Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 511 - A Tian Clan Disciple And Quest online for free - AllNovelFull
"Whoa! Is this the place we have been looking for?" one of the disciples questioned.
"Seems like it considering how well kept it is." Another one of them answered.
"But it's not exactly how Chief disciple Wang Xiong described it." A female disciple said, her gaze cautious.
"Hmm… it could be the one we are looking for or something else altogether. But since we are here, we may as well check it." The Nascent soul realm senior disciple stated.
"As you say, senior brother." The disciples all replied.
They went up to the gate of the shrine and looked at it, feeling a bit stunned.
"It is well maintained… doesn't seem like it was abandoned or anything."
"Mmmhmm… perhaps someone is living here?"
"That can't be. If there was someone living there, won't they hide or keep the place to themselves? Who would let a place of such power be left in open?"
Many questions were in the minds of the disciples and they wondered what was the truth. The senior disciple though, looked at the characters that were carved on the door and tried to read it.
His brows furrowed as he was unable to even recognize the words.
"Do you know what this means, senior brother?" the cautious female disciple questioned.
"I don't… it's in some unknown script." The senior brother said.
"Xiaoge aren't you always reading the history and old records and stuff? Come, tell us if you can recognize anything." One of the disciples asked a small girl at the back.
She had a meek expression and was short, being merely 150 centimeters tall. She scuttled to the front and took a closer look at the characters carved on the gate. Her gaze stayed on it for about five minutes, and she only looked away when she was called again.
"Xiaoge! Xiaoge! Speak… have you lost yourself again?" Her friend called out.
"This… I can't really tell what it is. But I've read this character in a book before." Xiaoge pointed.
"Oh? What is it and where did you read it?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother asked, feeling curious now.
"I saw it back when I was in my clan, the character's meaning is 'Perseverance'." Xiaoge answered.
"Your clan… the Tian clan?" The Senior brother muttered.
"I'm just from a small branch of the Tian clan," Xiaoge corrected, a slight hint of fear in her eyes.
"Okay, and this character means perseverance huh… interesting." The Nascent soul realm senior brother said.
Lin Wu who heard all this, was intrigued as well.
"I didn't think there would be someone else that would actually be able to recognize this… even the system could only do this after extrapolating and analyzing large amounts of data." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
And just as Lin Mu did this, he heard a notification from the system.
~DING~
——
ISSUING QUESTS: Visit the Tian clan and obtain their records
INFO: The system has run into an obstruction when searching the records of the Tian clan. Many such analytical streams lead to the conclusion that the Tian clan may have a lot of unknown information.
REWARD: Data bank update
——
"Oh? A quest? It's been a while since I got one." Lin Wu was surprised.
The system hadn't really given him quests in a long time and Lin Wu knew that it would only do so when it found something truly important. And this level of importance varied according to his cultivation base and power.
For example, the system wouldn't issue a quest for a spirit herb that could no longer help him now. Whereas if Lin Wu was still in the Qi refining realm, the system would be issuing him quests left and right.
Lin Wu had done what was basically… over-grinding, like one would in an RPG game.
'Though now that I think of it… I've basically been doing one side quest after the other and kinda pushed the main quest to the side. Seems like some habits never die huh…' Lin Wu thought to himself.
His attention went back to the Tian clan, and he wondered what they were.
"System, what's the information that you have about the Tian clan for now?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The Tian clan is a relatively reserved clan that has little to no interactions with the secular world of the Long Continent. They use their weaker branches to interact with what little is absolutely necessary with the rest of the world.
Their exact powers and man power is unknown, but the clan heads of the branches are at the Nascent Soul realm. From this, the system can estimate that the main clan may very well have Dao Shell realm experts.
——
Seeing the information, Lin Wu was interested. The clan wasn't ranked in any way nor was it in any of the talks and conversations Lin Wu had listened to. They weren't in the information and records he had read about the continent, either.
"They've really managed to keep their working quite low… people only do that in worlds like these when they have something to hide or if they are really weak but smart. And in this case… I'm leaning on the former possibility." Lin Wu said, making up his mind to visit the Tian clan sometime.
There was no time limit on the quest, thus Lin Wu was free to visit it whenever he felt like it and there was no compulsion on him. Bringing his attention back to the situation at hand, Lin Wu saw how the disciples entered the courtyard of the shrine.
~CREAK~
The gate of the courtyard let out a loud creak. That was a bit usually harmonious. It didn't seem like it was like that due to age or degradation, but rather it seemed like it was just made like that specifically.
"Oh wow! This place is better than the shrine in my clan!" Someone commented.
"Same here. Actually, this seems to be better than many capital city shrines as well.." Another disciple that was a bit more well-traveled added.
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The disciples gazed at the clean courtyard and the plants that were in it. The paved path, the auspicious statues and even the ponds were mesmerizing to them. There was a strange air in the place that calmed down their minds.
They continued to talk and talk, before eventually reaching the main building, which was nothing but the shrine inside. They came to a halt and hesitated to enter it.
"Are guests not going to come inside?" A voice suddenly came out of the shrine.
Hearing this, everyone was startled.
"W-who?!" The Nascent soul realm senior brother was stunned.
He couldn't tell who the voice belonged to and realized that there was no way to use his spirit sense, either. The entire courtyard was like a locked area where the spirit sense simply did not work.
It was as if there was a dense layer of iron around their bodies that prevented their spirit sense from coming out. The enthralling environment of the courtyard had completely made them forget to use their spirit sense.
The senior brother finally realized that they dropped their cautiousness entirely without even getting a hint of it happening. Cold sweat appeared on his back as he clenched his fist. He knew that the situation they were in was rather serious and if they did not deal with it properly, they might never go back.
~gulp~
"May we know who senior is?" The Senior brother asked carefully after assessing his options.
Since his spirit sense did not work and seeing his companions, it didn't seem like they could use it either; the man took the cautious approach and estimated the voice to belong to a far stronger cultivator.
"Why don't guests come inside and see?" The voice spoke.
Hearing this, the disciples were alarmed and wanted to run away right that moment. But something told them that if they tried something like that it would not bid well for them. They swallowed their saliva and forced their bodies to stand in place.
