Yingtai : "I heard a few conversations from the mercenaries down at the lobby, it seems like you have a very busy day today." The woman said while handing the boy his bathrobe after he finished having his bath then led him to the table where his breakfast is already arranged and waiting for him.

Like always there's enough food to feed a dozen of grown-ups yet all this food is barely enough to satiate the great-sage in a single meal, after having to undergo all these challenges daily... his portions kept on increasing everyday.

The chefs seem like they're already used to it and they always prepared extra just in case.

Lin : "Why's that?" The boy asked while engaging the first plate in front of him!

"They say that there's more than a dozen beasts of the primordial-realm in the southern-area, all of them arrived yesterday while accompanying a few high-tier individuals." The grandmaster jewelsmith said so while diligently wiping the corner of the great-sage's mouth gently with a napkin.

"The rest of the kingly-beasts?" Lin asked while tearing a piece of meat with his teeth.

"It's probable but, it's unlikely." Yingtai handed him a large bowl of congee while giving her conclusions.

"Why's that?" The boy finished it in a matter of seconds before swallowing the remainder of it then asked while extending his hand towards another plate.

"According to my information, primordial-beasts of the human-path like to maintain their human-form all the time... these new-arrivals were almost entirely in their beast-form." While gathering the empty plates and bowls away from the great-sage... this woman explained the reason why she's doubting the identity of these primordial-beasts.

Lin : "Hmmm... it's indeed unlikely for them to be the kingly-beasts," The boy scratched his cheek before shrugging and saying : "Whatever. My opponents are not these primordial-beasts, I should probably focus on the juniors that they're going to bring to challenge me." Then he resumed his meal without care for these matters.

Actually Lin was feeling his head swelling from a much bigger headache whenever he remembered how just yesterday he lost one-third of his soul-source!

Yes, he can already feel how his light-energy is concentrated and purified more than a hundred times how it previously were once before.

Yes, he can already feel how every small and large drop of his liquid-grade spirit-energy is acting exactly or "better" than how his cloud-generals used to be once before.

Yes, he can already feel how his current stage of spirit-cultivation within the apprentice-realm has finally advanced beyond the rank of low-grade and stabilized within the fourth-stage on that realm!

Yet, the price of this elevation is just... too costly.

The boy feels like puking his breakfast whenever he thinks about how much he paid just to ascend two stages of the first major-realm of spirit-cultivation.

While walking from mercenary-tower to the fighting-arena, the great-sage kept frowning because "somehow" it feels like he's going to be stranded within the realm of spirit-apprentice for the rest of his life!

It feels just too suffocating, like there's a whole world pressing his chest.

At the end of the tunnel Lin still met the spirit-king, who's anxiously waiting for him, Kong Kongming and made his move on the board-game by moving a piece then exited towards the fighting-ground after the spirit-lord beauty Jinjing opened the formation for him and greeted him with a nod and a radiant smile.

Somehow during the past few days and his quick interactions with these two, the boy gained a fan which is the beauty who just adores him now after witnessing him win one challenge after another against "supposedly" much stronger opponents!

And gained the respect of this spirit-king who keeps bringing board-games with differently arranged pieces and seek him to solve the deadlock for him.

Once the great-sage entered the fighting-grounds and looked around him at the different directions where the crowd are seated and waiting for him he found his beast-companions and his friends sitting around the "fatty" who's the talk of the hour after Lin himself, Tang Wei has become the source of envy and admiration from citizens, mercenaries, and cultivators while being the source of hate and anger from the demonic-beasts whom the merchant "conned" them of their wealth someway or another.

The exchange of insults between cultivators and beasts has calmed down a lot after both sides got to know one another better both in triumph and in defeat!

Maybe it's because the trade operation is booming and both factions understood that everyone stands to gain and benefit more if things maintain this... rhythm.

On the main platform where the high-tier get to sit there's a clear difference in the seating order, Lin discovered that his master isn't sitting with sky-queen, volcanic-king, his senior-disciple brother Zi Yun, and his senior-disciple sister Mingxia like before.

This time there's only three individuals sharing the same table with his master Jianhong and none of them is someone this boy met before, all three of them are complete strangers.

Below that table of honor there's his senior-disciple Zi Yun and his senior-disciple sister Mingxia and they're sharing the same table with Hongtian, Qiaoxing, Chenhui, and seven more strangers.

Next to their table and sharing the same rank there's another table that is much longer and have more than a dozen of beasts occupying it!

Below these two tables there's the final and longest table of them all... purple-emperor mercenaries and beast-kings both shared it however, the first oddity on this table is a young-looking male who's wearing a purple-robe and from the sharp gaze in his eyes the boy sensed some hostility and ridicule!

Meanwhile the second oddity surprised the great-sage into absolute shock, Xia took advantage of this moment to seize control of their physique and the deadly-sin of lust began to glare at the young-woman at the end of that table.

Xia (Who's currently in-control of Lin's meat-suit) : "You still dare show your fac-"

Lin (Who just managed to take back control of his body) : "Enough!"

*****

Everyone in the crowd witnessed this human boy arrive in the fighting-grounds, this isn't the first time they're witnessing this little genius.

Mostly he's very calm and extremely deep, seeing him emotional or disoriented never happened before and the demonic-beasts began to really think that this kid really is invincible be that physically, spiritually, or mentally!

However, something different happened today.

It gave them the shivers when the boy began to act so... "feminine" while pointing towards some woman in the lowest seats of honor.

Yet, before he could even finish a single sentence his manners of speech and gestures shifted back to his normal behavior in the bling of an eye!

The only difference was the expression on the boy's face after he shouted that single word, right now even the blind can understand that whoever uttered this single word is... really infuriated at the moment.

The way he's balling his fists and staring at thin-air as if he's talking to some ghost that only he could see.

This caused the crowd to silently watch while feeling confusion, pity, and loss for words.

"Hahahaha... wonderful! this little brat is so amusing." All until this loud laughter rang from the lowest table on the platform, the one having this great time is none other than crown-prince Long yongliang himself!

*****

Lanying : "Just earlier... this little boy wasn't acting like some lady at all. Deep down to his marrow his behavior was exactly like a woman who lived her childhood like a princess, her adulthood like a queen, and her seniority like the kindest grandmother!" After muttering these words while ignoring the embarrassing act of little Yongliang who's clearly seeking to ridicule sovereign Jianhong's disciple, this dragon-lady turned to look at the white-haired elder next to her, who's still drinking calmly like nothing happened at all which means that he's well aware of the reasons behind this "unexpected" behavior from this kid, and said : "Sovereign Mu. What exactly is going on?"

