The rough and burly voice echoed throughout every inch of Huang Ying's body, seemingly sounding out from every drop of blood coursing through his veins. The sounding out of the voice also finally confirmed to Huang Ying what the several hundred distant and dim stars within his dantian were, they were the memories of the previous Baku's, the people who wielded the power of devouring before him. But as he looked at the incandescent star slowly lose its light, he couldn't help but be somewhat confused.
He had kept close track of the star that was in the process of descending in his dantian, noting every slight change in its position. As such, he was certain that the star that was currently releasing such a blinding golden light was in fact not the one that he had been keeping track of, the position was utterly wrong. Tracing the previous star he saw that it had shot back into the sky, remaining as dim and distant as it was at the start. Could it be that there were conditions to getting the stars to descend? Could it have something to do with what the voice of Wutong Cang said, did he have to make the stars deem him worthy somehow?
Huang Ying didn't get the chance to ponder over his questions any further, a seemingly soul-splitting pain assaulting his entire body. It felt as if there were thousands of tiny scorching needles being inserted into his body and used to slowly unravel him one cell at a time. And accompanying this horrifying pain was an influx of memories, several lifetimes worth of information forced directly into Huang Ying's mind.
He saw the birth of the golden-haired and amber-eyed Wutong Cang, his childhood joys and sorrows, his first love and his first loss, his first death and subsequent rebirth thanks to the power of devouring. His enemies and allies, the rise and fall of his children, every technique and skill he had honed throughout his life, all of it entered Huang Ying. But the last memory of Wutong Cang was exceedingly strange, it was Wutong Cang sitting on the ground in what seemed to be a neat meadow, looking directly at Huang Ying and speaking.
"Well, this'll be the end of the tale, my future successor. I hope that my techniques and experiences end up proving useful to you on your path. I am off to join a friend in his battle against a dangerous enemy known as the Ever-changing King, and I am uncertain if I will return alive and thus live long enough to ever meet you. As such, please take my next words to heart and never forget them. The path of devouring is not the path to the peak, it can never carry you further than it did the original Baku so you must discard it sooner or later if the peak is your goal. And my final advice, the Lake of Souls, that little lake that should be present on the island in your dantian, don't let it fill up. I don't know what sort of existence it is, but it fills me with a dreadful chill, filling it can only bring about disaster."
Wutong Cang raised his arms when he finished speaking, plunging his own hands into his chest and pulling out a black mass of goo covered in eyes and maws. This was where the memories cut off, the final fate of Wutong Cang unknown as the soul-splitting pain finally started to slowly recede. Huang Ying quickly regained his senses, his eyes regaining their clarity and allowing him to see his surroundings.
It felt like it had taken years to see through all of Wutong Cang's memories, but as Huang Ying regained his clarity he saw that the dog-like beast that he had just dodged was still in the process of descending to the ground after lunging over him. He quickly clenched his hand around the second part of his weapon and drew it out of the skull of the ant that it was buried in, swinging it overhead like a blade and splitting open the stomach of the dog.
He let go of his weapon the second it cut open the stomach of the beast, allowing the blade to fly forward and pierce into the side of a large sparrow-like Demonic beast that had been diving down to snatch up Hei Ya. Huang Ying pushed out his right arm, a fist-sized orb of compressed earth appearing in front of his palm before getting launched right at the sparrow at high speed. The orb hit the handle of the blade stabbed into the side of the sparrow, pushing it in even deeper and rupturing most of the beast's organs.
Huang Ying had no time to rest while doing this, spinning around the moment he launched the orb of earth. A nearly three-meter tall brown bull with shimmering red horns broke through the trees only a few meters away from Huang Ying just as he finished spinning around, its head lowered as it barreled towards him. Huang Ying was unarmed as he faced the incoming beast, his eyes practically burning while the corners of his lips had long since pulled up into a smile.
Right now, he was surrounded on all sides by frenzied beasts, every inch of his body had been wounded at some point or another, his robes were in utter tatters, and blood and pain covered his entire body. But he felt alive, more so than ever before, he felt truly alive and unbound. Right now he was strong enough to face everything that came at him, and even if that failed, he at least had the strength to hold his head high as he faced his death. It was this state right now that Huang Ying desired, this alive and unbound state, this was how he wished his entire life to be.
But he didn't let his exhilaration get the best of him, he knew that there were still countless beings stronger than him that could step on him, they could ruin his unbound state at any time. So he had to fight more, he had to eat more, and he had to get stronger, ever stronger until he was the freest man alive.
