"RUSTLE RUSTLE..."
It was a winter day. The Demon Beast Forest was covered in a thick layer of snow, blanketing everything in silver. Chilly sunlight filtered through snow-covered branches, casting round spots of light on the ground. All around was silence. It was supposed to be a deep, quiet winter, but today was destined to be anything but calm.
"Sasha! Take our daughter and go! Quickly!" a gentle yet clearly anxious male voice called out from high in the sky.
"My husband! But what about you!"
It was a woman’s voice. Though the anxiety it carried was even more urgent than the man’s, an unusual Charming Power seemed to tug at the heartstrings of anyone who heard it!
"Sasha! Don’t worry about me! For Yue’Er’s sake, you have to survive!" The man’s voice was a little hoarse. As the perspective shifted upward from the ground, the sun’s glare reduced his figure to a dark silhouette.
"RUMBLE... ROAR!!"
"Trying to escape? Xue Ying! The human territories are just ahead. You have nowhere left to run! If you don’t want your entire clan wiped out, hand over your daughter to us! Otherwise, I’ll make you witness the outcome you least want to see!" With the thundering of hooves, a pack of massive, powerful Magical Beasts came to a sudden halt before the man. Leading them was a man with a single horn!
This man had a burly physique and a sharp gaze! He was bare-chested in the cold of winter, seemingly unaffected! Jade-green scales spread out from the center of his chest, looking exceptionally strange! On the outer side of each eye, three jade-green scales shaped like fishtails traced a line down his cheeks, giving him a sinisterly charismatic look!
"Jade-Scaled Qilin! You and I are both beast lords. You have your territory, and I have my clan! We have always stayed out of each other’s way! Why would you commit such a despicable act against my people?! Humans act according to reason! May I ask, where is your reason in this? I do not understand!"
The gentle man’s voice rang out. As the view drew closer, his figure finally came into focus. This was a man of ultimate beauty! No! Or rather, he had transcended the boundaries of male and female, surpassing any humanoid creature! He had a head of snow-white hair—not the gray of old age, not a mottled white! It was like translucent snowflakes, soft and flowing! If one didn’t look closely, one might even mistake his long hair for shimmering ribbons of light, swaying in the wind.
He had a pair of ice-blue eyes—crystal clear, pure, and gentle, without a single impurity! But while facing the stares of thousands of powerful Magical Beasts, his gaze kept darting downward.
He wore a soft, form-fitting, velvety outfit. A small, fluffy fox sat on his shoulder—though the fox was merely an embellishment on his clothes, it highlighted the man’s noble air! His perfectly tall and slender figure stood straight before the thousands of formidable Magical Beasts without a trace of fear!
"Reason? Heh heh, Xue Ying Monarch, I think you’ve made a mistake. You yourself said that humans act according to reason. But we are not human, so naturally, we don’t have to follow reason! Secondly, you said we stay out of each other’s way. No, no, no! You’re wrong again! Don’t forget, for your cursed clan to survive in the Demon Beast Forest, you must offer up one female clan member with a Talent Secret Technique every thousand years. And today is the day for that offering! But what did you do?! Just because she’s your daughter, you’re unwilling to fulfill your promise?!"
The man called the Jade-Scaled Qilin had a playful expression, constantly clenching and unclenching his fists. If one looked closely, one would notice his eyes were continuously sizing up a corner of the Demon Beast Forest, where two tense figures were hiding.
"Look, you still have a chance. A moment ago, because of your escape attempt, my subordinates have already killed all your clansmen. In other words, only the three of you are left alive from your entire clan. I’ll give you one more chance to make a deal. Hand over your daughter, and the two of you can go wherever you please. How about it? You can always have another child, but if you both die here, then your clan will truly be extinct!"
Seeing the drastic change in the Xue Ying Monarch’s expression, the Jade-Scaled Qilin pressed his advantage. ’In his view, someone who could become a King of a region would naturally know how to weigh the pros and cons. Hand over the child, and there’s still a chance to create a new clan! But if he doesn’t, the clan is gone forever. However, if the Xue Ying Monarch really chose to hand over his child, would he be allowed to live? The answer was definitely no. If you don’t cut the grass by the root, it will grow again in the spring...’
"Why..." the Xue Ying Monarch sighed, his pure eyes filled with helplessness. "Can you tell me why my clan is treated this way? My people have never bullied the weak, never provoked others, and never sought help from anyone, yet we answer every plea for aid. What have we done so wrong that the entire world despises us so?"
A growing resentment began to cause a qualitative change in the Xue Ying Monarch’s pure eyes, but he still didn’t lash out. "Can you tell me why?"
"Er..." The Jade-Scaled Qilin watched the resentment in the Xue Ying Monarch’s eyes deepen and felt the air grow colder, a slight chill running through his heart. But he was an Overlord, after all. Such scenes were not uncommon. ’A final, desperate struggle before death—an unconscious reaction of all living things.’ He simply made a quiet mental note to be cautious.
