An ordinary astral beast's spine could support a massive body even when it measured only a few dozen feet in length. But the spine rising from the ground stretched more than three hundred feet, twice the length of the Heavenly Howling Moon Wolf King's. No wonder the wolf king had lost all will to fight and tried to flee.

A'Lei clung to the Heavenly Howling Moon Wolf King with a death grip and refused to let go, no matter how violently the wolf king attacked him. He locked both arms around the wolf king's neck and slowly choked it until its eyes rolled back and foam formed at its mouth. But he paid a terrible price for it. Blood covered his entire body, and even his intestines had spilled out. Only sheer will kept him standing.

Time continued to pass, yet Liu Wuxie still did not intervene. He could sense that A'Lei's vitality remained strong, and he had survived even more grievous injuries back at the Myriad Race Ceremony.

This was A'Lei's personal feud with the Heavenly Howling Moon Wolf King, and no one else had the right to interfere.

As A'Li joined forces with A'Wu, they slaughtered more than half of the Heavenly Howling Moon Wolves, and the remaining wolves no longer posed any threat. By now, the rest of the pack had already fled into the distance, abandoning their wolf king.

At last, the Heavenly Howling Moon Wolf King's limbs twitched once before his eyes slowly closed. Even in death, he could not understand how his life had ended in such a humiliating way.

In the end, A'Lei had relied on nothing but sheer will to kill the Heavenly Howling Moon Wolf King.

A'Li and A'Wu rushed over immediately and used all their strength to pry open A'Lei's arms and separate him from the corpse.

A'Lei already hovered on the brink of unconsciousness, so Liu Wuxie formed a seal and injected a vast amount of energy into his body. After one day of rest, A'Lei would recover completely, since the Radiant Golden Bull Fruit had already made his body incomparably strong.

They carried A'Lei to a flat stretch of ground and laid him down to rest. A'Li and the other giants remained behind to guard him in case other astral beasts tried to attack while he was unconscious. Meanwhile, A'Wu stepped forward and stood before Liu Wuxie.

"Young Master Liu, we need to leave at once!" A'Wu said the moment he reached him.

"What exactly is that thing?" Liu Wuxie asked. The distant mountain range still trembled as yet another mountain collapsed.

The commotion had already reached the Giant Clan's settlement, so one could easily imagine how terrifying the monster hidden underground truly was.

"Do you know what it is?" Liu Wuxie asked again.

"The Stonecloud Beast has awakened! It will bring disaster to the planet, and we have to flee this world at once," A'Wu said, worried.

The Stonecloud Beast normally remained in deep slumber underground and rarely awoke. In fact, tens of thousands of years could pass without it stirring even once.

However, the violent disturbance caused by the battle had roused the Stonecloud Beast from its sleep.

The moment he heard the name Stonecloud Beast, Liu Wuxie's expression turned grave. He knew that the Stonecloud Beast was an extremely rare astral beast, born from heaven and earth itself and armored with hide as hard as solid stone.

Under normal circumstances, it would never show itself in public. It had fused with the rock long ago, and only one such creature could exist in the entire world. There would never be a second.

However, the Stonecloud Beast possessed little intelligence, and its awakening signified that heaven and earth had begun to decline. At once, Liu Wuxie began to wonder whether the four astral domains had truly entered a period of decline.

After all, once prosperity reached its peak, decline became part of the natural order. The four astral domains had now climbed to the summit of prosperity, whether in the cultivation world, the mortal world, or sheer population.

For a beast of destruction to awaken, it could only mean that heaven and earth would slowly sink into ruin.

Just as Liu Wuxie suspected, the surrounding space had already begun to erode and disappear. Then again, decline would not occur overnight. It could take a hundred years, a thousand years, or even a hundred thousand years to unfold fully.

Now that the prosperity of the four astral domains had reached its peak, they would likely spend the next tens of thousands of years slowly descending toward ruin.

People could also call the Stonecloud Beast the Stonecloud Calamity Beast, as it signified the end of all things.

Even Liu Wuxie did not know about its origin. He had only heard of it from his master, the Heavenly Taoist, who had once told him that the Stonecloud Beast was formed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The Stonecloud Beast would awaken whenever spiritual energy grew thin. When heaven and earth declined, spiritual energy would naturally become sparse and begin to dissipate.

This battle had forcibly awakened the Stonecloud Beast. Though A'Wu did not know much about the creature, he understood one thing clearly. Now that it had awakened, no one could save this planet.

"Uncle Wu, how do you know about the Stonecloud Beast?" Liu Wuxie asked curiously.

There probably were not many people in the astral domains who knew of the Stonecloud Beast at all.

"It had awakened five hundred years ago," A'Wu replied. He had only learned about it from the clan's ancestors, who had searched through countless records before finally uncovering the beast's origin.

"That's strange. Since it woke up five hundred years ago, why did it fall back to sleep?" Liu Wuxie asked, puzzled, though he had no intention of leaving.

Since the Stonecloud Beast had awakened, he would kill it. Once it died, the pace of heaven and earth's decline would naturally slow.

"I'm not entirely sure. Back then, a meteor had crossed the sky and smashed into the planet, and the Stonecloud Beast had fallen back into slumber afterward," A'Wu replied. Even he was uncertain, since the event had taken place far too long ago.

"Uncle Wu, take the others and leave," Liu Wuxie said after a brief moment of thought.

"Young Master Liu, what are you planning to do?" A'Wu asked, though he already had his suspicions. Was Liu Wuxie truly planning to destroy the Stonecloud Beast?

"Go," Liu Wuxie replied, without explaining.

