The Supreme Heavenly Ninja revealed a bizarre smile, one filled with an undeniable sense of understanding.
He asked, his voice, usually grating and cacophonous to the extreme, suddenly becoming exceptionally clear: “Old Bear, can you promise not to let us be separated?”
The Supreme Heavenly Ninja’s female form remained silent, but her gaze immediately ignited with intensity! Hot and tender.
The Bear Saint Venerable’s eyes flickered slightly, and he said calmly, “You will not be separated! Nor will we! My brothers are waiting for me! I don't want to make them wait too long.”
“The heart of one mirrors the heart of another; are my brothers not waiting for me as well!” The Supreme Heavenly Ninja laughed mournfully, his eyes looking through the blood-red mist before him with desolate emptiness: “Don't assume you are the only one with brothers!”
“Old Bear, come then. Let us walk the path together!” As soon as the words left his lips, the Supreme Heavenly Ninja charged forward in a frenzy!
“Heaven’s Punishment, Eternal Calamity!” At that moment, the Bear Saint Venerable’s fierce cry shook the heavens and earth! Then, his powerful form, covered head to toe in numerous old scars, charged forward as well!
His steps were resolute, without a single backward glance, not a trace of lingering affection!
His heart roared the sentiment: Brothers! Wait for me! Whether it be a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, Old Bear will walk with you, “…together!”
Boom!
“Aaaaaaannnnn!” On the ground, amidst the ongoing slaughter, the Bear King, Xiong Kaishan, suddenly roared to the sky, tears streaming down his face! Tears of blood!
The instant another exceptionally brilliant burst of fireworks erupted in the sky, a distant volcano suddenly blasted forth a towering column of fire with a thunderous roar! This sudden, violent sound and fierce eruption actually caused the entire stretch of earth to tremble and shake violently!
And both sides engaged in battle suddenly experienced the strange sensation of being on a boat caught in a tsunami!
Everyone simultaneously lifted their eyes to gaze north, only to see, far in the distance, a volcano erupting a column of fire that absolutely surpassed any single eruption of any volcano, shooting thousands of feet straight toward the firmament!
Though separated by hundreds of miles of space, every single person could see it with perfect clarity!
This was the moment Jun Moxie and Gu Han had forced Zhan Lunhui down into the crater, and Zhan Lunhui then surged back out! Zhan Lunhui’s fall and subsequent emergence had triggered the most violent eruption the volcano had yet seen!
“Roar…” Xiong Kaishan wildly howled at the sky. The sacrifice of the Bear Saint Venerable had caused the Bear King to completely lose his last shred of sanity!
“You damned scum! Go to hell, hurry up and die!” Xiong Kaishan’s eyes were crimson red, and the aura radiating from his body had become savagely extreme. Following a heaven-shaking roar, the solid muscles across his frame inexplicably bulged once more, veins mapping his skin—the already unusually massive body of the Bear King seemed to suddenly double in size!
A circle of black mist seemed to envelop the Bear King, appearing utterly illusory yet undeniably distinct, creating a shocking visual contradiction for everyone who witnessed the King’s bizarre transformation.
A peculiar sound, like the shattering of a soul, suddenly rang out. The sound itself was not loud, more like a faint, deep-seated internal fracture, yet on this battlefield thick with the clamor of battle and frequent eruptions, everyone present distinctly heard this sound that should have been completely drowned out!
It was the sound of a life level ascending!
A sound that transcended all mundane worldly noises!
The massive body of Xiong Kaishan suddenly burst forth with another cloud of golden mist. Before the golden mist could dissipate, his body, which had expanded to nearly twelve feet, instantly grew another full size out of thin air—by visual estimation, the Bear King was now at least sixteen feet tall!
If he was tall before, he was now a standard ‘Giant’!
The clothing covering his body, already stretched to its absolute limit, snapped apart in that moment!
At this instant, the breath drawn and expelled by the Bear King seemed like the drawing and expelling of the very heavens and earth!
Sixteen feet tall, eyes wide as bells, face contorted, roaring madly toward the sky!
The wind and clouds shifted color!
Under the crushing blows of this series of extremely tragic events, the grief, rage, and hatred in the heart of the Bear King, Xiong Kaishan, transformed entirely into potent, massive strength, enabling him, at this crucial juncture—in the midst of this ferociously intense battle—to step from the rank of Fourth-Tier Saint Emperor directly into the ranks of First-Tier Saint Venerable!
This was a magnificent breakthrough!
But it was also a breakthrough at the most inopportune time!
Because, under the current circumstances, it was certainly not an appropriate moment to handle the Heavenly Tribulation accompanying such an advancement!
Around him, dozens of members of the alien race were hacking frantically at Xiong Kaishan’s colossal body with their blades. His target was too obvious; it would have been difficult to miss, but the moment the blades struck him, they violently rebounded! The flat of the blades smashed viciously back into the foreheads and faces of their original wielders! Blood immediately splattered, and men and beasts tumbled in chaos!
As the Bear King broke through, his defensive Xuan Qi naturally rose to the Saint Venerable level. Furthermore, because he had just broken through and could not yet control it properly, his Xuan Qi was at its most violent, desperately seeking an outlet. Attacking the Bear King at this very moment provided those surging energies a perfect vent—and the alien race suffered terribly for it.
