Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 134 part 1! Things are about to get real!
I wish all of you a Happy New Year!
Anyway, that's it for today, so if you can and want to support my work, do pledge at least a month on Patre0n (Starts at 1€/month) and/or buy my book (8€=9USD) through the links below.
Bye!
Support Links:
-Don't hesitate to Follow, Review, Favorite, Power stone, share etc. (Depends on the platform you're currently reading on) if you like my different novels. It helps a lot with growing the number of readers.
-(Ebook Format)Book 1 - 'Memories Of The Past' is available for purchase through this link for those of you interested (8€=9USD): https://book.stripe.com/4gw9Dr9n0aMn7dK3cd
-I've set up a Stripe page, so if you feel like making a one time donation of any amount, don't hesitate to swing by. Thank you in advance! https://buy.stripe.com/4gwdTHfLo2fR2Xu6oo
-If you prefer having something 'tangible' for your donation, you can visit my patre0n page.
My patre0n: https://www.patre0n.com/CalmWanderer (Switch 0 with o)
To all my Patrons: Thank you very much for your support!
************************
Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
As seconds and minutes elapsed, the warning bells in Sergei's mind grew louder and louder.
Unlike Mortals without cultivation, cultivators usually trusted their intuition, as the higher one's cultivation, the more accurate it was.
The reason behind what many Mortals considered a mere invention had been discovered long ago.
To put it simply, intuition came from the connection between a cultivator and the 'Universal Melody'.
The higher one's cultivation base, the higher one's Life-Level, and thus the closer one was to that Melody.
Knowing that everything is connected that way, if a danger targeted a cultivator, it would disrupt the Melody, and thus, through that connection, that same cultivator would sense it.
Of course, one's intuition was not always accurate, as it could be manipulated, either hiding it partially or completely.
It could even create the illusion of a threat, confusing the cultivator, which would give an opportunity to strike for the opponent.
Overall, it was fine to listen to one's gut feeling, but if one only relied on it to survive any dangerous situation, then the result would most likely be a painful death.
If one wanted to maximize its use, one also needed sufficient strength and intellect.
However, Sergei was far from being a newcomer in the cultivation world and thus stayed vigilant.
However, despite the risk of a 'false alarm', the middle-aged man could not afford to ignore it.
After all, if he did ignore it and it resulted in preventable injuries or even deaths, then he would definitely blame himself for it.
So, with a solemn look on his face, Sergei sent a Voice Transmission to Ling, who seemed oblivious to the danger approaching.
["Wife, prepare yourself. Something's co..."]
Before he could finish warning his wife of the coming crisis, the two suddenly heard a massive explosion coming from somewhere in the Southwestern direction, the soundwave disrupting the normal flow of the surrounding Elemental Energy.
The noise, however, barely lasted an instant before a furious human male voice boomed all over the District, while powerful Auras exploded from multiple locations.
"Vile Beasts! You lot dare to attack the Federation!?"
Now that those high-level cultivators had abandoned the idea of hiding, it was easy for Sergei and Ling to sense each of their cultivation bases and Races.
Unexpectedly, not only were there Late and even Peak Void Seed cultivators present, but besides the Human Race and Spiritual Beast Race on the Federation's side, there were also Demon Beasts in their original forms, with all of them floating in the District's sky.
At that moment, another male voice resounded, this time with a playful tone, though the timbre felt too rough to come from a human's throat.
"HAHAHA! I can finally let loose! Staying in that weak human form for so long almost killed me. No matter, with your Teleportation Station broken, there's no need to hide anymore. I, High General Frost Marsh, can finally devour as many of those weak Human and Spirit Beast insects as I want! Who knows, if I kill enough of you, it might even push me all the way to the Emperor Grade!"
Although the gigantic Whale-like Demon Beast seemed close due to its colossal thousands of meters in length, its actual location was several hundreds of kilometers away, seemingly at the junction of the three Districts where the Teleportation Station was located.
