by KSY
“So that how it is. Where did you get him?” Emilia enquired. She knew that it was not easy to find a higher species of dragon.
“Purchased him at an auction, for around a million Primary attribute high-grade Elemental stones,” Ryan said. Emilia’s expression didn’t change when Ryan informed her about the sky-high price he spent to acquire Thorn, which showed her approval of Ryan’s actions.
“What about the Plant spirit?” Emilia asked. She had great expectations after coming to know about Thorn.
“He is a Viper’s Touch Immortal Plant Spirit, and I have named him Caius,” Ryan said with a laugh. Emilia gladdened on hearing this, as she knew that with Caius by her son’s side, his insights and understanding of Poison Elemental Laws would increase at a very fast pace compared with his peers.
Everyone looked at Emilia with a weird expression. They knew that it was next to impossible to form a Floral contract with a Viper’s Touch Immortal Plant Spirit, so she understood what her family members were thinking.
“OK, I need to leave. The Entrance Ceremony is starting. By the way, I also got myself an Ancestor Level Martial Artist as my Master. Bye!” Ryan said as he disconnected the connection.
Emilia was astonished again on hearing this, but soon a smile crept on her face. One of her worries was already solved.
She suddenly realized that her family members were looking at her with questioning looks.
“Ryan is a Dual Martial Spirits holder. One of his Martial Spirits is Asura Dragon and the other is Emerald viper. Oh! … and by the way, he is a Stable Taboo Martial Artist,” Emilia said. Her family members quickly connected the dots and everything became clear to them.
“My grandson is such a genius, even though he is bit shameless. He has two Martial Spirits. One resembles an Ancient Elemental Beast, the other a Divine Elemental Beast,” Blasius said with a loud laugh. He was unable to contain his excitement. Others nodded their heads in agreement. They now had another talented member in their branch.
But the person who was happiest was Emilia.
Ch.15
Ryan decided to end his call to his mother as he saw a few Elders of the Divine Martial Sect walking towards the Auditorium. He quickly returned to the Auditorium and stood beside Haden and company as before.
The Elders wore gloomy expressions as they entered the Auditorium and lacked enthusiasm. They took one glance at Ryan before heading straight towards the Auditorium’s stage. One of the Elders took the podium on the stage and started speaking about the main rules of the Divine Martial Sect and the importance of good conduct in life.
Ryan hurriedly nodded his head with a serious expression upon hearing the Elder’s words, and the Elder rolled his eyes on seeing Ryan’s actions. Ryan felt wronged on seeing such a reaction from the Elder, as he could tell that his reputation had already taken a hit, even before he’d formally joined the Sect.
Soon the Elder came to the important part of the speech, which was the rules and objectives of the Marathon.
“The Marathon will start from Divine Martial City and end at Divine Martial Sect,” the Elder informed them.
“You will have to cross a small part of the Outer region of Desolate Forest that lies between the Sect and Divine Martial City. This small part of the Outer region of Desolate Forest is relatively safe to cross with your Cultivation Levels provided you guys use your brain while traversing it,” the Elder explained, as he scanned the new recruits to check if anyone had a query. All the new recruits nodded their heads with a serious expression as they were able to understand the underlying meaning of the Elder. He was clearly asking them to look for different signs that were left behind by elemental beasts while moving around in the forest to avoid elemental beasts stronger than them.
As no one had any sort of query, he continued, “In Desolate Forest each one of you will have to hunt three Elemental Beasts or other creatures, that have at least the same Cultivation Level as you, before continuing the Marathon. The completion of that task is compulsory, otherwise you will have your status reduced to Janitor disciple of the Sect,” the Elder said with a serious expression as he looked at the disciples.
There are four types of disciples in the Divine Martial Sect. In increasing order of seniority, they are Janitor disciple, Outer-sect disciple, Inner-sect disciple and Core-disciple. Janitor disciples are in charge of miscellaneous chores, and Outer-sect disciples who don’t show any talent are generally made into Janitor disciples.
The serious expression of the Elder turned into a smile as he continued, “The disciples who get the top three positions will win special rewards, as well as chances of becoming disciples of a Grand Elder or an Ancestor Level Martial Artist. Your positions will be determined by two factors: the Cultivation Level of the Elemental Beasts you hunt and your actual rank in the Marathon.”
