On the street below the tavern, many pedestrians were also murmuring amongst themselves.

"Judging by the sound, it came from the north. And it must be dozens of li away," Ma Jinshao stated. Teng Qingshan glanced at him. "This Ma Jinshao, his six senses are incredibly sharp, managing to discern that clearly. That’s extremely rare among Houtian experts." If an explosion occurred too far away,

the sound would generate numerous echoes upon reaching distant locations, making it difficult to pinpoint the direction.

However, since the sound seemed to originate from a high altitude, the echoes were few, allowing Ma Jinshao to make the identification.

"Dozens of li to the north?" Heizi exclaimed, "Doesn't that mean somewhere near Mount Xiaoyao?"

"Mount Xiaoyao is just a few li north of the city, indeed several dozen li from our city center. But that's the stronghold of the Xiaoyao Palace! Who dares to poke the tiger's backside, who dares to provoke the Xiaoyao Palace?" Old Zhang gasped. Ma Jinshao narrowed his eyes and let out a cold chuckle, "The Xiaoyao Palace is one of the Eight Great Sects of the Nine Provinces continent, controlling hundreds of millions of people, with a regular martial artist army nearing a million, and the elite 'Divine Guard Army' boasting eighty thousand soldiers! Who would dare provoke them?"

Teng Qingshan, however, sensed...

that Ma Jinshao's tone was slightly off.

"No one dares to provoke the Xiaoyao Palace, true. But that explosion just now..." Old Zhang shook his head, not understanding.

Teng Qingshan suspected internally: "Such a powerful explosion... even a Xiantian Golden Core expert couldn't achieve this, unless it was the sound of tens of thousands of people exploding simultaneously. Another possibility... the presence of a Void Realm expert causing such a spectacle!" Teng Qingshan was well aware of the terrifying might of Void Realm powerhouses.

"Never mind that, let's eat and drink first," Old Zhang smiled and urged them back.

The group returned to their table, only the intensely curious Xiao He pressing his face against the window, peering outside.

Suddenly—

The door to the private room opened, and the waiter brought in a large basin of steaming eel soup.

"Master Zhang, the soup is here. All your dishes are served now. Is there anything else you require?" the waiter asked respectfully.

Old Zhang frowned, "Waiter, what was that explosion just now? It sounded quite far away, yet we felt the tremor even here."

"Master Zhang, you must have just returned to the Prefecture City from doing business, right?" The waiter chuckled.

"That's right." Old Zhang was surprised, "You know about it?"

"Of course I know! By now, perhaps no one in our Prefecture City is unaware of this matter," the waiter’s eyes lit up with excitement. Old Zhang immediately offered him a stool, "Sit down and tell me what exactly happened?" The others all pricked up their ears to listen intently.

Teng Qingshan also focused on the waiter.

"To speak of this explosion, we have to go back half a month ago!" the waiter began, "That day, it was also around noon, and I was busy serving guests. But suddenly—Boom!—just like today. It made the entire tavern tremble slightly. Back then, we were busy with business and didn't pay much attention. I just assumed it was an explosion somewhere nearby."

"But when evening came, I spoke with some acquaintances and learned the truth. That explosion at noon was heard by everyone in the entire Prefecture City! At the time, I thought, everyone heard it—where on earth did it explode?"

"Later, word came from the direction of Mount Xiaoyao. Mountain villagers living at the foot of Mount Xiaoyao personally witnessed... a bolt of lightning at least as thick as a waist striking Mount Xiaoyao!"

Teng Qingshan was secretly startled, while Old Zhang and the others gasped in shock. However, Teng Qingshan didn't quite believe the description of 'waist-thick.'

When lightning strikes from a distance,

if it appears waist-thick, upon closer inspection, it would likely be even thicker.

"Has the Xiaoyao Palace offended the Heavens? Is Heaven striking them down with lightning?" Old Zhang exclaimed.

"Struck by lightning? Damn, how massive must that lightning have been for us to hear it so clearly from here," Heizi marveled, while the young child Tan He widened his eyes in utter astonishment.

The waiter continued animatedly, "Master Zhang, listen to what happened next! About ten days after that explosion, it happened again at noon—another boom. This time... quite a few villagers living at the foot of Mount Xiaoyao watched closely. Some only saw a very thick bolt of lightning strike the mountain, and many people in the Xiaoyao Palace died. But some people also saw... the source releasing the lightning was a terrifying monster. Do you know what that monster was?"

Teng Qingshan and the others stared at the waiter.

The waiter then proudly began slowly, "That monster was a Divine Eagle!"

"A Divine Eagle!"

Old Zhang and the others were stunned dumbfounded—a Divine Eagle releasing lightning?

Teng Qingshan knew this wasn't strange. There were countless monstrous beasts in the world: those that could spew fire, breathe cold air, spray venom, or even expel lightning from their mouths. But the power displayed was excessively exaggerated.

"According to those who saw it, the Divine Eagle was deep within the clouds and mist, extremely, extremely high up. They could still see it with the naked eye. They estimated... if this Divine Eagle landed on the ground, it would be at least the size of a house!" the waiter exclaimed, "Tell me, a Divine Eagle the size of a house that can spew lightning that thick—isn't that a monster?" The waiter spoke with extreme excitement.

As a low-status waiter, being able to hold the floor in front of a group of wealthy merchants gave him bragging rights for the future.

