Chapter 1209 Elder
Although his method of victory was quite shameless, Dyon was still proud about winning his first battle. It might sound exaggerated for someone like him who could fight toe to toe with second grade middle celestials to struggle with a middle saint, but this just exposed the gap Dyon still needed to close.
Dyon had a celestial body, but his energy cultivation had only just reached the peak of the second saint realm. In addition, because he was fighting constantly, his cultivation had slowed to a crawl despite his talent.
Still, if one heard Dyon complaining about 'cultivating too slowly' when he covered two saint realms in less than a year, they might die of anger.
That said… The truth of the matter was that this progress in Dyon's energy cultivation had been done during the six months it took him to enter Chaos Universe. In terms of the last three months, he had been stuck at the bottle neck of the third realm.
This wasn't just because he was fighting, but also because of the nature of energy in Chaos Universe. Although unlike other universes, energy was abundant everywhere, even in the vacuum of space, the energy was also chaotic. It was even worse than the Primordial Era Amphorae grew up in.
For context, it took Amphorae 60 years to enter the celestial realm despite being a heaven defying talent. The world Dyon was in now was even more difficult to cultivate in, not only because the energy was difficult to manipulate, but also because it was far less dense than the environment Amphorae grew up in as well.
Dyon sighed to himself when he thought of Amphorae. 'Just when will I find you?...'
Looking at his bloodied appearance and the lizard beneath his feet, Dyon mouth began to water. According to Little Yin and Yang, infernal beast meat was the most nutritious, but it was also the most dangerous to eat, even compared to poisonous beast meat.
As Dyon cleaned the corpse and prepared to eat, he couldn't help but fantasize. 'I wonder what Dragon meat tastes like?'
If those of the Drago-Qilin lands knew that the wielder of the Dragon King was having thoughts of using them for food, they'd immediately start hunting down Dyon without thought of rest.
The moment the first juicy morsel entered Dyon's mouth, he couldn't help but moan with pleasure. It had taken him hours of blasting his fire will at full throttle to reach this tender, medium rare consistency, yet it was all worth it.
BOOM!
In that instant, it was as though a bomb had gone off in Dyon's body. His stomach bulged to ten times its original size, even his ribs cracked from the sudden pressure. Considering the state his body was already in before, there was no need to mention the kind of pain Dyon was enduring.
Suddenly, his rage flared. "You curse me even in death?! Fuck!"
Little Yin and Yang tumbled around the demon sage tower, losing themselves in laughter.
Why was it that infernal beasts were so powerful? It was because they were able to absorb energy of any kind and store it within their muscles and skin. This made their durability almost obnoxious and their power otherworldly.
Dyon, who was so used to eating towers of food had never before eaten something so energy dense.
From birth, Dyon had always had a large appetite due to the residual effects of his stolen constitution. But now? He had met his match.
Dyon stubbornly took another bite. He finally understood what he had to do. He too should store this chaotic energy within his muscles. This was the only way to get the explosive and chaotic strength these damn beasts had. Only then would he be able to make use of his true weight.
Almost unconsciously, Dyon's runic flames surged into his blood stream, flickering with a fierce blue and flakes of rose bronze as it burned its way through his veins.
In that moment, the pressure Dyon was feeling lessened and his eyes brightened. His stomach growled for more while his runic flames flipped happily. It had finally found the kind of food it wanted.
It was only now that Dyon realized the reason why he, a man who used to love food with all his being, ate so infrequently now. It wasn't that he didn't want to eat anymore, it was that the right food wasn't available to him.
**
As Dyon was eating his fill, another group of individuals had entered Chaos Universe.
Their statures were large and domineering. If King Mino had been there, he would have immediately recognized them as members of the Beast Clans. These were none other than the rulers of the 20 some odd quadrants not controlled by the Ragnor, Pakal or Uidah.
"You can only stay here for fifty years at most, or you'll become like those beasts who've lost their intelligence for a bit of power." An Elder wearing beast skins of various scales and furs spoke while towering at over five meters tall.
"Always pay attention to your star maps, stay away from the red circled areas as they have devastating time warping effects. Train well and come back strong."
"Yes, Twelfth Elder!" Almost fifty youths responded at once.
"Good." The 12th Elder of the Beast Clans nodded in satisfaction. "This trial paves the way for the rest of your lives. You've only just gained your true forms, but don't forget what it means to be a beast…"
The 12th Elder began an impassioned speech that many of the youths turned a deaf ear to. This 12th Elder of theirs really spoke too much.
Just like Dyon's Granny Celest noted, the only reason why celestial beasts hadn't lost their ability to turn into humans from birth was due to their celestial bloodline. However, for every other beast below the supreme grade, one must reach the celestial realm first before gaining a humanoid form.
These 50 geniuses here had recently crossed this threshold. Some just a few months ago, while others had done so decades ago. This symbolic threshold of the beasts was the marker for this trial.
While Dyon's home universe was seemingly only adjacent to one universe, it was actually connected to two. Of course, these two were Chaos Universe and an edge territory of the Uidah. However, on the other side of Chaos Universe was actually an edge territory of the Beast Clans.
This alliance of beasts was known as the Five Crowns Alliance while these geniuses were among the Clans of said alliance.
"… We all have ambitions that we strive for and dreams that we wish to grasp. Never forget your roots, but always seek to improve, to break from your old molds and cocoon into the mature warriors I know you have the potential to be…"
The various beast geniuses rolled their eyes. What kind of beast who remembered their roots was so infatuated by such empty poetry? Wasn't this old man trying to masquerade as a human scholar? A bad scholar at that…
Unfortunately, none of them could say this aloud. The status of 12th Elder was no joke. He was effectively the 12th strongest of the second oldest generation, who would dare call him out on his habits?
Of course, there was also the oldest generation that had long retired from their roles as elders as well, but even taking them into account, this 12th elder was ranked in the top 30 of their whole alliance.
For context, there were only about 50 to 70 of them here. They constituted a generation. If they were to pick out the 12th ranked among them and scale upward by several hundred thousand years… Well, all of them got the picture. After stealing glances at the fifteen youths that stood ahead of them all, their respect for 12th Elder deepened.
They were all geniuses in their own right, but none held a candle to the young masters and mistresses of the Five Crown Clans that formed the center of their alliance.
"… Ah, I've spoken too much." 12th Elder sighed. "Make sure to understand your limits. These Embryonic Infernal Beasts are no joke. Although they are technically ranked as Heaven Grade beasts based on the potential of their bloodlines, this analysis is on a completely different scale than what you're used to. However… their body parts are highly valuable and their meat is highly beneficial to your cultivation.
"That said, only a few of you are capable of directly eating this meat." A rare serious tone escaped the 12th Elder, taking a glance at the 15 who stood proudly at the forefront. "However, the rest of you should store this meat and have it diluted into pills you can take over time. Don't die premature deaths simply because you overestimated yourselves.