Chapter 80

"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? 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 into Luohe City."

…

When Ding Huan stepped out, 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; along the entire route from Luohe to Qianluo Mountain, all manner of beasts filled the land, still 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 true giant ape.

Even Ding Huan couldn't help but marvel: Qianluo Mountain really did produce all kinds of apes.

Lao Liu stood atop a massive stone; the moment it spotted Ding Huan approaching, it let out a cry—its way of greeting.

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

Ding Huan's reputation terrified it; after all, it was a Level Three beast, yet before Ding Huan, it felt utterly powerless to resist.

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 became a bloody mess, resembling a slaughterhouse.

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

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

Lao Liu understood Ding Huan's words; it 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 allow anyone to dictate terms 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 in terror.

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

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

Ding Huan, however, relaxed. He confirmed: these gene-beasts were not just slightly different from cultivators like him who trained through spiritual roots—they were not even on the same level.

When he was a Level One gene-cultivator, the difference was subtle; 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 take off 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.

"Thud!" 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 sprayed out, mixed with strands of fur, but it did not cleave the giant ape in two—not even a serious wound. Ding Huan was slightly startled.

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

The giant ape, enraged by the wind blade, 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 assumed 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 was embedded in the giant ape's waist, piercing straight through its heart; the other end of the spear 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 had no idea what was going on.

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

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

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

"Lao Liu, come here." Ding Huan beckoned 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 playthings 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.

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

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

"Looks like you've got a good relationship with Ah Huang," Ding Huan sneered at Lao Liu.

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

"Just now, was it the Great Ape bullying you? And then you secretly outwitted it?" Ding Huan turned to Da Huang Jin Yuan.

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

Da Huang Jin Yuan couldn't possibly forget something like that.

Indeed, Da Huang Jin Yuan nodded repeatedly; clearly, 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 Da Huang Jin Yuan could accomplish it.

After all, the Great Ape had previously commanded these ferocious beasts—and now that he'd killed it, who knew if Da Huang Jin Yuan could command the others?

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

"Aaang…" After the furious roar echoed out, Ding Huan heard ferocious beasts howling from the direction of Luohe.

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

Da Huang Jin Yuan continued roaring as the massive herd returned, surged past Ding Huan, and rushed into Qianluo Mountain.

"Heh, before, 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.

…

Along the Luohe ferocious beast defense wall, besides the garrison troops, reinforcements had already 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 captured from afar with a camera, this withdrawal looked exactly like a tidal ebb.

"What's going on?" The newly arrived garrison troops 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'd heard that even when crippled, the beasts wouldn't retreat—they'd just keep pouring in endlessly.

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

"It must be Instructor Ding Huan acting—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 Da Huang Jin Yuan, but asked Lao Liu.

Da Huang Jin Yuan still feared Ding Huan; earlier, when Lao Liu had been taken but 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 blade sever the Great Ape's head—it now questioned its own earlier assumptions.

Da Huang 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 demon beast emerged on Earth. It demanded all animal species obey it and jointly attack human cities.

The dog-ape listened to it and incited the ferocious beasts of Qianluo Mountain and its surroundings to act."

A Level Nine or higher demon beast?

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

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

In terms of tiers, he'd need Gene Foundation Establishment before he could confront a Level Nine or higher demon beast.

Now, facing a Level Nine or higher demon 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 demon beast?" Ding Huan's tone grew cautious; when his strength was insufficient, he must avoid such things—or it would be suicide.

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