His dao had always been one that defied the heavens. Since the Stonecloud Beast had awakened because of his arrival, he would shoulder the responsibility of killing it.

No one could stop the five heavenly declines, not even Liu Wuxie. Only those who grasped heavenly dao itself could create a new heavenly dao. With the arrival of the five heavenly declines, all heaven and earth would eventually perish.

As mentioned before, all things in the world possessed a lifespan, whether in the universe or in the celestial realm. When that lifespan ended, everything would collapse back into primal chaos.

As for the five heavenly declines, they referred to clothes becoming soiled and grimy, the flower crown on the head withering, sweat flowing from the armpits, the body emitting a foul odor, and no longer taking joy in one's own seat. Those were the five signs marking the end of the lifespan.

Once these signs appeared in a living being, it meant heaven and earth had begun moving toward destruction, which is why people called them the five heavenly declines.

A'Wu wanted to say more, but in the end, he could only depart with the rest of his clansmen, leaving Liu Wuxie standing alone.

An enormous head had already emerged from the earth. The Stonecloud Beast had no eyes because it remained in a state of chaos and had not yet fully formed.

The collapse of the surrounding space worsened, and Liu Wuxie knew he had to stop it. Otherwise, Giant Star would fall to destruction in no more than a single year.

Whether it was a mythical beast of heaven and earth or the onset of the five heavenly declines, Liu Wuxie chose to defy the heavens. If the heavens declined, he would create them anew. If lives perished, he would reverse death itself.

With a flicker, he appeared above the Stonecloud Beast's head.

"Heretic Blade!" Liu Wuxie called, and the blade flew from its sheath and slammed down toward the Stonecloud Beast.

The impact sent sparks flying everywhere, but the Heretic Blade failed to pierce the Stonecloud Beast. The result was almost unbelievable. The Heretic Blade had already come infinitely close to becoming an immortal artifact. With a surprise attack, it could easily pierce a cultivator at the first-level Heavenly Immortal Realm.

What a powerful defense! Liu Wuxie thought in shock. This was the first time he had encountered such a formidable creature.

The Stonecloud Beast could no longer be considered an ordinary astral beast. It had already entered the realm of mythical beasts because it wielded a power directly linked to the structure of heaven and earth itself. That was similar to how the phoenix's appearance signified peace in the world, or how the appearance of monstrous evil foretold chaos.

Whether human or object, every existence carried such energy within it. The only difference lay in strength. Some entered the world to save it and received the force of salvation, while others entered the world to bring ruin and possessed the force of slaughter.

That was why Liu Wuxie felt no reverence toward the Stonecloud Beast. It was merely a force stronger than ordinary forces, and he could destroy it just the same.

The collapse of the surrounding mountains accelerated, and fortunately, A'Wu and the others had already retreated far away. Once this battle truly began, Liu Wuxie would have no time left to worry about them.

The Stonecloud Beast was too enormous. Liu Wuxie had initially considered dragging it into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and refining it there, but that was impossible. Its body was just too massive.

He activated Ghost Pupil and examined the inside of the Stonecloud Beast's body, only to discover that the beast was entirely composed of stone. It possessed no internal organs whatsoever. Nor did it contain any obvious energy that he could refine, which immediately disappointed him.

At first, Liu Wuxie had thought that if he killed the Stonecloud Beast and refined it, he could use its energy to break through to the Quasi-Immortal Realm. But it now seemed that a breakthrough would have to wait.

Although the Stonecloud Beast lacked conventional energy, it possessed primordial laws. After all, the beast had existed since the birth of the four astral domains and had accumulated countless laws throughout endless ages.

Once those laws entered the desolate world, they could improve its quality and raise Liu Wuxie's combat strength. That meant the immortal arts he used in the future would become even more powerful.

Liu Wuxie cast the Great Five Elemental Immortal Art before the beast could fully awaken, determined to rip open its body first. Only then could he devour the beast's laws through the breach. But the Stonecloud Beast was far too massive, and even ordinary immortals would struggle to pierce it.

"Break!" With a thunderous explosion, a large crater appeared on the Stonecloud Beast's back, but Liu Wuxie still failed to penetrate its hide.

That attack could easily kill a cultivator at the second-level Heavenly Immortal Realm, yet it still failed to pierce the Stonecloud Beast. The result forced Liu Wuxie to draw in a sharp breath.

The collapse of the surrounding space accelerated further, and Liu Wuxie knew he had to act quickly now that the Stonecloud Beast had awakened. He unleashed the Heavenbound Immortal Finger, and an immense force descended from the sky.

The second strike expanded the crater on the Stonecloud Beast's body.

The Stonecloud Beast felt the pain and let out a roar that echoed through the clouds.

A'Wu and the others had already retreated far away, yet the roar still terrified them so badly that they collapsed to the ground where they stood. The entire planet trembled with the force of it as rivers and mountains split apart, plunging the Giant Clan's settlement into utter chaos.

Stone houses in the Giant Clan's settlement began to collapse, while many astral beasts fled into their lairs. But as the mountains caved in, those same lairs buried them alive.

The second strike had enlarged the crater until it rivaled a lake in size, and a black hole appeared and began drawing laws from within the Stonecloud Beast's body.

Most of the laws Liu Wuxie absorbed were from the more recent Ancient Era. There were very few from the Primeval Era, and even fewer from the Archaic Era.

When those ancient laws flowed into the desolate world, the entire world began to rumble, and the laws rapidly fused with Liu Wuxie's celestial realm laws. As the two sets of laws began to merge, a bizarre scene unfolded, leaving Liu Wuxie utterly shocked.