The next day.
As the first rays of sunlight fell upon Xiao Yan's face, Xiao Yan eyes, which had been tightly closed all night, suddenly opened. A dazzling flame flashed in his dark pupils, and his aura instantly became incredibly dense.
"Call..."
Slowly exhaling a deep breath, Xiao Yan raised his eyes, his gaze fixed on the depths of the distant forest.
His dark gaze, like an arrow piercing through the clouds, cut through the gaps between countless branches and leaves. At the edge of his vision, Xiao Yan seemed to vaguely see an ancient magical beast that was sleeping.
"Uh... this is..."
Startled, Xiao Yan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. The next moment, the demonic beast beyond the horizon seemed to have noticed something as well. Its pair of huge, tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, revealing a hint of mild anger in its brown eyes, each about the size of a person.
"Human, how dare you spy on me, the Emperor!"
A low roar was emitted, instantly sounding like thunder, causing the entire mountain forest to tremble violently. The magical beasts in the forest were all shaken back by the sound, and even some of the human Dou Di who heard the roar had their expressions change drastically. They were horrified and quickly retreated.
"Buzz!"
When Xiao Yan regained his senses, the low roar of the beast still echoed in his mind, like the tolling of a bell. The invisible pressure it contained almost made his head split open. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yan's entire face turned red, the veins on his forehead bulged, and even his dark eyes were filled with blood. One could almost imagine the immense pain Xiao Yan was enduring at that moment.
The excruciating pain in his mind caused Xiao Yan's Xiao Yan to contort abruptly, and in the blink of an eye, his clothes were completely soaked with cold sweat.
"Damn it! Suppress it!"
Suddenly, Xiao Yan, his face contorted in pain, let out a roar. His body trembled, and terrifying Spiritual Strength surged forth from within his mind and the Xiao Yan Soul Bead, rapidly spreading outwards and enveloping the space within several feet around him. Within this space, a powerful soul pressure was constantly rising.
Finally, when the terrifying roar was completely removed from Xiao Yan's mind, Xiao Yan slowly relaxed his body, a look of lingering fear showing on his face.
"What terrifying power! Just its roar alone is enough to exhaust me. Just how terrifying is this thing's true form!"
Reluctantly withdrawing his gaze, Xiao Yan dared not look in that direction again. He was joking; if he really offended a powerhouse of that level, even with Xiao Yan's speed, he probably wouldn't be able to leave his current position.
In fact, Xiao Yan had no doubt that this magical beast was far stronger than the four Dou Di experts from the four Four Great Clans who had come this time. Its strength was probably at least Four-Star Dou Di!
"Heh heh, you're really lucky, kid. It's a good thing he didn't go all out with you, otherwise you'd probably be dead by now."
At this moment, the Gu You within Xiao Yan's body spoke leisurely.
Hearing Gu You's mocking words, Xiao Yan couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile. Elder Gu was really good at being a hands-off manager; he said he wouldn't care anymore and he really didn't care anymore. If Xiao Yan hadn't been so determined just now, he probably would have been killed by that roar if he had let it echo any longer.
" Elder Gu, what kind of magical beast is that? How could it be so terrifying!"
"Hehe, it's just a little monkey. Of course, for you, it certainly deserves the word 'terrifying.'"
Gu You chuckled, his tone playful.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan couldn't help but slightly purse his lips. Then, Gu You continued:
" The Heaven-Reaching Giant Ape, Five-Star Dou Di."
In just one sentence, eight words, Xiao Yan's expression froze. He never expected that this guy would actually be a Five-Star Dou Di level magical beast!
" Five-Star Dou Di, tsk tsk, that's truly terrifying!"
With a slight narrowing of his eyes, Xiao Yan couldn't help but exclaim in horror.
Five-Star Dou Di —with that kind of strength, he's fully capable of killing anyone present in these ruins. It has to be said, this Heaven-Reaching Giant Ape is truly terrifying!
"But..."
Immediately afterward, just as Xiao Yan was feeling surprised, Gu You spoke softly again with an inexplicable meaning.
"Well?"
Xiao Yan's expression faltered slightly, a hint of suspicion creeping into his eyes.
"This Heaven-Reaching Giant Ape seems to have been sealed with some kind of magic!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan's expression froze for a moment, but then he looked astonished. The Five-Star Dou Di Heaven-Reaching Giant Ape was actually sealed by someone. It was hard to imagine how terrifying its true strength must be!
"Alright, alright, stop overthinking it. Let's go. You haven't found your Soul-Congealing Fruit -Soul-Congealing Fruit yet. Are you suggesting we shouldn't bother looking for it just because of a Five-Star Dou Di?"
Gu You urged.
Coming to his senses, Xiao Yan nodded. Right now, finding the Soul-Congealing Fruit was the most important thing.
With his mind at ease, Xiao Yan continued to sit cross-legged, slowly closing his eyes. With a thought, a vast amount of Spiritual Strength from between his brows swept out in all directions. Having learned from his previous experience, Xiao Yan was much more cautious now. While searching outwards with his Spiritual Strength, he also tried his best to avoid all the powerful magical beasts in the mountains and forests.
The vastness of this Ancient Forest was clearly beyond Xiao Yan 'Xiao Yan expectations. Even with his current Spiritual Strength, after searching for a full quarter of an hour, he still found nothing and almost provoked several powerful magical beasts.
However, despite this, Xiao Yan was not anxious. Instead, he calmed down and carefully searched every piece of land in the mountains and forests, hoping to find some information about the Soul-Congealing Fruit.
As Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength continued to spread, time seemed to slip away like sand through his fingers. Unbeknownst to him, Xiao Yan had already been searching for a full hour.
After Xiao Yan's Xiao Yan search, his efforts finally paid off. As his face turned pale, he suddenly found the lake that the gray-robed old man had mentioned. It was a circular lake, and as Xiao Yan 'Xiao Yan Spiritual Strength Spiritual Strength probed, there was indeed a small island in the center of the lake!
"Found it!"