However, for a Beast at the Peak of the King-Grade, with a size beyond thousands of meters in length and with a certain mastery of the Void Intent, that distance could be crossed in less than a blink, which was a fact the Sergeis were painfully aware of.
In other words, if those Peak Void Seed protectors could not stop that powerful Demon Beast, it would merely take less than a second for their lives to end.
The best solution, however, would be for the Void Sapling Elder to act, but there was no sign of the man.
Could it be that something happened on his side?
If that were the case, then the situation would be much more dire than Sergei previously thought.
Nonetheless, there was still something that kept bothering him.
'All those preparations just to kill a Peak Chi Gathering genius? Isn't that too much?'
The man sporting a thin mustache pondered in disbelief, feeling like there seemed to be a conspiracy afoot, with many things he was not aware of.
However, he did not let his confusion stop him from preparing some defensive measures.
"Guard team, form the Earth Quadrant Shield Formation and keep the four Young Nobles inside. Wife, let's quickly form the Yin-Yang Earth Void Array before trouble comes knocking."
As he gave instructions after instructions, his hands were not idle, with a few Tier 4 Formation Plates flying from his Void Ring to the hands of the four Guards, who quickly went into position.
Demian aside, the three female Mikhailovs felt puzzled by the older man's urgency, not understanding what was happening. It was not exactly surprising, though, as a Void Layer separated them from the outside world, making it impossible for those, like the four, who had not comprehended the Void Intent to sense anything beyond it.
Looking at their lost expressions, Sergei ordered firmly.
"The three of you must stay inside the Formation. Do not move or else I can't guarantee your safety with what's coming."
It was unclear if an Earth Formation powered by merely four Foundation Building cultivators could do much to protect the four inside it, but Sergei believed that doing something was always better than doing nothing.
Thus, even if the effect was not much, it may be what ultimately determined their life or death.
As for the three 'clueless' women, they did not utter a word of protest, sensing the situation's seriousness from the man's tone.
However, Seraphine still could not help but ask what was on everyone's minds.
"How serious is it?"
Shaking his head slightly, Sergei turned his head toward the Whale Demon Beast's direction while replying in a calm tone, his words bringing chills to everyone's body.
"Serious enough for us to lose our lives if we're not careful. Ling and I included."
As if his words were prophetic, a large group of King-Grade Demon Beasts suddenly revealed themselves from the crowd surrounding the shop, with around a dozen of them being Low and Mid King-Grade, while two of them each emitted a much fiercer Aura.
Though not as strong as that Frost Whale Beast from earlier, their strength should be around the Late King-Grade Stage, which was the equivalent of the Late Void Seed Rank for the Human Race.
If one had to compare the two Power Systems, it was clear that each had its own merits and demerits.
Humans relied on cultivation techniques to transcend their inherent weakness, while Beasts relied on the refinement of their own bloodline, either by awakening higher-level bloodlines or elevating one's own, though the latter was much more difficult than the former and also demanded much more and much rarer resources.
Bloodlines could give a huge head start for Beasts, and even certain Human sub-species, such as Seraphine's Shadow Void Elven Bloodline, relied on their Innate Bloodlines to cultivate faster and reach greater heights, though, in the Humans' case, it was only used as an auxiliary help and not as the main means of cultivation, lowering the drawbacks of that sort of system.
Speaking of drawbacks, whether it was for Beasts or Humans, Bloodline was both a huge advantage and an extraordinary shackle.
Take Brynhild, for example.
With a Golden Jade Giant Bloodline, though her talent was pretty much at the Peak of the Mortal Realm—Demian did not count since his cheats were from beyond the Mortal World—, and thus she was not facing any real problem for now, she did have to cultivate the Golden Jade Intent and those Techniques from her Bloodline Memories, the reason being that her Physical situation was extremely specific and any other Cultivation Technique would not fit her.
If she did not have access to those memories, then it might have been really problematic for her, maybe not at the beginning, but he higher she went, the more problems she would encounter.