Mu Jianhong : "The best conclusion for it is that... something must've happened when Lin'er was undergoing his "soul-severing" before ascending to the soul-clone realm, it might seem like much but he's totally in control really." The mercenary-sovereign explained calmly while watching the reaction of his closed-doors disciple after the crown-prince attempted to make a joke out of him in public.

The boy just ignored the cascading laughter from the crowd everywhere around him and judging from the tranquil look within his gold eyes... he's completely unaffected by all of it!

Meanwhile next to him Xing Zhiqiang, Lanying, and Dailong were gawking from shock after learning that this kid is already in the realm of soul-clone.

*****

Lin just looked upwards towards the crown-prince and smiled before saying : "Well... they say : "laughter causes the hearts to become younger" but your laughter never touched your heart my friend." Afterwards the boy looked towards the audience and pointed towards them while continuing to say : "Your intention was to ridicule me for whatever reason that I don't care to know, and those who laughed either did it because they're ignorant like you and unaware why exactly did that happen to me earlier or... they're seeking to carry favor with you for some reason."

"The way I see it... your heart is currently being corroded from the inside-out by ambition and greed but, I still don't care to know any of it." Afterwards the great-sage stared directly at the crown-prince with his pure golden-eyes while having a smile that isn't a smile at all on his face and continued to say : "So... do you still find me "amusing" right now?"

*****

"Yeah... thought as much you little bitch!"

"Fuck off already... this isn't your backyard where you can throw your weight around whenever you like."

"Who gave you the right to speak when your seniors are already keeping their silence? So rude!"

"Not so talkative now are ya?"

"look! his face is bright-red like a tomato..."

"It seems like he's about to faint from all the blood rushing into his head, poor guy made a fool out of himself for no reason!"

"Tsk... someone like him must need all that blood to rush in his head first for him to be able to think straight at all, otherwise... he'd be yammering nonsense all the time just like before."

"That so?"

*****

When Long Yongliang heard these comments from this well-trained crowd he really felt like he's about to faint and felt like his tongue is heavier than mountains!

Whenever he prepared a retort he would heard an even more venomous comment and feel like his face is being slapped.

*****

Lin just ignored this complete stranger and looked towards Mia before shaking his head and sighing, he already promised Ming that he's going to let all of his seven sin-brothers and sisters handle this woman later.

Their meeting just happened earlier than he expected and Xia almost took things too far, thankfully he was quick to react and stopped his sin-sister from causing any more damage to the already damaged bridge between him and the saintess.

*****

Sun : "That's her! that woman over there..."

Frostine : "Hoot?"

"Bitch-Mia! the one I keep telling you to be careful near her in the future."

"Hi'ho'ot!"

"Of course I'm being fucking serious! one second she was having her breakthrough then the next she was attacking buddy's soul."

"Hoot... hoot..."

"Afterwards, one second she was crying and apologizing then the next she was holding her sword in one hand and his penis on the other!!" Sun kept making all sorts of moves in the air while using his cute bat-wings to fly in front of the seats of these friends before pointing towards Mia with one of his tiny and fluffy paws before continuing to say : "I'm telling you all to be extra careful around her, that chick is messed-up in the head believe me since I've seen it all."

"Hoot'a'hoot... " Frostine stood on-top of Qiang Chi's bear-helmet and spread her wings while interrupting this overexcited tiger with a crucial and vital question.

"Of course it was attached back later afterwards when me and buddy reached the second island, Frostine you know very well who's capable of doing such a thing without having to move a single one of his nails or even to blink once!" This time the orange-kitten rolled its eyes at the "usually" bright and intelligent snow-owl before giving her a hint about who exactly put things in-order for the boy after Mia castrated him.

While these two had their argument, Tang Wei who's waving to his "cute" fans especially the victims, Liao Lai who's watching the boy within the fighting-ground while hugging his wide-blade, Zhang Wang who's been so carefree ever since Wang Zhang fell in Ning Tong's honey trap, Wang Zhang who's seating little Tong on his lap and embracing her waist while enjoying everything she's putting in his mouth especially the juicy kisses, Rong Qing who's pampering Wen Zhenzhen and whispering sweet nothings in her ear, Qiang Chi who's holding hands with the average-looking spirit-tyrant Mei.

*****

Mu Jianhong : "Lin'er. You should come up here and greet our guests before your challenges begin." The white-haired elder felt liberated from a few feelings of annoyance at this arrogant crown-prince when this "cute" crowd made a quick-work out of Yongliang, the city-lord ignored the sorry-looking dragon in human-form and beckoned for his disciple to come while raising his glass of wine towards his mouth to drink.

However, once the boy activated his martial-spirit in-order to fly upwards towards the platform... this mercenary-sovereign almost choked on his drink when he discovered the third and newest pair of wings on his disciple's back.

This pair isn't dark-gold in color like the biggest, widest, and first pair.

Isn't bright gold in color like the second pair of wings which is slightly smaller in size and width.

Every feather on this third pair of wings is shining in the silver color and completely reflecting the light from the two pairs of wings above it everywhere around the boy!

Their existence is making it a lot harder for others to see the great-sage without having to strain their vision while squinting their eyes.

Still, the most troublesome thing about this pair of wings is the phenomenon of arrow-like soul-attacks which are passively spreading in every direction and suppressing the souls of those "fortunate" enough to get to receive any of them.

'Does this mean that Lin'er's martial-spirit still have more room for growth?' Mu Jianhong thought while wiping a few droplets of wine from his beard, his eyes were admiring this closed-doors disciple of his who just landed in front of their table.

However, once Lin exited the protective-formations of the fighting-grounds... Lanying's expression shifted greatly between shock, joy, and anger!

Before the eyes of this city-lord, this dragon-lady extended her fair arm and plucked his last-disciple from where he stood then brought him closer towards her face and asked the boy this : "There's a karmic-string on you that belongs to my unhatched offspring, why do you have it?"

Mu Jianhong : "....." The mercenary-sovereign who was just about to explode from anger after seeing this female dragon about to bully his beloved-disciple right in front of him... felt like a deflated balloon once he heard these words!

Lanying, this water-dragon has always been famous for her clairvoyance-abilities and that's exactly why she was chosen by her dragon-companion despite being originally from a much lower social-status within dragon-lair.

It's said that her capability of perceiving and reading karmic-luck was already beyond the temple-master of the temple of transparency centuries ago, probably only the slumbering ancient ancestors of these baldies are comparable to this dragon-lady or slightly better in deciphering the workings of fate.

This white-sovereign mercenary wished to slap himself across the face right now because during his attempt to parade his beloved-disciple in front of these leader-tier individuals... he committed a grave mistake when he told Lin to leave the protective-formations.

