Oh, No! We've Lost Shi Hao!

The people of the other villages also took off like predators hunting their prey.

However, the first to arrive was not the humans, but the desolate beasts of the mountain forest,

This was their territory after all. It was obvious that the desolate beasts would be the first to arrive. And the only reason they dared to gather so brazenly around the mighty Suan Ni was that they were low-level beasts that had yet to develop intelligence. Ignorance is bliss.

Countless desolate beasts surrounded the ancient descendant by the lake in the mountain forest as Suan Ni lay lazily on the ground. He opened his golden eyes, scanned the surroundings, and closed his eyes again.

It was not the time yet so he let it pass slowly. The number of desolate beasts surrounding Suan Ni gradually increased. Now, desolate beasts with some semblance of intelligence had also started to gather. 

The growing mass of desolate beasts around Suan Ni also meant that the Qi flow in that area had become convoluted and chaotic. There were just too many of them in one area!

The number of desolate beasts surrounding Suan Ni was quite terrifying. From the air, it looked like a black circular mass had encircled the ancient descendant.

If all the desolate beasts in the mountain forest were gathered into one space, they would occupy at least 20% of the entire land area of the habitat. 20% might not sound like a large number, but the area of land the mountain forest covered was massive.

The villagers of Stone Village were still on their way, having just passed through the outer area and now heading towards the central region.

It was not only the people of Stone Village who were moving fast. The people of other villages were also doing the same.

And as fate would have it, something unexpected happened.

The mighty beast released a deafening and terrifying roar, followed by a series of loud and muffled sounds.

It was the sound of a collision akin to the sound of a mountain splitting!

"That does not sound like a monster that is about to die!" The village chief was startled by the sudden outburst and quickly stopped his people from continuing.

"What is happening? Suan Ni should be at death's door by now. What's with that terrifying roar?" Huang Linhu breathed raggedly, obviously confused.

"Suan Ni is an ancient descendant and basically lives as long as the heavens. No one knows what its lifespan is. It might be struggling before its death. Whatever is happening to it, it will still die today." Huang Feijiao solemnly explained.

"You are right. Its time is near and there's no way it can avoid that. It must be simply unwilling to go just like that." The village chief also agreed with Huang Feijiao.

"I can definitely sense that it is about to die." Shi Hao slightly frowned and clenched his fists.

Yes, Shi Hao was also involved in today's battle. As a cultivator who had comprehended many Bone Texts in Stone Village, his strength was not inferior to the Stone Village's cultivators. In fact, he was even stronger than some of them.

As the Stone Village's cultivator group was still trying to figure out the situation, the ground started to shake violently!

The village chief started to worry. "Oh no, it must be a tide of desolate beasts coming. Suan Ni's roar must have triggered them!"

And the village chief was right. In fact, this had been what the mighty beast had been planning all along.

When it sensed the growing gathering of the desolate beasts, it had already strategized its next step. Thus, in addition to waiting for its death, Suan Ni had been waiting to execute his plan.

The end of his lifespan was approaching and there was nothing he could do about that. But he had an issue with those beasts and humans who wanted to devour him once he was gone. How arrogant could they be?

Among the increasing gathering of desolate beasts, some were preparing to strike while others hesitated to make a move. Regardless, the mighty beast decided that it was time to make its move. It lazily stood up like a mountain in the Great Wasteland; its four limbs still looked strong and terrifying, covered by ancient runes; its scales grew and overlapped with each other, forming an indestructible battle armor over his skin; and its long and heavy tail hung low as the tip swished irritably along the ground.

He slowly shook his head. The moment he opened his golden eyes, killing intent surged forth and he started to tear the desolate beasts apart.

In a blink of an eye, the surroundings of the lake were covered in blood. Countless beasts had been torn apart as their incomplete corpses lay scattered on the ground.

The blood of the desolate beasts flowed along the lines of the ground towards the lake.

This was the power of an ancient descendant!

When the other desolate beasts saw Suan Ni's power, they were scared witless and escaped in a sorry state.

The desolate beasts fled in fear. The scene became chaotic and the crowdedness of the gathering earlier had turned into a fleeing tide of desolate beasts.

Now that everything was going according to plan, Suan Ni closed its eyes and lay back down again.

He had to save his strength for the main battle. 

The tide of fleeing desolate beast could only hold off the humans for so long. And they were already getting close. Suan Ni could sense their auras and intents.

——

Countless desolate beasts crazily fled in all directions like a flood that had broken through a dam. Eventually, some of them ran into the villagers of Stone Village.

The ground shook and rocks flew everywhere. Some of the towering trees in the forest had fallen and were being trampled on. Needless to say, the tide of desolate beasts left behind a huge mess.

There was nothing for the humans to do except retreat and take cover momentarily.

Even those with the highest cultivation level had no way of stopping the tide.

Those from Wolf Village, which was not far from Stone Village, could not avoid the incoming mass of wild beasts in time. They had no other choice but to stand their ground and fight their way through more than a hundred of them.

Fortunately, they had asked their guardian spirit to accompany them today by summoning many Wolf Beasts to join the mission. The battle against the tide was intense and chaotic.

Cultivators of Wolf Village used their bows and arrows to attack the weak points of the beasts.

Although they were cultivators who often went out hunting, they could still be flustered and uneasy when they encountered such a situation. After all, they were unable to keep up with the rate at which the desolate beasts appeared.

As for those from Stone Village, they had decided to take a detour to avoid the incoming tide. The village chief had grabbed the younger ones and led them to higher ground. Once he had deemed them safe, he realized that someone was missing as he was doing a headcount.

His heart skipped a beat.

Shi Hao had been separated from the group.

"Where is Shi Hao? Huang Feijiao, didn't I tell you to keep an eye on him?! Where did he go?" The village chief immediately panicked.

Shi Hao was a cultivation prodigy with exceptional talent among the children of Stone Village. If they had lost him... The village chief did not dare to think much further than that. He immediately planned a search for Shi Hao.

"Don't worry, Village Chief. When we were retreating, I noticed that Shi Hao ran to a higher ground somewhere else. Nothing should happen to him." Huang Feijiao quickly responded to the village chief's questions.

"That's right, Village Chief. We can't go looking for him now, not while the tide of desolate beasts is still rolling. If we rush into things, even you will get injured."

The others in the group tried to console the village chief.

And what they said made sense. The most important thing now was to check on Suan Ni's situation.

The collapse of the mountain range that they had heard earlier could have been caused by Suan Ni's death.

Now that the Qi flow had turned chaotic, they had no way of detecting which one was from Suan Ni.