A Beast Raised by the Wu Clan?

After meeting up with Wu Yingying, Yun Mo and the others set out along the Spirit Road again.

"Qingxuan, did you exchange your token points for that red dress? It's gorgeous." Wu Yingying might have been a little spoiled and headstrong, but she did keep the group's atmosphere from growing so quiet.

Ultimately, they had simply spent too little time together to feel entirely at ease. Yun Mo and Wu Ling were fine, but Wen Qingxuan was only familiar with Yun Mo and had barely spoken to Wu Ling.

Now that Wu Yingying had joined them, her endless questions livened things up considerably.

"Yes, but Yun Mo gave it to me. Three thousand Spirit Points-it was a little welcome gift for joining the group. He even gave your brother plenty of things!" Wen Qingxuan said with a smile. Having another girl join them had brought a smile to her face, too.

"Huh? Even Wu Ling got gifts? Then why didn't I get anything, Captain Yun Mo? You're not withholding my share, are you?" Wu Yingying sidled up to Yun Mo, held out her little hand, and demanded an answer with her nose wrinkled.

Yun Mo pressed a hand to his forehead and told Wu Yingying, "Don't listen to her nonsense. What gifts? If I give all of you things, who's going to give me anything?"

"Hmph! Qingxuan wouldn't lie. Wu Ling, tell me-have you ever received anything from Captain Yun Mo?" A crafty gleam flashed in Wu Yingying's eyes. She waved her little fist and looked at Wu Ling, warning him to think carefully before answering.

Seeing the craftiness and the hint of warning in her eyes, Wu Ling could only laugh awkwardly. "Well... I suppose... um, haha."

Watching Wu Yingying threaten him so openly, Yun Mo's face darkened. "I gave them things because they contributed to the team. It was compensation. You've only just joined us. What have you contributed?

"And you want us to help you get revenge. If anything, you should be paying us. Besides, haven't you already eaten a Nine-Leaf Fruit? Consider that your welcome gift."

Wu Yingying spat in disdain. "Wu Ling gave me that, all right? How can it count as your gift? Qingxuan said her red dress cost three thousand Spirit Points. I'll give you a discount-something worth two thousand will do.

"A red dress with golden armor like Qingxuan's wouldn't really suit me. A blue one like this would be better. The token happens to have one available, too. Exchange the points for it and call it my gift."

"You little brat. You want clothes worth two thousand Spirit Points? Wait until you've grown a little more." Yun Mo looked at her slight figure and curled his lip dismissively.

"You!" Seeing his disdainful gaze sweep over her figure, Wu Yingying knew exactly what he meant. "Qingxuan, I'm telling you, Yun Mo has ulterior motives!"

"Oh? What ulterior motives?"

"He bought you that red dress so he could ogle your figure every day. He's a lecher! He's no different from my enemy!"

"Hey! You little brat, stop spitting blood at me! When have I ever ogled her figure every day? And you're calling me a lecher!" Yun Mo flew into a rage. Who said things like that out in the open?

"Look, I hit the mark, and now he's lashing out in embarrassment." Wu Yingying moved back beside Wen Qingxuan. "We'd better be careful. He's not just stingy-he's petty, too."

"You..." Yun Mo gritted his teeth. "Come here. I'll buy you the dress."

"Hmph! You definitely want to take the chance to get back at me. Transfer the Spirit Points from your token, and I'll buy it myself." Wu Yingying made a face and hid behind Wen Qingxuan.

"You're the one refusing the gift. Don't blame me later."

"..."

Bickering and joking along the way, they finally reached their destination.

The place resembled a valley, but it was more like a deep basin. Cliffs rose all around it as though carved by blades, their sharp walls thrusting into the clouds to form barriers that sealed it off completely from the outside world.

At the center lay a lake shimmering with an eerie glow. Its waters were an uncanny black, as though they could swallow every trace of light.

Up close, one would discover that the lake's surface was sometimes still as a mirror, then would suddenly churn, exposing the currents beneath. It seemed as though some indescribable creature was prowling within, watching everything that approached.

"Something seems off. According to the map, the terrain here shouldn't look like this." Through his Divine Soul, Yun Mo faintly sensed something strange-and a hint of danger.

"Why are those cliffs black, too? They didn't look like that when we were outside." Wu Yingying swallowed, feeling that everything here was peculiar.

"Look over there! The medicinal herbs deep in the lake!" Wu Ling summoned his War Staff and pointed toward the lake at the center, shock flashing in his eyes.

The others froze, then looked over together.

"That's..."

"Azure Cloud Fruit."

"Heavenly Peak Flower."

"Spirit Platform Netherworld Grass."

"..."

Dozens of extraordinarily precious medicinal herbs had turned that spot into a medicinal garden, their spiritual aura enveloping the surrounding space.

"There are Nocturnal Bees there, too!" A brilliant gleam flashed through Wen Qingxuan's phoenix eyes. None of them had expected to find traces of Nocturnal Bees here so readily.

