The Forbidden Godly Beast

Chapter 5: The Lord of the Depths and the Ninth Layer Awakening

The entire crater didn't just tremble; it began to collapse inward. The bubbling liquid pool beneath the python’s corpse violently boiled over, turning from a soft golden glow into a terrifying crimson. The ancient roar that echoed from the deep fissures of the earth carried a pressure so immense that the remaining elite disciples instantly collapsed, vomiting blood before losing consciousness.

Shaktivel stood his ground, his boots digging into the sinking stone slope. His Seventh Layer Qi roared within his golden meridians, forming a protective aura around his body to fight off the suffocating pressure. Beside him, the Greater Shadow Fiend lowered its massive head, its claws ripping deep into the rock as its violet eyes locked onto the expanding crack in the center of the crater.

“Shaktivel... this is no ordinary beast,” the shadow companion growled, its voice vibrating with an intense mix of warning and dark excitement. “This is the Obsidian Abyssal Drake. A Tier 5 Earth-Rank monster. It has been slumbering here for three hundred years, using the Heavenly Starlight Lotus as its anchor.”

"An Earth-Rank beast," Shaktivel muttered, cold sweat trickling down his neck. In the cultivation world, beasts were ranked from Grey, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and then Earth-Rank. A Tier 5 Earth-Rank monster possessed power equivalent to an expert at the late stages of the Foundation Establishment realm—someone who could wipe out a small city with a wave of their hand.

Before he could strategize, the earth exploded.

A massive, reptilian head covered in jagged, obsidian stone scales burst through the crater floor. The drake was easily a hundred feet long, its massive body dripping with molten earth and ancient mud. Two massive horns, glowing with dark magma, protruded from its skull, and its eyes were two pools of boiling gold. It looked at the empty space where the Heavenly Starlight Lotus had been floating, and then its gaze locked onto Shaktivel.

The drake unleashed a deafening screech of pure rage. The sound waves alone were so physical that they tore the surrounding trees out by their roots and sent massive boulders flying into the air.

"It's fast!" Shaktivel shouted as the drake’s massive, stone-clad tail swept across the crater like a mountain falling from the sky.

“Hold on tight!” the Greater Shadow Fiend roared. With a burst of dark Qi, the shadow beast leaped hundreds of feet into the air, narrowly evading the tail swipe. The mountain-shattering impact behind them turned the entire crater wall into a pile of fine dust.

While suspended in mid-air, Shaktivel didn't hesitate. He pulled out the Heavenly Starlight Lotus from his pouch. The golden, crystalline flower was pulsing with pure, unrefined cosmic energy.

"If we want to survive this, we need to break that third seal now!" Shaktivel yelled through the rushing wind. "Partner, catch!"

He threw the lotus directly into the shadow beast’s mouth.

The Greater Shadow Fiend snapped its jaws shut, devouring the priceless, ancient treasure in a single bite.

CRUNCH.

Instantly, a blinding pillar of golden and violet light erupted from the shadow beast’s stomach, expanding outward and wrapping both the beast and Shaktivel in a massive cocoon of absolute divine energy.

[System Notification: Host’s Beast has devoured the Heavenly Starlight Lotus (Heaven-Rank Spirit Herb).] [System Notification: The Third Seal is completely broken! Unlocking True Form...] [System Notification: Current Form: Ancient Abyssal Fiend (High Earth-Rank Potential).] [System Notification: Overflowing divine energy transferring to the Host...]

Inside the cocoon, Shaktivel’s body went through a complete cosmic restructuring. The energy of the lotus was so pure and dense that his Seventh Layer Qi Condensation barrier shattered like brittle glass within a millisecond.

CRACK. [System Notification: Cultivation Level Up! Host has reached the Eighth Layer of Qi Condensation!]

But the energy didn't stop there. It rushed into his golden rivers of meridians, expanding them until they were as wide as oceans. His bones began to glow with a faint, metallic luster, and his hair grew longer, floating wildly in the dark purple aura.

CRACK. [System Notification: Cultivation Level Up! Host has reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation!]

Shaktivel opened his eyes. They were no longer human. They were a deep, terrifying violet, pulsing with the raw, unyielding authority of a god. He reached the absolute peak of the Qi Condensation realm—the Ninth Layer. He was just one step away from forming his Foundation.

At the same time, the cocoon of light shattered.

The Greater Shadow Fiend had completely transformed. It was now a terrifying, forty-foot-tall monster of dark legend—the Ancient Abyssal Fiend. Its body was covered in crystalline midnight armor that absorbed all light, four massive, tattered wings made of dark flames expanded from its back, and a crown of violet fire burned brightly above its horned head. The pressure it released was so dense that the ground beneath it sank by three feet just from its weight.

The Obsidian Abyssal Drake, sensing the sudden rise of a supreme predator, stopped its rampage. Its golden eyes widened in shock as it looked at the massive shadow monster floating in the sky.

"My turn," Shaktivel said, his voice echoing with double tones, carrying the weight of his new Ninth Layer cultivation. He pointed his finger down at the giant drake. "Consume it."

The Ancient Abyssal Fiend let out a roar that completely suppressed the drake’s pressure. It dove from the sky like a falling star of pure darkness.

The drake, realizing its life was on the line, opened its massive jaws and unleashed its ultimate attack—a torrent of molten, white-hot magma breath that could melt iron mountains.

But against the Forbidden Godly Beast, elements were nothing but fuel.

The Abyssal Fiend didn't dodge the magma. It opened its gigantic jaws, and a black vortex, ten times larger than before, erupted from its throat. The vortex didn't just create gravity; it began to distort the very space inside the crater.

The white-hot magma breath was instantly pulled into the black void, disappearing without leaving a trace of heat. The drake tried to retreat back into the depths of the earth, but the gravitational pull of the third seal was inescapable.

“In the presence of the void, all creation is but food!” the Abyssal Fiend growled, its voice shaking the forest.

The massive, hundred-foot-long Obsidian Abyssal Drake was lifted into the air against its will. The gravitational tentacles wrapped around its rock-hard body, crushing its stone scales into dust, compressing its massive form into a concentrated ball of pure Earth-Rank spiritual energy.

With a final, terrified screech that was cut short, the giant lord of the forest was sucked entirely into the endless void of the shadow beast’s mouth.

GULP.

The crater fell into absolute, dead silence. The night sky cleared, and the silver moonlight shone down on Shaktivel and his magnificent, dark companion.

[System Notification: Host’s Beast has devoured a Tier 5 Earth-Rank Beast.] [System Notification: The Fourth Seal is vibrating... 20% unlocked.] [System Notification: Host’s cultivation base has reached the absolute Peak of the Ninth Layer!]

Shaktivel landed lightly on the shattered earth, his violet eyes glowing in the dark. He felt the pure, massive energy inside his body, hovering at the very edge of the Foundation Establishment stage. He looked around the ruined crater. The elite disciples were dead, the treasure was gone, and the lord of the forest had been digested.

He walked over to the unconscious form of Prince Kael, who was lying in the dirt like a broken ragdoll, his cultivation completely gone. Shaktivel picked him up by his collar with one hand, tossing him effortlessly onto the back of the Ancient Abyssal Fiend.

"We have the strength. We have the peak cultivation," Shaktivel said, looking back toward the distant, glowing lights of the Surya Capital. "It’s time to return to the city, partner. The Shakti clan is coming back... and we are going to collect our blood debts."

The massive shadow monster turned its head toward the capital, its four wings of dark flame flaring out, ready to bring an absolute nightmare to the empire that had dared to call them trash.