Star Dou Great Forest

One year later, in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Qian Chongling walked alone through the woods at an unhurried pace.

He had arrived two days ago, and this was far from his first visit to the Star Dou Great Forest. Yet every time he came, he could still feel the boundless immensity of this place!

According to the continent's maps, the Star Dou Great Forest stretched across both great empires. According to history, this place was the birthplace of many soul beasts.

It contained more varieties of soul beasts than any other soul beast forest! It also covered the largest area! The greater one's strength, the farther one could venture into the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Star Dou Great Forest was divided into the outer region, the inner region, and the core region. The outer region was where soul beasts younger than ten thousand years mainly roamed, while the inner region housed ten-thousand-year soul beasts and older. Beneath the Lake of Life in the so-called core region lay the place where the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena was recovering from her injuries.

After passing through a dense stretch of woods, the view ahead suddenly opened up. Qian Chongling's pupils contracted instantly, for the scene before him was so beautiful that words could not describe it.

The clear little lake lent moisture to the air. Towering trees all around were reflected on its surface, and the sunlight bathing the scene made everything seem crystal clear in the water's reflection.

Beside this enchanting scene, an enormous figure crouched silently. He was like a mountain, his jet-black fur gleaming faintly in the weak sunlight. Even on all fours, his shoulders stood well over seven meters high. If he stood upright, he would likely tower more than fifteen meters tall.

He was the Titan Giant Ape, the overlord of the Star Dou Great Forest's outer and inner regions, and the apparent ruler of this stretch of forest, with a cultivation of exactly one hundred thousand years.

On the other side, an immense body emerged from the white mist as a dark silhouette. This shadow was enormous; compared with the Titan Giant Ape from before, the difference was like heaven and earth.

The Titan Giant Ape stood only a little over seven meters high, but the shadow before him reached at least ten meters-no, perhaps twenty meters, or even higher?

The shadow had a python-like body, a pair of enormous bull horns, and crimson eyes like those of the god of death. Dimly visible through the white mist, a jewel-like orb rested on his forehead.

This was the Sky Azure Bull Python, even stronger than the Titan Giant Ape, a soul beast with around two hundred thousand years of cultivation and strength comparable to a Titled Douluo above rank ninety-five.

Last were two enormous pink rabbits, one roughly fifteen meters tall and the other about twenty meters tall. Both had a pair of long pink ears, three-lobed mouths that kept chewing on something, and ruby-like eyes that glittered in the night light.

At that moment, the four soul beasts were discussing something.

"Aunt Qing Wu, have you really decided to take human form?" the bull-headed, snake-bodied Sky Azure Bull Python asked the taller pink rabbit beside him in human speech.

"Da Ming, stop trying to persuade me. If I don't transform, the next heavenly tribulation may be the end of me," Qing Wu, the Soft Bone Rabbit, said gently.

"But..."

"Well, is it really that hard to decide? Why don't I kill her, then? Her bones can keep you company forever." Just as the soul beasts were lost in thought, a vicious voice steeped in chilling menace reached their ears.

The four soul beasts turned warily toward the back of a large tree, where the voice had come from. "Who's there? Come out right now!"

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows. He was a handsome young man, his fitted black martial attire outlining a tall, well-built body. His handsome, coldly arrogant face and domineering expression were impossible to forget at a glance. Even more striking were his supreme confidence and bone-piercing killing intent.

"A human dares covet Qing Wu's soul ring? Die!"

With a furious roar, the Titan Giant Ape clenched his boulder-sized fist and hammered it down at Qian Chongling, holding nothing back. The force of his punch exploded outward, its gusts shaking the air and sending Qian Chongling's clothes billowing.

In the next instant, the wind of the punch howled, churning the air within that confined space. Before long, it formed an invisible vortex like a great millstone, trapping Qian Chongling at its center and grinding and crushing him relentlessly. It was also like Mount Tai bearing down on him, allowing no escape.

Feeling the waves of pressure from the air around him, Qian Chongling smiled faintly. He raised his right hand without the slightest hindrance amid the rapidly twisting currents and gently pointed a finger forward.

Pop!!

With a tremendous sound like a bursting balloon, the field of force surrounding him exploded apart, turning into streams of air that swept in every direction and sent Qing Wu's fur fluttering.

Fist met finger, and the ground beneath them immediately caved in and shattered. Broken chunks of earth shot through the air, while a ring of pressure burst outward, stirring up a sky full of dust.

A moment later, the shock waves gradually subsided. Beneath the silver night light, amid the rising dust, Qian Chongling stood with one hand behind his back and the other pointing diagonally upward, holding the Titan Giant Ape's fist firmly in midair. It could not descend any farther, while he stood straight and utterly unmoving.

Qian Chongling smiled faintly, then abruptly bent his finger and flicked it.

Bang!

The air exploded. Before the Titan Giant Ape could react, he was struck and sent flying backward. With a piercing howl, he became an enormous cannonball hurtling diagonally away, smashing through a large tree with a thunderous crash. Dust billowed, and earth, branches, and leaves rained down.

At the same time that Qian Chongling sent the Titan Giant Ape flying, the Sky Azure Bull Python lashed his thick tail with overwhelming force that could sweep everything away. At the same time, he opened his bull's mouth and spat an enormous ball of lightning at Qian Chongling.

The Sky Azure Bull Python had unleashed his full strength in this attack. His power already equaled that of a rank ninety-six Super Douluo, and with his soul beast constitution and powerful body, only a rank ninety-seven Super Douluo could reliably defeat him.

Qian Chongling's eyes followed the Sky Azure Bull Python, locking firmly onto him. As he slowly raised his right palm, the marrow-deep chill gathering upon it grew ever more intense.

Cold Ice Palm!

He struck with his palm, and a white wave of palm force arrived in an instant, hitting the Sky Azure Bull Python directly. The seemingly endless cold carried temperatures that could freeze all things, turning him, his swinging tail, and the ball of lightning into a lifelike ice sculpture.

"Da Ming! Er Ming!" Qing Wu's terrified cries echoed throughout the inner region.

One punch and one palm strike had instantly defeated two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, leaving them no room to resist. In mere moments, the two Soft Bone Rabbits had experienced Qian Chongling's overwhelming strength and tyranny.

Despair and terror filled Qing Wu's eyes. From what she knew of humans, nothing awaited them now but death!

(Thanks to all my buddies for the recommendation votes. I originally thought bots were casting them. Special thanks to the big shot 202011251391.)