Lin Wu who had been observing everything, was also shocked.
"Damn, that monkey definitely took some drama classes! No way he learned how to act like a mysterious senior in the past few years. He didn't even know how to use the human tongue before." Lin Wu said.
He knew that among the beasts, there were very few that could speak the human tongue. At one point, everyone could do so, but it was certainly far higher than the Nascent Soul realm.
The ones that could do so before that either had unique physiques that allowed them to do so, or used other methods like metal communication to do. It wasn't that they didn't understand the human tongue, it was just that they could not physically speak it.
Of the beasts that Lin Wu had met till now, perhaps only the Slim arm ape king, the demon spine ape king and Zhu Tianying were able to do so naturally. If Lin Wu were to think of it, it seemed a bit obvious that monkey and ape beasts that were naturally closer to humans would be able to do so.
As for the second most likely beasts, it was none other than bird beasts, as could be seen from the normal mortal parrots and many such birds.
Lin Wu himself was a weird anomaly and used alternative methods to speak. His own natural voice was a distorted screech that was terrifying to not only humans but other beasts.
He had to actively modify his voice using cellular manipulation and cellular crystallization to create unique structures that made speech when air passed through them. The system also helped him by modulating and adjusting the voice.
So far, Lin Wu hadn't really gained a particularly deep control over his cells such that he could use them directly as vocal chords, but hoped that as his skill level rose, he would be able to do so.
The Nascent soul realm senior brother deliberated for a bit, before finally making up his choice.
~Creak~
The door of the shrine was opened by the man and the inside of the shrine was finally visible. There they saw a statue of a man that looked valiant and cold. It was made rather skillfully and exuded a powerful aura despite not having any spirit Qi coming out of it.
There were no specific decorations inside the shrine, and it looked rather quaint. It was not that the decorations were missing, but instead, they were never needed in the first place.
But the most eye catching thing was none other than a person sitting in front of the statue. The person was sitting on his knees and seemed to be meditating. His back was towards the disciples, and they could feel the faint spirit Qi fluctuations coming from him.
'Nascent soul realm?' The Senior brother detected.
"A monk?" The disciples were surprised to see the attire of the person.
But the senior brother felt suspicion instead. And it was because of several points. The monk's hair seemed to be far too long, and it covered even his ears from what he could see from the back.
Another thing was the size of the monk. The man seemed to be bigger than most average humans. Just from comparing the chief disciple Wang Xiong, who was considered to be more of the bulky and buffer disciples in the Frozen Cloud sect, the man found the monk to be two sizes bigger.
"Welcome, guests." The Monk spoke.
~gulp~
"Who are you, senior, and what is this place?" A courageous disciple asked.
~Creak~
The floor boards creaked slightly as the monk stood up from his kneeling, meditative posture. Only now did the other disciples realize just how big the monk was. He was over 250 centimeters tall and seemed like he weighed several quintiles!
And when the monk turned around, the disciples' surprise turned into shock.
"A B-Beast?" The Nascent soul realm disciple stuttered.
Lin Wu watched with rapt attention, not wanting to miss anything as more and more snacks flew into his mouth.
"Man the suspense…" He muttered as he munched.
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The disciples were quite nervous seeing the Monk, who was actually a beast. But even then, the appearance of the beast was strange to them, seeing as how it was actually trying to be like a monk.
"I am but a humble monk working under my master." The Monkey beast replied.
"Monk? You're clearly a beast." One of the braver disciples spoke.
"Who says that a beast cannot be a monk?" The monkey beast said with a smile.
"But… but… a monk needs to be human." The Disciple replied.
"That is just the general thinking… to be a Monk what you need is not to be human, but to just have the devotion and dedication." The Monkey beast said in a sagely tone.
Hearing this, Lin Wu couldn't help but chuckle.
"He's now a 'Monk'ey beast… hahaha!" Lin Wu laughed.
Having heard the monkey beast's words, the Nascent soul realm senior disciple narrowed his eyes. He did not detect any offense or enmity in his voice, and neither could he feel that from his aura.
'Is he truly a monk?' The disciple wondered.
An awkward silence descended in the shrine where no one spoke and just stared at each other. After a minute passed like this, The Monkey beast decided to break it.
"Why don't guest take a seat? You all must be tired, I'll bring some refreshments." The Monkey beast stated.
The disciples looked at their senior brother for guidance, who nodded after thinking for a bit. He was still on guard and thus thought that even if something did happen, he would be able to act in time and prevent it.
"We shall do as you say then, senior." The Nascent soul realm disciple spoke.
The monkey beast nodded his head and waved his hand.
~shua~shua~shua~
Multiple sitting pillows appeared out of thin air, surprising the disciples. Even Lin Wu was surprised and wondered how he did it.
"System, what's up with that? I don't think he used a spatial storage tool." Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The entire shrine has an overall operating formation array similar to the one in the tomb. In fact, it's the same as the one in the tomb, just on a much smaller scale.
——
"Oh… that was unexpected. This shrine was made by the one who made the tomb right… the elder disciple of the Taiji Celestial, Daoist Sky Bright… makes sense that he would be able to make a smaller version of the formation array as well.
Though it's strange that the monkey beast is able to control it so well. He certainly got a lot of gains, it seems like it." Lin Wu said.
The disciples took seats on the sitting pillow while the monkey beast went to the back of the shrine. He returned about five minutes later with two trays in his hands. One of them held several tea cups and a teapot while the other one held a large bowl with several fruits in them.
~thud~ thud~
He placed them on the table and prepared the tea first. He opened the lid and put some dried pink and red petals in it. He then swirled it for a minute, after which a pleasant and floral aroma came out of the teapot.
"Huh? What kind of tea is this?" One of the female disciples asked, finding the scent of the tea nice.
"This tea is made from the petals of some plum and peach trees I have here. I've made it myself but it's nothing special." The Monkey beast said.
After having prepared the tea, he poured it equally into the tea cups and gestured for them to take one each.
"Please. You can try the fruits too, they are cultivated under my master's orders." The Monkey beast said.
Hearing this, Lin Wu raised his pointy red ears.
