Taking advantage of the disarray that occurred amongst the ranks of the beast-blockade. The speeding-convoy quickly escaped the danger of getting besieged by the incoming beast-army by sticking themselves very closely to the borders of the eternal-forest at the north and making sure not to step a single foot in the elven-territories. Meanwhile the scattered remains of the beast-blockade—which were unlucky and got in the way of the speeding-convoy—were forcefully pushed back by the guards responsible for escorting this union of caravans. By the time the beast-commanders of the beast-blockade did notice the humans—who’re escaping and taking advantage of the ongoing-chaos among the ranks of the beasts—then got over their shock and attempted to personally intercept the convoy... it was already too late! these beast-commanders only caught-up with the rear of the speeding-convoy after the humans escaped from the main-force of the beast-blockade—which should’ve besieged them instead—and were creating quite a safe distance from the location of the deadly trap. Wei’s orders never stopped urging those in control to juice the wind-formations on every carriage to the maximum-output of performance... then more orders for every spirit-cultivator in the spirit-disciple or higher to keep injecting their mounts and every beast of their own fresh spirit-energy from their personal dantians to make them go faster! meanwhile... most of beasts currently pursuing their convoy are agility-oriented or winged-beasts with attainments of the devil-beast or the ancestral-beast realms. Understanding that he should never let these beast-commanders anywhere near the convoy—especially the rear-carriages because the fatty left almost all of their wealth there—Liao Lai is sure that... if any of these quick beast-commanders managed to delay this convoy right now? then... it would only help the scattered remnants of the beast-blockade another opportunity to reorganize themselves and regroup! they might actually succeed in besieging their caravan and cut-off their only way of escape for good if the beast-army arrived... especially since there's many and more of the beasts—which are coming their way from the south and southeast directions. When Lin used his ability of soul-sense to looked further towards east... the boy was stunned after discovering that after—gritting his teeth to endure the negative-effect from the aura of bloodlust—looking more than one-thousand kilometers behind the vanguard of the beast-army... there’s still more beasts in the ranks of that incredibly and unbelievably-huge and massive beast-army which is coming their way from the south and southeast directions. The precious opportunity—which Lin gave them—to escape can't be allowed to go in vain... the blade-user thought while gathering seventy-percent of the convoy’s guarding-escort specifically the cultivators before Lai took them with him towards the rear to stop these beast-commanders—which are currently hot on their trail—from catching-up or to prevent them from disrupting the convoy’s movement-speed. He’s ready to make a last-stand against that fast-detachment of beast-commanders—if he have to—meanwhile... his young-master Wei would take that opportunity to hurry towards the eastern direction of this frightening pearl-road! hopefully the fatty would be able to reach the safe-zone—which is the territory right—before mercenary-city.

Wei looked upwards at Lin who kept standing like a statue on the roof of his carriage. The boy was watching how Lai, Wang, and many other spirit-cultivators which come from the mercenaries-guild or they’re personal-guards who once belonged to some other merchant before their "survival-cause" united in fighting these beast-commanders... who managed to catch-up because of their inherent-advantage in having wings or their superior abilities and improved agility! spirit-abilities and beast-skills flew left and right once these two-lifelong enemies met face-to-face on the battlefield! the great-sage keenly studied the methods which spirit-cultivators and demonic-beasts fought in this spirit-world... demonic-beasts have an obvious and clear superiority over spirit-cultivators when it comes to their tough physiques which allows them superior defense and much better strength plus the certain "naturalness" and incomparable-ease whenever one of these beast-commanders is using spirit-energy to attack or defend or move quicker. Meanwhile spirit-cultivators have their ability of energy-armor and their spirit-tools to cover-up the clear-inferiority of their much weaker and slower bodies... most of their spirit-cultivation techniques have some fighting-abilities—which help them strengthen their attacks—or movement-techniques to help speed-up their inferior movement-speed and attack speed! many of them does seem to be "quite-aware" or "knowledgeable" about the suppression of elements—which spirit-elements does have over one another—and can rely-on teamwork to counter any of the stronger beast-commanders... simply by uniting a few spirit-cultivators—which are much weaker individually—who have the natural-affinity of a suppressive-element that can counter that beast-commander specifically or... stop and isolate one of the beast-commanders from the rest because its skills makes it tough to handle whenever it’s working with other beasts.

“Ah... eh! I’m... alive?” One cultivator was shouting his last and final of scream unwillingness before receiving the attack from a sneaky purple-bat... the bat—who’s not even one of the beast-commanders—was just about to split the body of this spirit-cultivator in half with its sword that it conjured from a highly intensified-energy of purple spirit-lightning! the man himself immediately understood that his own energy-armor wouldn't be able to resist such attack right now since he just used a spirit-ability just earlier... which means? the momentary-delay of energy-exhaustion within his meridians would take at least a few seconds for more of his spirit-energy to be transmitted from his dantian and through the meridian-system to feed his energy-armor with sufficient spirit-energy to withstand that cunning and sly sneak-attack from this ancestral-beast. Once the man noticed that he's still alive... that man looked around him in shock and found a few others of the "fellow spirit-cultivators" who were fighting with him and the rest all the way back at the rear of the convoy! this small gathering of convoy-guards stood next to the shocked cultivator on the roof of Wei’s carriage and looked towards the boy. Meanwhile... the few spirit-cultivators which were left to guard Wei and the merchants at the front area of the convoy were left in shock and kept rubbing their eyes in disbelief! because... these guys personally saw with their own eyes earlier how dangerous the situation is at the rear since the beast-commanders and their followers which are chasing them are at least in the realm of devil-beast or ancestral-beast and there’s one in a higher realm. However... despite being overwhelmed in numbers none from their ranks fell in battle! how could that happen to the spirit-cultivators who’re struggling to buy themselves and their partners plus their employers enough time? simply because... every now and then one spirit-cultivator—or more—would appear next to the boy who have wings as a martial-spirit. Despite always maintaining his position and always looking ahead of the convoy instead of looking towards the rear where the battle is happening... this unknown and mysterious kid saved a lot of spirit-cultivators yet... none of them could figure-out how is he doing it? he’s either faster than what their senses could pick-up or... this winged-boy is using a method beyond their abilities to comprehend! the person who have highest spirit-cultivation in this union of caravans is a spirit-tyrant of the third-stage... that man has been specifically chosen and hired by Wei from the branch of the mercenaries-guild in pearl-city... a cultivator with the element of lightning as his natural-affinity and known for being an excellent user of the spear. A veteran-mercenary who’s famously known for his special movement-technique which allows the man to suppress spirit-tyrants of the fourth or fifth-stages... if needed! however... it seems like these mercenaries knew that this journey would be dangerous and intentionally raised the prices of their escort-services through pearl-road by higher by forty-percent. Yes... it has been costly to hire the man and his group—which caused Wei to cry tears of blood while paying fifty low-grade spirit-crystals to the staff of the mercenary-branch—but... right now it seems like that man and his well-organized group of mercenaries are... well-deserving of each and every one of the spirit-crystals paid to hire them! just the group-leader on his own is already able to stop the only tyrannical-beast within their pursuers which is a green-colored dove... that green-dove made it hard for the lightening-cultivator to move as fast as he should’ve been whenever it used its suppressive and vacuum-like wind-skills. However... that mercenary-leader Yang isn't making it easy for the pursuers either... the veteran managed to entangle five of the ancestral-beasts within the range of his abilities and stopped all of them from reaching the second-line behind him where the guards and his mercenary-group are located! still... even that man—who’s used to seeing death and losing friends—kept sighing inside whenever Yang sensed one of the guards or his mercenary-group being faced with the imminent-danger of death because... he just couldn't intervene and stop these spirit-cultivators from dying. While facing six opponents his own mercenary-leader Yang just can’t allow himself to be distracted... otherwise he’s going to fall before his men! and if it happened? then... his men and the rest of the guards would certainly be massacred by this green dove. But... during every single time that Yang fellow thought that he lost one of his group or from the force of guards behind him... these spirit-cultivators would escape death without him even knowing how it happened! somehow the—lucky to survive—spirit-cultivators would be instantly relocated towards the front of the convoy... and located at that place is specifically the one who’s the main reason for their current chase—which should’ve been a difficult-confrontation—the boy who unleashed a fearsome long-range ability to annihilate the beasts and open a gap within the beast-blockade. Only Liao Lai—with the help of his martial-spirit’s special abilities—could sense the times whenever Lin used his strong soul-force like some kind of whip to grab and snatch these people from the jaws of certain death! however... during the times when the "freak of nature" used his spirit-wings to move whenever he’s helping some spirit-cultivator—for some "unknown" reason—the boy couldn't even be noticed by anyone from all of those who’re seeing it actually happen right under their noses. Each and every one of these spirit-cultivators would be like a person who just returned from "afterlife" itself right before the final moment where the "gates of hell" are completely shut! these people would keep standing there in some weird-positions and strange-poses while gasping for air and covered in some cold sweat for a while... while staring at absolutely nothing—which made Gang snickered to himself inside the soul-world—after Lin saves them.

“What are you standing there like a bunch of idiots for? thank young Ming for saving your sorry lives, then quickly go back and stop these beasts from surrounding our fellow cultivators back at the rear! be more attentive when you attack, we don’t need overachievers... we need to buy ourselves some time here, and don't leave your backs wide-open for the beasts or you’ll be sneak-attacked once again. Work like a team... this is no time for heroes.” Zhang shouted at the "daydreaming" spirit-cultivators to hurry back towards the rear because the simple man could see how Lai and Wang are being under a lot of pressure because the number of spirit-cultivators next to them is dwindling over time! meanwhile... the spirit-cultivators—who got saved—looked towards this "mysterious young Ming" who not only opened a path of escape for them but also snatched all of them from the hands of the death-reaper himself just earlier then... gave Lin a deep bow of sincere gratitude first before regulating and calming the flow of their agitated spirit-energy before heading towards the rear of the speeding-convoy. This time they all returned in a team of twos or threes to join mercenary-leader Yang, Lai, Wang and the rest who’re engaged in combat with the beast-commanders and their speed-oriented high-rank followers. The eyes of these spirit-cultivators are glowing with fighting-spirit which lit-up within their hearts after attaining a second-chance in life and to experience such tough and dangerous battle! these spirit-cultivators jumped in front of the beasts and confronted them with a burning battle-lust similar to an avenging-soul or the proud-fury of a wounded warrior.

.........

Gang smiled mischievously within the soul-world then the deadly-sin of wrath licked its lips while watching that group fight... that smile on Gang’s face was filled with the satisfaction of someone who ate the most delicious and most satisfying meal in the whole world! then quickly afterwards the deadly-sin of wrath curbed its emotions and restrained its "primal-urges" before returning to its duties.

........

After the spirit-cultivators rejoined their fellow-cultivators back at the rear... the beast-commanders couldn't find much opportunities to take these guards and mercenaries by surprise anymore! whenever they almost managed to achieve their aim and kill one of their enemies... Lin would foil the plans of the beast-commanders by scooping the sorry-looking spirit-cultivators back to safety ahead of the speeding-convoy—where the remaining force of guards at the vanguard is spectating the fight with envious-eyes—however... despite feeling ashamed after their second—or third—failure to protect themselves... despite being careful not to be isolated from their team... despite trying not to get themselves swarmed by these beasts or targeted by many beast-skills all at once! they still failed and almost died... again... and again. Yet... despite experiencing such horror more than once already... these spirit-cultivators would just scratch their heads sheepishly in embarrassment while enduring—or ignoring—the glares from the envious spirit-cultivators of the vanguard-force before diving back into the fray of the ongoing-battle at the rear in complete excitement! why excitement? because... this is one hell of an extremely rare opportunity for any cultivator—from any school of thought or system—to increase their fighting-capabilities like... all-over! just by experiencing similarly dangerous-situations of life and death. Yes... each time the boy takes them to safety he only does so in the very last moment! which makes the feeling of death breathing down their necks very real and terrifying... that adds to the thrill and benefit of this fight with the beast-commanders... every spirit-cultivator within the rear-force could already feel the benefits of this experience already. This valuable chance to fight all-out while knowing that they’d be safe isn't as helpful as prevailing on their own during a—normal—dangerous-situation of life and death without having any dao-protector to give them actual assistance or the "psychological-comfort" during their struggle! however... the slightly minor effect from this current experience and them having an extremely "reliable" dao-protector to ensure their safety... is proving that it can "add-up" to "equal" or be much... much more than prevailing in a dangerous-situation on their own! why? simply because... this experience can be done repeatedly over and over and during each and every time these spirit-cultivators can give it their all and test themselves. The result from such rare fight against opponents seriously going after their lives is? their flaws gradually gets revealed then their dao becomes firmer while they get to know their weaknesses... later afterwards they can correct these weaknesses and wipe-out their "bad-habits" and polish their fighting and movement-techniques plus learning better ways to use their spirit-energy efficiently in battle by limiting the factors of unnecessary-motion  whenever they’re executing an ability... the wasteful-behavior when using spirit abilities fades-out and the excess spirit-energy—which is saved from each execution of a spirit ability—allows them to fight longer with better efficiency.

“Merchant Wei. Please allow me to join the rear-force.” Finally one of the captains shouted towards the fatty’s carriage.

“What nonsense? you and your men are supposed to protect me and my fellow-merchants here at the vanguard-force! did you forget your responsibilities already? maybe I should’ve never hired your group.” The greedy merchant slid a window open then glared towards the envious group of spirit-cultivators.

“I didn’t ask for my people to be excused,” The captain sensed the glare directed towards him by someone right next to him and quickly said : “Not all of them at once.”

“This is unfair! I want to fight too, why should the mercenaries be the only ones to join the fight?” The other teams of guards—which originally belong to other merchants—began to voice their complaints.

“Yes! you’re absolutely right, why should we keep watching from a distance and do nothing? meanwhile they're practically... breaking their backs! just to protect us, maybe we should ask for permissions from our employers directly, you being in charge doesn’t seem like the right choice anymore” After hearing these words Tang Wei began to worry because an "insubordination" right now would be the worst-case scenario in the current situation.

“En. I agree with them, Zhang wants to fight too.” When the simple man spoke the fatty within the carriage immediately understood that this situation might really get out of hand.

“Come-on merchant Wei, allow my group of the crushing-hammer mercenaries to fight already, old Yang does seem like he’s having so much fun playing with these beasts back there.” The group-leader of the second mercenary-group which was hired by the fatty to ensure their protection in this journey began to push harder for a chance to participate with all of his group this time.

When he received all these complaints all at once the merchant understood that he can’t make that decision on his own. Wei closed the window then opened one of the "ventilation-hatches" and looked towards his brother—with a gaze which practically begged the boy—to help him make the right call! once he did... the fatty found the great-sage simply shrugging his shoulders as if saying : "Do whatever you like, I don’t care if you add more men to this fight! I can still take care of them all." The reason this boy wouldn’t be bothered is because... while saving these guys it’s actually helping him understand more and more about the new capabilities his improved spirit-wings. So in the end... these people are only making things hard for Wei not for Lin! simply because... the boy now understands—after experimenting slightly with his martial-spirit—that he’s able to "instantly" save all these guards and mercenaries as long as they aren't scattered any further than fifty kilometers away from where he’s standing. The great-sage is also positively sure that he can fire three more rays of light-energy from the wing-symbol on the back of his right-hand.

“Everyone... calm-down. The people in the rear-force wouldn't be able to keep going for much longer without rest, they’re expending their spirit-energy at such a high-rate after all... a lot of them are going to burn-out or accumulate a lot of injuries with the passing of time. All of you here should be careful... this isn’t a game! your lives are at risk here, it isn’t going to be over soon from the way it looks... because these demonic-beasts keep calling for more reinforcements, at least... it isn’t over until these demonic-beasts are either dead or exhausted of every spirit-energy strand within their demonic-cores. Those who wish to join the fight should draw lots and decide the order... who gets to participate first or last is up to yourselves, so... don’t bother merchant Wei with your nonsense and complain about having fun while being already threatened by death! those who don’t like following the rules of my benefactor can scram, being burdened with your existence in such a critical-timing is more than enough already... those of you who dares to cause any more disturbance better be prepared to be thrown out immediately. Now... do you see that man here? he can't keep fighting efficiently because he's already wounded! so... hurry-up and decide already, who goes instead of him? be quick about it before that man’s team is under any more pressure.” Lin said to the rowdy spirit-cultivators in the vanguard-force... some of them didn’t like having a kid tell them what to do yet kept their mouth shut when they remembered how the boy made them escape the beast-blockade with a single gesture from his hand! Wei felt swelling feelings of pride within his chest when the great-sage elevated the social-rank of the fatty in front of these "hired-arms" and demonstrated some of his unique-charisma of inborn-leadership. However... before these people got to choose who replaces the wounded spirit-cultivator—which Lin just freshly extracted from the battlefield—the man himself panicked once he heard what the boy just said to the people of the vanguard-force then retrieved a green-colored pill from his space-ring! once the man swallowed the green-colored pill—which is the size of a walnut—he began to run back towards the rear to rejoin the ongoing fight... that panicked-man really made it seem like he's not going to risk his life but to join some crew of pirates in the looting of some precious treasure and take his share instead.