The Eagle King, bloodied and heavily wounded, stared blankly at the breakthrough of the Bear King, but internally he was crying out in misery!
My dear brother, why did you have to break through now? How could you break through at this moment?!
Surely any other time would have been infinitely better than this moment!
Because a breakthrough inevitably meant the descent of the Thunder Tribulation! Now, during the peak intensity of the battle, how could he possibly survive the Tribulation? Even more terrifying was the fact that the Thunder Tribulation cared nothing for who was friend or foe nearby; it counted heads indiscriminately. Just how vast would the coverage area of this coming Thunder Tribulation be?
The Eagle King, who had never known the meaning of fear in his entire life, was now utterly paralyzed!
In the sky, as the wind and clouds churned violently, vast sheets of dark clouds suddenly began to converge rapidly toward this spot… A vague, enormous circle slowly took shape and began to rotate in mid-air; though its momentum was slow, its oppressive might was incomparable…
The Bear King acted as if he paid no mind to the invisible pressure. With another roar, gripping his serrated great-saber, he charged out with suicidal abandon!
What did the Heavenly Tribulation matter? Who cared what it was!
At this moment, Xiong Kaishan gave no thought to the Heavenly Tribulation; he didn't even realize he had broken through mid-battle!
All the Bear King felt was overwhelming, consuming rage! He wanted to fight! He wanted to kill! He wanted to cleave! He wanted vengeance!
Beyond that, his mind was utterly empty!
With eyes blazing blood-red, Xiong Kaishan knew only madness and brutality!
Nothing else mattered!
At this juncture, Xiong Kaishan had fallen into a state of extreme, frenzied delirium. It was believed that even if the Eagle King stood before him now, he would unhesitatingly bring his blade down upon him!
Xiong Kaishan strode forward like a shooting star, plunging toward the densest cluster of alien warriors. His charge was like a red-hot knife effortlessly slicing through butter!
With his current Saint Venerable level cultivation unleashed at full force, his charge was naturally unstoppable and invincible! Moreover, the astonishing recovery rate of the Saint Venerable level provided Xiong Kaishan nearly inexhaustible momentum. On the battlefield, all twenty-one Saint Venerable powerhouses—friend and foe combined—had already been reduced to dust and smoke; the newly advanced Xiong Kaishan became the sole Saint Venerable power in this entire combat zone!
The most formidable, the most peerless existence!
With a sweep of his great saber, he easily sent up a rain of blood, stirring up a gale of gore that reached the very earth!
This slaughter became even more spectacular than the fighting that preceded it!
The Eagle King suddenly covered his eyes, unable to bear watching any longer!
As his brother-in-arms for hundreds of years, how could he not recognize the truth? Brother Four, at this moment, was completely crazed, recognizing no one. Himself, the warriors of the Bear Clan, even if the Eldest Sister herself appeared, she might not be able to summon back the Fourth Brother’s senses…
The vastly empowered Xiong Kaishan was impervious to the attacks of the alien race, but how could a person caught in a fit of madness hope to survive the impending Heavenly Tribulation?
Dozens of Mad Blade Earth Ninjas, watching Xiong Kaishan violently massacre their kin, signaled to one another and charged toward him simultaneously. While the Bear King had reached the Saint Venerable realm and surpassed the alien Mad Blade Earth Ninjas in strength, his breakthrough was recent and his power unstable. A concerted effort, if they could form an encirclement, truly offered them the strength to execute Xiong Kaishan!
“Kill! Kill! Kill! Aaaarrrrggghh…” Xiong Kaishan swung his great saber mechanically, each swing clearing a wide swath of ground!
And the enemy force, numbering over fifty Mad Blade Earth Ninjas in total, had finally formed their encirclement! Every eye fixed upon Xiong Kaishan was viciously cruel. Even if this man was now a Saint Venerable, with so many of them attacking together, they were certain to cut him down!
Following the lead warrior’s harsh shout, nearly a hundred sharpened long sabers simultaneously launched a deadly siege upon Xiong Kaishan!
Just then, the tribulation clouds in the sky finally gathered completely. The Thunder Tribulation was about to begin. A sudden, jarring clap of thunder echoed, and a bolt of lightning as thick as a bowl crashed straight down! The Heavenly Tribulation following the Bear King’s breakthrough had arrived at this life-threatening moment!
What was even more severe was that Xiong Kaishan was now completely devoid of consciousness.
As for the Heavenly Tribulation, he hadn't given it a single thought; the Bear King didn't even realize the sudden surge of power within him was due to a mid-battle breakthrough. All he knew was that having power was good, and with this new power, he could smash these bastards one by one! Vengeance for the Bear Saint Venerable!
Vengeance for the Eight Saint Venerables!
“Aaaah…” With a piercing shriek, Xiong Kaishan charged into the formation of the Mad Blade Earth Ninjas like an unstoppable whirlwind, caring nothing for himself, pushing forward instead of defending! His eyes wide with rage, the serrated great-saber in his hand transformed into a raging dragon churning the rivers and seas!
The deadly lightning descended from above, but because Xiong Kaishan’s body was moving at high speed, and perhaps because the crowd around the Bear King was too dense, that bolt of lightning, with a sharp crack, struck directly into the back of one of the Mad Blade Earth Ninjas!