Chapter 79

"It's Teacher Ding Huan—he left the city. He told me to hold off the beast counterattack and wait for him to return," Yi Yi Zhenjiang explained.

"Ding Huan? The Ding Huan from Yujiang University?" Xing Xing Baisen's eyes lit up immediately; Ding Huan was famously renowned.

"Yes, that's Teacher Ding Huan."

"He just told you to hold your ground and wait for him to come back?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Good. No wonder the Washing Knife Guild is gone." Xing Xing Baisen said. "Notify the entire unit: not a single beast from outside is allowed to enter Luohe City."

…

When Ding Huan emerged, he saw no powerful beasts; if he had encountered any gene-beasts above Level Three, he would have killed them on the spot before entering Qianluo Mountain.

Beasts below Level Three could be held back by Luohe's city defenses; those above Level Three were dangerous.

But since he saw no high-level beasts, Ding Huan found it even stranger.

Without high-level beasts, a beast tide could not occur.

Ding Huan rushed forward at full speed; from Luohe to Qianluo Mountain, the entire route was filled with all kinds of beasts, all frantically charging toward Heluo.

Ding Huan intended to go to the lair of the Great Wild Jin Yuan; in his mind, even if this beast tide had nothing to do with the Great Wild Jin Yuan, the Great Wild Jin Yuan would surely know.

But Ding Huan had only traveled halfway when he stopped.

Because he saw the Great Wild Jin Yuan—and beside it, Lao Liu, and another giant ape standing five meters tall.

This must be the real giant ape.

Even Ding Huan couldn't help but marvel: Qianluo Mountain truly produced all kinds of apes.

Lao Liu stood atop a massive rock; the moment it spotted Ding Huan approaching, it let out a cry as a greeting.

The Great Wild Jin Yuan also saw Ding Huan and instinctively stepped back.

Ding Huan's reputation terrified it; despite being a Level Three beast, it felt utterly powerless before him.

The giant ape, upon seeing Ding Huan, roared in fury, and immediately over a thousand beasts charged toward Ding Huan.

Ding Huan raised his hand and unleashed a wall of wind blades; rows of beasts were sliced cleanly in half. The ground turned bloody, resembling a slaughterhouse.

"Lao Liu, make this thing stop—or I'll kill it next," Ding Huan realized the giant ape was a Level Four beast.

He hadn't expected a Level Four beast to emerge from Qianluo Mountain.

Lao Liu understood Ding Huan's words and immediately roared loudly at the giant ape.

This action clearly enraged the giant ape.

Though the giant ape had been startled by Ding Huan's earlier display, it would never tolerate someone giving orders on its territory.

In its eyes, Qianluo Mountain—including Luohe City—was its domain.

It swung a punch at Lao Liu, who was blasted backward.

The giant ape ignored Lao Liu and turned straight toward Ding Huan.

Its furious aura churned the air around it, locking the entire space Ding Huan occupied.

Ding Huan, however, relaxed. He confirmed: these gene-beasts were not merely different from cultivators like him who trained through spiritual roots—they were on an entirely different level.

When he was a Level One gene-cultivator, the difference wasn't obvious; the higher his cultivation, the wider the gap became.

The giant ape looked ferocious, but in Ding Huan's eyes, it posed no real threat.

Ding Huan didn't even remove his pack; the giant ape's attempt to lock his space was laughably inadequate.

With his spiritual sense, Ding Huan instantly located the flaw in the giant ape's spatial lock, stepped forward, and simultaneously slashed a wind blade sideways at the giant ape.

Using aura to lock space only worked against opponents weaker than itself.

"Boom!" A sound like leather being struck rang out; Ding Huan saw the wind blade had merely carved a deep gash across the giant ape's back.

Blood and fur sprayed out, but the blade did not split the giant ape in two—not even a serious wound. It left Ding Huan surprised.

How could its hide be this thick? His wind blade wasn't his full power, but it could slice through ordinary iron—how could it not pierce this giant ape's body?

Enraged by the wind blade, the giant ape roared again and charged at Ding Huan once more.

Ding Huan realized he needed a more powerful weapon; with one, he could have spilled hundreds of jin of blood from this giant ape.

Ding Huan gathered his true energy; this time, he aimed a devastating strike at the giant ape's neck.

The neck was the softest spot; the giant ape surely believed that under its aura pressure, Ding Huan couldn't reach its nearly five-meter-tall neck.

But Ding Huan had spiritual sense—the giant ape's aura pressure was riddled with flaws beneath his perception.

Other Level Four gene-cultivators couldn't leap up under such pressure; Ding Huan could leap effortlessly and strike the giant ape's neck.

A piercing scream startled Ding Huan, who had already prepared his killing move—he hadn't even moved yet when he saw the giant ape collapse, its own attack never even launched.

A spear jutted from the giant ape's waist, deeply embedded in its heart; the other end was still clutched in the Great Wild Jin Yuan's hand.

The Great Wild Jin Yuan had helped him instead of the giant ape? Ding Huan couldn't understand this situation at all.

The spear had struck the giant ape's vital point; it lay on the ground, glaring at the Great Wild Jin Yuan with furious disbelief.

Even though Ding Huan didn't understand the giant ape's words, he felt its meaning clearly: You, you old Lao Liu, how dare you help a human ambush me?

Ding Huan instinctively glanced at the real Lao Liu and saw its smug expression—he suspected the Great Wild Jin Yuan had been incited by Lao Liu again.