"Looks like we're about to strike it rich." Wu Ling grinned, excitement steadily rising within him.

There were many medicinal herbs there suitable for body tempering. If they refined them, they were almost completely certain they could raise their physical strength to the Spirit Wheel Realm.

But just as they were about to approach, violent ripples began spreading across the black lake, with enormous tails flickering in and out of sight beneath the surface.

This sudden development gradually cooled the excitement in their eyes.

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple. Stay careful. The Spirit Road has opened dozens of times. There's no way nobody discovered this place. The only explanation is that the guardian spirit beast was too powerful and wiped out everyone who came here." A cold gleam flashed in Yun Mo's eyes as his Flexible Sword appeared in his hand.

"Heh, but we can't pass up an opportunity like this." Wu Ling brimmed with fighting spirit. Opportunity and danger went hand in hand-that truth had remained unchanged through the ages.

"Wu Ling, Qingxuan, once the fighting starts, we'll each take a different direction. Wu Yingying, your body is weaker, so stay back and support us with arrows."

Yun Mo handed her a shortbow. He had exchanged his remaining Spirit Points for it. Its arrows could be formed using force alone, making it a decent Spirit Artifact.

Knowing this was no time for fooling around, Wu Yingying nodded solemnly.

Once the arrangements were made, the three darted forward, cautiously approaching the pitch-black lake.

The spirit beast within the lake seemed to sense their provocation. Unable to endure it any longer, it unleashed a series of roars

that shook heaven and earth, then abruptly leaped out of the lake, stirring up boundless waves.

"Roar!"

They looked closely, a trace of confusion flashing in their eyes.

Its appearance was ferocious beyond measure. At the front were eight terrifying heads, each bearing a blue face and savage fangs. Behind them was the body of a gigantic tiger, its fur gleaming blue and yellow as it radiated a horrifying, baleful aura.

Its limbs were thick and powerful, covered in incredibly hard scales. Every claw resembled a sharp blade, flashing with cold light as though it could tear through any obstacle.

Most striking of all were its tails. Eight enormous tails extended behind it, as flexible as snakes, with blue feathers and spikes spreading out as though they could blot out the sky and sun.

"Is that a Nightglow Netherworld Beast?" Wu Ling's brows drew tightly together, disbelief gleaming in his eyes.

Wen Qingxuan's red lips parted. "It is a Nightglow Netherworld Beast-a beast raised by the Ancient Wu Clan."

"But how is that possible?"

At that moment, they all felt that this was utterly absurd.

The Nightglow Netherworld Beast was unique to the Ancient Wu Clan. Apart from them, no other faction in the entire Great Thousand World possessed such spirit beasts.

The Ancient Wu Clan had been a legendary faction in the Great Thousand World. The world they originally inhabited had only been a Middle Thousand World, which had merged into the Great Thousand World through an unexpected coincidence.

Several centuries later, one of the Great Thousand World's top factions discovered this clan, which cultivated only the physical body, and sought to subjugate them as a subordinate faction.

However, that top faction had not anticipated the clan's strength. The several Earthly Sovereigns it dispatched were reduced to nothing, not even their bones remaining, in the blink of an eye. In a towering rage, the faction enlisted two other top factions close to it and marched on the Wu Clan Ancestral Land together.

Yet what happened next left everyone reeling. A battle did take place, but those three Heavenly Sovereigns fared little better than the Earthly Sovereigns. They were surrounded and killed before they even reached the Wu Clan Ancestral Land. Even the armies they brought were exterminated without stirring so much as a ripple.

That battle shook the entire Great Thousand World. Nobody had imagined that a clan cultivating only the physical body could be so ferocious, but the most terrifying part had yet to come.

The battle had also enraged the Wu Clan. More than a dozen of their strongest experts emerged from the ancestral land, attacked the three super factions together, and utterly annihilated them.

From then on, a faction devoted primarily to cultivating the physical body became a supreme sacred land of the Great Thousand World, unafraid even of those so-called Gu Clans.

Nor did they disgrace their title as a sacred land of the Great Thousand World. When the Extraterritorial Evil Clan invaded, the entire Wu Clan perished together with twenty Demon Emperors. Every member died in battle, and the continent their clan inhabited broke apart and vanished.

Recalling these accounts from the academy's ancient texts, Yun Mo let out a long breath. He had never imagined that he would find traces of a beast raised by the Wu Clan here.

"What do we do?" Wu Ling looked at Yun Mo. Although a Nightglow Netherworld like this was merely a pet the Wu Clan used to guard the miscellaneous flowers and weeds on the outskirts of their territory, and was not known for its strength, it was still far beyond anything they could match.

Judging from its aura, this Nightglow Netherworld Beast was at least as powerful as a rank-seven spirit beast. In single combat, it could easily tear any of them apart.

"What can we do? Do you think it looks willing to let us retreat? Besides, this is a Nightglow Netherworld Beast. I think we can safely say that this continent on the Spirit Road holds secrets of the Wu Clan."

Yun Mo thought of that great bow. Could it be a legendary divine weapon?