A slender long almost green gem-like figure was being dragged in the mouth of a caiman that had deep wounds all over its body. One of its eyes was a bleeding hole, there were deep gashing wounds that revealed its internal organs and bone and it was missing half its tail. In addition, there were deep white frost marks on some of its wounds.

As for the slender green gem-like figure, half of its body seemed to be encased in ice and it had a lacerated hole in its head almost as if something violently exploded there.

Bleergh!

The caiman vomited a pool of blood as it viciously and cautiously eyed its surrounding.

"I MAY BE INJURED BUT I'M STILL MORE THAN CAPABLE OF HANDLING A FEW SMALL FRIES.

Come at me at your own peril, "roared the caiman.

No sooner had it made that statement than it was ambushed by three spirit beasts. One of them was a chameleon with green glowing thorns all over its body, the other was a 30-meter praying mantis that had saber-like arms that seemed to have been soaked in blood due to the red tinge they had and the last spirit beast was a two-headed vulture that seemed blind in all its eyes with its grey cloudy eyes with no pupils.

As if on tacit understanding they all rushed the caiman from different sides while matching their speeds and distance so no one spirit beast arrives earlier than the rest however it was all for naught because when they were just a few meters away they got drowned by a dark waterfall curtain produced from the caiman's body. It dissected their bodies like a knife through butter. The three spirit beasts were dead before they hit the ground.

"Anyone else want to try me?" the caiman madly roared as it viciously eyed its surroundings. The only response it got was a cold silence.

Hmmph!

It picked up the slender green gem-like viper into its mouth and continued walking albeit at a slow-motioned pace.

It only managed to walk a couple of more steps ahead before it had to drop the green viper from its mouth as it wheezed and panted.

"Li Lun you really are a vicious bastard. Other than hiding your ninth base cultivation realm you even detonated your wisdom pearl. What happened to supporting each other as fellow false kings," said the caiman. One could hear the derision in his tone as he said the words, false kings.

Within the pupils that were filled with anger, there was also a visible tremble of fear as he eyed the frosted side of the viper.

"I wonder who did this? I don't know if I should thank them or hate them. If you were not injured things may not have ended the way I wanted but such an injury was even difficult for me to solve with my devouring ability. Half of the flesh gone to waste just like that," said the black cosmos caiman with a tinge of fear and regret.

Despite the green flash viper being injured, the battle had been hard fought to the bitter end with the caiman narrowly winning as it ended up with injuries that may take atleast a few decades to heal despite spirit beasts having high vitality and regenerative capabilities.In addition to the injuries caused by the green flash viper, it also received a new one when it tried to devour the frosting ice from the green flash viper's body. The attack rebounded on it that it had to terminate the process before it was at risk of being frozen too just like the green flash viper.

"Without Li Lun holding it back I only have a few hours before his whole corpse is covered in ice. If that happens then I will have really made this trip for nothing…

A few hours should be enough to get to my lair. Li Lun I hope you have enough energy in your body to push me to the peak then it will not be too late to settle accounts with that bastard alligator or maybe I will pay a visit to the turtle and increase my odds but before that, there is another place I have to visit.

Green fog swamp sect you still have a debt to pay. Now that I know your general whereabouts you will be my first stop zekekekekekeke.

I LIAO YING will be the true ruler of this region," the black cosmos caiman ferociously said with a maddened craving for power flashing in his eyes.

He picked up the green flash viper before he was enveloped in darkness and disappeared.

.....

Somewhere in the eighth zone of the green fog region.

"The tremors have stopped. It seems that little arrogant Liao Ying won. I thought the viper had potential too bad its luck seems to have run out," an ancient deep slow voice sounded in an area that had a small lake filled with yellow leaves on top that made it hard to see what was below.

The area was surrounded by green fog however there was a bit of sunlight cascading down adding a gentle glow to the lake.

By the lake was an open patch of grass forming a 500-meter radius around the lake. However, within that patch, there were two things that stood out. One of them was a small hill that was about 50 meters. The hill was dull grey but occasionally it would have red trickling lines form on it like pulsating veins and strange runes.

Right next to the strange hill was an enormous tree that had the girth of an elephant with a height of 100 meters. It was the source of the yellow leaves filling the lake. However, what stood out about it wasn't its huge girth but the red pearls forming from its branches. Inside those red pearls were tiny orange flames dancing around. Any alchemist worth his cauldron would definitely know what this tree was, it was a red pearl tree.

Just like its name, it was a tree that formed red pearls instead of fruits. Without even consuming it, the red pearls had soul-soothing and strengthening effects just like the earthvine wood except the red pearls were a hundred times better since those pearls could only be produced by a red pearl tree that was in the monarch grade. The number of red pearl fruits formed showed how high up the monarch grade the tree was. The red pearl tree by the lake had a hundred of them showing it was a high-grade monarch rank tree.

