After saying that, Bibi Dong seemed to realize something terrifying as well.
"Did that illumination crystal falling down just now wake it up?"
At those words, everyone present broke out in a cold sweat.
The Red-Robed Archbishop who had thrown the crystal went weak in the knees and collapsed onto the ground.
If that single act of his had really awakened a monster larger than Douluo Star, he would go down in history as the sinner who destroyed the entire world!
"Quick! Find a way to get that thing back up here!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo panicked too, roaring at the Red-Robed Archbishop.
Trembling, the Red-Robed Archbishop released his Soul Power, trying to retrieve the crystal lodged in the groove with a pulling skill.
But it was already too late.
In truth, that tiny illumination crystal did not even amount to a speck of dust caught between the Starry Sky Behemoth's teeth.
The increase in its blood flow was purely a physiological response.
But for the Douluo Continent clinging to its scales, it truly turned heaven and earth upside down!
Rumble!
As the blood flow quickened, the dark golden wall abruptly bulged outward.
It was only a tiny curve, barely discernible to the naked eye.
Yet the terrifying kinetic energy it produced distorted even space.
Bang!
Just like that, the illumination crystal caught in the scales was instantly reduced to powder.
Immediately afterward, a terrifying blast of air surged skyward.
"Defend!"
Seeing this, Bibi Dong shouted, and her nine Soul Rings erupted in an instant.
Beside her, Golden Crocodile Douluo, Yue Guan, Gui Mei, and the others strained with every ounce of strength, frantically driving their Soul Power to protect their entire bodies.
Even so, the blast sent them staggering backward.
A group of Titled Douluo standing at the continent's pinnacle were blown back over a hundred meters, plowing deep furrows through the ground before barely managing to steady themselves.
Behind the distant bushes.
The group from Shrek Academy had already been knocked flat by the disturbance.
Tang San struggled to raise his head and activated his Purple Demon Eye to look over, with no idea what had happened.
He recalled how confidently his teacher, Yu Xiaogang, had insisted earlier that this was a formation and talked about formation energy fluid.
For a moment, the faith Tang San had built since childhood wavered.
A formation?
What damned formation could be this badass?
Teacher was outrageously wrong this time!
If the people from Spirit Hall hadn't been blocking the front, and we'd really swaggered over to "pick up a bargain" as Teacher said...
That blast would probably have vaporized us by now, leaving not even ashes behind.
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang lay like a dead dog in a mud pit not far from Bibi Dong and the others.
The stench of urine from his crotch mixed with the earthy smell of mud, making him seem particularly wretched.
When the blast swept past, if Golden Crocodile Douluo's massive body had not happened to stand in front of him, a mere rank-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster like him would have been blown to pieces.
Yu Xiaogang's mind was now filled with that surging golden blood.
As the turmoil gradually subsided, the Titled Douluo all gasped for breath.
Golden Crocodile Douluo glanced at his hands. Not only were they still bleeding, but even his bones ached faintly from the blast.
"What kind of monster is this...?"
"Pope, I think we should leave."
"This thing is beyond anything human strength can contend with. Standing here, I keep feeling a chill down the back of my neck."
Yue Guan nodded repeatedly too, his delicate, feminine face now paler than paper.
"Yes, Your Holiness. This monster is definitely over a million years old. It might even be an ancient creature at the ten-million-year level!"
"If we stay any longer and it really wakes up and rolls over, we'll all die here today."
Bibi Dong clenched her teeth without speaking.
Of course she knew how dangerous it was to remain here.
But the existence of this enormous beast lodged like a thorn in her heart.
Spirit Hall was built at the center of the continent.
If this monster, larger than a planet, grew displeased one day and moved even slightly, wouldn't her grand vision of unifying the continent instantly burst like a bubble?
"Leave?"
Then Bibi Dong took a deep breath, a hint of madness entering her eyes.
"Where would we go?"
"It's buried underground. The entire Douluo Continent is on its back."
"If it really wakes up to destroy the world, we'll meet a dead end even if we flee to the ends of the earth."
At those words, everyone fell silent again.
Indeed, where could they run?
On a distant cliff.
Ning Fengzhi had completely lost his usual composure.
Looking down at the golden blood still flowing slowly below, he felt cold all over.
"Uncle Jian, I just used the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's perception to probe the nearby soul beasts a little."
Ning Fengzhi kept his voice very low, afraid of disturbing something.
"Those hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in the core of Star Dou Great Forest-the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape-don't even dare show their faces."
