Xiao Bai's voice echoed through the empty valleys of Sky-Reaching Peak, reverberating among the distant mountains.
No one answered him from within the vast mist.
He could not even sense anyone else's spiritual pressure...
The atmosphere was eerie to the extreme.
It was as if he were the only person left in the entire plaza.
Other than that, the most conspicuous presence was the enormous black shadow cruising through the air.
Xiao Bai raised his head once more.
No matter how he looked at it, this monster did not resemble a Ferocious Beast from a cultivation world. It was more like a hybrid of a primordial divine beast and Cthulhu.
However, after being ravaged by the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons for a thousand years, the Tian Yuan Era was no longer the cultivation world it had once been.
The Dao Alliance had mastered vast quantities of Automated Spiritual Artifacts technology capable of Mass Production, using it to fight the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons and usher in the Tian Yuan Era.
The spirit beasts of the cultivation era had also been forced by the baptism of the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons to evolve countless bizarre varieties.
These Aberrant Spirit Beasts looked disgusting, but many of them were exceedingly valuable medicinal ingredients.
Perhaps the elders needed this thing.
Xiao Bai calmed down.
Looking closely, the spiritual power radiating from the monster was indeed that of a Ferocious Beast.
Its spiritual pressure was somewhat strange. It appeared to be Qi Refining, yet it kept shifting without pause.
Its exact cultivation could not be determined.
Still, with so many Nascent Soul big shots overseeing the scene, he definitely would not be in danger.
Let's gamble on it...
As long as I don't lose too miserably.
With that thought, Xiao Bai rose on his sword and shot straight toward the thousand-zhang-high sky shrouded in dense fog.
For an instant, it carried the tragic grandeur of a tiny human challenging a primordial behemoth.
Yet as Xiao Bai drew closer to the Ferocious Beast, he felt that its body... might not have been as large as it had first appeared.
An octopus's tentacles were its strength, while its head was its weakness.
Without another word, Xiao Bai flew directly toward that incomparably massive octopus head.
Suddenly!
The countless tentacles at the octopus's rear spread open in an instant, like a peacock fanning its tail.
Its size swelled tenfold!
The tentacles continuously twisted into all manner of complex, bizarre geometric shapes, producing thick, rustling sounds, like Gods and Devils striking a bell, blow after blow, hammering at Xiao Bai's soul.
Xiao Bai was badly startled.
When he came back to himself, a huge single eye atop the octopus head was staring at him through the mist.
It faintly carried the sorrow of ancient primordial ages and a vast, silent pressure, like an invisible giant hand tearing open his dantian from afar.
Xiao Bai's body stiffened, a chill ran down his spine, and his mind went blank.
It was as if some indescribable thing had lodged in his throat. One careless move, and he would lose himself and be dragged into a soul abyss from which there was no return.
Frightened, he hurriedly swallowed a Blood Spirit Pill...
Only then did he regain much of his clarity.
Only then did he discover that there was nothing wrong with his body. He had merely been scared into a sweat.
Still shaken, Xiao Bai gritted his teeth and looked again.
Suddenly, it did not seem nearly so frightening...
Its appearance was merely a little unconventional.
A mental attack?
Xiao Bai leaped onto the octopus's head.
It felt slimy...
His foot slipped, and he nearly fell.
With quick eyes and swift hands, Xiao Bai drove his sword into the top of the massive octopus head, barely managing to steady himself.
A strange cry, like the wailing of an infant monster, instantly rang through the misty valley...
In a daze, countless tentacles surged at Xiao Bai from all directions like a tide.
Xiao Bai detected the disturbance in advance. The instant the tentacles encircled him, his figure flashed, and he sprang out of the encirclement.
Seeing that his footing was slipping and there was nowhere to go, Xiao Bai's next step drove directly into the flesh of the octopus head!
The movement technique inherent to the Butcher's Sword Technique could easily evade tentacles, but it struggled against smooth ground.
The movement technique of the Xiahou Body Technique was steady, precise, and ruthless in force, allowing Xiao Bai to step into the octopus head's flesh and plant both feet firmly.
Holding his dharma sword, Xiao Bai faced the mountain-shouting, sea-roaring wave of octopus tentacles and unleashed the Butcher's Sword Technique.
It was like chopping melons and slicing vegetables!
Blue fluid burst forth and splattered everywhere.
The fluid was not poisonous, but it was highly corrosive...
The Elder's Robe Mu Yun had woven by hand possessed poison resistance.