"So that's from the farms huh… they are certainly getting better." Lin Wu said finding the fruits to be decent looking.
Though he didn't know if the fruits were any good or not and thoughts that he may as well judge them later. For now, he just needed to see what the intention of the monkey beast was.
The disciples took the tea cups one by one and sipped on tea. The moment they did though, they felt a stream of spirit Qi swirling within their body.
'This tea is nothing special? Heck, if this is nothing special, then those special teas the elders drink are garbage.' The disciples thought.
Drinking a sip of the tea was the same as eating an alchemical pill. They took a few more sips and quickly finished the entire cup. They were already tired and had used up quite a bit of their spirit Qi in the journey here and thus this helped replenish it.
"Good Tea!" The Nascent soul realm disciple said.
"Thank you for your kind words." The Monkey beast said with a smile.
The guards of the disciples were lowered by this point and even the senior brother was the same. They tried the fruits that were kept in the bowl and took a bite each. Their surprise was no less than when they drank the tea.
"These are… spirit fruits? That too of mid grade?" A disciple couldn't help but speak this time.
All of them ate a fruit each and the bowl was soon empty. After that, they looked at the beast/monk in wonder.
"So what does senior do here? And what is this shrine?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother questioned.
"This is the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist. As for what I'm doing here… I'm just waiting for the fated." The Monkey beast answered.
"Sky Bright Daoist?" The disciples were intrigued.
They tried to remember if they knew any venerated figure like this, but could not do so. They also took looks at the statue but did not recognize it from any of their records that they had read.
"What kind of fated do you mean?" The senior brother questioned.
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This was the question that even Lin Wu had, and he focused on the entire scene.
"I am looking for those that are fated with my master. Those who are and can pass the trials will become his disciples." The monkey beast revealed.
Hearing this, Lin Wu felt like face palming.
"I don't think I even told him to do all this. I never followed up with the orders after telling him to clean and maintain the shrine." Lin Wu said to himself.
That was also the reason why he was confused. Since he had not given them any specific orders after taking care of the shrine, he wondered if they had some other agenda than that.
But now it was confirmed that it was not so and that monkey beast had just started to think of the future on his own.
"Seems like he went from monkey brain to big wrinkle brain, huh… at least I'll have someone smarter under me now." Lin Wu felt a bit pleased.
The disciples though, had a completely different expression. They were instead excited.
"Did we… find it?" one of them said.
"Is this the place that senior brother Wang Xiong was talking about?" A female disciple said.
"Ah, so you all are sent by Wang Xiong." The monkey beast said.
Information about Wang Xiong was no secret among Lin Wu's servants and they knew of him and that he was a subordinate under Lin Wu as well. To them, it was just a matter of pride and they felt better than even a human was a subordinate of their master.
Plus, Lin Mu had already left instructions on what to do if Wang Xiong ever came back. If he came to the Tomb, it was inevitable that he would end up meeting some of the beasts. Thus to him, it was better to explain some of the plans to the servant beasts, and he had done so before he went to hibernate.
Hearing the name of their chief disciple from the mouth of the monkey beast and the familiarity, the Frozen Cloud sect disciples felt that this was truly the place where they had been striving to come, too.
"You know Senior brother Wang Xiong?" The Nascent soul realm disciple asked.
"Of course I do. Wang Xiong is also working under my master." The monkey beast replied.
"Working under him!?" The disciples were shocked.
Information like this was a huge mountain to them and could cause a lot of trouble if it got out. After all, being the chief disciple of a sect and then working under some other master was a blaring signal that the person was a traitor.
"Indeed. My master passed him the inheritance of his own master after Wang Xiong qualified the trials." The monkey beast spoke.
Now the disciples had confirmed for sure that this was where Wang Xiong had gained the new techniques and become so strong.
"So does this mean… others can become like that too?" The Nascent soul realm disciple asked, while the rest looked on in excitement.
"Of course. That is exactly why I am here." The monkey beast replied.
"YES! We succeeded!" The disciples said out loud.
"So how do we do that, senior?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother asked.
"Well, you have two choices for the trials. You can decide which one you want to attempt. One of them is the same as that Wang Xiong took while the other one is what I took." The monkey beast spoke.
"What are the differences Senior?" They questioned.
"Well, I can say this directly that the one I have taken is far inferior. The one that Wang Xiong took is of a top grade inheritance." The monkey beast answered.
Hearing this, the disciples felt like there were thunders flashing in their minds.
"WE'LL TAKE THE ONE THAT SENIOR WANG XIONG TOOK!" they all said in unison.
"Of course you can. As long as you pass the tests of the Sky Bright Daoist, you can proceed on to the main Tomb." The monkey beast said with a smile, but this time, it was mischievous.
"What?" The disciples were confused.
"Everyone will have to take the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist. Only those that can pass it can go further to take the same trials like that of Wang Xiong. If you can't even pass the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist, there is no chance you will pass the other's that are far more dangerous and difficult.
Losing your life would be a common possibility." The Monkey beast said.
~GULP~
Hearing this, the disciples couldn't help but swallow their saliva. They looked at each other before making up their minds.
"We shall do it! We'll take the trials." They stated.
"Alright, but before you take them, let me tell you this and warn you… these trials are not simple and may take you years to complete. Then there is the advantage of the first trial, which is of the Sky Bright Daoist… even if you fail them you will not die.
And failure is not permanent. You can keep on trying. There are no limits to the number of attempts." The Monkey beast expanded.
~phew~
All of the disciples couldn't help but take breaths of relief after hearing this. They had already heard that the things may not be simple from their chief disciple. They wanted to know more, but Wang Xiong was unwilling to tell them.
But what they didn't know was that Wang Xiong didn't tell them because he was unwilling, but rather because he himself didn't know how things would proceed. He knew that he himself had won due to luck and that the difficulty of the tomb was a mystery.
He was the first one there in many years and the tomb had just awakened. And from what he had heard from Lin Wu, there may be more changes coming.. He thus thought that it was better to leave it to fate for now.
