An enormous beast strode out of the shadows of the forest. Golden scales the size of palms covered its body, and a thick mane of gold stirred around its neck without any wind. Its eyes blazed like golden lamps. A primordial remnant-the Golden Lion.
The oppressive might of its bloodline surged toward Stone Village like a tangible tide, wave upon wave. The violent current pressed the flames of the bonfire in the square flat against the ground, nearly extinguishing them.
The villagers gripped their stone axes and bone spears tightly. Even after last night's complete transformation, the instincts in their blood still stirred uneasily before such a terrifying creature, an overlord of its domain.
The old chief, Shi Yunfeng, stepped out of the crowd. Veins stood out on the back of his hand as he gripped his staff and planted it heavily in the yellow earth.
"Stone Village and the Great Wilderness have always kept to our own waters. Why have you driven a beast tide across our borders?"
The Golden Lion stopped and looked down upon the crowd before him.
His cold, slit pupils showed not the slightest flicker of emotion, only pure contempt for ants.
"Deep within the Great Wilderness, two supreme beings have issued their decree. Everything within a hundred thousand li of this place shall be purged and turned into a land of death."
"You humans introduce too many uncertainties. You must be exterminated."
Shi Linhu's pupils contracted sharply.
Shi Feijiao sucked in a cold breath.
Supreme beings!
Those were the overlords of the deepest reaches of the Great Wilderness, whose mere shock waves could shatter mountain ranges and whose roars could knock stars from the sky.
Before the will of such creatures, any resistance seemed utterly laughable.
Suffocating despair instantly spread through the villagers' hearts.