They were none other than the Star Dou Great Forest's overt overlords, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape!
"Both Soul Beasts are here! The supreme treasure must be in that fissure!" Yu Yuanzhen laughed wildly, lightning crackling all around him.
But immediately afterward, Ning Fengzhi stopped smiling.
He realized that those two haughty hundred-thousand-year ferocious beasts were not guarding their territory.
Instead, they lay prostrate on the ground, trembling from head to toe!
And they were not alone. Countless high-ranking Soul Beasts knelt in a dark mass around them, as though worshipping something.
Before them stood a middle-aged man in black robes.
The man stood with his back to the crowd, his hands clasped behind him.
Sensing the humans' arrival, the black-robed man slowly turned around.
His dark gold vertical pupils swept over all the Titled Douluos present.
"Humans?"
"So you came after all."
Hearing this, Yu Yuanzhen frowned.
He looked at the unfathomable black-robed man before him and snorted. "Enough of these cheap tricks!"
"You're the Million-Year Soul Beast called Di Tian that Tang Hao mentioned?"
"Hand over the supreme treasure, and today, I'll..."
Before Yu Yuanzhen could finish speaking.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin abruptly reached out from beside him and pressed a hand onto his shoulder.
"Sect Master Yu, shut up!"
Chen Xin stared fixedly at Di Tian. A sheen of cold sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and even the hand holding his Seven Kill Sword trembled slightly.
"There isn't a trace of human Soul Power emanating from him. He's a ferocious beast in human form!"
"And... his aura is a hundred times more terrifying than any Super Douluo I've ever encountered!"
Ning Fengzhi and the others sucked in a breath of cold air.
He could frighten Sword Douluo into a cold sweat?
Could this black-robed man really be the rumored Million-Year Ferocious Beast guarding the supreme treasure?
"Hahaha..."
Looking at these humans bracing themselves as though facing a formidable enemy, Di Tian suddenly laughed.
His laughter brimmed with lofty contempt.
"A million years? A supreme treasure?"
Di Tian shook his head slightly, a trace of brutality flashing through his dark gold vertical pupils.
"Insects who haven't even touched the divine realm, and you dare covet the Dragon Ancestor's resting place?"
"Since you're so eager to see the Star Dou Great Forest's true reserves, I shall open your eyes today!"
As his words fell, Di Tian abruptly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers crisply in midair.
Snap!
The next instant, the ground throughout the Star Dou Great Forest's core region suddenly began shaking violently.
Rumble!
Accompanied by a savage roar that shook heaven and earth, the space before them was forcibly torn apart like paper!
A terrifying claw covered in dark gold fur, dozens of meters long, reached straight out of the void and slammed into the ground, pressing a deep crater into it.
Immediately afterward, a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear even larger than the Titan Giant Ape, radiating an aura of pure destruction, forced his way out of the spatial rift.
Xiong Jun, with four hundred and seventy thousand years of cultivation!
"Roar!"
Xiong Jun threw back his head and roared, his tangible ferocity sweeping outward like a hurricane.
Several Soul Saints from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect standing at the very front did not even have time to scream. The sound wave shook them until blood poured from all seven orifices, and they fainted on the spot.
Before the human experts could recover from the shock Xiong Jun had brought.
Rustle...
Countless bucket-thick purple-black vines burst out of the ground, writhing wildly in midair like venomous pythons.
An old man with a sinister face and dry bark covering his body slowly rose along the vines.
The Myriad Demon King, with five hundred and thirty thousand years of cultivation!
Immediately afterward, a soft, emerald-green light descended from the sky without warning.
An exceedingly beautiful woman in a long green dress floated down.
Though she appeared delicate and exuded no killing intent at all.
The pressure radiating from the level of her life force left every Titled Douluo present feeling suffocated, unable to breathe.
Bi Ji, with five hundred and eighty thousand years of cultivation!
Last came a dragon's cry that pierced the soul.
A purple-black Hell Demon Dragon circled once in midair before transforming into a purple-haired woman with a voluptuous figure and a face full of murderous menace, landing steadily beside Di Tian.
Zi JI, with nearly three hundred thousand years of cultivation!
In just a few breaths.
Four peerless ferocious beasts that existed only in ancient legends, each with hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation, had all appeared!
And what left Ning Fengzhi and the others most despairing was this.
After appearing, these four ferocious beasts, whose auras were powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth, did not attack the humans directly.
Instead, they respectfully stepped behind Di Tian, lowering their heads slightly.
At this moment, even Yu Yuanzhen, who had been so arrogant and domineering just moments earlier, stared with wide eyes.
His proud Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul was trembling wildly inside him.
As though it had encountered an indescribable apex predator, it did not even have the courage to manifest!
Gulp.
