't, but there's no hurry! We'll go another half kilometer in. If we still can't find one, we'll circle the Star Dou Great Forest at that depth. This far in, there must be one somewhere, however rare it is!" Yang Que said calmly.

The truth was, Yang Que was scared too! They had gone so deep that he was panicking. He was genuinely afraid a Soul Beast over fifty thousand years old would suddenly charge out and tear them both apart. That would be a miserable end!

The more he thought about it, the better it seemed not to go any deeper. Searching around the Star Dou Great Forest sounded good enough!

The two continued toward the forest's inner reaches. They chatted from time to time about their pasts, easing the dreary search for a Soul Beast!

"Leader! If you're not from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, why did you say you were? You fooled both me and Steward Wu!" Huang Dabiao asked, somewhat disgruntled. At first, it had been Yang Que's talent that caught his eye, though he had also thought Yang Que had a powerful family behind him. Even so, he had not been nearly as excited then as he was when Yang Que showed the Jade Pendant!

Yang Que stopped and blinked. "Did I say I was from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan? I don't remember saying that."

Huang Dabiao thought back. It seemed... the Leader really had never said it! Had he and Steward Wu, the two of them, misunderstood? Had they filled in the blanks themselves?!

"See? I never said it! You two came up with that yourselves. I only meant to say I had some connection to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. I didn't expect your imaginations to run so wild!" Yang Que said with a chuckle.

Good grief! Who would have guessed? Someone who wasn't from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was carrying the clan's distinctive Jade Pendant! Anyone would jump to the same conclusion. What the hell!

"Haha! It's fine. You two aren't the only ones who misunderstood. Plenty of others did too!" Yang Que said.

"Leader, you mean...?" Huang Dabiao narrowed his eyes.

A smile touched Yang Que's lips. "The enemies after you! For the nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire's royal court, showing them that Jade Pendant was enough to keep them in check for a while. But with their resources, they'll uncover the truth sooner or later!"

"By then, who knows how strong the two of us will be? Will we still need to fear them?"

Huang Dabiao thought it over. The Leader's talent and strength were extraordinary! As a mere Soul Elder, Yang Que could already defeat a Soul King against the odds. If he reached Soul King, wouldn't he be able to do the same to a Soul Saint?

By then, they would not have to be so wary. After all, no one wanted to make too great an enemy of a Soul Saint! That faction might not fear one, but too much trouble would still be a headache!

Seen that way, the misunderstanding really was a good thing!

Suddenly, Yang Que stopped, as though he had sensed something!

"Finally found you! Haha! Now I've got my Soul Ring!" he said, his face bright with excitement.

Seeing his expression, Huang Dabiao wondered if they had finally found it. At least they would not have to go any deeper! The powerful auras all around had him badly shaken!

Yang Que looked at Huang Dabiao. "Come on! Northwest! I sense demonic energy!"

Without another word, Huang Dabiao followed Yang Que toward the source of that demonic energy!

Before long, they reached the edge of a pitch-black mountain range!

The dark mountains seemed utterly devoid of life. Not a living thing could be found within half a kilometer!

Inside the mountains lay countless skeletons!

There were bones of leopards, wolves, and pigs—even human skulls!!!

Huang Dabiao looked at the eerie mountains, fear creeping into his heart.

He swallowed. "Leader! That aura... I think this is the Saber-Toothed Demon Tiger's territory! It's no easy opponent! It's a forty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast, and it can apparently undergo Demonic Transformation. Its fighting power rivals a sixty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast! Are you sure you want to take it on?!!!"

Hearing that, Yang Que grew curious and had the system investigate. Information on the Soul Beast within the mountains appeared!

It was a tiger black from head to tail, its body covered in razor-sharp crystals. Two fangs of deepest black jutted from its jaws!

Saber-Toothed Demon Tiger: 46,782-year-old Soul Beast! Extremely formidable defense and attack power! Relatively ordinary speed! Its two fangs carry a potent toxin! Weak points: abdomen, eyes, and head! The Soul Ring it contains is suitable for the Soul-Slaying Sword Martial Soul! Warning! It is extremely dangerous! The host is advised not to hunt it!

Oh? It really is a Saber-Toothed Demon Tiger! Now this is interesting! The upper limit for my Fourth Soul Ring should be somewhere between thirty and forty thousand years!

With my Nine-Headed Demon Lion Martial Soul, I'm not too afraid of its lingering resentment after death. But its current strength will be hard to handle! It can rival a sixty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast?!!! Even a Soul Saint would struggle to bring it down!

Yang Que looked at Huang Dabiao. "How did you know it was this one?"

Huang Dabiao shook his head. "That's a painful memory! I once took a mercenary job to gather some Demon Spirit Grass and ran into it. Not only did I fail to get the herb, it beat me half to death! I nearly went to the afterlife!"

"Oh? Even you couldn't beat it. How many Soul Emperors do you think it would take to bring it down?" Yang Que asked thoughtfully.

Huang Dabiao considered. "At least four or five Soul Emperors. Five would be safest."

"Leader, this thing is dangerous! Let's look for another!"

Yang Que fell into thought. The two of them might not be a match for it, but what if they added the pursuers on their tail? "Brother Huang! What do you think would happen if five Soul Kings blew themselves up, along with a Soul Emperor? Could this Saber-Toothed Demon Tiger withstand that?"

Huang Dabiao thought for a moment. "It might not kill it, but it would certainly wound it badly! Wait! Leader, you aren't thinking of..."

A dangerous smile curved Yang Que's lips. "Exactly. Let's lead disaster straight to their door..."

Meanwhile, four men were searching the Star Dou Great Forest for Yang Que and Huang Dabiao!

"Those damned two! They'd better hope I don't find them. I'll grind their bones to dust!" the old man said, his face twisted with malice!

The other three were furious too. Not only had they failed to kill their targets, they had also gotten the head steward of the City Lord's Mansion's younger brother killed! Who could stomach that?

The four continued their furious search, wholly unaware that Yang Que had already set his sights on them and was about to use them against the Saber-Toothed Demon Tiger. Danger was closing in!