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Lin Wu then saw how the disciples got ready for the trials. They went for the trails of the Sky Bright Daoist first, as was the need. He didn't know why the monkey beast had chosen to put this condition but Lin Wu didn't really mind it either way.
He could tell that the techniques of the Sky Bright Daoist were inferior to that of the Taiji Celestial, of course, and the inheritance that he was passing on was for a lower kind of technique that he had comprehended himself.
"Hmm… system can I see the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The Trials of the Sky Bright Daoist are held in a separate array architecture and is inaccessible from the main formation array.
——
"I see… guess I'll check it out later." Lin Wu muttered.
He could now tell that the monkey beast was probably doing this so that he could fulfill some kind of a condition that he had. He reckoned that when the monkey beast got the inheritance himself, he may have had to also get others to join him as a condition.
And that may have been why he was getting all of them to take the trials. He would of course not break the orders that Lin Wu had given and had stated directly that the Sky Bright Daoist's inheritance was inferior and that the Taiji Celestial could still be obtained after passing.
That way, those that did not pass the Taiji Celestial's trials would still gain the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist. In a way, it was a win-win situation and didn't really cause Lin Wu any specific problem.
It was actually helping him delay for time since he would not have been able to interfere with the trials if he was in hibernation.
"I wonder how they are doing now… since this is from five years ago, they should be done by now." Lin Wu wondered.
The memories had now ended here, and Lin Wu was switching to the ones that the avatar had.
~shua~
The scene changed and now he could see things from the perspective of the avatar instead.
"Oh? What's this? Someone came to challenge?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the scene.
Lin Wu saw several beasts standing around the Tomb. Most of them were the ones that were under the servants of Lin Wu, but there were also some beasts that didn't seem like they belonged to the millennium forest.
"Now who are they?" Lin Wu wondered.
He tried to recognize the beasts but could not.
"System, any idea?" Lin Wu asked.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The beasts are southern Tusk Tapirs. They live beyond the area of the Frozen Cloud sect and are highly territorial.
——
"Huh? Why are they here then if they are like that?" Lin Wu wondered and watched the memory.
"What are you all doing? You dare tread upon the land of King Lin Wu?" The Hook Winged Swan said in a fierce tone.
"Ptui~ What King? He's merely a Nascent soul realm beast. Our tribe has many such members. From now on, this area is ours and you all can either become slaves or get lost!" The leader of the Southern Tusk's Tapirs said.
Hearing this, Lin Wu felt a bit bewildered.
"What is this? The young master equivalent of a beast?" Lin Wu said in disbelief.
"You dare?!" The Hook Winged swan said before jumping down.
~SHUA~
His wings created sharp winds that pushed the trees and smaller beasts away before they could even do anything.
"HUMPH! Impudent!" The Leader said as they started to battle.
At first, the Hook Winged Swan seemed to be doing well, but the defense of the Souther Tusk Tapir was just too high. Their sharp tusks were also quite dangerous and could create deep wounds.
Even though the Hook Winged Swan was at the Nascent Soul realm as well, it was only at the Infant Soul stage and was not in a right match up against the Tapir beast. They fought for about thirty minutes and no one came out on top.
Though it didn't seem like the Hook Winged swan would be able to do much and he was also getting exhausted.
~CHIRP~
It was at this time a loud sound came from the distance.
~WHOOSH~
Strong winds blew as another bird beast arrived in front of the two fighting beasts. This was none other than the High Wind Gale Sparrow.
"STOP!" He shouted as razor sharp gusts of winds spread in the area.
~deng~deng~deng~
The winds clashed against the tough skin of the tapirs and managed to injure the weaker ones.
"Calling for help, huh? Won't be enough." The leader of the Tapir beast said before letting out a loud cry.
~TROOOOOO~
More Tapir beasts appeared and now there were over ten Nascent soul realm Tapir Beasts here. Seeing this Lin Wu was feeling weirder and weirder.
"Something definitely happened during this time… a shame that the main system was offline so we can't check the other data." Lin Wu muttered.
Since all of this had already happened before, he could only watch as the result had long since been decided.
~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~
But the arrival of the Tapir beasts also triggered the other rulers of the millennium forest. And along with them, the remaining servants of Lin Wu arrived as well.
The Slim Arm ape king fought one of the Tapir Beasts that was at the Adolescent Stage, while the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King did the same. The Demon Spine ape was even more ambitious and took on two Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm tapir beasts on his own.
~BOOM~
~THUD~
~BAM~
~CLANG~
The battle raged on for a long time and the area was greatly changed due to it. Only the immediate surroundings of the Tomb were safe due to the Formation array protecting it.
~huu~huu~huu~
The rulers of the forest were now exhausted as three days had passed since the battle had begun.
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No one had expected the battle to last this long, and neither had they expected that more than twenty Nascent soul realm beasts would descend into the Millennium forest today. All of them were from the Tapir Tribe and were the same kind of beasts.
Lin Wu had read the information about the Southern Tusk Tapirs by now and had learned that they were highly territorial, and this also meant that they would only move from their land in very specific conditions.
One of the reasons was if a certain Tapir beast was exiled from the tribe but had a lot of subordinates. Then those members would probably follow that tapir beast and occupy land somewhere else.
But it did not seem like that was the case here, since there were over twenty Southern Tapir Beasts here. This led Lin Wu to believe that it may be due to some other reason, and that was the expansion of a tribe.
Sometimes when a tribe got too big, they would not have the necessary area around them that was suitable for living and thus they would look for greener pastures. Souther Tusk Tapirs were strong spirit beasts and needed an equally good area to live in.
And since their old territory already had plenty of other beasts living nearby, they had no choice but to look further. But then, the next closest area that was habitable was none other than the Frozen Cloud sect's territory.
While the sect might not mind a couple of Nascent soul beasts coming to live there as it would just be considered as increasing the sect's value, when tens of them appeared and started to cause trouble while hurting the disciples, they had to take action.
Thus, they could not stay there either and had to escape. Finally, they reached the next best location that was the millennium forest. Hearing that there were just five Rulers that were at the Nascent Soul realm, the tapir beasts thought it was ripe for the taking.
