Flender and the others could not help stopping in their tracks.
"Is that... the Sky Azure Bull Python?" Zhao Wuji dared not speak loudly. "And the Titan Giant Ape?"
Flender's lips moved. He knew full well that the Core Circle of the Star Dou Great Forest was no place for humans.
And these two before him were the most formidable predators in the Core Circle.
Against the Titan Giant Ape and Sky Azure Bull Python, each with a hundred thousand years of cultivation, he was not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.
Flender said nothing. Something else had caught his eye.
Beside the rock where the Sky Azure Bull Python lay coiled stood a wooden sign, with a crooked line of writing on it.
"No feeding. No head pats. Violators bear the consequences."
A skull had also been drawn beside the words. The childish handwriting was Xiao Wu's work.
Flender stared at the wooden sign, then looked up at the two enormous creatures again, his head buzzing.
"Senior Xiao Wu." Flender swallowed with difficulty. "Are they those two from the Star Dou Great Forest?"
Xiao Wu glanced back at him, her expression matter-of-fact. "Yes, this is Da Ming and Er Ming. Gatling Douluo said there was plenty of room in the back hills, so they could stay wherever they liked and serve as gatekeepers for the academy while they were at it."
Flender's brain completely shut down.
The Titan Giant Ape seemed to have been awakened by their voices. His enormous dark-gold eyes opened a crack and swept over Flender and the others.
That gaze weighed on them like a mountain, carrying the innate pressure of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. Flender's knees buckled, and he nearly dropped to them on the spot.
The others fared even worse,