“Huh! did he just take a wood-vitality pill?”

“He must be in a hurry, that’s why he took a pill to help in healing his wounds faster.”

“This is cheating!”

“Quickly grab him!”

“You mercenaries from the lightning-spear group are already taking the majority of the spots on the rear-force, while almost all of my crushing-hammer group have been tasked with defending and escorting merchant Wei and the rest of the merchants in the vanguard-force, this can’t keep on happening until we’re back to mercenary-city! At least ask our employer to let some of our people switch places with some of old Yang's people, this is unfair. I’m telling you... if this keeps on going? then... the fighting capabilities of his mercenary-group would be already at another grade higher than ours, we can’t let that happen now... can we? well... at least your sister wouldn’t.” While the spirit-cultivators of the vanguard-force chased after the wounded spirit-cultivator from the rear-force... one woman from the vanguard-force leaned closer to Chen Fu’s ear—which is the group leader of this crushing-hammer mercenary-group—and whispered these words.

“Let me go... y-you assholes! I can still fight, boss Yang will hear of this-” The wounded spirit-cultivator shouted his complaints and threw threats in the faces of those who held him firmly at the roof of some carriage.

“You shouldn’t worry yourself with what happens in the future, you should enjoy your rest and have... some sleep instead. Humph, some second-rate mercenary dares to threaten us of the crushing-hammer group! is it because his boss Yang is a stage higher than boss Fu? Tsk... they’re being cocky alright.” The spirit-cultivator from the vanguard-force immediately helped the wounded spirit-cultivator from the rear-force—who’s from one of their competitors and rivaling mercenary-groups—to a quick journey to unconsciousness while sneering his answer.

“Everyone! gather-around and take your turns, draw a number and obediently wait for your turn.” Wei opened the window and offered the spirit-cultivators from the vanguard-force their much awaited chance to participate in the ongoing fight back at the rear.

“I won! sister Xue... first replacement is on its way, I’m going ahead of you guys, wish me luck! tehehe.” A young and cheerful girl discovered that her number and jumped towards the woman next to group-leader Fu while smiling widely like a little-girl who’s enjoying a shopping spree with her parents.

“Tsk. What kind  of dumb luck is that? she drew the first lot yet got the first turn.” One guard mumbled these words while looking towards the mercenary-group.

“Hehe... little-Tong is the "lucky-charm" of our crushing-hammer mercenaries, tut... honestly that girl does have some frightening luck sometimes! I’ve never seen a person with better luck than her in my whole life.” The woman next to group-leader Fu—which that little-Tong just called sister Xue before burying her face in Xue’s amble chest then going towards the rear-force to join their ranks—muttered to herself while looking back... her eyes weren’t watching the battlefield right now... Xue thought about little-Tong and how their first-encounter changed both of their lives.

“I can still fight! I just took a wood-vitality pill, boss Yang will hear of this... make sure of tha-” The wounded spirit-cultivator suddenly awoke and began to shout again... then he became swarmed with spirit-cultivators from the vanguard-force again! finally he was sent to a quick journey towards unconsciousness by another person when he began to throw threats.

“All of you... shut up! remember these rules after you get your chance, if you’re wounded? you step to the side and work on healing your wounds quickly. You be ready to act once you're ordered to act or... if it’s your turn to swap places with someone of the rear-force. Besides these two important reasons... you’re to protect both the vanguard and the mid-section of this convoy. Now... do you understand these simple orders?” Finally Wei snapped at these spirit-cultivators... especially the mercenaries from both the lightening-spear and the crushing-hammer group! because they’re treating this valuable chance to gain fighting-experience like some sort of a competition.

“Yes! yes we do merchant Wei.” Immediately afterwards everyone gave their answer obediently with enthusiasm.

“Humph. Well you better be honest about it, because... it would only take a single gesture from me... and Ming up there, would leave those who dare to disobey my commands and orders to die!” Wei pointed a finger upwards towards the roof and said while smiling at the panicked expressions on the faces of these spirit-cultivators! the fatty had to play the villain and remind these "morons" that they still haven't escaped the danger of death yet... and that they’re not free to do whatever they like... there’s some leash around all of their necks until his caravan arrives safely in mercenary-city. A leash of agreement... a contract! and there’s the assistance of his little-brother Lin in this critical-situation to reinforce his position as the one who’s in "command" and the only one who can "command" the "one" who truly hold their fate! however... despite all the threats and worries Tang Wei is really enjoying his time watching group-leader Yang in action. When the lightning-cultivator is fighting he’s not only protecting Wei’s caravan but also helping the fatty understand the element of lightning and how it’s used within the next major-realm! group-leader Yang is a spirit-cultivator who share the same natural-affinity with the merchant plus... how the mercenary’s weapon is exactly what Tang Wei's martial-spirit is. When it comes to this fatty spirit-cultivation and accumulating sufficient lightning-energy to ascend stages and sub-realms or even major-realms has always been... mostly just like a walk in the park! sometimes the merchant would experience a breakthrough just because he’s under some lightening-storm... sometimes when Wei happens to pass next to some rare treasure which is related to the lightening attribute or... an area which happens to contain some high-quality or highly-concentrated lightning-energy. Even if the fatty doesn't care about wasting his time or effort to reach the next major-realm or sub-realm in his spirit-cultivation at all... the greedy-merchant does still cares about the additional "lifespan" which he gains from each major-realm! that’s why Wei would always try his best and surround himself with sufficient and compatible-factors... said factors might birth opportunities for Wei to increase his spirit-cultivation effortlessly.

Once the fatty finished handing-out numbers to those who drew lots... the merchant finally released the most anxious of these spirit-cultivators and probably the most troublesome person of them all! if left hanging any longer? then... Zhang would certainly hold a grudge against his young-master. The simple man grinned like a little-kid who’s having a heap of cotton candy all for himself after seeing his young-master signal for him to join the rear-force... then juiced his helmet and shoulder-pauldrons with earth and fire-energy before activating his ability of earth-armor and dashing along-with his minotaur—which covered his back—towards the area where the ground-beasts are located! the strong man understands that most of these ancestral-beasts would be faster than him and that’s why Zhang didn't aim to chase any of the beast-commanders outside the defensive-zone—which the rear-force is creating around the carriages at the rear of the convoy—and just waited for the beast-commanders to attack first... whether these beasts choose to attack recklessly or cautiously... it just doesn't matter for the simple man. As long as he's getting to participate in the fight then... the strong would be satisfied even if he ended-up losing! since Lin is there to catch him before he gets to even stumble then... Zhang can go all-out if he feels like it’s ever needed.

Meanwhile... Wang became so glad that his best-friend is allowed to join this tough fight! the handsome-man intentionally edged towards Zhang while dragging behind him some devil-beasts—which the ice-cultivator drove completely insane with his much refined-control of ice-energy—that kept chasing after Wang with bloodshot and menacing eyes while struggling to remove the frozen parts of their bodies... their movements are slow and some of these devil-beasts does seem like they’re unable to stop the ice from growing beyond the frozen areas. During the past three months it has been the most easy and most pleasant-experience Wang ever had when using ice-energy! after hearing Lin's advice the handsome-man quickly realized why his martial-spirit isn't as helpful to him in battle as the martial-spirits of others around him and everywhere in the spirit-world... the ice-cultivator’s dislike for his own ice-leopard—which is his own martial-spirit—and his own dislike for his natural-affinity to the element of ice... had somehow caused some sort of "mirroring-effect" and Wang suffered from similar dislike from both the element of ice itself and the ice leopard. The handsome-man noticed it when Lin's winged-tiger changed its attitude towards him... before he corrected that mistake Sun didn't seem to like the ice-cultivator at all! however... after realizing how he’s misunderstanding the properties of ice-energy... from the first day of correcting his approach Wang discovered how the attitude of Lin’s tamed-beast changed completely and the red-tiger became so clingy to the handsome-man—which made the demonic-beast seem like those "love-struck" girls who adore the handsome-man—from the time when they were back on the ship until much later afterwards. Whenever the ice-cultivator went to visit the boy once he enters the carriage he would be met with an excited cat that always wants to play with his ice-leopard.

However... the one who really changed like almost completely "character-wise" is in-fact Lai himself! now the blade-user does seem like a blade—which is using a blade to fight—a true blade that’s both forged and hammered over and over... then quenched and sharpened over and over... until the limit of balance has been attained. Balance between force and sharpness... between strength and swiftness! balance between sturdiness and pliability! right now each strike of Lai’s blade isn’t only both fast and deadly... the blade-intent—which accompany each move made by the blade-user—is causing every ancestral-beast within close vicinity to avoid the path of Lai's every slash and chop... these beast-commanders did seem like they’re playing a game of tag with death itself! because the only beast-commander—which actually tried to resist one of the blade-user’s attacks—was instantly cut in half once it blocked the path of that gold and earth-energy plus blade-intent fusion... that beast-commander wasn’t agility-oriented at all. It’s a defense-oriented beast-commander—which has been always famous for working in a team with another ancestral-beast—was carried by another land-beast and attempted to protect its partner however... its death served as a severe-warning for all the beast-commanders in the battlefield... "avoid that blade-user" no matter what. Only the tyrannical-beast—which is the green-colored dove—was able to forcefully resist Lai's attacks when it happened however... it seems like that dove became very angry—because this human who’s much weaker than itself actually dared to try and sneak-attack it—the tyrannical-beast made a sweet sound and immediately afterwards about a dozen ancestral-beasts focused on attacking Lai! however... these beast-commanders followed the orders of their leader—the green-colored dove—and attacked the dangerous blade-user from a "safe-distance" and as expected... Lai suffered a harsh suppression from the beast-commanders. The continuous and never ending barrage of long-range spirit-skills was so suppressive and required the blade-user to focus more on the defensive side of things where he evades or parry these skills instead of actually going on the offensive and attacking.

Group-leader Yang took chance of this momentary distraction from the green-colored dove—when Lai attempted to sneak-attack it—and twirled the wooden-shaft of his spear behind his back extremely quickly before changing his hold of the spear from the right-hand to his dominant hand which is the left-hand... afterwards and extremely intense and huge amount of lightning-energy entered the brown-colored wooden-shaft of the spear through the meridian-acupoints on Yang's left-hand! purple-colored runes and formation-inscriptions lit upwards on the body of the wooden-spear and moved towards the silver-colored spear-tip before forming a complete yet miniature purple-colored formation made purely from lightning-energy.

“Vzzzt!... crackle...” Once that small in size and purple in color lightning-formation on the spear-tip fully lit-up after swallowing all of that lightening-energy of the crystalized-quality... one bolt of purple-colored lightning-energy that’s the thickness of an adult’s thigh flew towards the distracted green-colored dove at insane speed! a speed which can only be achieved by rare few elements within the major-realm of spirit-tyrant however... that green-colored dove actually managed to make that purple-bolt of lightning-energy miss its body. The leader of these beast-commanders used its skill of "vacuuming-wind" in reverse to veer both itself and that purple-bolt of lightning-energy from one another however... after that single and quick exchange between the strongest two from each side both human and beast momentarily became visibly exhausted of spirit-energy! that should’ve given the beast-commanders the perfect opportunity to mount an attack on the rear-force of the convoy since the advantage of numbers is on their side... only if that is still true! the beast-commanders behind the green-colored dove were unfortunate to receive group-leader Yang's purple-bolt attack which exploded in the midst of the biggest gathering of ground-beasts. That intense mass of lightning-energy scattered in a circle of a three-hundred meters range and some beast-commanders—which have weak bodies—immediately fell on their sides either mortally wounded and unconscious or plainly said... dead! however... the majority of the beast-commanders hit by that ability from the lightning-cultivator weren’t dead but decommissioned from the next round of the fight instead... after suffering such heavy-casualties and losing almost one-tenth of its followers then seeing the smile on the face of the spirit-tyrant who caused this to begin with... that green-colored dove cooed in anger because it understood that this result was this man’s goal from the beginning... she was tricked? 'Humans are... such a cunning and intelligent creatures indeed however, I can still gather reinforcements, this fight isn’t over yet. Once she arrives... all of them will learn what it feels to despair.' The green-colored dove thought while leading her followers to fiercely attack the convoy... she herself focused on mercenary Yang with attention after it saw how the spirit-tyrant could kill and wound its underlings with a single one of his abilities.

The fight went on at the rear while the speeding-convoy kept moving towards the east direction with aim to escape the dogged-chase of the beast-commanders by reaching the territories of mercenary-city... meanwhile that green-colored dove would coo loudly every once in a while and call for more reinforcement from the legions of the beast-army! the fastest of the beasts would leave the ranks of the army and individually head towards the direction of the convoy... the constant addition of beasts on their tail never became a source of worry to the rear-force because no matter how much they eliminated or knocked-out of the chase there would be more beasts for them to fight. Every spirit-cultivator would quickly and silently take a seat then hurry to replenish their empty dantian after exhausting all of their spirit-energy fighting the beasts at the rear... them getting saved by this Ming means their turn is over and now they need to wait until their next chance! what about those who got wounded then? some of these spirit-cultivators swallowed different types of pills to speed-up the process of healing themselves... some gritted their teeth and retrieved low-grade spirit-crystals or medicinal-ingredients to help them recover faster. Otherwise? others would just take their turn and enter the rear-battlefield before they do. This chase kept going for three days and three nights until none of these guards and mercenaries wasn't exhausted of spirit-energy at least twice! or injured at least once... gradually the excitement within these spirit-cultivators faded almost completely once they discovered that this situation is becoming like an endless cycle where they keep being attacked by beast-commanders—which their numbers wouldn't decrease no matter how hard they actually tried to—yes... they’re benefitting greatly from this safe battlefield however... these spirit-cultivators has been extremely strained and physically before this chase. After being under the constant attacks from the small-scale beast-waves... these guards and mercenaries did find a safe method to pay the beasts back and it has been fun and exhilarating-experience for these spirit-cultivators during the first day or two! now when the exhaustion and fatigue finally caught-up with their bodies, souls, and spirits... deep within their minds these spirit-cultivators began to crave nothing else except getting away from this dangerous and revolting pearl-road so that they can... finally rest properly! then... meditate on all of their fights so far to digest the benefits from this whole experience and strengthen their foundations.

Lai, Wang, Zhang, mercenary-leader Yang, and Fu. Are among the rare few who took the least time to rest and recover before quickly returning back to the battlefield and resume their role of blocking the strongest of the beast-commanders... whenever these five saw the boy being able to keep on snatching all of them and their men from the jaws of death with such ease! they would quickly gather whatever that remained of their strength and return to the battlefield and do their best once again... especially because the kid never looked at anyone with any sort of judgment in his eyes. The great-sage would intervene in the last moment then take them away from harm's way while keeping his senses sharp to save others while giving those—which he saved—enough space and a peacefully-calm environment to recover! in silence Lin stood like a massive mountain on the roof Wei’s carriage and spoke with nobody from the spirit-cultivators... only Bo An has been lucky to be bestowed a few small chats after she woke-up.

The young-girl’s attitude towards the boy changed very much after Lin’s five deadly-sins hijacked his body and fingered her well... above heaven! these days the young-lady of the Chentian clan would come and join the great-sage because she's been honestly "awfully bored" whenever she’s staying in the carriage with Fang Bo on their own... even if she does have Fang Bo and sometimes Sun to spice-up her time when "Ming" is away. After crossing some "lines" with the boy... Bo An's head has become filled with only thoughts about the kid—which she doesn't know his background—yet despite being left in the dark! the young-girl had to admit that she’s deeply attached to him both emotionally and... physically.

Seeing such a little and fragile-looking boy hold-on better than all of them has become a cause of frustration and slight anger to all of these seniors who does have better spirit-cultivation than the boy! 'If he's still capable of holding-on? then... I can't give-up yet! at least not before he does... I need to persevere, just a little bit more.' These thoughts became some sort of supporting-factor to the spirit-cultivators who pushed their bodies up with determination and returned to the line then moved towards the rear when it became their turn to join the fight... all of them did their best to stop the beast-commanders from surrounding their fellow-cultivators who’re currently guarding the rear of the convoy.

“Scree!...”