"Lao Liu, come here," Ding Huan gestured with a finger, then fired another wind blade.

This time, the giant ape couldn't block the wind blade; it sliced through its head like cutting tofu.

Seeing Ding Huan sever the giant ape's head with a single wind blade, Lao Liu shuddered.

These creatures, once mere toys in its eyes, now terrified it.

"Was it you who incited the Great Wild Jin Yuan to attack?" Ding Huan said, then pulled out paper and pen and tossed them to Lao Liu.

Lao Liu hastily wrote: "No, definitely not.

This dog-ape wanted to enslave Ah Huang. Ah Huang's bloodline is noble—how could it submit to such a bumpkin's enslavement? Ah Huang refused, so it forced Ah Huang to come along.

Just now, when Ah Huang saw you teaching this dog-ape a lesson, it seized the chance to take revenge."

"Looks like you're on good terms with Ah Huang," Ding Huan sneered at Lao Liu.

You're already calling him Ah Huang—how could your relationship be ordinary?

"Just now, did the Great Ape bully you? And then you secretly outwitted the Great Ape?" Ding Huan looked at the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan.

He believed this explanation was correct—he had previously threatened the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan, warning it not to go into human cities to die.

The Great Wilderness Jin Yuan couldn't possibly forget something like that.

Indeed, the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan nodded repeatedly; it seemed Lao Liu was right—the Great Ape had bullied it, demanding submission, which it naturally refused.

"Good. I believe you have a way to issue orders—command all the ferocious beasts attacking Luohe to return to Qianluo Mountain," Ding Huan said.

He said this, but inside he was still uncertain whether the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan could accomplish it.

After all, the Great Ape had previously commanded these ferocious beasts; the Great Ape was killed by him—who knew if the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan could command the others?

To Ding Huan's surprise, the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan, upon hearing his words, immediately stood atop the boulder and roared to the sky,

"Aaaang…" After the furious roar echoed out, Ding Huan heard the roars of various ferocious beasts coming from the direction of Luohe.

In just a short time, Ding Huan saw crowds of ferocious beasts charging toward them.

The Great Wilderness Jin Yuan continued roaring; the large group of ferocious beasts rushed back, then passed Ding Huan and charged into Qianluo Mountain.

"Heh heh, that dog Ape forcibly made Ah Huang its top subordinate, but now that the dog Ape is dead, Ah Huang has the right to become the Beast King here," Lao Liu wrote again.

…

On the Luohe ferocious beast defense wall, besides the garrison troops, reinforcements had also arrived at the city walls.

Moreover, relevant departments began organizing civilian evacuations.

Based on experience, these ferocious beasts fear no death; once a beast tide is launched, they will inevitably break through.

Not every place has the terrifying defensive capability of the Human Corridor Line—indeed, even the Human Corridor Line's defenses were eventually breached, weren't they?

At this moment, the ferocious beasts that had been charging the walls without regard for their lives suddenly withdrew like a tide.

If recorded from afar with a camera, this withdrawal resembled a tidal ebb.

"What's going on?" The newly arrived reinforcements stared in confusion at the retreating beasts; one company commander asked in bewilderment.

Over the years, they had fought ferocious beasts countless times; almost never did the beasts retreat unless they were crippled.

Recently they had heard that even when crippled, the beasts would not retreat—they would simply be endlessly replenished.

Now, with the ferocious beasts holding absolute advantage, they withdrew on a whim—hard to believe.

"It must be Instructor Ding Huan who acted—he went to Qianluo Mountain," Yi Yi Zhenjiang exclaimed, his admiration for Ding Huan running bone-deep.

"Even if Ding Huan is powerful, he's still just one man—how could he make so many ferocious beasts retreat?" The company commander naturally didn't believe it.

Xing Xing Baisen laughed heartily, "It's simple—we just wait here. When Ding Huan left, he told us he'd return."

…

"Tell me, why did the Great Ape launch the beast tide?" Ding Huan gestured to the Great Wilderness Jin Yuan, but asked Lao Liu.

The Great Wilderness Jin Yuan still feared Ding Huan; earlier, when Lao Liu was taken away and not killed, it had sensed Ding Huan might not enjoy killing.

Today it had seen Ding Huan's wind blades casually slaughter hundreds of ferocious beasts, and one wind blade sever the Great Ape's head—it now questioned its own earlier assumptions.

The Great Wilderness Jin Yuan knew it couldn't escape Ding Huan; now that Ding Huan had beckoned, it simply walked over.

Lao Liu quickly wrote: "A Level Nine or higher great beast emerged on Earth. It demanded all animal life obey it and jointly attack human cities.

The dog Ape obeyed it, then incited the ferocious beasts of Qianluo Mountain and its surroundings to act."

A Level Nine or higher great beast?

Ding Huan's heart jolted—he would never confuse great beasts with ferocious beasts. Lao Liu, of course, also knew the distinction between great beasts and ferocious beasts.

A Level Nine or higher ferocious beast would be far stronger than him.

In terms of tiers, he needed Gene Foundation Establishment before he could oppose a Level Nine or higher great beast.

Now, facing a Level Nine or higher great beast, he had only one path: death.

No wonder the Human Corridor Line was breached—when such a powerful entity emerged, it was strange if it wasn't breached.

"Where is this great beast?" Ding Huan's tone grew cautious; when his strength was insufficient, he must avoid such things—or he'd be walking into death.