S1

The thousand armed Ant Emperor, Treasure Emergence, Xiao Wu Appears

The next day.

At dawn.

As the sun's first light rose, morning rays filtered through the gaps, spreading throughout the Star Dou Great Forest.

Su Yun was sitting on the ground, absorbing the purple qi from the east. Around him, the Blue Silver Emperor grew rhythmically with his breath, integrating the surrounding weeds.

The ocean-like Blue Silver Emperor trees made the spirit power around Su Yun seem full of vigorous life, even attracting many weak spirit beasts.

Such a scene, though seen every day, still amazes Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan.

"Truly worthy of the Blue Silver Emperor spirit that can only evolve after reaching a hundred thousand years."

Yue Guan stood by, marvelling silently, "Fortunately, this Blue Silver Emperor spirit was not inherited by Tang Hao's son."

"Otherwise, with the Blue Silver Emperor spirit and the Haotian Hammer, coupled with the full support of the Haotian Sect."

"In years to come, our Spirit Hall would have had one more formidable enemy!"

As Yue Guan was contemplating, Su Yun awoke from his daily morning cultivation.

"Let's go, Grandpa Jue. We've already covered a large area yesterday, and there's not much left."

Su Yun spoke softly, "Perhaps today we will find the spirit ring I need."

The day before, under the guidance of Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, Su Yun had unobstructed access to the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Thanks to Yue Guan's Title Douluo level pressure, Su Yun found quite a few ghost vines.

However, their ages were too low, and the quality of the ghost vines themselves was not high.

Therefore, what Su Yun was looking for had to be at least at the level of the Ghost King Vine, a plant-type spirit beast.

Moreover, it had to be a Ghost King Vine that had just crossed the ten-thousand-year mark.

If its age exceeded the range Su Yun's body could withstand, he wouldn't be able to absorb it.

Another hour passed, and Su Yun and Chrysanthemum Douluo still hadn't found a suitable Ghost King Vine.

"Su Yun, we're deep enough now. If we go any further, we'll be entering the centre of the Star Dou Great Forest, a place not even I would dare to venture into alone."

"Let's search this area. If we still can't find a suitable spirit ring for you, we'll head back. The continent has more places than just the Star Dou Great Forest where spirit beasts dwell."

Yue Guan looked into the depths of the dark forest with a hint of wariness in his heart.

He vaguely remembered encountering a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast that could speak human language when he intercepted Tang Hao.

The Titan Giant Ape!

Even now, thinking about it sent a chill down Chrysanthemum Douluo's spine.

Su Yun knew Yue Guan was also afraid of the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Blue Bull Python deep in the forest.

After all, Yue Guan couldn't handle either of them in a solo fight.

"Okay, Grandpa Jue." Su Yun nodded and immediately began searching nearby for traces of the Ghost King Vine.

While Su Yun and Chrysanthemum Douluo were searching in the area, a small group of ants hidden deep in the forest was watching their figures, then ran in another direction.

...

"Big brother, humans have invaded our territory, and it seems there's a Title Douluo level human soul master among them."

In a feng shui treasure land, one of the thousand armed Ant Emperor brothers, the youngest, reported to his eldest brother after receiving information from a worker ant.

Although the thousand armed Ant Emperor brothers hadn't reached the level of hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts, they had developed intelligence and would strategize before taking over other spirit beasts' territories.

They were usually successful.

However, a few years ago, they encountered a setback.

As the brothers became ninety-thousand-year spirit beasts, their ambition grew. They set their sights on the territory of the Sky Blue Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.

The small lake in the middle of the Star Dou Great Forest.

This place, with its abundant spiritual energy, was considered the best place for cultivation in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Unfortunately, they failed.

Once they entered the territory of the Sky Blue Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, a human girl discovered them.

No, it should be said, a human transformed from a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast.

They were about to kill her to keep their presence a secret but were ambushed by the Sky Blue Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, who had been lying in wait.

In the end, they barely escaped the area thanks to their strong bodies and decent flying abilities.

They've been recovering from their injuries until today.

Although their injuries had mostly healed, the thousand armed Ant Emperor brothers no longer dared to provoke the Sky Blue Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape. They could only move within the vicinity of their territory.