The guards have been holding the defensive-line pretty well actually from Lin's honest opinion... until one bird appeared on the boy’s radar of soul-sense! that flying-beast is heading directly towards their convoy and at great-speed... Just its loud screeching sound did cause the group of spirit-cultivators everywhere on the convoy to become very pale in the face... hadn’t Lin quickly reacted and covered the whole convoy with a coating-layer of his soul-force? then... the fighting-spirit of these people would’ve instantly crumbled. Right afterwards Bo An appeared from their carriage and seemed to be in a hurry to reach Lin’s side! once she did... the young-girl stood protectively one step ahead of the boy while looking up towards the southern sky. The young-lady of the Chentian clan clenched one of her hands into a firm fist and her little grey puppy—Fang Bo—transformed into his original-form and grew in size until it became a two meters tall, three and half meters long fierce-looking grey wolf... then she turned to look towards the fat merchant and said : “That's a beast-lord from a rare and pure-blooded species—which is very close to the realm of beast-king already, tell everyone to withdraw already! or... they'd just die before they know how it happened.” Bo An gave Wei her honest opinion while making sure that Lin's hand is firmly and tightly gripped by hers own! the young-girl looked back and gave her little prince-charming a calm smile to ease some of the boy’s worry for the safety of his friends... meanwhile the fatty didn't dare question or contradict the young-lady of the Chentian clan and quickly ordered his men and subordinates to retreat slightly back and form a sturdy defensive-line around the rear once the merchant noticed how the beasts on their tail did stop attacking the convoy and retreated about one kilometer back towards safety after disengaging his men.

The beast-commanders only followed the tail of the convoy after reorganizing their positions and waited while eying the people of the convoy with menacing eyes—which are full of excitement—and the green-colored dove who’s the current leader of these beasts... was exhausted almost to the degree of fainting and currently perching on the antlers on-top of some ground-beast and have been resting ever since an hour ago! immediately flew upwards to greet her lord and the supreme-commander of this massive beast-army and holder of the direct-commands from their "sky queen" while carrying apprehension and some frustrations inside her small chest... the tyrannical-beast stopped about ten-meters below the four-winged creature—which looks like a mixture between a hawk and an eagle—then the green-colored dove spread its small wings completely open and prostrated itself down while saying : “Little Leaf Blower greets supreme-commander Lantian. These humans are the ones who killed their way through the blockade which you ordered to be made about fifty-thousand kilometers back west, we did our best to delay them until the supreme-commander wake-... I mean, arrives to the battlefield! however... our casualties are very high already, while they suffered none at all. It’s all because of that winged-boy over there at the roof of the first carriage, I-I... don't know how is he able to move so fast within the range of my senses and save these spirit-cultivators, he doesn’t seem to be affected whenever he’s under my vacuum-skill! sigh... I already lost count of how many times he entered and exited the zone of my skills.” The small green-colored dove which seems to have such a strange name like "Leaf Blower" spoke for the first time in days then pointed towards Lin with one of her wings.

Afterwards that huge cyan-colored bird—which resemble a perfect fusion between a hawk and eagle, "supreme-commander Lantian" looked towards the boy who’s standing in the shadow of a young-girl who’s wearing a cute-looking grey dress—which matched the grey-fur of her pet and revealed her petit shoulders—however... that girl is currently staring fearlessly right back at her! little Leaf Blower has always been one of Lantian's close and favorite followers... the small dove is both smart and strong. Not to mention that little Leaf Blower have such a good control over the element of wind... she’s currently in the top-five position on the speed-ranking amongst Lantian’s hundreds of followers! since that little boy can give little Leaf Blower such trouble then... he must be faster than little Leaf Blower... and by quite a lot. Otherwise... he wouldn't be able to avoid the senses of little Leaf Blower and the effect of vacuuming-wind... looking downward and being met with the gazes from the mercenaries and guards within the convoy... Lantian strutted towards Lin and Bo An while arrogantly unleashing her spirit-pressure to the limit! “Om!...” The spirit-barrier of the convoy was immediately activated right after Lantian flaunted her superior attainments when it comes to the aspect of spirit-energy however... the spirit-cultivators within the convoy sneered while giving Lantian's huge body their full attention. Nobody likes it when the strong oppress the weak... this cyan-colored and four-winged huge bird is in-fact—at least—a whole major-realm stronger than the strongest person within this convoy... which is group-leader Yang! yet... this "Lantian" didn't feel embarrassed whatsoever despite bullying some juniors. “Under the direct orders from her majesty... "sky-queen" this pearl-road is hereby declared to be closed to all... especially the human-race! so... you all better surrender and follow me quietly, otherwise? the orders of her majesty would still be enforced on all of you, whether you like it or not.” Lantian stopped a few meters above the wind-barrier and spoke these commands in a high-handed manner... the speed of the convoy below her didn't seem to trouble the huge bird at all because keeping-up with the people below her talons only required it to flutter only two of its cyan-wings slowly every once in a while! the faces of almost every spirit-cultivator within the convoy—maybe except for Lin and Bo An—darkened once they heard the arrogant words coming from Lantian's long cyan-colored beak however... the eyes of these frustrated spirit-cultivators would reflexively be lowered whenever their eyes met the pair of sharp cyan-colored pupils... none of them could tolerate that forceful-gaze because they already know it within their gut... this formidable bird-lord can forcefully break the energy-barrier they’re using to cover their convoy right now. Simply because... that beast-lord does have superior attainments in the element of wind... and their energy-barrier happens to be made from a wind-formation! her abilities perfectly counter their methods and without the assistance of a barrier these spirit-cultivators wouldn’t be able to work like a single unit to fight this strong enemy... the trust—which these spirit-cultivators made over the past few days—in the boy’s ability to save them is currently being questioned within the chests of every anxious spirit-cultivator. If this formidable bird-lord decided to attack? is he going to be able to keep the talons of this huge cyan bird or its spirit-skills away from them? after all... the kid is still just a spirit-apprentice of the first-stage according to their senses! the fact that he’s been able to protect their lives for three days and three nights so far is... already considered a miraculous-achievement for a junior to make... he must be very exhausted right now and on the brink of collapsing from exhaustion. In the eyes and within the thoughts of these despairing spirit-cultivators... this boy "Ming" has already done more than enough for their sake! if surrendering is going to be his choice? then... these cultivators wouldn't blame the kid for his decision or brand him a "coward" for it... when faced with just an ancestral-beast during their days of being just a junior of the first-stage spirit-apprentice... these spirit-cultivators would sniffle from terror and cry honest tears of fear and reveal snotty-faces while begging their seniors for mercy and promise to stop their bratty-attitude. Say less if the punishment is suffering the spirit-pressure of a tyrannical-beast or... facing a high-grade beast-lord like this cyan-colored bird! yet... the boy is still so calm despite facing it his face is very tranquil and the kid does seem to be unaffected whatsoever by the current situation or the underlying danger. Even if their only choice is to fight these "abominable beasts" and die alone with their weapons in their hands and feeling pride and dignity flooding their chests... these spirit-cultivators still wouldn’t blame Ming if he choose to surrender or... if he choose to ditch the convoy and those in it to flee on his own! group-leader Yang and Fu are amongst the few people within the convoy who were—calm enough to—notice how the boy isn't panicking like the rest of spirit-cultivators who’re much older in and have much higher attainments in spirit-cultivation... these two veteran mercenaries vaguely sensed it whenever the kid just used his soul-force to pull them out and away from danger. If they’re in his shoes right now? then... they would choose to surrender and live another day! later... they would get-even with those who bullied him once before. Especially since this Ming does seem very capable in becoming a "powerhouse" one day in the very near future... with that set of potential? the boy can certainly grow into something very... very scary. As for fleeing? the two group-leaders does have their doubts about whether or not this kid can outrun this bird-lord which is specialized in cultivating the element of wind! after all... the word "lord" be it within the title of a beast or a human... such rank isn't just for show. That major-realm does have a certain ring to it... a might which is unquestionably frightening and mysterious to those below them in cultivation. Both men would've recruited this boy Ming to join their mercenary groups hadn't Wei, Lai, Wang, and Zhang—the likeable one—warn them not to... even think about it! then the group-leaders completely eliminated the notion once they got to see the beloved granddaughter of Chentian Ao the famous beast-tamer personally taking care of the kid and often joining him on the fat merchant’s carriage. In the beginning the two group-leaders did believe the story about the boy "he's just an orphan" and this little-ancestor from the Chentian clan is "kindly" taking care of the kid because he’s "friend" whom she happened to meet back in the beast renting-station however... these two mercenary-captains does know about some "confusing" information! the group-leaders does know about what happened inside the renting-station when the boy and the young-girl met... and they also know about unexpected visit which her grandfather gave this boy with inspector Huang outside the walls of pearl-city after the kid accomplished an amazing feat of using only the strength of his physique to win against a shadow-colt. Then... the boy’s "strange" state of unconsciousness which took the boy more than three months just to awake from it! there’s some mystery which covers this Ming and that attracts the curiosity of these two mercenary-leaders indeed however... both of them made sure to keep their ideas to themselves and never voiced them to anyone else but themselves. Still... these two old friends and rivals could see all of these "unanswered" questions within the eyes of one another and would just smile ruefully then shake their heads whenever the kid saved any of them! only to exchange a knowing look afterwards with greedy-eyes which are filled with "longing" for a chance to present itself... a chance where they could snatch that kid from these merchants and recruit him into their mercenary-groups.

“The treaty between the beast-emperors and the cultivation-alliance entails... merchants and spirit-cultivators both receive a safe passage whenever they’re travelling the two-million kilometers west between the territories of eternal-forest and beast-mountains, only those who enter the territories of the beasts or the elves are not included in the agreement... we never left the borders of pearl-road which means you can’t block our path, even her majesty sky-queen know these terms. So... we refuse to surrender, simply because we didn't intrude into the territories of your beast-mountains! if you're going to rely on using force? then... I won't hesitate to do the same. Senior. With all due respect... you should be reasonable for the good and benefit of both sides.” Bo An fearlessly spoke while meeting Lantian's gaze meeting with her own then smiled when she saw the bird-lord gawk slightly after hearing her answer... once the young-girl noticed the quick look—which the huge cyan-colored bird gave its follower the small green-colored bird—then the nod from the dove which confirmed the words of this little girl to be in-fact true! Bo An does know her way with beasts after all since her Chentain clan is famous for their working methods in taming them... this beast-lord... this cyan-colored bird isn't some normal beast with some high attainments in the "beast-path" the true name of its species is the "twelve-winged terror" and the reason it's called that way because it's a rare hybrid-species. When it comes to this beast-variant and for it to appear there’s some strict requirements... and these requirements are for a "wind eagle" and a "hurricane-winged hawk" to mate. Since both species of demonic-beasts are known for their pure affiliations towards the element of wind... the offspring of both birds is admitted for being capable of becoming a "nightmare" in the advanced realms! why is that? simply because... birds from that hybrid-species does inherit the best of advantages from both of their parent’s species. Not to mention that with every increase in the major-realm these said advantages gets to be revealed more and more! the hurricane-winged hawk is a species of birds which are born with six pairs of wings... they live and die while having the same number of wings on their backs... meanwhile the wind eagle is a species of birds which are born with a normal standard of one pair of wings. The rare hybrid-species of the twelve-winged terror bird are born like their ancestors from the hurricane-winged hawk bloodline but... the number of wings on their body doesn't stay the same forever! during their "hatchling" days of being just ferocious-birds or demonic-birds... the twelve-winged terror would still be stuck with the same number of wings on their back—which is twelve—however... once any of these rare birds does breakthrough into the major-realm of devil-beast a sacrifice must follow! these bird willingly and permanently sacrifice a pair of their own wings in-exchange for higher attainments and better control over the element of wind... then with each following increase in a major-realm these birds does lose a pair of their wings again and again... this process continue to happen all the way until a twelve-winged terror does reach the major-realm of beast-king and begin to assimilate the bloodline of the wind eagles then work on fusing both of the bloodlines within its body. Once a twelve-winged terror does complete all these requirements then... it can face its lightning-tribulation and seek becoming a "primordial-beast" just like that sky-queen which Lantian mentioned earlier... within that major-realm a demonic-beast can choose to continue further within the "beast-path" or... it can choose to be "reborn" in the form of a human! why would a beast prefer to be reborn in the form of one of its mortal-enemies? simply because... only with that sort of physique can a demonic-beast learn to cultivate spirit, soul, Qi, intent or... practice the teachings from any other school of thought or system if it so wants. The only advantage over other human-cultivators within the same realm would be... the primordial-beasts ability to revert back into their original-form of a beast-king and use their superior physique to fight or defend themselves when needed! plus using their sharp and superior beast-like senses for both danger and the different types of energy—which helped them greatly in reaching the primordial-realm in the first place—that’s why... mostly the advancements of these demonic-beasts re-born as human-cultivators does see insane advancements in the first few major-realms however... the fast improvements would slow-down a lot within the spirit-king realm then almost stop within the major-realm of spirit-emperor. From there it mostly depend on the "comprehension-abilities" of these beasts in human-form to reach the sovereign-realm—or whatever realm that equalizes it from the other systems and schools of thought—still... the loss isn’t so bad for these beasts who might be stuck forever within the emperor-realm! because... these primordial-beasts in human-form get to cultivate spirit, body-refinement, soul-techniques and many more from other systems... they get to use fighting and movement-techniques... they get to rely on the protection and assistance of spirit-tools... learn how to use talismans and formations... they could learn alchemy or how to forge spirit-tools and make spirit-talismans or formations! the advantage which human-cultivators once had over them—beasts—simply gets eliminated and the odds become even between both parties... especially when this fact is considered... how often does the occasion happen? how many times was a "special-physique" found within these primordial-beasts of the human-path? according to historical-events of the spirit-world... one of these—human-path primordial-beasts—was fortunate enough to attain ample understanding of the element of creation just after withstanding his lightning-tribulation! the other example actually completely attained the element of destruction right after ex-changing her beast-form with the human-form for the first time... this one went on a prolonged massacre against her enemies afterwards and suppressed a whole era. Physiques... the special and truly rare ones amongst all sorts of physiques—which are countless in number—are the best kind of luck that any cultivator could ever hope for! if they’re living in this spirit-world and have such a physique? then... every sect and organization would fight to gain the favor of the owner of such special-physique. What happens to those primordial-beasts who choose not to become humans? they would be "reborn" as well! yes... these beasts actually gets to be reborn once again as beasts after they succeed in transcending their lightning-tribulation... these "devoted" primordial-beasts of the "beast-path" or... the dao of beasts do gain the quickest improvement of their lives... their bodies gets reborn with the aid from the strand of chaotic-lightning—which is mixed inside the nine strikes of lightning-tribulation—their bodies which has always been of a superior-grade actually become many-times stronger and compatible to different types of energy. Since these primordial-beasts of the beast-path has already dug-out the potential of their bloodline almost completely... they begin to try and evolve the bloodline within their bodies by seeking fortuitous-encounters or natural and world-treasures of the finest-qualities! of course... these primordial-beasts of the beast-path often gets compared to spirit-cultivators within the emperor-realm or what equals it in strength however... the comparison isn't always correct because there's always strong and weak within every realm. The emperor-realm is just the same like any other realm of cultivation... be that within the spirit-aspect or any other aspect! spirit-elements counter one another and abilities counter one another. For example... Tang Wei! if someone like him actually reached the emperor-realm with such a shaky foundation? then... this Lantian here can actually beat the fatty into such a sorry state despite being two major-realms below the merchant.

Meanwhile... the spirit-cultivators everywhere in the convoy gave Bo An looks which are filled with hope for a chance of survival while thinking : 'Since she's courageous enough to threaten a beast that’s two major-realms above her own then... she must’ve her reasons! certainly since she’s someone who’s born in a big, strong, wealthy, and a very, very influential clan then... she must be quite able to use "force" against force if that bird-lord attempted to "strong-hand" them. honestly... it would all be good if the young-girl is capable of doing what she just said.' Certainly... her grandfather must've left a trump-card or two with young-lady Bo An and that must be the reason why she's not afraid from this four-winged cyan-colored bird-lord.

While these spirit-cultivators wondered what is it? just what reason that’s making this little girl from the Chentian clan act so fearlessly while facing such a fearsome beast? Bo An was almost sure that this "terror-lord" Lantian is no-different from the majority of the bird-species... she’s dumb, simpleminded, extremely-loyal, and last but not least... she have the same common-trait of a very "short-circuited" memory! similar to most bug-species... bird-species are very hardworking when tamed correctly however... sky-queen doesn't need to tame beasts now does she? especially birds... maybe that’s why this Lantian does have such a clear disadvantage compared to many birds this young-girl tamed before. According to what Bo An once heard from her grandpa Ao... sky-queen "Hongtian" is practically adored by any of the bird-species! and that's where the title "sky-queen" actually originated from... it’s said that any bird would willingly lower itself below her level whenever she took to the sky... even when mentioning those within the same major-realm and are primordial-beasts like herself! according to rumors that sky-queen Hongtian once fought with a low-stage spirit-sovereign who lusted after her beauty and attempted to kidnap her from her nest... the various tales all agree on the point that Hongtian not only did she manage to force that person into fleeing for his life but also she gave him a grave-wound that crippled the spirit-sovereign all the way down from the sovereign-realm into the peak-stages of the king-realm. After seeing Lantian lean her head left and right while seeming to be squeezing her brain and trying so hard to remember the exact words of sky-queen Hongtian’s order... made the young-lady of the Chentain clan certain of her deductions.

Lantian could only remember the words : "Go away Lantian. I'm not in the mood to chat, why don’t you assemble the army and take them to do something fun? like... getting rid of these annoying humans who keep harassing the northern borders, sweep them, kick them out or.. something." For someone with Lantian’s intellectual-capabilities... these words must've meant... to "Stop all humans from ever coming near the territories of her majesty" Right!

