While many people marveled at our girls' appearance, the sky darkened, and lighting, fire, and other elements rumbled around. It was as if the sky was divided into four enormous domains. Yasenia and the rest looked around vigilantly, but seeing Tatyana's calm face, reassurance filled their bodies, and they relaxed, looking around curiously.
In their minds, Tatyana was like a pillar that could hold the sky with one hand even if they fell! If Tatyana was relaxed, they didn't have anything to fear!
Form these four large domains, countless beasts of all sizes and forms descended, each carrying an imposing aura that fitted a powerful senior! They were representatives from different powerful beast races. Most of the juniors were transformed into the human form, but the seniors were transformed into their beast forms, filling the sky with giant and powerful-looking creatures.
There were four big groups and then smaller groups surrounding these four.
On their left, horse-like creatures with dragon heads and tails filled most of the beast population; they were exuding terrifying lighting and galloping in the air. Below their clawed or hoofed feet, storm clouds appeared with each step, making a powerful and intimidating rumbling noise.
On the right, fire accompanied a group of giant green western dragons. Their aura carried strong dragon pressure, intimidating most of the dragon-bloodline-related beast-humans present. Their wings shrouded the sky, letting all creatures below only see their bodies instead of the sky, and with each flap of those powerful wings, the clouds dispersed, and tornadoes were created around them.
In front of them, the beasts with the most members were like walking islands. They seemed to carry the ocean with them, walking slowly but with steps that made the earth tremble as if scared of their might.
And behind them, the group with the most population were winged tigers that released a thick amount of killing intent and approached fast. Their claws were so sharp that people thought they were about to be cut because of the reflection of the light on them.
In general, the strength of these beast groups was extremely high, and not one human dared to face them.
After being affected by Tian Long's aura, Yasenia just felt uncomfortable and slightly annoyed when the Dragon Aura washed over her. She felt as if they were going against her innate authority when these lesser quality Dragon bloodline washed over her. However, Yasenia controlled the impulse to roar back and unfurl her aura, and observed these big groups. Yasenia suddenly spotted a familiar group of beasts, the Ice phoenixes. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, searching for Feng Yuan, but then she relaxed, not wanting to attract attention to herself.
Tatyana saw Yasenia looking around and explained to her daughter, "The ones on the left are [Lightning Qilins], a lower variant of the real deal. However, for our continent, they have a very high position and bloodline level, similar to the [Ice Phoenix]. They are the third strongest beast clan, and they reside in the Forbidden Zone; [Thunder Pierce Mountain]."
"The ones on the right are the [Nature Dragons]. Their bloodline level is only slightly higher than the Qilins and Phoenix. However, their bloodline is stronger because of the rarity of nature-attributed beasts. They reside in the center of the Forbidden Zone; [Forest of Life]. They are the second strongest clan of beasts."
"Before us, there are the [Island Turtles]. As you can see, they are extremely big, and their bodies are resilient. The only reason they aren't the strongest beast clan is that their attacking power is low. However, they have never lost a place they managed to conquer in recent history, maintaining an undefeated record. No one bothers them, and they also don't bother anyone. They live in the oceans between the continents, or how it is also called, the Forbidden Zone [Depthless Ocean]."
"The other clan behind us is the [Mountain Slashing Winged tigers], the strongest beast clan. Their individual strength is similar to the other four. But the reason why they are considered the strongest is that their claws are so sharp that even the [Island Turtles] have to be careful when fighting them. They live in the Forbidden Zone, [Living Rock Forest]."
Tatyana finished saying, "The rest of the clans aren't as powerful, but when all of the beast clans band together, they pose a big threat to humans. That is why the forbidden zones are called like that. Besides the dangerous landscapes, the groups of intelligent beasts living there are not someone to be provoked."
While the beast clans gathered in a place separated from the humans and beast humans, one Ice Phoenix slowly flew toward Tatyana. The flight speed was enough to tell the seniors that he didn't come with ill intent. Cecile couldn't help but notice that he was one of the male elders that helped her complete the ritual.
Angel asked, a little confused. "What is the difference between beast and beast-humans? Most of the books I read in the library are beast-human related, and I don't know about this..."
The Senior Ice Phoenix heard Angel, and as he landed, he transformed into a middle-aged, blue-haired male human. Then, he answered with a gentle tone, his voice pleasant to listen to. "You are Angel, right? I will answer your question. There are three main differences. One of the differences is that we, beasts, don't have beast traits when we transform into our human form. And, as a matter of course, we can transform back to our beast forms whenever we like because that is our main form. Beast-humans, on the other hand, only have beast characteristics and can't transform into beast form."
"The next difference is quite easy to guess. Beasts have beast-cores in their most important area; it can be in any organ that the beast needs to survive."
"The last difference is the way of advancement. Beast-humans normally advance like humans, passing through the energy realms; the Opening realm, Body modification, and so on. In contrast, beasts advance passively, absorbing the energy of the heavens and earth. Our strength naturally grows as we grow older, and innate talent dictates how far we will reach. The method to break that innate limit is eating the core of other beasts or eating treasures of the heavens and earth. As far as I know, there are very rare creatures that have both advantages, but I don't know any in our continent."
Angel bowed, "Thank you, senior, for your guidance."
The Phoenix nodded and looked toward Tatyana. Then, he bowed and said, "Thanks for the help the other day, Lady Tatyana. We've commanded our juniors to help your child and her partners, if possible, inside the secret realm. We hope that this could alleviate and improve the relationship between our race and the Academy."
