Chapter 567: I Am the Beast God

After Qiao Xixi left with the cubs, the beasts quickly surrounded Jin Ling and the others.

Jin Ling and his companions fought until their eyes went bloodshot. Unsure if Qiao Xixi and the cubs would be caught by other beasts, they knew they had to break through the encirclement as quickly as possible to find them.

Just as they were about to carve out a bloody path, a face suddenly appeared in the sky.

It had pitch-black eyes, with hollow pupils glaring gloomily in their direction. It blinked, and two black beams of light shone down upon them.

Sunxiao whipped his long tail, preparing to dodge an attack from behind. However, it felt as if his beast soul had been suddenly siphoned away. Unable to muster a single ounce of strength, his massive snake body crashed heavily to the ground.

Seeing Sunxiao fall, Feiyan wanted to step forward to help. But the moment he moved, a sharp pain shot through his chest, as if his heart were being ruthlessly squeezed. He let out a muffled groan, freezing completely in place.

Realizing something was wrong, Jin Ling looked up at the sky, only to see that hollow face glaring down at them.

“Quick, get out of those black beams!”

But it was too late. The beams of light had already engulfed them all.

After crashing to the ground, Xijing staggered, trying to get back up, but his weakened body made it nearly impossible to stand firm.

Jin Ling’s lips trembled. He tried to tell the others to dodge, but before the words could leave his mouth, he collapsed to the ground.

The beasts that had been wildly charging at them also halted the very moment they fell. Everything seemed to be frozen in time.

The black beams in the sky slowly dissipated, and the human face became clearly visible once more, allowing Jin Ling and the others to get a good look at it.

“You mere tools who should have died long ago… You made me waste so much energy dealing with you. Tell me, how should I punish you?” A deep, icy voice echoed from the horizon, laced with contempt and anger.

Feiyan was still trying to crawl up, but to no avail.

“What… what on earth is that thing?!”

The face in the sky sneered. Suddenly, an invisible hand appeared and waved through the air. Several Vulture Beasts immediately flew over and landed beside Feiyan and the others.

“Take them away.”

The Vulture Beasts hauled them onto their backs and flew toward Elephant Beast City.

The moment Jin Ling and the others disappeared, the beast horde began to move again. However, this time, they didn’t look for targets to attack; instead, they turned and stampeded off in a specific direction.

Qiao Xixi brought Xiaoyao back to the cave entrance. The Vine Orchids opened a gap to let her in.

“Mother?”

“Yes, Mother is back. I just looked around outside and didn’t find any danger. Let’s rest for a while and eat something before we set off.”

As she spoke, she took out illuminating Sea Pearls and some food from her spatial storage. The Sea Pearls quickly lit up the dark cave.

Qiao Xixi distributed jerky to each of the cubs.

Except for the ignorant tiger cub, who immediately stuffed the meat into his mouth and started gnawing, the other cubs just held their food without taking a bite.

Looking at the deep worry etched on their small faces, Qiao Xixi suddenly understood why that damned Mastermind used such a method to trigger the cubs’ dark awakening. Given how deeply the cubs loved their fathers, if they witnessed their fathers being brutally murdered right in front of their eyes, they wouldn’t just undergo a dark awakening—they would tear the whole world apart!

Qiao Xixi comforted them one by one. “Don’t worry. Your fathers are definitely fine right now. Once we eat our fill and regain our strength, we’ll go rescue them, okay?”

Hearing that they were going to save their fathers, the cubs obediently began to eat.

Qiao Xixi didn’t have an appetite either, but she forced herself to chew the jerky in large bites. She also poured out plenty of Spiritual Spring water for the cubs to drink.

After they were full, Qiao Xixi stood up and walked to the cave entrance to listen to the movements outside. It was dead silent; there wasn’t a single sound.

“Ouch! You little brat, you’re hurting me! Don’t bite! Don’t bite me!”

Xiaoyao’s frantic shrieking suddenly echoed from behind. Qiao Xixi turned around, only to see the tiger cub grabbing it and shoving it toward his mouth.

“Huh? Mother, what is this thing?”

Xiaoyao had been wrapped in an animal hide by Qiao Xixi. After coming in, it hadn’t moved or made a sound. Since the cubs were so worried about their fathers, they hadn’t noticed its presence at all. It was the sharp-eyed tiger cub who had spotted it, grabbed it, and tried to eat it, bringing the strange creature to everyone’s attention.

Startled, Qiao Xixi rushed forward and rescued Xiaoyao from the tiger cub’s jaws. She was terrified that the cub might actually bite down—she had no idea what kind of host this creature had parasitized, and what if it was venomous?

“This is…” For a moment, she didn’t know what kind of identity to give Xiaoyao.

Having escaped danger, Xiaoyao wriggled its slippery body and slipped out of Qiao Xixi’s grasp. It deliberately puffed out its chest, raised its non-existent chin, and proclaimed, “I am the Beast God.”

Qiao Xixi was utterly speechless. Did it really have to boast so outrageously?!

“The Beast God?” The cubs exclaimed and looked at Qiao Xixi, as if seeking her confirmation.

Qiao Xixi was at a loss for words, but since she hadn’t come up with a suitable identity for it either, she stayed quiet. Seeing that Qiao Xixi didn’t refute Xiaoyao’s claim, the cubs assumed she was tacitly agreeing.

Qiao Ang excitedly approached Xiaoyao and gave a deeply reverent bow. “Beast God, please save our fathers.”

Xiya also pleaded anxiously, “Yes, yes! Beast God, please help us! Can you get rid of those bad guys for us?”

The other cubs all gathered around, chattering and begging continuously. With every word they said, Xiaoyao’s puffed-out chest deflated just a little bit more.

“Um, don’t worry. I have already told your mother how to save your fathers. We’ll set off to rescue them in a bit.”

“That’s great! Thank you, Beast God!”

“Hehe, no need to thank me.”

While Qiao Xixi was still speechless, she felt someone tug on her sleeve. She looked down and saw Qiao Lie staring at her with his crimson eyes.

“Mother.”

Qiao Xixi crouched down and took his hand. “What is it, Qiao Lie?”

Qiao Lie glanced in Xiaoyao’s direction. “That thing… it isn’t a monster, is it?”

He refused to believe that the Beast God would be something so slimy and slippery.

Qiao Xixi remained speechless. “…No, it isn’t.”

Qiao Lie furrowed his brows in utter conflict. “Is it really the Beast God?”

Qiao Xixi couldn’t possibly answer that question, so she just played dumb.

“Are you all full, cubs? We’re getting ready to set off.”

“Mother, we are completely full! We can go right now.”

“Yes! We’re going with the Beast God to save our fathers!”

Xiaoyao hopped up and landed squarely on Qiao Xixi’s shoulder. “That’s right! We’re heading out to save them right now!”

“Okay!”

Qiao Xixi looked at the cubs, her gaze growing increasingly resolute. “Alright, we will leave immediately.”

Qiao Xixi picked up the tiger cub and strapped him to her chest using an animal hide. The little guy was still obsessed with Xiaoyao and reached out, trying to grab it. Terrified, Xiaoyao quickly jumped onto Sangqi’s shoulder. Sangqi genuinely believed that Xiaoyao was the Beast God, so he didn’t resist when it came over.

Qiao Xixi withdrew the Vine Orchids and led the cubs out of the cave.

“Wind, rise.”

A strong gust of wind swept in, lifting all the cubs into the air before carrying them down the mountain.

However, what she hadn’t expected was that the moment they reached the foot of the mountain, they would see a massive horde of beasts stampeding right toward them.