Death... and me

Rean and Kentucky could not help but agree with Roan. The entire world now had Spiritual Energy that could be used. That being said, such an agreement had no use anymore. The only doubt was whether the Demon Beast Alliance knew of Celis's disappearance or not. In the end, the fear of new powers and organizations appearing among the Zasfins wasn't the only reason the Soul Rulers needed Celis so much. Well, that was something for them to worry about at another time.

"Gulan, are we heading to one of those cities?" Kentucky asked, changing the topic.

The Blue Luan shook his head as he replied, "No, it would make no sense to have the Demon Beast Alliance be located in a place where Zasfins could come and go all the time. We're heading to the center of the continent, where you can basically find only demon beasts." Gulan then looked at Rean again as he continued, "You better hide this human in the middle of your feathers since some of the demon beasts along the way might try and find trouble with you because of that."

Kentucky nodded as Rean immediately got down. Unless someone was looking from above, they wouldn't notice Rean at all. Nevertheless, they had just arrived in the Demon Beast Continent, so they had to travel for two more days before reaching the Demon Beast Alliance Gulan mentioned.

At some point, Kentucky noticed many demon beasts flying, not only bird types. Demon bears, wolves, insects, and even those originating from the seas, all of them were flying. Obviously, they were getting closer and closer to the center of the continent, so Stage Five Demon Beasts gradually became more common. Sure enough, the Spiritual Energy of the Demon Beast Continent must not have been affected for it to have this many high-level demon beasts.

Eventually, Kentucky noticed a mountain range in the distance that extended as far as his eyes could see. Also, the number of Spiritual Senses that he could feel had ballooned many times, showing that many Stage Five and Six Demon beasts were there. Obviously, the place was bound to also have those at Stage Seven and above. It's just that Kentucky's cultivation was too low to feel their presence.

On the other hand, Rean could sense everything. He kept his Spiritual Sense bending skill active all the time, so he could feel the huge beacons of Spiritual Sense coming from there. Let alone Stage Seven, Rean could even feel the Spiritual Sense of Rank Eight and even Rank Nine Demon Beasts. 'What a terrifying place. It doesn't lose to the Soul Rulers' headquarters at all.'

After some time, the Blue Luan descended at one of the mountain bases, where it met a few demon beasts guarding the place. "Tell the old geezer that Gulan has come to pay him a visit."

The demon beast on the front seemed to already know who Gulan was, so he simply nodded and used his Spiritual Sense to tell the others. Soon, an invisible barrier appeared in front of Gulan before some kind of entrance opened in front of it.

'As expected, demon beasts also use formations,' Rean thought for a moment.

Kentucky then followed Gulan up the mountain. However, Rean immediately noticed many eyes turning in his direction. He was able to hide from the demon beasts a while ago with his Spiritual Sense bending skill. But right now, he was just too close to them, so it had no effect anymore. It was just too much for him to handle.

Fortunately, none of those demon beasts came to find trouble with him or Kentucky. From the looks of it, Gulan had already used a Spiritual Sense Message to explain the situation. Of course, it didn't change the fact that the demon beasts didn't like his presence there.

Their group soon arrived at the mountain top quite quickly. There, they saw a red-haired old man sitting on a boulder, solemnly looking in the distance. Rean was quite surprised by that since he didn't expect to see a human in this place. However, he didn't take long to notice that he was wrong. After getting a little closer, he saw that the old man had a few feathers protrude out of his body while talons extended out of his toes. He did have a humanoid figure, but he definitely wasn't human. His eyes were also different, showing a fiery red glow.

The old man then looked at the Blue Luan with a stern face, saying, "Brat, why do you take so long to come and see me? You haven't paid a visit for over ten years! Is that how you treat your grandfather?! If you had taken any longer, I would have dispatched a squadron to bring you back even if they had to tie you down."

Grandfather?! Kentucky and Rean were taken aback to hear that. Initially, they thought the man to be another variation of humans, just like Lakures and Zasfins. However, never in their wildest imaginations did they imagine this Blue Luan to be this man's grandchild.

