Divine Beast Creator

Deep Layer of the Qi Realm, Feng Yuan and his companions gathered around the broken stele, examining it. The text engraved on the broken stele reminded everyone of Feng Yuan. However, neither Feng Yuan nor Veronia felt any impact or change brought by the broken stele. Perhaps it hadn’t launched an attack yet?

"This thing is quite odd. It looks like the carrier of a curse, yet it hasn’t activated the curse. Or is there some condition required to activate it?"

Feng Yuan rubbed his chin, unable to understand what was going on, while Veronia glanced around, saying

"Maybe there are more of our tombstones nearby. Speaking of which, this thing seems to be some kind of unknown curse technique."

"It certainly does, but we can’t be sure just yet. Let’s take a look around again."

Sighing, Feng Yuan recalled how difficult it was to approach this thing before, and now they had to search the area for similar broken steles—a troublesome endeavor indeed.

"A cursed stele, such a peculiar method of attack."

With a light chuckle, Veronia left with Feng Yuan, but before departing, she glanced back at the broken stele, which remained quietly half-buried in the black soil. No grass grew around it, as if the curse had killed the surrounding land.

After making a round, unsurprisingly, they found nearly everyone’s broken stele, from Qi Chen and others to Xiao Ji and its companions. War Qichen glanced at Feng Yuan and said

"Have we thoroughly explored this place?"

"Yeah, all the broken steles are here, but that thing is protected by the world’s barrier, making it difficult to destroy. Otherwise, I’d really want to get rid of such ominous stuff."

With a shrug, Feng Yuan said disdainfully. War Qichen glanced at Feng Yuan, remained silent for a moment, and then said

"No, these broken steles are lacking."

"Are they? Ours, Xiao Ji’s, they’re all here, right?"

Confusedly observing War Qichen, Feng Yuan couldn’t recall who might be missing. Veronia, on the other hand, seemed to think of something and asked War Qichen

"Don’t you have more than two Spirit Beasts?"

"Yes, excluding the Spirit Beasts, I have four companions following me, yet only two steles appeared here..."

War Qichen looked meaningfully at Feng Yuan without further explanation. Dou Yanlan, deep in thought, realized that the origin of the broken steles might be questionable. Perhaps, the matter was not as simple or complex as it appeared.

"Did not all your Spirit Beasts appear? I see. Unfortunately for us, we don’t have any useful clues here. What of these twisted tree demons? They’re utterly meaningless."

Understanding something, Feng Yuan chuckled and shrugged, while Veronia looked at Feng Yuan and asked

"Are you planning to continue forward?"

"Otherwise? The Qi Realm is quite a suspicious place. Although theoretically, there shouldn’t be any civilization here, excluding strategy factors, don’t you think the Qi Realm fits the trait of the mastermind better?"

Nodding slightly, Feng Yuan replied to Veronia, while Qi Chen asked in confusion

"Do you mean it’s the Qi Realm attacking us?"

"Not necessarily. I can only feel that the answer is more likely deep in the Qi Realm. After all, she has no reason to deceive us. If this world doesn’t even know of our own, how could they plan actions against our world?"

With a shrug, Feng Yuan said helplessly, suggesting the Qi Realm was most likely the mastermind but wasn’t entirely sure.

"Why would the Qi Realm act against Ah Chen? It’s not because Qi Chen of this world died here, is it?"

Dou Yanlan asked Feng Yuan in confusion. The latter’s words were indeed correct, but she felt something was amiss, questioning why such events occurred even if they were related to the Qi Realm. Couldn’t be because of some inexplicable reason, right?

"Not sure. It’s possible, but it doesn’t quite seem that way."

Shaking his head slightly, Feng Yuan acknowledged that he was clueless about how to explain the Qi Realm’s motives, which were truly unpredictable.

Veronia chuckled lightly and said

"In that case, let’s proceed further into the deep layer~"

Transforming back into her Crystal Queen form, Veronia attempted to open the way using previous methods. However, this time, the world’s barrier appeared again.

