Chapter 57: Rare Beast – Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon, Growing Twelve Sword Feathers

Li Zhexian pressed closely against the spine of the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger, swept away into the distance by the surging torrent of soul beasts.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lengleng chased after him like madwomen.

However.

The speed of these soul beasts, whose cultivation levels were at least several millennia, was far too fast—something entirely beyond human capability.

They could only watch helplessly as the herd of soul beasts dissolved into a cloud of dust deep within the boundless forest.

Ultimately vanishing completely.

The complexions of the two young women instantly turned deathly pale.

Yu Feng and the other three caught up, panting heavily, their voices laden with panic.

"What on earth has happened?"

"How could the soul beasts in this region experience such an abnormal upheaval?!"

Feng Xiao swept forward with the disciples of the Wind Sword Sect, his expression grave as he said:

"Unless the legendary King of the Forest is commanding the beasts."

"Then only one possibility remains..."

His aged eyes swept across the still-agitated dense forest.

"A supreme heavenly treasure has manifested in this forest, driving these soul beasts into a frenzy."

Feng Buyu forcefully suppressed his unsightly expression and said in a deep voice:

"Brother Zhexian is blessed with natural good fortune and will surely be safe and sound."

"We shall immediately..."

Before his voice could fade.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lengleng had already transformed into two streaks of light, speeding away in the direction where the soul beasts had vanished.

Upon seeing this, Yu Feng, Oscar, and the Shi brothers did not dare to hesitate in the slightest and quickly followed.

On the back of the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger.

The crimson fur felt like steel needles, pricking Li Zhexian's skin and causing him a sharp pain.

The violent jolting further turned his internal organs upside down, making him nearly vomit.

He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, not daring to relax his hold in the least.

The surroundings were entirely filled with soul beasts of several millennia or even ten-thousand-year levels, and the fishy, violent aura condensed almost into substance, tightly enveloping him.

Taking advantage of the demonic tiger's focus on its frantic dash, leaving it no time to mind anything else.

Li Zhexian endured the dizziness and quickly swallowed a Turtle-Breathing Herb, lowering his own presence.

Every single minute and second stretched out like a form of torture.

The herd of soul beasts tore through forests and traversed marshes.

He had no idea how long they had been running.

Just as Li Zhexian was being jolted to the point of nearly losing his endurance, a bottomless precipice abruptly appeared ahead.

He cast his gaze beyond the cliff edge and looked down.

Only to see thick, white clouds and mist rolling and rising from the bottom of the cliff.

Faint, piercing sounds of howling wind drifted up from the abyss.

"Hh?!"

Li Zhexian's heart sank heavily.

Ahead was a dead end, yet this herd of soul beasts showed not the slightest hesitation, charging towards the cliff with even greater frenzy.

"Are they out of their minds?!"

His complexion paled as he tightly hugged the sword hilt with both hands.

"What on earth is down at the bottom of the cliff?!"

Boom, boom—!

Boom, boom—!

The soul beasts rushed to the cliff edge like a tidal wave, scrambling to leap down.

The four limbs of the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger exerted fierce force, slamming viciously onto the back of a three-headed cyan wolf.

Leveraging this recoil force, its massive body twisted mid-air, and its hook-like sharp claws embedded themselves into the nearly vertical cliff face, sprinting wildly down toward the bottomless abyss as if walking on flat ground.

The jolting became even more violent!

Amidst the intense undulations, Li Zhexian caught a glimpse of other soul beasts displaying their various divine abilities: a silver-white giant centipede using all hundred legs to crawl rapidly while clinging to the rock face; a python holding a giant elephant in its mouth, winding around stone ridges and sliding down at high speed; and even a unicorn with ribs growing twin wings, diving down with flapping wings...

Only a small number of weaker soul beasts shrieked miserably in the chaos, plunging straight into the abyss and becoming the first batch of casualties in this mad race.

More than a dozen breaths later.

The bottom of the cliff finally came into clear view.

Boom—!!!

Carrying the momentum of a falling mountain, the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger crashed heavily to the ground.

The terrifying impact was like an earthquake, instantly tossing Li Zhexian high into the air.

He could no longer hold onto the Qinglian Sword.

