BOOM!!
An explosion over a sea area spanning several kilometers caused a tsunami that blotted out the sky to instantly disperse.
A towering pillar of black flame rose like a mountain, exploding everything in its path. Its terrifying power tore the sea apart, forming a strait several kilometers long.
The ocean beast that faced this strike was directly blasted to the sea bottom.
Roar!
Before the waters of the blasted strait could converge, the Purgatory Giant Ape, as large as a small mountain, roared again. The magma ground beneath its feet shattered, and with its arms around the giant pillar, it soared skyward.
Deep in the seabed that was blasted apart, beams of blue light pierced through the earth, materializing into a giant abyssal mouth nearly a kilometer in diameter.
Bang!
A blue light beam with a diameter of several dozen meters shot up from the depths of the abyssal mouth, exuding an extreme dual attribute of scorching heat and freezing cold, annihilating everything.
In an instant, the energy beam collided with the descending flame pillar, detonating an eye-catching black and blue light, forming a giant fireball.
The black flame pillar, swollen to two kilometers tall, was unbelievably heavy, and like a force utterly overwhelming, bombarded the energy beam from above.
BOOM! The seabed exploded, unleashing a destructive impact that hurled countless fragments of silt and rock tens of thousands of meters into the air, mixing with billions of tons of seawater and smashing down in all directions.
However, the Tier Seven Peak beast was already close to Tier Eight, with a body immensely strong and power touching a higher level.
Thus, even though the Purgatory Giant Ape unleashed a fearsome strength by utilizing a portion of the giant beast's power, the vibrations from the ocean depths still reverberated for a while before subsiding.
The wind howled, black flames burned over the tumultuous sea surface, and a menacing Giant Ape, towering two hundred meters high like a small mountain, walked in the air.
On its right shoulder, the Purgatory Giant Ape carried the pillar, now reduced to its former size of over two hundred meters, while its left claw gripped the tail of the beast, most of its body shattered and bloodied.
Especially the beast's shark-like head, which was blasted apart, leaving only a fragment.
At this moment, a flash of red, and the White Fox Beast appeared on the sea surface, gazing excitedly at the Purgatory Giant Ape.
Just a bit away from breakthrough, as long as it consumed the beast's skeleton and absorbed the high-level energy contained within, it could cross into Tier Seven—an essential threshold for demon beasts alike.
Tier Seven demon beasts were known as Demon Kings, undergoing a life metamorphosis to gain a new form.
In mythological legends, this stage of demon beasts was called Transformation.
Facing the excited gaze of the White Fox Beast, the Purgatory Giant Ape let out a thundering low growl, "Feitong, I found some ruins below. We'll take a look after we finish eating."
"Ruins, okay." The White Fox Beast nodded.
The aftermath of a Tier Seven battle would cause enormous damage to the surrounding environment, ripping the earth apart, destroying mountains. Discovering a ruin after accidentally shattering the ground during the fight was quite common.
Following that, the two giant beasts returned to the shore, where the Purgatory Giant Ape dissipated its rampaging form, shrinking down to a normal height of 130 meters.
Roasting with the Heaven-Burning Demon Flame first, the Purgatory Giant Ape waited until the beast's flesh was charred outside but tender inside, about five to six parts cooked, before ripping and devouring in chunks.
As a nuclear explosion-like biological energy dispersed in its body, the Purgatory Giant Ape's stature began to grow noticeably.
The scene made the White Fox Beast envious.
Though it possessed a 'refinement' talent, its energy usage and conversion were only about ten percent of the Purgatory Giant Ape's which just grows from eating.
The beast, over three hundred meters long, had less flesh because of its 'slenderness' than even a Flying Dragon Beast.
In less than two hours, the Purgatory Giant Ape finished devouring the beast's flesh, leaving a heap of blue-black bones piled like a small hill on the ground.
However, the energy contained in the Level 7 Peak beast's flesh was much more abundant, causing the Purgatory Giant Ape's size to swell to 134 meters, becoming even more colossal.
Aowoo! The White Fox Beast, not holding back, opened its mouth in excitement, spewing rolling red demonic energy to envelop the bones.
When those bones shrank and were swallowed by the White Fox Beast, the Purgatory Giant Ape stood up, growled lowly.
"Let's go, Feitong, let's take a look."