While the Tapir beasts had the quantity, they didn't have as much of a quality on their side. The strength of their members wasn't that high overall with most being at the Child Soul stage or below.
After all, the Nascent soul realm Southern Tusk Tapirs were just the higher ups of their tribe. There were hundreds of other beasts that were at the Core condensation realm and below.
With so many beasts appearing, the ecosystem of the Millennium forest was being flipped basically.
~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~
Lin Wu saw an explosion happening on the northern side of the forest as well.
"Will the Lamp Light Ligers be able to hold the north?" The Gale Wind Sparrow questioned.
"The Twin Lights Liger King will make a move if something gets too troublesome. That is one point we don't need to worry about. Now we only have the south to defend. The east and west are being taken care of by the others." The Slim Arm ape answered as he slammed his fists into the head of a Tapir beast, eliciting an angry grunt from it.
The battle right now seemed to be very intense, but it was actually not a deadly one. If the Nascent soul realm beasts wanted, they could reach a conclusion very soon if they used their full power.
But something like that wouldn't come without its own set of problems. It would be the same as the battle between Lin Wu and the Demon Spine ape. It would progress quickly but both parties would get injured and exhausted at the end.
Plus, the damage to the surroundings would be problematic as well. Not to mention there were many important areas around here.
The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King was especially worried since the eggs that were recently laid were quite nearby. Since the area around the Tomb was the safest in the forest right now due to Lin Wu's presence, the beetle king had decided to use that for the Egg clutches.
But he never expected that trouble like this would be arriving one day. In the past five years, the Insect beasts had a lot of development and even had four more Nascent soul realm beasts among them.
The scorpion beast and several more that Lin Wu had mutated were the ones that had broken through. Plus some of them had already laid eggs and the new offspring that were born from those eggs were stronger than their parents.
This led the beetle king to believe that the power of the insect beasts was now on the rise and he had to do his best to keep it up. Plus, since he was allied with Lin Wu anyway, it was fine to get a bit closer to his territory.
And just to not have any problems, he had even gotten his descendant, who was the servant of Lin Wu to check everything. She was also the one who was taking care of the area and protecting it.
The beetle Beast was fine with it as to her, this was just more servants for her master.
But now in the battle, things were getting strenuous.
"Where is King Lin Wu? Why does he not appear?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King questioned.
"Master… is in seclusion." The beetle beast replied as she used her Horn to flip two Tapir beasts into the air.
"He's still in seclusion?! It has nearly been six years now!" The Demon Spine ape who heard it was surprised.
Even he who liked to cultivate and get stronger could not keep up a session that was this long. Perhaps only some of the more older and experienced beasts might have the level of patience needed for that.
The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King's eyes narrowed, and he thought of something.
~Sigh~
"We hold out ground then! We won't let these beasts take over our land!" He shouted and let out a loud screeching cry.
And just as he did that, a strong wave of spirit Qi came from the distance.
"Huh?! It can't be!" The Slim Arm Ape shouted.
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The spirit Qi wave that had just come from the distance was far stronger than normal and pulled everyone's attention.
Everyone looked in the distance and saw a large Southern Tusk Tapir Beast appear. It was three times as big as the other ones, and its tusks were a shining silver in color. It looked like a hill flying in the sky and a powerful aura was exuding from it.
"YOU BEASTS HAVE LIVED LONG ENOUGH! NOW IT'S THE TIME FOR MY GREAT TAPIR TRIBE TO RISE!" The Silver Tusked Tapir Shouted.
All the beasts could feel the pressure exuding and the rulers particularly sensed the cultivation base of the Tapir beast that had just appeared.
"Dao Shell realm… THAT BEAST IS AT THE DAO SHELL REALM!" The Slim Arm ape recognized.
He was one of the few beasts who had actually seen cultivators and beasts with that cultivation base before and knew it very well.
Once all the beasts heard it, they were scared. A Dao shell realm beast was something that Millennium forest had never seen before. The strongest beast that had even lived in there had reached the absolute peak of the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm at most.
But they had never actually broken through to the Dao Shell realm. Even now, only the Twin Lights Liger King was considered to be the strongest of the beasts with the highest cultivation base in the forest.
Lin Wu was also quite strong, but the beasts did not exactly know what point he was at. While the fight between him and the Olive Viper King was fierce and caused a lot of destruction, it was still not enough for them to estimate if he would be able to fight a Dao Shell realm beast.
"AHAHAHA! Our King has arrived!" The Southerner Tusk Tapirs rejoiced.
~BOOM~
The Silver Tusk Tapir stepped on the ground, making it shake and tremble. The weaker beasts had directly fainted, while the ones that were a bit more strong were now running away.
It was a deep seated instinct that was making them act like this and they could not resist it even if they wanted to. Soon, only the Nascent soul realm beasts of the Millennium forest were left.
This included the rulers, the servants of Lin Wu and a few other beasts that Lin Wu had mutated for the rulers.
"What do we do now?" The Hook winged swan questioned.
It had one of its wings broken and blood was dripping from it. The other beasts were no good and most of them had pretty bad injuries. The same could also be said for the ruler beasts.
A few of the other servants of Lin Wu, such as the mole beast who was holding the beasts in the west back, also sensed the appearance of the Silver Tusked Tapir who was the king of the Southern Tusk Tapirs.
At this moment, they knew that they had very few options left. All the servants of Lin Wu tried to frantically contact him. Even if they knew that Lin Wu would be disturbed, they still chose to do it as it would possibly harm Lin Wu too, if the beasts were not stopped.
~DENG~
It was at this moment a humming sound came from the tomb.
~shua~shua~shua~
The formation array of the Tomb lit up and hundreds of thousand sod runes appeared in the air. At the same time, a strange mechanical voice was heard.
"Class 3 Threat detected! Activating defensive protocols!"
~whoosh~
Suddenly, the runes started to fly around the Silver Tusk Tapir and rapidly formed into different fomentations.
~ding~ding~ding~
One by one, barriers started to form around the Silver Tusked Tapir.
"Humph!! IMPUDENT! You think this can stop me?!" The Silver Tusk Tapir shouted.
~DENG~
It then slammed its body into the barriers, making them shape non stop. Seeing this through, the other beasts were shocked.