"Why would that Divine Eagle specifically strike the Xiaoyao Palace?" Old Zhang wondered.

"Old Zhang, I think the Xiaoyao Palace must have committed some grave sin to provoke Heaven into sending this Divine Eagle to strike them a few times," Heizi chuckled. These ordinary merchants knew very little about monstrous beasts. They only knew there were some formidable monsters and beasts on the land.

But one that could spew lightning and furiously strike the Xiaoyao Palace was beyond their comprehension.

"How strange," Old Zhang muttered. "The Xiaoyao Palace is one of the Eight Great Sects, filled with masters and powerful Xiantian experts. Why didn't those Xiantian experts go kill that Divine Eagle? Did they just let the Divine Eagle strike their Xiaoyao Palace?"

These commoners only knew of the legendary 'Xiantian' as the pinnacle of martial artists, assuming Xiantian experts could handle such monstrous beasts.

But Teng Qingshan clearly understood...

A monstrous beast capable of generating lightning of such magnitude might rival the terrifying flood dragon he saw in the Bihan Pond, the one with dragon claws and whiskers.

"Master Zhang, I heard that many people in the Xiaoyao Palace were killed by the lightning released by that Divine Eagle. It forced quite a few personnel from the entire Xiaoyao Palace to relocate to our Tiger Leap Prefecture City," the waiter revealed. "Many people personally saw large numbers of people descending Mount Xiaoyao and entering our Prefecture City. Luckily, they moved quickly; otherwise, today's lightning from the Divine Eagle might have killed even more people. This is the third time."

Old Zhang and the others listened, their excitement mounting.

The Eight Great Sects were beings seated on high pedestals.

Seeing these sects suffer setbacks made these ordinary people inwardly thrilled.

"There must be a Void Realm expert in the Xiaoyao Palace," Teng Qingshan mused. "But that Void Realm expert failed to kill the Divine Eagle. The Divine Eagle has unleashed lightning three times, bombarding the Xiaoyao Palace from start to finish! It's obvious... the Void Realm experts of the Xiaoyao Palace cannot deal with the Divine Eagle, or perhaps lack the ability to kill it!"

"Void Realm level monstrous beasts possess high intelligence. Why would this Divine Eagle release lightning to attack the Xiaoyao Palace?" Teng Qingshan was perplexed.

According to Teng Qingshan's knowledge...

Records about monstrous beasts in ancient texts referred to Void Realm level beasts as Divine Beasts! The most famous four Divine Beasts across the Nine Provinces continent were four Void Realm level beasts located in Rongzhou, Yuzhou, the Qinling Mountains of Yongzhou, and the Great Northern Grasslands, respectively.

The fame of these Four Great Divine Beasts was likely known to experts in some major sects.

And commoners living near the residences of these four Divine Beasts probably knew of them.

There might be far more than just four Void Realm level beasts in the world! But the most vicious were likely these four Divine Beasts. Because of their strong aggressive tendencies, these Four Great Divine Beasts frequently attacked humans. They would even establish territories, become extremely arrogant, and cause countless massacres... which is why their fame was so widespread.

Conversely, many Void Realm beasts hidden in various places remained unknown, like the Golden Tortoise!

And there would certainly be Void Realm beasts in the Savage Lands.

However, they were unknown within the Savage Lands.

Like the Golden Tortoise of Great Yan Mountain, or the 'Zixi' Flood Dragon that existed since the tribal era. These ones were willing to remain hidden, keeping their existence unknown to the surrounding humans.

...

Because Void Realm level beasts all possessed intelligence,

some disdained contact with humans, focusing wholeheartedly on comprehending the Heavenly Dao, aiming to break through the shackles of beast-hood and become an ultimate sovereign.

Others, however, enjoyed tormenting humans, and sometimes—eating them!

From the beasts' perspective, eating humans was no different than humans eating wild game.

"There is no Divine Eagle among the Four Great Divine Beasts! I never expected that, besides the Four Great Divine Beasts, there is another lightning-releasing Divine Eagle that enjoys attacking humans," Teng Qingshan thought to himself. "I have also seen the Golden Tortoise before. In the deep underwater passage of Bihan Pond, I also saw that flood dragon with two forked horns, dragon whiskers, and dragon claws... Both of these should also be Void Realm beasts. Including them, the Void Realm beasts I know of now total seven!"

"It seems the publicly revealed Void Realm beasts—the Four Great Divine Beasts—are only a small fraction of them. There must be many terrifying monstrous beasts lurking across the entire Nine Provinces continent!"

Teng Qingshan sighed inwardly.

"That's true. Monstrous beasts are incredibly diverse, and many possess high innate talent. Coupled with their long lifespans, the number of living Void Realm beasts could surpass the number of human Void Realm experts. It's not surprising."

If the opening of the Yu Emperor's Treasure hadn't occurred, perhaps no one would have imagined that the ordinary Great Yan Mountain harbored two terrifying Void Realm beasts, leading to heavy losses for the major sects, and Qinghu Island losing over ten thousand Silver Jiao Army soldiers at once.

"I wonder... how many powerful monstrous beasts are truly lurking across the Nine Provinces continent. Perhaps I might encounter a few on this journey," Teng Qingshan mused inwardly.

The Divine Eagle incident left everyone amazed and discussing it in hushed tones.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Teng Qingshan, Ma Jinshao, and the others were led by Old Zhang and Heizi to find lodging for themselves and their horses and cargo.