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nMost spirit beasts at the peak of the foundation stage and the core formation realm were found in the eighth zone of the green fog region. There were also qi formation beasts but those were the offspring of the core formation beasts in the area.

nIn the cultivation world power was what was respected. This rang true for both humans and spirit beasts more so for the latter. Fight for supremacy was constant, especially in an area such as the green fog region that was stack filled with them. Every zone was this way with it being extremely intense in the lower regions where the gaps in low cultivation levels didn’t offer such an insurmountable advantage. The eighth zone was among those zones.

nFrom the incessant fights, various powerful spirit beasts were borne with each of these beasts being overlords in large regions. Some even had the sense to bring certain core formation beasts in as their lackeys instead of downright eating them. There would always be spirit beasts pumped up on their pride fuelled from conquering the lower zones who would move up in the hopes of repeating the same. They would either end up as a cultivation resource or faithful lackey after being ‘sufficiently welcomed’.

nWith time the false kings arose. These were the most powerful of all the beasts in the southern region of the eighth zone. They had conquered all the other powerful beasts except each other and one final beast the one who is the reason they can only be called false kings. This is the golden-scaled alligator. This beast is the true overlord of that southern region of the eighth zone. However, it is always in deep hibernation cultivating and for the past 50 years, it has not been heard of nor seen. But despite its absence, there is no doubt that it is still alive and well. No creature in that zone could threaten its life. Even the three false kings combined are not powerful enough to take its life.

nWith its minimal activity, the 3 false kings are free to reign supreme and run roughshod within the eighth zone. One of the kings is the green flash viper, the other is the black cosmos caiman that has a blood debt with the green fog swamp sect for killing a member of their sect i.e. Kang Mei one of the disciples of the previous sect master and the last king is the dystopian gaze turtle. It’s the oldest of the three and also whose whereabouts are always hidden. It’s the least active of the three with the black cosmos caiman being the most active hence why most spirit beasts and even human cultivators who like the green fog swamp sect have taken residence in the area think it’s the most powerful.

nBack to the present-day events, the momentary allure of greed led to the capture of the mirage dragonfly by Feng Xin and the brutal murder of core formation beasts that were part of the green flash viper’s faction except for the rapid snapper cottonmouth and the corroding heron that were part of the black cosmos caiman’s faction and the green flowered babirusa and the mirage dragonfly who were unaffiliated. The green flowered babirusa was too prideful and stubborn to be under anyone’s rule as for the mirage dragonfly it was always hidden in its mirage and never interacted with any spirit beast. It grew to feel comfortable with the isolation. Ironically the only beast it was ever close to was the green flowered babirusa it always tailed. But in all that time they never once spoke but there was a tacit acceptance of each other between the two, though it’s doubtful if either of them realized it. The mirage dragonfly due to its reclusive nature thus never knew much about anything outside its sphere of life, especially human artifacts such as the transmission bead in front of it.

nIt had thought of eating the bead at first due to the levels of qi it detected from it but had second thoughts about it as it found it strange for Feng Xin to feed it out of the blue. It looked at him with a tilted head for guidance on what to do with the bead in its hands which came as a small shock to Feng Xin.

n“You really have no idea what that is?” Feng Xin asked with curiosity to which the mirage dragonfly replied by shaking its head sideways that it didn’t.

nDespite expecting it Feng Xin was still surprised but he went on and patiently explained the use of the transmission bead and how the mirage dragonfly could use it to transmit its voice by using its spiritual sense to transmit its thoughts.

n“Go ahead and give it a try.” Feng Xin gently implored as the mirage dragonfly nodded its head.

n“H..E..L..L..O, h..ello human.” The mirage dragonfly said as her thoughts seemed scattered on the first try before she got the hang of it.

n“Good, it seems you understood the gist of it. My name is Feng Xin. I am a…well seeing you don’t know what a transmission bead is I doubt you’d know about the order. I think just knowing each other’s names should be enough for now. The rest can wait after we deal with the matters at hand…So what’s your name?”

n“My name is Mir…I mean Haishi. My name is Haishi.” The mirage dragonfly hurriedly said. She had a smooth wavelike voice with a melodious charm to it.