His martial soul turned into a stream of light and retreated into his glabella.

He was thrown more than a hundred meters away like a kite with a broken string, his internal organs feeling as though they had been displaced, and a trickle of fresh blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

The pain pierced straight to his heart!

Yet Li Zhexian clenched his teeth stubbornly and lay paralyzed on the ground without moving a muscle.

He held his breath.

All around him were powerful, predatory soul beasts eyeing him covetously.

At this moment, only by feigning death could he retain a glimmer of survival!

The scarlet beastly pupils of the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger glanced at Li Zhexian, seemingly wanting to step forward and deliver a finishing claw.

Yet perhaps the Turtle-Breathing Herb had concealed his vital aura, causing the demonic tiger to mistakenly believe he had already perished, or perhaps the powerful enemies lingering all around made it hesitant to act rashly.

Ultimately.

The fierce beast merely let out a low roar and refocused its attention back toward the direction of the cliff face.

Li Zhexian narrowly escaped disaster for the moment.

He lay rigidly and motionlessly on the cold, hard rocky ground.

About ten minutes later.

He extremely slowly lifted a tiny gap in his eyelids.

There were no giant trees blocking the view at the bottom of the cliff, and the light was actually somewhat brighter than the forest above.

As far as the eye could see, the first sights that greeted him were ferocious, towering soul beasts, either crouching or circling, their burning gazes focused intently on a certain spot on the cliff face.

Li Zhexian shifted his neck without drawing attention.

Following the gaze of the beasts...

On the rugged, hundreds-of-meters-high cliff face, at a height of several dozen zhang above the ground, a sturdy, gnarled small tree was rooted in a crevice of the rock.

This tree was extraordinary and miraculous!

Its trunk was silver-white in color, and each leaf resembled something sculpted from jade.

At the tip of a branch, a flower bud that was about to bloom stood quietly upright, its surface shimmering with dreamy and magnificent multicolored rays of light.

Li Zhexian's heart shook violently.

However, what attracted his gaze even more was a soul beast guarding this wondrous precious tree.

This was a flying soul beast, nearly three meters in length, with an extraordinary appearance.

It had a proud, uplifted dragon head yet possessed the body of an eagle, with silver dragon whiskers drooping beside its beak, and two pairs of silver dragon horns growing atop its head.

Its body was covered with feathers as black as ink, the edge of every single feather flashing with a metallic, razor-sharp cold light.

And most miraculous of all were the twelve feathers suspended behind the back of its head!

Those twelve feathers each possessed distinct colors, every single one as straight as an unsheathed sharp sword, lingering with a hair-raising sharpness!

Judging solely by its aura.

This soul beast fell far short of the majestic presence of some ten-thousand-year soul beasts at the bottom of the cliff.

Judging from its soul power fluctuations, it was roughly around seven to eight thousand years.

However, its posture was exceptionally arrogant as it stood steadily on the precipice, overlooking the thousands of soul beasts gathered below, guarding the small tree radiating multicolored light without taking a single step away.

"This is..."

Li Zhexian's pupils slowly constricted.

Having perused the records and legends of the Douluo Continent, the species of soul beasts were as vast as the sea.

As someone familiar with the original plot trajectory, he roughly categorized the countless soul beasts into several types:

Aside from ordinary soul beasts, there were top-tier existences possessing inherited bloodlines—such as the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear, the Titan Giant Ape, the Azure Bull Python, and so on...

And soul beasts of an even higher life hierarchy possessed pure inherited bloodlines themselves, capable of influencing the destiny of soul beasts in a region, such as the legendary Emperor Beast, the Three-Aged Golden Auspicious Beast.

Beyond these.

Li Zhexian had also conceived of a special type of existence.

They existed between ordinary soul beasts and Emperor Beasts, having been tainted by the aura of deities and transformed through the erosion of divine power.

For instance...

The Undead Demonic Evil God Tiger eroded by the power of the evil god.

And...

Within his line of sight, this wondrous and extraordinary Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon with twelve sword feathers suspended behind its head.

Li Zhexian named it... a Rare Beast!

Implying that it was peerlessly rare and unmatched across the world!

Perhaps only a single specimen remained in the entire continent!