"You weak humans dare to set your sights on me?"
Di Tian laughed coldly.
The reason he appeared today was that he never intended to let this group of soul masters leave alive.
The moment his words fell...
His originally human palm instantly transformed into a black dragon claw, emitting a profound and terrifying pure black energy aura.
As energy circulated, it gave people a feeling of facing an abyss.
Although Di Tian's energy aura was pure black, at this moment his palm released a sun-like radiance.
"Sun and Moon Shine Together!"
The dazzling light didn't merely illuminate the entire forest; the scorching dragon breath instantly spread across ten thousand meters of the spirit beast forest.
In the blink of an eye, soul masters below Titled Douluo within the dragon breath's range instantly lost their lives.
"Old Gui!"
Yue Guan never expected his old partner of decades to die so suddenly before his eyes.
But there was nothing he could do now!
Before this powerful dragon breath, all he could do was release his martial soul and barely withstand it.
"So strong!"
Even Yang Fan, five thousand meters away, felt immense pressure.
He was definitely not a match!
Just from this powerful aura, he could already see the gap between himself and Di Tian.
Half-god level experts don't mess around.
"Master."
"Don't you find Di Tian's skill somewhat familiar?"
Yang Fan was certain this was his first time seeing Di Tian; he had never read any books documenting Di Tian before either.
"Sun and Moon Shine Together, Golden Revolution!"
"You must have been daydreaming during class again."
The Blazing Fire Academy's classroom had previously covered a lesson about martial soul fusion skills.
The case study used back then was precisely the Golden Iron Triangle.
"I remember now!"
The familiarity Yang Fan spoke of wasn't the lethality caused, but rather the form it took after release.
From this perspective, Yu Xiaogang's original martial soul was quite powerful; only his frail body couldn't support such a powerful martial soul, causing it to mutate.
Hmm...
Looking at it this way, Yu Xiaogang's previous theory that "there are no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters" couldn't be considered completely wrong.
This theory really held up when applied to him!
Boom—
The sounds from kilometers away instantly pulled Yang Fan's thoughts back to reality.
Spirit Hall and Di Tian had officially clashed!
From his direction, he could see Di Tian already engaged in fierce battle with Bibi Dong and several other Titled Douluos.
"Thrilling!"
Under immense pressure, Bibi Dong had already released her Martial Soul True Body.
Her originally beautiful appearance was gone due to the Martial Soul True Body's release; her face was covered with dark purple patterns, her originally brilliant golden pope's robe shattered, and eight dark purple spider legs grew from her back.
She looked ferocious and somewhat terrifying!
At this moment...
Di Tian summoned a black longsword in both hands.
The longsword was like a dragon!
Every swing produced waves of dragon roars.
Although Bibi Dong was already a Level 99 peak Douluo, with several Super Douluos assisting, she still didn't have the upper hand before Di Tian.
"Your Holiness, let's retreat."
Yue Guan was already sweating profusely.
He seriously doubted whether Bibi Dong had brought them to hunt spirit beasts or to feed spirit beasts.
Fierce beasts... were too strong!
He now seriously suspected how Yang Wudi had managed to hunt a fierce spirit beast.
"Want to leave?"
"Too late!"
At this moment, a massive creature suspended itself in midair.
Its enormous body was a full fifteen meters tall, covered with a dense, thick layer of dark golden fur.
A pair of arms hung bizarrely long at its sides, naturally extending past its knees due to its massive frame.
Its exaggerated shoulders bulged with muscle like small hills.
What was most surprising was that this creature could stand so upright and suspended in midair.
One must know...
Even the hundred-thousand-year Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape couldn't suspend themselves in midair with such composure.
This meant that yet another powerful fierce beast had appeared before them.
"Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear?!"
The Titled Douluos present identified this spirit beast's name at a glance.
But... they were extremely shocked!
In Spirit Hall's records, the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear was an extremely formidable spirit beast.
It was said they possessed partial bloodline of the Behemoth, and a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear could single-handedly challenge ordinary hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts.
In Spirit Hall's history, the most powerful Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear they had hunted was only around fifty thousand years old.
The description of that spirit beast was that its height didn't exceed five meters, while this one before them exceeded fifteen meters.
"Xiong Jun!"
"This is none of your concern."
Di Tian was clearly dissatisfied with Xiong Jun's sudden intervention; he could sense that in recent ten thousand years, Xiong Jun seemed to have developed rebellious tendencies.
And indeed this was the case!