"WHAT!? The barriers blocked an attack from our king?" the Southern Tusk Tapirs said in shock.
The rulers were surprised too, while the servants of Lin Wu took breaths of relief.
"It's master! He's taking action!" The Beetle beast said.
They had all seen Lin Wu use the formations before and knew that something like this could probably only be done by Lin Wu, unaware that it was actually the system that was controlling the reins for now.
Unfortunately, their excitement was short lived.
~CRACK~
"Huh?" The Split Thorn Horn beetle king said upon hearing the cracking sound.
Everyone looked at the barriers and saw that a crack had appeared in the innermost barrier.
~THUD~
~CRACK~
"YOU FOOLS ARE JUST DELAYING THE INEVITABLE!" The Silver Tusked Tapir shouted as it continued to slam its body into the barriers.
And he was succeeding in his endeavor as well, since the barriers started to break.
~SHATTER~
The first barrier finally broke apart and the second one followed soon after. The more space the Silver Tusked Tapir got to move, the stronger his attacks got.
~CRASH~
"NO!" The Slim Arm ape and the others shouted.
The barriers finally broke apart, and the Silver Tusked Tapir managed to free himself.
"AHAHAHA! Now prepare to meet your end!" The Silver Tusked Tapir said.
He then raised his head and gathered spirit Qi into his tusks. His silver tusks were like bamboos after a spring rain. They started to grow at a rapid speed and soon reached a length of ten meters long!
"NOW DIE!" The Silver Tusked Tapir Beast yelled and charged towards the rulers.
They all rushed to avoid the attack of the tapir king, but were still too slow as compared to the tapir king. After all, the speed of a Dao Shell realm beast was not something that could be easily overcome.
The approaching body of the Tapir King was like a meteor falling towards the earth and looked very intimidating. The Demon Spine ape was feeling helpless and angry at himself and dark red flames started to burn on its body.
"I'LL KILL YOU FIRST EVEN IF I DIE!" The Demon Spine ape shouted and jumped at an incredible speed.
His aura suddenly spiked and became like a crushing millstone. The Slim Arm Ape who saw this was stunned.
"NO SON! NO!!! Don't use that!" The Slim Arm ape couldn't help but shout.
Dark red flames covered the fists of the Demon Spine ape and even his eyes started to burn. He looked like a demon that had just walked out of the pits of hell and charged towards the Southern Tusk Tapir King fearlessly.
It was his bloodline that made him innately violent and when he was threatened with death like this, his hidden potential was unleashed. Rather than dying under the power of another beast and helplessly waiting for it to happen, he chose to perish on his own terms.
Using all the power that he could muster from his body and bloodline, he came forth.
But just as the Demon Spine ape and the Silver Tusk Tapir were about to collide, a white cloud appeared in the middle of them.
~poof~
Then, as if both of them had hit a ball of cotton, their attacks were neutralized.
"Huh?"
"What?!"
"WHAT IS THAT?"
Different questions were asked by the remaining beasts, but their general meaning was the same. They were all confused about the cloud that had just appeared. The beetle beast and the two bird servants of Lin Wu let out a cold breath.
They could feel death creeping upon them and now the appearance of the clouds was no less of a shock.
"Is that master?" The couldn't help but wonder.
To them, only Lin Wu could do something at this moment, thus this was all they could think of. Since Lin Wu had already acted and used the barriers, they just thought that this was his next attempt.
The Demon Spine Ape stared at his flaming hands that were easily stopped by the white clouds and felt rather perplexed. He could tell that they were fine and his attack was stopped. But he didn't feel a recoil, either.
"What is this?" The Demon Spine Ape King questioned.
While on the other hand, the Silver Tusk Tapir was very angry.
"WHO DARES!?" Unlike the other beasts, he could sense more.
"Who dares interfere in my fight!?" The Tapir King continued.
Hearing this, the other rulers and Lin Wu's servants were confused. They had expected it to be some kind of a skill that had been blocked, but now the Tapir King's words were proving to be rather different.
~SIGH~
And then a sighing sound was heard. It was low, but echoed rather clearly within the ears of all beasts.
"I thought this would be a simple and easy job… and now you have to come and ruin it." A voice came from the white cloud.
The mechanical voice made its return as well.
"Defensive Protocols: Successful. Activating Offensive Protocol: Version 3!"
"Okay, okay… I'll do as I promised," The voice from the clouds lazily said.
After that, the cloud split into two, and a person appeared from it.. It was a man that was wearing a white fox mask on his face.
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Seeing the person, Lin Wu was confused.
"Now who the heck is that?" Lin Wu questioned.
The person in the white fox mask waved his hands and pushed the two clouds away, pushing the Demon Spine Ape and the Sliver Tusk Tapir along with it. This was a shocking action to every one, since the ease with which he did it was stunning.
"WHAT?! Who is that?" The Slim Arm Ape king questioned.
He could very clearly tell that it was not a beast and was probably a human. But seeing the show of strength, he was even more varied. For a human to push a Dao Shell realm beast along with a Nascent soul realm beast meant that they had a high cultivation base than them.
The Slim Arm Ape instantly became alert and spread his spirit sense, trying to probe the person in the white fox mask. But the moment his spirit sense got close, it was blocked by an invisible layer.
"Huh? I can't check this either?" The Slim Arm ape was surprised.
~Sigh~
The man in the fox mask casually glanced around him and sighed again.
"I'll get rid of them. You all stay back and don't interfere." The man in the white fox mask spoke.
The rulers and Lin Wu's servants were confused upon hearing this.
"You're talking to us?" The Beetle beast questioned.
"Yes, all of you. Now that I'm here, I'll deal with the Tapir beasts." The man in the white fox mask said before turning to look at the Silver Tusk Tapir.
The tapir beasts were similarly shocked and were wondering just who was it that was now interfering in the fight of their leader.
"YOU DARE!? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" The Silver Tusk Tapir Beast lets out a loud bellow.
~Boom~boom~boom~
It ran towards the man in the white fox mask, intending to impale him with his long silver tusks. But the man shrugged it off like it was nothing and dodged it with ease.
