"Why can't I come with you?!" Qiu'er whined, narrowing her blood-red eyes and third golden eye at Huo Yuhao.
Today was the day that Huo Yuhao was going to the Sun Moon Empire, in a few hours till the "exchange" at Maple Leaf City. But before he did, he decided to visit the Great Star Dou Forest to meet some friends.
Yan Shaozhe and others naturally objected to it, since they should be heading out now to meet the people from the Sun Moon Imperial Academy, but he obviously didn't listen and did his thing.
He had his ways to catch up to them.
Huo Yuhao slightly smiled and stroked her head. "Because you'll be experimented on by very evil people that wouldn't give a damn about the consequences. You're a very valuable specimen for any soul engineer that deals with soul beasts, or a spiritual-type soul master."
Qiu'er flatly stared at him. "You're too blunt."
"And you're too spoiled." He bopped her nose, his smile fading.
"Qiu'er, listen. I understand that you want to go along with me to explore the world, but I'm not confident I can keep you and I safe."
"B-But... Hng! But you're so strong already! Unless someone at the level of a Transcendent Douluo doesn't come after you, then we'll be fine. And with your illusions, we wouldn't be easily discovered as long as we stay low-key!"
"But the possibility of it happening isn't zero." He calmly retorted.
And before Qiu'er could say anything back, he decided to be frank. "And honestly speaking, you'll be deadweight to me. Unless you reincarnate, which isn't possible since Di Tian and the rest wouldn't want that to happen, I'll constantly have an auspicious looking soul beast following me.
Forget the followers of Gods that would be hunting me down, an entire country would constantly be hounding me for you. Even I couldn't take on an entire army by myself," Huo Yuhao said.
Of course, such excuses would be moot since Di Tian left a special mark on Huo Yuhao's body that would alert him when the latter's life would be in extreme danger. It would create a spatial tunnel near him so he would appear in a moment's notice.
Di Tian wanted to place his reverse scale on Huo Yuhao, but the latter quickly denied it when he heard that it would allow the Beast God to temporarily possess his body. He didn't want another Kaguya incident.
Obviously, neither Huo Yuhao or Di Tian told Qiu'er and anyone else of such an arrangement.
"Y-You...!" Qiu'er teared up, she opened and closed her mouth to say something.
She gritted her teeth and ran away, disappearing into the sea of trees, not before saying:
"I HATE YOU!"
Huo Yuhao stared at her retreating figure with a complicated expression, the trees did nothing to hinder his almost divine vision. He could feel, not only his heart, but also his soul aching seeing Qiu'er fleeing from him in sadness.
He scratched the back of his head, letting out a sigh. "This really doesn't sit well with me."
"...Thanks for doing that," Di Tian said with an expressionless face, stepping out of a spatial crack beside Huo Yuhao. "But the brat has been showing signs of wanting to follow you to the Sun Moon Empire for a while now.
We've tried discouraging her ourselves, numerous times, Bi Ji especially tried her all, but she's too damn stubborn."
Huo Yuhao glanced at him. "May I remind you that she and I are soul-contracted? After Qiu'er calms down, she would quickly realize the scheme that we're pulling and would try anything in order to follow me, regardless of anyone's wishes."
Di Tian waved his hand dismissively. "We got that handle from here." The future of the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest greatly depends on the presence of Qiu'er, the Auspicious Emperor.
Even if he has to breach her privacy a little bit, by placing a spatial lock around her home and thus "grounding" her, he and the others would try their best to stop her.
Huo Yuhao frowned, feeling a bit confused. "Is the Sun Moon Empire really that dangerous that even you can't guarantee her safety?"
Di Tian's face darkened. "Yes, very much so. Why do you think I didn't expand my influence over there? Even the Evil Emperor can't stop my influence just by himself."
As long as there was no Divine Beast, Beast God had no equal among soul beasts. Not just because of his pure dragon bloodline, also because of a powerful divine weapon he has that would annihilate any soul beast that had no godly protection.
Huo Yuhao was surprised at his admittance. "What's going on over at the Sun Moon Empire?"
"There are a great many things that you and the rest of the original native humans of this land don't know about this world. You know about the two, of the Top Ten Great Beasts, hibernating somewhere in the Sun Moon Empire?"
"Number 10 and 2? If I recall correctly... Ranked 10th, around 260-300,000 years old, the Golden Phoenix Emperor. Ranked 2nd, around 800,000 years old, the Evileye Tyrant Emperor also known as the Evil Emperor. They can't be the reason behind your wariness."
Di Tian glanced at him. "Qiu'er is right. You're too blunt for your own good."