"A Title Douluo?!"

The second brother of the thousand armed Ant Emperor trio was startled and quickly asked, "How many humans have come?"

The youngest brother replied, "According to the scouts, there seem to be only two people. One is at the Title Douluo level, and the other has just entered the level of forty spirit power."

The second brother let out a sigh of relief, "That's not too bad. If the other person had spirit power reaching level ninety, it would mean they're likely targeting us."

The thousand armed Ant Emperor brothers were not only well-known within the spirit beast community but had also killed numerous human soul masters.

However, they often stuck together as a trio, and unless faced with a Title Douluo, even a group of Soul Douluos would struggle to defeat them.

"Do we need to drive them away?" the youngest brother asked.

"There's no need."

The eldest of the thousand armed Ant Emperor finally spoke up, slowly saying, "We don't need to make an enemy out of a Title Douluo."

"Moreover, the injuries inflicted on me by those two fools last time haven't fully healed yet."

"If we were to fight with that Title Douluo, let's not even discuss whether we could kill him in one go."

"If it were to draw the attention of the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Blue Bull Python, they might take advantage of our conflict to kill us and take over our territory."

The eldest brother's analysis made the other two decide not to confront Chrysanthemum Douluo head-on.

They could just let him kill a few spirit beasts in their territory, as long as they don't attack them directly.

"By the way, did you find any healing treasures in our territory recently, as I asked?" the eldest brother of the thousand armed Ant Emperor inquired again.

Among the brothers, the eldest had suffered the most severe injuries and was the slowest to recover.

Therefore, he was eager to regain his strength to prevent their territory from being taken over by other spirit beasts in the area.

The youngest brother immediately replied, "We found one."

"Our scouts found a Lake Heart Green Lotus, which is most suitable for your healing."

"However, it's located within the territory of the Ghost Vine clan, which is easy to defend but hard to attack. Our worker ants alone cannot breach it."

"What about the other ten-thousand-year spirit beasts?" the second brother asked.

Hearing this question, the youngest brother showed a fierce expression, "Hmph! Don't even mention those creatures. Ever since we brothers were defeated by the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Blue Bull Python a few years ago, those under our command have barely taken our orders seriously."

The world of soul masters is a place where the strong prey on the weak, and the same goes for the world of spirit beasts.

Initially, the thousand armed Ant Emperor brothers had many ten-thousand-year spirit beasts under their command to guard various areas of their territory and would not dare to disobey their orders.

They might have thought that the thousand armed Ant Emperor brothers could truly challenge the dominion of the Titan Giant Ape in the Star Dou Great Forest.

However, after the brothers' defeat, those who followed them scattered like birds and beasts, leaving only some spirit beasts just over ten-thousand years old, who dared not flee and continued to stay put.

The eldest brother's expression also became solemn, "As I thought, it's better to rely on ourselves."

"Initially, the three of us brothers were too trusting of that Ant Queen, almost leading to our demise."

"If it weren't for other brothers tipping us off, we wouldn't have survived."

"Second brother, third brother, please go and retrieve that Lake Heart Green Lotus for me."

"Remember, don't make too much noise to avoid attracting attention from that incoming Title Douluo and the Titan Giant Ape deep in the forest."

The two brothers nodded, "Don't worry, big brother. We'll be back soon."

Following their eldest brother's orders, the two thousand armed Ant Emperors turned and flew towards the location of the Ghost Vine clan.

With the speed of these two thousand armed Ant Emperors, it naturally took less than half an hour to reach the territory of the Ghost Vine clan.

Upon the appearance of the two ninety-thousand-year thousand armed Ant Emperors, hundreds of ghost vines instantly writhed like serpents, twisting their bodies while transmitting information towards the back.

In addition to being the territory of the Ghost Vine clan, this area also hosted other spirit beasts, making it a joint territory.

Although the thousand armed Ant Emperor was a ninety-thousand-year spirit beast, there were also spirit beasts of eighty-thousand years within these groups.

The atmosphere in the area immediately became tense.

...

"Su Yun, there seems to be a strong fluctuation of spirit power coming from the west." Yue Guan, who had been searching for spirit beasts, suddenly frowned and looked towards the distance.

