The Two-Headed Lioness struck ferociously without stopping. The Rhino King could only focus on its formidable defense, but the enemy's tail still managed to pierce it and its claws left huge deep marks.

In a few bouts, the Rhino King's longhorns already cracked and its armor took heavy damage. Lin Qiang and the rest shivered. The Queen's prowess was beyond expectations.

Ming Ren focused on the formation, thinking on how to open it quickly using the damaged spots as weaknesses. The grade of this formation could be said to be at the peak of the Lower Realms, and it even mixed several arrays and mechanisms. Whoever created it certainly could be called an extreme expert.

But in front of Ming Ren, it was still nothing. How many formations did he study inside the Bright Scripture?

How many arrays did he set up with a higher grade than this one?

How many did he break and tear apart just out of curiosity?

Formations had rules. Many depended on a determined mystic sequence to maintain power. Others on specific catalysts and materials. Every single formation had a source of power, and this one drew it primarily from a natural [Spirit Gathering Formation] but had a secondary mechanism that sucked energy directly from High-grade Spirit Stones. Even if it took some damage or the Spirit Gathering stopped, it would still be able to work for a long time.

No matter what, in a perfect state, Ming Ren would take a lot longer to be able to bypass it. There was even a chance he would overlook this formation's existence in the first place.

In a few breaths, the Rhino King had sustained severe damage, completely dominated by the Lioness. The Queen finally roared and tore its enemy's armored body apart, piece by piece, crushing armor like glass. Even Ming Ren didn't expect her to be this powerful. No wonder Red Leg died instantly and so many proud beasts submitted without question.

However, it didn't matter anymore. Ming Ren had finished finding what he wanted, a weak spot in a vital point of the formation. As long as he hit that spot with enough precision and power the formation would open, at least temporarily. He didn't know exactly what rested inside, but his Soul resonated somewhere in there. Staying in front of the Queen was not an option, he could only gamble on luck.

Even if one had peerless talent, he had to have luck as well.

After tearing the Rhino King apart and becoming the ruler of yet another territory, the Two-Headed Lioness glared at Ming Ren furiously. It had already engraved his face into memory!

But before it could rush forward, Ming Ren took out the First Rank sword and concentrated with all his might. Lin Yin had goosebumps. The aura around Ming Ren looked capable of cutting anything in half, a true swordmaster's aura, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

From all the weapons he was proficient with, Ming Ren liked swords the most. He instantly ignited his Life Essence, turning it into extra Spirit Energy and revolving his Cultivation Law to the extreme. At the same time, Dragon Light Divine Body activated to its limits, and Ming Ren's might reached its apex. With a single thrust, space itself seemed to be pierced.

Obviously, it was only Lin Yin's perception. The real strike was powerful, but nothing that could tear down space!

The hidden formation itself trembled. A small gap started opening until it became the size of an adult. Lin Qiang and the rest didn't think twice and jumped in. Anything would probably be better than facing that Queen.

Ming Ren looked at the Queen before going in. Somehow he got the feeling that, no matter what, it wasn't willing to go in there. In fact, it somehow looked at him with pity.

Yet he had no other choice, and decisively jumped inside.

The Queen stood there without moving. It gave orders for the rest of the Spirit Beasts to keep hunting the human cultivators around but stayed there motionless for a while.

**

The group got a feeling they crossed into another world. The air itself seemed much heavier and harder to breathe. Their bodies sensed an extreme pressure as if a whole mountain weighed upon them. They felt full of vigor but at the same time completely unable to absorb the Spirit Energy in the air due to its concentration.

The whole place was filled to the brim with a very pure Spirit Energy!

All around, there was no beginning and no end to the clearing. When they walked it seemed that it extended to the infinite. Before any of them could say anything, they felt as if their souls threatened to leave their bodies. An intense pressure from the world hit heavily. Without any pain, Lin Qiang and the rest fell unconscious one by one.

A translucent veil clouded figured stood in the middle of that mysterious place, its real form unknown. Only hundred-veiled eyes could be seen.

