บท 37: Central Plains (1)

Molat had just finished most of his daily activities when he received the letter from the magical beast courier that he had given his men. Magical beasts were his specialty and he treats them like his own children so even when he fights the magical beasts that he had brought with him in the Lower Demon Plateau makes sure that he doesn't even need to lift a finger.

He has a myriad of beasts companions that he keeps with him and all of them are strong to the point that no one in the Lower Demon Plateau could take him down from the ninety-ninth seat of in the Demon Rankings.

"So he had returned after two months? Well from what I heard Min Ren had been forcing him to become an Alchemist it's his fault for acting like a hardboiled elder resulting for newcomers to run away from the association though I pity Lei-Lei for being with him all the time."

Molat talked as if he had learned of everything he needed to know of what happened in the past few days and what's more, is that he was talking about Min Ren and Lei-Lei who was already in the inner sect like he had known them for a long time, he didn't even a attach any honorifics when he spoke of their names.

Anyone who becomes an inner sect disciple and joins the inner circle of the sect must have a lot of skills and has to be in the Great Saint stage which was a whole realm higher than a Minor Saint.

A Great Saint may sound like a simple transition of the word "Minor" into "Great" but those slight change in the names hold much meaning. In Minor Saint stage, the cultivators gain sensitivity of the heavenly essence that fills the world and they also unlocked the divine sense their soul seed also becomes stronger and their body strengthening to a certain point.

However, the moment you stepped on to the Great Saint your soul seed will start to change and become an embryo of some kind which will become the second form of the seed before it sprouts into a nascent soul.

When you step into the Great Saint stage you no longer have a soul seed but a soul embryo and after the soul seed change the body will also follow. The whole point of cultivating the body was to strengthen the soul and gaining life that is everlasting and gaining strength that is above all else.

With the change of your body your heavenly essence will start to change as well, the strong power you get from the heavenly essence will be doubled and your body will become an impregnable fortress that no mortal weapon could ever hope to pierce or damage.

The Great Saint stage was even called the true phase of Sainthood but the cost of ascending to Great Saint stage was severe because when you tamper with you soul seed you end up risking your whole life. The soul seed is the life of all cultivator, the moment it is damaged or destroyed in the transition to the soul embryo you will become a cripple who will lose his ability to cultivate.

Reaching the peak of Mino Saint stage is something of a test, if you want to be content with your life that you have now or if you want to risk it by trying to ascend higher are the question that lie on this level and the moment you choose one of those two, that choice will be the turning point of anyone's life.

With so many people who can't cross that boundary, the inner sect disciples who are Great Saints and above are all amazing who deserves respect but Molat seemed to be looking at them as equals.

"Enough of that, I need to go and talk with Ace for a bit, as a senior I need to look after my juniors after all, in exchange for going too far that time I think I'll give some proper lesson that Min Ren forgot to tell him."

Molat walked out with the letter on his hands and when he reached the outside area of his own home Ace called out two names;

"Vahat, Roxus come to me." He said loudly and a three meter bull with black horns and green eyes appeared together with a grey fox that was just slightly smaller and had teeth and claws that looked sharper than any sword.

"Let's go already we don't want to miss them or anything like that right?"

Vahat, the black bull motioned for him to climb up so he can give Molat a ride. Molat was still in the Central Plains where housing was normal and the overall scene was almost identical as the residential area of the outer sect.

Many saw Molat running together with two beasts and those who saw him, both Core Formation and Minor Saint disciple alike could only shake their heads at the thought of Molat, they knew that he was plotting something once again but they could only watch as it unfolds.

…

Ace was still together with Rea as they run through the Lower Demon Plateau with haste and silence. They didn't say a word with one another nor did they try doing so, this is the first time that they were actually doing something together and it was even a hasty thrown combination that Lei-Lei asked them to do.

As they were coming through the Grass Plains everything was still somewhat quiet and even though the two of them had seen some fights unfolding from time to time no one dared to go up and fight with them as the two of them were well known that is until they reached the area edge of the Central Plains.

Throughout their entire run, they encountered some prying eyes from time to time but it didn't get to the point that they were too obvious like what's happening right now, Ace, especially felt death stares.

Ace stopped on his tracks but and so did Rea, he let out a sigh and look at Rea then said.

"You know that those people are not here for me right?"

He said while giving Rea a look. The eyes that were around them was like death stares and all of them seems like they wanted him to die or disappear from the face of this earth feeling those stares he just couldn't help it and pointed this problem out to Rea.