"We aren't talking about politics right now, are we? Because I don't really wanna hear long and complicated explanations right before I head into the lion's den," Huo Yuhao finished, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Di Tian chuckled dryly. "Fair enough. It goes without saying that the Evil Emperor is highly dangerous, even severely injuring me in the past, and the Golden Phoenix Emperor is quite skilled for probably the last pure blooded Royal Phoenix in the world."
"However, they both pale in comparison to the true monsters that are still hidden in that region." Di Tian waved his hand, enveloping both him and Huo Yuhao in a bubble of darkness.
He waved his hand once more, emitting immense fluctuations of spiritual power that began to take a solid form of images — of his memories.
'Thought Concretization!' Huo Yuhao realized what
Thought Concretization is a spiritual realm quality attained by Soul Masters who reach the pinnacle of the Spirit Domain Realm. It allows them to manifest their thoughts in solid form. This ability is not a domain-type but rather a type of spiritual fluctuation.
This enables a Soul Master to display memories from their past, with the quality of images and sound contingent on the level of their spiritual power. This is one of the requirements needed for someone to become a Limit Douluo.
Honestly speaking though, it sounds kinda lame when Huo Yuhao heard about it. The peak of Spirit Domain is by having your memories take solid form? He can easily do that with illusions.
Nah. When he reaches that level of spiritual power, he's going to rework that concept into something far more creative and dangerous.
If others were content with playing memory videos, then he'd forge his will into reality. Make illusions that fool the laws of the world, not just people's eyes. If Thought Concretization was the summit for others, then for Huo Yuhao—it was the starting line.
But his thoughts paused as the images around him sharpened.
Di Tian didn't know what Huo Yuhao was thinking about as he concentrated on showing his memories.
In the space between he and Di Tian, the darkness bubbled with radiance, and soon, the images of strange and massive creatures began to take form. They towered over mountains, their limbs like ancient trees, their eyes burning with unnatural intelligence.
Some slithered, some floated, some walked on dozens of jagged limbs similar to a spider but had an oddly flat head.
Huo Yuhao was especially fascinated by an eight-headed and eight-tailed snake, a large reptilian-like creature that had jagged spikes from its back all the way to its tail, a massive gorilla holding a glowing axe, and a titanic serpentine creature with vibrant purple scales.
They weren't anything like the true forms of the Great Beasts.
For one thing, the creatures that Di Tian showed him are simply — Titanic.
"They are...?"
"To put it simply, they're the progenitors, no, Guardians of this world." Di Tian said. "You know about the Dragon God, however, you do not know about the other Divine Beasts that had emerged in this land after he began his rule."
"The planet, or plane of existence, has a will. At its peak, this planet was at a level that could handle the presence of multiple God Kings. Threatened by the presence of the Dragon God and his allies, the Planar Lord used up its immense energy to give birth to beings capable of counterbalancing them — the first mortal creatures of this world was forced to evolve to counter the foreign creatures."
"They were given the title — Monarch."
"However, the Planar Lord was strong, but even they cannot be strong enough to will a divine beast God King to existence. The forced evolution made those creatures strong, but it twisted them so much that their intelligence was slightly dulled compared to other divine beasts."
"Regardless, they became frighteningly strong." Di Tian said with a serious expression.
Huo Yuhao gulped. "S-So a Divine Beast like one of those is slumbering in the Sun Moon Empire."
"Not one, but many. You know about the divine war between human Gods and Divine Beasts. The Monarchs involved themselves in the war, on the side of the humans — as their purpose aligns with their interests. And when the war ended, their purpose fulfilled, they went into a deep slumber beneath the planet's surface."
"However, when the planet's tectonic plates shifted a few thousand years ago and brought the Sun Moon Continent to ours, it inadvertently stirred those Monarchs. I only found out about it when I was roaming the new land."
"Fortunately for all of our sakes, because of the Divine War, the planet cannot handle the presence of a powerful deity or else. The Monarchs are under heavy suppression of the plane and can only exert Quasi-God level of power."
Huo Yuhao gulped. "T-They're that pretty dangerous, huh. But wait, considering that I haven't heard about them beforehand, they couldn't be... easy to encounter?"
"Well, unless you purposely look for them or encounter them by accident, they can't really be easily found."
"Then I don't have to worry about them! Geez. You're scaring me for no reason..."
Di Tian flatly stared. "I'm telling you in advance because of how much of a magnet of trouble you are. I wouldn't be surprised if you stumble across a Monarch by accident. And in the likely case that you do, I want you to understand just how dangerous they are."
Huo Yuhao opened his mouth to refute, but quickly closed his mouth. He knew that it was no use in denying it.
He did get a Heavenly Tribulation set upon him despite being a human.
