It was nearly midnight. Shiro's closed eyes opened vigilantly.
The usual faint sounds of crickets were suddenly overwhelmed by the sounds of strong winds, heralding the incoming of a rainstorm. The violent wind picked up its pace almost immediately and started to brew. The sounds were deafening, brushing over the slight opening of the cave entrance. It was going to be the worst rainstorm Shiro had ever encountered on this side of the world.
Shiro turned to look at the sleeping Hana. She was as loud as 'usual' but wasn't disturbed by the loud sound from outside. Shiro could only sigh helplessly with the defenseless aunty. Big Bro Ku was out tonight; it was his turn to hunt for food outside. Hence, it was up to him to protect Mom properly.
Although it looked like she was sleeping, he knew she was cultivating diligently inside her Soul Hall Domain with Big Bro Ku's help at the moment. That talented elder brother of his had already mastered the art of multitasking since two days ago as he was able to maintain a full Soul-link with Mom while moving everywhere a few hours after she entered her cultivation-hibernation state.
Shiro was secretly jealous of their level of connection; Mom hasn't reached out to him at all after the initial connection, whereas, he could see how close Mom and Big Bro Ku had become; they were progressively getting closer. Little that Shiro knows that their Mom needs to build the foundation slowly with Kuro before proceeding with her other 'children'. Even Hana herself was clueless on how to proceed with her soul-cultivation session, as she kept on following Kuro blindly. To Kuro, the Soul-link between him and their mistress was purely experimental; he was still testing things out just to make sure Hana survived while cultivating his arcane cultivation method without any hidden injuries forming or backlash.
Nonetheless, Shiro knew Mom didn't do it on purpose. She cared for him as much as she cared for his elder brother. Linked souls couldn't lie to each other. Currently, she could ignore all distractions and fell deep into a cultivation trance because she believed in him for protection. Additionally, Mom was the kind who only envision about flowers and sunshine; too positive to a fault. He knew she had yet to truly acknowledge the danger of this world thanks to the presence of both of them, coddling her a tad bit too much. He suspected, even if there was an earthquake, she'll still be asleep, dismissing it as gigantic hippos dancing in her dream. She had zero sense of danger!
The crazy tempest outside was getting stronger by the minute. Shiro narrowed his eyes.
[This cannot be natural.]
His instinct was telling him that something was amiss.
He immediately spread his spiritual sense outside to check the surroundings as far as he could by manipulating them into fine threads. He could unexpectedly detect a pattern in the air movement. The wind originated from one direction!!!
Shiro skilfully manipulated the spiritual threads to spread wide while penetrating all layers of resistance to reach the roiling of violent winds outside. It then went further into the distance for tens of kilometers until it touched a sentient consciousness! It noticed its presence immediately!
Shiro's eyes went wide! The turbulent night's sky was not the herald of an incoming storm! It was made by a gigantic flying beast!
Upon his detail inspection, it was actually a large predatory bird that blocked up the star-filled sky. It's four black wings brought about large gusts of turbulent winds as they dispersed all the cottony white clouds to the side with every powerful stroke. All the trees below bent painfully from the immense pressure of the wind when the bird flew above them. Shiro could clearly see its large curved reddish-orange beak which was as big as himself! The flying spiritual beast was actually heading to their home! It won't be long before it will tear through the camouflage mirage skill he had cast previously over their heads!
[Sh*t!!!] It must have detected him when their spiritual sense collide!
Shiro immediately flashed out of the cave and jumped on the sword-like hill. His fur fluffed as the temperature dropped around him. He released his aura intimidatingly. He cast his arcane arts in all seriousness; he knew, from the unconcealed aura of the gigantic predatory bird, it was a half-step Noble like himself! However, he wasn't sure of the spiritual beast's bloodline! It wasn't suppressed by his Ancient bloodline. It could only mean it has the same level of bloodline or even a stronger one.
