In the meantime…

　　That mysterious ‘general’ was defeated, and his defeat was crushing.

　　At first, he had been very confident and in high spirits, and he even used his secret technique—the [Mysterious Principles of Space]—to drag ‘Venerable White’ into his ‘spatial semi-world’. He had been confident to the point of boasting with that purple-robed cultivator that he could take care of Venerable White in five breaths.

　　Actually, he indeed had the strength to be this confident. He had used a secret technique to create this spatial semi-world, which was a type of ‘domain’. In this domain, he could control all space. As long as he was inside his domain, killing a Venerable within five breaths was surely possible!

　　Thereupon, that general guy appeared inside the domain in his real form. His true form was that of a colossal gorilla wearing golden armor and holding a saber-shaped bronze mirror in one hand.

　　Senior White was right in front of him, hovering in the middle of the ‘domain’. He didn’t look scared, and he was curiously gazing at the gorilla, looking pensive.

　　“Venerable White, it should be your honor to die in my spatial domain,” the gorilla general said in a grave tone.

　　After saying this much, around a hundred projections of huge ancient apes appeared on the top of his head. Each of these apes seemed to possess incredible power.

　　Those hundred-plus huge apes gathered together, their momentum unstoppable!

　　“I internally practice the [Mysterious Principles of Space], and the [Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique] externally. The number of holy apes above my head right now is 107. As long as I manage to condense another one and reach a total of 108 holy apes, I’ll be able to fuse the various projections and summon the true projection of the ancient divine ape. At that time, I’ll finally advance to the Ninth Stage Tribulation Transcender Realm! Little human Venerable, are you scared?” that gorilla general said in a grave tone.

　　This gorilla general was rather chatty compared to that purple-robed cultivator whose motto was ‘action before words’. However, he wasn’t simply chatty; this was his fighting style.

　　Before the start of the battle, he would display his overwhelming power and scare the opponent, subduing the other side without fighting. The main plan was to crush their heart, the backup plan was to crush the person itself, and if one didn’t have a plan… they would only harm themselves.

　　Actually… the true objective of all these moves the gorilla general had made was to boost its morale. For some reason, he felt somewhat restless while facing this human Venerable.

　　He was a Profound Sage, and his strength far surpassed that of this human Venerable. However, he still felt somewhat uneasy. This feeling of uneasiness was very strange, and it caused him to be at a loss for words.

　　“Oh, the [Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique]. I see, you are a beast cultivator from the Beast Realm! No wonder I felt that there was something wrong with your aura, haha,” Senior White said with a smile.

　　This human Venerable could still laugh? The complexion of the gorilla general darkened, and the pressure emanating from his body increased. The powerful pressure almost looked corporeal as it weighed down on Senior White. At the same time, the 107 projections of those holy apes above his head roared, going for the kill.

　　However, all that heavy pressure and killing intent didn’t affect Venerable White in the slightest.

　　“Did you just say that you would be able to summon the true projection of the ‘ancient divine ape’ if you manage to condense one more holy ape and reach a total of 108? Stop bluffing in front of me, do you really think I don’t know how the [Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique] works?” Venerable White said with a smile

　　The aura of that gorilla general fluctuated. “You know how the [Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique] works? How is that possible? This is a secret technique of my Beast Realm!”

　　“Not only do I know this technique, but I even practiced it!” After he had said this much, Senior White’s hands shook.

　　In the next moment, projections of holy apes appeared above Senior White’s head one after another.

　　The projections were different from the ones that the gorilla general had summoned, which were chaotically put together. The projections above Senior White’s head were arranged in an orderly manner, just as though they were trained troops. They lined up and formed a square-like formation.

　　A few seconds later, 500-600 holy apes had lined up and formed a huge square-like formation while floating above Senior White’s head. Each projection was very big, and they looked like a terrifying army as they floated in the sky.

　　The gorilla general opened his eyes wide. There was no mistaking it, this was really the Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique! That aura, the projections of those holy apes… they weren’t illusions. This was really the Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique!

　　He had practiced this cultivation technique since he was a kid, and he wasn’t mistaken.

　　Afterward, the gorilla general counted the holy apes hovering above Senior White’s head.

　　There were 587 altogether!

　　“587? How is this possible! How can a human practice this technique to the extent of summoning 587 ancient holy apes?!” the gorilla general called out.

　　It wasn’t 58, but 587! In front of Venerable White, who had summoned 587 projections, he—who had summoned only 107—had lost completely!

　　At the same time, the gorilla general understood why he’d felt restless earlier. This human cultivator had practiced the [Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique] to the point where he could summon 587 holy apes. Even if the opposite party was just a Seventh Stage Venerable, he could definitely fight people of higher realm with such a powerful physical body. If one were to calculate the strength of the constitution of the opposite party based solely on the number of holy apes they had summoned, it was at least five times stronger than his own!