Of course, as mentioned previously, a Peak Mortal Bloodline was not exactly a disadvantage.
But then, what about a Mid-Grade Bloodline? With such a Bloodline, once you reached the Core Formation Rank, it became almost impossible to progress further.
From an advantage, the bloodline had suddenly become a burden, one that grew progressively heavier as one grew stronger.
In the end, unless a way to upgrade it, gain a higher-level one, or simply discard your own, it would most likely become a dead-end for the overwhelming majority.
No matter the choice, the path further was fraught with difficulties.
That being said, most cultivators without a Bloodline would never attain the achievements of those with one, so it was certainly a case of 'you win some, you lose some'.
As for Demon Beasts?
Well, instead of refining their bloodline through absorbing the Essence of Heaven and Earth, they did it through stealing the Essence of Living Beings.
The former was neutral, stable, and relatively slower, while the latter was Evil, unstable, and much faster, with most Demon Beasts turning into mindless monsters or simply imploding on the spot from losing control of their Mana, Soul, or Blood Energy.
It was the same situation for those Evil Cultivators, which was the main reason why the majority of cultivators chose the orthodox way.
Otherwise, with advantages such as greater cultivation speed and less demand on Innate Talent, which meant a greater chance to not only grow more powerful but also live much longer, the Cultivation World would have become a Hell on Earth, though even with that, it was not far from being a paradise.
After all, even without cultivating the Evil Path, many orthodox cultivators were not exactly the kind and tolerant type, with many striving for quick success, chasing fame, wealth, power, lifespan, etc., and all that without having much scruples.
Thus, Orthodox and Evil merely referred to the Cultivation practice and not someone's morals, though cultivating Evil Techniques did negatively influence one's moral compass to a certain degree.
After all, there was no such thing as getting something for nothing in the Cultivation World.
Back to the situation at hand.
As soon as the Demonic fluctuations erupted, every Demon Beast from that group, which had been previously disguised as Humans, transformed back into their Beast form in a brief instant.
While their forms were shifting, one of those two High King Grade Beasts, a female Spike Bone Fish sporting dark blue scales and a row of sharp bone spikes jutting out of her spine, sent a Voice Transmission to the teams of King-Grade Commanders under her command, her voice filled with chilling Killing Intent, perfectly matching her frightening appearance.
["You're all aware of Minister Misty Serpent's orders. That boy is our priority target and has to be eliminated at all costs. Those three women around him and those two Peak Core Formation cultivators, however, are only optional secondary targets. If we can get rid of them, then it's great, but if we can't, then it matters little. As for those Void Seed cultivators present, stopping them from protecting the targets is enough. If the mission is successful, Minister Misty Serpents assured us that the rewards will be plentiful. The worst would be enough to break through a Small Level, and the best should be able to push General Dark Shade and my cultivation forward by a whole Major Level. So, all of you better perform well or be prepared to face the consequences once we're back in Frost Beast Palace's territory."]
Though simple, the 'carrot and stick' approach always worked, even among high-level Demon Beasts, evidenced by the mix of eagerness, bloodlust, and some restrained fear filling those marine-type Beasts' gazes.
With the threat of that extremely fierce female General named Water Spike and the sinister male General called 'Dark Shadow' standing by her side, none of the other Commanders whose cultivation was merely between the Low and Mid King-Grade dared to slack off.
Add to that the kind of reward that would tempt even those 'Spiritual Beast' hypocrites, and it was no surprise that all of them overflowed with motivation.
Fear for their lives?
Their main target was three Ranks below them, and even among those secondary targets, the strongest were those two at Peak Core Formation Rank.
Sure, they could sense a few Void Seed Cultivators around, but for each level present, their numbers were fewer than those in the Demon Beast team, especially at the High Void Seed level, where the Federation only had one man present against their two generals.
With such an advantage, if those bloodthirsty Beast Commanders were to withdraw, then they would truly deserve whatever punishment that ferocious female General threatened them with.