Xiao Bai's precise swordsmanship made sure that the fluid only splashed onto his body, avoiding his handsome face.
Tentacles rained down from the sky.
Some fell into the Flame Platform and were roasted through and through, releasing the aroma of high-quality protein.
The Ferocious Beast continued crying like an infant...
Making Xiao Bai suddenly wonder whether he was being too cruel.
A Ferocious Beast this large would be difficult to subdue.
Xiao Bai could only dismember it first, then dissect it and take its Beast Core, liver, gallbladder, and other organs. He would consider it a gracious acceptance of a grand gift.
Within the plaza's mist.
The heart of a certain Hundred Herbs Peak disciple was bleeding.
The supposedly unsubdued Ferocious Beast had actually long since been subdued by him.
Thus, when the octopus was severed, his heart was the one in pain.
He immediately formed hand seals and employed a beast-taming art—
"Sink!"
Xiao Bai had happily adapted to the battle amid all the melon-chopping and vegetable-slicing.
Just as he was preparing to press his advantage, his feet suddenly sank.
His body was dragged by an invisible force!
He was pulled directly inside, vanishing into the octopus head...
With Xiao Bai's max-level Xiahou Movement Technique, he had originally had a chance to escape.
Alas...
Who told him that he had wanted to enter the octopus's body in the first place?
Inside the octopus was the best place to use the Butcher's Sword Technique for dissection.
So he went with the current and delved deeper into the octopus,
Entering its stomach directly...
It was full of stomach acid, though its corrosiveness was weaker than the blue blood's.
The relatively dangerous thing was the spiritual pressure—the spiritual pressure of Peak Qi Refining within an enclosed space!
Xiao Bai felt rather uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Balanced Five Elements gave him somewhat greater resistance. Coupled with constantly popping Blood Spirit Pills, he felt the problem was not too serious.
Once his body adapted, Xiao Bai raised his sword and began a slaughter within the stomach.
Slash, slash, slash—
An octopus rain fell from the sky.
Heads were heads, bones were bones, and all five viscera and six bowels remained intact. Even after leaving the body, they retained a certain degree of vitality.
Xiao Bai put all the valuable organs into his storage ring.
The worthless ones, he casually tossed aside.
Once his sword had finished carving.
The octopus was gone, and so was the mist.
Xiao Bai hovered in midair on his sword, suddenly somewhat dumbfounded.
All around him was empty. The clear mist dispersed in every direction, and there were no more infant cries or strange shrieks. The primordial aura of sorrow had vanished as well.
That was it?
He had not even broken a sweat...
Lord Cthulhu's weak boat indeed did not deceive me!
Silence reigned over Mountain Gate Plaza.
The disciples had not fully recovered. Affected by the mist, they all felt that what they had just seen and sensed with their divine consciousness was somewhat hazy and unreal.
The elders' gazes were like torches, their expressions each more grave than the last.
The Beast Taming Elder's expression was even harder to describe...
Xiao Bai descended on his sword and landed, then quietly asked his wife:
"What kind of Ferocious Beast was that? It was pretty scary."
Yu Hu's clear eyes were like still water, without the slightest ripple.
Although she had long known that Xiao Bai had defeated Mu Yun with the Butcher's Sword Technique, witnessing this scene with her own eyes still left her finding it unbelievable.
"The One-Eyed Octopus was once an aquatic spirit beast during the Golden Era. It was only palm-sized and survived by feeding on carrion."
"During the Era of Dharma Decline, the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons descended. The One-Eyed Octopus gained room to survive by imitating the Heavenly Demons and gradually became a carnivorous spirit beast."
"Later, relying on abundant spiritual power, it ascended above the water, formed clouds and spread mist in the air, continuing to run rampant without restraint. Its body gradually grew to its current size as well."
"Generally speaking, One-Eyed Octopuses in the Qi Refining Realm often rely on deception to frighten off Foundation Establishment Ferocious Beasts, even Golden Core Ferocious Beasts. Those with lower cultivation than them may even be scared unconscious."
Yu Hu explained in detail.
Her knowledge was so specialized that it far exceeded what a Pill Elder ought to possess.
Xiao Bai understood.
This was evolution!
It was artificial selec...
No, it was demonic selection!
Thus, he strolled over to the Beast Taming Elder. Facing the mature beauty of an old aunt, he respectfully said:
"Thank you, Senior Sister Zhehui. The Ferocious Beast has been physically subdued and will soon join Hundred Herbs Peak's luxury lunch."
Before you continue