The Final Six Beasts

The Golden Lion King's performance stunned all onlookers. With a sweep of its crimson light, even the Black Tortoise—reputed to have the strongest defense among the beast race—was shattered. It was simply unimaginable.

Invincible Lion King!

Many spectators even shouted aloud. It could stand against a Dragon King, perhaps even surpass one—that was the assessment of the vast majority.

The Golden Lion was truly a sovereign among sacred beasts. Its combat power was beyond doubt. Even more terrifying, it had three heads, and two vertical eyes remained unopened—who knew what fearsome ability lay hidden there.

The Golden Lion King had limitless potential!

Many people tried to inquire about its master, but unfortunately failed to uncover the truth.

As steady as a mountain, the Golden Lion gleamed with dazzling golden light. Step by step, it approached the Black Tortoise's corpse, and its powerful lion claws tore open the remains. A surge of earthen yellow light burst forth, which the Golden Lion swallowed in a single gulp—its prize, the Black Tortoise's essence, devoured.

Of course, the Golden Lion would not thereby cultivate the Black Tortoise's divine abilities. But this was undoubtedly of great benefit to its future cultivation.

A beast king could only grow stronger by surviving a hundred battles. Only through constant life-or-death struggles could it release the potential within its body. Only the beast king battles could spur rapid growth.

Naturally, the essence of a slain sacred beast would become the victor's motivation for growth. It might not instantly enhance the victor's strength, but it would make its life essence more vigorous, equivalent to boosting its potential.

For the young sacred beasts who had come to participate in the Southern Wastes Beast-Fighting Tournament, the primary targets were the Dragon Kings. If they could devour dragon qi, the benefits would be tremendous!

Xiao Chen returned to his residence. He knew that the Golden Lion King would become a great enemy of the Little Defiant Dragon, and could very well bring a life-or-death threat. The Golden Lion's strength was simply too formidable.

The Little Defiant Dragon had long since recovered. Whether through the nourishment of dragon qi or the conditioning of the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree, its body had stretched from a little over a meter to about one and a half meters, becoming even more robust.

Moreover, the silver light on its body had gradually turned into a milky-white jade light. Its dragon frame seemed carved from the finest mutton-fat jade. Its scales gleamed brilliantly, a powerful force flowing over them. Without a doubt, after surviving a near-death experience, the Little Defiant Dragon's strength had improved.

"Haha..."

Loud laughter came from the courtyard gate. The fat man Zhuge Liang, carrying an oil-paper package, strolled into Xiao Chen's residence with a beaming face.

"Tonight, I'm treating you to a feast!"

"What's so special about it? We've tasted almost all the delicacies in Heavenly Emperor City," Xiao Chen said with little interest.

"It may not be dragon liver or phoenix marrow, but it's definitely a rare delicacy under heaven. Not even an emperor could eat this if he wanted." The fat man narrowed his eyes, his entire body of fat trembling with joy.

"Fatty, don't you dare hog it all!" A girl's voice came from outside the door. The precious daughter of the Mande family, Kanasi, pushed the door open. She wore a water-blue dress, making her look very lively.

Behind her was Qilao, known as the 'Pervert.' This elegant and handsome man was usually gentle and refined, showing not a trace of a cultivator's aura.

Kanasi leaned against his side, her face full of excitement, but she did not forget to glare fiercely at Xiao Chen.

"Hey, girl of the Mande family, how is your nose so sharp? How did you get word?" The fat man looked at her suspiciously.

"I was planning to make a move early on, but didn't expect you sneaky bastard to be faster and grab it first."

"Haha... I'm here too!" Hai Yuntian also arrived.

These three groups were all heirs of the three great Beast-Fighting Palaces. Xiao Chen vaguely guessed something.

Sure enough, what followed confirmed his speculation.

"Your noses are sharper than divine hounds! Let's get this straight: we can share the delicacy, but if anyone leaks this, I'll have his head!"

"Hurry up, I can't wait! That's a legendary Black Tortoise!" Kanasi's beautiful eyes darted back and forth at the fat man's oil-paper package.

Fatty Zhuge truly had incredible connections. He had actually stolen a small part of the Black Tortoise's shattered flesh. In Xiao Chen's courtyard, they set up a large iron pot and stewed the Black Tortoise.

If people knew, they would surely go mad—stewing a Black Tortoise? Utterly insane!

The aroma of meat wafted out. Together with various mountain and sea delicacies delivered from the restaurant, the meal left everyone thoroughly satisfied.

Of course, Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon were also present at the table.