While Bo An became almost completely sure that this "idiotic" bird-lord doesn't seem to understand how this world works outside the domain of her ruler—sky-queen Hongtian—the green-colored dove was sighing deeply inside while rolling her eyes! simply because... this tyrannical-bird has been trying to "softly" warn her supreme-commander—sesame-brain—Lantian about the consequences of cutting the trade-path in the face of spirit-cultivators at pearl-road for a long time to no avail.

“You're the one in command of this beast-wave?” Bo An asked the cyan-colored bird-lord that’s called Lantian and only received a squinting hawk-like sharp gaze from its cyan pupils.

Lantian did feel dangerous confidence from this little girl ever since she arrived... she has already seen some examples of "highborn" humans who’re blessed with formidable backgrounds! she admits that she’s quite stupid if compared to her majesty's "glamorous-self" but Lantian does have keen eyes and sharp senses for danger... especially towards those from the "devious" human-race. From this little girl in grey... Lantian could feel this deep and lurking feeling of "foreboding danger" somehow it’s a lot similar to how the younger-version of her majesty! before her queen managed to withstand and overcome her lightning-tribulation... that time during her "hatchling years" Lantian did witness it with her "special" pair of eyes. While both of her parents were fighting human-cultivators to protect little-Lantian who’s helpless inside the nest... soon her mother was slain after all of her wings were crippled! then her father choose to detonate his demonic-core to protect his "special-chick" and with determination sacrificed his life to grievously wound or... kill as many as he could of the "bullies" who ganged-up on her family after taking them by surprise. It was then that her majesty descended from the sky accompanied by gigantic columns of fire! her wings gently covered young Lantian from the heat that managed to sneak inside the nest... while the human-bullies gots burned to cinders outside... Lantian never forgot how these long and perfectly red feathers felt when they touched her body... every single one of these feathers would make fire itself blush in shame.

“Then... may I know who exactly I’m talking to here? senior should know that I'm Chentian Bo An from the Chentian clan, my grandfather is a close friend with sky-queen Hongtian plus—at least—three other kings of the ten "kingly-beasts" should you insist on bullying us... heh. Then... this junior would be forced to offend you first before reporting back to the clan, I would clearly mention about how the behavior of one follower from her queen’s was... improperly unacceptable! both sides would agree that it’s just... self-defense.” These words from Bo An woke-up Lantian from her daydreams... the bird-lord who has already long forgotten about the little boy behind this very confident girl from the Chentian clan ever since Bo An spoke in the first time however... this time when she resumed speaking after receiving silence from Lantian to her first question the young-girl made a simple mistake! a mistake that she’d never realize until somewhere in the near future... Bo An who has been holding into Lin's right-hand all this time was unaware that had she kept doing so until the end then she would’ve succeeded in her aim! and the young-lady of the Chentian clan was really about to succeed in making Lantian go back into the territories of the beast-mountains along-with her beast-army... because from what the green-colored dove secretly hinted her supreme-commander Lantian... all of them might actually be in big trouble this time! because... they really overdid it in this raid. Little Leaf Blower somewhat understood the "true intentions" of her majesty sky-queen Hongtian once Lantian began to assemble the army... mercenaries would regularly enter the territories of the beast-mountains through pearl-road or through the territories of the Dou empire! add the troublesome menace of the mercenaries and their thieving actions plus the bandit-groups which plague and disturb the borders of the beast-mountains and dare to attack both humans and beasts alike... these verminous lot just love to fish in murky waters. Sky-queen Hongtian must’ve meant for the beast-army to push away these wicked-humans or to outright kill all of them! only if they could get to them before the bandits could manage to escape back to pearl-road or... the territories of the Dou empire. Lantian in her stupid rush would've pushed the beast-army deep into the territories of the eternal-forest hadn't she already knew that elves are in-fact... allies! they’re supposed to sweep the borders of beast-mountains from east to west before returning to their territories and resume their peaceful lives... how come they’re blocking the trade-road and are getting the beast-army prepared to blockade pearl-road before collecting tax from human-merchants? supreme-commander Lantian was never a suitable candidate for command... especially over ten whole legions of beasts united in a single army! 'She's just too.... careless about everything that doesn't have anything to do with her majesty sky-queen. Sigh. I guess it’s time for us to go back, like... finally!' Little Leaf Blower would say that out loud if someone had asked her that moment about her "honest opinion" of her supreme-commander Lantian.

But despite all said and done—or thought by anyone from those who exist within this situation—not everything does always go as planned no matter how much some might diligently prepare for the worst! once Bo An let go of Lin's right-hand... Lantian became so shocked after seeing something that’s quite "unbelievable" and her cyan-pupils practically ignored everything else and looked towards the wings-symbol at the back of Lin's right-hand. Lantian's hawk-eyes opened widely and her cyan-pupils shook inside her wide eye-sockets and became like two glowing disks of the cyan color being repeatedly and forcefully jolted within two large basins which are filled with dark-colored water! its cyan-beak kept opening and closing in disbelief while words betrayed the bird-lord until she finally said : “Y-your... wings. Yes you! little-boy... I'm talking to you, these wings on your hand how and where did you get it?” Lantian asked while completely ignoring all of Bo An's previous threats... her attitude changed from 'Let's go little Leaf Blower, bullying juniors isn't fun.' to 'Fuck it all to hell, bring your worst... shitty humans!' once the bird-lord saw the wings-symbol on the back of Lin's right-hand! after asking Lin... she saw him give a quick glance towards his two pairs of wings while seeming puzzled about what does she mean by asking that? however... her question isn't about his martial-spirit but his wings-symbol instead.

“What do you want from him? listen here... you better leave, like right now!” Bo An became so surprised after seeing such the actions from Lantian and immediately returned to stand protectively in front of the boy's body... the young-girl tried to shield the kid from the dangerously sharp eyes of the bird-lord with her own! while telling the cyan-colored bird to leave with a commanding and threatening tone of voice... the young-lady of the Chentian clan brought-out a beast-medallion and held it in her hand—which contain one of her grandpa's oldest beast-companions and Fang Bo’s own matriarch—because now she’s ready to call a high-grade beast-king to their aid. If that cyan bully tried to do anything to Ming? then... let her grandma fix that bird-lord and teach her a lesson for the sake her lover. As for the wings-symbol on the back of his right-hand? Bo An decided to add it to the list of secrets which she plans to uncover! surely the young-girl wouldn't stop trying to dig-out every single one of them... the little brat played with her pure, innocent, and virgin body until he learned about every single nook and cranny... it would only even the odds a little after she knows everything about him in return... right.

Meanwhile... Lantian confirmed her previous sense of fear once this girl from the Chentian clan exposed that beast-medallion! now the bird-lord is sure that she just can't forcefully do anything to that girl however... "for some reason" the boy isn't completely included within the "halo of protection" that’s coming from the mysterious yet formidable demonic-beast which is inside the beast-medallion! still... once a single strand of the faintest of killing-intent from herself was pointed towards the young-girl the retaliating killing-intent directed towards herself as a warning not to dare and try to make a single move against the girl from the beast-medallion did give the twelve-winged terror a frightening feeling of being slowly suffocated within the coldest and darkest of water but... when Lantian directed a similar strand of the faintest of killing-intent towards Lin... then another! then another that’s much more exposed... she was always ignored during these attempts from the dreadful demonic-beast inside the beast-medallion. Bo An's question and the existence of the beast-medallion in her hand plus the previous exchange of killing-intent with the demonic-beast inside it—which was completely hidden from the senses of everybody else, maybe except for "Kai" because someone like him shouldn’t be included with any other within one category—made Lantian keep her silence and think for the best answer... there must be a method for her to get this boy to talk.

“Are you absolutely sure that you can cause these beasts to go back? like... no-matter what odds!" However... before Bo An got to hear Lantian answer her questions the young-girl did hear Lin's question ringing inside her head through the ability of soul-link.

“En. I’m sure, like... one-hundred percent sure. If there's no beast-king giving this twelve-winged terror orders to begin with or... happens to just be nearby our location? then... I’m one-hundred and one-percent sure! If there's one demonic-beast higher on the chain-of-command within this beast-army or... nearby us and nosy enough to intervene in our business? then... it’s at least a fifty-fifty chance.” The young-lady of the Chentian clan looked back and gave Lin a proud smirk while sending back her reply... the sight of her during such a precarious-situation made Bo An seem like she’s still demanding to be praised from the boy.

“Good. Then let me handle things from here, I need to know something from this four-winged cyan fellow anyway. Not to mention that there's something else that I've been dying to test ever since I woke-up from that long slumber, anyway... please don't hesitate to use your trump-card once I tell you to! that would mean that my test has failed, and my attempt to gather information has failed too, or both plus that my life is possibly in immediate danger and I need to be saved. Alright? good lass.” Lin patted Bo An's shoulder and took two steps forward to stand ahead of her instead and the boy found the expression of shock on Bo An's face very amusing and couldn't resist giving a quick pinch on her cheek... an action which caused the young-lady of the Chentian clan to blush slightly while returning Lin's action with a pinch of her own! him teasing her with her words and actions tickled her emotions especially after she noticed the gazes of everyone around them towards her after receiving this gesture from the boy.

The playful actions between the boy and the young-girl did remind everyone of the young age of these two! because even while being under the pressure of such a dangerous situation they’re carelessly joking with one another so lightheartedly... after smiling ruefully every spirit-cultivator within the convoy got reminded about the kind of "gap" that lies between them and those who’re called "geniuses" once more... especially once they watched while this boy Ming walked a few more steps away from the young-girl after a quick episode of fooling around together with her then looked upwards towards this bird-lord that’s called Lantian with a pair of golden-pupils which never lost their calm from the very beginning more than three days ago.

“Looks like you're a smart kid after all. Don't test my patience any more than you already did, just obediently come with me to see her majesty, the rest can leave. You don't!” These words from Lantian caused Tang Wei to be electrocuted from the depth of his core! the fatty was about to do or say something after being overcome with extreme anxiousness however... once Lin looked towards him and gave him a seriously strong gaze which meant : "Do not try and interfere in my business you fathead of a buffoon!"

Meanwhile... the cyan-colored bird released a long sigh that has been stifled and hidden deep inside its chest ever since that killing-intent first came towards itself from the beast-medallion in Bo An's hand! simply because... that killing-intent didn't target her once again after she said these words to the boy.

After seeing that Bo An isn't as anxious as him after Lin gave him that nasty-look... Wei stopped what he was about to do—which is an all-out attack against this bird-lord—and shook his head to calm Wang, Zhang, and Lai who gripped the hilt of his wide-blade with a death-grip and was completely ready to go all-out from beginning to end against this shitty cyan-colored bird while thinking : 'Just what the fuck is wrong with this brat exactly? he just awoke like three days ago, yet... there’s another senior—Lantian—who’s already poking us in the ass! once I just began to think that this kid has managed to untangle his feet from the previous entanglement with inspector Huang back in pear-city... there’s already trouble. Yes... he managed to help us hide the secret of the water-pearl, like... very well! however... now there’s this bird-lord that wants to take Lin—for some reason—to one of the ten kingly-beasts. Not to mention that this individual is... someone who’s freaking stronger than both of the previous seniors—which did something worse than poking the butts of their group—they left all four of them hanging from tenterhooks and spending every day full of worry! is everyone and thing within this spirit-world is after the destruction of his five-clans these days? does everyone but the five-clans actually know the background of this boy Lin? is the identity of his formidable grandpa Ming the soul-keeper—which entrusted the boy to them in the first place—the common-enemy number one of every faction in this spirit-world? what kind of sick, disgusting and silly joke would that be?' The blade-user is unaware that his thoughts aren’t that far from the truth! however... his current anger is mostly directed towards himself since he wasted years of his life doing nothing except for fooling and annoying his close and only friends instead of focusing on his blade-dao. Just this thought made Lai feel extreme regret and deeply heart-felt shame whenever he remembered what sort of mentality his "younger-self" used to have before meeting Lin! had he met the boy like ten-years earlier? then... Lai is certain that he would've been like at least one major-realm higher. While relying on his blade-intent that’s being emboldened by gold and earth-energy of the crystalized-quality and only fifty-percent fused... the blade-user wouldn't fear any beast-lord! especially not one who’s specialized in speed and agility-oriented like Lantian here... in the worst-case scenario Lai would be suppressed by its superior speed and unable to give chase but the bird-lord wouldn't be able to ignore his existence and do whatever it wants in his presence like... directly ask for Lin to obediently follow. Matter of fact... it wouldn’t dare enter his domain of influence or the range of his blade! simply because... Liao Lai would be able to cut it with a single slash by using its speed against it.

Only Zhang wasn't fazed at all by the presence of Lantian and her threats! his trust in the capabilities of his little friend Lin are boundless and limitless... the simple man merely smiled widely and impatiently waited with eagerness for the boy to make action. Just seeing the calm look inside his golden-colored eyes and the expression that Lin had on his face while staring back at Lantian... it made the strong man even more sure that this kid does have some plans of his own to "outplay" this strong cyan-colored bird! especially since this sort of beast is Zhang's bane in single confrontation and group battles... the previous advices from Lin on how to deal with opponents who’re much faster than him has been very helpful indeed for the simple man but... actually applying them during action has always proved to be something that’s very... very hard. It's been three months already yet the strong man still didn't master these combat techniques... whenever he attempted them there’s always something new that Zhang missed in his earlier attempts! which means... he's currently in the process of searching for the perfect way to integrate these techniques into his style to create something from it that truly belongs and is compatible with himself.

Wang immediately discarded his feelings of worry once he saw Zhang's smile because it means... Lin is taking matters to his own hands this time and he’s fully capable of handling things on his own! the handsome-man just have this amazing trust in the judgment of his best-friend...afterwards Wang began to nudge Zhang to check the wife of merchant Hao who stuck her head behind the curtains of her carriage to watch the confrontation between spirit-cultivators and demonic-beasts. Sadly his best-friend disappointed him and gave him a frustrated-glare which made Wang sigh deeply inside while thinking : 'You stubborn fool! you just don’t know how long "aunty" is going to scold me for, once she sees you returning back to Tang-city being "single" then... she’s going to chew me out for sure.' Then the handsome-man pouted his lips while watching everything around him in low morale... the sound Zhang's mom nagging in his ears to help her son find a woman to marry could almost be heard clearly by the ice-cultivator when he thought about this "troubling issue" and his back shivered from dread when he imagined having to experience that "nightmare" once again! Wang really does wish for a release from this nightmarishly-prolonged and repetitive-conversation which kept getting forced into his ears—by both Zhang’s mother mostly and sometimes his own mother whenever his aunty leaned on her harder than normal—like a broken-record that never ends... for almost ten years now Wang has been suffering from that struggle because of that ox-like bonehead who doesn’t feel like "cooking some rice" yet.

“Well... just because you're telling me to come with you, doesn't mean that I should do whatever you—some stranger—say. Don't you think that it’s improper for kids my age to not follow the sacred teachings of their family? well... my parents have always taught me not to listen to strangers.” Lin spoke and his body gradually began to become faint until it completely vanished from the eyes of almost everyone in the convoy and the group of beast-commanders currently following behind it! Lantian was vaguely able to trace the boy’s movement when he moved with her eyes without having to rely on the assistance of wind-energy.

“Just because you're fast... doesn’t mean that you should begin to think that you can escape from me.” Before everyone got to raise their heads to search for the whereabouts of the boy... they heard Lantian shout before fluttering two of her wings and chasing after him! the bird-lord moved directly upwards while being covered in a thick cyan beam of wind-energy.

Then these spirit-cultivators were surprised once again when they found-out that the majority of the beast-commanders began to retreat towards the south where the territories of beast-mountains are located after Leaf Blower cooed loudly! meanwhile Leaf Blower herself was only joined by a couple dozen tyrannical-beasts which stopped chasing the convoy and kept watching the sky.

Wei didn't hesitate to stop the convoy as well and his eyes never left the sky just like everyone else however... unlike all of them the fatty’s worry is genuinely for the sake of Lin’s safety! most of their worries are for their own safety and joined by some worry for this junior who they owe their lives to... some after being saved from death more than once... some after being saved from death more than a dozen times. The eyes of everyone followed the cyan-colored comet-like aftereffect which tailed every direction Lantian moved within the vast sky! from time to time that comet would jump from one place to another in a much faster speed.

“That's enough for a warm-up... don't you think? you're Lantian right! I'm... Ming, son of Tai the mighty, and Tian the beauty, my pleasure. You asked me before about this wings-symbol, let me ask you this... where did you see a similar symbol before? what do you know about it?” Lin suddenly stopped a few hundreds of meters away from Lantian after the chase went for a whole minute or so then... crossed his arms and turned to face his pursuer completely! while looking Lantian directly in the eyes... the boy introduced himself to this fast cyan-colored bird—which similar to himself does have four-wings—while using a soul-link.

