Chapter 3674 — The King of Spirit Beasts

"Uh..." Wei Zhao was stunned. What kind of place was Nakajima? It was the mightiest of the five Cloud-Tier Islands. Even if the deputy island master's strength fell short of the island master's, to be killed in a single blow—that was truly...

"As for where they came from, no one knows, because nobody on the island has ever seen them! I only heard one of them call the other 'uncle,' so the two are probably related!" said Ghost Thing. (To learn the identities of these two, one may read *Faint Light of Old Dreams.)

"Uncle? Related?" Wei Zhao was all the more baffled. But since even Ghost Thing didn't know the answer, he naturally had no way of finding out either.

Ghost Thing went on: "After the King of Spirit Beasts vanished, the Spirit Beast Clan—once as solid as an iron plate under his suppression—began to fracture bit by bit. The several elders each went their own way, ambitious to become the new King of Spirit Beasts."

This much was not hard to understand. Any top-tier expert was bound to harbor ambitions of his own; while the King of Spirit Beasts was present, they had not dared to show it, but once that overbearing presence was gone from above their heads, ambition woke in them as naturally as instinct.

After all, how could anyone with the strength to contend for the highest seat be content to live beneath another?

"The several elders are all roughly matched in strength, and none will submit to another, so they've split into several factions, each carving out its own territory on South Island! As things stand, with internal division gnawing from within and so many human sects eyeing them like tigers from without, the Spirit Beast Clan will inevitably fall apart at this rate. This old man has thought it over, and I fear the key to breaking this deadlock still lies with the King of Spirit Beasts himself," Ghost Thing said slowly.

"The King of Spirit Beasts? But hasn't he already vanished?" Wei Zhao said in surprise.

Ghost Thing shook his head. "That's right. The King of Spirit Beasts did indeed vanish, but he once left a bloodline behind in the mortal world. All we need do is find his descendant and find a way to awaken the power of that bloodline—then that descendant can become the new King of Spirit Beasts and command the entire Spirit Beast Clan!"

"That... is that even possible?"

Wei Zhao felt Ghost Thing's plan was somewhat wishful thinking. "Even if you, Senior, find the King of Spirit Beasts' descendant, he was born in the mortal world after all. Even if there's a way to awaken his bloodline, his strength couldn't possibly be directly on par with the King of Spirit Beasts, could it? And if his strength won't do—how could he ever make these ambitious spirit beast elders submit?"

This sort of scenario was just like what happened in dynasty after dynasty of Huaxia, when the emperor died and the regent ministers installed a child emperor: even if everyone openly acknowledged the little emperor's status, in truth the power remained in the hands of those regent ministers, and the little emperor was nothing but a puppet to be pushed around.

And in Wei Zhao's view, without sufficient strength, even if Ghost Thing found the King of Spirit Beasts' descendant, in the end the fellow likely wouldn't even manage to be a puppet emperor.

Because there was every chance these spirit beast elders simply wouldn't acknowledge his status at all—and as for commanding the Spirit Beast Clan, that was even further out of the question.

"That's where you're ignorant. Between spirit beasts there's a hierarchy of suppression—you must have heard of that before, boy?" Ghost Thing answered a question with a question.

Wei Zhao nodded. "I've heard a little. They say that between one spirit beast and another, beyond mere strength, there's an innate hierarchy of suppression—each tier suppressing the one below, and no one ever speaks of fighting across tiers."

"Precisely. Only between spirit beasts of the same tier does strength decide who's stronger and who's weaker. Otherwise, there's no need to fight at all—the lower-tier spirit beast will already be cowering in fear on its own."

Ghost Thing paused, then added: "But that rule applies only to spirit beasts below the Heavenly Dao. Once a spirit beast's strength grows to the Heavenly Dao—that is, above the Foundation Establishment stage—and it possesses exceptionally high intelligence, it can break through this hierarchy of suppression. In other words, even a spirit beast born to a lower tier, so long as its strength is great enough, can still slay a higher-tier spirit beast weaker than itself."

Take the several powerful spirit beasts Wei Zhao had encountered before: the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle was innately of a higher tier than the Nine-Tailed Cloud-Piercing Leopard, and generally speaking, its strength would also be far greater than the leopard's.

But one had to understand that even a mighty spirit beast like the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle was not born with the formidable strength of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. In its fledgling period, its strength might be merely Earth-tier or even lower. At such a time, if it encountered a Nine-Tailed Cloud-Piercing Leopard below the Heaven-tier Great Perfection, then even if its true combat power exceeded the other's, the leopard could still rely on its innate spirit beast aura to frighten it into retreat.

But if both had broken through to the Heavenly Dao and reached adulthood—suppose the Nine-Tailed Cloud-Piercing Leopard possessed strength at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, while the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle had the slightly lesser strength of the early Foundation Establishment stage—then the leopard's spirit beast aura would no longer be of any use, and the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle could rely on its formidable strength to turn the tables and kill it.

"But doesn't that make the King of Spirit Beasts' descendant even more useless? Since the hierarchy of suppression only works below the Heavenly Dao, those powerful spirit beast elders wouldn't need to give a damn about him at all, would they?" Wei Zhao was all the more bewildered after hearing this explanation.

"No. This rule of hierarchical suppression I've told you about applies to all spirit beasts—but the King of Spirit Beasts is the sole exception. He is a being who stands above all rules; his bloodline is innately that of the king among spirit beasts!" Into Ghost Thing's flat tone there suddenly crept a note of fervor and awe.

"Above all rules—an innately born king?" Wei Zhao's heart quivered.

"His bloodline innately overwhelms every spirit beast. Even mighty spirit beasts above the Heavenly Dao stage—even we elders—before his bloodline, have no choice but to bow and submit. So as long as we can find his descendant and awaken the bloodline, then even the weakest Yellow-tier spirit beast could suppress the entire Spirit Beast Clan and leave no one harboring any disloyal thoughts!" Ghost Thing said excitedly.

"That... that's really something else!" Wei Zhao could not help gaping.

Strong or weak, it overwhelmed every spirit beast!

This absurd hierarchy of suppression—it was practically like cheating! To be able to suppress the entire Spirit Beast Clan from birth—was there anything in this world more outrageous, more shameless than that?

Put that way, not just the Spirit Beast Clan—the whole spirit beast world was practically the King of Spirit Beasts' own backyard! So long as his bloodline carried on, every spirit beast from top to bottom would have no choice but to work for his family, with absolutely no chance of turning the tables!

This King of Spirit Beasts was truly extraordinary! (To be continued...)

(.)