Chapter 505: Ownership of the First Floor of the Tower of Ten Thousand Beasts

Ye Feng desperately dodged, attempting to attack the Shadow Beast several times with no success—neither the Ice Heart Technique nor the Sky Splitting Finger worked. Yet, even minor touches from the enemy’s attacks on his shadow caused him harm.

This was clearly an extremely unfair duel. Ye Feng couldn’t land a single hit on his opponent, while the other could hurt him whether by attacking his shadow or himself. The situation reversed in an instant, leaving Ye Feng at a complete disadvantage.

As he frantically dodged, he flipped through the information about Shadow Beasts in the martial arts scripture that had appeared.

“Shadow Beasts originate from the Abyss of Purgatory. In their early stages, they are extremely weak and serve as prey for many Abyssal Beasts, as consuming them enhances their soul power. But once they grow, they become some of the most terrifying magical beasts in the Abyss of Purgatory. They usually exist in two states: a physical form and a shadow form. In fact, it is in their shadow form that they truly display their full strength. When in their physical form, they must seal themselves, with their strength reduced to just 1% of their true capacity. In their physical state, they can practice any techniques available to magical beasts and comprehend various laws. But in their shadow form, they can only use techniques from their inherited memories and one law—the Shadow Law of Darkness…”

“Once a Shadow Beast is in its shadow form, unless someone’s mastery of another law is three ranks higher than its Shadow Law, they will be immune to it, except for the Purification Law of light. A purification law at the same rank as the Shadow Law can inflict damage on a Shadow Beast in that state. The only other effective attacks are soul attacks…”

After much difficulty dodging while reading, Ye Feng finished the scripture’s description and found that the three proposed attack methods were utterly useless to him. First, the opponent’s mastery of the Shadow Law far exceeded the Small Perfection realm, rendering all of his own law-based attacks ineffective. Second, he couldn’t use the Purification Law of light, and even if he could, his mastery wasn’t high enough to cause damage. Third, his soul strength was inferior to the opponent’s, so his soul attacks were barely more than a tickle. Even the Ice Heart Technique was useless, let alone other soul attacks.

Suddenly, Ye Feng caught a glimpse of Jin outside the beast cage. Jin’s expression was strange, and he kept approaching the cage. “Jin, don’t come over!”

Ye Feng’s distraction gave the shadow beast the chance it needed—it immediately grabbed his left leg at the calf, causing him to lose his balance instantly. As he tried hard to steady himself, he noticed the shadow beast tightening its grip around him. In just a few breaths, it had wrapped itself around most of his body. It felt as though he were being crushed by a giant python; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break free, and the shadow only grew tighter.

At that moment, Jin grabbed the metal bars of the cage with both hands and shouted at the shadow beast, “Xiao Hei, is that you?”

The shadow beast trembled, and its grip on Ye Feng loosened slightly.

“Master?!” The beast’s voice sounded like dozens of people speaking at once, somewhat overlapping, but it was still possible to make out what it was saying.

“Xiao Hei, is it really you?” Jin’s voice carried a hint of surprise. “It’s Jin!”

Ye Feng grew puzzled. “Could it be that the magical beast was waiting for Jin?”

“It’s indeed the master’s soul energy! Master, you’ve finally returned!” The shadow beast released Ye Feng and rushed toward Jin. It knew clearly that this human couldn’t hurt it in any way. If necessary, it could kill him at any time. With its master finally reappeared before its eyes, everything else could be ignored.

“Xiao Hei, why are you still on the first floor? I thought, with your talent, it should be easy for you to reach the second floor after all these years,” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

“All these years, I’ve been waiting for the master to return. I wanted to wait until I could help the master regain control of the first floor of the Tower of Beasts before going to the second floor. And now, at last, my wait has paid off,” Xiao Hei said excitedly. “Master, wait a moment. I’ll kill that human and take the key from him for you.”

With that, it turned to chase Ye Feng again.

“Xiao Hei, let him go. He’s my boss. He stole the key to give it to me,” Jin said with a helpless smile. Xiao Hei wanted to kill Ye Feng to steal the key—something he could never allow.

“He’s the master’s boss?” Xiao Hei paused briefly before realizing, “Then he’s my boss too?”

“Yeah, let him go!” Jin nodded.

“But I can’t do that. The cage is designed so that only one person can exit alive…” The shadow on the ground kept shaking its head. After a long while, it suddenly made up its mind. “Then let my boss kill me and let me out.”

“There’s no need for such trouble. If I take you into the palace, you can leave.” Ye Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief. He admitted that he really wasn’t a match for this shadow beast at the moment.
“But the Tower of Ten Thousand Beasts is a sacred treasure. Even if you take me into the palace, it won’t be fooled. Unless…” Xiao Hei didn’t finish his sentence before being interrupted by Ye Feng.
“Don’t worry. I know the Tower of Ten Thousand Beasts is a sacred treasure. I have a way to deceive it.” Ye Feng naturally understood what “unless” meant—only something of a higher rank than the Tower of Ten Thousand Beasts could deceive it.
Although Xiao Hei wasn’t entirely convinced, seeing Jin nod at him, he had no choice but to agree.
“Don’t resist,” Ye Feng instructed before taking Xiao Hei into the Liuluan Palace.
“Task completed. The beast cage is open,” the old man’s voice came through quickly.
Ye Feng carefreely stepped out of the cage, set Xiao Hei free, and handed the key to Jin. “It’s yours!”
“Thank you, boss!” Jin happily took the key.
At that moment, a beam of light suddenly descended from the sky and landed on Xiao Hei.
“Master, my seal has been lifted, and my true strength is revealed. I must go to the second layer. But thankfully, you will soon gain the Tower of Ten Thousand Beasts’ recognition again. Once your cultivation reaches the Saint level and you can open the second layer, we’ll be able to meet again.” Xiao Hei, now fulfilled, seemed very happy.
“Practice hard and strive to reach the third and fourth layers as soon as possible!” Jin said with a smile. “My soul has been fully restored, and I’ll soon return to my original cultivation level…”
Xiao Hei’s figure slowly rose and soon disappeared into the air.
Jin also looked at the key in his hand, cut his finger, and let a drop of his vital blood fall on it.
“Control of the first layer of the Tower of Ten Thousand Beasts has been acquired,” the old man’s voice came through once more.