“I’d be the one asking questions here, you answer.” After quickly stopping herself... Lantian thought that Lin has hit his absolute-limit of top-speed and was about to "peacefully surrender" then after listening to his reasons and why the boy suddenly stopped... it made this bird-lord even more eager and purposefully aim to teach this "cheeky kid" a valuable-lesson and break his egotistic-spirit before finally catching him in a rough and ruthless manner! a similar situation happened when the cyan-colored bird’s body began to gradually become faint until it completely vanished... just like how Lin's body did leave an afterimage once he left the convoy... Lantian’s body left an afterimage once she moved however... the boy’s soul-force isn't only being used to penetrate and occupy every millimeter of his surroundings Gang is also at work here! the deadly-sin of wrath is similarly using some of the soul-force to latch-on and connect every strand of spirit-energy which isn’t related to the element of wind because... Gang sensed that if he included any strand of wind-energy in his plans it would only alert Lantian to what he's doing.

During the previous-phase of "warm-up" Gang had already "discreetly" accumulated—while relying-on the disguise of Lin’s sphere of thick soul-force—countless strands of spirit-energy and used them to... form many walls of spirit-energy and surrounded Lin with them! these spirit-walls could serve as another mean to secure his big-brother and an inner "sensory-layer" which could instantly pinpoint any intruder within the close-range space of their surroundings... what happens in the case of that bird-lord being able to go faster than them? then... Lin—and Gang—would use their own means and purposefully slow it down while they... flee. These strands of spirit-energy—which are intricately weaved into layers after layers of walls—to block Lantian from point-blank range... immediately followed by the concentrated and aggressive harassment of their soul-force! that’s only if... the cyan-colored bird could still give chase and is able to overcome the walls of spirit-energy before Lin is able to escape this place. Because... if Lin is focusing on escaping? then... Gang would be working on spawning more and more "traps" in the way of this Lantian. But... would Lin really just abandon his friends? well... yes! despite there being "a lot" of tyrannical-beasts currently within close-proximity of the convoy? the answer would be... still yes. However... the great-sage isn’t being cruel or anything like that! in-fact he isn't worried at all about leaving his friends... why’s that? to begin with... the boy would be dragging the most formidable enemy away from the convoy... and the second most important point is that these beasts are too few in numbers compared to before. Yes... they’re much stronger however... the spirit-cultivators now have the advantage in numbers for the first time! despite seeming like they’re about to fall from exhaustion already these people are still in a good shape to make an appropriately satisfying "last-stand" the glow within their eyes is... enough proof. The third and last reason is... if Bo An refused to help the group and decided to leave them fend the tyrannical-beasts on their own? Lin is sure that Wei still have a safety-means left to use—which the fatty can use to protect Lai and the rest—in such scenario! honestly... the great-sage would be really... really disappointed—if such action happened from Bo An—however... after what happened with Mia... Lin wouldn't be surprised anymore by any kind of action made by residents of this mysterious spirit-world.

Lin intentionally choose to swap-places with Lantian once it moved at insane speed and tried to catch him by surprise then stopped and gave her a smile before saying : “Do you mean to say... that because you think that you're faster than me, then... I just have to answer?” The boy didn't stop for long in place and before Lantian got to move once again and attempt to catch him with her huge, sharp-looking, and thick talons, “Humph. Then according to your logic, you're as slow as a turtle... see! now answer my questions.” The great-sage instantly appeared behind the seven-meters tall cyan-colored bird-lord then... let his both of feet dangle downwards until the soles his shoes stood on the bird’s wide-back! while stepping on its beautiful cyan-colored feathers for a moment both of their eyes met in a situation where... Lin is looking down with his golden-pupils at her huge cyan-pupils. 'Heh. You’re ruffling her feathers backwards, I can’t say that I don’t like it, however... maybe you should be careful now brat.' Just before he got to move away from Lantian's back... the boy heard the sound of Kai "lazily" warning him while the bird-lord glared at him! then... the cyan-colored bird below his feet opened its long cyan-beak and said : “Lashing-wind!” Once the great-sage heard these "bemused" words from the talking-raccoon he mutually—while working with Gang—and unhesitatingly unleashed the technique that he’s been preparing long before he decided to step-on the back of this bird-lord! Lin executed his technique while using his two pairs of spirit-wings to hurry back and aimed to create some space between himself and—the currently very provoked—Lantian... the timing happened to coincide simultaneously with the time this cyan-colored bird used one of her spirit-skills to retaliate against the kid who dared stand on her back.

Wind-energy of the cyan color... a massive amount of it appeared around Lantian’s location up in the sky! the thick, heavy, and pure wind-energy could be seen very clearly by both demonic-beasts and spirit-cultivators alike back on the ground.

That wind-energy sharply cut everywhere around Lantian's body beginning from the location of her cyan-feathers... then all of that wind-energy grew bigger in size and began to elongated from the tips of the bird-lord’s every feather! that wind-energy resembled an insane amount of feelers around the huge cyan-colored bird and all of them moved in a very complex and completely random directions... while these catfish-like feelers underwent their chaotic-path of complicated-angles Lantian herself began to spin in her position while using her long cyan-beak like a drill to press and twist a canvas of wind-energy. Meanwhile the bird-lord used all of her four huge-wings to send the feelers—which kept elongating without end—everywhere around her body! the swirling-movement of its body caused these feelers to quickly entwine around one another before gathering towards the point behind the cyan-colored bird... Lin’s current position once his foot left its back.

“Elemental-diamond.” Gang grinned from inside the soul-world in excitement—since this is officially the deadly-sin of wrath’s first battle—then gathered all of the walls of spirit-energy in the shape of a "diamond" around their body! that diamond-shaped shield of spirit-energy instantly appeared to the eyes and senses of Lantian and every spectator to stand in the way of the fast-moving attack of cyan-feelers to protect the boy.

“Soul-shackles.” Lin on the other hand used soul-force to tie every one of the quickly-approaching net of cyan feelers... each wind-feeler sprouting from one cyan-feather of Lantian became connected one chain-like feeler made from concentrated soul-force from the boy’s body! however... the great-sage immediately noticed how hard it’s to grab-hold of the pure and heavy wind-energy—especially the feelers which directly come from the body of this bird-lord—with his chains of soul-force because all he could do in this situation is momentarily slow the attack of this cyan-colored bird.

.............

“Whoosh!... clatter... crack...”

Those below on the ground in the convoy or in the gathering of tyrannical-beast witnessed the appearance of the massive amount of cyan-colored wind-energy first after spending a while "struggling" to locate both parties of this chase... then the boy of that boy Ming suddenly became covered in a colorful-shield of spirit-energy before the feelers of wind-energy from the beast-lord blocked their view! the eyes of the gathering of tyrannical-beasts glowed in excitement after seeing it happen because it means that kid is soon to be caught by supreme-commander Lantian... her lashing-wind skill was praised for its effectiveness when restricting and trapping stronger enemies.

“Ming! grandma is he alri-” Bo An’s beautiful face immediately paled from worry and tightened her grip around the beast-medallion within her hand while asking however... the young-girl’s worry increased by two-folds once the sound of something breaking happened soon after that cyan-web of feelers blocked her sight.

“He’s fine.” The elderly voice of a woman calmed the young-lady of the Chentian clan who extended both hands to ruffle the fur of both Sun and Fang Bo while looking up towards the bird-lord who’s trying to catch her little-lover. However... the eyes of the young-girl did veer slightly to the side and she looked towards that white-owl which is circling the sky above the Wei’s carriage... the small thing still didn’t warm-up to her after three days! that’s very odd for someone like Bo An because... she’s said to be very gifted in taming-beasts and extremely liked by all species.

Tang Wei and the rest felt their hearts tighten within their chests once they saw how these cyan feelers could swiftly and quickly swarm around the boy.

............

“Boom!...” Finally the links of the soul-chains separated down from the middle first before Lin’s soul-force retracted back towards his soul-world. After shaking-off that sudden and unexpected restrain of soul-force... the cyan-colored feelers of wind-energy resumed their path forward! clearly Lantian is aiming to shatter Gang's elemental-diamond as well... the effect from first-impact cracked multiple layers and broke many walls of spirit-energy and caused countless strands of spirit-energy to be scattered back outside the control of the deadly-sin of wrath... while these strands of spirit-energy regained their state of "passive-neutrality" and randomly swam within the particles of the surrounding space! Lin himself was already some distance behind the fireworks-like effect of these different scattering elements and retreating at quite a hurry and away from the bird-lord and her trap... Lantian's spinning body came to a sudden stop and her cyan-pupils focused slightly while feeling great shock. The reason this cyan-colored bird is surprised because... this boy wasn't even hurt after receiving her skill... not even a tiny bit! Lantian wasn't after the life of this junior—well... not just yet—because... she still needs to take him to her majesty sky-queen however... that doesn’t means she isn’t feeling angry at him for stepping on her back or anything... the bird-lord really wanted to teach him a harsh lesson with her earlier skill before ridiculing his sorry sight inside a thick web of her lashing-wind! yet... the kid actually used spirit-energy from the surrounding space to block her attack after his soul-force failed to restrain, divert or... at least slow her wind-lashes. Being a high-grade beast-lord its senses for spirit-energy is already much higher and more sensitive compared to a spirit-cultivator in the realm of spirit-lord yet... what the boy pulled did go unnoticed by Lantian and she—like everyone else—didn’t know what method is the kid going to use to protect himself until the very end.

..........

Down below the excitement—which previously was—in the eyes of the gathering of tyrannical-beasts instantly scattered and became replaced-with shock and confusion once they witnessed the winged-boy retreat unharmed and the skill of their supreme-commander retract back towards her body... then they saw the huge amount of spirit-energy strands scattering down the middle between both parties.

“Grandma, what happened? how could Ming quickly escape that skill? he seems unharmed... he isn’t bluffing, is he?” Bo An smiled once she confirmed the boy’s safety and then asked in confusion.

“Maybe it was some talisman, isn’t there some talismans that are being used by spirit-cultivators to store spirit-energy? maybe that twelve-winged terror is being merciful, she’s probably afraid of harming him before getting her answers! or... he’s just lucky.” Fang Bo gave a sly look towards Sun who’s standing right next to him then muttered these words in a cynical tone of voice... then looked up towards the white-colored and small owl with confusion in his eyes while thinking : 'Where did this one come from? even that red-fellow doesn’t seem to know anything about its background, was it watching-over the boy during the previous three months? impossible! the matriarch would’ve sniffed her out for sure. It doesn’t seem like a stealth-oriented species to me however, that one is even more dangerous than a hundred of this red-mass of idiocy next to me.'

“Growl!...” Sun revealed his fangs and glared at the grey-wolf which meant : "You better shut-up, shrimp!"

“Fang Bo shut-up!” The young-girl rolled her eyes and took a step forward to stand between the two demonic-beasts and patted Sun’s body to calm him.

“Well... he used his soul-force to slow these feelers of wind-energy in the beginning...” The elderly voice of a woman began to describe to the young-lady of the Chentian clan what happened earlier.

Bo An gawked after hearing what the boy did to protect himself then escape the effective-range of that skill from a beast-lord... being capable of attracting so much spirit-energy from the surrounding is easy because... some supremely-talented juniors from both the beast and the human-race could do something similar however... a spirit-apprentice doing so while being chased by a purely wind-affiliated beast-lord is... practically impossible! doing such a feat while disguising every strand of spirit-energy is... pure fantasies of a "dreaming fool" and according to that logic... right now in that moment up in the sky the cyan-colored bird—plus the few who know what really happened between Lin and Lantian—must be feeling like... she’s specifically that fool! thankfully—for the sake of everyone—that bird-lord does have a... special character.

Wei and the rest sighed inwardly and rolled their eyes while looking towards the direction of Lin up in the sky... the four of them did see this "little-ancestor" dare and step on the back of some beast-lord! doing such a provocative action against his opponent could complicate things... this isn’t the way to resolve this situation. Almost every one of the spirit-cultivators within the convoy thought : 'What exactly is this kid after by provoking this bird-lord? our death maybe!' meanwhile Zhang was thinking : 'Go-on my little-friend... keep going further, motivate me more! I feel like I’m burning from the inside-out because of all of this excitement, I want to fight too... I want to fight right now.'

................

“Where did you see a similar symbol before?” Lin asked Lantian once again while giving her his full concentration, then continued : “Of course. If you can catch me? then... I’d tell you where I got mine, I’d willingly follow you to meet your queen. So... are you up for a little bet? or... are you afraid to lose? because you're... too slow! if you’re afraid? then... just admit that you're slower than me. I promise to tell you where I got mine once you admit it.” Lin intentionally acted smugly and presented himself in being someone who’s "full of himself" in front of Lantian because... before when he called her "as slow as a turtle" the boy could see the anger filling the cyan-pupils of this cyan-colored bird much more than when the great-sage dared to step on its back! since it prides itself in its speed then... Lin needs to push these buttons.

“Scoundrel! nobody within the lord-realm or below—except for her majesty—is faster than me. I agree...” Lin escaped before Lantian got to finish her words and the chase went all over the one-hundred kilometers of sky on-top and around the location where the convoy and the tyrannical-beasts... the bird-lord—like always—is covered with a cyan-halo of wind-energy while chasing after the boy.

The great-sage moved faster and faster to escape the pursuit of the cyan-colored bird while coating his body with a layer of his soul-force to help him resist the insane air-pressure from hitting his body while moving at such a high velocity... thankfully his soul-force is aplenty—and maximized after spending three months in a slumber—and his senses towards spirit-energy are deeper... especially towards light-energy! after sensing the great difference in his sensory-abilities while flying at top-speed—which can’t be increased unless his spirit-wings are free from the restrictions of soul-force—made Lin decide to do something crazy... ease-up the restrictions of soul-force around his spirit-wings! why would he do that? because... the cyan-colored bird is gaining distance on him and... deep down the boy "intuitively" didn’t feel like it’s the right thing to do. His wings should be his method of transportation and... his first means of escape whenever he’s in danger! the part of himself that he must trust the most. How could he leave it in chains yet... depend on it for his safety? immediately afterwards the great-sage began to gently and gradually release the "reins" of soul-force from his two pairs of wings! meanwhile... all of the restraints of soul-force that got removed from the spirit-wings to allow Lin to increase his flying-speed was used to protect his body instead—even though it’s already sufficiently protected—and that process allowed additional soul-force to be free... the "jobless" soul-force can concentrate the boy’s ability of soul-sense even further—which would be even more helpful for the great-sage—to move around at higher speeds however he wants without having any inner-fear of crashing into anything.

.........

Down below almost every tyrannical-beast lost sight of their supreme-commander and the boy once the second-round of the chase began... only Leaf Blower and a couple more high-grade tyrannical-beasts could somewhat follow the afterimages of the boy and Lantian! only because... there’s some distance between themselves—spectators—on the ground and... them—competitors—up in the sky. Had that chase been around their group? then... none of them would’ve been able to follow anything at all.

“Such speed!” The elderly voice of a woman muttered so with some surprise in her tone of voice.

“Grandma...” Bo An sounded like a child voice-begging his elders for a more thorough-explanation about his favorite topic or much admired hero.

“Tsk.” Fang Bo shook his head after hearing the young-girl’s spoilt-attitude with his matriarch and clicked his tongue.

“Both of them have monstrous-prospects when it comes to speed, that twelve-winged terror is capable of rivaling a demonic-king when it comes to speed if it wants indeed... meanwhile the boy is still capable of pushing himself to move faster and faster whenever the bird reveals some of its abilities! she’s intentionally playing with him right now, because that little bird-lord wants to test the limits of this kid before it catches him, her bloodline is very pure indeed, probably because it’s close to breaking-through to the king-realm.” The elderly voice of a woman could be heard coming from the beast-medallion... the two demonic-beasts and the young-lady of the Chentian clan felt shocked by that single detail... especially Fang Bo.

Tang Wei kept looking towards Lai and the rest from time to time while feeling both worry and confusion yet couldn’t get a clear answer from any of them in the end.

...........

“This chase wouldn't be fair for me if this situation keeps going for too long... don't you agree?” Lin sent with his soul-link ability and asked Lantian while taking her into an endless circle around the location of the convoy and the tyrannical-beasts.

“Getting tired on me already? are you making that excuse because your wings happens to be... too weak! kakakaka... no need to worry, within three minutes you'd be caught by my talons, just make sure not to lie... or I’ll rip your body into two parts if you do. Especially... when my queen ask you.” Lantian replied then suddenly increased her speed... the current speed of the bird-lord practically doubled.

“Outside your expectations would be my win.” Lin sent while doing the same and increasing his speed.

“Well... you're not the only one who's fast, alright! but you're not so bad yourself. Got you!... eh, how come it’s another afterimage? huh! he’s still able to increase his speed, such a sly little-human, I’m not letting you go.” Lantian immediately regretted enjoying her win a bit too fast when she caught thin-air with her talons... after her cyan-pupils did a quick-glance in her surroundings the bird-lord quickly located her target and the chase was immediately resumed.

