While the majority of those beasts were merely in the Qi Refining stage, there were certainly Foundation Establishment level demon beasts present, and Golden Core ones were occasionally spotted too. Moreover, Lei Dong vaguely sensed, within a massive horde of beasts, a terrifying aura—an aura that definitely belonged to the Nascent Soul stage. If it were only a small band of beasts, Lei Dong and the others wouldn't have taken much notice. After wiping out two or three small groups, each numbering about a hundred demon beasts, Lei Dong finally had to flee in disarray. A large flying vessel was simply too conspicuous a target in the sky, forcing them to retract it.

The group had no choice but to find a hidden cliff, concealing themselves within and suppressing their auras. The Great Desolate, as it was called, was merely a collective term for an area a hundred times the size of Kang Prefecture and Zhao Prefecture combined. It was true that barren dunes made up the majority of the land, but in reality, towering mountain ranges, swamps, lakes, dense forests, and great rivers were countless. There were even numerous small to medium-sized Netherworld or Purgatory-like environments scattered throughout. Since ancient times, innumerable demon beasts had thrived and multiplied in this vast expanse.

Due to the sheer size of the territory and the overwhelming number of demon beasts, the Great Desolate region was tantamount to a forbidden zone where the unwise dared not tread. Even cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage would not venture recklessly through the Great Desolate. Consequently, for untold ages, whenever various sects or intelligent races suffered military defeat, they often fled into the Great Desolate, seeking a sliver of hope for survival. While many of these groups were annihilated, others, through a long period of evolution, gradually adapted to the environment and managed to take root. The Savage Clan and the Unicorn Clan, for instance, were two such groups.

The Savage Clan was the guardian lineage of the Ancient Demonic Emperor Sect. As for the Unicorn Clan, they were the lingering descendants of the Unicorn Fiends from the Demon Realm. When the Demon Realm army retreated defeated from the Nine Provinces Realm, many demonic races were left behind in the hasty withdrawal; the Unicorn Clan was just one of them. In the distant past, numerous formidable races flourished. The Ancient Giant Clan was one such power.

Legend held that the Ancient Giants often stood hundreds of zhang tall, with the tallest reportedly reaching a thousand zhang. Their movements frequently heralded the collapse of mountains and the redirection of rivers. Even in ancient times, the Giant Clan was a power that dominated for a time. However, what they gained in innate combat prowess, they lacked in intellect. Compared to other intelligent races, the Giants ranked somewhere between mere demon beasts and intelligent beings.

Thus, the brawny, belligerent, and short-tempered Ancient Giants became tragic figures in the ancient wars. Eventually, the Giant Clan was nearly wiped out, with only a select few barely surviving. As the ages passed and the world transformed, the descendants of those Ancient Giants also changed in accordance with their living environments. For example, in this Great Desolate, the descendants of the Giant Clan survived as Earth Giants. In the present Nine Provinces, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was vastly diminished compared to ancient times; it was naturally impossible for such powerful lifeforms to be generated easily as they had been in antiquity.

The Giant Clan had also degenerated through reproduction. Today, adult Earth Giants stand only twenty zhang tall, their skin appearing like sandy soil, with massive lumps rising from their flesh as if they were made of rock. In fact, those lumps were indeed rock; the Giant Clan, unlike humans, was not purely flesh and blood. As they grew, they absorbed immense amounts of elemental energy. For instance, Earth Giants continuously absorb Earth Elemental energy from birth, granting them extraordinary defenses that are incredibly difficult to breach.

Not only are they adept at close combat, but they also excel at utilizing the vast Earth Elemental energy within their bodies to condense hard, heavy stones, which they launch as ranged attacks. The reason for mentioning the Earth Giants was twofold: firstly, Lei Dong had witnessed their might at the Northern Pass, where each one resembled a powerful mobile artillery platform. Secondly, while fleeing desperately from the beasts and hiding within the cliff recess, Lei Dong accidentally stumbled upon an Earth Giant tribe. Yes, a tribe. Although the Giants possessed limited intelligence, they were still an intelligent race, albeit one with lower comprehension than others, not mere demon beasts.

While the Earth Giants had not inherited the terrifying strength of their Ancient Giant ancestors, they had perfectly preserved their meager intellect. The Giant Clan occupied a high position on the food chain. Even a small tribe’s hunting territory typically spanned tens of thousands of li in circumference, while medium to large tribes sometimes required hundreds of thousands of li. Within their territory, the Giant Clan constantly migrated, preventing them from staying too long in one location and causing severe ecological devastation. This behavior, which allowed other species to propagate, did not stem from a commitment to environmental protection.

