The crackling fire choked the screams that erupted from the houses and covered the skies in smoke. The roads were painted red with flowing streams of blood and corpses piled in the small village. The surviving villagers had already fled far into the distance in a panic leaving behind even their own offsprings.
"A burning village. Are we in the right place?" Yue Chen asked, indifferent to the tragedy that was unfolding.
"That's my village!" Feng Huang ran towards the village in a panic. She was worried her little sister might still be in there.
Suddenly realizing the situation Yue Chen shouted at Feng Huang "Above you!"
Feng Huang lept to the side barely dodging a shot of venom that had left a hole in the ground. Before she could regain her footing a whip like object swiped down at her from behind, sending her crashing into the ground. The tail then came down on Feng Huang once more, intending to take her life.
Yue Chen frowned. Condensing blades made of ice he hurled them at the tail changing the trajectory of the strike. " I've been rather unfortunate recently, could you please not make my day any worse?"
Feng Huang jumped to her feet and wiped the blood from her mouth. Her mind had been clouded by worry and did not think she would be ambushed. "My sister, she-"
Yue Chen interrupted "Go on ahead, it's just a lizard I can handle it"
Feng Huang nodded then ran off in search of her sister. Yue Chen watched as she ran into the flames then turned to look at the serpent before him. Compared to the one he fought before this one was smaller and it's skin seemed as if it were shedding in various areas perhaps indicating it was nearing a breakthrough.
"You..... smell like Qian Yanmei" the serpent spoke strangely as if it were hissing. "Are you the one that killed her avatar?"
"Oh...was that the name of the one I killed?" Yue Chen asked curiously. The serpent's tail slammed down onto Yue Chen before he could finish. Unable to dodge Yue Chen reached out with his hand to grab the incoming tail.
As Yue Chen's palm was about to come into contact the serpent suddenly pulled back.
Qian Chanming shuddered involuntarily. The moment Yue Chen had decided to reached out to grab him a shiver ran down his spine and something told him he could not kill this person.
Yue Chen was surprised by Qian Chanming's decisiveness. Had he been a second later he would have been torn into pieces like the last serpent. "I didn't think you would pull back" Yue Chen said honestly.
"Who is this senior and how did our Qian family offend you?" Qian Chanming asked hesitantly. After this he was sure he was not Yue Chen's match and had no intention to throw his life away.
A silver light enveloped the serpent's body and slowly shrunk. When the light had faded a human male dressed in tight fitting silver armor appeared before Yue Chen. ChanMing knew his own capabilities well and knew if Yue Chen decided to attack he would not have enough time to escape even if he remained in his beast form.
"I'm Yue Chen, I only recently came to this continent so forgive me if I offended your family" Yue Chen said smiling lightly.
Qian Chanming froze as the words 'came to this continent' entered his ears. The Ancient Beast Continent was a distant place and the nearest continent was more than a year's trip and as such was a place that could not be visited by sea nor through the void as both were extremely dangerous and would require a strong cultivation base. "Yanmei your brother is going to die because of you..." Qian Chanming thought to himself bitterly. If he had known the Phoenix clan had a strong backer would he have gone out of his way to avenge his sister's avatar?
"N-no big deal Brother Chen you were just passing by and my foolish sister was the one who wronged you. I ask that you do not think badly of our Qian family and will visit if you are in the area!' Qian Chanming spoke quickly until he was out of breath. Glancing at Yue Chen once he turned to leave.
"Wait" Yue Chen showed a shallow smile as he called out. Pointing in the direction of the village he asked "Did you do that?"
Qian Chanming shuddered when Yue Chen spoke out. He really had no hope of fighting him in a one on one. As he heard Yue Chen's question Qian Chanming shook his head slowly. "I-it was the Cao family that ordered the purging of the remaining phoenix bloodline, I came along b-because uh my sister um ....it wasn't me I swear!"
"How can a grown man be this flustered all I did was engage you a little we didn't even fight you know" Yue Chen furrowed his brows in confusion.
"In....the Qian family our sensitivity towards danger is honed and our precognitive abilities are second to none. It goes without saying that if we truly fought brother Yue would kill me" Qian Chanming answered honestly. While he was unaware of Yue Chen's cultivation someone that could make him feel threatened should be above the Nirvana Realm And was nothing to scoff at.