　　“Ahaha, it’s not a difficult technique to practice. After getting my hands on it, I casually practiced it and managed to summon 587 holy apes. Right, 587 sounds like crap when pronounced. Doesn’t it sound like ‘I’m an idiot’ ¹ ? Bah!” Senior White said, disgruntled.

　　The heart of the gorilla general was shambles. This guys has 587 holy apes, and he’s still complaining? Why don’t you give them to me! Dammit, I only have 107!

　　Just as though he had discovered what the gorilla general was thinking, Senior White suddenly said, “The first time I saw you, I felt that we would hit it off well. You resemble a pet I raised in the past a lot. Unfortunately, that pet died rather early. In that case, how about I give you a few holy apes as first-meeting gift?”

　　“Ah?” The brain of the gorilla general was already unable to follow what was happening.

　　“I’ll give you 143 holy apes, alright? With that, you’ll have 250 in total. I feel that the number 250 suits you a lot ² ,” Senior White said.

　　After saying this much, Venerable White stretched out his finger and pointed at the projections he had summoned, counting 143 of them.

　　Then, under Senior White’s control, those 143 projections orderly moved and arrived above the head of that gorilla general.

　　Under the gaze of the baffled gorilla general, those 143 holy apes really merged with the holy apes above his head!

　　The gorilla general felt that the intensity of his body was increasing nonstop. All his muscles swelled, and each of them was filled with power capable of destroying entire islands.

　　The strength of his physical body had doubled at the very least!

　　Energy was endlessly gushing out of his body.

　　Was this some kind of ‘strength imparting’?

　　However, he had only heard about true qi, spiritual energy, profound energy, and so on getting passed on to other people through the ‘strength imparting’ method. Since when was it possible to pass on ‘physical strength’ to others?

　　The gorilla general felt that his view of the world had collapsed a little.

　　“Good. Since I gave you the first meeting gift, from today onwards, you’ll be my third pet! My second pet is an adorable little hamster. If there is an opportunity, I’ll bring you to meet it. As for the first pet, it’s currently hibernating,” Senior White said happily.

　　What? Pet?

　　What kind of joke was this!?

　　“I’m the Great General of the West in the Beast Realm, a great holy gorilla! How can I become your pet?!” the gorilla general roared angrily.

　　How could he throw away his dignity and become a pet? He wasn’t like those masochist guys present in the human race!

　　After feeling that his dignity had been trampled, the gorilla general roared angrily.

　　Due to the anger, that ‘restlessness’ he’d felt earlier also disappeared.

　　The gorilla general seized the opportunity to use his [Mysterious Principles of Space] technique. Then, just as though it had passed through space, the saber-shaped bronze mirror in his hand instantly appeared beside Senior White, arriving next to his neck.

　　The delicate neck of that human Venerable was right in front of the gorilla general. As long as he gently moved the bronze mirror in his hand, he would cut his head off.

　　This human was particularly handsome, and it was really a pity to behead him. But if he wanted him to become his pet… perhaps uncle might endure it, but this gorilla would not.

　　Therefore, the human Venerable had to die.

　　In addition, he had no need to be alarmed or feel restless. Although the opposite party gave him a scare when they summoned almost 600 projections of holy apes, they were still a Venerable, one realm lower than him.

　　Venerable White, it’s time for you to die! the gorilla general roared inwardly.

　　The saber-like mirror slashed down.

　　But right at this time, Senior White turned his head around at the speed of light and said to the gorilla general, “If a pet bites its master… it needs to be turned into hot pot.”

　　After Venerable White swept him with his eyes, the gorilla general was terrorized.

　　He had felt the same when the natural enemy of his race, the silverback tyrannosaurus rex, had stared at him in his childhood. The silverback tyrannosaurus rex was another race native to the Beast Realm, and it possessed part of the bloodline of divine dragons. This race found the muscles of ‘holy gorillas’ especially tasty; if the holy gorilla was young, even better.

　　Therefore, getting stared at by a silverback tyrannosaurus rex was one of the scariest things for a young holy gorilla.

　　However, this feeling lasted only for a second; the gorilla general forcefully suppressed it.

　　In the end, it was still the Great General of the West in the Beast Realm. If he couldn’t even overcome a little bit of fear, he would have already become food or a stepping stone of another beast cultivator.

　　“Who the hell is your pet?!” the gorilla general angrily shouted. At the same time, the ancient bronze mirror in his hand slashed down.

　　“Clang!”

　　The sharp saber-like mirror hit Venerable White’s white neck.

　　However, Venerable White’s head didn’t fly away as his opponent had expected. Senior White’s neck wasn’t hurt in the slightest; there wasn’t even a red mark.

　　On the contrary, it was the life-bound magical treasure of the gorilla general, the saber-shaped mirror, that broke into pieces…