At the very center of the Beast World, a colossal, thousand-year-old tree reached into the clouds.

At the very top of the great tree was a palace built of colorless Crystal Stones. Under the golden light, the stones shimmered with brilliant colors, making the palace, when viewed from afar, seem to be enveloped in a multicolored golden glow.

Deep within the palace, a brilliant figure stood in the center. Before him was a large, wooden disk, on which was mapped the locations of all the tribes, large and small, and the Beast Cities of the entire Beast World Continent.

At that moment, a multicolored feather was circling above the Divine Leopard Tribe. But soon, that same feather was consumed by raging flames.

"The Divine Leopard Tribe is in trouble."

The tall figure walked outside the palace.

"Go at once and check on the situation in the Divine Leopard Tribe."

A divine guard stationed outside the hall bowed his head in acknowledgment. Then, with a spin, he transformed into a brilliant figure in mid-air and shot toward the horizon.

Within the Divine Leopard Tribe.

Almost all the beastmen from Tiger Beast City had converged on the inner city. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Feiyan, Sunxiao, Sangze, and Jin Ling were all surrounded. The cubs were protected in the center by their fathers.

Unlike when they had first arrived, Tianqi, Jin Wei, and even Mr. Bai now had various wounds on their faces.

Jin Ling glanced at the sky. ’It’ll be dawn soon.’

"Fall back."

"Go!"

Sunxiao charged ahead to clear a path. Jin Ling and Feiyan flanked the cubs, protecting them on both sides, while Sangze brought up the rear.

The cubs had all changed into their beast forms and were running with all their might, but soon, beastmen who had broken through the encirclement charged in.

"Little brats, where do you think you’re going!"

Two black panther beastmen with five-star beast souls pounced on Qiao Lie and Qiao Ang.

The two cubs immediately met the challenge. During the fight, Qiao Lie and Qiao Ang both felt a powerful force surging within their bodies. Unable to release this energy, they could only fight the black panther beastmen even more ferociously!

Jin Ling noticed the two cubs’ situation. He was about to step forward when he sensed something unusual about their auras, so he stopped and focused on their changes instead.

As the two cubs struck with all their might, that power burst from their bodies. At that very moment, another star appeared on each of their arms.

Jin Wei was now seeing red. In all his years, he had never suffered such a major setback at the hands of a single tribe!

"Catch them! Don’t let a single one escape!"

Yun Qi shot into the sky, leading the Golden Eagle Beasts to cut off their escape from the front.

Sangqi quickly leaped onto Sunxiao’s back, took out a whistle, and blew it.

A shrill whistle echoed through the forest, and the ground suddenly began to tremble violently.

Colossal Earth Escape Beasts rapidly burrowed out of the ground, blocking the path of Jin Wei and his forces.

Sangqi jumped onto the lead Earth Escape Beast. "Brothers and sisters, get on, quickly!"

Feiyan rushed to the cubs and had them jump onto his back. Then, with a single leap, he landed on an Earth Escape Beast.

Jin Ling and Sunxiao also reverted to their human forms and landed on the Earth Escape Beast.

Sangze raked his claws across Mr. Bai’s shoulder. As Mr. Bai retaliated, Sangze quickly dissolved into a cloud of black mist and coiled onto the Earth Escape Beast.

"Go."

Receiving the command, the Earth Escape Beasts quickly began to burrow underground.

Seeing them escape by burrowing into the earth, Jin Wei roared in fury, "After them!"

The moment the Earth Escape Beasts submerged into the ground, Sangze’s body suddenly went limp and collapsed.

Jin Ling caught him with swift reflexes.

"Father, where are we going?"

Qiao Qiao asked, her voice choked with sobs as she tightly gripped Feiyan’s clothes.

"The Hopeless Abyss."

’Jin Wei won’t think to look for us there anytime soon. And even if he does, finding us in the Hopeless Abyss won’t be easy.’

Qiao Lie leaned against Sunxiao and opened his locator.

He immediately saw the red dot marking Qiao Xixi’s location.

"Mother and the little cub are here."

After confirming no beastmen were pursuing them from behind, Jin Ling also opened his locator. "Xixi has gone to the West Sea Domain."

"It’s closer if we go through the other side of the Hopeless Abyss."

"Mhm."

Feiyan reached out and patted Jin Ling’s shoulder. "Xixi and the cub will be fine."

Jin Ling’s eyelids twitched. Despite his best efforts to hide it, he couldn’t completely suppress the panic and fear in his heart. Their cub had just been born, and he hadn’t even gotten a good look at his child before being separated from them.

Jin Ling clenched his fists tightly. ’I will have my revenge for this!’

"Xixi isn’t weak. She can protect herself and the cub," Sunxiao said, his voice level despite the intense anxiety he felt.

They traveled on in silence.

「Meanwhile.」

Qiao Xixi looked at her locator. When she saw that the markers for Jin Ling and the others had converged in one spot and were moving toward the Hopeless Abyss, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

’No matter what, everything is still going according to plan. That’s a good thing.’

"Ngh."

Qiao Xixi let out a soft sound and looked down. The little cub had finished nursing from one side and then the other. Once full, it simply collapsed in her arms and fell asleep.

The tiny cub wasn’t even as big as its father’s palm. Now, its little belly was round and full as it lay splayed out on its back in her arms.

Qiao Xixi gently stroked its small belly. Leaning in for a closer look, she was surprised to find it was a little female cub.

"So you’re an adorable little girl. You were kicking up such a fuss in my belly, Mother thought you were a little boy."

After nursing the baby, Qiao Xixi felt hungry too. She took some Spiritual Spring water and dried meat from her storage space and began to eat.

"Little Fiend, where on earth is this place?"

"Host, this is the West Sea Domain. It’s the sea region with the salt fields that Tiger Beast City occupies."

"You’re saying the salt fields are nearby?"

"Well, not exactly nearby. There’s some distance, but it’s in this area."

After eating her fill, Qiao Xixi wrapped the cub in a fur pelt, held her close, and walked out from under the large rock.

She hadn’t walked far before she saw the azure sea.

"Which direction are the salt fields? Mark it for me."

Qiao Xixi opened the map interface, and soon, a small green dot appeared on it.

Qiao Xixi was left speechless looking at the distance between the green dot and the red dot.

"This is what you call ’not too far’? Look for yourself! Look closely, there are several islands between here and there!"

Looking at the map, there were at least two islands between her current location and the salt fields.

’Yes, it doesn’t look *that* far.’

’But! I’m a Land Beast! Is a Silver Frost White Wolf supposed to swim there?!’

"Host, don’t get angry, don’t get angry! I never said I could teleport you exactly where you wanted to go..."

Qiao Xixi gritted her teeth. "You clearly said you’d move me to a place I’d be satisfied with!"

"Hey, Host, let me explain... Ah, there’s someone up ahead. I’m dipping out for now."

Qiao Xixi: ...

’What the hell does someone up ahead have to do with a system like you?’

Qiao Xixi’s attention was also drawn to the voices up ahead.

"Hmph, you ugly, fat leopard! Hand over your food, or I’ll beat you up."