Gulan snorted in response, replying, "Hmph! If not because I needed to ask you something, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. You're too annoying, old geezer."

As soon as Gulan said that, the world around them began to tremble as the old man's expression turned dark. Rean didn't even need to use his Spiritual Sense bending skill to tell that this guy was extremely powerful. He was only slightly lacking to Celis before he lost his cultivation. It showed that he was also in the Stage Nine Level, though not at the peak like Celis was. Nevertheless, he was just as terrifying!

Suddenly, the old man's body began to change form. Fire burst out of his body as his hands turned into fiery wings. His body also increased in size several times within a few seconds as pointed eyes replaced his human-like ones. In any case, it did not take too long for a Demon Bird, much larger than Kentucky or Gulan, to spread its red-feathered wings open as they burned with intense heat as he said with a stern tone, "It seems like I'll have to teach you a lesson again, or you won't listen."

Rean and Kentucky were already trembling all over. That guy could definitely wipe them out in less than a second.

However, Gulan didn't seem to be afraid of him at all. Instead, his expression changed as he looked a lot more gentle. "Come on, grampa. You know I'm just joking. A Phoenix like you shouldn't take things to heart that quickly. Come on, you're frightening my friend here."

A Phoenix! Kentucky immediately understood why he was trembling so much. As a Divine Demon Beast himself, he knew that the Demon Bird in front of him was at the very peak of the Divine Demon Beasts.

"You're saying that just to escape punishment, aren't you?" the Phoenix asked as it ignored Kentucky and Rean.

Gulan shook his head in response as he answered, "Of course not. My grampa is the best Phoenix ever, so how could I try and do such a thing? I was just joking so that grampa would show me his unrivaled Phoenix form that I haven't seen in such a long time."

The fire emanating out of the Phoenix suddenly calmed down before completely disappearing, leaving behind only the fiery red feathers. The expression of the Phoenix had also eased a lot until out of nowhere, the Phoenix shot forward and embraced the Blue Luan with his much bigger wings. "Hahaha! Good boy! Of course, you wouldn't do such a thing to your grampa."

*Crack, crack, crack...*

Rean and Kentucky could only hear the sound of bones cracking from sheer strength as the Blue Luan struggled to breathe while being embraced by the Phoenix's wings. "G-Grampa, you're killing me..."

Fortunately, the Phoenix eventually calmed down and let Gulan leave. Following that, it began to change once again, returning to its red-haired humanoid form as he reminded Gulan, "Love is pain. Remember that."

The Blue Luan then fell on the ground as it used its Spiritual Energy to start healing itself. As it did that, the old man, or the Phoenix, looked at Kentucky and the human on its back as he muttered, "Well, well...it has been a very long time since I last saw a Minokawa. Not to mention that this is the first mutated one to appear in front of me. Say, chick. Where'd you come from?"

Kentucky showed utmost respect as he answered the old man. "I've been wandering everywhere since I was born, so I can't exactly tell you where I came since I've only obtained sentience at Stage Four."

The old man nodded, saying soon after, "I see...that's quite a weird situation. Minokawas are very protective of their offspring. For you to be alone on this planet is truly odd. However, I have never heard of a Minokawa landing here in the last tens of thousands of years. I truly can't tell how you appeared here."

The old man then looked at Rean, as well as the slave collar on his neck. With a single glance, he could tell that the slave collar was of very high-level, more than enough to keep a human at Rean's level under control. Of course, Rean made the collar himself, so it definitely looked real since it was real. It's just that no one had control over it other than himself. "You got a human as a slave? And one at the Nascent Soul Realm at that, how unexpected."

Kentucky nodded, responding, "Yes. However, he wasn't a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator before. It was through my help that he reached this level. It took me some work, but it's very convenient to have such a strong subordinate."

However, the old man laughed as he said, "Hehehe! Is that so?" Soon after, the old man clapped his hands.

*Pah!*

*Shatter!*

In the very next instant, Rean's slave collar then shattered into pieces as the old man said, "Well, I know for a fact that he isn't actually your slave. However, I can tell that he isn't your master either since you two have a mutual connection instead of that between a master and a subordinate. With that, just who are you, human?"