Ning Fengzhi swallowed with difficulty, his mind utterly blank.
Four peerless ferocious beasts whose auras far surpassed those of rank-ninety-five Super Douluos!
Plus the unfathomable black-robed Di Tian, before whom even these four ferocious beasts bowed in submission!
Was this why Spirit Hall had been willing to risk their lives to stop them?!
How was this a treasure hunt? They had practically come as a group to deliver takeout!
But what would send an even deeper chill through Ning Fengzhi and the others was still to come.
Di Tian stood with his hands clasped behind his back, coldly watching the Titled Douluos who had been frightened senseless.
"Do you think this is an impressive gathering?"
A cold sneer curled Di Tian's lips.
He could not even be bothered to look back at the fissure, because these humans were simply unworthy.
"If you had obediently stayed outside, I wouldn't have bothered with you."
"Unfortunately, greed always blinds those dog eyes of yours."
Hearing this, Ning Fengzhi's back was already completely soaked with cold sweat.
Run!
They had to run immediately!
"Retreat!"
The next instant, Ning Fengzhi abruptly turned around and let out a hysterical roar at the top of his lungs.
"Everyone, leave the Star Dou Great Forest immediately! Hurry!"
The usually gentle and refined sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was now shouting so hard that his voice cracked.
Hearing Ning Fengzhi's shout, the Soul Masters, who had long since been scared out of their wits, snapped awake as though from a dream and turned to flee.
However.
"Roar!"
Xiong Jun grinned savagely.
"You think you can leave after coming here?"
"Do you take the core region for your own backyard?!"
As his words fell, Xiong Jun's enormous body suddenly leaped into the air.
His Dark Gold Dreadclaw, dozens of meters long, swept through the air with the force of toppling mountains and overturning seas, slamming straight down toward the fleeing crowd!
"Not a chance!"
At the sight, Sword Douluo Chen Xin's eyes nearly split with fury.
He knew that if this claw landed, more than half of the Soul Saints and Soul Douluos behind him would surely be killed or injured!
"Seventh Soul Skill, Seven Kill True Body!"
Without any hesitation, Chen Xin unleashed all the Soul Power of a rank-ninety-six Peak Douluo.
A massive phantom of the Seven Kill Sword, a hundred zhang long, soared into the sky, meeting Xiong Jun's Dark Gold Dreadclaw head-on.
Boom!
The two terrifying forces collided thunderously in midair.
The violent shock wave instantly uprooted hundreds of towering trees around them, reducing them to wood chips that filled the sky.
In midair, Chen Xin gave a muffled grunt, his face instantly flushing crimson. He gripped the sword hilt desperately with both hands, the webs between his thumbs and forefingers splitting and bleeding.
Yet he actually managed to hold that Dark Gold Dreadclaw in midair!
"Hmm?"
At this sight, a trace of surprise flashed through Xiong Jun's eyes.
"A mere human actually blocked thirty percent of my strength?"
"Interesting. Then take another claw!"
The next instant, Xiong Jun laughed wildly. The light on his Dark Gold Dreadclaw surged, and a terrifying force far greater than before pressed down viciously.
Hum!
The Seven Kill Sword's true body began trembling violently!
"Uncle Jian!"
Ning Fengzhi paled in alarm, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in his hand instantly blazed with light.
"Seven Treasures Turn, Glazed Tile Emerges! First: Strength! Second: Speed! Third: Soul..."
Several brilliant streams of light instantly poured into Chen Xin's body, forcibly helping him stabilize his sword's momentum just as it was about to collapse.
Beside them, Bone Douluo Gu Rong and Yu Yuanzhen, sect master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, exchanged a glance.
With the lips gone, the teeth would feel the cold. If they did not fight for their lives now, none of them would leave here alive today!
"Old Bones, let's attack together!"
"Ninth Soul Skill, True Dragon Descends!"
"Eighth Soul Skill, Bone Dragon Divine-Demonic Transformation!"
Accompanied by two furious roars.
The phantom of a raging Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and that of an enormous bone dragon soared into the sky simultaneously, carrying the full-force attacks of two Super Douluos as they slammed toward Xiong Jun in midair.
Three great Super Douluos joining forces, bolstered by the full support of the world's foremost support-type Soul Master!
With this lineup, even against a rank-ninety-nine Limit Douluo, they would certainly be capable of putting up a fight!
Rumble!
The four forces clashed in a furious stalemate in midair, tearing black rifts throughout the surrounding space.
"Hahaha! Now this is satisfying!"
At the center of the storm, Xiong Jun did not retreat. Instead, he let out a wild laugh that shook heaven and earth.
"But this is as far as you go!"
"Let me show you the true reserves of a four-hundred-and-seventy-thousand-year ferocious beast!"