~BOOM~
The Silver Tusk Tapir slammed into the ground, creating along gully at the side of the tomb.
"HNGGG!!!!" The Silver Tusk Tapir let out hot air from its snout and raised its head again.
It charged towards the man in the white fox mask, who waved his hands and created more clouds.
"Frost Land Domain!" The man stated.
The clouds started to spread rapidly in the area as the temperature fell.
~WHOOSH~
Soon, cold winds started to blow and snow started to fall from the clouds. A terrifying aura started to emanate from the man in the white fox mask. It was as if a dam had been broken and his true power was finally released.
"A Dao Shell realm cultivator? No… not just that… he's at the highest stage…" The Slim Arm ape king muttered.
He had seen such cultivators before and could tell the difference just from the intensity of the aura. But after a few seconds, the aura started to get a lot more colder and oppressive.
"Ugh!" The Demon spine ape grunted in displeasure.
"What happened?" The Slim Arm Ape King asked with concern.
"That man… his aura is dangerous… but also familiar. It can suppress my bloodline somehow." The Demon spine ape stated.
"It can?" The Slim arm Ape king said as his eyes narrowed.
And while the father and son ape kings were talking and had just realized something about the man in the white fox mask, the Sliver Tusk Tapir Beast was the same. In fact, it seemed to be even more shocked.
"WHAT!? What's a Demon beast like you doing here?" The Silver Tusk Tapir beast questioned in shock.
The two words, Demon Beast, echoed across the area and were heard by each and every beast that was there. The Slim Arm ape had a face of realization and couldn't help but flinch a bit.
"It can't be… another demon beast? And one that has already attained the human form?" The Slim Arm Ape King muttered.
"A Demon Beast? What's that father?" The Demon Spine Ape King questioned.
"That is what you are… at least partially." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.
"Huh? I'm a Demon Beast?" The Demon Spine Ape was confused.
"Your mother was a Demon Beast… albeit not on the same level as that man. And thus you are a half Demon beast." The Slim Arm Ape King explained.
There were a lot of questions that were popping up in the mind of the Demon Spine ape, but he knew that now was not the time to ask them. Lin Wu was in a similar situation and was thinking about Demon Beasts as well.
He had read a bit about them before, and the system had given him some input right now as well.
Demon beasts were nothing but beasts that had the bloodlines of demons in them.
Similar to how humans could have beast bloodlines, the beasts could also have demon bloodlines.
This was usually due to a beast having an ancestor that managed to reach a high enough cultivation base so as to transform into a humanoid form.
The offspring of a transformed Beast and Demon was a Demon beast.
Demon beasts were a rather peculiar breed of creatures. Due to how proliferated the demon race and the beast race were across the many worlds, they could be found almost everywhere.
Many beasts often had traces of demon bloodlines in them and the only thing that mattered was if it was pure enough or not. If it was pure, they would be able to awaken it and become a Demon Beast.
If it was not pure enough and had a lot of bloodlines mixed, it was called impure. Beasts with this were unable to awaken it, but there were still some beasts who, through some stroke of luck or a fortunate encounter, manage to awaken that bloodline.
The most common difference that was there between Demon beasts and normal beasts was the fact that they could actually gain humanoid forms way faster.
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Even in the Nascent Soul realm, there were several demon beasts who managed to gain a humanoid form. And the higher their cultivator base went, the closer they could get to a true human form.
"Huh… so the Demon Spine Ape king is basically three quarters Beast and one quarter Demon?" Lin Wu estimated.
Lin Wu took a few more looks at the Man in the Fox Mask, or he must say Demon Beast in the fox mask.
"Hmm… looking at his choice of attire, he must be a fox Demon beast, right?" Lin Wu guessed.
"Oh yeah, system what's his cultivation base? He seems way too strong even for Dao Shell realm. Perhaps even comparable to Zhu Tianying." Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The Fox Demon Beast is at the Shell Expansion Stage of the Dao Shell realm. According to the System's estimation, the Demon beast has been in this stage for at least several centuries.
——
Reading this Lin Wu was rather confused.
"Why has he not chosen to breakthrough? It's quite obvious that he has all the requirements. I mean… his control of ice and frost seems as good as Zhu Tianying's control over fire. It should be easy for him to create a Dao Embryo." Lin Wu wondered.
But since he could not get any answers now, he had to shelve it for the time being and focus on the fight.
~SHUA~
The falling snow gained momentum and turned from a gentle snowfall into an all out blizzard. The snow blew and buffeted all the beasts that were around the area.
"EVERYONE GET BACK!" The Slim Arm Ape King ordered.
He didn't even need to speak half of the sentence and all of the beasts that were there were already retreating. This included the Split Thorn thorn beetle king, the Demon Spine Ape King, Lin Wu's servants, and even some of the Tapir Beasts that were getting affected by it.
Thankfully for them, the Fox Demon Beast controlled the clouds and made it so that it only spread towards the Tapir Beasts and not towards the others.
"Why is someone like you interfering? What do you want? Territory? With your power, you can easily get it!" The Silver Tusk Tapir questioned.
"My aims are none of your concerns. All you need to know is that if you do not retreat, death is your only option." The Fox Demon Beast said.
Hearing the voice, Lin Wu could clearly tell that it belonged to that of a man. One that was possible in his thirties.
'Just what kind of a deal did the system make with the Demon beast? For someone as strong as this to accept, there must have been some kind of a price.' Lin Wu thought.
He watched as the Silver tapir beast only got more angry and steam came out of his snout and mouth.
"So you don't agree… fine… I'll just end it." The Fox Demon Beast said before raising his hands.
"Forbidden Frost Scripture: Absolute Winter Barrage!"
The moment the incantation was said, it was as if a white carpet had been spread all over the area. Everything became white and cold. The trees and ground could not be seen at all, and a bone chilling wind blew.
The Silver Tusk Tapir beast that was huffing hot air angrily was nowhere to be seen, having been buried under the massive snow blanket. The blizzard raged on as it spread more and more.
"RUN!!!" The Souther Tapir Beasts shouted and tried to escape.
