While Tu Xiao’an, that snake, was turning the Yaoling Mountain Range upside down, the Human World had already descended into chaos half a month before.
In an area near Wenjialing, not far from the Yaoling Mountain Range, the Spiritual Qi suddenly surged. A vast, rolling fog formed around it, hazy and impenetrable to the naked eye.
When ordinary humans entered the fog, their bodies would unexpectedly awaken, turning them into human Cultivation Awakened. However, as the fog intensified, it grew thicker and denser, resembling a massive bubble contained by a thin membrane at its perimeter.
After an unknown amount of time, an earth-shattering roar, like a volcanic eruption, echoed from within the dense fog.
In that instant, ferocious Fierce Beasts began to emerge from the fog. They had the bodies of sheep and the faces of humans, with eyes under their armpits, tiger-like fangs, and human hands. With terrifying visages, these Ancient Fierce Beasts had been unleashed upon the world. An incomparably savage aura erupted from them, spreading wantonly across the vast land.
Before long, Fierce Beasts leaped out from the fog one by one. Each was dozens of feet tall, and surprisingly, they were all identical, as if cast from the same mold.
Immediately, as many as a hundred of these Fierce Beasts leaped out of the dense fog. Most frightening of all, the strength of these creatures was on par with a Rank Three Demon Spirit.
The moment these hundred Fierce Beasts appeared, Wenjialing was plunged into an age of devastation. All living animals became food for them.
They ate, feasting voraciously. Nearby villages could not escape their fate. Whenever a single Fierce Beast charged into a village, not a single person was left alive.
All of them became food for the Fierce Beasts.
And these vicious Fierce Beasts seemed to have insatiable appetites. They weren’t picky—they ate everything. As they feasted, their bodies began to transform, growing larger and more difficult to deal with.
The Wencheng Management Bureau issued an S-class red alert, and all human Cultivators were dispatched to slay the Fierce Beasts.
The entire Wencheng region officially entered a terrifying era of invasion by the Fierce Beasts. Human Cultivators battled the creatures, but unfortunately, their efforts were largely ineffective.
This was the legendary opening of the Ancient War Ruins: Fierce Beasts emerged, and devastation followed.
In the ensuing chaos, one of the Fierce Beasts that had emerged from the fog seemed to have lost its way. Instead of heading toward the human cities of Wencheng, it wandered off, feasting as it went, until it arrived at the entrance to the Yaoling Mountain Range.
The Fierce Beast’s gaze was savage. As if it had smelled a worldly delicacy within, it leaped forward and officially entered the territory of the Yaoling Mountain Range.
From that point on, Awakened Creatures, Rank Two Demons, and even lone Rank Three Demon Spirits all became food for the Fierce Beast, turning into Energy for it to grow stronger.
None were spared.
Within just ten days of entering the Yaoling Mountain Range, the Fierce Beast grew from thirty feet to a hundred feet tall. Its ferocious nature was fearless, and it even stumbled by chance into the main camp of one of the mountain’s races.
This race, which was already considered weak in the Yaoling Mountain Range, met with utter annihilation. Their King of the Race was merely an ordinary Rank Three Demon Spirit, only at Level 32. In a single encounter with the Fierce Beast, he was swallowed whole.
In the end, all the Cultivated Creatures of this race were devoured.
As the Fierce Beast’s growth accelerated, it slowly became pickier about its food. It no longer bothered with Rank One Awakened Creatures and would only reluctantly eat Rank Two Demons. Eventually, it began to exclusively hunt Rank Three Demon Spirits.
The Fierce Beast seemed to have a nose even more sensitive than a dog’s. Wherever a Rank Three Demon Spirit was, it could find it with unerring accuracy.
Finally, the colossal Fierce Beast, now a full one hundred and fifty feet tall, arrived at the edge of the Azure Bamboo Forest’s territory.
It had smelled the scent of numerous Demon Spirits within, and the greed on its face was unmistakable.
