The Mystical universe

Kaeln and Thorin quickly did their jobs and cut the bird into smaller pieces, ready to be roasted into a great barbecue.

"Good, let's join the girls," Kaeln said.

The trio, along with Tang Hao, jumped into the trees to get to the other side.

Near the patch of land where the Earth Fire Ginseng grew, Xue Qing and Su Yao were already uprooting some of the treasure plants. By the time Kaeln and the boys arrived, they had harvested a good chunk.

"Since you guys were taking care of the guardian beast, we took the time to harvest the Earth Fire Ginseng," Su Yao said, tossing one of the earthly plants to the arriving Kaeln.

"Nice. How many did you grab?" Kaeln asked, catching the weird red plant and admiring nature's creation. It didn't look much different from regular mortal ginseng. The biggest difference was the piercing red color, along with the faint heat it emitted, which could be felt clearly upon touching it.

"We graabed about twenty in total. Some were a bit bigger than others, and there's still more to harvest," Su Yao explained.

"Oh." Kaeln looked around the small field. The Earth Fire Ginseng could only grow in a special soil called 'volcano ashes.' It wasn't odd that it grew up here, but Kaeln did find it strange that there were volcano ashes here in the first place.

"We've lingered long enough. We should get what we need, leave some for the next person, and go on our way," he continued.

"Roger that!" Tang Hao didn't waste any time and began digging as many as he could.

"Pft, overly eager," Xue Qing mocked from the side and followed suit to dig.

The others all joined in, and before long, most of the plants had been dug out, except for a few.

Looking at the leftover plants, Tang Hao's face filled with pain. He turned to Kaeln with a very pitiful, pleading expression.

Kaeln only rolled his eyes.

"Tang Hao, there's no need to stare at me like that. We have enough. Guys, let's head out," he said candidly before leading the way toward the exit.

The others followed him as they headed out.

"But…" Not convinced, Tang Hao waited for everyone to walk away.

When everyone was a bit farther away, he quickly turned back and sneakily dug out the last remaining Earth Fire Ginsengs. He held all of them in his arms with glistening eyes, very happy with his harvest. He was about to hide them within his spatial ring when the ground began to tremble.

In the small lake at the center of the hidden zone, a huge whirlpool formed, completely uprooting the few trees around it.

The commotion caused Kaeln and the others, who were about to head out, to turn in shock.

Tang Hao, who was still a bit behind, was the closest to the lake and felt the vibration of the earth very strongly. He couldn't help but feel awkward with the sense that whatever this commotion was, it may have been caused by him.

He stared at the center of the whirlpool for a moment, trying to see what was happening beneath the small lake. Until finally, he saw a huge shadow slowly approach the surface. His body immediately trembled in fright. He turned towards the rest and shouted, "Guys…"

His entire body felt frozen in place, and he felt he could only move his mouth. A terrifying pair of eyes scrutinized him like a lamb.

He forced himself to move, but stepping forward felt like lifting a whole mountain. Still, he didn't give up.

"Shit! I should've listened to Kaeln. I have a sense this is my fault. If I can only get my feet to move, I should be able to run." Thinking fast, Tang Hao put all his strength into taking that step.

A yellow sandstorm formed around him as he mustered all his strength to move. Finally, his right knee lifted from the ground, however slowly, but he felt invigorated and put in even more force.

"Ah!!! Come on, come on, come on! I can't die here. I'm the prince of the Coiling Dragon Empire. Come on!!!" He screamed inwardly as he pushed to the extreme.

His knee seemed to follow his will as it moved at an increasingly higher speed until finally, he took his first step.

"Yes! I did it." Taking this step, he felt more confident of his escape.

However, reality is often cruel. He only felt relieved for about half a second before a gigantic shadow emerged from the small lake. The shadow was so big that its body spanned more than half of the lake.

Immediately, Tang Hao felt his entire blood run cold. He tried not to, but he couldn't help but turn his head.

Time seemed to have slowed in these last few moments. From the time the earth began to shake to now, only about ten seconds had passed. Slowly shifting his neck, Tang Hao managed to get a good look at the monster that emerged.

"Mom…" he softly whimpered.

Right before he lost all hope, two streams of light passed over his head and smashed toward the head of the monster.

Naturally, it was his friends.

When the ground had begun to shake, Kaeln and the others immediately knew something terrible was about to happen. Then, they saw Tang Hao frozen in place; they knew something was blocking his movement.

The moment the giant beast appeared, they felt the terrible power it exuded. Without hesitating, Kaeln told Thorin to grab Tang Hao, while he and Raizel shot toward the beast at full strength, holding nothing back.

Seeing everyone jump to save him, Tang Hao couldn't help but feel warm and apologetic. He wasn't certain this was his fault, but he had an inkling.

"Greedy humans!!!!" While Tang Hao was thanking the parents of his friends for fostering such dependable people, a terrifying voice filled with anger resounded within the hidden terrain. The voice caused the lake to ripple, and even the dome formed from interwoven tree branches shook a bit just from it.