~Woong~
The blizzard drowned all of them and soon covered a large area of the fifth ring of the millennium forest. No trace of the Tapir beasts could be seen, and only the man in the fox mask could be seen standing in the sky.
He looked at the scene below with a high gaze, as if what he had killed were mere insects. The Slim Arm Ape King and the others who had just seen all of this were left with fear in their hearts.
They felt that they were lucky this person was on their side, otherwise, they probably would have perished either way.
"Just what kind of people does master know? He even got a strong cultivator like this to help out?" The High Wind Gale sparrow spoke.
This sentence was like water being poured over the head of the Slim Arm ape king. He realized the crux of the entire thing.
'Of course! It was him who asked this demon beast to come help. If he can do something like this, then he must have some strong connections… I don't think I've even heard of a demon beast like this before.
It has certainly lived a long time and with ice abilities like his, he should have been well known. Even when I was with master, I never heard of a beast like this…' The Slim Arm Ape King thought to himself.
The image of Lin Wu in his mind went up a few more ranks and a strange glint appeared in his eyes.
"If he can call a Demon beast like this, then… he can certainly fulfill that… he should definitely be able to figure out the mystery of the millennium forest! He will fulfill master's last wish." The Slim Arm Ape King muttered to himself.
While the others did not hear him right now, Lin Wu certainly did.
"Huh… now he's mistaken… and a master? He wants me to fulfill his master's wish, what's that about?" Lin Wu wondered as well.
'Guess I'll talk to him about this later.' He decided.
He put his attention back on the area and saw the man in the white fox mask wave his hands again. This time though, the clouds started to retreat and were absorbed back into his hands.
In about a minute, all of the clouds were gone and just the snow was left below.
~gulp~
The Nascent soul realm beasts and ruler swallowed their saliva and looked at the aftermath.
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The snow covered forest looked out of place and it was hard to imagine that it would ever be in a state like this. The region that the Millennium Forest was located in was warm overall and even in winters it never really snowed.
If one wanted to see snow, they would have to go quite far to the north, or to the very south. Of course, there were also some smaller locations that were quite highly elevated and thus snow could be seen there as well.
"Damn, that was a strong skill… and that name… isn't that one of the higher leveled techniques of the Frozen Cloud sect?" Lin Wu recognized.
The Forbidden Frost Scripture was something he had learned about in the sect, and even Wang Xiong had some information about it. In fact, the skill that he had used to defeat the calamity beast egg in the trials was one of the lower ones from the Forbidden Frost Scripture.
This made Lin Wu wonder if this Demon Beast was from the Frozen Cloud sect as well.
"Interesting…" Lin Wu muttered.
The rulers and the rest of the beasts approached the area and observed the snow.
"Wh-what… in the… that… just what kind of a strength is that?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King was astounded.
Each and every beast here was shocked and could tell that the man in the fox mask was far stronger than any beast here, even more than the Twin Lights Liger King. And even Lin Wu, who had shown a lot of power, did not reach the same point.
After all, he had just killed a Dao Shell realm beast in just a minute. This was not something that even another Dao Shell realm beast in a higher stage could do normally.
~Crackle~
And just as they were observing it all, they found that the snow was now starting to reduce at a visible pace. It wasn't melting but rather just disappearing, which was a bit strange.
In about a minute, the entire blanket of snow was gone and only some frozen statues were left behind. These were of course, the Silver Tusk Tapir and the rest of the Southern Tusk Tapirs.
All of them were frozen solid and every wisp of life had been drained from them. They were frozen in the same posture that they were in before the skill descended. Even the Silver Tusk Tapir that was angry before was stuck with that expression.
He could even be said to be looking 'Alive' but the aura and spirit Qi waves said otherwise.
The beasts approached the frozen Silver Tusk Tapir carefully and checked to ensure that he really was dead. Meanwhile, the man in the fox mask looked in the direction of the Tomb and spoke.
"My work here is done. You're satisfied I believe?" He said.
~humm~
A strange wave of energy spread through the surroundings and pulsed back.
"Offense Protocol Version 3: Successful. Obligation fulfilled." A mechanical voice said from the tomb.
The man in the fox mask nodded his head and disappeared into a cloud that flew away. Having watched all this, the beasts didn't know what to do and chatted for a bit. They discussed a bit about what to do and split up and returned to their territories.
One thing was sure though, that the millennium forest's demographic would change forever from now on.
Lin Wu continued on to the next few memories and realized that they were actually quite empty.
"Seems like even the Avatar didn't experience much more after this… so the past six… no seven years were what had the most events, huh." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Soon he was done with it all and finally came to the end part, which was the information from the system itself.
"Well then system, what was that about the Fox man? Fox Demon Beast? Whoever he was." Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
DECRYPTING RECORDS: Please wait for a moment...
DECRYPTION COMPETED: Injecting data
——
The moment the notification came, Lin Wu felt a rush of memories in his head again. But this time they were different from the ones that he was seeing till before. It was more direct and Lin Wu guessed that this was probably because this was more on the end of the system.
'Of course it would only record the points that it would deem necessary and remove the other things…' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu went through it all and finally understood the gist of it.
"I see… so the system detected him spying around in the forest and observed him. He was actually related to Wang Xiong and some drama that is happening in the Frozen Cloud sect.
The man eventually found out that someone was observing him but could not tell who. The system, having learned of his strength, did some calculations and made its decision of making contact with him.
But once that was done, the man was very shocked and quickly got ready to meet." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
The contents of the meeting were even more surprising to Lin Wu. The man was apparently desperate for something and realized that the system might actually be the key to getting what he wanted.
Due to system being able to hide and still be able to observe him, he estimated it to be very strong. At this point, the man had mistaken the system to be Lin Wu himself. He had known that Wang Xiong had gained an inheritance in the forest and just thought that this was where he got it… or rather who he got it from.
The system proposed a plan for him right away and told him that as long as he helped protect the forest and the tomb in a time of trouble, it would help him out later. And the man's request was also rather straightforward.
"So he wants to leave this world…" Lin Wu said the crux of it.
'But why is he so desperate? He didn't explain his side and agreed right away..' Lin Wu wondered.
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