Monster spirits followed a system of strict hierarchy. Far beyond being tied to their respective races, the hierarchy was intimately connected to bloodlines. The silver bloodline was a particularly noble pedigree, akin to monster spirit royalty.
The Silvermoon Wolfking and silverback gorilla both belonged to this bloodline. The former, moreover, was at the very top of the social ladder. After all, the six Wolfkings before it had all achieved arcane dao immortal or better.
When the Silvermoon Wolfking manifested its blood strength through the giant wolf shadow, it’d naturally drawn the attention of every monster spirit nearby. Snarling and poised to lunge, the ferocious vestige glowed with a radiance reminiscent of the full moon.
It scared the seven mountain divines out of their wits. Their tribe wasn’t a particularly strong one—definitely a far cry from Silvermoon Wolfkings, in any case.
“You’re a Silvermoon Wolfking!” The leader among the seven yelped in surprise. “The other six Wolfkings have already become protectors of the North Sea Sacred Land. They’re sworn enemies of humanity. How can you be allies with… them!”
“Roooooaaaaagh!” His only reply was a deafening roar. The wolf flung a mountain divine onto the Blood Sea section of the Ingress Path with a swipe of its paw. Sea monsters snarled and pounced, tearing the divine to shreds in the blink of an eye.
“What a ridiculous question. Those humans are the young king’s slaves, of course. As expected of a bumpkin divine like him,” a monster spirit merrily chuckled nearby.
Humans and monster spirits were opposed to each other, but every race considered the divines a greater threat as they’d enslaved everyone else eighty thousand years ago. Although they were now gone from the world, their ambition to return as its rightful rulers had never diminished.
A silent and efficient throwing machine, the Wolfking tossed out a second mountain divine in a matter of seconds.
Four powerful divines suddenly joined the fray. Although they bore auras that were characteristic of their race, it was difficult to judge what tribe they hailed from.
All of them wore black blades upon their backs, but none made a move to draw their weapon. Even barehanded, the four of them together were evenly matched with the Wolfking. With the help of the remaining mountain divines, they succeeded in holding the wolf back for a time.
“Aw, no! It’s them!” The onlooking monster spirits blanched when they saw who it was.
These divines were the initial ambushers, responsible for severely injuring cultivators and throwing them into the Blood Sea. There weren’t many of them, but they were individually extremely strong. The average genius couldn’t possibly hope to best them.
“You there, human slaves! Why aren’t you doing something?” one particularly fervent monster called out angrily to Lu Yun and Qing Han. The two humans were calmly watching the fight from the side, completely unperturbed by what was happening.
Speaking was all the monster spirit would do, however. Neither it, nor anyone else, would step in and help a fellow competitor in the Sovereign Ranking.
“All of you, shut up!” The silverback gorilla didn’t particularly enjoy the commentary from the peanut gallery. “If you keep talking, I’ll rip you all to pieces!” Brandishing its iron staff, it leaped to the Wolfking’s aid.
The other monsters didn’t take to the gorilla’s roaring very well at all. They were scared of the Silvermoon Wolfking, but would hardly be shaken by a mere silverback gorilla.
“Oh, it’s them!” a human cultivator spoke up in realization. “When I came here, I think I saw two people riding a silverback gorilla and a Silvermoon Wolfking.”
“Ah, me too! Those two monster spirits are their mounts. I saw their names in the Sovereign Ranking as well: one is Qing Yu, and the other one’s Qing Yu’s Sidekick!”
“I heard they had a small run-in with a Silvermoon Wolfking back in Destiny City, but I really hadn’t expected they’d commandeer it as a ride!”
“Qing Yu’s Sidekick is a void realm expert who’s been blessed by the Dao Flower! Qing Yu broke through himself in Jadeite Manor, and caused that huge commotion.” Quite a few of the surrounding cultivators began chatting about what had transpired in Destiny City.
“Ah…” A group of injured youths traded confused looks among the crowd.
“Senior brother, didn’t you say they were just spoiled rich kids?” one of them, a girl, asked weakly.
Resounding silence answered her. These people were the same ones who’d proposed grouping up before the Blood Sea. The ‘senior brother’ in question had a rather contrite expression; if he’d followed Lu Yun and Qing Han, they wouldn’t have suffered the losses they had along the way.
“Absurd! How can the young Wolfking be someone else’s mount! You humans are a shameless bunch, trying to ruin our king’s cultivation mindset like that! Die!” Several of the more hot-tempered monsters came rushing in his direction.
They’d heard the rumors on their way here, but had dismissed them as human gossip intended to put down monster spirits. Hearing the words again here… well, they really didn’t want to believe it.
“The truth is right in front of you, but you don’t want to admit it! If you want a fight, that’s exactly what you’ll get!”
“Haha… we should learn from the two seniors’ examples! Why don’t we catch a few monster spirit mounts of our own?” A handful of chortling human cultivators immediately moved in to intercept.
The world of immortals was an enormous place, home to an innumerable amount of geniuses, and the thirty million who were competing in the Sovereign Ranking were the cream of the crop. Their exceptional talents gave them the pride to meet any challenge head-on.
The area near the Blood Sea descended into greater chaos as humans and monster spirits waded into a free-for-all with the divines.
……
“Careful!” Suddenly, Lu Yun felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. Turning reflexively, he stretched out his arms and put himself in front of Qing Han.
Splort!
A sword stabbed out from the void through his shoulder.
“Get lost!” Lu Yun growled. Energy surged all over his body, shaking free a humanoid figure from the void. “How dare you!”
The young man was furious, his expression dark with killing intent. If he hadn’t reacted in time, the sword would’ve pierced Qing Han’s neck and eliminated her. Because their cultivation was limited to golden core, their spirits were unrefined and the Purple Manor yet to be established. If their bodies died, that meant the end of their lives.
He stepped up, projecting an engulfing force with an outstretched hand. The person he’d just sent flying was sucked back in. The assailant was dressed and equipped exactly the same way as the ones fighting the Silvermoon Wolfking. However, he was clearly stronger than his peers. He could probably take on the Wolfking by himself!
Combined with his unpredictable sneak attack techniques, the Wolfking would lose in a single round.
“Don’t kill him!” The little daoist nun trembled at Lu Yun’s bloodthirst. “If you kill him, you’ll be eliminated by the rules here too!”
The divine in black sneered at that. “If you don’t kill me now, I’ll always be able to try again… until the person behind you is dead. The blood monsters on the path cannot hurt me.” His voice was raspy.
“The Blood Sea monsters on the path can’t hurt you?” Qing Han mused coolly. “I’m pretty scared of death, but I don’t like leaving loose ends…”
“Are you going to kill me?” The divine smirked.
“No!” Qing Han shook her head decisively. “Sidekick, toss him into the Blood Sea itself. Let’s see what happens.”