One of these formations specifically function to isolate karma.

*****

When the great-sage sensed the eager-anxiousness and extreme-anticipation for his answer from this beautiful lady who's holding him by the shoulder, he felt a twang of pain in his heart once he looked her in the eyes!

'She's on the verge of crying.' The boy thought to himself while noticing how the tips of her fingers began to shake then sighed before saying : "Senior. You can let go of my shoulder, I'm not planning to go anywhere until this confusion is cleared."

Dailong : "Hmmm..." Mia's father seemed surprised by the genuinely calm-attitude from this little boy.

Lanying : "A-alright." Meanwhile the dragon-lady seemed to have finally noticed how inappropriate she's in treating the disciple of the city-lord who's sitting right next to her.

Only Xing Zhiqiang and Mu Jianhong remained silent while calmly watching.

After this beautiful woman released his shoulder, Lin looked her directly in the face and began to inquire : "Senior. Earlier you mentioned the word "unhatched" which led me to surmising that your offspring is still incubated within the shell of an egg," Once he saw the sad lady nod eagerly to confirm his conclusions, the boy continued to speak and said : "May I ask about the characteristics of that egg? like... color, size."

"It's an egg that's mainly aqua-blue in color save for a few cyan dots sporadically scattered on its surface in a random pattern, it's size is no-more than twelve meters tall and seven meters wide." The dragon-lady gave the details then waited for the great-sage's reply with terrible anxiousness visible on her beautiful face to all the onlookers.

Lin crossed his arms and began to scratch his chin before saying : "I've never seen an egg of that size before in my life but," When the boy shook his head while denying encountering that egg, he sensed how the spirit of that woman fell to all times low however... when he said that "but" he witnessed hope shining brightly within her blue-eyes and he continued to explain himself by saying : "Senior. Earlier you also mentioned the existence of a "karmic-string" on myself. Can you please explain to me how karmic-strings work? knowing about how they operate might lead me towards the right direction."

After the great-sage said so he sensed slight hesitation from the beautiful yet sad woman and further explained the reasons of his last inquiry by saying : "Senior. I've been travelling for months, my journey took me from the land of r-... forgetfulness all the way to the borders of the western-islands then pearl-harbor, pearl-city, pearl-road, and finally here in mercenary-city."

"If we can't narrow-down our search-zone from between all these locations? then... I'm afraid we're going to be looking everywhere all at once while dividing our focus instead of one place with all of our undivided focus and concentration." Lin shrugged while giving a simple comparison between two different scenarios.

This time Xing Zhiqiang opened his cruel and merciless-looking red-eyes a slight crack and looked at the boy in front of them before closing his eyes, the kid's intellectual-ability was hard to miss yet this tiger-emperor never cared about it since this spirit-world has always been packed full with smart fellows yet... the boy's persuasion-ability startled him.

Having such a natural-born talent on your side during negotiations is a blessing however, having to deal with him is a great trouble.

Dailong nodded his head since these words are well within reason, this Tai Lin doesn't seem like he's scheming anything to learn about karmic-dao or anything.

Clearly his intentions are focused on helping his sister Lanying find her offspring!

Just this fact earned the boy a few points of favorability from this sword-sovereign.

The dragon-lady finally stopped hesitating and waved her jade-like arm to erect a simple, transparent, water-barrier around her and the boy.

*****

Outside Pearl-city, on the outskirts towards the north where the borders of eternal-forest begin.

There's a group of spirit-lords from the cultivation-alliance currently stationed here to act as guards, they're tasked with preventing anyone from snooping or passing their station-points.

Hai, the fire-cultivator spirit-lord who stopped Wei's ship in the first time to search for the water-pearl is among these "guards".

About fifty kilometers or so within the borders of eternal-forest, inspector-Huang, Chentian Ao, and Renshu the grand-elder of the cultivation alliance were the only ones in this area.

One of them is tasked with keeping the look-out for any intruders from the Elven-race or any cultivators.

The other is tasked to complete drawing the thousand-beasts formation and operate it at full-power to assist this grand-elder in taming the water-dragon and suppressing its soul.

The third person is the most anxious for the moment he gets this water-dragon as his beast-companion.

*****

Back within mercenary-city, specifically at the highest table on-top of the elevated platform inside the fighting-arena.

Lin nodded after getting a vague-idea about the workings of karmic-strings.

To clearly understand karma and how it affects everyone, Lanying explained to the boy some of its principles...

Family-members become attached with karmic-strings from the day they're born yet, lifelong neighbors might not be connected by karma despite spending their life interacting with one another!

Two friends might not be connected by karma yet, a complete stranger or a passerby during some journey might instantly be connected to Lin by karma.

The key-factor in this confusing-conundrum is... a certain incident, item, or enemy.

If it's indeed an incident? then... the boy can't think of any other memory besides the moment he was forced to drink the potion of thought-rebirth.

If it's indeed an item? then... the great-sage can't think of anything else besides the water-pearl to create that karmic-string.

If it's indeed an enemy? then... Lin can't think of any other faction besides the cultivation-alliance since they're the ones who're mainly-responsible for the suffering of humanity.

Lin immediately noticed that each and every one of these three examples share certain similarities and connections with one another.

Lin : "Senior. Let's rethink this over from the perspective of those who hold the egg of your unhatched offspring." Actually the boy already had a few ideas but, the great-sage didn't want to jump to conclusions without being completely certain.

Lanying : "Okay, what do you have in mind?" The dragon-lady asked while feeling the fading hope being reignited once more in her heart.

"First point that I want to clear is... what would be their ultimate goal? and... is there certain requirements for it to happen?" Lin crossed his hands and supported his chin while drumming one of his cheeks with a fingers then asked this mother who's anxiously looking for her lost offspring.

"Taming my baby! that's most certainly it. As for requirements, hmmm... my child inherited both attributes from me and its father yet, judging by the color of its egg, I'd say it's primary natural-affinity is like mine. Since it's a pure-blooded water-dragon then... it'd be extremely difficult to tame it without the assistance of two factors, one of those is a water-pearl. Since it's a soul-related world-treasure, then it has a very strong appeal to every creation within the spirit-world... especially to us water-dragons! a young and immature hatchling would find it impossible to resist a water-pearl's temptation. Meanwhile the second important factor is... a beast-tamer with incomparably-high attainments in their profession. Of course the one seeking to tame my child can't be weak in body, soul, or spirit otherwise... my child would dominate them instead." The dragon-lady seemed more and more enlightened after muttering these words and felt grateful to this boy who caused her to find a direction to search instead of blindly looking everywhere.

Lin : "It seems like I was indeed spot-on with my deductions." The great-sage was speaking to himself yet, when this beautiful woman heard him she sensed some hesitation and annoyance from his tone of voice.