The charging bull reached Huang Ying in only a short moment, Huang Ying taking a quick half-step to the side and ducking down a slight bit. He stepped aside just far enough to dodge the body of the bull and ducked just deep enough to go beneath the bull's horn, kicking out with his right leg at the same time. His foot smashed into the front leg of the bull, a loud crunching sound followed by a pained whine coming from the bull.
The leg of the bull broke and then buckled under the weight of the beast, causing it to fall forward face first with a thunderous thud. Huang Ying raised his leg the moment he delivered the kick to the beast's leg, ignoring the new fracture in his shin and raising it above its head and then bringing it down in a heavy stomp. A cracking sound followed by a pained bellow followed, Huang Ying raising his leg and stomping it down once more, causing another pained bellow to rock the clearing. He raised his leg a third time and stomped it down again, the crunching sound turning into a sickening mulching sound as his foot caved in the head of the bull and splattered blood and brains all over his body.
Huang Ying bent down and tore off one of the bull's horns the moment it died, flinging the horn as if it was a large knife. The horn stabbed into the head of a somewhat small wolf that had tried to sneak closer to Song Yi, reaping its life and causing it to drop to the ground. Each beast that died was quickly snatched up by the muddy tentacles that spread throughout the entire area, more and more energy flooding into Huang Ying's body and restoring even the smallest wounds he sustained.
But just as the corpse of the bull was snatched up by the tentacles, Huang Ying gave a slight flick of his finger that caused the tentacles that snatched up the corpse to split into several smaller ones. These smaller tentacles stretched out and connected with Hong Yi, who had jumped onto Hei Ya's head and was doing her best to chirp loud enough to deafen out the roars and howls from all around.
The tentacles pulsed slightly as they started to drain the bull, all the resulting energy flooding into Hong Yi. Her broken wing straightened up almost immediately, the red veins covering her entire body turning deeper and more pronounced as the energy she was radiating immediately jumped to the equivalent of the 2nd Mortal Step. The little sparrow couldn't help but jump in shock, tumbling down from Hei Ya's head and falling to the ground, looking at her own wing in shock.
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The corners of Huang Ying's mouth curled up even further when he saw the result, Wutong Cang's technique worked perfectly. This was one of the two techniques from Wutong Cang's memories that Huang Ying took great interest in, a technique that let him use the devouring element to devour something but transfer it to someone else rather than to himself.
It was the ultimate support skill and it was the technique Wutong Cang had used to become famous. The efficiency wasn't the same as if Huang Ying devoured it, the others would only get about half of the full total, but it was more than enough. The other technique that had caught Huang Ying's interest wasn't a particularly strong one, it was one that Wutong Cang had discovered after devouring a soul-based beast and then improved on.
The technique allowed one to seal off their own soulsea, the place where their soul and mind were actually located, completely sealing it up so that no one could see into it or pull out anything they had inserted into it. The reason this technique caught Huang Ying's interest was due to Li Jun, he should currently be located within Huang Ying's soulsea. Sealing it up might actually prevent Li Jun from seeing what went on around Huang Ying, it would give him the chance to hide things from Li Jun in the future.
Huang Ying didn't have the chance to test out his theory right now, quickly dashing over to the sparrow that still had part of his spear buried in it. He pulled out his weapon and then jumped up into the air, performing a flip to bisect the head of a mole that just burst out from the ground beneath him. He then used the bisected head as a foothold and kicked off, running through the air until he reached the owl-corpse that still contained the second part of his weapon.
He assembled his weapon, the corpse of the mole quickly getting snatched up by tentacles that then spread out to Hei Ya, sharing the feast with him. A weak little wolf and a sparrow that could barely be considered a Demonic beast, they were originally just going to be companions that Huang Ying brought along because he liked them but now it seemed like he had the ability to turn them into truly ferocious beasts that could fight alongside him.
The corners of Huang Ying's lips barely had the time to curve even further upwards before the situation changed again. An ear-piercing shriek resounded across the entire forest, the shriek even contained so much power that it tore a hole through the dark clouds that covered the sky. A patch of blue sky was revealed behind the clouds, allowing Huang Ying to realize that he had already been fighting here for so long that the sun had properly risen, it had just been blotted out by the black clouds summoned by the Demonic beast with the Behemoth bloodline.
The shriek caused all the Demonic beasts in the surroundings to pause slightly, allowing Huang Ying to gaze towards the depths of the forest. The shriek had come from the depths of the forest, just like the roar from the beast with the Behemoth bloodline. Could it be that there was another terrifying beast hiding within the depths of the forest? But Huang Ying once again had to throw his current thoughts to the back of his mind, a loud and panicked warning coming from Li Jun.
"You have to flee, right now! A powerful beast has locked onto you, it was probably attracted by your bloodline when you started to unleash it! Your best bet is to stop using your bloodline and to leave behind some bait with good bloodlines and hope that it will switch its focus over to them."