"Unlucky things you all are, to have trespassed into this one's home by bad luck. Curse the heavens you c- huh?" Its hundred veiled eyes fixed on a heroic bearing youth, standing in front of the unconscious group with unwavering eyes and determination. The youth bore no hostility nor any disdain, was neither overbearing nor servile.

He stood there, both hands behind his back, then bowed, "Greetings, Senior. We have trespassed into your territory, but kindly ask Senior to forgive us."

The veiled figure, for the first time in thousands of years, was at a loss of words. That small human looked no older than one and a half decades, cultivation base merely at the fifth layer of the small Body Tempering Realm, but not only withstood his [Soul Attack] but also didn't lose composure even after noticing its existence.

Even if obscured, the mere sight of it was capable of completely eliminating someone's Soul.

Humans would tremble uncontrollably and wish they were dead. His pride now was even a little hurt.

Curiosity struck the veiled figured, and its hundred veiled eyes brimmed with a mysterious power, far beyond mere Spirit Energy. Ming Ren's body and soul seemed to have no secrets before it.

"...Anything! H-how is this possible?" That ancient figure looked extremely shocked behind its veil, "You.. what are you?"

The hundred-eyed figure knew Ming Ren's body stopped in time until a while ago, as it was able to sense the space power's vestige on him. Not only that, but he carried two powerful bloodlines and a greatly strengthened and familiar unique soul, 'I thought I sensed [Soul Resonance] before. Unexpectedly, it was this youth!'

"....?" Ming Ren looked at a loss, "Senior..? Is something wrong?"

Even if he couldn't see the figure's true form through the translucent veil, Ming Ren understood it was an existence far beyond anything that should exist in the Lower Realms. He barely withstood the Soul Attack earlier, even with his strengthened soul and mind.

The veiled figure stared at Ming Ren, "Your body holds many secrets."

Ming Ren was a bit worried but there was nothing he could do. A mere blink of that figure's eye would completely wipe out everyone there. Even if he sacrificed himself and used a desperate Soul Attack it would not be enough, so he said truthfully, "I have obtained an opportunity from an Upper Realm Artifact, but I ask Senior to be magnanimous and let us go."

"Snort, small and worthless humans, if I wanted you dead, you would be dead!"

"I thank senior for the kindness!" Ming Ren clasped his hands.

"Boy, aren't you something? With a body like that and even able to control yourself to this extent,' the veiled figure seemed to smile.

Truth be told, Ming Ren's body hurt like hell. He took some damage when taming all those Spirit Beasts in a hurry, then got hurt fighting and luring the Rhino King to the extent his chest was still cut open. But the true pain was not only because of those physical wounds.

Using [Flash Step] repeatedly took its toll. In order to achieve speed superior to what his current body was capable of, Ming Ren constantly revolved his One Breath Luminescence Art to the maximum, together with his Dragon Light Divine Body Physique. Even for short bursts, the pressure on the body was enough to cause a lot of damage.

After all that, he even burnt his life essence to open the formation. While he stood there tall and proudly, his body was a complete mess.

"Heh, as expected, I can't fool senior's eyes!" Ming Ren let himself fall to the ground, sitting cross-legged and reaching into his Spatial Ring looking for the pills he took from the fallen cultivator's things. Although low-grade, they would still help a lot with his healing.

The more the figure stared at him, the more familiar Ming Ren became, as if they knew each other since a long time ago.

The youth also felt the same. Eventually, he couldn't resist and asked the figure, "Senior, have we met before..? Somehow I got the feeling that we're really good friends."

The veiled figure burst into a high pitched scandalous laughter. He couldn't help it. He existed for so many years, struck terror into humans and non-humans alike, cut to kill many powerful existences, but no one ever said that that they felt like good friends.

Ming Ren felt a little ashamed of his childishness.

"It's no wonder you feel like that. After all, you have an [Inborn Ancient Spirit Beast Soul]!" The powerful voice fell and Ming Ren's body trembled viciously once again.

[Inborn Ancient Spirit Beast Soul]!