65: The Beast King's Sorrow

The moment they stepped into this land of death, the world suddenly changed color.

The originally gray sky completely lost its luster, turning into a suffocating pitch black.

The earth beneath their feet cracked inch by inch, thick black Qi seeping from the fissures and emitting an aura of decay.

With every step Qing Wu took, he could hear the crisp sound of bones shattering from the ground.

This entire land was actually formed from the accumulation of countless skeletons.

Among them were many corpses of various races that had not yet fully decomposed. Under the influence of the endless Evil Qi, they began to turn hideous and twisted, actually starting to move and transforming into black shadows that approached the two.

Unknowingly, the two had actually strayed into an illusion.

"Back!" Yuan Feng shook her sleeves, and fiery feathers shot out across the sky.

Burned by the True Fire, the black shadows emitted ear-piercing shrieks, but they did not completely dissipate; instead, they gathered in increasing numbers.

Seeing this, Qing Wu immediately summoned the lidi firelight banner.

The crimson banner fluttered in the wind, resonating with the Azure Lotus Treasure Flag.

Under the combined power of the two banners, the scene before them shattered like a mirror, returning to normal once more.

A dilapidated palace ahead had been revealed.

As the former headquarters of the Vicious Beasts and the final battlefield of the Great Calamity.

This was where Beast Emperor Shen Ni once fought a great battle against numerous Chaos Gods and Demons.

However, with Shen Ni's failure and the Vicious Beasts' extinction, this place no longer possessed any of its former glory, leaving only broken walls and ruins.

Wisps of resentful Evil Qi lingered, speaking of the Beast Emperor's unwillingness.

Before the ruins of the Beast God Palace, Qing Wu and Yuan Feng stood still. The sight before them left both of them in silence.

Most of the palace had long since collapsed, and the few remaining pillars were covered in shocking cracks.

The palace walls, once carved with patterns of ten thousand beasts worshiping, were now nothing but charred ruins.

Most striking was the massive crack in the center of the palace that ran through the entire building, as if it had been split open by some terrifying force.

That was a strike delivered by the power of Chaotic Slaughter evolved from the pangu banner, lying directly across the center of the battlefield.

Other traces of battle were also visible everywhere, all showcasing the brutality of that great war, which was truly shocking.

Shen Ni truly did not suffer an unjust defeat!

After searching the perimeter for a while, they indeed found nothing of value.

The two decided to take a look inside the Beast God Palace.

Inside, there seemed to be some existence calling out to them.

Was it terrifying? Not at all.

Even the Beast Emperor Shen Ni in life was only at the half-step Hunyuan Golden Immortal Realm.

Now that his Dao body had been shattered, his Primordial Spirit extinguished, and his treasures seized, what kind of waves could he possibly stir up against two Hunyuan Golden Immortals like them?

If he really dared to jump out, they would just slap him back down.

Stepping into the dilapidated main gate of the Beast God Palace, a bone-chilling cold immediately wrapped around them; the gloom inside the palace had almost condensed into substance.

The dome had long since collapsed, but strangely, the fallen rubble was suspended in mid-air, as if frozen in the moment of falling by some force.

"Interesting." A wisp of flame ignited on Yuan Feng's fingertip, and the entire palace was instantly lit up.

Wherever the firelight reached, dense blood-colored patterns appeared on the walls.

These patterns squirmed like living things, forming hideous beast-head designs before quickly vanishing back into the darkness.

Qing Wu noticed that the dust on the ground formed peculiar shapes, with all traces pointing deep into the palace.

The two moved forward cautiously, arriving at the ruins of what should have been the main hall.

The Evil Qi here was so dense it formed a black mist, and in the center of the mist, a shadow could be vaguely seen constantly changing its form.

At times it turned into a hideous beast shape, at others into a blurry figure.

"You've finally come!" A hoarse voice echoed from all directions, making it impossible to tell if it was real or an illusion.

"Or rather, this Emperor has been waiting for you... for a long time..."

"This Emperor!"

The Vicious Beast race was gone, yet this fellow was still dreaming of being the Beast Emperor.

Qing Wu sneered, "A mere remnant thought dares to call itself Emperor?"

The four treasure banners in his hand flew out all at once, their various colored lights reflecting off each other and casting a clear radiance that continuously dispersed the black mist.

The moment the mist dispersed, the two finally saw the true face of that shadow.

Rooted in a bottomless crack in the ground, countless root-like black lines extended to all parts of the palace, as if the entire Beast God Palace had become part of his body.

Or rather, he had become a part of the Beast God Palace.

A wisp of resentment lodged within the Beast God Palace had given birth to a new will; this was what he looked like.

Yuan Feng narrowed her eyes, her face full of disgust.

The shadow let out a low laugh, "Thanks to those greedy visitors... their desires... nourished me..."

Along with his words, countless blurry figures emerged around them, all Cultivators who had previously broken into this place.

These Cultivators had dull expressions, and their bodies were already semi-transparent, clearly having been drained of their Life Qi.

Qing Wu noticed various fragments of Magic Treasures scattered on the ground, presumably brought by these Cultivators while they were alive.

These Cultivators had fallen into the illusion and arrived here in an unconscious state, leaving them at his mercy.

"Neither of us fell for your illusion. Do you still have the confidence to take us down?"

The shadow did not answer directly but suddenly expanded its form, turning into an overwhelming black tide surging toward the two.

Countless whispers came from the black tide, all remnant thoughts of the beings it had devoured.

The sounds were actually mixed with mind-shaking Dao sounds; one could easily succumb if not careful.

Qing Wu summoned the Six Roots of Purity Flute and played a series of notes, completely neutralizing those bewitching sounds.

Yuan Feng let out a cold snort, and the divine phoenix plume flew out, transforming into an incredibly sharp fire arrow that locked onto the shadow, piercing and annihilating it directly.

Boom!

A violent explosion echoed within the Beast God Palace, yet the palace itself suffered no damage.

"It's useless, the Beast God Palace is my Natal Treasure..." The shadow's voice drifted from near and far.

"I am this palace... the palace is me... as long as the Beast God Palace remains... I shall never perish..."

"That's not necessarily true." Without another word, Yuan Feng prepared to strike directly.

A cold light flashed in her eyes. In an instant, she was enveloped in towering flames. The divine phoenix plume split into nine, flying out simultaneously to weave a fire net in the sky that blotted out the sun.

Each plume transformed into a Phoenix bathed in fire, letting out a clear cry that shook the heavens and earth.

With a cold shout from Yuan Feng, the Nine Phoenixes flew together, pouncing on the shadow with a momentum that could burn the heavens and boil the seas.

Wherever the fire passed, space was scorched into a distorted mess.

Before the shadow could react, it was completely engulfed by this world-destroying True Fire.

Ah—!

A faint, shrill scream echoed through the palace as the shadow writhed frantically in the flames, attempting to reform its body.

However, this time the flames were a hundred times more intense than before, burning even the resentful Evil Qi that constituted its Origin to nothing.

In a daze, his gaze toward Yuan Feng carried a hint of terror.

The era has changed!

In the blink of an eye, the shadow that called itself the Beast Emperor was burned to ashes, leaving not a single trace.

However, just as Yuan Feng retracted the divine phoenix plume, the Evil Qi around them began to flow strangely again.

The blood-colored patterns on the walls suddenly glowed with a blinding red light, and thick black mist poured out from the cracks in the ground again, beginning to gather and solidify.

"As expected..."