Lanying : "Tell me all about these deductions of yours."

"Then I should probably tell you about what happened after my encounter with these friends of mine, that fatty over there is Tang Wei a merchant and descendant of Tang Jianyu... " The boy began to tell this dragon-lady about his journey, his encounter with the fatty and how he "borrowed" the water-pearl from him.

Then how they got harassed by people from the cultivation-alliance repeatedly, the goal of that inspector Huang and his underling was... nothing else besides the water-pearl itself!

The one they're acting under his orders is a grand-elder that's called Renshu however, Lin never got to meet him... not even once.

He explained to this woman how that inspector Huang was willing to force Lin to drink a potion of thought-rebirth just to interrogate him about the whereabouts of that water-pearl.

How Chentian Ao was accompanying that inspector... he felt some worry about the fate of Bo An's grandpa but the great-sage refused to lie to this mother.

Lanying was already believing the boy yet she still decided to confirm these facts by asking Tang Wei and his clansmen.

Once she discovered that almost every detail was perfectly matched between these five... this dragon-lady became certain that her offspring is in the hands of that city-lord Huang or he's, at least, aware of its whereabouts.

While all this was happening... the people within the fighting-arena were watching in silence while this female dragon delayed the main-event.

Lots of beasts were feeling so happy when the "fatty" was being interrogated by the dragon-lady and kept wishing if she'd just smack him around a few times to complete the picture! however, that sly and slithery fellow got away from that tribulation practically unharmed which is... very, very irksome and annoying thing to happen.

Afterwards this female-dragon requested that the tiger-emperor, sword-sovereign, mercenary-sovereign would join her to discuss something that's of extreme-importance immediately then took the boy, the joke crown-prince of the beasts, and the young-woman, whom the boy made a scene after seeing her earlier, with them before leaving mercenary-city.

Of course there's two others who ignored the attendees of this gathering before following after Lin and the rest.

One of these two is, of course, sky-queen Hongtian.

The other is... a spirit-sovereign, a white-sovereign mercenary, and an ancient-alchemist who kept muttering these words while following after her master : "Your seed is certainly... "

*****

While flying next to her father, Mia kept stealing glances at Lin who's flying on his own without assistance between her aunty Lanying and sovereign Jianhong.

He's capable of keeping up with the speed of a spirit-king which is the speed that this group is currently going at, judging by how crown-prince Long Yongliang is flying on his own without needing assistance like Mia herself.

This boy has changed so much during the past few months, way more than she could ever imagine!

She's the one who's aware of this boy's potential more than anyone else yet... even the former-saintess felt like she has underestimated him way too much.

Dailong : "Stop hiding behind me and go talk to him if you want to do it so much! sigh... a father can't keep his girl home indeed, Aya... you'd do a much better job than myself in these situations indeed." Sword-sovereign muttered these words while puckering his lips then dropped his shoulders and looked towards the sky with sorrow all-over his expression.

The former-saintess blushed then lowered her head while hugging Xiaoxi strongly after hearing what her father just said, then after a short while which the young-woman spent thinking in silence... Mia raised her head and seemed to have finally made-up her mind.

Under the surprised eyes of her father who didn't expect to see his daughter taking the initiative to approach any male... even if it's just a kid of seven years old.

The worried eyes of Mingxia since she's planning to hog all of her junior-disciple brother Lin's "seeds" and keep them within her faction or "fertile land" like she likes to call it!

The confused eyes of Hongtian who doesn't wish to see this naughty-boy interacting with anyone else other than herself... at least until she gets her hands on his origin-symbol.

The jealous and hate-filled eyes of the crown-prince who seems like he still isn't over what happened earlier within the fighting-arena.

The amused eyes of Mu Jianhong who's feeling proud of this closed-doors disciple of his who's able to maintain his calm while being surrounded by this gathering of the finest within spirit-world, and how he's fully capable of reining his emotions and keep them in check while being so close to someone who hurt him once.

For any male... being castrated is a wound to their pride and a scar so deep it could fragment their mentality, striking them with heart-demons is the least it could do!

Yet, the boy doesn't seem like he's affected at all while being near the same person who gave him that wound once.

Once Mia approached the boy who's being flanked by her auntie and the mercenary-sovereign, she noticed how Lin approached his master and used one of his arms to hug the thick and muscular neck of city-lord Jianhong before whispering something in his ear.

When the white-sovereign smiled a knowing-smile then looked at his disciple before nodding, the great-sage gave the white-haired elder a juicy kiss on his cheek before letting go of his neck.

Afterwards Lin looked towards her father and said seriously : "Senior Dailong. With your excuse... me and your daughter have a few "issues" that we need to solve in private." Then, without waiting for sword-sovereign to give his consent to his request... the boy fluttered his wings and appeared next to the former-saintess and circled her narrow and delicate-looking waist with one of his hands before taking her along and flying ahead of the group!

When the former-sect-master witnessed this scene he felt like his whiskers were on fire and his eyes became bloodshot however, before he got to react he discovered that both his sister Lanying and old man Jianhong blocked his path while either smiling awkwardly while avoiding eye-contact or gloating at his fate while looking him directly in the eye.

Dailong snorted while glaring back at the mercenary-sovereign but his senses never left the boy who just "snatched" his daughter right under his, and everyone's eyes without showing any timidity or hesitation.

If that "brat" dares to do anything funny to his daughter? then... this sword-sovereign wouldn't hesitate for a split-second to cut a path of blood if he have to, after all... he now knows all about what his daughter once did to this boy after he saved her life and helped her escape.

Yes, she's completely in the wrong in that incident however... nobody gets to bully his daughter, not even Dailong himself! not to mention right under his nose.

However, the one who felt like there's a lump of ash and excrement at the back of his mouth when he saw this hateful-boy ever-so naturally hug the waist of this saintess and carry her away without her showing any distaste or disgust from being so intimately-close to this nasty-boy is... Long Yongliang himself.

Hongtian noticed his reaction and felt repulsed by this crown-prince and his enormous vanity.

*****

Mia : "L-Lin... I-" The young-woman squirmed in his hold slightly before finally struggling to say something however, the boy looked at her directly and interrupted her, he already knows Mia and how her mind could keep wandering everywhere for practically... forever!

Lin : "This is neither the time nor the place, listen well because time is of the essence here." The great-sage gazed at Mia's beautiful face for a few seconds in silence while admiring her unique beauty before continuing to say : "This is related to your uncle Chentian Ao, he might get implicated in this mess if we don't warn your father about it."

