Chapter 270: Sacred Beast Descends, Exposed

When the Bai Hu clan's high priest, Bai Bai Xuanli, finished reciting the ritual text, the sky above the entire Bai Hu clan instantly darkened and churned.

The spectral image of the Bai Hu above the plaza suddenly opened its eyes.

Two pale golden vertical pupils stretched across the heavens, gazing down upon all things, as a powerful aura crushed down like a tidal wave.

This was not a spectral image summoned by Bai Hu cultivators—it was a true fragment of the ancient sacred beast's will descending.

"Boom!"

A muffled rumble echoed from the deepest reaches of the Geng Metal Ancestral Vein, causing the entire mountain range to tremble slightly.

The mountain body itself began to glow faintly, as countless pure Geng Metal energies surged forth, forming golden streams that flowed into ancient patterns etched into the plaza's ground.

Ten thousand demons on the plaza knelt to the ground; Su Chen followed suit.

High Priest Bai Bai Xuanli raised his staff high, his gaunt face flushed with fanaticism.

"Sacred Ancestor—bestow your grace!"

The Bai Hu specter above opened its mouth, unleashing a silent roar that swept across all directions.

The next instant, golden rain poured down from its mouth, blanketing the entire plaza.

The golden rain fell upon the bodies of the demonic clans present.

Bai Kui beside Su Chen erupted in brilliant white-gold light; he let out a low, blissful moan, his understanding of the Geng Metal Principle advancing at that very moment.

Demons from the outer edges of the plaza, who had traveled from afar, were also bathed in the golden rain.

Demons practicing Geng Metal cultivation techniques benefited most; many low-rank cultivators shattered their bottlenecks on the spot, their cultivation bases surging upward.

Several Bai Hu demon kings saw ancient tiger patterns emerge across their bodies; long-dormant primordial bloodline marks were activated by the sacred beast's power, propelling their cultivation across multiple sub-realm thresholds.

Throughout the plaza, breakthrough auras rose and fell like fireworks bursting in the night sky.

Su Chen knelt on the ground as the golden rain fell upon him.

He was not a demon, yet he still reaped benefits from this golden rain.

His Primordial Golden Core, the instant it sensed this purest form of Geng Metal Principle energy, behaved like a glutton spotting a feast, spinning wildly within his dantian.

Before Su Chen could suppress it, the Geng Metal Principle within the golden rain was swallowed whole by his Golden Core like a whale devouring the sea.

"Stop! Stop it now!" Su Chen cursed inwardly, desperately restraining the core's absorption speed.

The Primordial Golden Core's hunger for Geng Metal energy far exceeded his expectations.

With one of the Five Elements missing, the Primordial Golden Core spontaneously sought to fill this void.

All he could do was slow the absorption rate, preventing it from becoming too conspicuous.

Yet even with his suppression, his performance still stood out among the crowd.

Within a radius of dozens of zhang centered on him, the golden rain visibly tilted and converged toward him.

Bai Kui was the first to notice the anomaly; he opened one eye and glanced at Su Chen.

"Brother Chitong, you…"

He thought he might have misseen.

How could a late Heavenly Immortal-level tiger demon absorb the Sacred Ancestor's grace faster than he, an Arcane Immortal?

But Bai Kui had noticed.

On the plaza, more and more eyes turned toward Su Chen's direction.

Because a visible vortex of golden rain was forming there.

Seeing this, Su Chen immediately channeled his cultivation technique, attempting to forcibly suppress the wild Primordial Golden Core within him.

He did not want to draw the attention of the Bai Hu clan's high-ranking elders over this minor boon.

But at that moment, the Bai Hu specter high above slowly turned its two golden vertical pupils.

Wherever its gaze passed, every demon felt a primal tremor deep within their bloodlines, instinctively lowering their heads.

The sacred beast's gaze swept across the Bai Hu clan's core region, then the outer circle of pilgrim demons—and finally, it stopped.

It stopped on Su Chen.

The two golden vertical pupils fixed upon Su Chen, unmoving.

Among the ten thousand demons, someone gasped in shock.

On the altar, Bai Bai Diyuan's gaze turned toward him. High Priest Bai Bai Xuanli's staff paused mid-motion.

Su Chen felt the gaze of the Bai Hu sacred beast's manifestation.

It was not the Bai Hu's own will, but more like an instinct engraved into the laws of heaven and earth.

It had sensed the Primordial Golden Core within Su Chen.

No—more accurately, it sensed the core's near-frenzied hunger for Geng Metal Principle from the other four elemental sources within it.

Su Chen's heart sank to the bottom of his chest; the instant he felt that gaze, he lost all control over the Primordial Golden Core.

After gazing at Su Chen for a moment, the Bai Hu manifestation opened its massive mouth and precisely dropped a single thread of Geng Metal essence—ten times denser than the golden rain—onto Su Chen's crown.

"Hum!" The Primordial Golden Core shuddered violently.

The instant the essence entered his body, Su Chen felt a faint golden pattern flash across the surface of his Golden Core and vanish.

Although far from fully completing the Geng Metal element, the quality of this essence was so high that it immediately formed the prototype of his Geng Metal Dao foundation.

The plaza erupted in uproar.

Ten thousand demons stared at the golden light settling on Su Chen, their eyes filled with shock and envy.

"Sacred Ancestor bestows grace! Sacred Ancestor grants a unique gift!"

Many Bai Hu cultivators murmured, their gazes toward Su Chen now complex.

After bestowing that essence, the Bai Hu's will slowly closed its eyes, its glow dimming until it vanished into the horizon.

The ritual was over.

Su Chen slowly lifted his head, his face wearing the perfect expression of fear and stunned gratitude.

But he knew clearly: the Bai Hu sacred beast's gaze was far more than mere "blessing."

It had seen through his difference—and instead of exposing him, it had gifted him a great boon.

What did this mean? He had not yet figured it out when a voice sounded in his ear.

"Chitong?"

Su Chen turned and saw Bai Ling standing behind him, her expression strange, flanked by two Bai Hu clan guards of Jin Jin Xian realm.

"The clan chief requests your presence," Bai Ling said politely, yet the two Jin Jin Xian guards stood to his left and right, blocking every escape route.

"He asks you to join him in the Sacred Hall."

Beside him, Bai Kui opened his mouth but said nothing, only gazing at Su Chen with an expression that said, "Brother, good luck."

Su Chen stood, smiling.

"An honor."

He followed Bai Ling through the plaza toward the Bai Hu Sacred Hall.

The two massive white-gold doors slowly opened before him.

Inside, Bai Bai Diyuan stood before a towering Bai Hu sacred statue, his pale golden vertical pupils fixed on him.

His gaze was calm, yet it sent a chill down Su Chen's spine.

Beside Bai Bai Diyuan, High Priest Bai Bai Xuanli's tiger-bone staff was pointed directly at him.

At its tip, a faint divine light swirled endlessly, like an open eye scrutinizing every detail of Su Chen.

Bai Bai Diyuan spoke, his tone gentle: "You do not appear to be of the Tiger Clan. What is your purpose in infiltrating our Bai Hu clan?"

Upon Bai Bai Diyuan's words, every Bai Hu cultivator in the hall turned to stare at Su Chen.

Though Su Chen's face still wore a smile, his right hand had quietly slipped into his sleeve, retrieving the jade talisman left to him by Chang Xi.