As his words fell.
Every strand of dark gold fur on Xiong Jun's body stood on end, and the muscles of his right arm bulged like rocks.
"Break!"
With that explosive shout, the Black Light of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw instantly became tangible, transforming into five enormous wind blades that tore through heaven and earth.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three muffled impacts sounded in succession.
Yu Yuanzhen's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon phantom was the first to give way, its scales shattering inch by inch as he flew backward, spewing blood.
Immediately afterward, Gu Rong's Bone Dragon True Body was also struck by a claw and covered in cracks.
Finally, the desperately resisting Seven Kill Sword let out a mournful cry and was smashed back into its original form!
"Pfft!"
Chen Xin and Gu Rong spat blood and staggered backward simultaneously.
The two Super Douluos plowed deep furrows over a hundred meters long through the ground before barely managing to brace themselves with their weapons and avoid collapsing outright.
Chen Xin gasped for breath, his sword-holding hands shaking like chaff in a sieve.
He looked at the completely unscathed Xiong Jun in midair, his eyes filled with horror.
"Wh-what kind of monster is this...?"
Three great Super Douluos had joined forces, only to be crushed head-on by their opponent's brute strength!
Even more despairing was the fact that this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was only one of those four ferocious beasts!
The black-robed Di Tian, who had watched coldly all this time, did not even have any interest in attacking.
Di Tian looked at the gravely wounded human experts on the ground, a trace of impatience flashing through his eyes.
"Have you had enough fun?"
He slowly raised his hand, about to order the remaining ferocious beasts to attack together and wipe these humans out completely.
Just then, the ground throughout the Star Dou Great Forest suddenly writhed strangely, without the slightest warning.
"Huff!"
The next second, a golden radiance ten times more intense than before surged out of the enormous fissure behind Di Tian!
Accompanying that heavy breath.
The golden radiance instantly swept through the entire core region of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The next second.
Chen Xin, Yu Yuanzhen, and the others suddenly felt as though the air around them had turned into solid lead.
"Thud! Thud!"
Several of the weaker Soul Saints even felt their legs buckle, dropping uncontrollably to their knees.
"Wh-what level of pressure is this?!"
Yu Yuanzhen's face was filled with horror.
He gritted his teeth and desperately held his back straight to keep himself from kneeling.
But to his terror, he discovered that his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, hailed as the world's greatest Beast Martial Soul, was actually afraid.
Just as Ning Fengzhi and the others thought these peerless Ferocious Beasts were about to seize the opportunity to wipe them out.
A sight they would never forget appeared before them.
The moment the imperious Xiong Jun hovering in midair sensed that golden radiance.
His enormous body, dozens of meters tall, abruptly stiffened.
The next second.
"Thump!"
Xiong Jun dropped straight out of the air, crashing heavily into the ground without even assuming a defensive posture.
Then, together with the Myriad Demon King, Bi Ji, and Zi JI, he prostrated himself with all five points touching the ground!
And not just them.
Even the unfathomable, black-robed Di Tian, who had stood with his hands behind his back all this time.
Abruptly turned around, crossed his hands over his chest, and knelt on one knee.
Ning Fengzhi stared blankly at the scene, his mind seeming to have been struck by lightning, instantly ceasing to think.
"U-Uncle Jian..."
Ning Fengzhi swallowed, his voice trembling beyond recognition.
"That black-robed man called Di Tian-he knelt?"
At his words, Chen Xin's face was ashen too.
"It wasn't him..."
"That fool Tang Hao! Every one of us was deceived by him!"
"Tang Hao thought Di Tian was that Million-Year Ferocious Beast, and thought a supreme treasure was hidden here."
"But look."
"These peerless Ferocious Beasts, hundreds of thousands of years old-even that unfathomable Di Tian-are all kowtowing toward that fissure!"
Hearing this, Yu Yuanzhen and Gu Rong shuddered as well, instantly realizing what it meant.
That was right!
If Di Tian was the final guardian, why would he kneel?
"Could it be..."
Suddenly, Ning Fengzhi drew in a sharp breath and exchanged glances with the other Titled Douluos.
Their imaginations began running wild.
Something that could make so many peerless Ferocious Beasts willingly serve as watchdogs.
What slept beneath that fissure was definitely no supreme treasure that could grant godhood!
It was a living being that surpassed a million years, and even surpassed the understanding of Gods.
"Dragon Ancestor..."
Yu Yuanzhen muttered to himself, recalling the title Di Tian had used, his face deathly pale.
"What bloodline in this world would dare call itself the Dragon Ancestor? Could it be the legendary Dragon God, who fell long ago?"
"No, if the Dragon God were alive, there's no way the Spirit Hall's ancient texts would have no record of him."
Before you continue