The White Fox Beast nodded with satisfaction, and followed behind the Purgatory Giant Ape, once again entering the ocean.
This time, without the need for battle, the Purgatory Giant Ape did not activate the Burning World Domain. Its gigantic body with retracted flames was quickly submerged in seawater.
Thump thump thump!!
Walking on the seabed hundreds of meters deep, the Purgatory Giant Ape moved like it was on land. Each heavy step fell with such force that the seabed would fracture and shake, stirring up turbulent underwater currents.
Surrounded by red demonic energy, the White Fox Beast had an air bubble protecting it from the seawater.
At a distance from the two giant beasts, ocean beasts with bodies several to dozens of meters long would swim past, looking menacing and exuding high-level auras, but dared not approach.
Despite their inherently aggressive and bloodthirsty nature, lacking intelligence, the creatures' instincts remained intact.
Deep in the ocean, a kilometer below, the ground was fractured, torn into a sea trench stretching several kilometers with a pitch-black, turbid trench wall revealing an ice mountain.
The crystalline blue ice mountain, towering several hundred meters high, resembled the roof of a palace, its surface engraved with some rugged patterns.
At this moment, the sea water churned, and the figures of the Purgatory Giant Ape and White Fox Beast emerged. As they approached the ice mountain, a wave of chilling cold spread throughout.
This chill contained extreme low temperatures, causing even the Tier Six Peak White Fox Beast to shiver involuntarily.
This was despite being surrounded by the demonic energy in the void.
Yet such low temperatures didn't freeze the surrounding seawater, appearing rather eerie.
The target of the two beasts was the blue whirlpool below the ice mountain, from which the roof-like ice crystal protruded—the entrance to the ruins.
Upon reaching the edge of the whirlpool, the two giant beasts did not enter immediately. The White Fox Beast extended its nose outside the protective demon energy bubble, dipping into the seawater.
"Jiang Hou, I didn't smell any danger."
"Then let's go."
The Purgatory Giant Ape growled lowly, its massive body stepping directly into the whirlpool. Instantly, intense spatial pressure closed in from all directions.
In just a blink, the Purgatory Giant Ape and White Fox Beast found themselves at the foot of a monumental staircase below a vast Ice Crystal Palace, towering like a ten-thousand-meter mountain.
This palace was incredibly grand, each step on its stairs was a hundred meters high and wide.
On the ninth level of steps stood a row of thirty-six ice pillars each a hundred meters in diameter, every pillar engraved with a totem of a ferocious beast.
There was a Kun Peng with wings that blotted out the sky and a unicorn, a Flood Dragon with nine heads entwining, along with a Dragon Turtle that bore a mountain and trod upon earth, and a Giant Crab brandishing double pincers.
Beneath the ice pillar depicting the Giant Crab totem, countless smaller crabs were encircling, waving their pincers seemingly to magnify its power.
A Giant Crab!
The Purgatory Giant Ape was taken aback, what was going on—a crab totem standing shoulder to shoulder with those epic mythical beasts?
Besides the ice pillar carvings, the vast interior of the hall was empty save for a thousand-meter-tall stone sculpture perched upon the shrine at the far end.
And that stone sculpture was also in the shape of a Giant Crab.
Though its design was somewhat abstract, the Giant Crab's six legs splayed out with two pincers rotating forward and back, and its eyes bulging like two giant spheres.
As soon as the two beasts' gaze fell upon the stone sculpture, an overwhelming will awoke within it.
Crack crack!! Cracks appeared on the surface of the stone sculpture, and immediately the entire Ice Crystal Palace quaked, a vast and mighty will resonated in thunderous blasts.
"Bubble bubble!! After sleeping for so long, at last, someone has finally come, activating the will left by Lord Crab General."
"Come, defeat the great Lord Crab General, and you'll earn the qualification to proceed to the next Crystal Dragon Palace."
As the magnificent will reverberated, chunks of rock flaked away from the statue, revealing a body beneath forged from deep blue ice crystals.
Simultaneously, an aura of late-tier seven oppressive power spread throughout.
Though this aura was of the same level as itself, the Purgatory Giant Ape felt a pronounced sense of danger.
This ice sculpture was formidable! Despite merely containing a wisp of will, its ice crystal body posed no less of a threat than a late-tier seven mythical bloodline creature.