Truly terrifying.

However, the two streams of light did not seem to care as they surged with their full strength, blasting toward the emergent monster.

Kaeln's whole body blazed with an inextinguishable dark golden flame. Around him, countless miniature orange suns revolved, emitting unfathomable heat. He held his Blood Swallowing Spear in his bare left arm, now covered in pale crimson scales. A titanic draconic force surged from this arm that could flip the world upside down. The terrible annihilation energy and dragon force surged through his treasure spear madly, making the blood-colored weapon shine like another crimson sun. This time, facing this beast, Kaeln was in full activation of both his bloodlines. The dragon cells and solar cells within his body brimmed with energy, peaking his strength in a heartbeat.

Rushing toward the monster with the mighty sun flames and the tyrannical dragon force, Kaeln looked like a fiendgod from times immemorial. His auburn hair had turned slightly crimson with gold accents, and his amber eyes seemed to have fiery suns burning within his irises. Truly indomitable. The current him could go toe to toe with even a mighty Intent Materialization expert.

Not far away, Su Yao and Xue Qing were watching with their mouths wide open; the current Kaeln was just too majestic, too powerful, too handsome.

Similarly, Raizel, unwilling to be outdone by his bro in front of his crush, surged with all his power and latent abilities. Being a stage higher than Kaeln, his bloodlines were slightly more awakened. Additionally, he used his innate divine might for the first time since going berserk against Elder Miao.

Initially, his bluish-purple hair had turned fully purple with golden accents since he awakened both his blood inheritances. Now, with the full outburst of both his bloodlines, his appearance went through another dramatic change. His hair grew longer until it reached his lower chest, originally around his shoulders. The air around cracked as endless amounts of mystical purple lightning and divine golden thunder snakes danced about. Similarly, both his arms bulged with strength as the divine aura around him turned slightly bestial; tiger claws formed out of his hands, each finger becoming a sharp blade about three inches long, each blade glistening with a golden metallic hue akin to divine adamantium.

On his face, tiger marks appeared just around the corners of his eyes. Inside his pupils, his irises began to morph to look more like a tiger's. Wearing his purple, well-fitted long-sleeved shirt and pants, his tall frame and exceptionally beautiful face, with purple and gold lightning snakes surrounding his whole frame, Raizel looked like an empyrean of thunder in control of all lightning energies between heaven and earth.

The girls admired both talents, in awe of their full strength. Xue Qing thought to herself, "Despite my recent surge of strength, I'm not certain I could best him in an all-out battle. This is just outrageous. Both of them are." Without realizing it, she had spoken her thoughts aloud, causing Su Yao to nod in agreement—she felt the same.

Kaeln and Raizel, the two scions of their respective clans, unleashed their full strength at that moment. The power emitted by their bloodlines was so overwhelming that the entire area began to tremble terribly. The infinite sun flames around Kaeln were so hot that the water of the lake evaporated at a speed visible to the naked eye. Mist soon filled the sky.

The floating mist congealed behind Kaeln and Raizel, forming shadows of deity rings behind them.

"Mole cricket ants!!" The voice resounded again, this time with a hint of disdain and irritation. Although the aura surrounding those kids was very powerful, their cultivation was too far apart, so it felt no threat. However, its bloodline felt immeasurably suppressed, which shocked it thoroughly. Leaving such threats alive could only spell disaster for it.

"Roaarrr!! Die!!!" The monster charged with its huge head towards the oncoming duo.

"Boom!!"

In a huge explosion, Kaeln and Raizel clashed with the terrifying monster's head. A massive, colorful energy ring formed around them, and a heat wave of power erupted upward to the sky, blasting through the ceiling of interwoven trees without suspense.

"Roarrr!!" The monster roared in pain as its body swayed backward from the momentum transfer. Two significant marks had appeared on its huge, scaly head.

Without waiting for it to recover, Kaeln and Raizel immediately deactivated their bloodlines and shot towards the exit in a rush.

By now, Thorin had grabbed Tang Hao and was rushing toward the exit.

"Go!!!! We only stumbled it a bit; we need to get as far away as we can," Kaeln and Raizel shouted as they rushed behind them.

Su Yao and Xue Qing both awoke from their amazement as Thorin brushed past them, following along with Kaeln and Raizel right behind.

"Roaaaaarrr. Pitiable humans!!!!!" The terrifying beast roared in anger and humiliation as it urged its massive body towards them. However, as its body touched the edge of the small lake, it froze in place as many blue inscriptions appeared around its body, causing it to wail in pain.

"Roarrr!!" The beast, apparently unable to leave the area, roared in frustration as it watched the group escape through the exit under its watch.

"That useless bird, I knew I couldn't count on trash to do my bidding," it muttered in rage.

Its huge pupils opened widely, revealing a pair of horrible red reptilian eyes.

"Miserable humans, I have your scent marked from now on. Within this vast land, there are few places I can't find you in. We will meet again…" The monster loudly declared with its terrible voice, making sure that Kaeln and the others heard what it said, before its body slowly descended back into the small lake.