"You encountered a Monarch in the Sun Moon Empire?" Huo Yuhao asked.
Di Tian nodded. "Yes. Thankfully it was only one of the weakest ones so I managed to defeat it. But I wasn't able to kill it. It knows my scent. If Qiu'er were to go there, she will be hunted down by it and many more of their kind because of her nature as the Auspicious Emperor."
Huo Yuhao crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "There's more, isn't there?"
"...You want to become a God, yes?" Di Tian asked the rhetorical question. "Remember what I told you? There are only two ways to become a God. One is inheriting a God position, while the other is by accumulating a vast amount of faith—which would take centuries. And between the two, the former is clearly the easiest path to ascension."
"However, finding a divine inheritance site is the tricky part. And finding one that suits you is the hardest. In my entire lifetime, I've found around 12 divine inheritance sites in this continent."
"12?!" Huo Yuhao's eyes widened in shock. That was a lot! After all, in the entire continent, there were likely only around 3-4 Limit Douluos. There was likely a chance that among those are suitable for him, heck, even for some of his friends.
Di Tian bitterly smiled, as someone who had dreamed of becoming a Divine Beast for eons how could he not understand Huo Yuhao's excitement?
"Don't get too excited. Around six of them, you already know of."
"Huh?! I know some of those divine inheritance sites?"
Di Tian nodded and the image before them shifted, showing familiar figures before Huo Yuhao's eyes.
His eyes widened in realization. "It can't be..."
"That's right. Six of them are from the Gods who ascended ten thousand years ago, who you know are the original Shrek Seven Monsters. After they had ascended to the Divine Realm, I searched around the land if they left behind an inheritance site — they had."
"Two are in the ancestral land of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan; the inheritance site of the Food God and Nine Colored Goddess. One is located in where the Balak kingdom had once reigned; that is the Phoenix God. Another is actually here, but no one would ever think of touching it; the Rabbit Goddess. Lastly, the two divine inheritance sites, located in the Star Luo Empire." He pointedly stared at Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao's eyes hardened. He wasn't surprised that Di Tian knew of his bloodline ancestry, he didn't tell him obviously, but he's just that good.
"The Dai and Zhu ancestral land, the inheritance sites of my ancestors: Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing."
"Who are respectively called the God of War and Goddess of Speed. So, thinking of going after any of those?" Di Tian said.
"Hell no," After what Tang San pulled on him? Huo Yuhao wouldn't be surprised that the moment he stepped into any of those inheritance sites he'd be vaporized.
He frowned. "Wait. What about Tang San's inheritance site?"
Di Tian shook his head. "I have no idea. I have tried looking for it, even in the original Sea God Island, but to no avail. He might've not left behind one at all. I shouldn't be surprised. The God Positions he holds are one of the strongest ones I've seen."
"Wait, God Positions? As in plural? He has more than one God Position?!"
"It was a special case. Trust me, it was a miracle he was able to do that and recreating it would be an impossible task."
Di Tian swiped his hand again, dissipating the Thought Concretization. "Besides those six there are two more divine inheritance sites in this land while the rest are in the Sun Moon Empire."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "You're warning me of the Monarchs right now, because if I go after those divine inheritance sites, I might encounter a Monarch?"
"Correct. As far as I know, there are only four divine inheritance sites in the Sun Moon Empire. You better pray that you're lucky enough to stumble across the right one."
"...Can I at least know what those two divine inheritance sites in this land are?"
Di Tian smirked. "They aren't suitable for you. One is available only for those who awakened either the martial soul or bloodline of the Water Dragon King or Fire Dragon King. While the last one is only for those who leaned towards blood and immortality; and quite surprisingly...."
He narrowed his eyes, absolving thr Spatial Lock around them. He casts his gaze towards Shrek Academy and said, "Someone is on their way to becoming a candidate for that God's inheritance."
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened. "Someone is going to undergo a God trial? Who? Where is this place?!"
Di Tian snorted. "It's quite close from here, but at the same time not. I don't know whether it's fate, but someone with a mutated blue silver grass martial soul would soon inherit that psychotic God's position."
"Someone with a mutated blue silver grass martial soul? Could it be..." Huo Yuhao thought of Tang Ya, who had been in close-door cultivation for almost 2 years now.
"That God? Who are they?"
Di Tian's face darkened, a look of fear momentarily flashed across his eyes.
"One of the most dangerous Gods in the Divine Realm, someone who could even fight the Enforcer Asura to a standstill and severely injure the Dragon God at his prime."
"The God of Blood, Dracula."
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AN: If it ain't clear, the Monarchs are the Kaijus from Monsterverse or Godzilla.