Both Chen Nan’s physical body and his divine soul experienced a remarkable transformation, akin to a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. He rapidly absorbed the primordial energy, his cultivation advancing from the early to the late stage of the Divine Venerate realm, just one step shy of the Saint Venerate realm.
“This primordial energy is truly miraculous!” Chen Nan exclaimed, overjoyed. Despite absorbing a large amount, there was still plenty remaining in the air.
“I can place Han Dao here to enhance its quality,” Chen Nan decided, retrieving the Han Dao and suspending it within the primordial energy. Although Han Dao’s quality surpassed divine artifacts, possibly reaching the level of a semi-saint artifact, even a semi-saint artifact couldn't withstand a true saint artifact. When considering the most powerful divine weapons in the Three Realms, nothing could compare to primordial artifacts. Therefore, Chen Nan intended to nurture a terrifying divine weapon.
“Master, Master, please come out quickly! I’ve encountered a great danger!” Suddenly, the piercing cry of the Nine-Headed Fire Lion reached Chen Nan’s ears, its voice urgent and filled with terror. Chen Nan’s expression changed. While the Nine-Headed Fire Lion was a powerful great demon of the early Divine Venerate realm, it controlled the dao of sound, making it quite formidable. It would not cry out so desperately unless it faced a truly immense danger. Without further thought, he instantly appeared on the back of the Nine-Headed Fire Lion.
“Master, you’ve finally come out! Otherwise, we would both be dead!” The Nine-Headed Fire Lion’s eyes were filled with horror. Chen Nan looked ahead and saw a great demon with a sheep’s body, a human face, eyes beneath its armpits, and tiger’s teeth and human claws blocking their path. This demon stood a hundred meters tall, exuding an overwhelming aura of ferocity. A single glance was enough to instill dread and terror.
“Is this the Taotie, one of the legendary Four Fierce Beasts?” Chen Nan was also quite startled by the monstrous creature before him. The Four Fierce Beasts were Chaos, Qiongqi, Taowu, and Taotie. If one were to ask which of the Four Fierce Beasts was the most terrifying, it would undoubtedly be the Taotie before him. Legend had it that Taotie could devour all things, a truly terrifying ability. Its appearance signified great chaos in the world, not a good omen. After all, this was a genuine ancient fierce beast, and its appearances invariably brought disaster. It was precisely for this reason that the Four Divine Beasts appeared after the Heavenly Court was established, corresponding to the Four Ancient Fierce Beasts. One could only imagine the terrifying power of these ancient creatures.
“I just saw it devour a mountain range ten thousand li long. I intended to bypass it, but it discovered me,” the Nine-Headed Fire Lion said, its voice trembling with fear. It found it hard to comprehend that this Taotie, only a hundred meters long, could swallow a mountain range ten thousand li long. Even witnessing it firsthand, it was difficult to believe.
“I tried using the dao of sound to attack it, but it was swallowed by this brute!”
“What’s even more absurd is…”
“It even said my dao of sound tasted good.”
At this moment, the Taotie emitted a childishly tender yet sharp voice, “Human, I can smell the scent of your flesh and blood. It should be quite delicious, right?”
“I want to eat you.” It made no attempt to conceal its desires.
“You want to eat me?” A hint of disdainful laughter flashed across Chen Nan’s face. “We’ll see if you have the strength for it!” With that, he extended a palm. The void instantly froze. Even time seemed to cease its flow. Shock, impossible to conceal, flickered in the Taotie’s eyes, as if it hadn’t expected this human’s strength to be so immense. Before it could react, Chen Nan had appeared before it. He clenched his fist and struck the Taotie’s head. This punch was devastating. This punch shook the heavens and the earth.
With a terrifying roar, accompanied by a monstrous surge, the Taotie was sent flying tens of thousands of meters, breaking free from the reach of Chen Nan’s spatial dao.
“Roar!” The Taotie, enraged, opened its cavernous maw, and a distorted black hole rapidly formed within it. Simultaneously, the void before it twisted, and a terrifying devouring force instantly reached Chen Nan. Chen Nan pointed a finger from afar. The void froze once more. No matter how potent Taotie’s devouring technique was, it could not shake it in the slightest.
“Your methods are useless against me!” Chen Nan’s lips curved upwards. He was grateful for having broken through in the small world; otherwise, he would not have been able to withstand this Taotie. The next second, he vanished from his spot. Like a phantom, he appeared above the Taotie and forcefully stomped down on its head, shouting, “Fall!”
With a thunderous crash, the Taotie’s form plummeted like a meteorite, kicked to the ground by Chen Nan. A plume of dust, comparable to a mushroom cloud, billowed up. A crater a thousand meters in diameter and a hundred meters deep appeared in the ground. The Taotie, disoriented, stood up, its gaze towards Chen Nan filled with hatred and ferocity. It opened its maw once more. But before it could unleash its divine ability, Chen Nan vanished from its sight again, enraging it. It let out a deafening roar, “Cowardly fellow, show yourself if you dare!”
“Then I shall oblige you!” Chen Nan appeared with uncanny timing behind the Taotie and, with a swift right kick, fiercely struck its neck. With a resounding boom, the Taotie was flung away like a cannonball, crashing through a mountain nearly a thousand meters high.
“I must say, its physical body is indeed tough,” Chen Nan mused. “If I hadn’t absorbed the primordial energy earlier, my physical body alone might not have been enough to harm it!” Chen Nan felt a slight ache in his right foot, but it was within tolerable limits.
“I will kill you!” The Taotie was thoroughly enraged, its eyes glowing with a scarlet light. It opened its maw, intending to devour Chen Nan. However, Chen Nan’s speed was too great! So fast that the Taotie vanished before it could even unleash its innate divine ability. This infuriated the Taotie. It realized it couldn't kill the opponent this way. Helpless, it transformed into an afterimage and rapidly fled into the distance.
“Can you escape?” A sinister smile played on Chen Nan’s lips. He instantly vanished into the depths of the void, appearing like a ghost before the terrified Taotie.
“Fall!” With a roar from Chen Nan, he raised his fist, shimmering with divine light, and slammed it down on the Taotie’s jaw like a comet colliding with Earth. The Taotie was sent flying backward again. Before it could regain control of its body, Chen Nan appeared beneath it. With a powerful uppercut, he sent the Taotie soaring upwards like a rocket, reaching above the clouds. Just as its momentum began to wane, just as it was about to regain control of its body, Chen Nan once again appeared above it like a phantom. He angrily raised his right foot, executing a move akin to cleaving a mountain, and fiercely struck the Taotie’s abdomen. A guttural cry, accompanied by a spray of blood, escaped the Taotie as its body, like a streak of light radiating world-ending might, tore through the sky and crashed violently into the mountains below.
With a deafening roar, the earth cracked, and mountains crumbled. The scene was as awe-inspiring and devastating as the end of the world. Heavily wounded, the Taotie lay prostrate on the ground. Seeing the human standing before it, its mind shattered, it let out a whimpering cry, “Between us… who is the fierce beast?”