The fat man was still a bit weak. Just one sip of the Black Tortoise soup made his nose and mouth spurt blood. He lamented his thin fortune.

The Black Tortoise's essence had already been devoured by the Golden Lion King, so its flesh had become pure tortoise essence. Hai Yuntian and the others did not need to worry about external spiritual energy hindering their own cultivation.

"Tomorrow, that little White Tiger is going to fight. I really hope it loses. Then we'll not only have tiger meat and tiger-bone wine, but most importantly, tiger... uh, you know. The White Tiger's... that's a true treasure of the world!" The fat man began to babble drunkenly. Kanasi angrily kicked him a couple of times, then packed up some tortoise soup and quickly ran off.

On the sixth day, the little White Tiger took the field again.

Its opponent had a lion's head, a bear's body, horse legs, and a tiger's tail—a variant of the legendary Four-Unlike sacred beast, about one and a half meters long. Yellow, white, brown, and black light shimmered over its entire body, appearing extraordinarily divine.

Its strength was beyond doubt. Where its four feet trod, a patch of blazing flames appeared. Standing amidst the fire, even the beast-fighting arena shook. The essence of heaven and earth was swiftly gathered toward it.

The little White Tiger was extremely calm. This time, its previously ordinary appearance underwent a startling change. It seemed to sense the opponent's power and revealed its true strength. Black and white stripes emitted a brilliant light, flickering dazzlingly and giving people an oppressive feeling. White light and dark light interwove, completely enveloping the White Tiger.

"Divine patterns?!"

"White Tiger divine patterns!"

Shouts rose from below the arena.

The White Tiger's divine patterns were a heaven-bestowed 'divine script,' possessing unfathomable power. Legends said they were an ancient script containing ultimate mysteries. Of course, throughout the ages, very few had ever manifested divine patterns. This little White Tiger was clearly extraordinary.

"Alas, the tiger-whip wine is hopeless!" In the VIP room where Xiao Chen was, Fatty Zhuge shook his head and sighed.

The little white beast (Keke) held a skewer of ginseng treats made like candied hawthorn in its claws. Its eyes were wide as it curiously studied the White Tiger through the crystal screen.

"How about it? Do you have confidence to beat it? If you can knock it down, not just ginseng treats—I could even buy you a few divine fruits of heaven," the unprincipled fat man coaxed.

Seeing this, Xiao Chen quickly pushed him out of the VIP room and said to Keke, "Don't listen to his nonsense. Stay put, or I'll confiscate all your ginseng treats and lingzhi cakes."

"Ya-ya..." Keke obediently nodded, but its spiritual big eyes slanted a sidelong glance at the fat man's retreating figure.

On the beast-fighting stage, the fierce beast-king battle began. The Four-Unlike soared into the air, hovering in midair, surrounded by four-colored divine light. Dreadful light blades continuously chopped down, fiercely attacking the White Tiger on the ground.

This was a strange beast that could control the elemental energy of heaven and earth, far surpassing ordinary curse masters and spiritists.

Swish!

Yellow divine light sent the White Tiger flying, sweeping across from midair to the entire stage like divine fire.

Boom!

White divine light flashed, pinning the White Tiger to the ground. The light completely submerged it.

Chi! Chi!

Brown and dark light descended simultaneously, slashing toward the White Tiger's neck. On the stage, four-colored divine light shimmered, and the energy fluctuations were extremely intense.

Everyone watched the White Tiger roll within the four-colored divine light, all feeling it could not turn the tide, that it seemed to have no chance of victory.

However, as time passed, the crowd discovered a startling truth: although the White Tiger looked very battered—swept and slashed by the four-colored light—it had not been injured at all.

This was a miracle! Under the continuous rain of divine light, it couldn't possibly have dodged everything. How could it have suffered no harm?

At last, the crowd discovered the secret. The White Tiger's divine patterns dissolved every attack! The Four-Unlike's wild four-colored divine light was all neutralized by the divine patterns.

Then, with an earth-shaking tiger roar, the White Tiger rose up on its hind legs. Light blazed dazzlingly around its body. It had stirred to kill! It no longer wished to continue the meaningless struggle and revealed a powerful divine ability it had been reluctant to show.

The black and white divine patterns actually left its body, forming a divine tiger of light in the air. Wind and thunder roared, the tiger's roar shook the heavens! A divine tiger formed entirely of condensed light soared into the air, pouncing toward the hovering Four-Unlike.

Too fast, like lightning!

Pfft!

Blood splattered. The divine tiger tore the Four-Unlike apart. A rain of blood fell from the sky, a scene almost too cruel to witness. The variant sacred beast Four-Unlike was completely shattered, its whole corpse fragmented.