"They're even organizing the other high-level soul beasts to seal off the routes around the perimeter."
"They're afraid. They're even protecting this enormous beast's slumber of their own accord."
Chen Xin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gave a bitter laugh.
"That's perfectly normal."
"The Soul Beast Realm has a strict hierarchy. Bloodline suppression outweighs everything."
"Even merely sleeping there, the aura of its origin that this monster gives off is enough to make those hundred-thousand-year soul beasts prostrate themselves in worship."
"For all we know, this thing could be the legendary ancestor of all soul beasts."
While everyone remained alarmed and uncertain, the golden blood below gradually slowed.
The dark golden wall also returned to its earlier stillness.
Only then did everyone manage to breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Bibi Dong calmed her surging blood and energy, then turned her gaze back to Yu Xiaogang nearby.
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's disgraceful state, as hopeless as mud that could never hold to a wall, the last trace of complicated emotion in Bibi Dong's eyes vanished like smoke.
How blind had she been back then to fall for such an arrogant, incompetent good-for-nothing?
Did he really think he was somebody just because he had a token Tang Hao gave him?
"Throw him out."
Bibi Dong coldly delivered that single sentence, not even bothering to say his name.
Two Red-Robed Archbishops immediately stepped forward and hoisted the limp Yu Xiaogang from the ground, one on either side.
Yu Xiaogang had been frightened out of his wits. Without even the strength to resist, he was dragged toward the forest's outskirts like a dead dog.
"Your Holiness the Pope, what should we do now?"
Clutching his chest, Gui Mei approached and asked cautiously.
Bibi Dong looked up at the sky.
The sun had fully risen. Golden sunlight spilled over the abyss, yet could not penetrate the darkness underground.
"Since it shows no signs of waking now, that means it's still in its dormant period."
A ruthless gleam flashed through Bibi Dong's eyes.
"Return!"
"Gather all of Spirit Hall's records and ancient texts. We must uncover this thing's origins!"
"Whether it's a ten-million-year soul beast or a monster hundreds of millions of years old."
"I absolutely will not allow something beyond my control to exist!"
On the outskirts of Star Dou Great Forest.
The group from Shrek Academy hid behind a stretch of ravaged bushes, all covered in dirt.
Although the people from Spirit Hall had blocked most of that terrifying blast, its aftershock had still battered them senseless.
Flender brushed the dirt from himself while looking around anxiously.
"Where's Xiaogang?"
"Didn't Grandmaster go to negotiate with Spirit Hall?"
Only then did everyone realize that Yu Xiaogang was missing.
Just then, a disturbance came from the woods ahead.
Two Red-Robed Archbishops from Spirit Hall approached, carrying someone between them.
Upon reaching the outer edge, they tossed the person in their hands into a muddy puddle like garbage, then turned and left.
Everyone from Shrek took a closer look and gasped.
The man in the mud pit, reeking of urine and pale as paper, was none other than their supposedly "unmatched in theory" Grandmaster, Yu Xiaogang.
"Teacher!"
Tang San hurried over and pulled Yu Xiaogang up from the mud pit.
Flender, Dai Mubai, and the others quickly gathered around too.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes were vacant, and his lips kept trembling. He had clearly suffered a tremendous shock.
"Xiaogang, what on earth happened? Did Spirit Hall attack you?" Flender was both shocked and furious.
Only upon hearing Flender's voice did Yu Xiaogang's unfocused pupils barely regain a little focus.
He clutched Tang San's arm, his hands tightening continuously.
"It wasn't a formation."
"It wasn't a formation at all..."
"It's all blood down there!"
"Alive! That thing is alive!"
Everyone from Shrek froze at his words.
Dai Mubai frowned, wondering whether he had heard correctly.
"Grandmaster, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"What's alive? Aren't there ancient ruins beneath Star Dou Great Forest?"
Yu Xiaogang shook his head desperately, his face filled with a look of collapse.
"There are no ruins! What we're standing on is a monster!"
At those words, everyone exchanged glances.
Ma Hongjun lowered his voice and muttered into Oscar's ear, "Did Spirit Hall beat Grandmaster stupid?"
Oscar nodded in wholehearted agreement.
Alive? The entire forest beneath their feet was a monster?
Even a three-year-old child would not believe a lie like that.
Yet Tang San, who was supporting Yu Xiaogang, remained silent.
His head was lowered, his gaze shifting inscrutably.
The others had not seen what erupted from the abyss earlier, but he had seen it clearly with his Purple Demon Eye.
