33: War Begins

On the battlefield, the army of billions of Vicious Beasts and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Races have been slaughtering each other for tens of thousands of years.

Both sides have suffered heavy casualties.

Shen Ni has never personally appeared on the battlefield; the war has always been entrusted to the Four Great Vicious Beast Kings.

It seems that even as strong as the Vicious Beast Emperor, he is wary of something.

Similarly, many Chaos Gods and Demons are merely lying in ambush across the battlefield, not in a hurry to act.

Their goal is clear: that Vicious Beast Emperor.

Before seeing Shen Ni, they certainly will not easily expose themselves.

Both sides are testing each other, seeing who acts first, which would indicate which side can no longer hold out.

But the army of Vicious Beasts led only by the Four Great Vicious Beast Kings has already dealt a massive blow to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Races.

The front line has been pushing from north to south.

The Alliance of Ten Thousand Races retreated again and again; further back lies Qilin Cliff, the headquarters of the Qilin Clan.

To protect their home, the Qilin Clan, led by the First Qilin, engaged in a life-and-death struggle against the Vicious Beasts.

Before Qilin Cliff, the First Qilin stepped on Auspicious Clouds, and a pair of Jade Frost Qilin Horns atop his head radiated brilliant light.

With his long roar, thousands of clansmen responded in unison, their essence blood turning into streams of light, weaving into a golden Formation map that blotted out the sun across the firmament.

"Myriad Spirits Pilgrimage, rise!"

The moment the Formation unfolded, the Evil Qi of the Vicious Beasts within a million-mile radius was swept clean.

Phantoms of Auspicious Beasts like the Pixiu, Xiezhi, and Zheng emerged within the Formation, each holding Auspicious Clouds in its mouth and treading on Golden Lotuses.

When the Vicious Beast vanguard led by Taowu charged, these Auspicious Beast phantoms opened their eyes simultaneously, shooting out brilliant golden light.

The million Vicious Beasts charging at the front were hit by the golden light, instantly melting like snow under a blazing sun, with black smoke rising from their bodies.

They rolled in pain one after another, as their vicious Origin was forcibly purified by the Formation.

Even Taowu was frightened back by this extremely strong auspicious Qi and had to temporarily avoid its edge.

The pace of the Vicious Beast army was halted.

This defense lasted for thirty thousand years.

The Formation operated without pause; around Qilin Cliff, Golden Springs Gushed from the Earth and Sweet Dew Descended from the Heavens.

Any injured beings of the ten thousand races would have their wounds heal quickly as long as they entered the Formation.

Conversely, once a Vicious Beast approached, at best their cultivation would regress, and at worst they would dissipate into the Dao on the spot.

But the number of Vicious Beasts was truly too great, and because the Formation had been running for too long, the consumption for the many experts of the Qilin Clan was too high, causing the Formation's power to gradually diminish.

The moment the Formation's golden light wavered, Taowu's blood-red beast pupils suddenly contracted.

He let out a deafening roar toward the sky, the Evil Qi around him exploding like a volcanic eruption, as ten thousand bone spikes burst from his spine, glinting with a cold, sinister light.

Having waited so long, he had not tried to break the Formation with brute force but had kept himself at his Peak state, waiting for such an opportunity to charge the Formation.

"Old Qilin, your time has come!"

Taowu's four feet stomped violently, and the ground collapsed with a crash.

He turned into a black-and-red afterimage, carrying overwhelming Evil Qi as he crashed directly into the weakest point of the Formation.

The Auspicious Beast phantoms in the Formation tried to intercept in haste, but were pierced through by the bone spikes on his back.

The Pixiu phantom wailed and was the first to shatter into a sky full of golden light.

Everyone shared the excess pressure from the Formation.

"Pfft—"

The dozens of Qilin Clan Elders presiding over the formation eyes spat blood simultaneously.

The Formation's light screen trembled violently, and cracks like spiderwebs appeared.

Seeing this, the Vicious Beast army let out bloodthirsty roars and surged toward the cracks like a tide.

At the critical moment, the First Qilin's jade horns suddenly burst with blinding brilliance.

He stepped out of the Formation, his body continuously expanding as he moved, finally transforming into his massive True Qilin Form.

Auspicious Clouds supported his feet, golden flames wreathed his body, and he swiped a claw toward Taowu's head.

"Vile beast! Do not be so arrogant!"

A faint purple light rose from the Qilin Arm, smashing toward Taowu with absolute power.

Taowu did not dodge or yield; the bone spikes collided violently with the Qilin Arm.

The terrifying shockwave blew away all Vicious Beasts within a million miles, and even space itself was distorted and shattered.

