Submission

The moment Li Chen finished speaking, the air by the lake seemed to freeze.

Xiong Jun was the first to lose his restraint, letting out a cold laugh:

"What an arrogant tone. You're a human, yet you came to the Great Ferocious Land to demand our submission? You must not know how to spell death."

Li Chen merely smiled faintly in response, raised his right hand, and snapped his fingers. An invisible wave spread outward from him.

All the ferocious beasts present felt it at the same time: their soul power had vanished, and their Mental Power had become too weak to mobilize, though their physical strength was largely unaffected.

Although their physical strength had not been greatly affected, the stronger their bodies were, the greater the burden those bodies placed on them.

The Scarlet King was the first to buckle under the pressure, reverting to his true form and collapsing on the ground. Zi JI, Xiong Jun, the Myriad Demon King, and Bi Ji followed, reverting to their true forms one after another and being crushed to the ground by the burden of their own bodies.

Di Tian tried to hold out, but his cultivation was the highest here, so being suddenly stripped of his power placed the greatest pressure on him. In the end, he reverted to his true form.

Di Tian stood on all four claws, his enormous dragon head hanging low. A muffled dragon growl rumbled in his throat as he struggled to lift his head, but the crushing burden of his body made even the slightest movement difficult.

He had lived for hundreds of thousands of years and had never been reduced to such a sorry state.

Li Chen looked at him, his tone as casual as ever. "Recognize the gap in our strength. Can we have a proper talk now?"

Di Tian did not answer, but he stopped struggling. After a long silence, he finally forced a single low word from his throat. "...Speak."

"Judging by your condition, you won't be able to hold out much longer, so I'll get straight to the point. I can alter the world's rules so that soul beasts no longer drop soul rings or soul bones when they die. You should understand what that means."

"Think it over carefully. You can pay protection fees at regular intervals based on the number of soul beasts, submit to me, or decide you've lived long enough and settle down for an eternal sleep."

At Li Chen's claim that he could stop soul beasts from producing soul rings, the pupils of every soul beast present trembled. Yet none questioned him. After all, he had suppressed them in an instant until they could not even stand.

In truth, even Li Chen had not expected this effect, because it did not work this way on soul beasts under ten thousand years old.

"What do you want us to do?" Di Tian asked with difficulty, keeping even his words as brief as possible. That question also made their choice clear.

"There's no rush to discuss that. For now, you should address me as Venerable Lord."

Before coming here, Li Chen had already thought it through. Once he gained control over the world's permissions, this entire world would belong to him. Naturally, he would have to bring these "wild" high-level combatants into his fold. Killing them outright would be far too wasteful.

As for Da Ming and Er Ming, they would most likely only serve as moles.

Xiong Jun was the first to explode. This human had humiliated them again and again, and now he had the nerve to demand they call him Venerable Lord?

Xiong Jun had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. When had he ever suffered such indignity? He let out a furious roar and slammed his fan-sized paw against the ground, his muscles bulging as he tried to smash this human who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth into pulp.

But he had forgotten that his soul power was sealed and most of his Mental Power was suppressed. His physical strength alone could not support that small mountain of a body.

He lunged forward with all his might, only for his limbs to go limp. Instead of launching himself forward, he fell face-first into the ground again with a grunt. His enormous body managed only a tiny, laborious wriggle forward.

For a moment, the scene was painfully awkward.

"Pfft." Watching Xiong Jun's performance, Li Chen laughed aloud.

Still, he had not forgotten the matter at hand. He continued watching Di Tian. As long as Di Tian bowed his head, the other ferocious beasts would be no trouble.

Di Tian could accept working for the human before him, but he could not bring himself to address a human as Venerable Lord. He could only remain silent, hoping his master would notice something was wrong and intervene.

His opponent could suppress them, but Di Tian did not believe he could suppress the Silver Dragon King. Even gravely injured, she was still a god-level existence.

Yet the Silver Dragon King, on whom Di Tian had pinned his hopes, was currently no better off than they were-if anything, she was worse off. Within the range of Li Chen's soul skill, she too had inevitably been suppressed to level 0.

Without soul power, her injuries deteriorated rapidly. The wounds she had barely managed to stabilize after tens of thousands of years of recuperation began to flare up again.

"You aren't waiting for the Silver Dragon King to intervene, are you?" Li Chen saw through Di Tian's thoughts at a glance. His Mental Power now far surpassed theirs; if he wanted, he could even achieve something akin to mind reading. "She can barely protect herself right now. Besides, can following her really give the Soul Beast Clan a better life?"

"She can't change the rule that soul beasts turn into soul rings after death. She can't change the rule that forbids the Soul Beast Clan from becoming gods. With the Divine Realm watching from above, she doesn't even dare make a move. Does the Soul Beast Clan truly have any hope of rising if you follow her? As the true Soul Beast Co-Ruler, has she ever done anything for them?"

Faced with Li Chen's words, Di Tian remained silent throughout and began to seriously consider them. For a moment, he even disregarded the fact that his opponent knew of the Silver Dragon King's existence.

Hidden beneath the Lake of Life, the Silver Dragon King heard him disparage her so harshly, yet could do nothing about it. Even her own subordinates might be lured away.

She was very much like a helpless wife.

After a bout of hesitation and inner struggle, Di Tian finally spoke with difficulty. "Venerable Lord."

Li Chen turned his gaze toward the other ferocious beasts. With even Di Tian bowing his head, they called out the title one after another. Even Xiong Jun behaved himself now.

Only then did Li Chen nod in satisfaction. With a wave of his hand, he gave each of them an Enchanted Golden Apple and a Totem of Undying. A blow from the stick followed by a sweet date-an old trick, but an effective one.

"This is an Enchanted Golden Apple. When we soul masters eat one, it raises our innate soul power by one level. For soul beasts like you, it should improve your cultivation aptitude. The other item is a Totem of Undying. It can save you from death once, so you won't have to worry about being struck dead by a heavenly tribulation."

Li Chen then placed a Teleportation Stele beside the lake, took out some wooden planks, and built a matchbox-shaped house in a few quick moves.

"Venerable... Venerable Lord, could... could you remove the restrictions on us?" Bi Ji pleaded with difficulty.

"Oh, this isn't suppression. My soul skill's effect simply sets every nearby entity to level 0. You can only wait for the world's rules to correct the effect automatically. I don't know how long it will last, either."

For the time being, he left the seven ferocious beasts alone and began assembling a new End Portal Frame nearby, activating it with Eyes of Ender.

An hour and a half soon passed before the soul beasts gradually began to feel their soul power returning. In fact, it took more than three hours for them to recover fully.

"All right, let's go. I happen to have a task for you. If you get it done, helping the Silver Dragon King resolve her injuries won't be a problem, either."

Li Chen pointed at the newly constructed End Portal.

"Beyond this portal is a dimension called the End. I need three of you to go in and bring back information for me."