"Just what are you things? How dare you lay a hand on this Tiger King? His Majesty the Holy Emperor won't let you off!" The first thing the Heavenly Thunder Roaring Tiger did after recovering from the time freeze was to roar threats at Zhu Ziyang and the others. He bared his fangs menacingly, but to them, he looked more like a kitten than a fearsome beast.
"Hmph." Zhu Ziyang snorted coldly and said, "Answer whatever we ask. Don't try to scare us with your Holy Emperor. After all, it's your life on the line—you should know full well we're more than capable of killing you before your so-called emperor arrives."
Hearing this, the Heavenly Thunder Roaring Tiger immediately submitted. He had only just broken through to the hundred-thousand-year threshold and still had a whole tiger's life ahead of him. He had no intention of throwing it away here.
Thanks to the tiger's full cooperation, it only took three minutes for Zhu Ziyang's group to get a basic understanding of the island.
First, the island—called the Four Symbols Island by the tiger—was devoid of human civilization. In the tiger's memory, it had never seen beings like Zhu Ziyang and his companions.
Second, the island's power structure. It was called Four Symbols Island because it was ruled by four beast kings, each governing one of the island's four quadrants.
The four beast kings were:
In the eastern Holy forest, the Great Mercy Tree Emperor, known to the tiger as the Holy Emperor, said to be a Thunder God Tree with over 500,000 years of cultivation;
In the southern mountains, the so-called Purple Emperor, a Crownflame Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox also over 500,000 years old;
In the western plains, the Golden Emperor, a Goldswallow Dragon Mastiff of equal age;
In the northern bay, the Sea Emperor, an Exotic Water Dragon Heron, also above 500,000 years in cultivation.
Tree Emperor, Purple Emperor, Golden Emperor, and Sea Emperor—plus one more entity the tiger hadn't seen but heard of: the Dragon King, the overlord of the surrounding sea—together formed the Five Overlords who ruled Four Symbols Island.
Zhu Ziyang's group was stunned. They hadn't expected this island to host four soul beasts with over half a million years of cultivation. Its strength surpassed even that of the Star Dou Great Forest.
But what shocked them even more was the mention of the Dragon King.
According to the tiger, the Dragon King was extremely mysterious and rarely intervened in the affairs of the four emperors. However, any creature attempting to leave the island and enter the sea would face its wrath. Its cultivation was said to surpass that of the four emperors combined, and so none dared step beyond the sea boundary.
Finally, they extracted more detailed information about the Great Mercy Tree Emperor.
This beast king, revered by all creatures of the eastern forest, had supposedly started life as a Green Spirit Cedar growing atop the Holy Mountain. Due to its prominent location, it had long endured frequent strikes from heavenly thunder.
The group was familiar with the Green Spirit Cedar—a resilient spirit herb whose leaves were key ingredients for refining Wood Spirit Pills. However, the tree itself was highly vulnerable to lightning and fire.
Despite this, the Great Mercy Tree Emperor, originally a Green Spirit Cedar, had withstood the thunder strikes. Even without the tiger's confirmation, the group guessed it had undergone a transformation through enduring such hardship.
The tiger's tale confirmed it: the tree had endured a century of heavenly thunder, while all other Green Spirit Cedars on the mountain had perished. It alone survived and mutated into a thunder-attribute Green Spirit Cedar.
From there, things were straightforward. Harnessing thunder, it rapidly rose in strength and evolved into a towering Azure Sky Thunder Source Tree, gaining ultimate wood, life, and thunder attributes. That was how it surpassed the other three beast kings and became the strongest on the island.
Having gathered all necessary information, Zhu Ziyang's group spared the Heavenly Thunder Roaring Tiger, merely knocking it out before departing.
At another spot on the Holy Mountain, the group began to discuss their next move.
"So, what do you think? Do we leave Four Symbols Island now, or continue upward and meet this Great Mercy Tree Emperor?" Zhu Ziyang asked the three girls.
"I think we should leave," Zhang Lexuan said calmly. "We're not strong enough to confront a soul beast of over 500,000 years. And besides, the tree has nothing to offer us. It's not worth the risk."
"I agree with Sister Lexuan," Jiang Nannan nodded. "Brother, leaving is the safest course."
"I second that!" Qian Lingyi, for once, didn't argue with Jiang Nannan and also nodded in agreement.
"Since everyone agrees, we'll leave the island," Zhu Ziyang concluded. "Still, let's mark this place. We can always come back later."
The group turned around and flew back the way they came. The return journey was uneventful—no hostile soul beasts, no sudden incidents. They reached the shore without trouble.
Once at the beach, a new worry struck them: what if the Dragon King the tiger mentioned tried to stop them from leaving?
A sea soul beast powerful enough to make the island's four emperors wary had to be over 600,000 years old at least.
"Ziyang, what now?" Zhang Lexuan asked, her brow furrowed.
"What else can we do? We can't just stay on the island forever." Zhu Ziyang waved a hand. "Sister Lexuan, you take the helm. Go full speed ahead and head straight east. I'll take care of whatever happens next."
"Alright!" Zhang Lexuan agreed solemnly.
"Nannan, Yiyi, once we're on the ship, take care to protect yourselves," Zhu Ziyang added.
"I will, Brother," Jiang Nannan replied, her expression serious.
"I don't think the Dragon King will show up. We didn't see it on the way here," Qian Lingyi said with a smile, trying to be comforting.
"Let's hope you're right," Zhang Lexuan sighed.
"Let's go, Sister Lexuan," Zhu Ziyang said, summoning Er Shuang. With his current strength, he could support both Er Shuang and Xue Di operating at full power. Why choose Er Shuang instead of Xue Di? Simple. The Dragon King had to be of dragon bloodline, and Er Shuang, being a Dragon King herself, was the most suitable counter.
The Moon God Shuttle landed on the sea, and the group of four plus one soul spirit quickly boarded. As the cabin sealed shut, Zhang Lexuan rushed to the helm and channeled her soul power. The ship surged forward at top speed, shooting out a kilometer in an instant.
Zhang Lexuan faithfully followed Zhu Ziyang's instruction to go full throttle. A long afterimage traced across the sea as the Moon God Shuttle cut a straight path through the ocean's canvas.
Inside the cabin, the others watched the sea nervously. Everything was calm and quiet, and the serene waves lulled them into a false sense of security.
They had already traveled five hundred li with no sign of the Dragon King. That distance marked the edge of any island's effective sea domain, so they figured they were safe.
Zhang Lexuan in the helm and Zhu Ziyang in the hall both started to smile with relief—until disaster struck.
Without their noticing, the Moon God Shuttle had been surrounded by a group of massive sea creatures. They remained about ten li away, moving in perfect synchronization to encircle the ship. Despite its incredible speed, the creatures kept pace, leaving the group stunned.
There were more than ten of them, each over a hundred meters long. As they rose from the depths, their full forms came into view. They had been lurking silently below the surface and now ascended to complete the encirclement.
Closing in slowly, the behemoths compressed the space around the Shuttle. Zhang Lexuan tried repeatedly to break through the blockade, but every attempt failed.
At last, Zhu Ziyang's face darkened, and his eyes glinted with killing intent. He turned to Zhang Lexuan and said, "Sister Lexuan, stop wasting soul power. Shut down the Shuttle. We'll just deal with these things directly!"
(End of Chapter)
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