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Deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, ancient trees stretched toward the sky, their dense branches and leaves almost completely blocking out the sun. Only small patches of light managed to filter down, speckling the mossy ground.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed through the bushes, causing large branches to sway wildly and startling countless birds into flight. A group of over a dozen figures burst from the forest. They were disheveled and terrified, running in a desperate, panicked flight. Behind them, hundreds of Spirit Beasts surged forward like a raging flood.
At the front of the group, a tall and slender young man, Tang Chuan, led the way. His face was grim, and his movements were incredibly swift as he weaved and dodged through the forest. He seemed to ignore the Spirit Beasts chasing him, focused only on escaping.
Suddenly, he froze. "This aura? The Crimson King, one of the Ten Vicious Beasts?" Tang Chuan's eyes widened, and a look of disbelief appeared on his face.
Because his mental force was far stronger than an ordinary person's, he could sense everything within a few hundred meters, even while moving at high speed. Just a moment ago, a heavy, fire-attributed aura, like a mountain, had appeared without warning within his sensory range. The overwhelming pressure made his mind instantly tense, as if a blade had sliced across his soul.
Frozen in place, Tang Chuan stood as stiff as a wooden post, not daring to continue his escape. When he stopped, the Spirit Masters behind him also noticed.
"Why did he suddenly stop running?" Hu Liena frowned, subconsciously slowing her pace. She was about to ask when a voice beside her interrupted.
"Nana, ignore him. He's just an idiot," Yan said, his face a mask of anger. Without a moment's hesitation, he ran past Tang Chuan, rushing to the front of the group without a single glance back. But in the next second, his expression changed dramatically.
Ahead, the previously open forest suddenly fell into shadow. A terrifying fire-attributed aura surged forward like a tide. A three-headed, lion-like Spirit Beast slowly emerged from the forest, each step causing the ground to tremble slightly.
"A hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast?" Yan's face turned ashen as if he had fallen into a cave of ice. He felt as if his breathing had stopped. The only time he had felt such a terrifying pressure was from a Titled Douluo.
"Roar!!!" The Crimson King's three heads roared in unison, their thunderous cries echoing through the forest and making the heavens and earth seem to tremble. Rolling sound waves, mixed with a terrifying spiritual pressure, crashed down on everyone like a giant hammer. The air was violently distorted, and even the ground beneath their feet cracked with spiderweb-like fissures.
"Ughâ!" Hu Liena grunted, her beautiful face instantly pale. She felt her legs grow heavy as if filled with lead, her knees buckling, almost forcing her to the ground.
"How can there be a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast here?" Xie Yue let out a low growl, forcefully steadying himself. Veins bulged on his forehead, sweat poured down his temples, and he, too, could no longer advance an inch. At this moment, everyone around him was frozen in place, their faces filled with extreme terror.
"Damn it⊠are we going to die here today?" Yan cursed, trying to mobilize his spirit power to resist. It was like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, completely useless.
The Royal Fight Team, who had just arrived, also stopped at the same moment, their faces changing as if they had seen a ghost.
"You hateful humans." The Crimson King's body glowed red, and it spoke in human tongue. "Today, this King will make sure you never return!"
As soon as it finished speaking, the Crimson King leaped up, its massive body rising like a crimson mountain. Its huge shadow instantly engulfed the area below it. The next second, its raised right claw, like a divine punishment, slammed down toward the Spirit Hall members!
Yan, Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and the others only felt their vision go black. They wanted to mobilize their spirit power to resist, but they had already been suppressed by the Crimson King and were unable to move.
Looking at the scene before him, Tang Chuan's face also changed dramatically. Even with his calm and steady heart, he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis at this moment.
"I can't worry about that anymore. Even if I expose my Spirit Bone, I have to use it today. If I die here, what good is a Spirit Bone?"
With that thought, Tang Chuan took a deep breath, his eyes flickering slightly. He looked down at his right leg, which was already faintly glowing with a blue-gold light. The next moment, his spirit power surged, rapidly pouring into his right leg. Immediately, golden patterns slowly appeared on the surface of his leg.
"I can't worry about this much. I need to escape first." Glancing at the Royal Fight Team and the Golden Generation of Spirit Hall, Tang Chuan's eyes turned cold. He crouched slightly, ready to use his Spirit Bone to fly into the air and escape.