All the new disciples were fired up when the Elder mentioned the rewards and the chance of becoming the disciple of a Grand Elder or Ancestor Level Martial Artist. They had been envious of Ryan before, but now they too had a chance to become some mighty figure’s disciple.
“The task has to be completed individually. Working in groups and attacking fellow disciples is forbidden,” the Elder said, as he glanced at Ryan, who showed a wronged expression to the Elder again.
The Elder ignored him and continued, “Desolate Forest as we all know is a Forbidden forest. It even has descendants of Ancient Elemental Beasts and Divine Elemental Beasts living within it. The Outer region through which you are going to pass has many Normal Elemental Beasts with the bloodlines of either Ancient or Divine Elemental Beasts in low concentrations. You could try to find yourself a Soul beast that is interested in forming an Equal contract with you.”
This made many people fire up too. Since gaining a descendant of a Divine Elemental Beast or an Ancient Elemental Beast as a Soul beast is not possible for everyone, many Martial Artists use a turn-around method to get one. They form an Equal contract with a Normal Elemental Beast that possesses the bloodline of either a Divine Elemental Beast or an Ancient Elemental Beast in low concentration. They then help it to increase the concentration of the Ancient or Divine Elemental Beast’s bloodline in its body and thus evolve into the Divine Elemental Beast or the Ancient Elemental Beast whose bloodline it possesses.
Ryan was not that much interested, as he already had Thorn.
Once the Elder was done with his speech, he asked everyone to assemble at Gate Number 2 of Divine Martial City within an hour’s time, as that was the starting point of the Marathon and the Elders left the Auditorium soon after.
The new disciples started moving towards Gate Number 2 following the Elders exited from the Auditorium. Ryan decided to tag along with Haden and company up to Gate Number 2. Haden knew that Ryan was ignorant of his surroundings, so he took it upon himself and started telling Ryan about all the do’s and don’ts that needed to be followed, while traversing Desolate Forest. A single mistake could trigger a Beast tide which could endanger the lives of many disciples, a Beast tide being a situation in which thousands of Elemental Beasts irrespective of their species join hands to attack Martial Artists.
“Ryan, please make sure to not light a fire in the forest, as it could attract Elemental Beasts.”
“After killing a beast immediately put its body in your Spatial pouch, as it will otherwise attract other Elemental Beasts towards you ...”
Haden kept on speaking until he had informed Ryan about each-and-every don’t that needed to be followed for safely passing through Desolate Forest.
Haden even gave Ryan a perfume to thoroughly erase his smell. Most Elemental Beasts have a terrifying sense of smell, so the best way to escape them is by erasing the smell of your body. Ryan quickly applied it to his body and sincerely thanked Haden for it, as he knew it would help him avoid a lot of problems in Desolate Forest.
Ryan, Haden and the rest didn’t rush to Gate Number 2 as taking the front spots was of no use. Once inside Desolate Forest, no matter h
ow far ahead someone was from others at the start of the Marathon, he or she would have a hard time without the skills for tracking Elemental Beasts or traversing the forest. People lacking those skills had no chance of getting a good position in the Marathon and might even get lost or die in Desolate Forest.
Ryan bid Haden and company goodbye as he mixed into the crowd of newly recruited disciples that had assembled at Gate Number 2 and soon it was opened by the city’s Law enforcement officials. Ryan could only see a dense forest beyond the gate.
The trees were hundreds of meters in height and their trunks were amazingly thick, each having a diameter of at least six to seven meters. Most of the plants and trees in Desolate Forest are Mortal Plant spirits and Mortal Tree spirits. The forest floor was covered with hundreds of varieties of Mortal Plant spirits, some of which had razor sharp leaves and needle-like thorns on them. Even a Mortal Lord Martial Artist would easily get injured by those leaves and thorns.
“Remember to not enter the Inner region of Desolate Forest. Many terrifying existences live there and even I avoid that area,” the Law enforcement official said, as he reminded everyone once again to stay within the Outer region of Desolate Forest. Everyone nodded their heads subconsciously. One of the Elders of the Divine Martial Sect flagged off the Marathon, and all the new disciples charged out of the gate into Desolate Forest with high vigor.