Tiny ice specks appeared mid-air above the dome-like mirage skill. The size of the ice specks increased rapidly, from as small as a dot, to fist-sized, to the size of a bowling ball. The floating balls of ice then elongated into sharp two-meter javelins as thick as bowling balls each. Shiro started jumping in the air. An ice platform instantly appeared in the air below his feet whereever they land, until he was outside the camouflage dome. He was trying to intimidate the flying spiritual beast to change its direction. His meaning was clear; he will attack if the bird keeps flying towards him!
At the same moment, the gigantic four-winged bird noticed the little white spiritual beast's action. Snorting in disdain, it charged forward!
…
Markisah was tens of kilometers away from the gigantic bird; she was flapping as hard as she could but could not contend with her friend's speed. Looking at the development from afar, she was so frustrated! How did it turn this way?!
She had painstakingly rushed back to bring her friend over. Her friend resided at the crown of the Ancient Tri-colored World Tree; the majestic abode for thousands of birds in the area. To some birds, it was the place they lived their whole life. Naturally, as a lowly scarlet minivet, she was allowed to perch on the lower branches of the World Tree. She had made a snug warm nest with interesting embellishments around it. It had previously attracted her friend's interest once upon a time ago. That was when they had become friends, though they rarely met. The name Markisah was bestowed by that friend.
Now, after fooling around with Hana and the others, Markisah was sure that her friend was actually a spiritual beast! She wasn't sure whether her friend had gone through her first heavenly tribulation yet, but her distinct aura had a semblance similar to the snake, the fox and her buddy, Ara. Okay, maybe not the snake as the snake looks a lil bit stronger. Forgot to tell her that. Markisah slapped her own head with her wings absentmindedly.
Anyway, because she was just a lowly bird, she didn't know how strong her friend's true prowess was. Nonetheless, she had once seen her friend killed a large insect the size of a small tree before eating it! So she should be quite powerful, right? That was why she was trying to pull her old buddy into Hana's circle of friends to benefit together. Lo and behold, before actually meeting, they were currently rearing to fight!
Markisah made an exasperated expression while sighing. She really hoped they won't kill each other. One was a long-time friend of her and the other was a friend that she really cherished.
Markisah just looked the other way and cleared her throat. [Well, just treat it as them getting acquainted with their fists then. Haha...] She chuckled awkwardly.
The cheeky bird wasn't going to assume any responsibility with anything. She already washed her wings clean!
She even changed her flight route to give a wide berth for the two hotheads to butter each other up with extra tender-loving-care. She knew when she reached Hana's home, the fight will be wrapped up. Hopefully.
Well, if she managed to reach in time, that is.
... <
Suria snorted in disdain at the white fox floating tens of kilometers away from her. The white fox must be the creature's subordinate! As long as she defeated it, she would be able to snatch the creature known as Hana for herself! What request?! What help?! All the good things in this world belong to the ones with stronger fists! Why bother helping them out for the sake of advancement? Why not just grab it and enslave it for herself?!
Although she was acquainted with Markisah, she wasn't going to let go of such an amazing opportunity!
Once Markisah appeared in front of her, she already knew that the creature truly had the ability to elevate a spiritual beast and she must grab it! Markisah had turned into a pseudo-spiritual beast in just a few years' time she hadn't seen her. She could even fly to the crown of the sacred Ancient Tri-colored World Tree which was overwhelmed with pressure as the higher one climbs the higher the pressure one needs to withstand. If she knew that Markisah's transformation only took around a month, she would be so shocked until her lower beak could touch the ground!
From their conversations, she suspected that the little one didn't even know she was only half a step into an actual spiritual beast. So lucky to chance upon such a fruitatious encounter even though she did not seek it! Although she was jealous, she didn't do anything to the little one. She had a soft spot for the intelligent one all this while and had treated her like an amusing little pet.
A growl resounded menacingly from afar, "This is the territory of the Lightning Serpent Lord. Stop immediately and turn around. Step forward and all that will be left will be your bones!" Hundreds of ice javelins encircled Suria from all sides. They were rotating slowly while inching near towards her. In front of Suria, the two-meter ice javelins crowding around her were just like flimsy chicken skewers.