Meanwhile... Lin was wiping-out some imaginary cold sweat from his forehead while taking advantage of the cyan-colored bird’s momentary stop and widening the distance between them! simply because... if the boy hadn't understood how his two pairs of spirit-wings can be used to speed-up his movement? then... Lantian would’ve actually succeeded in her previous attempt to catch him by surprise. The great-sage figured-out the correct way just before her cyan-talons could reach his shoulders just now! he focused on how to move his spirit-wings better because ever since he woke-up... Lin kept sensing that he's not truly "in-control" of his spirit-wings! the boy once thought about what the feeling of being in control of his martial-spirit would feel... turns-out that what he once "thought the feeling would be before" is just that... a big fat nonsensical-joke. The previous judgment and estimations from the great-sage is... underestimating something that is incredibly-crucial and undeniably-important... the size or color of his spirit-wings has never been a main-reason for how fast he can move! "light" itself is all that will ever matter in this equation... Lin brought-along with him into this life from his universe certain theories about light and the boy himself experienced moving at speeds which come very close to the "known" speed of light. However... if he’s mistaken now? then... is what he—thought that he—knows about light and its characteristics just crap? well... of course not it isn’t! what Lin knew about light from his previous-life has been an essential-reason for how quick he was to discover and use the advantages of his upgraded wings after waking-up... it’s just that now the boy feels like he’s been using his spirit-wings very crudely ever since he awakened his martial-spirit... add his action of restraining the pair of wings with soul-force and the great-sage feels ashamed. Because... his martial-spirit—which should've been his option to freedom—was imprisoned instead! and by no-one other than Lin himself. All this time—ever since he awakened his martial-spirit—it was as if all the light-energy inside the dantian-space and those strands within each of his body-cells have been screaming at the boy hoping that he would listen to each beat from his golden-colored heart! "let us be free" they said... over and over they did. Yet... great-sage Lin has been idiotically suppressing the spirit-wings just to ensure... his own safety! after all... losing his life once made Lin very careful and attentive when keeping this one... he became a bit stubborn about it to the degree of missing how close he’s been to deviating from the "one true path" for himself. After all of his experiences during his short life within this spirit-world... the boy always thought martial-spirits are just... some tools! however... after drinking the potion of thought-rebirth and experiencing a deeper sense of communication with spirit-energy—especially light-energy—things don't seem to be so simple... just like he once thought. Maybe... Lin's current-mentality isn't truly "in-sync" with the basic-requirements of this world where cultivators thrive! his reasonable and calculative-mind is—somewhat—hindering the great-sage from comprehending the secrets of spirit-cultivation and the light-energy... his past history from another life passively-birthed the habit of seeing everything around him with a pair of eyes which can only see tools or things that resemble materials. Every "mystery" he met was treated like some "maze" which the boy just needs to take the right steps after entering it and collect enough "data" with the passing of time while going deeper inside it until figuring it out in the end! however... as it seems—and according to the current circumstances—his spirit-wings aren't just a tool... the spirit-energy within his dantian are not just some "bricks" which he should just stack properly on-top of one another to create whatever. According to that logic... there has got to be some consequences to what the great-sage did... and the simple action of suppressing his spirit-wings so that he would be able to "safely" use them! was in-fact "backfiring" and only now Lin go to realize that his martial-spirit and light-energy itself... both of them actually has never truly opened-up to accepted him before. Only now did he notice the "grief of light" however... it could only happen so soon because the boy actually drank the potion of thought-rebirth and was fortunate to join the light in a "ride" within the world of light! now he understands that all of the light-energy within his body is like a "little homeless kid" in a foreign-environment who found home to live-in inside the great-sage yet... Lin kept punishing, penalizing, and restricting that kid for no reason at all. Now that poor thing is just squatting in some dark corner in a grumpy-mood... muttering and grumbling faintly to itself—since it’s alone without companionship almost all the time—about the unfairness of this treatment while poking everything around it to release some frustrations while hoping this union with Lin never happened at all! however... once the boy—Lin—realized his mistake and opened his arms wide towards the kid—light-energy and his martial-spirit—to make it up for him... the kid immediately jumped into the great-sage’s embrace and forgot about all of his earlier disappointments—at Lin—after the first tinkering giggle. Now that he thinks about it... the first experience with his martial-spirit—the incident where the roof of Lin’s room received a hole in the shape of wings—doesn't seem to be just a mere lucky coincidence anymore! now he understands that every strand of light-energy inside his physical-body and dantian... just wants to become familiar with Lin and to... protect him. Just like how Lin wants to use all of his light-energy to protect others—if he could be of assistance—and to understand more about light-energy itself... light-energy and his own martial-spirit seem like they only exist for the sake of this boy—Lin—and to keep him safe.

“Om!...” Lantian gradually became serious during her attempts to catch Lin and the "throttle-pedal" got pressed to the maximum-limit by the cyan-colored bird... the only option left for the bird-lord to actually move faster is if the twelve-winged terror used its "inherent-skill" to accelerate! that would be some kind of a "forbidden-skill" which only her uniquely-rare bird-species could use... the consequences of using that skill would be the loss of some blood-essence and a drop in the rank of her "cultivation" as a demonic-beast... most likely Lantian would become a mid-grade bird-lord for the following month or so! however... even without relying on the assistance of that forbidden-skill... cyan-colored circles of wind-energy lingered everywhere in the sky above the convoy and the tyrannical-beasts for a few seconds after each mighty flap of the bird-lord’s four cyan-wings.

..........

Down below.

“Growl!...” Sun spread his huge bat-wings and growled faintly... the red-tiger was really shocked after witnessing how fast its buddy has become! somehow... it felt frustrated because its pair of wings are not as good as the wings of its best friend or that cyan-bird... they’re not even comparable to the small wings of that white-bird—which Lin named—Frostine.

“Sun... don’t feel bad, your wings are just in their nascent-state, keep eating well and fill your demonic-core with fire-energy and in no time you’d be able to evolve them higher and unlock some awesome skills for your own. Trust your bloodline and keep purifying it, do that and I promise you... you wouldn’t have to watch from the side while your friend is having so much fun.” Bo An smiled and said so while leaning her body on one of Sun’s thick forelimbs.

“Keh... yeah, as if it would be so easy! it would take someone like that dumb-cub over here—at least—a whole century before he’s able to move at such speed, even someone—who’s extremely talented—like me wouldn’t be able to move at such insane speed when I reach the lord-realm. Humph, humph... humph.” Fang Bo gave a sneering-gaze toward the young-girl and the winged-tiger—which had some hidden jealousy within it—before jeering at the weaker beast.

“At least he can fly while still being within the demonic-realm! humph... meanwhile you would have to wait until you reach the realm of tyrannical-beast first before experiencing the joy of freely moving through the sky without having to be restricted to the land below your feet, you should stop making fun of others and focus on yourself my young-pup, there’s still the ancestral-beast, tyrannical-beast, and the beast-lord realms ahead of you before you’re able to witness how the world looks like from their view. Little-Fang... you’re my blood and I love you, however... maybe I’ve been loving you a bit too much all this time,” The elderly voice of a woman paused for a few seconds before continuing to say : “That twelve-winged terror is quite a good target for you juniors to take as your goal, because if you’re able to surpass her in speed? then, you can consider yourselves within the top-tier of the lord-realm! however... I wouldn’t recommend for any of you to make the boy your goal, because not only you wouldn’t be able to surpass him in speed from this moment onwards, but also you would never be able to imagine what his speed would be like when he’s within the lord-realm. I’m quite certain that if he’s within the sovereign-realm then this kid would be comparable to Andreas the fourteenth-pope of the church of light in speed... if not faster.”

“Grandma. Are you sure of what you’re saying?” The young-lady of the Chentain clan became so excited after hearing these words and asked while looking upwards and struggling to follow the afterimages of the boy and the bird-lord... Bo An had to guide her own spirit-energy towards her eye-pupils and concentrate just to keep track of these two’s movements while they’re already somewhere else! 'Just how could they move so fast within such a small area of the sky? both of them are capable of changing their angle of movement without losing any momentum or speed! the way they switch between turning or direct movement is so... quick and fluid. This twelve-winged terror being capable of doing so is still believable since its special-species and high realm of a demonic-lord however, Ming being capable of maintaining his evasive-movement without losing his speed is just... staggering! Sigh. Yet another secret huh.' The young-girl thought while tightening her fist... even-though she accepted him as her "chosen one" that doesn’t mean that she would let herself become lazy or let the boy increase the gap between them.

.........

Meanwhile... the arrival of night’s darkness after the sun disappeared in the west allowed Lin's figure to be seen more "prominently" by those below on the ground whenever he jumped from this point to that point in the vast sky above their heads... clearly the boy was still able to escape from the talons of the bird-lord just barely in the beginning after it became a bit more serious in her chase! then... the kid could be seen—by the rare few who could see the afterimages—being able to slightly widen the distance after each escape... an accomplishment that infuriated lots of the tyrannical-beasts when they witnessed it happen and shocked the rest into disbelief when they heard about it. However... Lin himself was "absentmindedly" ruminating the past and trying to dig-up logical-reasons for his current circumstances and during the process of "peace-forming" with the light-energy within his body the boy became so consumed by the pure joy and sweet-bless of "researching" to the degree that the great-sage—despite his amazing and unbelievable ability of multitasking—didn't even notice how he gradually kept letting go... all the way until Lin wasn't steering the wheel of his spirit-wings for quite a while now! on their own and without his directions to guide them... the boy’s two pair of wings played with Lantian on their own... as if being guided by an "auto-pilot" the great-sage’s martial-spirit would automatically evade the cyan-bird whenever it attempted to catch him. Lin only realized how much time has passed after he spent fifteen whole minutes being chased by the bird-lord! however... this Lantian doesn't seem like it realizes that their agreement has already been fulfilled... her cyan-eyes are still focused on the boy yet they’re filled with a mixture of emotions.

Because... amongst every species of the demonic-beasts there’s some who are very fast. However... the cyan-colored bird has never seen a beast-lord—which is like herself specialized in the element of wind—that’s faster than it... the bird-lord did see some of these so-called "highborn" beasts and the "talented" human-cultivators and is still confident that she can beat them in any sort of race! or—in the worst-case scenario—go head-to-head with them without there being a clear winner... yet here she’s enjoying her time playing such a fun game of tag with a junior much weaker than any of these two examples... Lantian can step-up her speed another notch but she didn’t because—despite all her idiocy and carelessness—this bird-lord does have her bottom-lines. That's why just finding a suitable candidate in this sort of competition is a source of pure-excitement to this twelve-winged terror.

However... Lin wouldn't be able to last five more minutes at this rate... the pace is very fast already and the same goes for the boy’s light-energy expenditure! after all... Lantian is already a high-grade beast-lord herself and extremely close to the major-realm of beast-king while the great-sage is but just a "toddler" in comparison with his cultivation of a first-stage spirit-apprentice.

“Didn’t we agree to three minutes? it’s been fifteen minutes already! would you answer my question now? or... are you going to go back on your words? reneging the agreement would really lower my opinion of the queen’s subordinates.” The great-sage sent Lantian while giving every motion of the light-energy—which always pushed his body further away from the cyan-colored bird—his utmost attention... Lin has been struggling to keep his distance since the first minute of this chase and always worried about Lantian's speed—which doesn’t seem to have a limit to it—and all of his worries turned-out to be true in the end! the bird-lord proved it when it almost caught the boy whenever he moved faster... the great-sage’s only source of extra speed has been the new comprehensions about light-energy and his spirit-wings while Lantian’s source of speed is her much advanced realm... the cyan-colored bird didn’t push its speed beyond the boundaries of the lord-realm to ensure that this competition remains fair while Lin didn’t place any obstacles in the bird-lord’s flight-trajectory behind him or play any tricks. Not to mention that Lantian most certainly does have—at least—a few "attacking-skills" in her arsenal to counter the boy if he did so... it might lead to a "direct-confrontation" instead—which isn’t to his advantage—but... a "battle of attrition" wouldn't be in the great-sage’s advantage! simply because... Lin have an energy-tank of a much smaller-size obviously since flying for fifteen minutes at top-speed from the beginning of this chase—while only relying on light-energy—has cost him three-quarters in total from the maximum amount of light-energy within his dantian... according to these numbers the boy understood the limits of his capabilities when he’s moving extremely fast at top-speed... the duration is about twenty minutes. However... despite how limited that window is... the great-sage is absolutely sure that he can go back and forth a few times on this pearl-road within that time! the gains from this experience are to his satisfactory.

“Eh!...” After suddenly stopping and halting in her place when Lin pulled her from her daydreams with his words... Lantian had to check the surroundings first with her pair of cyan-pupils before getting shocked once she noticed how time literally flew during that short chase! then the eyes of the bird-lord regained their focus and sharpness while staring towards the boy who stopped once she did. Honestly... the cyan-colored bird had so much fun chasing after the great-sage! but above all... the feeling of "freedom" that sense felt like—which she only experienced when she’s—flying below yet... following behind her majesty sky-queen when Hongtian used to be in the form of the most beautiful bird to ever existed. A similar feeling is very apparent and clear from this little-human! and Lantian experienced it first-hand and from such a close-range.

“Her majesty sky-queen... have a similar symbol between her eyebrows, I've answered your question because I couldn’t catch you, a loss is a loss but... I’m still going back and will tell her majesty about you. Ming son of Tai the mighty and Tian the beauty, you're the very first junior from the human-race to prove himself faster than me within the lord-realm, we'll certainly meet again.” Lantian burned the image of Lin and his name in her brain while saying these words then turned towards the south to leave.

“Wait!”

“Hmmm!... what do you want? don't think that because you're faster than me—when I’m limiting my speed to the lord-realm—then I can't do anything to you! learn when to take the win, greedy birds get picked-on... know your limits junior.” The bird-lord stopped then twisted its neck to look back towards the boy and glared at the him when he called for it to halt... from her experience after many encounters with human-cultivators plus the incident where both of her parents died... the cyan-colored bird has branded human-cultivators as... "cruel bullies" all of them! Lantian concluded that this great-sage—like most of his kind—must’ve felt like he could keep her here if he wants... the bird-lord sighed deep inside while preparing itself to really teach Lin a valuable-lesson in how to respect both his seniors and whatever "strong-entity" that he might encounter in the future while thinking : 'Sigh. I shouldn’t have raised my hopes in him too much, I thought this boy would be slightly like her majesty because he does have a similar symbol however... in the end, nobody is like her majesty! after all... humans are greedy, they’re greedy and want everything in the world for themselves, and very unpredictable like her majesty always taught me.' Lantian thought that while giving Lin a cold-gaze which is filled with disappointment! because she once hoped that this junior wouldn't be like those from his kind yet... that hope was quickly discarded by the bird-lord.

“Huh! as it would seem... you misunderstood my intentions, do you remember when I said : "If you admit your inferiority to me in speed? then, I’d tell you where I got this symbol." Well... do you see that feather? I think it's the reason why I have that wings-symbol, that’s it. Have a safe journey back to your queen, hopefully next time we meet... it would be under better circumstances that’s all. Goodbye Lantian subordinate of sky-queen Hongtian, don’t forget to deliver my well wishes to her highness when you return.” The boy shrugged then frankly told the cyan-colored bird the answer to the question which it asked him before turning to leave... the great-sage unhesitatingly moved towards his friends without waiting for a reply from the bird-lord because it seems like its irate-nature has revealed itself.

Meanwhile Lantian did see the wings-symbol on the feather which is located at the uppermost-area on the biggest one of Lin’s right-wings quite clearly before he did give her his answer or say his goodbyes then leave... frankly speaking... the cyan-colored bird didn’t expect such a "polite-attitude" from the boy or such "honesty" however... the disappointment within its cyan-pupils quickly scattered and the great-sage did grow more and more to her liking! “Scree!...” Lantian raised her long cyan-beak towards the night sky and screeched loudly while majestically spreading her four cyan-wings widely then... the high-grade bird-lord began to gather wind-energy from her surroundings until she conjured-up a huge cyan-colored sun from all that wind-energy around her body! before the people down below within the convoy could panic or even begin to take measures to protect themselves... the cyan-colored bird and the huge cyan-colored sun around it just... vanished into thin-air from the sky above them! however... a ray of cyan-colored energy extended towards the horizon in the south direction and could be clearly seen in the dark sky of that night stretching as far as anyone from the awaiting spirit-cultivators—or demonic-beasts—could see... like a comet Lantian almost immediately left the convoy and her underlings far behind her. The tyrannical-beasts left towards the south after giving the boy who’s descending slowly from the sky like a glowing and miniature sun one final look from afar... all of them would never forget how this kid could avoid their supreme-commander’s chase for fifteen-minutes.

.............

Down below in the convoy.

“Heh. Do you see that? I told you Ming would be alright.” Zhang clapped Wang on the shoulder once he saw the boy descend towards their way.

Meanwhile the handsome-man—which is a hardcore and a dedicated "speed-fanatic" a person who’s most loyal to this kind of power—became really eager and anxious about the moment where he reach the tyrant-realm.