Mia : "Eh!" The former-saintess was shocked to hear this but Lin prevented her from wasting anymore time because at their current speed, they're likely to reach pearl-city in less than ten minutes! they need to secretly notify sword-sovereign so that he would be ready to intervene and protect his friend the beast-tamer from the wrath of that dragon-lady and the ever-so silent and mysterious tiger-emperor.

After listening to the boy's severe and serious warning, the young-woman nodded and wriggled herself free from his strong and firm embrace before flying on her own towards her father.

Dailong seemed to sigh in relief and release when his daughter returned to his side and really wanted to ask the former-saintess about her conversation with that brat in full-detail however, once Mia urged him to listen and keep what she's about to say private... he erected a barrier of sword-dao around them and gawked from shock after hearing about his dear friend Chentian Ao who somehow got himself entangled in this troublesome matter.

*****

Lanying : "Pearl-city... " The dragon-lady murmured these words once that famous city was in sight.

This beautiful woman suddenly stopped and closed her eyes, she was trying to get a feel and sense the karmic-string that's connecting her to her offspring however... like always she discovered this gauze of cloud-like haze blocking and confusing her senses.

This didn't discourage her though, simply because there's an alternative method for her to seek the true direction of her offspring.

This method comes in the form of this little boy who gave her hints and aided her towards a very specific direction!

"Lin. Come here, let me see if it's possible to find these thieves through your karmic-string." Lanying said so while beckoning to the boy to come near her, of course the great-sage didn't hesitate but... he exchanged a quick, knowing-look with both his master and sword-sovereign before flying towards this mother who lost her child.

Lin : "Senior. How can I help?" Lin asked while looking upwards towards the tall dragon-lady.

Lanying : "Just don't resist. This ability of mine is risky for others but, since you're already in the clone-realm then... it shouldn't affect you by much. At best... you're going to lose some of your soul-source, that's all." When Xia heard what this beautiful woman said she couldn't prevent a snort from escaping her lips and rolled her eyes from within the soul-world.

The boy nodded then waited for Lanying to begin, he deactivated his martial-spirit and was able to stand next to her on thin-air because she's allowing him to do so with her dao-energy.

This dragon-lady appreciated this kid more and more when she noticed how he's surrendering his body, spirit, and soul to her without any hint of worry for his own safety or the risk of having his secrets being revealed to herself!

This beautiful-woman made a few signs with her hands first before extending her right hand towards the boy's forehead, white-blue scales appeared on her jade-like hand right before she touched the kid's head.

*****

Within the southwestern outer-borders of eternal-forest, one week earlier before Lanying brought Lin and the rest to pearl-city.

On a sentinel on a sentry-tower was anxiously watching the approaching spirit-lords, from the way these human-cultivators are spread in a fan-like formation... this young, inexperienced, raw, and slightly naive Wood-Elf immediately understood that she's about to be surrounded and encircled however, Odla'nor was tasked with surveillance and observation of the northern-walls of pearl-city.

Leaving her station without receiving prior orders means that she's at risk of being charged with insubordination!

Leaving this sentry-point without handing the tower to another member of her Elven-race means that she's at risk of being charged with betrayal since each sentry-tower contain archaic-formations which are exclusive to the elves!

Yet despite being at risk of being heralded as both a deserter and a traitor, Odla'nor didn't hesitate any further and began to descend the pine-like gigantic-tree agilely, silently, and quickly.

Right before exiting the sentry-tower, this wood-Elf used a drop of her blood-essence to activate the protective-formations on this sentry-point while hoping that this hefty-sacrifice would delay these human-cultivators just enough until she reach the next sentry-point.

She's hoping that eventually this news would travel to her "friend" who's currently situated at the yellow-belt.

Honestly, ever-since Odla'nor saw these human-cultivators spreading in their fan-like formation with clear intentions to encircle and surround their, the Elves, southwestern-borders... she was mostly panicking and anxious because of her "friend's" safety and not her own.

That "friend" of hers does indeed have a very "special" identity and a very important "role" to play in the future.

However, while Odla'nor was speeding towards the north in perfect stealth... she heard the song of a swallow and noticed the black bird flying northwards on her left-flank.

The bird-song of this black-swallow was a perfectly-harmonious mixture of a chirp, a whine, and a gurgle!

Odla'nor never noticed how her focus was completely seized by that sweet voice until she felt a thwack at the back of her neck and the world began to swirl in front of her while her vision swam.

"This little wood-Elf almost escaped the net... sigh. Their ability to disguise themselves within eternal-forest is indeed frightening." Odla'nor heard the voice of some man being tinged with admiration, sorrow, and slight regret!

"It's all thanks to your soul-sparrow. Without it we wouldn't have noticed this woman at all despite being near her location, the advantages these Elves have within eternal-forest are a bit too much indeed. Her cultivation is three major-realms lower than me yet I wasn't able to sense her at all despite being separated by only a few hundred meters!" Again the wood-Elf heard the voice of another man however, this one sounded like a cruel and venomous-snake, his tone of voice had jealousy and hate in them.

*Snort*

Afterwards she heard what seems to be the snort of someone who sounded much older, someone who's used to carry himself with an air of authority.

"Toss her to the side but don't kill her. We're not here to provoke these damn proud Elves, after we finish our business here we're leaving immediately."

"Yes."

'I need to warn her about these people, I have to... I can't fall asleep yet.' While fighting the drowsiness that's seeking to devour her mind, this female wood-Elf had this final thought : 'I must warn the princess!' Before losing consciousness.

*****

Apparently the Elves have separated the borders of their eternal-forest into five belts.

Each border-belt is two hundred and fifty kilometers wide.

There's sentry-points scattered all-over them at strategic locations.

Each and every one of these border-belts is given a color.

These colors begin with the "green-belt" on the outermost-layer of the Elven borders within eternal-forest, then yellow-belt, orange-belt, red-belt, and finally purple-belt which is the innermost-layer of the Elven borders within eternal-forest.

Within these sentry-points on each belt, the cultivation of the Elves stationed in these towers is actually weaker within the outer-belts compared to the ones stationed in the inner-belts!

While it might seem confusing to all those who hear about this fact, there's a logical explanation for why the Elves choose to leave their junior-generation at risk.

Simply because... the Elven-race lives longer than demonic-beasts. For example, in the case of High-Elves... they tend to live more than dragons!

Maybe only the species of immortal-turtle is comparable to High-Elves in longevity however, since that unique race, the Elves, live most of their lives within the confinement of eternal-forest being blessed with its safety... they live longer than immortal-turtles in most examples! because... immortal-turtles mostly struggle for resources all their lives and the great-majority of their descendants don't get to live long at all, actually... most of them would fall long before getting the chance to reach their peak-potential.

