"Good!" Lu Qianqiu shouted. "I believe you! Today, I entrust them to you. I hope you won’t disappoint me!"
ROAR!
Thousands of beast souls let out a wild roar simultaneously. They rapidly transformed, shifting one by one into human forms. These beast souls arranged themselves by their cultivation levels from highest to lowest. Led by ten imposing leaders whose auras surged to the heavens—almost reaching the Emperor Martial Realm Late Stage—they dropped to one knee before Shen Lang in perfect unison. They bowed their heads in absolute submission!
At that moment, the grand hall—which previously only echoed with Ren Xudong’s agonizing screams—suddenly churned with surging winds and incessant beastly roars.
"What’s going on? What did that kid do? Why did this happen?" Dong Chengyue’s expression fluctuated. She stared at Shen Lang, who still had his eyes closed.
Qin Mengxue remained silent, but her gaze grew even sharper.
Beside Shen Lang, Monk Bu Se wiped away cold sweat while incessantly muttering "Amitabha," praying they could leave this grand hall as soon as possible.
Within the stone pillar space, Lu Qianqiu suddenly flicked his finger. A drop of golden liquid and a few bizarre fragments flew toward Shen Lang. "The circle in your hand for housing beast souls isn’t bad, but it can’t withstand so many powerful beast souls. I’ll lend you a hand. I will use a drop of my blood to stabilize this item, allowing it to serve as their temporary sanctuary."
The moment Lu Qianqiu finished speaking, the golden blood bypassed Shen Lang and entered the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle. BOOM! It exploded, scattering into thousands of golden motes of light that rippled outward. The beast souls within the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle prostrated on the ground one after another, completely unable to lift their heads before this Dragon Mighty.
Lu Qianqiu’s lips moved rapidly as he chanted a Spell. His hands left trails of afterimages in the air as he began to stabilize the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle for Shen Lang.
Meanwhile, Shen Lang caught the bizarre object that had flown over alongside the drop of blood. He looked down. The item was enormous, resembling the claw of some giant beast—razor-sharp and seemingly indestructible.
"A Dragon Claw!"
Shen Lang merely sensed the aura emanating from the claw, and his pupils violently shrank!
"This is the outer shell of a claw I shed during my advancement three thousand years ago. After you leave the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, find an Artifact Refining Master to reforge this circle and incorporate this shell. Not only will it elevate the circle by several grades, but the Dragon Mighty within it will also be able to suppress any beast soul.
"However, this item is primarily for you to stabilize the circle, not to suppress beast souls. Make good use of it."
Looking somewhat exhausted, Lu Qianqiu stopped his hand movements. He spoke slowly, "Everyone, go on over. Believe me, he will bring you a different future."
He took a deep look at the beast souls, most of which had already assumed human forms. Before they could speak, his silhouette suddenly dissolved into a cloud of smoke and vanished without a trace.
"Lord..." All the beast souls stared quietly at the spot where Lu Qianqiu had disappeared, maintaining their silence.
...
Twenty minutes had passed by the time Shen Lang opened his eyes.
He took down the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle, gently stroking the small ring to sense its changes. The power of this Ten Thousand Beasts Circle, which he had rarely used before, likely surpassed that of the Death God Nail now. Having absorbed a drop of Dragon Blood and gathered a massive horde of Emperor Martial Realm beast souls, smashing this circle out would unleash far more than just a stampede of ten thousand beasts! Describing its impact as earth-shattering wouldn’t be an exaggeration in the slightest!
Having such a tyrannical Exotic Treasure provided an extra layer of security in this extremely perilous Dragon Scale Divine Hall.
"Mr. Shen, are we leaving soon?" Monk Bu Se finally couldn’t hold back his question.
An hour was already too little. Now, over twenty minutes had passed. Adding the time wasted dealing with Ren Xudong earlier... they didn’t even have half an hour left. How could Monk Bu Se not be burning with anxiety?
"Are you worried about them?" Shen Lang pointed at Dong Chengyue’s group.
Monk Bu Se was about to faint. How could he not worry? Shen Lang had offended every single one of them. If they didn’t leave now, the moment the seal was removed and all four Emperor Martial Realm experts broke free, it would be their death sentence! Shen Lang knew exactly what he was worried about, yet he was still acting so lackadaisical!
"Oh, don’t worry about that," Shen Lang said leisurely. "They can’t do anything to me."
A fierce gleam flashed through the eyes of Dong Chengyue, Qin Mengxue, and the others. Shen Lang’s words undoubtedly provoked them even further. Especially with several subordinates present, such remarks felt like an outright provocation and an insult to these Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses!
Monk Bu Se truly felt dizzy. "Whatever the case, Mr. Shen, let’s just hurry up and go. My little heart can barely take this anymore..."
"No rush, no rush." Shen Lang waved his hand with feigned nonchalance.
However, the moment he waved his hand, he bolted toward the exit like a startled rabbit!
Monk Bu Se froze. It took him a good moment to react, quickly circulating his Power to chase after Shen Lang at top speed. Dong Chengyue and her group watched his back disappear into the exit, gritting their teeth in fury.
Just then, Qin Mengxue suddenly spoke with a puzzled tone, "This is weird. It feels like some kind of change occurred in this Twelve All Heaven Beast Array, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is."
"Huh, you feel that too?" Dong Chengyue paused in surprise. "Does it feel like something is missing? Like the grand hall has become completely empty?"
