Those two streaks of light moved with such fierce speed that not only Ziqing and the others, but even the flying beasts, were drawn to them.
Especially that one scream, sharp enough to nearly split the sky itself.
“That voice…”
Ziqing found it strangely familiar, yet couldn’t quite place whose it was.
“Baili Weisheng…”
Jun Beiyue recognized it at once, and even as he spoke, he turned sideways and struck down a flying beast with a single blow, blood spraying outward, adding, “Your son has arrived!”
Ziqing had guessed as much herself—that Xiong Xiaobao had appeared—and her heart soared with joy, immediately steeling herself with renewed energy. With Xiong Xiaobao here, their odds of victory had just increased significantly.
Sure enough, before long, a series of anguished howls rose from the western sky, and from a distance, one could see dark shapes plummeting down one after another!
And immediately after, the beast forces that had been streaming westward all turned back around—or rather, more precisely, they were being forced back!
“Awooo…”
That familiar sound echoed again and again, resounding across the entire sky and earth!
On the ground, it was the Dumb Bear’s roar; in the sky, it was the cries of the four great poison beasts!
Poison beasts!
What did “poison beast” even mean?
Those two dogs beneath the Jade Water and Nectar Heavenly Lake were poison beasts, on par with the four great poison beasts.
Creatures carefully nurtured by the Beast Clan, revered as divine beasts!
Ordinary beasts simply couldn’t compare to poison beasts at all!
Faced with a poison beast, submitting without so much as trembling was already considered impressive.
As the Dumb Bear gave chase, all the beast forces to the west fled in disarray, and at the same time, the flying beasts that had once filled the sky densely began scattering apart.
Such a sudden, dramatic shift caused the flying beasts and beasts on Ziqing’s side to instinctively freeze in place as well!
The appearance of poison beasts was entirely within their expectations—beasts, after all, had an innate instinctive fear of them.
But it wasn’t just them—even their handlers stood stunned!
“Poison beasts! Those are ancient poison beasts!” Elder Sheng exclaimed in shock, finally losing his composure entirely.
“Heavens, how did they manage to tame poison beasts? Where did they even find ancient poison beasts! And there are five of them!” the Medicine Clan head said, equally dumbfounded.
Ordinary beasts held an instinctive fear of poison beasts, and the Medicine Clan head’s poisonous insects were practically a favorite delicacy to poison beasts.
“Elder Sheng, what do we do now!” the Medicine Clan head suddenly found himself at a complete loss.
Before Elder Sheng could answer, the old Beast Clan elder suddenly arrived, equally astonished at the sight, but being far more experienced than Elder Sheng, he immediately gave the order, “All disciples, heed my command! No beast is to retreat, not a single one! Everyone must give it everything they have!”
The moment one beast retreated, it would trigger a chain reaction—every other beast would want to retreat too!
When their lives were threatened, beasts’ true nature could erupt with terrifying ease, and controlling them at that point would no longer be a simple matter.
“Right!” Only then did Elder Sheng recover, immediately urging all the disciples on.
At once, several disciples rose together, led primarily by the Sheng, Xiao, and Gu Mo clan heads, joining forces to play an exceptionally strange, eerie melody together.
The moment this melody rang out, the previously panicked flying beasts and land creatures instantly seemed to fall under some kind of control, growing utterly still and silent.
Seeing this, Ziqing’s brow furrowed tight. She immediately landed atop the city gate, sat cross-legged, and began playing her zither, using sound to counter sound.
But just as Ziqing began playing, suddenly, every single beast turned to look at her, and with a “whoosh,” a flying beast shot toward her like an arrow!
“No good, stop playing!”
Jun Beiyue flew over in a flash, not even bothering to draw his sword, slamming his body straight into the flying beast to knock it away instead.
Ziqing stopped abruptly, her heart skipping a beat—she understood sound-based killing techniques, but not how to command beasts through music. It seemed if she kept playing, she’d only bring trouble upon herself without ever managing to disrupt their tune.
Sound-killing techniques against humans and beast-commanding techniques were clearly entirely different matters.
The moment Ziqing stopped, no beast attacked her again. Yet, strangely, the restless, stirring beast horde had all gone completely silent, as if listening for some command.
At that moment, not a single beast moved. The entire battlefield fell into a silence so complete it felt as if nothing had ever happened—yet it was precisely this silence that made both Ziqing and Jun Beiyue deeply uneasy.
They knew this was the calm before the storm, a sign that the beast horde was brewing something.
Ziqing looked west and saw the Dumb Bear had also stopped, seeming to sense something too, standing atop a tall boulder, expression grave and serious.
As for the four great poison beasts, only Howling Rabbit and Henggong Fish hovered in midair, watching the beast horde just like the Dumb Bear—but Zizhu and the Nine-Tailed White Fox were nowhere to be seen. And, of course, neither were Xiong Xiaobao or Baili Weisheng.
“They’re not moving—let’s strike while we can!” Meng Duo’er said quietly.
With both armies at a standstill, whoever moved first would gain the advantage, wouldn’t they?
“No!”
Ziqing spoke urgently. She felt a nagging unease—if they made the first move now, how would the beast horde react?
She looked toward the Beast Clan’s handlers and saw the old Beast Clan elder with his head bowed, seemingly murmuring something under his breath, while Elder Sheng himself was personally playing his sheng.
These people wouldn’t have suddenly stopped for no reason at all—they had to be plotting something.
If they made their move now, what would happen?
Ziqing and Jun Beiyue exchanged a glance, and Jun Beiyue agreed with her caution. But just as everyone remained on careful guard, suddenly, a furious roar erupted from the western forest, “Xiong Xiaobao, if you don’t let go of me right now, I won’t be polite about it!”
The moment the voice rang out, a streak of white shot up into the sky, bursting out from the forest!
Huh, it was Baili Weisheng!
Ziqing froze in shock, and Jun Beiyue was equally stunned, both turning their heads sharply to look. But faster than either of their reactions was the beast horde’s.
The beast horde!
Not just the flying beasts—every land creature and poisonous insect, whether in the sky or on the ground, suddenly converged together, a dense, black mass, like one giant shadow, all charging straight at Baili Weisheng!
Sure enough, Ziqing and the others hadn’t guessed wrong—the beast horde had been brewing a coordinated group action, and whoever moved first would become the target.
Baili Weisheng… hadn’t he lost his memory? Did he really have to make such a dramatic entrance?
Baili Weisheng, having just been infuriated by Xiong Xiaobao below, had shot straight up into the sky in his anger, and now hung suspended in midair, utterly bewildered. Before he could even recover from realizing just how impressive he’d been, he discovered a massive, dense, black mass of bizarre-looking creatures—flying, running, leaping, every kind of beast imaginable—swarming toward him all at once!
Baili Weisheng froze, his bewildered expression instantly stiffening on his face. What on earth was going on here? Had he done something wrong?
“Damned scholar, run!”
Ziqing suddenly shouted, and almost simultaneously, a vulture leading the charge shot toward Baili Weisheng like an arrow, claws bared straight at him!
“Aaahh…!”
Baili Weisheng let out a scream, spinning around to flee, but there was simply no time—the vulture’s claws instantly clamped onto his back!
“Aaahh… help!”
Baili Weisheng screamed even louder, but even as he cried out in terror for help, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted from him—instantly, radiance filled the sky, and no one saw exactly how that vulture was blasted away, only that it vanished without a trace, no shadow left behind at all.
…
A Note to Readers: Writing in a complete daze right now, so just one update for now…