Lin Tian patted the Little Beast Emperor on the head, then made a gesture to him.
His meaning was clear: for the next seventy Fierce Beasts, each would rely on his own abilities. Whoever subdued more would lead this force of Fierce Beasts.
In truth, after Lin Tian heard the Six-Headed Demon Phoenix explain the origins and backgrounds of the Eastern Continent's Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts, as well as their life-bound spiritual treasures,
he had become rather interested in taking these beasts, who eked out a precarious peace and furtively built their strength on the Primordial World's eastern continent, into a force of his own.
After all, throughout the long ages of the Primordial World, in the face of one Immeasurable Calamity after another,
the efforts of any lone living being, when confronted with the Primordial World's vast, surging torrent,
did not amount to even a speck of dust.
The only thing to do was unite every force that could be united, then advance together in a single direction.
Of course, this idea had already taken root in Lin Tian's heart when he entered the realm of great unity golden immortal.
But at that time, every force he could find was scattered and fragmented.
When he obtained the Golden Strike Divine Forest and encountered the avatar of the innate Chaos Demon God, the Heaven-and-Earth Ancestor, the ancestor did count as a force in his own right.
However.
There was, in fact, an irreconcilable conflict between Lin Tian and the innate demon god, the Heaven-and-Earth Ancestor.
In other words.
Any force he could unite with had to consist of acquired beings born and nurtured in the Primordial World, who had developed on their own after Pan Gu's World-Opening—not Chaos Demon Gods born before that event.
In the flick of a finger, another hundred thousand years passed.
During those hundred thousand years,
Lin Tian proceeded steadily and methodically, using conciliation, threats and inducements, fair trades, alliances, and all manner of other tactics.
As for the seventy-two Fierce Beasts of the Eastern Continent Mountain Range,
he first divided them into two opposing camps.
Then he manipulated matters between them, obtaining various spiritual treasures and innate divine ability cultivation methods from both sides.
Those two camps were then divided by him into three forces.
Once the seventy-two Fierce Beasts had been split into three forces,
the beasts, once twisted together like strands of a single rope, each declared independence and carved out their own territories.
Yet throughout those hundred thousand years,
the mysterious and unfathomable Nine-Headed Ghost Bird, Ghost Chariot, never appeared.
Ghost Chariot simply let Lin Tian manipulate the Eastern Continent Mountain Range, turning his palm up to summon clouds and down to bring rain.
In those hundred thousand years, Ghost Chariot never showed a face or uttered a word. Not only was there no contact with Lin Tian, there was no communication whatsoever with the seventy-one subordinate Fierce Beasts either.
Precisely because of this,
the cautious and steady Lin Tian never directly challenged the core territory belonging to Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird, during those hundred thousand years.
Ghost Chariot's core territory was the tallest divine tree in the East Continent Forest.
That ancient tree towered a hundred thousand zhang high, beyond the ability of any Primordial World Creature to gaze upon directly, and served as Ghost Chariot's nest.
On this day,
Lin Tian rode the Nine-Headed Azure Luan
and descended before that ancient tree towering a hundred thousand zhang high.
The Little Beast Emperor, whose body still stood nine zhang tall, rode the Nine-Headed Demon Phoenix and descended to the upper right of the towering ancient tree.
During those hundred thousand years,
Lin Tian had specifically targeted the top ten among the seventy-two Fierce Beasts.
By now, eight of the top ten Fierce Beasts served under him and respectfully addressed Lin Tian as Master.
Although the Little Beast Emperor had only beaten the fifth-ranked Nine-Headed Demon Phoenix into submission among the top ten ancient Fierce Beasts, he had subdued more than fifty of those ranked below the top ten.
That was a truly ferocious record!
At this moment,
the nest of Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird who had originally led the seventy-two Fierce Beasts, was surrounded by the seventy-one rebellious Fierce Beasts.
Their encirclement was a net cast across heaven and earth; whether one flew into the sky or burrowed underground, there was nowhere to escape.
At the same time,
Lin Tian's countless Nine Nether Vines had formed an Eight-Direction Hongmeng Cage Formation around the ancient tree, which stood a hundred thousand zhang tall and rose as majestically as a mountain!
Then,
he sent a strand of Spirit Awareness toward the divine tree:
"Ghost Chariot, I know you've been watching all along. Now, let us make a fair trade. I want only your Ghost Chariot Core. Produce it, and I can offer you a drop of Three Lights Divine Water in exchange."
When Lin Tian sent that strand of Spirit Awareness toward the towering ancient tree,
the Nine-Headed Azure Luan beneath him also sent Spirit Awareness toward the ancient tree standing a hundred thousand zhang tall:
"Boss Ghost Chariot, you and I are evenly matched in cultivation and divine abilities."
"I call you Boss because you have always been steady and cautious, the foremost beast admired by all seventy-two of us in the eastern continent. But throughout these hundred thousand years, you've refused to speak, nor have you interfered with Master's subjugation of the Eastern Continent's Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts."
"If you still won't state your position, we'll flatten this ancient tree, then divide up all your bloodline and Spirit Treasures, Boss Ghost Chariot."
The instant the Nine-Headed Azure Luan's strand of spiritual sense entered the Golden-Light Divine Tree standing a hundred thousand zhang tall-
"Innate Spirit Awareness, Nine Nether Vine. Not bad."
A majestic yet sinister strand of Spirit Awareness emerged from within the ancient tree.
That Spirit Awareness appeared not only in the seas of consciousness of Lin Tian and the Little Beast Emperor. The same sinister, icy Spirit Awareness also rang out in the seas of consciousness of all those lackeys among the seventy-two Fierce Beasts.
At this moment,
The Eastern Continent's Seventy-One Fierce Beasts suddenly remembered the terror of being ruled by Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird whose heads could be gathered in the crook of an arm, when they formed the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts Alliance in the East Continent Forest.
After Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird, released that strand of Spirit Awareness, which spanned tens of millions of li and entered the heart-lakes of the surrounding beings,
Rumble!
Rumble!
At that moment,
an incomparably imposing figure, fully a thousand zhang tall, emerged above the ancient tree.
Those thunderous sounds were sonic booms produced by an enormous vehicle soaring across the sky!
Nine heads appeared above the ancient tree in an instant!
Each sinister, majestic head bore three faces!
When Ghost Chariot's nine heads appeared above the ancient tree a hundred zhang tall,
that gaze encompassed every direction-above, below, left, and right.
And there were fully twenty-seven faces!
Among those twenty-seven faces,
nine were the faces of innate races.
Eighteen were the faces of acquired beings.
On every face, the mouth had been sewn tightly shut with needle and thread.
And bloody tears flowed beneath the eyes.
In other words, the nine heads manifested by Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird, could actually be counted as twenty-seven heads.
After all, those twenty-seven faces were real beyond question.
Before you continue