Green veins popped on Suria's head. [Such gall! The dog dares to speak shit to this esteemed Lord! How can it not know about this Lord?! Even the old codger fish will give this Lord some face!]
"This is I, Lord of the glorious Ancient Tri-colored World Tree!!! Call the Lightning Serpent out to greet me, now!" said Suria gloriously, trying hard to maintain her regal composure. This insignificant tiny dog didn't even enter her eyes.
"Who is it again??" Shiro asked weirdly.
[Do I suppose to know this pompous bugger?] He looked at the gigantic spiritual bird with disdain. What Lord?! It was bright as day that the posturing birdshit in front of him was only a Noble-level spiritual beast! It even dared to tell everyone it has already reached Lord-level? Seriously? Shiro would have hidden himself with shame if he was forced to do the same thing.
Little that he knew that Suria was one of the most famous powerhouses, even long before Kuro was born. Suria was special, as she was born as the spiritual child of the Ancient Tri-colored World Tree, rendering her the respect she deserved from the other experts in the rainforest. The 'Lord' title was a reflection of her ownership to the one and only World Tree in the land, and was inseparable from it. However, since Shiro had just arrived here, he was totally clueless about this.
Suria nearly fell down from the sky once she heard Shiro's question.
[The dog is looking down on me!!!]
"Such impudence! I am the Lord of the glorious Ancient Tri-colored World Tree!!! Call the Lightning Serpent Lord out now!" Stepping forward, Suria had mistakenly thought that the 'Lightning Serpent Lord' was Hana, and the white spiritual beast in front of her was just a subordinate. She had made the same conjecture as the Crystal-veined stream Lord and Grand Elder Watershade. Due to lack of information, her misunderstanding was a notch deeper.
In her haste, she had not even gotten a full account from Markisah before she rushed over. What she knew was, the unique creature called Hana was actually very weak, but special. She was mild, friendly, a little clumsy, and was not that bright. Markisah had shared a lot of unnecessary information about Hana making the four-winged mistral hornbill to form a total misconception about them. To her, Hana's endearing quality made her a succulent juicy lamb to be served on her chopping block. Additionally, just from the title, Suria already knew Hana was a snake-type spiritual beast! Snakes were her natural prey!
The white fox totally ignored Suria words, as he saw Suria taking a step forward indicating it as an enemy. As the ice javelins plunged towards her from all directions, Suria was feeling extremely infuriated! She flapped her wings to dismiss the incoming javelins around her only to notice the actual strength of the javelins. Although small, they were very sturdy! Out of hundreds of them, only a few of the vanguards were dispersed. The rest of the javelins still maintained their trajectory, trying to impale her like a pin cushion.
Appalled, Suria haphazardly performed the first level of her inherited Tempest arcane arts, the Miniature Cyclone Series. She stimulated her wind-attributed core to produce eight miniature cyclones around her body to protect herself; two on the left and right of her wings, two in front of her while another two guarding her rear. Beads of sweat covered her black feathered forehead as she painstakingly controlled the miniature cyclones to operate independently around her; without the arcane arts, the cyclones could go haywire immediately and might even hurt herself. Nonetheless, the miniature cyclones formed in a timely manner; they sucked the ice javelins in and simultaneously ground them into tiny specks of ice crystals.
Suria squinted her eyes in seething anger when she noticed the white fox smirked. That bug was looking down on her again!
She suddenly noticed thousands of ice lances hovering around her from all sides! These lances were several times larger with a rough spiral shape; larger at the blunt end, and smaller, at the tip. The six-meter ice lances suddenly appeared out of nowhere! Even the dispersed ice crystals from the previous ice javelins were enlarging rapidly to form more ice lances as time went by! A tremor ran through her veins as she finally realized she was in front of an expert who might be more well-versed in battle than her! She could sense immense dread from these gigantic ice lances!
Suria knew she had just kicked an iron board this time. If she couldn't defend herself from this attack, she could even die. She immediately pumped in almost all of her spiritual energy within her core to defend and retaliate in return. She didn't dare to be careless with this level of attack.
...