“Merchant Wei. About this orphan boy Ming... how about giving him to me? I’m willing to giv-” One man edged his dragon-horned bull—which is of a very pure-blood breed of bulls that’s very special compared to the mounts of Zhang and Wang's—closer to Wei and whispered softly in the ears of the fatty however... before the man got to finish his "sky-high" offer and begin with thirty-percent of his total wealth! he found merchant Wei glaring towards him with a pair of furious-eyes which kept spurting-out currents of purple-colored lightning-energy.

“Merchant Hao. Did you forget that our partnership only extends until this gathering of united-caravans could reach safety?” Wei said coldly then ignored the man next to him and turned to talk to the two group-leaders of the lightning-spear mercenaries and the crushing-hammer mercenaries : “Mercenaries of the lightning-spear and crushing-hammer listen well... all of you are to join my personal-guard Lai immediately! create a separate column—which consists only of my personal-carriages, from here on the Cheng clan's caravan is... travelling alone.” His tone of voice harsh and dripping with fury... his narrow-eyes squinted hard until the creases of his chubby-face created intersecting-lines which resemble a "laughing-demon" Tang Wei's quick-answer really shocked merchant Hao! why? simply because... everyone within the "circle of trade" already knows how much of an "opportunist" this fatty is... he’s well-known for being someone who would do a... "lot" just to profit. Yet all merchant Hao was trying to ask was... to take this kid from merchant Wei into his own service while paying the "hefty-price" for it! the highest price which merchant Hao is willing to pay is up to half his wealth however... this "cheapskate" acted-out by rudely kicking not only him but also every other caravan out.

'Fuck! just who does he think he's?' Merchant Hao’s face flushed in extreme anger after hearing Wei’s answer and thought about retaliating in action however... right after these angry and extremely "unhealthy thoughts" quickly played inside the head of merchant Hao... the man instantly remembered which group is escorting this Wei in this journey once he saw them gathering behind the fatty's back! the lightning-spear mercenaries and their group-leader Yang... a peak-low-grade spirit-tyrant, crushing-hammer mercenaries and their group-leader Fu another spirit-tyrant who’s about to reach the third-stage as well, Wei’s personal-guard Lai the blade-user who’s infinitesimally-close to reaching the tyrant-realm yet able to contend with one already, simpleton-Zhang another formidable spirit-grandmaster and an adept user of both earth and fire-energy, finally there’s the always smirking Wang the ice-cultivator who’s easily the most unnoticed of merchant Wei’s men yet he’s one of his closest assistants probably this high-grade spirit-grandmaster is the right-hand-man of the fatty. There’s also the precious granddaughter of Chentian Ao a spirit-emperor and one of the topmost beast-tamers within the entire spirit-world... the young-girl wasn’t even afraid of a beast-lord! what waves could someone like him make in her presence? what damage could his men cause make in her presence? is she choose to protect the fatty and this boy Ming? then... none at all is the answer! not to mention the existence of the boy Ming himself—who made lots and lots of lucky fellows inside both pearl-city and pearl-harbor very rich within a single night—after vanishing from the eyes of everyone for a few month... the kid appeared then saved them all before—somehow—making the beasts retreat. Probably... it’s for the best if he—merchant Hao—swallowed his pride and didn't cause a scene right now leaving quietly with all limbs intact without losing any of his valuables is... not so bad! after all... he’s alive and in the future there would be a much better time to repay this grievance... the merchant’s way.

After giving the fatty a smile while cupping his fist... merchant Hao gave the signal to his men and they scattered within the convoy to isolate their carriages and form another caravan! afterwards... other merchants understood that they have no choice but to do the same once they witnessed merchant Wei’s firm attitude... the fatty is simply determined to cross the remaining distance without companionship of any other caravan... especially merchants! these merchants sighed then rolled their eyes towards merchant Hao who caused this however... everyone kept guessing what did the man say exactly for him to annoy that young and successful merchant Wei to the degree of kicking everybody out? still... the man himself would smile and shake his head whenever one of the merchants approached him and privately asked merchant Hao what caused the anger of merchant Wei.

Quickly the long line of carriages—which previously extended for kilometers—shrunk visibly after every merchant took his carriages and the guarding-escorts of their caravan then left. Surprisingly some of the mortals which already paid money to ride some of the caravans—which are currently detaching themselves from Wei’s caravan—all the way to mercenary city... these mortals refused to continue the rest of the journey without having merchant Wei—and his dependable-men—to lead them to safety! meanwhile... the minority of cultivators which also decided to stay with Wei’s caravan are of the low-rank in the ladder of cultivation yet... all of them are fully aware that the "true safety" in this journey is with this strong... which is the strongest side in this situation? the answer to that question is... merchant Wei's caravan without a doubt.

Within a few minutes Wei found his caravan stripped away from the burden it once had where others were crammed into it however... there’s quite a huge "crowd" of people everywhere around his convoy! they waited in anxiousness while giving him "puppy-eyes" these looks made the fatty’s skin crawl with a sense of unease really—while fidgeting—merchant Wei walked towards them and said : “Those who want to join us have to pay, I never do charity business.” However... despite saying such words with a tone of voice that wouldn’t tolerate "freeloaders" the fatty was... actually looking over his shoulder and "warily" searching for Lin! Wei was afraid that his "kindhearted" and "philanthropist" little-brother Lin would ruin this opportunity for the merchant who’s planning to make some profit of these people... so what if their eyes are frightening? so what if their looks are fear-inducing? whenever Wei is making profit he would never fear an adversary! however... his little-brother Lin is the "soft-underbelly" of this fatty who’s "soft" all-over. In the end... the greedy merchant became so relieved once he found-out that the boy has returned to his carriage with Bo An after a very brief chat with Zhang... still Wei didn't dare make the prices too high for these helpless mortals and weak cultivators. Why? well... to begin with because the kid might be watching everything with his soul-sense! which means... he might foil the opportunity if the fatty made things too difficult for these people... second reason is because... merchant Wei is planning to open a branch of transportation on pearl-road in the future! by building on the valuable reputation—which Lin gave his caravan during this journey—and relying-on this crowd of people to spread the word everywhere once they arrive to safety... third and most important of all... if Wei over-exaggerated the prices? then... these "clients" here would go back to the caravans—which they already rented a spot to travel with them—then in the future they might always choose to rent from other businesses over his own. From mortals Wei decided to take silver or gold-coins depending on the amount of their "luggage" before allowing them to occupy his carriages... meanwhile from the weak cultivators who’re in the spirit-apprentice or the spirit-disciple realms the fatty collected dark-gold or obsidian-coins! from the rare few cultivators who are spirit-masters or spirit-grandmaster the merchant only took red-coins... he only took yellow-coins when these cultivators were transporting "heavy-merchandise" which requires the wind-formations of their carriage to be left always active. Normally the spirit-cultivators would be paying less whenever they’re hiring caravans to transport their belongings... if they choose to join the guarding-escorts of said caravan of course however... Wei is delighted because none of them would be needed for that duty! why? normally because after the retreat of a beast-wave—especially one this massive—from pearl-road... it would be the safest it can possibly be to travel between mercenary-city to pearl-city. Bandit-groups would be either massacred or hiding... demonic-beasts would be restricted within their territories...and since the elves never leave their territories and always remain inside their mysterious eternal-forest then... pearl-road would be silent, safe, and empty! some lucky travellers might find "free" items to loot on their way. Honestly... the fatty can take his "sweet" time moving this caravan forward if he wants however... merchant Wei is determined to move this small and much quicker convoy like... at once! still... knowing that he has to give the exhausted beasts—mounts—and spirit-cultivators some rest... Wei decided to delay it for two more days. After giving Lai the signal of command to take care of the rest and give accommodations to these people... who loyally abandoned their patronage to the businesses of others to give him their financial-support! the fatty kept the wealth that he just earned—after counting it twice—in one of his many storage-items then walked towards Lin's carriage with a smile on his face while thinking : 'Nothing in this world sounds better than the jingle of additional profit hitting the stash of wealth within my pockets! especially when I’m making it... effortlessly.' Merchant Wei grinned even wider all the way until he reached the boy’s carriage before wiping it from his face.

“Ming is currently meditating, so don't you dare distract him! understand?” Bo An exiting the carriage coincided with Wei’s arrival... the young-girl glared towards the fatty once she noticed him outside the carriage and warned him with words which made her sound like a lioness protecting her only cub! the young-lady of the Chentian clan took Sun and Fang Bo to play outside since the boy needs some time to digest whatever it’s that he learned from this "unbelievable-experience" however... Frostine remained perched on the kid’s shoulder and completely ignored every attempt from Bo An to take her with them to have some "fun" that small white-colored owl is... very aloof indeed.

“Ehehehe. It's alright, I’ll wait for as long as it takes... you go have fun young-lady.” Wei said carelessly then retrieved his favorite couch and sat on it outside Lin's carriage... while stuffing his mouth with fresh and ripe-fruits the fatty watched the lights everywhere in caravan slightly brighten-up the darkness of this night.

Except for those "unlucky" who got their turn for guarding-duty in the caravan from the first shift... almost every spirit-cultivator in the caravan—especially those who experienced fighting with the demonic-beasts earlier—are secluding themselves to cultivate! meanwhile... mortals made fires to cook some proper and hot food for themselves and their families after spending months rarely eating anything besides hard bread and seed rations or dried fruits with a rare occasions of meat jerky when merchant Wei’s men are feeling "generous" thankfully... the danger of the beasts has been cleared already and these mortal-people could finally celebrate their fortune of living and luck to get to see another day of this world... of course there’s some of these mortal-people who became traumatized after the many cruel scenes which they witnessed during this journey! they decided to never travel this pearl-road ever again even if it means that they wouldn’t return to pearl-city anymore. Zhang was amongst those "unlucky" to be chosen in the first shift of guarding the caravan yet the simple man didn’t argue or complain! why? because... the responsibilities of the strong man is the area around and closest to Lin's carriage... the intentions could be understood clearly from this assignment... Lai wants to give young-master Lin some peace and quiet... since at the door of his carriage there’s Wei meanwhile Zhang is right on the other side plus the many other guards everywhere around the convoy—which Lai made them circle the boy's carriage with the rest of the carriages—being the center of all these layers of security... the great-sage is certainly in the safest location... not like he needs their protection but they did it anyway. Still... every single one of the spirit-cultivators would open their eyes and look towards the kid’s carriage before resuming their meditation or halt their conversation and sneak a look towards the carriage before resuming their guarding-duty! even those mortal-people who aren’t cultivators would give Lin's carriage a quick-glance from time to time... hushed conversations about this orphan boy Ming kept being exchanged while everyone did their duty of guarding the convoy or preparing their next meals. Squabbles happened between the kids who began to argue about Ming this and Ming that which caused a lot of adults to panic before reprimanding their little-brats who’re being impolite to young-master Ming and benefactor-Ming! deftly teaching these rude brats some good manners... the parents would slap their ignorant children on the back of the head while chasing after them everywhere between the carriages and unloaded luggage of the convoy with worry in their hearts for the safety of their kids—if they’re the "difficult-type"—or... softly whisper the words in the ears of little kids while hugging them tightly towards their chests "protectively" after covering the mouths of the ignorant little-boys and girls—if they’re the "easy to handle-type"—after all... a mortal offending any sort of cultivator is a "taboo" in this spirit-world! that young-master Ming helped the group of cultivators—who pulled him from the difficult life of being an orphan and took him under their wing—withstand the demonic-beasts... if they’re the ones to offend the boy? then... that's something between cultivators! some cultivator may or may not intervene and say or do something to help the "bigmouth" who let his tongue slip however... if it’s done by a mortal instead of a cultivator? then... the chances of cultivators going out of their way and interfering to help said mortal evade being punished are too rarely seen or heard of.

..............

While the people outside his carriage became lively.

Lin was inside the carriage sitting cross-legged on a thick and fluffy indigo-colored piece of fur... Inside his soul-world Gang is meditating on the soul-strengthening technique while working on completing the "unfinished" inscription of the soul-lock ability—which Ming didn’t get a chance to complete—meanwhile Lin is inside the dantian-space sitting cross-legged inside the golden-colored barrier of light-energy which surrounds his martial-spirit... everywhere round him the two nebulas each led by a cloud-general and are... fiercely waging war at one another! as it seems during his absence... that’s what these clouds would do for fun. The four wings of his martial-spirit are completely unaffected by whatever that’s going around them within the dantian-space and remained in their position at the center of his dantian... any newcomer gaseous-cloud of light-energy that enter the dantian has to pay "homage" to the spirit-wings first! no cloud-general or any of their "minions" would dare "have eyes" on these "unaffiliated" newcomers or dare interfere with the "branding-process" or the work of the boy’s martial-spirit... only after the clouds receive their brand and acknowledgement from the martial-spirit would the cloud-generals lead their nebulas and take action. Once these poor newcomers—gaseous-clouds of light-energy—exit the gold-colored barrier of light energy... they would find themselves in the middle of battlefield with an ongoing battle around them! they’re surrounded from all fronts by two cloud-generals of a "special" dark-gold-color and each of them is accompanied by its own army or in this case "nebula" and enjoying waging war at one another... the only reason the great-sage didn't interpose with the ongoing-situation between the two cloud-generals is because... right now Lin is immersing himself in the feeling of comprehending light-energy. Plus the fact that whoever gets wounded in this endless-battle between the cloud-generals would... literally "fall" from the battlefield into the bottom of the dantian-space! far down if one looks from the center of the boy's dantian—exactly from where Lin is currently sitting below his martial-spirit—there's a patch of the dantian-walls which is almost completely covered in white, yellow, gold, and dark-gold spots in a layer after layer of mixed colors... it would seem—from this situation—to be the "casualties" of the ongoing-war which fell from the ranks of the two nebulas. The great-sage is trying his hardest to reach a similar state of freedom—which he only felt inside the world of light—Lin is aiming for a state of riding light! he knows how it feels after experiencing it once yet... no matter how much the boy "sincerely-tried" to sense his connection with the gaseous-clouds of light-energy from the various types and colors or and grades... every single cloud of light-energy inside his dantian-space felt "unsettled" and "crooked" in his eyes. Great-sage Lin felt like all of it is just... wrong! the problem isn't that his body is lacking physical-strength for it to hold within its dantian-space the right light-energy or... the soul-force isn’t aplenty or intense enough for him to see the inner-workings of these gaseous-clouds of light-energy... it isn't the degree of purity that his spirit-energy have either. Lin is sure about the feeling—which he thinks it would be to ride light again—is indeed correct and true however... the reason this current-situation occurred is because... the amount of comprehensions—which the boy currently have—about the element of light are... simply lacking! why’s that? because... of the great-sage’s limited knowledge about light and how it works... it must be. Honestly... even Lin himself was stunned after this "intuition" of his struck home! that’s the reason why the boy is sitting inside the golden-colored barrier of light-energy instead of bringing these gaseous-clouds of light-energy within his dantian-space back to order... it’s because the great-sage wants to experience it closely... he wants to experience the process when each strand of the light-energy change into a cloud of gaseous-energy after entering his dantian-space then... the process of every gaseous-cloud when it’s getting branded by his spirit-wings. Why go through such trouble? well... to feel the difference and compare between light-energy which isn't his own and light-energy which is his and completely under Lin’s control! but these gaseous-clouds of the dark-gold-color and are currently forming the shape of two nebulas of a great-size are they... truly his? were they truly under his control before the boy drank that potion of thought-rebirth then? did he lose that feeling of close-attachment with his own light-energy afterwards or... it was never there—said close-attachment—to begin with and the great-sage didn’t notice it. Within his eyes... these gaseous-clouds of the dark-gold-color—which are the highest in purity and might within the dantian-space—and the rest of the gaseous-clouds which come in different colors plus the newcomers of light-energy aren't like they should... when compared to the light within the world of light there’s... something that’s missing! by recalling all of the information about light-energy from the teachings of the prime-light spirit-cultivation technique... Lin tried to relate these teachings with his own understanding of light and characteristics from his previous-life yet... when he finished comparing both charts the boy felt like he’s holding the "seed" of fusing the information from both worlds... now the great-sage is holding a said seed within his hand. Of course... he knows that he must plant that seed within the "soil" which is—metaphorically speaking—his foundation! however... Lin just doesn't know what sort of tree that seed would grow into because... he doesn’t know what species it belongs to... it would feel right and proper to this reasonable-boy... if he knows what he's going to grow in his backyard first before... watering it with "hard-work" for the rest of his life however... the wishes and hopes of the great-sage to uncover so many secrets all at once seem harder than climbing a difficult mountain after another mountain barehanded. The hardest to get a feel of their light-energy are the dark-gold clouds especially... the two cloud-generals who each have one hair-thin line of different color on them which keeps alternating between black and grey then white! these two cloud-generals does seem to carry a strand of a completely different kind of spirit-energy within themselves... meanwhile the gold-colored gaseous-clouds kept eluding Lin for quite a while before he sighed in surrender then concentrated on the gaseous-clouds of the yellow-color. Honestly... these gaseous-clouds did tickle the boy’s memory of riding light within the world of light however... it still felt wrong in the end! finally... the great-sage could find no other "solace" but in "immersing" and "burying" himself deep inside the "embrace" of some of the most weak and vulnerable gaseous-clouds within his dantian-space... gaseous-clouds of light-energy which have the lowest purity and minimal might... the gaseous-clouds of the white-color which resemble a horde of "sheep" bleating in panic while running amongst a pack of wild and starving wolves! their kind is utterly helpless in this war... once any gaseous-cloud of that color exit the protection of the golden-colored barrier of light-energy around the martial-spirit the other ones... the colorful and stronger ones would swallow them or... rudely ram them to the side if they happen to be in their path while escaping with panic from much stronger gaseous-clouds! sometimes... the strong and colorful ones would tease them and suppress them until they make the white-colored gaseous-clouds fall to the bottom of the dantian-space... alongside many others of the "fallen" and "wounded" of the colorful-clouds all the way towards the colorful-patch which resemble a tiny and colorful-bowl down in the bottom of this dantian-space. Still... sticking together or scattering it doesn't matter for the gaseous-clouds of the white-color because... they always refuse to fight a fight which is bound to give them loss no matter the result! both of these cloud-generals are of the same attribute... serve the same master... and have the same goal. Like them... these white-colored gaseous-clouds does have nothing but the spirit-wings in their eyes because... the white-clouds care about Lin's martial-spirit first and above all... would always make them their "first-priority" since there's no reason—at all actually—to choose a side in a silly game of war because... there's not but a single purpose... which is? to fuse with the boy's martial-spirit.