Living that long while being surrounded by the safety of their eternal-forest could very well dull the senses of their Elven-descendants, that's why the juniors of the Elven-race are required to participate in the sentinel-guard after reaching a certain age or cultivation.

Of course the Elves aren't so naive or so confident as to send someone like their princess to the green-belt where many of the foolish human-cultivators attempt to explore their borders.

That's why the "elders-council" only allowed their little-princess Mela'nor to travel and gain experience wherever she wants within eternal-forest while strictly forbidding her from taking a single step outside the yellow-belt!

*Snort*

"Ode'gar. How dare you blocking my path like this?" A fairy-like blonde woman held her waist with a hand and pointed the forefinger of the other hand at the nose of her personal-guard after snorting loudly.

The sight of this frowning and displeased Elven-princess is more than a feast for the eyes yet, this red-headed, stern-looking, and extremely strong blood-Elf didn't even frown after being treated this way by this spoiled princess.

Ode'gar merely shrugged his shoulder and side-glanced towards the shadow-Elf Orime'sac who's the personal-maid of this lively princess, while also being a very experienced and an extremely frightening assassin whenever there's a need or requirement for that side of Orime'sac's personality to appear! plus being the only woman he ever loved or cared to attract her attention and seize her heart in his long yet dull life of his.

"Heh. My princess is really giving Ode'gar a hard time huh..." The raven-haired shadow-Elf smirked while enjoying the hidden-plea for help from this man who's outwardly-cold yet extremely warm on the interior.

She knows that he adores her practically to death.

She knows that he wouldn't hesitate to wage an endless war wherever she points the tip of her pinky!

He's always been this patient and understanding whenever it comes to how things are advancing between them, always allowing her to take it on her own pace when it comes to their relationship.

Despite being extremely proud especially because of the circumstances of his birth, Ode'gar never revealed any of that pride whenever he's dealing with Orime'sac.

This stalwart, auburn-haired man has been waiting on her for about a century!

During that century... his conviction never wavered and his feelings never dwindled.

Mela'nor : "Humph. I said that I'm going to visit Odla'nor, I'm only planning to give her a quick visit to check on her... I never said that I'm planning to stay," This Elven-princess, who's no less of a beauty compared to Hongtian herself, frowned once she noticed how her personal-guard and personal-maid began to exchange prolonged and emotional eye-contact with one another and continued to say : "You two are more than welcome to stay, and get this over-with, while I'm away." Before smirking once she noticed how Orime'sac blushed so hard while burying her face in her perfectly-rounded chest.

Ode'gar : "I'm afraid that I can't allow it my princess." Despite being the one who would like nothing more than to actually do exactly what this spoilt princess just said, this blood-Elf shook his head while revealing a genuinely-apologetic expression on his face.

This rare show of his emotions on his face wasn't intended for Mela'nor to see but for Orime'sac who smiled so sweetly while falling into a daze, this "knight in shining armor" of hers never looked so handsome and her poor heart never felt like it's going to jump higher out of her chest like this moment.

"Humph, then I'm taking your most precious jewel for myself tonight. All these... "assets" are wasted on a dunce, dolt, dullard, peabrain... jerk like you." While hurling all these childish insults on her personal-guard, princess Mela'nor was expertly groping the voluptuous body of her personal-maid and breathing-down the neck of this extremely-embarrassed yet excited shadow-Elf!

The eyes of this red-headed man shined brightly with the glow of a starving wolf for a few seconds while watching this unbearably-stimulating sight before reining his "swelling" emotions and glaring at this little princess who dares to bully his lover right in front of him.

Meanwhile, Orime'sac was gasping for breath and unable to straighten her posture since her knees never felt so weak.

Once Mela'nor removed her paws from his beloved and took a step backwards with fear slightly visible in her eyes, Ode'gar took a step forward and supported the shadow-Elf by the waist then led her slowly towards her room while saying : "Princess Mela'nor. Take my advice and be patient, the situation in the green-belt isn't as calm as it would seem. But... if you keep insisting on causing trouble for both yourself and us? then, me and Orime'sac would be the first ones to suffer the wrath of the elder-council... it's possible that the high-council would be the one giving our verdict."

*Snort*

The Elven-princess merely snorted while scrunching her face in a deep and displeased-frown after crossing her arms.

The shadow-Elf remained quiet while surrendering herself to this lover of hers and allowed the blood-Elf to lead her wherever he wants, a sweet smile on her face and her upper-body was leaning quite heavily into his embrace.

The blood-Elf has been trying to suppress these lustful emotions ever since the Elven-princess did what she did right in front of his eyes earlier, after being scalded by these fires of desire for a century while waiting for his lover to allow him.

These feelings were no-different from erupting volcano once Ode'gar entered Orime'sac's room, especially when the shadow-Elf was the one to shut the door of her room!

*Snort*

Mela'nor : "Ugh! I want to see sister Odla'nor so badly yet these two don't seem to care at all... this is so annoying." While huffing and stomping the ground with her feet in frustration, the Elven-princess muttered to herself while crossing the bridge towards her tree.

*****

One day after the wood-Elf Odla'nor got captured.

Chentian Ao completed the arrangement of the thousand-beast formation, in-order to activate the formation there's two requirements actually... one of these requirements if that the one to operate the formation-disc has to be an accomplished beast-tamer.

Otherwise, the beast-souls captured within the formation-disc would either attack the person operating the thousand-beast formation or... the water-dragon within the egg!

The second requirement is... an insanely-exaggerated amount of vitality, hence their choice of arranging the formation fifty kilometers within eternal-forest which is extremely-rich with pure wood-energy.

Chentian Ao : "Senior Renshu. The formation is available for activation, I'm ready whenever you're."

"Good. Begin at once, the Elves are probably already aware of this wood-Elf's disappearance," The grand-elder said while moving to the center of the thousand-beast formation, after the hunchbacked man retrieved the water-dragon egg from his beast-medallion he turned to look at city-lord Huang before continuing to say : "Take that soul-sparrow and keep patrolling the area, don't let a fly come near us. You're not forbidden from killing but... only resort to it when there's no other choice." Afterwards grand-elder Renshu sat cross-legged next to the huge egg and placed both hands on it and began to send a gentle stream of his dao-energy which is similarly of the water-affinity.

During the next few days after the activation of the thousand-beast formation, inspector-Huang captured more than thirty juniors from the Elven-race.

These actions from the city-lord finally attracted the attention of a few individuals who finally decided to take things... seriously by personally intervening in the matters of their juniors.

*****

*Bang*

Ordna'mer, the moon-Elf slammed the surface of his desk with one of his hands and left a palm-shaped indentation while glaring towards the south.