Li Jun's implications were clear, leave behind Song Yi and Chen Hong and hope that their unknown bloodlines would be able to draw the attention of the incoming beast. It wouldn't be the first time Li Jun had given that advice, but Huang Ying's response would always stay the same.
"Man, you sound like a broken record. I already told you what my stance on the matter is, so fuck off with those suggestions. You four, brace yourselves, we're about to truly enter the shit!"
Huang Ying knew what it was like to be left behind, he had been abandoned by both his parents and the gods themselves, he knew how it hurt and how cold the loneliness was. Abandoning someone he cared for, even if he hadn't known them for very long, was not something he wanted to do.
Song Yi and Chen Hong had barely managed to gather themselves now that the rain and darkness had been blown away along with the clouds, but hearing Huang Ying's warning they could only brace themselves as best they could. Chen Hong pulled out his halberd, his arms still trembling slightly as the rain had only vanished seconds ago. Song Yi quickly stood up and then put away the lantern that still remained, quickly pulling out her bow and holding it at the ready, the string thrumming slightly due to her trembling.
Hei Ya and Hong Yi quickly came over to Huang Ying, the group of five forming a small circle to keep a vigilant eye on the surroundings. Whether it was due to the shriek or the beast that was coming towards them, the Demonic beasts all around them seemed to have quieted down and vanished, not a single one entering Huang Ying's perception. And then he saw it, tearing through the skies as it shot towards them.
The Demonic beast looked like a massive eagle, at least 20 or 30 meters long, faded crimson feathers adorning its entire body. The feathers seemed to have long lost their luster, a grayish tint overtaking them and giving the entire beast a somewhat sickly look. The beast's head was locked onto Huang Ying's, its eyes shining with the light of not hunger, but joy as its fang-filled beak opened and it let out a shriek. The shriek was far weaker than the one that had torn apart the clouds so it looked like it luckily wasn't the beast. Huang Ying didn't have to ask the question, Li Jun was more than ready with a word of warning about the beast.
"That's a Dragonfire Bird, a Dragonfire Eagle in this case! Dragonfire beasts can only be born in areas that have been ravaged by fire coming from either a True Dragon, another one of the nine Demonic Deity races, or a Demonic beast with a very strong True Dragon bloodline. Since it's born in such an area, the beast is naturally stronger than others of its realm, they are highly dangerous! That eagle is incredibly old and only a handful of years from death, but it has still reached the 9th Stair of Ascension, maybe even the 1st Mountain of Immortality, it is far above someone like you! I repeat, you must flee!"
Huang Ying proceeded to ignore Li Jun's incessant warnings, every fiber of his being tensing up as he sharpened his senses as much as he could. His gaze focused on the incoming Dragonfire Eagle, not blinking once as the beast cut through the air and came straight at them. As it got closer, Huang Ying's nose caught the scent of death from the eagle, it seemed like it truly was old and close to death. But even so, it was truly a beast that was far above the likes of Huang Ying and the others, they had no hope of fighting against it. The corners of Huang Ying's lips curled up further, his expression turning into a full-blown grin as a soft laughter escaped his lips.
"Heh, you really can't to anything but laugh in a situation like this."
The mouths of Song Yi and Chen Hong twitched slightly, somewhat amused and bitterly curling up when they heard Huang Ying's laughter. But they didn't have the chance to say anything, the Dragonfire Eagle was upon them, bringing with it an immense pressure that seemed to freeze everything around them, the same feeling an ant got when it faced a terrible human. It was at this moment that Huang Ying put his own plan into action.
The earth beneath Chen Hong and Song Yi suddenly slid to the side, a gust of wind pressing down on them from above. The two were caught completely unaware and were thus unable to stop themselves from falling over into the holes that had been created, a terrible sense of foreboding seeping into their hearts. The earth beneath Huang Ying rose up and launched him into the sky, allowing him to run a few steps through the air, closer to the eagle. The eagle opened its claws to snatch him up, Huang Ying turning his head slightly to look at Song Yi and Chen Hong, a wide grin still covering his face.
"Alright, you two take care of those fellows, I'll play with this bastard for a bit."
The eagle's claws clamped down around Huang Ying the moment he finished his words, the sharp fangs taking great care to not pierce through his body and instead simply picking him up. The eagle achieved its goal when it picked up Huang Ying so it flapped its large wings and shot into the sky at such speeds that Huang Ying nearly felt like he was being torn apart. The beast ascended higher and higher, turning its body and heading deeper into the forest. Song Yi and Chen Hong were once more unable to do anything but watch, but this time it wasn't due to their fear, it was due to their weakness.