“Oy, little guy! Want to see what father brought for you from his trip this time?”

A soft voice whispered through the small hut, as the warm glow from the moonlight shone through the cracks in the roof.

“Mmmh, go away Dad… I want to sleep…”

A little boy of around five years murmured in his sleep, turning his body over so his back was facing his father.

All of a sudden, a pungent sweet aroma filled the air, quickly rousing the young boy from his sleep and causing him to rush towards his father.

“Give me! Give me!”

The young boy exclaimed, his dark eyes excitedly scanning his father’s body as his hands groped around his pockets.

“Hahaha, I thought you wanted to sleep? Why don’t we wait until morning and then I can give this delicious treat to you… of course, father might get hungry in the middle of the night and eat it himself.”

The man laughed out loud, pretending to make chewing noises in front of the little boy.

“Father!”

The little boy yelled, as traces of tears started to form in his eyes.

“Dear, don’t tease Cal anymore. Hurry up and give it to him so we can finally sleep… it’s late…”

A woman’s voice sleepily chided the man, but she soon fell back asleep as evidenced by the sounds of light snoring filling the air.

“Hehe, little Cal is so cute, how could father dare to steal his delicious treats?”

The man chuckled, lovingly ruffling the boy’s hair and pulled out a small golden-colored fruit from his back pocket.

Once the fruit was out in the open, the sweet aroma in the air intensified, eliciting a long line of drool from the young boy’s mouth.

“Hah!”

Jumping up from the floor, the young boy snatched the fruit from the man’s hand and snuggled himself into his father’s embrace.

“Thank you, Dad, you’re the best!”

The boy happily exclaimed, while taking a big bite out of the delicious fruit, whose juices coated his entire mouth.

“Anything for you, my son, anything…”

The man softly whispered into the boy’s ear, hugging him tight to his body.

……………………..

“Fa…ther…”

Calron groaned, his consciousness gradually returning.

“Take it easy, child. You still have some residue essence leftover from that vile woman’s soul power.”

An old man’s voice sounded out beside Calron.

Slowly opening his eyes, Calron looked at his surroundings. Streaks of sunlight shone through the window, as a gentle breeze flew past his face. Standing next to him was a powerfully built man with the head of a hawk.

Besides the traces of old age from his voice, the man appeared to be in the peak of his prime, with his taut muscles and an awe-inspiring aura around him. However, what shocked Calron the most was that except for the man’s beastial head, his entire body resembled that of a human!

“It’s because I’m half a step into the Heavenly stage.”

The same old voice resounded from the hawk-man, as he continued to probe Calron’s body and suck out the remaining vile essence.

Heavenly stage? Then, he must be the other Elder of the city!

The thought suddenly struck Calron, his body instantly rising up from the bed.

“Relax, child. Just wait for a few more minutes.”

The old voice consoled Calron, gently pushing him back onto the bed and resuming his process.

Meanwhile, Calron remained in a daze, trying to recollect his memories of the night before.

Members of House Raizel are out there in the world… I need to find them!

For years, Calron’s deepest wish had been to have a family of his own. Although he started this journey in order to take revenge for his parents, somewhere along the line, Lord Regis and the city of Vernia became unimportant to him.

The current Calron was capable of completely overpowering Lord Regis, and if he wanted to kill him right now, then it would not take much. He would definitely kill Regis in future, but Calron’s main priorities right now were to take of the little beasts and to find the members of House Raizel.

“Done. You should go outside, the others have been impatiently waiting for you to wake up.”

The hawk-man stated with a pat on Calron’s leg.

“Others?”

Calron muttered in confusion, and moved towards the hut’s door.

*Hmpff*

A small lump of flesh instantly crashed into Calron’s belly the moment he turned open the hut’s door.

With a series of tiny whines, Avi pushed her head into Calron’s leg while her claws kept scratching him.

“Avi…”

Gently picking up the little wolf pup from the ground, Calron hugged the beast close to his chest. He could only imagine what Avi must have gone through after waking up and seeing his body unconscious on the bed.

These days, it was starting to become an usual sight for Calron to be lying in bed injured.

“She really missed you.”

A sweet feminine voice echoed behind Calron.

A limping Laris supported by Tarnila slowly walked over towards him. The blue-skinned woman looked much better than when Calron last saw her on the battlefield.

“I’m glad to see you are recovering, Laris.”

Calron said with a smile, while Avi climbed onto his shoulders and latched her paws around his neck.

“What, no hello for me?”

Tarnila scolded, kicking Calron on the shins.

“Haha, how could I forget my teacher?”

Calron grumbled as he rubbed his shins.

“You should explain to us what happened last night.”

The hawk-man stated in a solemn voice, slowly treading over to Calron.

“Alright…”

Calron then proceeded to detail the events that occurred between the red-haired lady and himself. He made sure to the keep the mention of House Raizel a secret from them. These people might have helped him, but the knowledge about his Azure Lightning was something which might even evoke greed between close friends.

“Hmm, something is strange here. Why did she target you and then after she did, why did she suddenly flee?”

The hawk-headed Elder muttered quietly, his hand gently stroking the feathers on his neck.

“Does the Beast Emperor know about her existence?”

Tarnila questioned.

It was rare for a cultivator to break into the Heavenly stage, and since this woman had managed to become the second Beast Emperor, her existence was a threat to the current Emperor.

“Good point. I will communicate with his Majesty now.”

The hawk Elder responded, and vanished from the scene amidst a gale of wind.

“Tarnila, I have something to say.”

Calron began with hesitation in his voice.

“Hmm? What is it?”

The raccoon replied with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

“I plan on leaving the Desolate Mountains.”

“You do not wish to learn from me anymore?”

Tarnila asked, and a slight tinge of sadness could be detected on her face.

“No no, I definitely want to learn more from you… but I really need to leave for a while. I promise that I will return soon.”

Calron hurriedly responded, taken aback that the raccoon was actually sad that he was leaving.

“Sigh… alright, but you better make sure to return back here. Otherwise, I will find you and drag both you and the little pup back. Where will you go?”

Tarnila curiously inquired.

Glancing sideways at the little wolf pup hanging from his neck, Calron let out a small smile.

“I need to introduce Avi to a few friends.”