In a battle of this magnitude, he had no confidence in saving anyone from a Vicious Beast. Tang Chuan never lied to himself, nor would he try to be a hero. He had saved Qian Renxue back then only because he believed she would have value in the future. Moreover, at that time, he was only facing an Auspicious Beast of about five thousand years.
However, just as Tang Chuan's body trembled slightly, about to prepare to escape, several sounds of air being torn suddenly came from the sky. Several slender, sharp throwing knives, like golden petals, suddenly attacked from the Crimson King's side!
These golden, leaf-shaped throwing knives looked incredibly sharp, moving like lightning, instantly cutting through the air and landing directly on the Crimson King's head!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!!!" The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed through the forest.
"Ow!!!" The Crimson King's three lion heads roared in unison, clearly in pain.
Because of the surprise attack and not knowing the opponent's strength, it had to abandon its current attack. If it continued to attack, its weakest partâits waistâwould be completely exposed. The next second, the Crimson King suddenly retracted its claws, its body pausing slightly in the air before retreating backward. It stumbled a bit, crushing a large area of dirt and rocks before finally steadying itself.
"Who is it? Get out here!" Three pairs of blood-red pupils blazed with cold light. The Crimson King suddenly turned its head to look in the direction the throwing knives had come from, its eyes filled with rage and ferocity.
"Golden petal throwing knives? Could it be?" Tang Chuan was stunned for a moment. He vigilantly swept his gaze toward the direction the throwing knives had flown from, asking in confusion.
The next second, a somewhat effeminate voice slowly came from mid-air: "It's been a long time since this old man stretched his musclesâŠ"
Accompanied by a flash of golden light, a figure clad in golden armor appeared in the sky before everyone's eyes. It was a man who looked somewhat like a woman. In his palm, a large golden chrysanthemum was quietly blooming. This person was none other than Chrysanthemum Douluo, one of Bibi Dong's two great generals.
"Grandpa Ju! Why are you here?" Hu Liena's face showed surprise and joy. She struggled to stand up from the ground, looking up at the golden figure in mid-air with a shocked expression. The eyes of Yan, Xie Yue, and the others beside her also lit up with hope. Clearly, they had gradually recovered from the Crimson King's oppression.
However, facing Hu Liena's call, Yue Guan did not turn his head. He continued to walk slowly, holding the golden chrysanthemum, a faint smile on the corner of his lips. "I'm not the only one who came," he said in a rather effeminate voice.
As soon as he finished speaking, black Qi suddenly surged around the Crimson King! The few rays of sunlight that could penetrate the canopy were now swallowed by an eerie black mist. The world seemed to plunge into the netherworld in an instant.
And within the rolling black Qi, chilling and sinister ghost shadows slowly emerged. Immediately after, with a bang, the earth cracked!
"Crackâcrackâ!" Several gigantic black ghost hands suddenly stretched out from the ground, each several zhang wide, with hooked fingers, radiating a sinister Yin Qi as if they were the claws of evil spirits from the depths of Hell.
"Roar!!!" The Crimson King's three heads roared in unison, just about to erupt again. But those ghost hands had already struck, slamming down hard on it!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Instantly, the Crimson King's massive body was tightly gripped by several ghost hands, its limbs firmly controlled in place, emitting creaking sounds of struggle, unable to break free for a time!
"Two Titled Douluo above ninety-five ranks?" Unable to move, the Crimson King immediately looked up at the sky, its face slightly grim.
Just then, a ghost shadow emerged silently from mid-air. It was a man in a black robe, his face sinister and pale. His entire being seemed to merge with the surrounding darkness. Only a ghost shadow could be seen on his body; no spirit ring was visible.
"Grandpa Gui? You're here too?" Hu Liena's surprise returned, and she called out loudly, looking up.
Hearing this, Ghost Douluo lowered his head slightly, looked at her, and spoke slowly: "Nana, you didn't know. Every time you went out to get a spirit ring, Chrysanthemum Douluo and I... have been secretly protecting you from behind.
" At this point, he scanned his surroundings, first glancing at the Crimson King, who was trapped between the ghost hands and roaring incessantly, then continued: "In the eyes of Her Holiness the Pope, the safety of your Golden Generation is extremely important.
This isn't just to prevent accidents from happening to you in the Star Dou Great Forest. It's also to fear that certain forces on the continent might take advantage of the situation to harm you."