n“She looked as if she wanted to say mirage but then changed to Haishi mid-point. Why did she even try to change it though, Haishi still means mirage. Sigh, she seems like a na?ve one. What was she even doing at the encirclement?” Feng Xin thought to himself as he shook his head.

n“Haishi, can I ask you something before we proceed? It’s okay if you don’t want to answer it but how old are you?” Feng Xin asked with curiosity due to her antics.

nHaishi was pulled out of her deep fascination with the capabilities of the transmission bead. Her five thousand lenses in her compound eyes all had some glow as she stared intently at the milky white transmission bead.

nShe quickly got out of her excited stupor as she looked upwards almost like a human in deep thought.

n“I may be 70 years or is it 80 years? Sorry, I don’t quite know between the two as I’ve gone into seclusion several times some lasting for years. It ended up skewering my sense of time. The only thing I can be certain of is I haven’t yet reached 100 years. I’m supposed to have a growth change at that age.” Haishi innocently replied

n“A 70-year-old core formation beast huh. Seems like a waste to feed you to Ellie now based on that revelation. To reach that level at your age your talents don’t seem that bad” Feng Xin said as he cast an interesting gaze on Haishi. He increasingly felt Haishi was more of a steal than even Bolin. Even by human standards, not many could reach the middle stage of core formation in less than 100 years. The only ones known to do this are the big sects and clans that are at rank 3 and above. Cheng Yuan the sect master of the Green fog swamp sect though is more powerful than Haishi at the moment but he is already over 200 years old. But Haishi is much younger and unlike humans, she didn’t have anyone to guide her. For her to reach that level she had to have talent and a powerful bloodline in her.

nSpirit beasts don’t have mentoring and nurturing by seniors in their cultivation as humans do. They increase their cultivation realms by intuition, devouring each other, or cultivating through the inheritance stored in their bloodlines. Powerful spirit beasts especially those in the domain rank and above can imbue their cultivation insights, bloodline talents, and special techniques into their bloodline. This wasn’t only restricted to cultivation knowledge but general knowledge too such as the attributes and uses of certain plants or some ancient language. It all depends on the knowledge the originator accrued. When they have progeny that shares their bloodline those children inherit the knowledge the parents stored in their bloodline. The thicker the bloodline the more knowledge they have access to. This is why a spirit beast like the emerald leaf cow was able to break through to the core formation realm easily and by the looks of it, it was the same case for Haishi.

n” Haishi can you come here for a minute, I’ll be needing your help to fly me somewhere and we are rather short on time so I’ll have to boost your speed by several notches for us to be able to get there in good time.” Feng Xin said as he removed a slim rectangular box made of sandalwood from his storage ring.

nHaishi flew towards him with curiosity written all over her face. After her experience with the transmission bead, she wondered what other cool trinkets Feng Xin was going to show her this time.

nFeng Xin slid off the top of the box and inside was an unassuming green stalk however at the end of the stalk was a dew drop the size of a melon seed. The dew had an ancient primeval aura to it. The kind that can only be exhibited by things that have experienced the long vicissitudes of time and survived to the end. This was the primal lotus dew.

nThe moment Haishi saw the dew everything within her was screaming that she consumes it. That greed was slowly overwhelming her like a volcano close to eruption. But fear prevailed over greed in the end. The deep-seated fear she felt from Feng Xin had helped her muster enough will to override her greed.

nFeng Xin nodded in approval once he noticed her ability to restrain herself, especially in such proximity to the primal lotus dew.

n“It seems it wasn’t just her bloodline that helped her get to where she is.” He silently thought to himself.

n“Well done for controlling yourself Haishi. This little dew you see before you is what we will be using to boost your speed and unlike the transmission bead you’re free to eat this one.” Feng Xin said with a teasing smile.

nHaishi quickly froze before a look of both relief that she didn’t eat it and embarrassment from Feng Xin figuring out that she had contemplated eating it. 𝗼𝐯𝐥.𝗻𝐭

n“Luckily I didn’t swallow it. But it did look tasty though like the lunar moth eggs near my lair.” Haishi thought she had said that thought internally only to be surprised when she heard her voice. Due to her incident with the primal lotus dew, she had forgotten she was still holding the transmission bead and unconsciously revealed her thoughts through it.

n“Yes, lucky indeed” Feng Xin couldn’t help but chuckle with Haishi wishing there was a hole she could bury herself in.

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