Even from afar, his level ninety-six spirit power, now greatly improved, allowed him to sense disturbances that he couldn't before.

"Grandpa Jue, do you want to check it out?" Su Yun looked towards Chrysanthemum Douluo, also glancing in the direction of the disturbance.

Yue Guan's gaze became more focused, and after pondering for a moment, he shook his head slightly, "There's something off about that aura. It's better not to get involved if we can avoid it."

He turned to Su Yun, "If Old Ghost were here, the two of us could move freely. Unfortunately, it's just me today."

"If anything happened to you here, the Pope would definitely not spare me."

Su Yun felt apprehensive about the fluctuation of spirit power in the distance as well.

It was a pity that his Blue Silver Domain's range was still too small to cover a large area.

Otherwise, he could have attempted to detect what exactly was happening there.

Chrysanthemum Douluo, not wanting to get involved in trouble, was about to leave with Su Yun.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot up into the sky from the direction of the spirit power fluctuation, illuminating the area with a bright, azure energy column that seemed capable of piercing the heavens, radiating endless energy.

"Is this... the emergence of a treasure?!" Upon seeing the azure column of light, Yue Guan, who had intended to leave, abruptly stopped.

A treasure capable of causing such a spectacle was definitely not ordinary.

"Su Yun..." Chrysanthemum Douluo turned to Su Yun, about to speak, but was met with Su Yun's smiling face.

Yue Guan intended to ask Su Yun to wait here while he checked out the situation.

However, seeing Su Yun's expression, he realised that even if he asked Su Yun to stay, the latter likely wouldn't comply.

"Sigh... Alright, kid, stay close to me. If anything goes wrong, we leave immediately," Chrysanthemum Douluo instructed.

Su Yun, getting the response he wanted, smiled and said, "I'll follow your lead, Grandpa Jue."

With that, the two headed towards the beacon-like azure column of light.

Along the way, Su Yun and Yue Guan noticed that many ten-thousand-year spirit beasts, like them, were also heading towards the location of the azure light column.

"It seems these spirit beasts are also attracted by the energy emanating from the light column."

Chrysanthemum Douluo, with Su Yun in tow, discreetly concealed their presence. He had noticed at least a dozen ten-thousand-year spirit beasts passing by them.

"The treasure causing this light column might be on par with immortal herbs!" Su Yun thought, focusing on the azure light column above.

...

In the centre of the Star Dou Great Forest, by a lake.

A girl in a white dress with long hair flowing down to her waist was sitting by the lakeside, in a state of cultivation.

However, the sudden appearance of an azure light column immediately caught her attention.

At the same time, the ground beneath her and the lake in front of her also began to tremble.

Boom!

A Titan Giant Ape, as massive as a mountain, burst out from the forest and landed in front of the girl.

It was covered in black fur, with milky white breath visible from its nostrils, and the strong spirit power radiating from its body attested to its formidable strength.

Splash!

A gigantic bull's head, over four metres in diameter, slowly emerged from the lake surface, followed by its serpent-like body covered in chilling green scales that reflected a sinister green light.

These two spirit beasts were the undisputed rulers of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Titan Giant Ape.

The Sky Blue Bull Python.

"Xiao Wu, that location seems to be the territory of the Ghost Vine clan and other spirit beast tribes," the Sky Blue Bull Python said, its lantern-like eyes fixed on the azure light column, speaking human language.

The girl in the white dress was Xiao Wu, who had been rescued by the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Blue Bull Python from Yue Guan and Tang Hao.

"Er Ming, go and see what's happening."

Xiao Wu looked at the light column and said lightly, "If anything unusual happens, send a signal to call Da Ming."

Now, Xiao Wu, despite being a human and not having a high level of spirit power, was almost considered a queen among the spirit beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest.

This was because she had two hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts by her side.

Xiao Wu and her companions mainly dealt with disputes between spirit beast tribes.

Sensing that the emergence of the azure light column would lead to a significant event, she decided to send the Titan Giant Ape to take charge.

The Titan Giant Ape, naturally not opposing Xiao Wu's command, saw her orders as absolute.

Thus, with a nod, it headed towards the territory of the Ghost Vine clan, causing the ground to tremble once more.