Rather, in the long course of evolution, generational accumulated wisdom had integrated into their very life essence, instinctively informing them that excessive destruction would lead to the extinction of their clan. The nomadic nature and sparse population of the Earth Giants meant that even within the Great Desolate, they constituted a minority race. Simultaneously, they were a formidable one. A small tribe usually boasted several hundred Earth Giants, and once an Earth Giant reached maturity, it possessed the combat strength of the early Golden Core stage. Furthermore, their strength would slowly but continuously increase with age and the passage of time, with the strongest reaching the late Golden Core stage.

An exceedingly small number of Earth Giants, through fortunate circumstances or a powerful surge of ancient bloodline energy, would become Nascent Soul level Earth Giants. However, such Giants were rarer than one in ten thousand, and only large tribes might possess one or two. Medium or small tribes seldom produced them. Once a small tribe did harbor a Nascent Soul level Earth Giant, that tribe stood a strong chance of flourishing, annexing other tribes, and gradually evolving into a large tribe. The Earth Giant tribe Lei Dong accidentally discovered, based on scouting and size assessment, appeared to be a small tribe.

Yet, even a small tribe was something Lei Dong and his companions could not afford to provoke. Earth Giants reproduced extremely slowly but lived for a very long time, resulting in a typical ratio of ten adults to every one juvenile. This meant that in a small tribe of three hundred individuals, there were at least over two hundred and fifty adult Earth Giants. This, more than anything, was a primary reason why the Earth Giants ranked at the apex of the food chain in the Great Desolate: strength—overwhelming strength. Lei Dong’s keen interest in the Earth Giants stemmed from Saintess Lan Qisi.

This woman, through wisdom and luck, had earned the trust of a medium-sized Earth Giant tribe. Consequently, when attacking the Northern Family Pass, she managed to recruit a hundred Earth Giants to fight alongside them. With Lan Qisi’s extensive research data on Earth Giant temperament, preferences, and customs, and now that Lei Dong had mastered this information, he naturally could not resist the opportunity when he chanced upon this tribe. Since ancient times, the Giant Clan had been synonymous with straightforward temperaments, simple minds, and powerful limbs. However, once someone managed to earn their trust, the Giants would place complete faith in that person, even to the point of risking their lives.

This susceptibility to manipulation was also a significant reason why the Ancient Giant Clan was nearly annihilated. They were willing to fight to the death for a trusted brother or friend, even against other Giants. The ancients exploited this loyalty too often, leading to severe consequences. Of course, gaining the trust of the Earth Giants was no easy feat. Lan Qisi had spent over twenty years of patient effort, utilizing her considerable wisdom and finesse, to achieve this.

Lei Dong, naturally, could not spend that much time. To achieve a remarkable feat, one must often take an unconventional path. The outbreak of the beast tide could be leveraged. This particular Earth Giant tribe was situated within a large valley, ringed by mountains on all four sides, with only one opening several li wide for entry and exit. The Earth Giants, being an intelligent race, had chosen this strategically defensible location.

Furthermore, leveraging their innate talent with Earth Elemental energy, they had constructed a formidable city wall one hundred zhang high. Currently, this tribe was also suffering the spillover from the beast tide. A horde of tens of thousands of various-level demon beasts was assaulting the Earth Giants' defenses. However, even ten thousand beasts were handled with relative ease by the Earth Giants. Standing atop the imposing walls, the twenty to thirty-zhang-tall Earth Giants would effortlessly condense stones about a zhang in diameter, weighing an estimated dozen tons or more, and hurl them forth.

Given their arm strength, they could launch these massive stones over ten li away. Of course, accuracy was another matter. Yet, even without precision, facing a dense mass of ten thousand beasts meant they were bound to hit something. From his hiding spot within a small hole in the cliff face, Lei Dong could clearly see that even a Foundation Establishment level demon beast, struck by one of those swift-moving boulders, was instantly pulverized into mud. Moreover, after landing, the stones would often bounce forward rapidly; demon beasts at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages could not withstand this.

Even Golden Core level beasts dared not take a direct hit. If one was careless enough to be struck once, they would be severely wounded, if not killed outright. This inherent magical technique of the Earth Giants was not very useful in one-on-one combat. However, when employed as a tool in large-scale warfare, its power was extraordinary. Even the mountain-protecting formations utilized by major sects could not withstand the continuous bombardment from the Earth Giants.

In terms of sheer destructive force, it could be compared to artifacts like the Nether Fire Cannon or the Fire Dragon Cannon, yet it required no consumption of spirit stones. Furthermore, the Earth Giants' melee capabilities were also outstanding. Watching the flying demonic avians that managed to evade the stone rain and attempted to soar over the city walls, they appeared to be forcibly dragged down as if by an invisible massive force, only to be torn to shreds under the savage power of the Earth Giants, scattering blood everywhere. Even the occasional Golden Core level flying beasts were pulled down by the combined efforts of two or three Earth Giants using Gravity Arts, only to be hammered to death.