"Why? Heh heh, don’t you know, Xue Ying Monarch? Because your clan is despised by the heavens and inherited that terrifying Talent Secret Technique. Isn’t the purpose of having such a Talent Secret Technique to benefit others? Although... the price for benefiting others is high, that is your destiny... Destiny! It’s inescapable! Three minutes, Xue Ying Monarch! I’ll give you three more minutes! If you can’t give me a satisfactory answer in three minutes, then I’m sorry, but you will all vanish completely from this Extreme Martial Continent..."
"Talent Secret Technique?" The Xue Ying Monarch’s expression grew even more desolate. "The Talent Secret Technique again... Heavens, if you were going to bring us into this world, why must you torture us like this! Despise us! I, Xue Ying Monarch, refuse to accept this!! Sasha! Take Yue’Er and go!!"
"My husband!"
"Listen to me!!! I, Xue Ying Monarch, am indeed unfit to be an Overlord! Because I truly cannot be so heartless and cruel! I am not a true beast like all of you!!"
"SOB SOB... Daddy! I want Daddy! Mommy! I want Grandma and Grandpa! WAAAAH..."
From deep within the woods, a voice of utmost innocence spread throughout the entire Demon Beast Forest! Her voice was so enchanting, as if it held an endless charming power. It was pure, ethereal, and without any impurity, like the music of an immortal. Hearing just a single phrase was enough to make one completely intoxicated, unable to break free, even though... her voice sounded like that of a mere three-year-old child...
"Hmph..." With a sorrowful cry, the woman called Sasha gave the sky an unwilling glance. She hugged the small figure beside her, holding her tightly in her arms as if she were her most precious treasure. "My husband... Sasha will wait for you. If we cannot meet in this life, then let us meet in the afterlife! Sasha... will always be your Sasha..."
"SWOOSH!" With a flicker, the figures vanished from the area in just a few steps!
"My King! It seems the mother and child have fled!" a Half-Beastman standing beside the Jade-Scaled Qilin hurriedly exclaimed.
"Nonsense!" the Jade-Scaled Qilin barked. "Are my eyes worse than yours? Hurry up and chase them!"
"You... will not pass..."
Suddenly, a cold voice came from the Xue Ying Monarch’s lips. A light breeze stirred as his ethereally beautiful face slowly lifted. His once-pure, ice-blue eyes were gone, replaced by a pair of deep, silver pupils. These eyes held no emotion, no pity. He was like a proud Immortal who had seen through all the mortal world’s vanities.
"Jade-Scaled Qilin, did you know that it is not only the women of my clan who possess a Talent Secret Technique? Did you know that the Talent Secret Technique my clan possesses is not merely for benefiting others? Let heaven and earth be my witness, the sun shall retreat..." A whisper-like murmur escaped the Xue Ying Monarch’s lips. The sky suddenly flickered. The bright sunlight from a moment ago abruptly faded, and a radiant moon rose.
"The full moon as the wheel, to turn the universe..."
"I offer my body of flesh and blood, to realize the eternal... I offer the glory of my nine lives, in exchange for one lifetime of ruin... I offer my soul, to become the power that bends time and space, to fulfill my wish! Talent Secret Technique! Life’s Reversal! Flowing Years!"
"TING-A-LING..."
The light, pleasant sound of silver bells descended from the sky. The once-cold moonlight suddenly grew warm! The dark sky brightened once more! Warm sunlight returned to the land! Everything seemed exactly as it was before the Xue Ying Monarch had cast his Secret Technique.
The Jade-Scaled Qilin saw the sunlight return and laughed wildly, "Haha, Xue Ying Monarch, what is this? A Talent Secret Technique? Turn the universe? Haha! That’s hilarious... Huh?"
But before the Jade-Scaled Qilin could finish his words, the warm sun once again sank below the horizon, and darkness returned. A clear moon hung in the sky, but if one looked closely, it seemed this full moon was already slightly waning.
"It’s bright again!"
"It’s dark!"
"...What is this?"
The bizarre phenomenon finally caught everyone’s attention. Before their eyes, the sun and moon were alternating so fast that it was impossible to follow with the naked eye. They could only feel the sky around them constantly shifting between light and dark, while the moon’s phases changed at a terrifying speed.
"What in the world is this..."
The Jade-Scaled Qilin looked at the Xue Ying Monarch before him, whose eyes were tightly shut and whose face had turned ashen gray. A tremor ran through his heart. As if possessed, he lifted his own arm to look at it... But when he saw his arm, his pupils dilated abruptly... because the arm that had been full of power just moments ago had now withered away! And when he tried to touch his face, he found that before his hand could even make contact, a gentle breeze blew past, and the Jade-Scaled Qilin’s body simply disintegrated like burnt paper, scattering into countless fragments in the air...
"Heh heh..." A cold laugh. The gray-eyed Xue Ying Monarch smiled. "You always thought my clan’s power was the heaven-defying Space Power... A pity you were wrong... My clan’s power is the Power of Time... and Flowing Years... is the power of death..."
"CRACK!"
With a crisp sound, the Xue Ying Monarch’s exquisitely beautiful figure shattered like a bright mirror, instantly turning into countless specks of crystalline light and vanishing completely from the Extreme Martial Continent...