He's the commander of all the sentinel-troops within the southwestern territory of the green-belt, after receiving the report about the unusual circumstances around the southwestern-borders near pearl-city... Ordna'mer became suspicious and told his subordinates to keep him updated on the situation.

Later he received another report about the sudden disappearance of one of the sentinels in that area, after sending pigeons with orders for that Odla'nor to report her status without receiving any answer... the moon-Elf decided to send a team to investigate the area around the sentry-tower while notifying the sentinels stationed in the surrounding towers to cooperate and assist that team.

The team of seven plus another eight of the sentinels around Odla'nor's tower and the wood-Elf herself... all disappeared!

Ordna'mer : "Send this report to supreme-commander Ena'dir, make sure that it's carried by the quickest of our pigeons." This moon-Elf seemed to have aged slightly after saying these words.

Simply because it meant that his promotion is certainly going to be delayed since one of his fellow commanders is going to snatch it from him.

*****

Meanwhile within mercenary city.

After Mu Jianhong and his entourage left in a hurry, Zi Yun ordered for the challenges to continue between the juniors of beasts and cultivators to entertain the remaining guests.

Soon the crowd regained their excitement and the curious ones secretly talked about the mystery of why their sovereign left so suddenly.

The formation-expert and some of his junior-disciple brothers and sisters exchanged polite words with some of their guests in the beginning then began to discuss multiple topics, gossip and news from many areas around the southern-continent and the other three continents were mentioned.

'Sigh... thankfully everything seems to be under control around here, hopefully master wouldn't be away for long.' Zi Yun thought to himself while listening to one of the kingly-beasts and kept nodding his head while acting like he's intrigued to know more about that piece of news.

"These alliance-rats got what they deserve, who told them to be foolish and enter my territo-.... hrmmm!" The one who was speaking suddenly halted his words and looked towards the white-tower.

Judging by the look on his face, this person is displeased by what he saw.

Zi Yun : "Glacier-king. You were saying?"

The dark-skinned sovereign noticed the one flying slowly towards the fighting arena before that kingly-beast and felt his stomach twist inside while cursing his luck since a few seconds earlier he was celebrating too early.

Shaoqing : "Tsk. Now my good mood is ruined and I'm not feeling like talking anymore, I hope you wouldn't be offended sovereign Yun." The man in light-blue robe cupped his fist towards Lin's senior-disciple brother then turned to look towards fighting-grounds.

*Snort...*

However, the sound that person made from his nose and the chilling-cloud of pure ice-energy notified those around him of how displeased that Shaoqing is at that moment.

'For fuck sake! That geezer certainly choose to come at this time specifically to cause trouble.' The formation-master returned the polite gesture towards the glacier-king while shaking his head then looked towards the latest arrival, he scratched between the locks of his hair while having these thoughts.

"Hahahaha... what a wonderful gathering we have here! Don't mind me joining in and partaking in the fun then." The booming sound of that man rattled the audience and attracted looks of displeasure and disgust from almost everyone among the demonic-beasts.

The kingly-beasts and the beast-path primordial-beasts were glaring at that black-bearded white-sovereign yet none of them cared to give him a reply, as if it's below them in standards to talk with that person.

Zi Yun : "We... don't! Of course fellow-cultivator Jiao can watch these juniors whenever he feels like it."

Kong Jiao : "Humph. Did brother Yun think that I would exchange pointers with these juniors?" The man smoothened his beard while taking the seat offered to him on the long table.

"Most certainly not!" The formation-expert answered immediately before dragging his words at the end then resumed to say : "Doesn't make it less their honor had fellow-cultivator Jiao decided to bestow them with the blessing of a few instructions, I'm sure they'd all receive some sudden-enlightenment and be forever grateful."

"Let's see if any of these juniors is worthy of my time first." The white-sovereign didn't show any interest on his face while giving that answer, clearly he's aware that there's some sort of hidden trap and he needs to be careful not to be led-around by the nose.

This Zi Yun might seem kind and easy to approach but beneath that image is a character that's extremely difficult to handle, not to mention that Jiao isn't here for this formation-expert.

He's here for these beasts, most of them are carrying a bellyful of anger towards him and his faction.

These subordinates of his were ordered to follow after him and enter the fighting-arena one by one, in a way... this white-sovereign wishes to keep accumulating the pressure and increase the tension on these guests until one of them snaps! That's when Kong Jiao gets the opportunity to make a move.

Once his chance comes he could quell the chaos and seize the city by the throat, afterwards it's going to be the time for his faction to finally lead all the mercenaries in this continent.

Not to mention that his backing is already lying in wait nearby and waiting for his signal to come to his aid.

*****

Once Lanying touched the boy's forehead and began to send a stream of her dao-energy within his body, she sensed a pair of old and wizened-eyes carefully watching with extreme caution every one of her actions.

Mu Jianhong was revealing how sharp and merciless he could be when he's serious, Yi Mingxia was similarly alarmed and on edge judging by how her attitude shifted from her cheerful-self into a dark and almost gloomy-like persona!

Mia was watching anxiously while tightly hugging Xiaoxi to her chest, while Hongtian was more focused on the boy's right-hand even when the origin-symbol isn't visible.

Xing Zhiqiang was ready to intervene and stop Mu Jianhong if he decides to interrupt the dragon-lady's technique while also being ready to interrupt Lanying's technique if any sign of harm appeared on the boy! For this slaughter-monarch his interest for a favor from the dragon-clan is no less important than having this boy work his physique's "magic" on his beast-race.

Long Yongliang was praying inside that his auntie would take no mercy on this little brat who dares to talk back to him the crown-prince and cause him to lose face in front of the saintess, not to mention how his actions embarrassed the dragon-prince after some "low-lives" spoke for the boy and dared to directly make fun of Yongliang in front of a crowd of both juniors and seniors from both beasts and cultivators!

Dailong on the other hand was more focused on the boy, every expression on the boy's face and every movement from his frail-looking body.

Since Mia is clearly not acting her usual self after seeing the boy and how their interactions earlier demonstrated how close these two are acting around one another, as her father... this sword-sovereign certainly would do his best to find and know everything about this boy.

*Grunts*

A guttural-sound escaped the boy's pair of parted lips once the tall dragon-lady touched his forehead with the scaly-forefinger of her right-hand.

However, the boy was quick to react and raised a hand to stop his worried and anxious master from doing anything.

This assuring gesture from the kid calmed the two white-sovereigns yet annoyed the crown-prince a lot!

Sky-queen Hongtian was excited because the origin-symbol on the back of both hands became visible again, plus another symbol that's much more complicated on the center of the boy's back at the area where his shoulder-blades meet.

