The existence of an ancient soulbeast like the black jiao wasn’t widely circulated in the world of soul cultivators. Many didn’t even know that there was such a species until the Black Dragon King descended onto the continent.

As a soulbeast whose species was once prominent in the far more chaotic and primeval past, the strength of a black jiao was never put into question. Soulbeasts of the same stage had no chance against one, and those a stage higher stood a good chance at losing as well.

When the Black Dragon King first appeared, it was a mid-stage cla.s.s seven soulbeast. It was only after devouring the soulgem of the late-stage cla.s.s seven Blue Snake King that it became a late-stage cla.s.s seven as well.

But like other soulbeasts, the Black Dragon King found himself at a stoppage in his path for power. Hundreds of years of slaughter and devouring countless individuals for their power was barely giving him progress towards reaching the limits of a cla.s.s seven.

It wasn’t until half a year ago that the Black Dragon King picked a secluded part of the cla.s.s six area of the forest in preparation to make the attempt.

Never did he imagine that four Soul Kings would ambush him whilst he was busy meditating.

Three of the four Soul Kings were the first to third elders from the Beast Taming School, but the last one was a person he didn’t recognize. In any case, the first elder was hoping to make use of the Black Dragon King’s vulnerability to enforce a seal onto him and turn him into a soulbeast puppet!

Having lived a life fraught with battle and strife, the Black Dragon King was infuriated. It lived through plenty of ambushes and attempts on its life, but when had it ever considered a human being worthy to care about?

With all that said, the battle that came next had been surprisingly tough on him. The four of them were on the verge of winning when the Black Dragon King decided to unleash his final life-saving move, injuring the first elder and killing the fourth Soul King he didn’t know.

Now injured, the three survivors weren’t able to prevent the Black Dragon King from escaping with his life.

What followed next was a game of cat and mouse between soul cultivator and soulbeast. As an expert of the game, the Black Dragon King went against all expectations by returning to the battlefield and hiding there by going into hibernation and concealing his aura completely.

News of the battle was spread to the many powerful individuals of the continent, many of them encouraged to enter the cla.s.s six area of the forest in search of the Black Dragon King. They all wanted to find and kill him–not only to eradicate the scourge of the continent and obtain its soulgem, but most importantly, ‘that’ object it possessed….

The priceless ‘thing’ that had been completely lost since a millenia ago, reappearing only when the Black Dragon King announced himself to the world!

No matter how hard they searched, however, no one was able to find the Black Dragon King, causing many of them to quit in the end.

Many had thought the Black Dragon King had already fled to some faraway corner of the empire, but there were a few that stayed behind in the forest to look for him, such as the Beast Taming School and the Two Winged Kings….

Injured by the Black Demon King, the first elder of the Beast Taming School went back first. The second and third elders were left to lead the search efforts. The fifth elder, Xing Yuan, was ordered to pay attention to the battlegrounds since there was a chance that the Black Dragon King would be around.

None of the elders thought what the first elder would be true, but they complied with his orders nonetheless.

It was true though!

The place that the Black Dragon King awakened was in the place the first elder said he’d be at!

If there was one thing Liang Xing was sure about, it was that the Black Dragon King wasn’t fully recovered yet. The first elder’s wounds were estimated to take at least ten years to heal. An ancient soulbeast like the Black Dragon King would surely take less time than ten years to heal from wounds of the same magnitude, but half a year was far too short to be right.

Either way, there were more than just two Soul Kings here….

Liang Xing’s words infuriated the Black Dragon King. Snarling, he thrusted both palms outwards to form claws with them both. Light as blue as the ocean swirled around into the s.p.a.ce in front of his palms before he swung his hands!

The blue lights were only big enough to cover the Black Dragon King’s fists, but when they extended forth from them, they extended forwards to grow hundreds of times bigger. They were absorbing the ambient elemental water in the area to grow even larger before shooting countless bolts of water to pepper the three men!

Fear gripped at Xing Yuan’s body as he watched the bolts of water approach. The second and third elders may be in front of him, but the attack was still enough for his body to tremble uncontrollably.

“Hmph!” Liang Xing snorted. His right palm came up to exude a large but dreadful amount of white frost. On the other side, Lin Hefan did the same with his own hand, but a green light came forth before a giant figure appeared in front of him.

“Cawww!!”

“Roarrr!!”

Two figures appeared into the area amidst an explosion of sound and light as white and green mixed together. Countless blades of wind were shot out at the same time, cutting apart any of the bolts of water coming at Lin Hefan while the bolts of water aimed at Liang Xing were inexplicably frozen in midair as if stuck!

Upon closer observation, they were indeed frozen–into ice that is!

In no time at all, the elemental water in the area had been overtaken by elemental ice!

By Lin Hefan’s side was a type of green lion the size of an elephant, and by Liang Xing’s side was a large avian with a wingspan of over a hundred meters!

“A mid-stage cla.s.s seven Wind Squaller!” Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but gasp under his breath. This rare soulbeast was of the very same species as the one Jing Mingfeng contracted with; and this one in particular was a cla.s.s seven to boot!

The other soulbeast drove the stake of shock even deeper in Bai Yunfei’s heart, “And that’s…a late-stage cla.s.s seven Glacial Roc!”

The Black Dragon King’s eyes narrowed slightly at the two, “The Glacial Roc King and the Wind Squaller King….you were made into soulbeast puppets by the humans I see. Rather than stay like this, you may as well let me devour you and save yourselves from the humiliation.”

These two soulbeasts were once the kings of their species, but not strong enough to be considered a part of the Eight Soulbeast Rulers. They were nonetheless very strong, so it was a shame to see them reduced to puppets of the Beast Taming School.

“Your soulbeasts weren’t enough to defeat me half a year ago, and yet you’re trying so again? So be it then,” The Black Dragon King cackled, “I helped the Ape King free half a year ago, so I’ll devour these two soulbeasts as well today!”

“You!!” The pejorativeness of the Black Dragon King’s words caused annoyance to flare up in Liang Xing’s head.

He had once a mid-stage cla.s.s seven fireclad ape, but that one had been killed and seemingly devoured by the Black Dragon King the last time they fought.

Lin Hefan had only one soulbeast out since his other cla.s.s seven soulbeast had perished as well, though his had perished not from the battle with the Black Dragon King but after it when he went searching for him.

There were plenty of cla.s.s seven soulbeasts that came looking for the Black Dragon King. With how large the cla.s.s six area was, it still wasn’t uncommon enough for the Beast Taming School to come across one of the cla.s.s seven soulbeasts.

With each meeting came a battle since every single soulbeast that held any iota of rationality within them hated the Beast Taming School.

“Stop your yapping and fight!” Liang Xing’s eyes flashed dangerously, his mouth saying something that only Lin Hefan could understand.

“You wish for our fight to end so soon?” The Black Dragon King cackled again, his hands again starting to s.h.i.+ne with blue light, “Then allow me to oblige!”

Strands of soulforce exploded into every direction before pulling back every single elemental energy in the area—

—Another battle of epic proportions was on the verge of breaking out!