The golden-eyes of the great-sage brightened in a fierce glow within the dantian-space once he figured-out what he might’ve been missing... during all this time where Lin thought that he has already corrected his incorrect way of thinking about the spirit-wings as a mere "tool" after he required deeper understanding about the light-element during the chase with Lantian... turns-out that what the boy did was right yet... wrong! it was right of the great-sage to remove all of the soul-force restrictions from his martial-spirit and release his four-wings while trusting them to protect him when needed however... it was wrong of Lin to think that his work is done on the martial-spirit afterwards because... his meditation on light-energy actually led him back towards the "tool" which the boy should’ve used to better understand light-energy... why would he do that? because... light-energy—of every grade and color—does seem hungry for a chance to unite and join his own spirit-wings! the great-sage sensed the extreme-longing from each and every white-colored gaseous-cloud of light-energy within his dantian-space very clearly... all of them practically "worship" his martial-spirit like... leagues and miles beyond the point of "blind-adoration" and according to this new discovery... while trying to better understand light-energy and to get closer to the feeling of riding light itself... in the beginning Lin used his spirit-wings and experienced the difference while being chased by Lantian then... the boy tried to meditate and correct all the issues which he felt like they’re all wrong when applying light-energy through the use of his martial-spirit but... his attempts led the great-sage back towards his spirit-wings! these attempts to explore and uncover secrets took him in circles and left Lin in a "loop" while thinking : 'Should I keep using my martial-spirit, like... experiment with it some more, keep gaining more experience until I understand light-energy to a degree similar to riding light? or... should I meditate some more on these gaseous-clouds until I understand light-energy better?' Honestly it’s quite confusing for the boy and quite difficult to immediately decide because... even if he does any of these two options... it still wouldn't give him a clear answer until probably sometime is already wasted in the "trials" which make the current situation slightly hilarious actually because... the great-sage does seem like he just got a "hint" about his question and it goes like this : "Well... probably it’s indeed your spirit-wings, or... your martial-spirit would—probably—give you some lead, that so-called "lead" might be helpful for you to find your answer, or not! it’s your call anyway so, make-up your mind already." Once he got a lead—of course—Lin would bite the bait and follow the trail of bread-crumbs to the end.

Inside the soul-world Gang grinned widely once he saw his big-brother down below in the dantian-space being fully-immersed in his concentrating at the spirit-wings this time instead... knowing that he can't continue exhausting their soul-force permanently-carving the runes and inscription of the soul-lock ability! otherwise? the focus of the great-sage on his current task might get rudely-interrupted or affected when the mental-strain from losing too much soul-force happens... something like that would certainly annoy Lin and the deadly-sin of wrath can’t allow it. After all... the last time something like that happened Lin and Ming both had to take almost three whole days resting... since the boy isn't interested about watching the gaseous-clouds of light-energy anymore Gang grinned widely while calling the two cloud-generals to attention along-with their nebulas! soon later the deadly-sin of wrath took the two nebulas upwards—after shaping them into some shape which he prefers better than a DNA-shape—towards the "hole" and from there he resumed his sin-brother’s unfinished-work on the first major-meridian. The grey-colored meridian-walls of the major-meridian seemed "aggressive" this time when consuming the gaseous-clouds from both armies of each nebula... these gaseous-clouds of the dark-gold color are light-energy of the highest-grade of purity, might, and concentration already yet... they could only change the color of the meridian-walls from grey to... just white! it made the deadly-sin of wrath think : 'Isn't white-color the weakest color of light-energy? shouldn't these meridian-walls turn from grey to—at least—gold-color? isn't this expenditure of light-energy a bit too wasteful here in this conversion-process?' Gang's "true nature" almost revealed itself once he witnessed this "daylight robbery" happen to their light-energy from these meridian-walls... why? because... only those who have siblings with a similar "perfectionism" like Lin would understand the suffering of those around them! the great-sage would most-certainly diligently work and work and work some more on these meridian-walls until he makes everything... perfect. 'Sigh.' The deadly-sin of wrath just sighed inwardly before resuming his supervision over the two armies because... even if he felt like there's some sort of "scam" from these meridian-walls Gang found himself still forced to pay the "exaggerated-price" otherwise? the great-sage—which is the only weakness for the seven-deadly sin—would feel "uncomfortable" and "unsatisfied" with how things are going when it comes to their aspect of spirit-cultivation! however... the deadly-sin of wrath sensed for itself for the first time ever how frustratingly-annoying that prime-light spirit-cultivation technique could be... the information this manual contains isn't comprehensive at all and doesn’t have enough information to give Gang some answers about these very questions : "Why Lin’s physique is so different? what kind of benefits does it have? how long would it take for him to reach the second-stage of the spirit-apprentice realm then? is there some limit to these annoying slow-advancements? when? is there a way to speed things up?."

............

While Gang toiled with the work on the meridian-walls and ruminated these confusing questions... Kai—who’s the only being currently aware of why Lin's current situation and why everything is happening in such a slow pace—grinned widely and revealed his clean white fangs then raised a very fragrant glass of Lin's finest red-wine towards his mouth and drank some before muttering to himself : “Heh. Now it’s starting to show its disadvantages to the boy huh! guiding-light physique oh such a "rare" and "special" physique kekeke, in this age and time... how many alive exactly? those who understand the true meaning of that name "guiding-light" what a hilarious naming-sense, the one who named that physique to begin with, had full intentions and meant to "insult" not "praise" his enemy who had a similar physique. One-hundred of the top-tier "special-physiques" when combined... would require way less spirit-resources just to reach the same realm in spirit-cultivation if compared with a person who have the guiding-light physique. Now... how long would he be able to persevere and hold-on to his moralities and upright-character? I wonder how long it would take before the brat finally gives-up and decide to go and rob others of all their treasures and resources.” The talking-raccoon emptied the contains of his glass all at once and kept watching both of the boy’s soul-clones at work in silence... despite knowing very well the correct way to solve every single trouble for the great-sage and being able to fix all of them just like that with a snap of his fingers! Kai withheld himself from saying or doing anything and let Lin seek his own answers.

.........

Gang continued working on fortifying the meridian-walls while Lin worked on attempting to seek better and closer connection with his martial-spirit by studying every feather on each of his four-wings.

Now that the boy thinks about it... he never actually used any of his free time to take a closer look at these "amazing" wings... even when the great-sage woke-up after sleeping for three months to find another pair on his back! Lin still didn’t care because he always thought : 'Having wings equals the ability to fly end of the equation.' That’s probably all the boy would’ve ever gave this matter if it wasn’t for this encounter with Lantian... not to mention the fact that after these strange symbols appeared on one feather after another on his spirit-wings... it only distracted the great-sage from his martial-spirit more than before. Right now Lin is feeling thankful to Lantian because it’s because of her that he noticed how close the boy was to making a huge mistake if it wasn’t for the cyan-colored bird’s encounter.

.......

While Wei's caravan settled itself on this part of pearl-road and made camp.

While Lin and Gang worked on correcting some of their flaws.

Frostine watched Lin meditate with her beautiful blue-eyes and experienced the feelings of excitement—which Sun is the only one who got to enjoy them before—any demonic-beast would gladly offer anything to swap-places with this little white-colored owl right now had they knew of the benefits! the mysteries of her bloodline became so much easier for Frostine to understand... the "inherited-memories" from her ancestors within her demonic-core kept playing in her mind and gave this "harbinger of doom" knowledge about herself and many other things—which are completely unrelated to herself—however... the experience gave Frostine so much fun.

...........

Away from that point of pearl-road where Wei’s caravan is located.

Specifically towards the direction southeast from where Lin is currently located.

Lantian kept flying at her top-speed—which is comparable to a low-grade spirit-king—after activating the inherent-skill... the forbidden-skill of her twelve-winged terror species made the bird-lord really resemble a "divine-arrow" being loosened by some deity! the cyan-colored bird crossed a great distance of beast-mountains territories within just three hours until she reached a gigantic-mountain that’s jutting-out towards the sky from the surrounding earth—which is very flat everywhere around it—and reaching upwards for more than ten-thousand kilometers... the clouds in the sky are already covering most of this mountain from the eyes of those on ground around it while up above within these countless layers of clouds around this mountain there’s lightning-storms all-year-round... meanwhile situated on the mountain itself there’s a very... very wide variety of birds and rare demonic-beasts living on the mountain itself! Lantian immediately headed towards the mountain-top while feeling very excited despite her exhaustion... passing-through the lightning-storms then exiting the range of danger is very easy for the twelve-winged terror because it’s something which it has been doing since it was a little chick... afterwards the cyan-colored bird transformed into a small bird before landing in the garden behind the beautiful red-colored palace—which occupies the entirety of this gigantic-mountain’s single-peak—the sight of this red-palace on this mountain-top makes it seem like there’s this massively-long and immensely-huge sword that’s coming all the way from the depth of underground within this flat terrain just so that it would... carry and balance that beautiful red-palace on its tip! the cyan-colored bird opened its tiny and cute beak once it perched itself on her favorite tree then said to the terribly-enchanting woman in red : “Your majesty. Great news!” That great beauty of a woman who’s reclining on some buffy feathers white as snow in color under the shade of a tree... the skin of her body is so white in color like pure milk—which caused her to blend so well with the surrounding feathers white feathers—however... her eyes are so dangerously captivating! these pair of phoenix-like eyes did match very well with the blood-red dress that’s covering her skin... while on the center of her forehead—there in-between her eyebrows—there’s a wings-symbol that’s practically similar to the one on the back of Lin's right-hand. Only the color is different though... but it perfectly matched her long red-colored hair and the pair of thin and straight red-colored eyebrows! the slight frown from Hongtian caused a heavenly sight of absolute beauty to show on her already gorgeous face before she parted her sweet rosy-lips and said : “What is it now Lantian? didn't I tell you to go sweep the borders? why are you back already? you even used your inherent-skill for such a long time, you’ll have to remain a low-grade lord for two months now, such clumsy thing you’re.” The voluptuous woman in red turned to the side lazily while looking at the tiny cyan-bird on the tree... an action which made some parts of her body to change shape and position "seductively" however... the frown on her face is caused because... for a few months Hongtian always felt like there’s something constantly tugging at her heart from within her chest and troubling her peace! even her "origin-symbol" has been "itching" recently... little-Lantian is simple and childish... pure and cute which makes her a very good companion. However... lately Hongtian just wasn't in the mood to fool around... ever since she got troubled with these "unexplainable-feelings" the sky-queen couldn’t allow herself to be distracted while attempting to decipher or explain these feelings! that’s why Hongtian sent Lantian away with every intention to have some "quality-time" on her own in solitude and... peace. “Great news! your majesty, while sweeping the borders... I found this boy, he does have wings as a martial-spirit and... he’s very fast! for someone his age... I bet he’s the fastest there’s like... by far! anyway... we had a little competition and I actually lost... could you believe it your majesty? oh! I’m being distracted... he does have a....” While Lantian spoke on and on... sky-queen Hongtian thought it was another one of this idiot's long and "nonsensical" stories! however... quickly afterwards the bird-lord grabbed her queen’s attention... her full-attention! Hongtian listened to Lantian without interrupting the cyan-bird or asking anything... not even once! why? well... Lantian is a complete-idiot... if Hongtian interrupted her—especially mid-speech—at all? then... the bird-lord might forget something that’s very important and incredibly-useful! sky-queen Hongtian thought : 'An "origin-symbol" on a human? that’s... really interesting! very good, this time Lantian did very good. Maybe I should give her "that" to help her recover the blood-essence which she lost after activating that forbidden-skill of hers for so long.'

.............

Unaware that he's already noticed by one of the ten kingly-beasts... specifically the famous sky-queen Hongtian.

Lin was focused within the dantian-space and immersed in watching every detail of his four-wings with a very "scrutinizing" eye... meanwhile Gang is already halfway-up inside the meridian-walls and "painting" the walls that her "repaired" in white-color after sacrificing the dark-gold cloud-soldiers from both armies... every time the deadly-sin of wrath would go all the way up inside the meridian-tunnel until there's nothing left from both armies! the two cloud-generals did seem afraid that Gang would feed them too... during every attempt they would seem worried that this might be their turn to be fed to these "greedy" meridian-walls. The deadly-sin of wrath would just grin widely while patting the two cloud-generals with his hands before taking them back down towards the dantian-space because honestly... it felt like taming some dogs! however... this time was different. “Heh. At least now I don't have to do everything myself while he’s spending his time staring at our spirit-wings, good job bro. Hahahaha... get going you two, drill these "noobies" and newcomers into order, come back here with well-disciplined armies. No more butting heads! do you hear? now go.” Gang nodded when he discovered the dantian-space being "overcrowded" with the colorful-clouds of gaseous-grade light-energy... all of them kept floating nearby or orbited the golden-colored barrier of light-energy—which covers their martial-spirit—every once in a while the spirit-wings would flutter gently and scatter most of the clouds around it towards the dantian-walls at the far end of the dantian-space and add more colors to the border of this void-like space! after receiving the order from this "frightening" master... both cloud-generals shivered from extreme excitement before actually fusing into a single cloud! the fused-cloud actually shrunk in size however... the thin hair-like strand of different color inside that unique and special gaseous-cloud became apparently visible. That strand kept curving and bending inside the cloud while alternating between black, grey and white then backwards inside the thicker and higher quality of gaseous light-energy... after buzzing just once that new and mighty cloud instantly grabbed the attention of each and every gaseous-cloud inside the dantian-space! then... that special-cloud humbly sent a thick and pure ray of light energy towards the martial-spirit... that ray of light-energy is dark-gold in color and of the highest quality inside the dantian-space... it resembled a stream of water being sent towards the spirit-wings because it took a few seconds to be transmitted completely... the sacrifice this time was so great to the degree of causing the special-cloud to degrade in rank from dark-gold into... just gold! however... despite becoming gold in color that special-cloud never lost the thin hair-like strand of alternating colors. Then... the fused cloud-generals vacuumed the "stunned" gaseous-clouds like a "vortex" within deep-space! to replenish itself for all the light-energy it just gave as "tribute" to the martial-spirit.

............

Outside the boy’s carriage.

The people of Wei’s caravan were beginning to wake-up and welcome a new dawn... everything indicates that this is going to be just another "normal" day of their journey. Then while the rising sun shone its first light on this part of the world... everyone—among those who’re awake—twisted their necks to look towards Ming's carriage... those who were asleep suddenly opened their eyes and practically ran outside to take a look! why? simply because... from within the boy’s the carriage there’s intense "light" that’s—no less stronger or—brighter than the first-light of the sun itself. All of that fierce-glow is seeping from every crack or gap that exists of the carriage... the warmth of the sun did seem bleak and dreary when compared to the warmth of this light! because this warmth... could really heal the "hearts" of those who saw it.

..........

Inside the great-sage’s carriage.

Frostine was practically experiencing the happiest moment of her life no doubt... the white-owl closed its beautiful-eyes and immersed itself in this "ever-encompassing" and "basking-warmth" while digesting her inherited-memories with a "never-seen" or experienced ease! before this moment... if Kai told Frostine to follow someone else other than this boy? then... this descendant of the famous species the "harbingers of doom" would’ve immediately accepted. However... after experiencing what it feels like to be next to this little-human—especially when he’s meditating—and sensing for herself how relaxing and joyful it feels whenever she’s in his companionship... the white-owl would practically "beg" the black and white "shorty" to let her stay.