Qin Mengxue nodded. "Exactly... What the hell did that guy do? Look! The Fierce Beast carvings on the stone pillars seem to have faded. They’ve completely lost their Spiritual Qi!"
"My God!" Dong Chengyue exclaimed. "Was he scheming against those beast souls earlier? How is that possible? There’s a massive horde of Emperor Martial Realm beast souls in there! At least a dozen of them are stronger than us, and the overall numbers are simply uncountable!"
The others inside the light barrier stared blankly, their faces thoroughly dumbfounded.
If this Ghost-faced Person hadn’t been targeting those powerful beast souls, what was the point of him messing around on top of that stone pillar? Did he just have too much time on his hands? If he hadn’t targeted those beast souls, how could they explain the current changes?
But if he really had targeted those beast souls...
The very name, "Twelve All Heaven Beast Array," implied it housed countless beast souls. Before all of those incomparably powerful beast souls had even emerged earlier, they had already forced the four Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses into a bitter struggle, making it impossible for them to move a single inch!
Yet this Ghost-faced Person had merely pulled out a small blood-red circle, put on a mystical act for a short while, and managed to take away or suppress all those beast souls? Even a Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm powerhouse likely couldn’t accomplish such a feat. In the mere half hour he spent inside the Twelve All Heaven Beast Array, Shen Lang had completely overawed these experts from the Demon God Hall.
"Hmph!"
A light scoff rang out. Zheng Tianfeng, who rarely spoke, said coldly, "Instead of marveling at the methods of that kid wearing the Evil Ghost Mask right now, we’d be better off figuring out how to break this seal!
"Do you two really want to be trapped here until we die?"
Zheng Tianfeng’s words were incredibly blunt, eliciting a flash of anger in the eyes of Dong Chengyue and Qin Mengxue. However, he pointed out the crux of the matter, leaving the two women unable to refute him.
"Oh! Listen to yourself, as if you have a solution, Zheng Tianfeng!" Dong Chengyue retorted sharply. "If Ren Xudong hadn’t coveted his Cultivation Technique from the very beginning and spoken so rudely, none of this would have happened! Yet you have the nerve to speak to us like this? If you’re so capable, why don’t you come up with a plan right now?"
...
While Dong Chengyue’s group fumed with shock and rage, Shen Lang and Monk Bu Se had already exited the Twelve All Heaven Beast Array and were sprinting upward as fast as their legs could carry them. Shen Lang wasn’t running so fast because he feared Dong Chengyue’s group. He was pressed for time and needed to lead Yuan Bupu and the others to sweep the Spirit Herb and Spirit Fruit across the areas from the second floor to the Third Floor.
The Dragon Scale Divine Hall had a total of five floors. The Life and Death Gate Lu Qianqiu mentioned was located on the Fifth Floor.
Now that Lu Qianqiu knew Shen Lang possessed the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron and was the key figure to undo the Dragon Race’s seal, his attitude had drastically changed compared to before. Not only did he point out all the remaining herb gardens within the Yumu Cave Blessed Land to Shen Lang and help him undo the various restrictions, but he also informed him of all the locations that were once occupied by the Abyss Lord and currently guarded by the Abyss Lord’s subordinates. This infuriated the Abyss Lord so much that he nearly lost control several times.
Everywhere this "Locust Quintet" passed, chaos ensued, and every single Spirit Herb and Spirit Fruit was swept completely clean.
Unbeknownst to Shen Lang, just as he had left the Twelve All Heaven Beast Array...
Someone who shouldn’t have been there appeared at the very bottom of the first floor platform in the Dragon Scale Divine Hall. Right below the staircase that Shen Lang, Yin Tianchou, and the others had climbed, Shen Jianfeng peeked out cautiously.
Shen Jianfeng muttered incessantly to himself, chuckling as he paced in circles at the bottom of the stairs. "King Martial Realm experts are such freaks. My cousin runs faster on two legs than a Fiery Demon Wolf does on four! I’ve been chasing him for days and still haven’t caught up. This young master is exhausted...
"Everyone says this Dragon Scale Divine Hall is incredibly dangerous, but why haven’t I noticed? I’ve made it all the way here and haven’t encountered a single Demon Beast.
"That’s right! It seems those Demon Beasts and monsters were all scared off by my tyrannical aura..."
But no matter how much he paced, he simply didn’t dare to take a single step onto those stairs.
"Jianfeng, are you scared?" Shui Ningxin’s voice echoed from within Shen Jianfeng’s body.
Looking at the massive craters dotting the stairs above, Shen Jianfeng took a deep breath. "As an honest man, I’m definitely gonna tell you I’m scared. Saying otherwise would be a total lie...
"Other than a freak like my cousin, who wouldn’t be terrified seeing all those giant craters ahead, feeling the chaotic Spiritual Qi, and knowing there are dense restrictions everywhere?"
Shui Ningxin said softly, "Jianfeng, you’ve already helped me out tremendously. We’ve finally reached the Dragon Scale Divine Hall. Why don’t you head back? I can go up alone."
Shen Jianfeng shook his head. "You don’t understand what I mean... For a lot of things, whether you should do them or not has absolutely nothing to do with being scared.
"Even if the place you wanted to visit wasn’t the Dragon Scale Divine Hall, the Third Prince’s power still terrifies me. But didn’t I come anyway?
"Just give me a few minutes to overcome this fear. I just need it to fade a little bit. Just a tiny bit is enough.
"Uh, close your eyes first. I gotta take a leak... Turns out when you’re terrified deep down, you really do get the urge to pee..."