With a single roar, the heavens and earth overturned, the cosmos collapsed!
This ancient beast awakened, unleashing a bestial cry unlike any before. The shockwave this time was utterly terrifying, obliterating the Heavenly Beast Forest!
Directly in front of the stone mountain, the land looked as if it had been plowed—not just a mere chasm, but the complete annihilation of the mountainous terrain. The vast expanse of the Heavenly Beast Forest, stretching countless miles, was utterly destroyed.
Plants withered, turning to ash. Mountains tens of thousands of feet high crumbled like sand dunes on a beach, swept away by a single wave, vanishing without a trace.
What was once a dense, ancient forest had now become a desolate wasteland, with not a trace of its former lush greenery remaining.
The hundred thousand mountains had all collapsed, leaving not a single peak standing. The ground was barren and bare.
If anyone were to come here now, they would never imagine that this place had once been a vast, thriving forest, towering with ancient trees and teeming with life.
The earth was split with countless enormous fissures—dark, gaping chasms, some dozens of feet wide, others mere inches, densely packed and horrifying beyond measure.
For millions of miles, it was the same. This supposedly boundless ancient forest had been utterly annihilated in this direction.
More than half of the ancient land had been reduced to wasteland.
But that wasn’t the most terrifying part. Wherever the shockwave passed, the earth sank, forming basins and ravines. The ground turned crimson, and molten lava surged up, filling the deep valleys and caverns, transforming the land into a sea of fire!
A molten ocean emerged, scorching and relentless, completely altering the Heavenly Beast Forest beyond recognition.
And in the sky, celestial bodies plummeted, crashing into the red-hot lava, sending towering waves of fire into the heavens!
The scene was nothing short of apocalyptic, as if the world itself were being annihilated, all life extinguished, the very essence of existence destroyed.
As chaotic mist spread, shrouding the area, the falling stars cast a hazy, indistinct glow, making the scene even more terrifying.
“What’s happening?!” someone outside the Heavenly Beast Forest screamed in horror.
An army was stationed in the region, sensing the violent energy fluctuations before witnessing meteors streaking across the sky and the forest ahead engulfed in crimson light.
“Is this the end of the world? Is this the legendary power of that ancient beast?” A cultivator at the peak of the Dunyi Realm stood atop a boulder, staring in shock.
Only a narrow strip of forest, about ten thousand miles wide, remained unburned—a final “buffer zone.”
But even they could feel the terrifying force of the beast’s roar, shaking their souls and nearly causing their cultivation to drop an entire realm.
“If not for the ancient immortal formations protecting the Heavenly Beast Forest, reinforcing the entire woodland, we might all be doomed!” someone exclaimed.
This last buffer zone was the sturdiest edge of the ancient formation. If it collapsed, the vast regions beyond would likely suffer a calamity as well.
At the summit of the stone mountain, the Reincarnation Pool.
Not long ago, it had been a scene of towering waves, divine liquid surging, radiant and dazzling, spilling over the mountainside.
Now, all the liquid had flowed back into the ancient pool.
The lake was anything but calm. Even after the beast’s roar ended, the waters still churned violently.
At the bottom of the lake, Shi Hao was stunned. Though he had anticipated this possibility, his heart still pounded with fear.
As for the Golden Lion, it trembled uncontrollably—not just from psychological pressure, but from the overwhelming divine might bearing down on it, nearly unbearable.
The Golden Lion had once shattered in the lake’s depths, but having inherited the legacy of the Ancient Monks, it had been reborn through the divine liquid’s baptism, absorbing its sacred essence.
Shi Hao, however, had nearly played with fire and gotten burned!
Even hiding at the bottom of the lake, his body had almost exploded from the sheer force of the ancient beast’s roar—a power so overwhelming it could crush everything in its path.
For a moment, he had thought it was the end.
But as he had predicted, the lake’s bottom held firm.
This was the burial ground of the Ancient Monks, where generations of high monks’ remains—even immortal monks’ skeletons—were interred, constructing a reincarnation site beyond mortal imagination!
At the critical moment, many skeletal remains at the lake’s bottom stirred, swiftly reassembling into human forms, sitting cross-legged and chanting scriptures.
They stabilized the lake’s depths. As the destructive force descended, the golden skeletons led the others in emitting radiant light, resisting the apocalyptic power and preserving the area.
Otherwise, Shi Hao would have been utterly annihilated, body and soul.
This had been within his expectations—but it had been a dangerously close call.
He had long known this place was extraordinary. The name “Reincarnation Pool” was no mere label, especially since the Ancient Monks had once produced an Immortal King. How could it be ordinary? Perhaps the methods of that very monk king were at work here.
