Chapter 647: The Nightmarish Antagonists

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Thus, another massive spatial gate suddenly appeared in the southern region of the Divine Mirror World.

The second-generation Spirit-Engulfing Beasts began to swarm out from the spatial gate. They were no longer screaming warcries like “I want brains”. Instead, they were muttering the word “revenge” to themselves in quiet voices. Their auras were subdued like wandering spirits, but they were as alert as wild beasts. They slowly blended into the darkness and really did appear as if they were predatorial assassins biding their time in the shadows.

An Lin and Tina looked down at the second generation Spirit-Engulfing Beasts with satisfied expressions. Antagonists like these were definitely going to be a nightmare for the nine tribes!

Tina was only making modifications to the existing Spirit-Engulfing Beasts as opposed to creating them from scratch, so it expended a lot less energy, and she was still able to maintain the acceleration of the flow of time in the aftermath.

The first spatial gate had been sealed, and this event heralded the victory of the nine tribes against the alien invaders. All the tribes were in celebration, and this legendary war was recorded in the history books as an epic triumph for the ages.

However, the celebration didn’t last for long as a new threat soon descended upon them.

In the beginning, there were incidents where powerful beings hunting for mutant beasts in the forests mysteriously disappeared. Some traveling cultivators also began to disappear one by one, and in the end, these incidents were popping up with frightening regularity.

Finally, one of the most powerful beings in the Holy Martial Clan managed to shed light on the matter.

He had encountered an extremely powerful pitch-black creature on a riverbank. This creature had an extremely subdued aura, and both its speed and strength were monstrously fearsome. If it wasn’t for the fact that the powerful being had reached the Spirit Nurturing Pinnacle Stage, he would most likely have been assassinated by the creature.

After an intense battle, the Holy Martial Clan cultivator was able to subdue and ensnare the creatures before transporting it into the city. This creature was something they were extremely familiar with. This was a Spirit-Engulfing Beast!

The Spirit-Engulfing Beasts were back! This earth-shattering headline caused a massive stir among the nine tribes, and even the human race was made aware of this.

The Spirit-Engulfing Beasts were more powerful and smarter as well!

They wouldn’t just mindlessly attack highly intelligent lifeforms anymore. Instead, they chose to bide their time by hiding in the forests, hiding at the bottom of the oceans, and even hiding amid the clouds and mist in the sky before striking at the right time.

The nine tribes were immediately gripped by an overwhelming sense of peril.

As expected, fear became the most potent stimulant as their battle intents and vitality were reignited. In order to stamp out these accursed monsters once and for all, all of them united together in small battalions.

A series of battles began to erupt on the outskirts of the territories of the nine tribes.

“Roar!” A Spirit-Engulfing Beast in the form of a tiger suddenly pounced from a tree down toward a Spirit Snake cultivator.

“Be careful!” a man yelled as he extended his palms toward the tiger, and plumes of scorching flames shot forth.

The tiger Spirit-Engulfing Beast suddenly spread open a pair of wings on its back to change direction in mid-air, thereby allowing it to evade the man’s flame attack. At this moment, the other four Snake Spirit Clan cultivators also began hurling spell techniques up at the flying tiger.

A light breeze blew past and leaves rustled as a twisted, black creature began to appear in the forest.

This was a six-tailed fox, and it slowly approached the small group of cultivators as the flying tiger distracted them. Its six tails suddenly extended like sharp spears before puncturing the chests of the five Snake Spirit Clan cultivators!

In the night, a vermilion bird with flames burning around its body settled onto a tree after a long flight. The flames around its body were only slightly warm, so the tree was in no danger of catching on fire.

Just as it was about to close its eyes and take a quick nap, a black python suddenly shot forth from the darkness like a cannonball before opening its massive mouth.

A disdainful smile appeared on the vermilion bird’s face as it abruptly spread its wings and flew up into the sky to evade the python’s attack.