Ten thousand years ago, Xiong Jun had been beaten by Di Tian for resisting his orders, requiring a thousand years of recuperation to recover.
From that time on, Xiong Jun's heart had begun to harbor dissatisfaction with Di Tian's rule.
"Di Tian!"
"Soul masters have now invaded the spirit beast forest!"
"As patriarch of the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear clan, I should rightfully stand up at this time."
Not to mention Di Tian and Xiong Jun—even the soul masters present could see that the relationship between these two super fierce beasts wasn't as harmonious as it appeared.
A good opportunity!
Bibi Dong made a gesture to retreat.
Although Bibi Dong had an unpredictable personality and grand ambitions, she wasn't blindly arrogant.
One Di Tian was already more than they could handle, let alone now with Xiong Jun added to the mix.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Although Di Tian and Xiong Jun weren't on good terms, having lived in the spirit beast forest for hundreds of thousands of years, they still understood the principle of uniting against a common enemy.
Toward soul masters... they had no reason to show mercy!
"Retreat!"
Bibi Dong had originally wanted to leave gracefully and with dignity, but that was clearly no longer possible.
Rear guard becomes vanguard, slow runners become meat shields!
They were all old foxes who had navigated human society for decades—who didn't understand that the urgent priority now was to outrun the person beside you?
"Ten Thousand (Myriad) Dragon Flame!"
Energy erupted from Di Tian's body, and suddenly a black giant dragon appeared above the spirit beast forest.
The giant dragon opened its bloody maw, spewing forth a massive black flame.
"This is..."
"This is beast flame, right?"
Yang Fan had just been somewhat frustrated that Spirit Hall couldn't fight Di Tian to a standstill.
But upon seeing Di Tian's Ten Thousand Dragon Flame, he began to grow excited.
"An ultimate beast flame!"
Yao Lao could confirm that on the soil of the Douluo Continent, it would probably be difficult to find a beast flame of higher quality than the Ten Thousand Dragon Flame.
"Ten Thousand Dragon Flame..."
Yang Fan's eyes were already shining as he watched this top-tier beast flame being manipulated by Di Tian.
If this flame could be absorbed by him...
However, he hadn't yet let impulse overcome his reason.
If a Xiong Jun could appear in this area, there would definitely be other spirit beasts active nearby.
If he and Yao Lao attacked Di Tian at this time, they would surely be surrounded by other fierce beasts.
Then the situation wouldn't be in their favor!
Ultimately, it was because this Spirit Hall group was too weak, failing to sufficiently consume the fierce beasts' strength for him.
"Withdraw!"
Yang Fan silently left the bushes where he had been hiding.
But he wasn't truly leaving—rather, he chose to quietly follow behind.
Since Spirit Hall couldn't excessively consume Di Tian's strength for him, he might as well pray that the fierce beasts would pound Spirit Hall to death.
The fierce beasts' strength was indeed formidable!
He hadn't been trailing for long before he saw the corpse of a Titled Douluo.
After a simple check confirming no soul bone, but adhering to the truth of "never leaving empty-handed," he still forcibly took the storage spirit guide from the Titled Douluo's body.
Immediately after...
The second, the third...
During this period, he also encountered Demon Bear Douluo and Ghost Leopard Douluo, who could rank among Spirit Hall's notable names.
"Too tragic!"
Only those who cultivated to Titled Douluo could understand the hardships involved—who could have imagined that after dedicating a lifetime of sweat, one would ultimately perish in the spirit beast forest?
Yang Fan sighed as he removed the head soul bone from Demon Bear Douluo's body.
"Be careful!"
The moment the words fell.
Yao Lao's soul power spread from his body like mountains and seas.
The next second...
Di Tian stepped through the air above the spirit beast forest from overhead.
Has Spirit Hall been completely annihilated?
At this moment...
The six soul bones on Bibi Dong's body appeared in Yang Fan's mind.
From his previous scavenging, the fierce beasts simply didn't care about soul bones on soul masters' bodies.
But he was different!
Bibi Dong possessed hundred-thousand-year soul bones on her body; whether used for refining pills or strengthening the sect's overall strength, they were quite excellent.
Thinking of this... he couldn't help but quicken his pace.
But he soon realized his deduction was wrong.
Not only did he not find Bibi Dong's corpse along the way, but even Xiong Jun hadn't returned.
One must know that with his current soul power, if Xiong Jun had truly returned to the core region, it absolutely wouldn't escape his notice.
"He's just ahead... be careful!"
Although Yao Lao usually wasn't very serious, when real trouble came, he was more cautious than anyone.