The tiger-emperor and sword-sovereign watched as a transparent stream of karmic-strings used the boy's soul and body as medium before linking with his own gathering of karmic-strings or what's commonly-known as "karmic-luck".

Everything was going as expected until Lanying's pair of beautiful eyes widened in awe, shock, disbelief, and... fear!

"H-huh!..." The dragon-lady barely managed to utter that confused word before the atmosphere in their surrounding vastly shifted.

*Om!*

First it felt like the sky above their head suddenly cracked after a deafening sound exploded in their ears.

*Whoosh*

Then with the boy and Lanying as the center, a burst of exploding wind spread omnidirectionally.

If this gathering wasn't from the finest this continent could offer? then... some of them would've been blasted all the way to the western-islands!

Still, sword-sovereign seemed to struggle against these karmic-infused wind while protecting his daughter.

The slaughter-monarch on the other hand didn't do his best to protect the crown-prince completely and signs of damage to the young-man's clothes could still be noticeably seen despite his attempts to hide them.

None of them could hide the surprised-looks and expressions from the others, while questions kept surfacing on their minds about the reason all of these unexpected events are happening all of a sudden!

Mia : "Oh no!" The former-saintess suddenly muttered these words while looking from afar at Lin and her auntie Lanying.

Dailong : "What is it Mia? Are you hurt anywhere?" Sword-sovereign worriedly asked while holding his daughter by the shoulder.

"I'm fine father." The young-woman said while shaking her head.

"What is it then?" The man raised an eyebrow while doubting if his daughter is faking being alright.

Mia looked upwards towards the sky then towards her young beloved before saying : "I'm sure these events did effect the area on a very wide range, hopefully auntie Lanying would be able to complete her technique before our enemies notice the signs and try to escape her search range."

*****

Within eternal-forest where Chentian Ao is operating the thousand-beast formation.

Renshu : "Shit! we've been found... but how?" The hunchbacked elder suddenly opened his eyes and muttered these words while removing his hands from the egg.

While asking himself how they were exposed so soon the grand-elder of the cultivation-alliance attempted to store the dragon-egg back in his beast-medallion before making himself scarce from this forest.

"Eh!" The old man was surprised to discover that he's unable to move the egg from the ground and quickly turned to look towards the one operating the formation before saying : "Hurry! Deactivate the bloody formation at once."

Chentian Ao : "I'm afraid that it isn't possible."

"Are you defying my order? Have you forgotten about who's holding the fate of your clan in the palm of their hand?" Renshu's face twisted into an expression of pure rage while exploding each and every single word in the face of Bo An's grandfather.

"Of course I haven't, otherwise I wouldn't be here risking being exposed by the dragon-clan." The beast-tamer shook his head yet calmly answered without showing any sign of worry on his face, yet his hands never stopped making signs while attempting to stop the thousand-beast formation.

Renshu : "Then why haven't you stopped it yet?" Now there was signs of worry that appeared on the grand-elder's face who began to look towards the south.

Chentian Ao : "The thousand-beast formation isn't a normal formation, it requires the primordial soul-source of a thousand beast-kings to be trapped within the formation-disc and an expert beast-tamer to operate it."

"Spare me the nonsense and focus on halting the formation."

"It doesn't matter... we're already surrounded from both sides." Bo An's grandfather shrugged his shoulder before looking behind the grand-elder towards the north.

On the thick branches of these gigantic trees the glint of light was reflected from the sharp arrows currently pointed at them from a gathering of people no different from humans except for their beautiful complexions and their long and pointy-ears.

Once the grand-elder of the cultivation-alliance noticed the burning and rage-filled eyes of the one commanding these elves he felt a cold shiver overtaking his spine all the way down to his tailbone!

Renshu turned to look at one of the current top ten beast-tamers of spirit-world then pointed a shaking finger at him while saying : "Y-you! You tricked me... you've been intentionally stalling for time to drag me! But, why? What do you stand to gain from all this?"

Chentian Ao completed his final sign with his hands and stopped the formation completely before storing the dragon-egg in one of his beast-medallion then turned to look towards the old man who's fuming with rage while being accompanied by emotions of confusion and utter fear and said : "It's a gamble. I tossed a coin a few months ago and threw my lot, now it seems like I might lose my life but it'd still be my win." Afterwards Bo An's grandpa gestured with his hands and about a dozen or so of primordial-beasts of the beast-path appeared next to him.

"I'll remember this. Your Chentian-clan would soon follow the fate of the Tang-clan... otherwise my name isn't Renshu." The hunchbacked old man suddenly took to the sky while leaving these venomous words behind.

"Did you think that you can harm the juniors of my elf-race and leave our territory just like that?" One of the elves, a tall and lean man with a long and silky blond hair and an extremely handsome face muttered these words while taking a step forward that squeezed space below his foot, he suddenly appeared behind grand-elder Renshu and extended his right-hand while slashing it downwards.

Within his hand is a short-sword that's made from elven-steel.

"Scram!" This hunchbacked man is a grand-elder of the cultivation-alliance and a spirit-sovereign, user of the affinity of water and holder of dao-energy.

Certainly he's capable of protecting himself against a lazy, almost careless slash from that handsome elf!

A screen of water separated both parties in the blink of an eye and for an instant it seemed like the grand-elder is out of danger since his quick ascent almost took him up beyond the crown of these sky-reaching trees of this eternal-forest.

However, not only was that short-sword capable of severing the dao-water... but also the crowns of the surrounding trees began to inch closer to form what would seem like an inescapable cage before this spirit-sovereign!

Now this grand-elder is facing danger from the sword being swung at his back while having to somehow force his way outside from the front, otherwise he's going to be entangled by these elves who have the clear advantage within their territory.

*Crack*

During his moment of despair Renshu heard the snapping sound of wood breaking and noticed the entangled crowns of the surrounding trees above him being deformed inwards, seeing this as his chance to escape since some ally must've come to his aid in this critical timing.

He joyfully smiled while increasing his flight speed upwards until he heard these wrathful and hate-filled words : "Did you really think that you can take my egg and get away with it?"

Then the shadow of a gigantic, scaly, and round tail being swung downwards could be seen by the elves on the lower branches of these trees which began to wobble from side to side after their crowns broke from the insane pressure.

The hunchbacked man was immediately flattened against the scaly surface of the huge tail before getting any chance to conjure any defense towards his front, then immediately afterwards he felt the world go dark before a lacerating pain ran-over his back then shortly afterwards he lost sense of his body once it got slammed with immense force against the hard surface of the forest floor!

The last thing this grand-elder heard before a layer of restrictive wind captured his body and invaded his dantian was : "My egg! Where's my egg?"