So what if the Spirit-Engulfing Beasts were powerful? It could fly, so it always had time to evade their attacks before picking them off one by one. That was what it was thinking right before its chest was punctured from behind.

A sense of impending doom engulfed its entire body as the vermilion bird detected an extremely fearsome aura. This was a Spirit-Engulfing Beast in the form of a fish with wings on its back. A spear-like protrusion extended from its body, which it had used to puncture the chest of the vermilion bird, and it sucked away the bird’s life force.

Perhaps it was because the first generation Spirit-Engulfing Beasts were far too stupid, but the nine tribes didn’t actually take this situation very seriously. Most of them were under the impression that this was just a branch of the Spirit-Engulfing Beasts that had survived the worldwide cull and needed to be mopped up.

However, they soon began to discover that these Spirit-Engulfing Beasts were much more fearsome than they had imagined.

The teams sent out to exterminate them reported losses far more than victories, and most teams without a Spirit Nurturing Stage powerful being as its leader were almost inevitably subjected to the fate of complete annihilation. After a while, all the extermination teams were recalled as everyone banded together and sought refuge in numbers.

There was no lack of rash individuals who returned to their cities in the hope of becoming heroes by singlehandedly exterminating the monsters within the area. However, with the exception of some extremely lucky individuals or powerful beings who were able to fend for themselves, all of them learned a lesson by paying with their lives.

The brutal battles against the Spirit-Engulfing Beasts showed the nine tribes time and time again that they weren’t powerful enough to be the supreme, undisputed rulers of this world yet. In order to continue to survive, they needed to become more powerful!

The war between the nine tribes and the Spirit-Engulfing Beasts continued to rage, but all the battles were being waged by the cream of the crop. Weak cultivators had no right to battle as they would only provide free sustenance and power-enhancement meals to the Spirit-Engulfing Beasts.

The nine tribes began to slowly and carefully expand their territories again before constructing high walls.

“There’s going to be an important event taking place soon,” Tina suddenly said.

An Lin stirred slightly as anticipation welled up in his heart.

On a certain day, a powerful team of True Demon Tribe cultivators had been surrounded by several dozen Spirit-Engulfing Beasts. These Spirit-Engulfing Beasts circled the skies above and surrounded them on the land below. Five Spirit Nurturing Stage true demons unleashed defensive spell formation to keep them at bay, but they weren’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.

“Get out of here, team leader! We’ll carve out an avenue of escape for you, even if it means giving up our lives.” A determined expression appeared on a true demon’s face.

However, their team leader didn’t reply as the black-mist domain around his body transformed into black dragons before entangling themselves around the defensive spell formation to bolster its durability.

The team leader suddenly sat down on the ground and began to meditate as wind and clouds surged overhead.

Dark clouds suddenly appeared overhead in an area of three kilometers in diameter as vital energy surged violently.

What was going on? All the team members were shocked.

“Could it be, team leader…” One of the team members turned to their team leader with an incredulous expression.

All of them drew a sharp intake of breath. Was their team leader about to take that step that no one had ever taken before?

Even An Lin was starting to get quite excited as he surveyed the scenes unfolding on the ground below. “This is… tribulation transcendence? Is this world going to welcome its first Soul Formation Stage cultivator?!”

A smile appeared on Tina’s face. “Tribulation transcendence essentially means that a being has transcended beyond what is acceptable by the world they live in, and thus, divine punishment is delivered in the form of tribulation. However, transcending a tribulation means that one had taken the first step in defying the natural order on the path to immortality! His transcendence will surely create a precedent for many more to come!”

An Lin nodded as he stared down at the male true demon.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning struck the true demon, making his body tremble violently.

None of the team members had ever seen tribulation lightning before, and they immediately began to hurl abuse as they looked up into the sky. “Come out, foul beast! A coward that only knows how to strike at our team leader from the shadows needs to be taught a lesson!”

An Lin: “…”