It was unheard of for a tree of this level to be present in zone eight as trees and other herbs that were on the higher end of the monarch grade were usually spotted in the deeper parts of zone seven or zone six and above. Yet here it stood, vibrant and creating a meditation hallowed ground.

The lake that was calm started trembling and warping as if a crevice was forming from an earthquake and volcanic eruption combined. Two golden eyes appeared above the surface while beneath was a dark shadow whose size seemed to have covered the whole lake. The moment the golden eyes appeared the hill trembled as a head appeared from it. It was a turtle's head filled with red wave symbols on its forehead but when it opened its eyes a river of blood seemed to be flowing in its pupils that even the air had a metallic blood smell.

"Do you think he is stupid enough to come here Su Gen?" a majestic gentle voice came from the golden-eyed creature. Though it was gentle, the flames in the red pearls kept swaying as if in jubilation at the coming of their king."He might be? He might have tried to hide it well but that ambitious and vindictive heart of his was still there to see even when he was crying and begging you to spare his life. I can only assume it has grown further ever since then especially with him becoming a false king…who knows I might even be his next target now that he is done with the viper," said the hill-sized turtle by the name of Su Gen.

"I left him alive precisely because of that personality of his. With a character like that making loud noises less attention would be placed on me. But if he decides to bare his weak fangs well.....it's too much trouble, Su Gen you deal with it as a fellow false king," the golden-eyed creature said as it lightly chuckled which sent shock waves around the lake revealing a part of its body that was covered in golden scales.

"Surely you jest my king. Getting that title was the best way to contain information flow in this zone. I have no intention of competing with little children for fame or territory," Su Gen said as he smiled in embarrassment.

"I'm not a king anymore. Here I'm just Ren Qiang. A loser who lost a battle for supremacy in the sixth zone that I had to run away all the way down here in the eighth zone just to preserve my life," the golden-eyed creature said as he ruefully sighed.

"King you only lost because.." just as Su Gen was about to continue he got interrupted.

"It's okay Su Gen, whether I was ambushed by a group doesn't change the fact that I lost. All's fair in war. But don't worry we will soon return to where we belong. The red pearl tree and the clear soul-quenching lake have helped in mending my wisdom pearl. It should only be a matter of time before it's fully restored. In the meantime, I leave the rest to you old friend, the only one to stick by me despite my fall from grace," the golden-eyed creature gently and tiredly said before his body got submerged. Despite the fatigue in its tone, its majesty still remained.

"As you wish my king," Su Gen said as his head once again shrunk back into his body and the prior tranquil calmness was restored.

...…

Deeper zone of the green fog region.

There was a young man and a young woman seated next to each other with the young woman leaning her head into the young man's chest. They were all epitomes of beauty and gentle elegance.

The young man had long smooth flowing crystalline hair that looked like it was made of the purest water. He had on pure white robes that looked to have been made of insect wing-like material. His skin was fair with a gentle smile and a tranquil look. The young lady equally matched him in look and temperament though her gentleness seemed more motherly. She too had the same crystalline hair tied and held together with a pin that looked to have one-half of an insect wing attached to it. Their eyes were what stood out the most as they had irises that were composed of different colors. The bottom part was purple with a hint of blue while the sides had hints of orange with the top being clear like the surface of water.

They were currently staring at a garden that would have driven the entire southern continent wild as the garden was filled with hundreds and hundreds of ascendant-grade herbs. Of these herbs, most were at the top level of the ascendant grade. At the center of the field, there were two herbs that stood out. It seemed like all the ascendant herbs were paying obeisance to them.

One of them was a purple lotus and the other was a blue flower that was about 3 meters tall surrounded by a starlight dome.

"It seems like our silly daughter has left. The sensors we placed in her lair haven't lit up in quite a while," The young man softly said.

"I hope she did. She spent way too much time in there alone. I was even tempted a couple of times to go bring her here," the young woman said with worry and a hint of relief in her tone.

"You know we can't," the young man gently said as he comfortingly patted the young woman's shoulders.

"I know but still.." the young woman said with guilt flooding her eyes.

"She'll be okay. let her go and see the world and in case anything happens there are still the seals we placed on her that should protect her even against an early-stage soul formation expert," said the young man.

"We have failed that girl. We didn't even get to tell her the name we gave her,"

"I think her choosing a name she loves is the best thing. When the time comes we can go ask her ourselves. The tracker we placed on her is still active though it seems to be veiled by a powerful barrier. I can only roughly tell which side of the continent she is in.

We can go search for her when our guard shift ends and the other party comes to replace us," said the young man in an attempt to ease the young woman beside him. It seemed to have worked as she seemed less ill at ease.

"Okay," said the young woman.