Taking advantage of his unstable footing, the First Qilin, with clouds beneath his four hooves, delivered a fierce headbutt, forcibly knocking this Beast King out of the Formation's range.

Immediately after, the First Qilin pursued without hesitation and began to engage in a struggle with Taowu.

The First Qilin's voice rang in the ears of every clansman: "Repair the Formation quickly! I will stall him!"

The two fought all the way to a height of hundreds of millions of miles.

As the slaughter continued, Taowu's bone spikes kept breaking, and the First Qilin's golden scales also peeled off piece by piece.

But for every bit they moved away from the Formation, its light recovered by that same bit.

When the Elders completed the final Formation rune, the Formation was finally stabilized once again.

Taowu's unwilling roar echoed from the distance.

The First Qilin fell back into the Formation covered in blood, his jade horns already dim.

He looked at the churning tribulation clouds on the horizon and, unable to spare time for rest, continued to throw himself into the great battle.

On another battlefield, the Dragon Clan had retreated to their familiar home ground in the East Sea.

Clad in Nine-Clawed Golden Scale Armor, the Ancestral Dragon led thousands of Dragons, overturning the sea and soaring through the clouds.

Unlike the tragic state of the Qilin Clan.

Thanks to the Dragon Clan's own strong power and the many powerful clans that the Ancestral Dragon had forced into alliance through marriage.

The Dragon Clan's battlefield seemed to be handled with ease.

The Black Tortoise Clan members propped up a water screen that blotted out the sky, trapping the Vicious Beast army that had rashly intruded into the Formation.

The Yaksha Clan members stood in Formation with halberds, constantly forcing the Vicious Beast army toward the center.

With a wave of his dragon claw, the Ancestral Dragon simultaneously sacrificed his Lifebound Treasure—the Zu Long Pearl.

"Four Seas Cloud-Turning Formation, rise!"

With a heaven-shaking dragon roar, billions of aquatic beings simultaneously activated their magic power.

A Formation that blotted out the sun rose out of thin air, and the entire sea area instantly turned into a cage.

The waters of the vast East Sea were fully mobilized, and countless waterspouts shot straight into the sky, attacking the trapped Vicious Beasts within the Formation.

Under the overwhelming power, no Vicious Beast could lift its head.

But the Vicious Beast army did not give up their struggle.

Under the command of Taotie, they charged left and right, searching for a way to break the Formation.

At this moment, nine giant dragons condensed from Xuan Ming True Water rose from the seabed, weaving into an Inescapable Net in the air, completely trapping Taotie and his many Vicious Beasts, making them unable to move.

The nine water dragons contracted simultaneously, their ferocious dragon heads constantly crashing toward the Vicious Beasts in the Formation.

The besieged Vicious Beasts let out shrill screams; their Evil Qi was washed away completely upon meeting the Xuan Ming True Water.

Thousands of Vicious Beasts were turned into blood mist under the Formation's strangulation, dyeing the seawater dark red.

Only Taotie stood firm.

This Vicious Beast King opened the giant mouth on his belly wide, actually swallowing the Xuan Ming True Water continuously.

Taotie is known for being able to swallow anything; now it seemed that the claim was true.

He was actually able to take even the highly lethal Xuan Ming True Water into his stomach.

As Taotie continued to swallow, his body expanded like it was being inflated, and black mucus seeped from the gaps in his scales, dripping onto the sea surface and making a "hissing" corrosive sound.

Taotie laughed wildly as he tore apart a water dragon, "The Dragon Clan's Formation is nothing more than a meal in my belly!"

The Ancestral Dragon's golden eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly revealed his dragon body.

Dragon claws tore through the Void Realm, grabbing directly for Taotie's throat: "Then try this!"

Taotie was not flustered either, meeting the Ancestral Dragon's sharp claws head-on, engaging in a trade of injuries.

The two collided violently, and the shockwave-induced tsunami submerged ten thousand miles of coastline.

The two fought across heaven and earth, weaving back and forth through the world.

Taotie's sharp claws scraped blinding sparks off the Ancestral Dragon's golden scales, while the Ancestral Dragon's dragon breath scorched half of Taotie's body.

But in an instant, a thunderous digestive sound came from Taotie's belly, and the scorched flesh actually regenerated at a visible speed.

Seeing that he could not win in a direct confrontation, the Ancestral Dragon subsequently retreated outside the Formation and continued to wear him down using the Formation.

On the other battlefields of the ten thousand races, the tragic scenes were even worse.

This battle allowed the ten thousand races to witness the power of the Vicious Beasts.

At the same time, their fear of that Vicious Beast Emperor, who had remained inactive, grew even greater...