"Roar..."

With another heaven-shaking tiger roar, the divine tiger turned back into divine patterns and returned to the White Tiger's body.

Flecks of light drifted up—the Four-Unlike's essence. The White Tiger swallowed it in one gulp, and the beast-king battle concluded.

Below the stage, there was dead silence. The White Tiger's ferocity had caught everyone off guard!

"Was that an external incarnation?" someone finally whispered, voicing the question in their heart.

"That's a divine ability even more terrifying than an external incarnation!"

The crowd beneath the beast-fighting stage erupted.

The following beast-king battles were equally brilliant.

Dugu Jianmo's Red Dragon King had been raised deep in the Southern Wastes, a pure embodiment of savagery and cruelty. Fighting day and night with mountain brute beasts, its killing aura was even heavier than an assassin's. It crushed its opponents with absolute advantage and advanced smoothly.

Although the Dugu family appeared quite declined—the vast ancient castle rarely seeing a human figure year-round—no one dared to covet the Red Dragon King. People had not forgotten the spectacular scene of the Dugu family's ancestral rite decades ago, when a group of cultivators carrying great iron swords flew back through the sky...

In the Southern Wastes, no one wished to provoke this low-key family.

Gold, the descendant of a god, defeated its opponent with absolute advantage and advanced smoothly, no dispute. Xiao Chen was not at all surprised by this result. After all, this golden ape could directly resist Keke's seven-colored divine light. If it couldn't stand out, then the sacred beast it encountered would truly be of the heaven-defying level.

This round of beast-king battles only scheduled one or two matches per day, drawing exceptional attention. The final two matches filled the Beast-Fighting Palace to capacity, because the protagonists of these two matches had incredible backgrounds!

One match was between the Winged Dragon King and a Peacock King; the other was between the Little Defiant Dragon and the Evil Dragon King.

Seeing the silver Winged Dragon King, Xiao Chen immediately thought of the beautiful female spiritist Lan Yu. Back on Dragon Island, the Winged Dragon King had followed her. Had she come to Heavenly Emperor City?

When Xiao Chen wanted to visit the Winged Dragon King's master and ask for the location of the VIP room, he was unexpectedly informed that the Winged Dragon King had withdrawn from the competition. Its mysterious master had already taken to the sky and left Heavenly Emperor City.

This news disappointed many. After all, the appearance of a Dragon King was the biggest highlight of this tournament.

Rumors circulated that the Winged Dragon King's master had encountered trouble and thus left in haste. Another rumor said the Peacock King was a descendant of a god, and the Winged Dragon King's master did not want his battle pet to take risks, so he withdrew.

On the beast-fighting stage, only the multicolored Peacock King remained, as beautiful as a blooming multicolored divine flower. Its five-colored divine feathers gleamed, flowing like the shimmering light of a dream. Its opponent having withdrawn, it advanced without a fight.

From Hai Yuntian, Xiao Chen learned that elders of his family had visited the divine ruins and had personally seen descendants of gods, one of which was the multicolored Peacock King.

So the rumors were true. The one on the stage truly was a descendant of a god!

Without a doubt, the radiant multicolored Peacock King possessed unimaginable strength. At the very least, it was no weaker than Gold, and might even be able to clash head-on with Keke.

The final match of the second round of beast-king battles was between the Little Defiant Dragon and the Evil Dragon King.

Xiao Chen was certainly no stranger to the Evil Dragon King. It was a descendant of the Eight-Armed Malignant Dragon, and he had once refined one of its eggs, forging no ordinary karmic bond.

Yet again, disappointing news arrived: the Evil Dragon King forfeited without a fight, taken away by its master. The Little Defiant Dragon advanced without a fight.

Xiao Chen found this very strange. Why had two Dragon Kings withdrawn? Was it really because they feared their opponents were too strong? He speculated suspiciously—could something be about to happen, causing the Dragon Kings' masters to retreat?

The crowd's emotions finally erupted. Two Dragon Kings had forfeited without reason. This was truly too disappointing. People desperately wanted to see the Dragon King battles.

The Golden Lion King, Red Dragon King, White Tiger, Gold, Peacock King, and the Little Defiant Dragon—six young sacred beasts—had successfully advanced. They would enter the next round of decisive battles to contend for the final Southern Wastes Beast King.

With this, the beast-fighting tournament had finally reached its final stage. The decisive moment had arrived. Next would be a melee among the six sacred beasts. The one who stood unyielding in the end would be the supreme king of this tournament, the true king of kings.