Tatyana said, indifferent. "That depends on what they do inside the secret realm. I hope that when our juniors return three months later, I can hear good things from my little treasure's mouth. Until then, nothing will change."
The Phoenix sighed and bowed, "Understood, I will relate your words to our Patriarch and Matriarch."
Then, he jumped into the sky, transforming into a mountain-sized phoenix, and returned to the phoenix flock. Yasenia asked, "What happened between the Academy and them? Did they do something after we left?"
Tatyana tip-toed and patted her head, "Don't worry about trivial things, little treasure. Just let mom take care of these matters. You have to focus on what you have before you, that is, the secret realm."
Yasenia nodded and didn't insist on knowing what happened. Tatyana thought, 'I will keep from her that we are already making the phoenixes pay for their mistake. If she wants to vent a little, killing some phoenix in the secret realm, I don't want her to have these things in her mind preventing it. My little treasure should be able to do as she pleases!'
Tatyana knew that leaving Feng Yuan alive was a big spine in Yasenia's heart. However, at that moment, Tatyana valued Yasenia's safety much more than the insignificant bird's life and death. However, after returning to the Academy, she ordered the elders to make the price of everything sold to the Ice Phoenix grow by 5%. Even if it appeared little, with the amount of trade they had, it was honestly quite a big fortune.
Tatyana also understood that even if Yasenia didn't show any interest in Feng Yuan's situation, deep inside, her dragon blood made Yasenia extremely protective of her lovers, so there was still hatred inside her heart. Therefore, if they sent Feng Yuan inside the realm and he crossed paths with Yasenia, Tatyana was 100% sure that he would die a horrible death in her little treasure's hands. This was the main reason she didn't speak about the pressure the Academy was imposing on the Ice Phoenixes.
There was a single problem; Tatyana felt more uneasy the closer the hour to open the secret realm approached.
After this, two more hours went by, and other groups kept arriving. Tatyana observed each group closely; some groups were composed of humans, others of beasts, and others of beast-humans. By the time the hour that the secret realm was about to open, the number of individuals around had increased at least one-fifth. It was quite a grand situation.
The hour to enter the realm was some minutes away! But the closer the time encroached, the worse this bad feeling grew inside Tatyana.
Tatyana sent a signal to her concealed summons, 'Stay 100% alert; we are going to have visitors.'
Tian Long, Ying Yue, Hui Zhong, and Lauren, the [Undead Grand Marshal], answered, 'We obey the Empress decree!'
A small black crack in space appeared before the cultivators. From it, an ancient aura seeped out, making all the people present have solemn faces. The atmosphere felt as if it had a life of its own, and the density was stronger than any place with high density in the Sky Continent.
When Yasenia felt this aura, the [Celestial Pearl] inside her dantian spun silently, absorbing this ancient aura. Tatyana instantly placed a single concealing formation to avoid curious eyes from noticing anything strange. Tatyana's lips arched slightly, happy for her daughter. 'The [Celestial Pearl] is recharging with this aura? Maybe when the three months go by, my little treasure will have another chance to get in touch with the Celestial element. What a fortunate thing, this secret realm is a big chance for her!'
Everyone observed how the crack widened vertically, letting out more of this ancient aura.
Then, when it reached a height of one hundred meters, it stopped growing vertically and widened horizontally. It opened to a width of 50 meters and stopped growing. Then that black opening was surrounded by a purple smoke that began spinning. After five more minutes, what was before the group of cultivators was a blackish, purple spinning portal.
Some rogue cultivators thought that it was already open, and to gain an advantage over the other cultivators, they sped toward the portal with their full strength or other treasures they gathered in their journeys. There were even some sneaky Unification and Dantian Spiritualization realm cultivators that dove in with robbed entry jades, ignoring the limit told by other seniors.
As the saying says, animals die for food, and humans die for riches.
To the surprise of rogue cultivators, no one stopped them. 'Ha! As expected of the "seniors" from the sects, they are arrogant even when their disciples are going to be at a high disadvantage! I will see what you do when I steal all the treasures for myself! Hahaha.'
Similar thoughts flashed in the head of all the cultivators rushing forward.
When those cultivators neared the portal, the world seemed to slow down as that aura gathered in a single point. The aura became thicker and took the physical form of an old man with a long white beard and robes, even if his body seemed weak, he had a straight back. In the beginning, he looked around, a little confused. However, a single moment later, as if some memories lodged inside his brain, he relaxed and nodded.
It was a strange phenomenon, seeing that everything was slowed down around them, but they could see the old man moving as if he wasn't affected by the world laws. Then, the old man's eyes looked at the approaching cultivators and waved his long sleeve.
An extremely bizarre thing occurred. Those cultivators "popped" out of existence, leaving nothing behind. The seniors around looked confused at that action. Even Tatyana barely understood what happened, 'Did he... Erase their existence? Strange...'
Then, time flowed normally again. Everyone looked with fear in their eyes at that old man. For cultivators, mysterious strength is something scary. The elder spoke with an aged voice, it wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it as if he, the old man, was speaking in front of them. His voice carried strength and wisdom that couldn't be covered by his aged body. "Cultivators above the Spirit Realm aren't allowed. Entering before it fully opens isn't allowed either."
Then he closed his eyes, not minding the mass of cultivators before him.
[author] The next chapter explains what is the spirit realm, so don't worry about it.[/author]