Rea heard Ace and she knew that he was right but she couldn't do anything about it so she said.

"Senior sister Lei-Lei told you to."

Ace sighed and with a loud voice, he announced for everyone to hear.

"Just come out already, we both know you people are already there so let's just end this farce already if you want to say something say it outright like a real man."

He was loud and the moment that he said man the people who have been hiding in the shadow all appeared one by one. Shadows appeared and landed in front of Ace and Rea, and to Ace's surprise the people who were near them was the opposite set of gender than what he had initially thought and it seems like him calling them men pissed them off as seen in their eyes.

"Who are you calling men? Hnmp." The lady harrumphed and pouted, her eyes then turned to Rea and her facial expression took a complete 180.

The disciples who came out were all beauties in their own and the disciple girl who stood in the middle who had that fiery attitude were the same the only difference was that her body was in the small side and her petite structure made her seem like a little kid.

She looked at Rea and both her eyes immediately sparkled like the most radiant gem, Ace look at her and thought that she looked just like a child, Ace secretly let out a snicker and after a short while Ace even forgot her attitude against him.

He couldn't take her seriously she simply look like an ordinary child that is out to meet her own hero adding to that outlandish saber that's on her waist the little girl disciple made her looked like a poorly dress kid that's cosplaying, it took a while but Ace finally talked to Rea about it.

"Hey Rea, care to let me know your friend?" he asked teasingly, but before he could even hear an answer from Rea the little girl spoke first.

"Y—you got it all wrong, Lady Rea is our benefactor. She helped us with Stan and when he was making us pay unreasonable tax and we're only here to pass Lady Rea her reward."

Her way of speech was rather fast but she was able to clearly pass the message to Ace and Rea who knows nothing of the situation. Seeing their expressions the little girl disciple started explaining the whole situation that Rea was currently in.

"Lady Rea, you may not know of this because you didn't pay any attention that day but when you beat Stan you got something more other than the thirty-fifth place because from that wage you made participated in had his saber on the line and the observer who was watching over the fight handed me the saber so I can pass it on to you, and here it is."

The out of place saber was passed to Rea.

"Thank you." She simply answered as the six girls took off in a hurry but before they could leave Ace shouted out a question.

"Hey, do you anyone by the name of Altair?"

The little girl disciple stopped and answered back;

"If you mean the one in the Demon Rankings then yes we do know him, but what about it?"

"Do you know where he is?"

Ace thought that it was the perfect people to ask of Altair's whereabouts, he had yet to see him after all this time but he didn't want to look for him without any kind of lead or anything like that. In the past, he was one that Altair sought out but now it was reversed. His thoughts were that if he couldn't find him he would spam dozens of <<Flame Serpent>> in order for him to be noticed by Altair.

"Of course, the whole plateau knows where he is and we are heading there right now… um, if you're don't know where then I can lead you I'm going there after this after all."

She answered but when she said those words her eyes drifted over to Rea's.

Rea saw her and nodded her head in agreement.

"We'll be in your care then." Ace added.

"Really? Please follow me." She said as she started leading the way where Altair was supposed to be at today, the other five girls seem nervous as they move because their movements were simply disjointed and erratic.

Ace and Rea chose to widen the distance between him and their group.

"What did you do to them to make all of them act like that?" he asked in all honesty.

"I just gave a helping hand when they needed it that's all." She gave a simple answer.

"What will you do with the saber?"

"Sell it in exchange for some sect points."

It didn't take them long before they reach some kind of residential area in the Central Plains. The housing that seems two and even three times bigger than the ordinary houses in the residential area were everywhere and each of this houses has their own courtyard and training grounds where a disciple can go and polish his skills in endless repetition.

The houses where simply magnificent that even Ace couldn't say anything and just opened his mouth wide open. The residential area that he stayed can be compared to a dog house when place beside this beautiful houses.

While he was looking around like some kind of tourist who stumbled in some foreign land, an explosion occurred and the cheers of a giant crowd were heard.

Towering water shot up to the sky when Ace looked at the general direction where the explosion happened. The tower of water then disappeared for some reason when a cyclone of wind appeared from out of nowhere.

The cyclone disappeared and from inside Ace's clothes a bright light appeared, he took it out and a message went inside his head the moment he looked at it with his bare eyes, it was an announcement that the top 68th was defeated and had been changed.

Out of pure curiosity, Ace went over to the little girl really fast and asked her where they are going and what just happened.

"You don't know? We will be going to the Lower Demon Platform the place where might makes you right."