Ryan maintained a slow tempo as he quietly followed the people in front of him. The crowds started to thin as the new disciples started spreading out in search of Elemental Beasts. Ryan followed suit and separated from the crowd. His eyes turned red as he activated his Asura eyes and all the living beings got highlighted in his vision – even Elemental Beasts hiding behind opaque objects did not escape his vision.
Ryan executed Shadow Steps Martial Skill as he charged in the direction of the Divine Martial Sect at top speed. He’d decided to hunt Elemental Beasts while heading towards the Sect as that would save a lot of time. He was certain he would be able to find Elemental Beasts easily with the help of his Asura eyes.
Ryan moved at high speed towards the Divine Martial Sect. He was able to circumvent powerful Elemental Beasts or other creatures that were way stronger than him, as he was able to see them in advance with the help of his Asura eyes. He was thus able to avoid unnecessary problems, problems the other newly recruited disciples had to face. Thus, his speed was many times higher than that of the other newly recruited disciples.
The Ancestor Level Martial Artists including Raymond, Emerson and Arlo had shocked expressions after seeing Ryan’s eyes turn red, as they inferred that he possessed a Special sense, and that too, the rarest one: Special sight. Martial Artists who possess Special sight are always welcomed with open arms by all factions, as their Special sight can help them in dealing with multiple problems.
“This boy possesses a Special sight, so the trickiest part of the Marathon will be a piece of cake for him. He will be able to easily pinpoint Elemental Beasts and quickly finish them off,” an Ancestor Level Martial Artist grumbled. He didn’t like it that Ryan had an undue advantage over the other new recruited disciples.
“It is one of his strengths. We still don’t know what those eyes of his are capable of seeing,” another Ancestor Level Martial Artist said, as he slightly shook his head in disagreement.
Raymond, Emerson and Arlo ignored the talk of the other Ancestor Level Martial Artists and continued to watch Ryan on the screen as he traversed the forest at high speed.
Ryan who’d been moving at high speed suddenly stopped in front of a small clearing. This attracted everyone’s attention as they didn’t see anything odd about it and were unable to infer why Ryan had stopped in front of it.
Ryan, on the other hand, had an ecstatic expression: he had finally found his first target. He went to the edge of the small clearing as he charged his right hand with Death Attribute Spirit Power which made his right hand emanate Death aura and struck the ground with his full power.
The next scene stunned all the Ancestor Level figures. The ground started to quake as it started to split apart. A three-meter long Golden Elemental Beast appeared out of the cracks in the ground. It had a huge physique and a Cultivation Level of Late Mortal Lord Realm.
“Screech!” The Golden Elemental Beast screeched at Ryan in anger, as Ryan had just destroyed the burrow which had been its home for a long time. It looked like a rat and it was a Normal Elemental Beast known as a Golden rat, an Earth Attribute Elemental Beast. It is very difficult to find this Elemental Beast as it stays below the ground most of its life. It hunts by stalking its prey from below the ground and attacks its prey when it is least suspecting an attack. It pulls its prey down into the ground and slowly munches on it while it is still alive. The Golden rat would never have thought that someday it would get stalked by someone.
The Golden rat gets its name from its golden-colored fur. It is known for its bodily toughness and it has just about the highest bodily toughness amongst Normal Elemental Beasts. It is not easy to defeat a Golden rat because of its bodily toughness and sharp claws. Usually, because of that, only a Mortal King Realm Martial Artist would dare to fight a Late Mortal Lord Realm Golden Rat, as attacks by Mortal Lord Realm Martial Artists are unable to harm it. This made the Ancestor Level Martial Artists tense. Emerson and Arlo were no different, but Raymond was least bothered, as he had faith in Ryan’s judgment – he knew that since Ryan had pulled the Golden rat out from his burrow, he must have the strength to finish it off.
The Golden rat looked down on Ryan because of his Early Mortal Elite Realm Cultivation Level. Beings with the Cultivation Level of the Early Mortal Elite Realm would usually not even amount to a snack. It would eat Mortal Lord Realm Elemental Beasts on a regular basis, so it was normal for it to look down on Ryan.