Normally, a Fierce Beast of this size would have been discovered long ago. But right now, all the major figures were focused on the White Demon King’s wedding. That wedding had now been disrupted by a snake, turning into a grand battle between a hedgehog and a snake.
To put it more elegantly, the Snake Race’s new Snake King was locked in a fierce battle with the Azure Bamboo Forest’s White Demon King.
Down below, the wedding procession stared intently at the giant black sphere in the sky. Although they couldn’t see what was happening inside, just listening to the commotion was something.
From within the black sphere, terrifying waves of Sword Qi swept out, each one incomparably violent.
Everyone knew the Snake King and the White Demon King were fighting furiously inside.
Who would win and who would lose would only be known once this strange black sphere was broken.
"ROAR—!"
Suddenly, at that moment, a terrifying roar ripped through the air. A one-hundred-and-fifty-foot-tall Fierce Beast appeared from nowhere, landing right in the middle of the wedding procession.
With a skyward roar, it opened its maw, snatched a Rank Three Demon Spirit in its jaws, and with a flick of its head, tossed the demon into its mouth. A series of sickening crunches followed. The Fierce Beast shockingly crushed the unsuspecting Demon Spirit—Lifebound Golden Core and all—and swallowed it down.
The assembled demons were stunned into silence by the sudden turn of events. Their fur stood on end as if possessed, a cold chill running through them. They stared at the enormous, terrifying Fierce Beast in their midst, their eyes practically bulging from their sockets.
"What is that monster?"
"Did it just eat a Rank Three Demon Spirit in one bite?"
The demons exchanged terrified glances, their hearts pounding in fear.
"ROAR..."
The colossal Fierce Beast’s face was utterly ferocious and its body bizarrely shaped. It was truly a frightening sight. To be able to terrify even this crowd of demons was no small feat.
Moreover, the extremely savage aura spewing from the beast washed over them unrestrained. The Demon Spirits trembled, completely enveloped by the chilling fear of death.
"Everyone, be careful!"
Suddenly, the massive Fierce Beast opened its maw like a destructive whirlwind. It lunged at the nearest demon, and with a shake of its jaw, began to tear it to shreds. After a few bites, it swallowed the demon down. It was brutality incarnate.
In the blink of an eye, another Rank Three Demon Spirit, unable to react in time, became food for the Fierce Beast. Not even its Lifebound Golden Core remained.
"What manner of monster are you, daring to run amok here?!"
A Great Demon with a human body and a lion’s head leaped out, furiously berating the Fierce Beast, his face twitching.
The beast’s appearance was simply too bizarre, too hideous. He considered himself ugly, but ’compared to this thing,’ he thought, ’I might as well be a dashingly handsome man.’
’Could this be some kind of mutated creature?’
’Did its Cultivation go awry? How dare it come here and openly devour demons?’
The one who had leaped out was the Lion King, the King of the Race for the Leopard Lineage, and a master at the Pseudo Demon King Level.
He was considered a top-tier expert in the wedding procession. The White Demon King’s original subordinates had gone to protect their master and never returned, presumably having been reduced to their Lifebound Golden Cores.
"ROAR..."
In response to the Lion King’s challenge, the massive Fierce Beast’s underarm eyes glinted with cruelty and bloodlust. It opened its green-faced, fang-filled mouth, releasing a foul stench as it lunged forward to bite him.
"Vile creature, you are completely lawless! You dare to provoke me? You’re courting death!"
After a few exchanges, the demons were utterly panicked. The Lion King met the beast’s charge with the force of a Thunder Shock, but in the blink of an eye, the massive Fierce Beast seized him in its jaws, tore him to pieces, and swallowed him whole.
Ugh...!
Seeing this, the demons’ eyes went wide and vacant. They nearly pissed themselves in terror.
’The Monarch of the Leopard Lineage, the great Lion King, was eaten by the Fierce Beast... just like that?’
It felt so unreal, and yet it had happened right before their eyes, in a shower of blood and gore.