"Tell me what you know about the Beast Inheritance and we can start over " Yue Chen offered. He was more interested in finding a way into the inheritance space than anything else plus finding new enemies when the root issue was redeemable was not his style.
Qian Chanming was prepared for a more unreasonable request and furrowed his brows when he heard Yue Chen's demands. "Are you sure that's all?"
Yue Chen nodded. It had been a while since Feng Huang had left and there was no sign 9f her since which made Yue Chen a little confused. Ordering Qian Chanming to stay still until he returned Yue Chen dashed into the burning village in the same direction Feng Huang had went. After a few minutes Yue Chen had already entered the village square in the searing heat. His vision was obstructed by smoke as he ran through the village, almost tripping over charred bodies of the villagers that had failed to escape the fire. As Yue Chen went deeper into the village he soon spotted Feng Huang concealing a child behind herself while fending off a group of men draped in purple garbs.
The Child was the first to spot Yue Chen and shuddered with fear, pulling her sister's clothing. "More bad guys came!" she squealed.
"Protect yourselves!" Yue Chen shouted from a distance. Watching Feng Huang erect a wall of fire Yue Chen released his ice attribute energy. Bursts of violent ice energy surged in every direction with Yue Chen as it's center, freezing over the entire village momentarily. Caught off guard the men dressed in purple were turned inevitably turned into ice sculptures in an instant.
Feng Huang stared at Yue Chen with a troubled gaze. The wall of fire that was erected had been torn down causing a thin layer of ice to cover her hands. If it were not for his warning she would have probably been in the same situation as the men in purple.
Yue Chen did not look at Feng Huang but casted his gaze onto the little girl behind her. The little girl clung to the edge of Feng Huang's clothing with trembling arms and her eyes clamped shut, unaware the danger had passed. Yue Chen smiled and reached out his hand to pat her on the head. "It's safe now you can open your eyes"
The little girl opened an eye to confirm if what Yue Chen said was true but showed no sign of letting go of Feng Huang. After confirming for herself the little girl poked her head from behind Feng Huang to look at Yue Chen.
Yue Chen's heart softened as he watched the cute little girl looking at him warily. Watching her had reminded him of the troublesome little Gila that he left behind in the other world.
"My name is Yue Chen, I saved your sis a few days ago and started travelling together for a while, may I ask who this little lady is?"
"Mi-Mingyu is Mingyu" the little girl hesitated but eventually spoke up. Her gaze towards Yue Chen became less wary after a while which made Yue Chen smile even more.
Feng Huang who was watching everything play out found Yue Chen to be funny. His introduction was awkward and when speaking to Mingyu he would try to be as gentle as possible which contradicted the cold selfish image he first gave off when they first met.
After Mingyu had opened up to Yue Chen the three were preparing to leave the village in search of the surviving villagers when a strange cracking sound came from behind. Behind them one of the men dressed in purple had manage to survive and was now furious as the trio.
Duan Shi was the vice captain of a small team of five from the Dark Human clan. Using his connections he had managed to seek out a promotional mission to raise his rank and authority in the Dark Human army and proactively came to the Phoenix clan to carry out his duty. After arriving at his primary goal Duan Shi had encountered a beautiful young lady and her sister and was determined to bring her as his woman. He did not expect to be frozen into an ice sculpture before he could take action and was now furious. Looking at the man that had frozen his comrades he shouted "You vagabond! how dare you attack from behind where is your pride as a human?"
Yue Chen stared at Duan Shi with an incredulous look. His body was bare, wearing only a pair of underwear he pointed at Yue Chen as he ranted.
"I know of my charms but do not fall for me , I am not interested in men you see" Duan Shi saw Yue Chen's gaze and couldn't help but remark proudly. Duan Shi had fair skin for a almost like a woman's and looked as pure as jade which he took pride in.
Yue Chen was about to reply when an old man entered the frozen village walking closer to the group step by step. The old man was specially dressed in While the old man seemed to be walking at his own leisurely pace each step he took covered a large distance and after only a few steps he had already came to a stop. Looking around at the poor state of the village and the charred bodies that had been frozen over the old man squinted at the Yue Chen then Duan Shi. "You, are you the ones that attacked my village?"