"How can this be? Is it not allowed to destroy multiple areas simultaneously?"

Qi Chen looked in surprise at the world’s barrier blocking Veronia’s attack; despite merely attacking multiple areas, the barrier had been triggered once more. They all could guess what happened without needing further attempts.

"Stricter restrictions, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s see what those drawn creatures are exactly."

After pondering for a moment, Feng Yuan looked at Veronia, who snorted lightly and attacked again. Yet this time, the attack was limited to the surroundings, and the world’s barrier didn’t appear. With space shattering, the environment became utterly distorted.

The bloody sky turned colorful, with various filthy colors smeared across the night sky. Even the stars transformed into twisted, fleshy objects, and trees morphed into bizarre entities, while the ground beneath also changed appearances.

"This thing, slimy and slick, what exactly is it?"

Raising his foot to inspect the sticky substance on his shoe sole, Feng Yuan frowned and looked at Xiao Ji, who had already spread its wings and ascended, while the Fluffy Fire Wolfhound looked pitifully at Feng Yuan.

"Who knows, this thing genuinely resembles some sort of Flesh Hell."

With a light snort and a wave of her small hand, Veronia summoned the Crystal Platform. The Fluffy Fire Wolfhound instantly leaped onto it, and Feng Yuan chuckled, unfazed, having braved even harsher environments than this—no big deal.

"Qi Chen, you all better be careful; there seem to be quite a few vicious beings here."

Wielding the Black Scythe in a sweep, Feng Yuan said with a smile. Having sensed the incoming threat, he snorted, as Veronia summoned the Crystalline Giant.

"I don’t plan to bother with these guys."

"Then let’s see who acts faster."

With that, Feng Yuan swung the scythe and charged out. In the bloodied forest, creatures similar to Spirit Beasts appeared, or rather, these Spirit Beasts resembled the One-leaf Fox they encountered in the Department Store, but with differing attributes and ultimate moves.

"Undying nature? Sure, fighting on home ground—it wouldn’t be without this feature."

Seeing the special Spirit Beasts emerge, Feng Yuan paused momentarily but didn’t mind. How was it a problem even if they had an undying nature? He could handle it.

Black shadows solidified into an indestructible cage, tightly entrapping the Spirit Beasts attacking Feng Yuan. Similarly, Veronia used entrapment techniques to restrain their attacks.

Just as Feng Yuan was about to turn and boast to Qi Chen and the others, a sudden blade light flashed, breaking Feng Yuan’s shadow and revealing his figure. Feng Yuan stood near Qi Chen and others, looking coldly at the figure wielding the long-handled scythe and said

"Seems this thing is quite special."

Raising his left hand to his chest and waving it outward, the Ancient Black Book appeared, pages slowly turning as golden text emerged. Pseudo-Feng Yuan didn’t mimic the same action but charged with the scythe. Behind him, a black-robed shadow converged, and a Divine Beast Phantom roared into the sky, Eclipse emitting an angry cry.

The shadow of Eclipse appeared behind Pseudo-Feng Yuan, enraging Eclipse with its presence. Despite joining the battle, Pseudo-Feng Yuan’s undying nature made Eclipse hesitant, unable to fully strike due to potential backlash linking with Feng Yuan.

Eclipse’s intervention gave Feng Yuan time, as he quietly chanted a spell. Golden text instantly formed strips rushing toward Pseudo-Feng Yuan, creating a golden halo behind his head, like a luminous wheel emerging from it.

Qi Chen and his companions didn’t comprehend Feng Yuan’s actions, seemingly assisting the opponent in gaining strength, as none of their known attack methods exhibited such characteristics.

Holding the Black Scythe and motioning it in the air, Feng Yuan continually chanted spells. Shortly, the world paused for a frame, and within that second, Pseudo-Feng Yuan abruptly vanished from this world entirely.

Eclipse glanced at Feng Yuan in surprise, aware of his actions but bewildered at his indifference to potential links.

With a snort, Feng Yuan noticed the backlash coming his way and realized his guess was correct—these entities had some form of mutual existence akin to twin life forms!