The Golden rat’s fur started to shine with golden light as the earth below Ryan turned into quicksand. Ryan’s legs started to sink into the ground. Ryan was stunned for a second on seeing its craftiness. The Golden rat lacked speed, so even an Early Mortal Elite Realm Martial Artist could easily leave a Golden rat in the dust, but it used its Innate Abilities to cover up its shortcomings.
Ryan smiled at the actions of the Golden rat, which infuriated the Golden rat, as it didn’t like being mocked by a weaker being.
“Screech!” The Golden rat issued another ear-piercing screech as it charged towards Ryan, whose size was incomparable to its size – the scene was similar to a man standing in front of an incoming battle tank!
Ryan wanted the Golden rat to come close to him, so that when he unleashed his full power, it didn’t have a chance of escaping.
The Golden rat opened its mouth wide when it was about three meters away from Ryan, and Ryan could see its razor-sharp teeth. Its mouth was wide enough to devour Ryan in a single bite.
“Arghhh!” Ryan roared as large quantities of Baleful aura, Fire aura and Death aura erupted out of his body. Ryan’s Baleful aura quickly enveloped the Golden rat, whose eyes went wide with shock and it stopped in its path, screeching in anger, as it fought off the Baleful aura that was trying to invade its mind.
The Baleful aura, Fire aura and Death aura fused together and transformed into a five-meter long Black winged dragon with a wingspan of ten meters, that appeared above Ryan. Ryan had had no choice but to conjure Yama in the real world, as he knew he would not be able to deal with the Golden rat without Yama’s help.
“Roar!” Yama roared as he pounced on the horror-stricken Golden rat.
Yama’s current form resembled a dragon which was a Divine Elemental Beast. A Normal Elemental Beast would avoid descendants of Divine Elemental Beasts or Ancient Elemental Beasts at all costs, as the differences in their combat strength and powers were too high.
Ryan too charged at the Golden rat, as the quicksand was now unable to stop him from escaping. The Golden rat found the situation unbelievable, as it had never seen anyone with a Cultivation Level of Early Mortal Elite Realm escape its quicksand. The
aura around Ryan was now comparable to that of a Mortal Lord Martial Artist. After conjuring Yama his bodily strength had increased exponentially and he now had the power to rip apart an Early Mortal King Martial Artist with ease.
The Golden rat sensed danger, so it tried to escape by digging into the ground, but before all of its body could disappear into the earth, it was caught by Yama.
Yama dug his sharp nails into its body, as he pulled it out of the hole. The Golden rat, famed for having an exceptionally tough body among Normal Elemental Beasts, had its body injured by Yama with frightening ease.
“Screech!” the Golden rat cried out in pain, as it tried to wriggle out of Yama’s grips, but that made Yama’s nails dig deeper into its flesh, which made it screech endlessly in pain.
Ryan was swift and struck a full-powered blow on the Golden rat’s forehead.
Peng!
There was a sound like an egg getting crushed by a stone when Ryan’s fist struck the Golden rat’s forehead. The Golden rat died instantly.
Ryan recalled Yama to his Soul World and the raging aura around his body disappeared along with Yama.
Ryan quickly stuffed the Golden rat inside his Spatial pouch and used Shadow Steps Martial Skill to escape the area, as he could sense the approach of hundreds of Mortal Lord Realm Elemental Beasts in his direction.
Ryan was certain that these beasts would be unable to even injure him, as he possessed Asura Physique, but they could easily suppress him due to their sheer number and he had no intention of being chewed upon by so many Elemental Beasts. They had a very strong aura around them, which meant they had the bloodlines of Divine Elemental Beasts or Ancient Elemental Beasts.
Hundreds of wolves appeared in the area where Ryan had fought with the Golden rat, a few minutes after Ryan escaped the area. The wolves could tell that a Golden rat had died there but they were unable to find the smell of the being that had killed it. The dead Golden rat’s smell was also limited to the area, beyond which even that had vanished, because Ryan had placed the body of the Golden rat into his Spatial pouch. They howled in anger as they returned empty handed.