Even though he now possessed half-god level strength, facing a fierce beast like Xiong Jun who was less than five hundred thousand years old, he didn't dare to be the slightest bit careless.
...
"That bastard Di Tian!"
"After losing track of the soul masters, he actually put all the blame on my head."
Xiong Jun sat alone on a massive rock in the spirit beast forest.
Although he harbored dissatisfaction toward Di Tian, he was still far from having the strength to confront him directly.
Faced with Di Tian's reprimands, all he could do was vent his emotions alone.
"Who goes there?"
Although Xiong Jun's strength was still less than five hundred thousand years, his powerful sense of smell was something even Di Tian couldn't match.
The moment Yang Fan appeared within five hundred meters, he immediately attracted Xiong Jun's attention.
"And who are you?"
Xiong Jun's massive head, over two meters in diameter, was clearly somewhat insufficient now.
In the past...
The core region of the Great Star Dou Forest might not see a single person for decades or even centuries.
Today was different—human soul masters came one batch after another.
But soon Xiong Jun's brain began to turn slowly.
All soul masters looked the same!
Capture this one and bring him back, say he was the soul master who just escaped.
Then let Di Tian see his (Xiong Jun's) true capabilities!
With his decision made... Xiong Jun launched an attack on Yang Fan like lightning.
Due to the Behemoth bloodline, the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear was particularly belligerent.
Also because of this, they didn't like being disciplined.
If not for the vast disparity in strength between Xiong Jun and Di Tian, these two super fierce beasts would probably only have one survivor now.
Xiong Jun's attack was as fast as lightning, enlarging before Yang Fan's eyes almost in the blink of an eye.
The prepared Yang Fan rapidly flew backward. Although failing to seize the initiative made his speed inferior to Xiong Jun's, he still managed to counterattack while creating distance.
Clang—
The sound of metal striking exploded in the forest, simultaneously triggering a series of brilliant sparks.
Xiong Jun abruptly withdrew his hand!
Looking at the blood-colored longsword before him, his eyes showed unbelievable surprise.
Both Yang Fan's strength and the blood-colored longsword in his hand far exceeded his expectations.
Compared to Xiong Jun's surprise, Yang Fan standing opposite was also feeling relaxed.
He had said the Asura Sword wasn't an ordinary weapon; even if he still couldn't claim the divine power within the Asura Sword as his own.
If soul masters had self-created spirit skills that could display sword techniques, then this Asura Sword was absolutely more powerful than any tool spirit.
However...
Yang Fan didn't give Xiong Jun too much time to be surprised.
Turning around, he delivered a simple, unadorned sword slash!
Xiong Jun, having developed some apprehension toward the Asura Sword from the previous collision, hesitated and didn't choose to confront it head-on this time.
Seeing this, Yang Fan rejoiced in his heart!
Sudden weak energy fluctuations appeared around his mouth, and in an instant, the fluctuations swept forth like wind and fire.
The powerful sonic wave attack caught Xiong Jun off guard, shaking his massive body and causing obvious swaying as he retreated.
Yang Fan launched another attack in the instant Xiong Jun's spirit was distracted.
The Asura Sword struck the mountain-like muscle on Xiong Jun's shoulder.
Intense pain instantly cleared Xiong Jun's distracted state.
"Scarlet King was killed by you?"
Compared to that blood-colored longsword he couldn't name, what surprised Xiong Jun more was that in the aura just now, he had caught the scent of Scarlet King.
His tens of thousands of years of friendship with Scarlet King—this absolutely couldn't be wrong.
Yang Fan didn't answer, but his decisive attack was the best answer.
That's right!
What he had just used was one of the soul bone skills obtained from absorbing the Three-Headed Scarlet Devil Mastiff.
Explosive Flame Dragon Roar!
A powerful skill that could temporarily cause opponents to experience mental confusion.
If the gap between the two was too large, this skill wouldn't be as simple as just applying some crowd control.
Although Explosive Flame Dragon Roar was a sonic wave skill, what it truly relied on was the user's soul power.
Yang Fan's subsequent attack forced Xiong Jun back several hundred meters.
"Bastard!"
At this moment, Xiong Jun had completely entered a berserk state.
In his hundreds of thousands of years of spirit beast experience, Yang Fan was the only human soul master who had ever injured him.
Roar—
Xiong Jun roared, and three-foot-long sharp claw blades extended from his broad palms.
The claw blades were as sharp as swords, flashing with cold light under the sun's illumination.
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