At the same time, Shi Hao noticed that within this stone mountain region, there were only two stone tablets. One was inscribed with the words “Second Under Heaven,” the other with “Reincarnation Pool.”
He suspected there was a connection between the two. Perhaps the ancient beast had been sealed here by the Ancient Monks—either to heal it or to imprison it.
If so, the Reincarnation Pool should be no weaker than the “Second Under Heaven.”
And so, Shi Hao had dared to gamble.
If he didn’t, he would be trapped in the Reincarnation Pool forever, with endless experts from the other realm appearing—eventually finding a way to deal with him. It was better to strike first.
This time, he had won. The battle had cost his enemies dearly, with countless experts dead.
At the very least, he knew of over seventy high-level cultivators who had perished—and likely many more hidden in the forest, unseen.
“Did the young masters of the Gu Clan and the Imperial Clan not ascend the stone mountain? Were they in this area? Did they die?” Shi Hao murmured to himself.
Beside him, the Golden Lion was numb, shifting from earlier terror to a wooden stillness—a stark psychological shift, filled with despair and even a sense of utter hopelessness.
Today’s events had left it with deep mental scars, ones it would never forget.
“I am a sinner!” the Golden Lion roared, consumed by guilt and regret.
When Shi Hao heard this, his eyes narrowed, and he immediately slapped the lion hard across the face, the crisp sound echoing through the water.
“How dare you!” the Golden Lion snarled, its thick mane nearly reaching its paws, making it look majestic.
But in that moment, struck by a mere captive, it momentarily forgot its status. In the past, who would dare touch it? It had been a true lion king.
“Your kind betrayed the Nine Heavens, slaughtering countless ancestors, yet you felt no guilt. Now that I’ve indirectly killed some of your butchers, you’re suddenly heartbroken?!” Shi Hao’s expression grew colder as he spoke.
“I’ll hit you—and kick you too!” Shi Hao struck again, this time sending the Golden Lion spinning before it collapsed to the ground.
*Thud!*
Shi Hao stomped down, cracking the lion’s skull, blood dripping and mixing with the lake water.
“You showed no remorse for killing our ancestors, yet you mourn a few demon spawn? I’ll stomp you to death!” Shi Hao continued relentlessly.
The poor Golden Lion was nearly shattered again.
Shi Hao looked upward, where some light clusters and broken remains floated. He didn’t ascend immediately, wary that the ancient beast might roar again.
He sensed that the beast, disturbed from its slumber, was still in a state of confusion—its roar far more violent than days prior. A single misstep could bring fatal disaster.
If the beast were conscious, remembering its allegiance to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, it might aid him. But in this state, it was far too dangerous.
“Hey, are you all so weak already? Most of you are dead, and it’s only just begun! Hold on, don’t give up yet!” Shi Hao shouted mockingly upward.
The remnants—broken bodies and flickering souls—trembled with rage. Even in their dire state, this brat still taunted them!
Earlier, when they had entered the lake, Shi Hao had tried to seize and kill them all. But the ancient dragon’s roar had forced him to retreat to the lake’s depths for safety.
These Dunyi Realm experts, once lofty and untouchable, were now utterly vulnerable in the lake. Some had disintegrated instantly, their flesh and bones dissolving into the divine liquid. Over half had died this way!
This was the Reincarnation Pool—a place where even the mightiest were suppressed, their power overwhelmed by the lake’s force, testing their latent potential.
Some had perished instantly, body and soul.
But those who survived had paid a steep price—missing limbs, some reduced to mere heads, others clinging to life with only fragmented souls.
Only a few remained intact, struggling to endure. But given time, they too would perish.
“You’re all so weak! Earlier, you hunted me like wild beasts—now you’re as pitiful as sick chickens!” Shi Hao jeered from below.
The survivors above seethed with fury but could do nothing. They were powerless, their situation dire.
“You’re not safe up there. If that thing roars again, you’ll all explode. Come down here!” Shi Hao called out cheerfully, already dragging a few down.
*Splash!*
Their broken bodies disintegrated mid-descent, dissolving into divine light.
Shi Hao continued observing. “Hah, your true form is a chicken? And there’s a giant snake—oh, and a goat spirit! Prime ingredients, all of you. I’ve never feasted on Dunyi Realm delicacies before!”
He pointed at them one by one, critiquing them like ingredients, even encouraging them: “Hold on! Survive, and I’ll build a pen to raise you all!”
“@#$%…” The surviving experts from the other realm were livid but helpless.
“Wait!” Shi Hao’s expression suddenly darkened as he spotted a particular remnant. “So, the traitorous clan is here too? Time to settle the score!”
He recognized one from Imperial Pass—someone who had pretended to rescue him, hiding malicious intent.
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