There really was something wrong with that thing.
Tang San's heart sank.
Not only had his teacher misjudged things this time, but he had also humiliated himself so badly in front of Spirit Hall.
It seemed those so-called Ten Core Competencies were all bullshit too.
"Let's return to the academy first!"
Seeing that something was wrong with Yu Xiaogang's mental state, Flender acted decisively. He hoisted Yu Xiaogang onto his back and led the group in retreat toward Suotuo City.
Several days later.
News of the strange upheaval deep within Star Dou Great Forest spread across the entire Douluo Continent as though it had grown wings.
Paper could not contain fire.
Although Spirit Hall had sealed off Abyss Canyon, there was no hiding the red light that shot into the sky that night or the violent earthquake from the major powers.
For a time, all sorts of rumors ran rampant throughout the Soul Master World.
Some said a divine artifact had been unearthed beneath Star Dou Great Forest.
Others said an astonishing soul beast at least a million years old had been born there.
However.
As the rumors passed from mouth to mouth, they had long since lost the original truth.
That was because only Bibi Dong and a handful of other Titled Douluo had truly stood at the abyss's edge and clearly seen the size of those dark golden scales.
Yet in the eyes of the vast majority of soul masters who had not witnessed it themselves.
The so-called "boundlessly enormous monster" was, at most, only a few hundred meters long.
After all, as far as they knew, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King already represented the limit of size.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's grounds, Heaven Dou Empire.
Inside the magnificent council hall.
A burly old man with a head of lightning-blue hair sat in the seat of honor.
He was none other than the current patriarch of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the Rank 95 Titled Douluo, Yu Yuanzhen!
Below him, several clan elders excitedly reported the intelligence they had gathered.
"Patriarch, the news is all but confirmed!"
"Beneath the abyss opened by the fissure in the Star Dou Great Forest, an enormous ancient soul beast lies asleep!"
"They say Spirit Hall's Supreme Pontiff, Bibi Dong, personally led a team there to investigate, but they withdrew without even daring to touch it."
At those words, Yu Yuanzhen sneered.
"That woman, Bibi Dong, throws her weight around relying on her twin martial souls, but her martial souls are ultimately nothing more than sinister spiders!"
At this point, Yu Yuanzhen abruptly rose to his feet.
The phantom of a massive blue lightning dragon coiled behind him.
"Among all soul beasts under heaven, dragons reign supreme!"
"That soul beast underground has such immense blood and vitality. It must be a colossal reptilian beast with a supreme bloodline."
"Bibi Dong didn't dare touch it because its superior bloodline suppressed her!"
Yu Yuanzhen's eyes blazed with fervor.
He had been stuck at Rank 95 for many years, unable to find an opportunity to break through.
Now he had heard that a supreme soul beast had appeared in the Star Dou Great Forest, one that even Spirit Hall was helpless against.
Rather than feeling afraid, he felt this was an opportunity bestowed upon him by heaven!
"Grand Elder!"
Yu Yuanzhen shouted.
"Gather the clan's elite at once!"
"Bring all those sets of Lock Dragon Formation Artifacts from the storeroom, the ones specifically designed to subdue large soul beasts."
The Grand Elder stepped forward somewhat hesitantly.
"Patriarch, Spirit Hall has already sealed off that area. If we go there like this, won't we..."
"What is there to fear?!"
Yu Yuanzhen swept his sleeve, brimming with domineering confidence.
"Our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan is one of the Upper Three Sects too. If Spirit Hall gets to eat the meat, what's wrong with us going over for a sip of the broth?"
"So what if it's a million-year soul beast?"
"As long as I use the True Dragon Nine Crowns, together with our clan's Lock Dragon Formation..."
"I refuse to believe I can't rip out its dragon sinews and strip off its scales!"
At that moment, Yu Yuanzhen's confidence had reached its peak.
He had even begun imagining himself absorbing that colossal beast's soul ring and soul bone, breaking through to become a Level 99 Limit Douluo, and trampling Spirit Hall beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, beneath the Star Dou Great Forest.
Gu Xian knew nothing of the commotion in the outside world.
He slept soundly.
The surrounding mantle provided him with perfect insulation.
On the system panel in his mind, the countdown ticked steadily.
[Main quest: Remain on Douluo Star for a full 30 days.] [Current progress: 3 days.]
"Hooo..."
In his sleep, Gu Xian smoothly completed a cycle of breathing.
As the air surged, the clouds above the Douluo Continent were blown apart.
Before you continue