In another area of the Azure province stood a huge city, this city had majestic white walls with a lot of guards on top of them. The entrance to the city was shaped in the head of a tiger with an open mouth. If one had to compare this city with the Azure Dragon sect or the Ice God sect in terms of size, they would realize that it is vastly bigger. In fact there was only one other city in the Azure province that could rival this one in terms of size and population and it was the Tang city, the home of the Tang clan and the ‘de facto’ capital of the Azure province.

It was common knowledge in the Azure province that in terms of population and size this city and the Tang city were about even, but in terms of power, the Tang city was a bit more powerful because the chief of the Tang clan was a bit stronger than the chief of this city. But the category in which this city exceeded the Tang city, was economy.

It was considered the trade center of the Azure province since its geographical position was the most ideal for that. It was located close to the border between the Azure province, the Spirit province and the Sacred province. So it was basically situated at the crossroads between three provinces of the Blue Cloud country.

On one side of the city one could see a seemingly unending mountain range, with peaks reaching as high as 10000 meters. This was the Titan Mountain Range, the reason for the name was that the mountain peaks were all around the same height and they looked like they were titans competing with each other for who is going to reach the end of the sky. Everyone in the Azure province knew that once you reach the Titan mountains, you have reached the border of the province. If you crossed the North-West part of the mountains, you were going to the Spirit province. If you crossed the South-West part of the mountains, you were going to the Sacred province. The only difference was that while the Spirit province was only a bit bigger than the Azure province and a bit stronger overall, the Sacred province was a colossus compared to the other two.

On the top of the majestic tiger’s head at the entrance of the city was a carved golden writing which read ‘White Tiger City’.

This was the White Tiger city, the trade center of the Azure province and the home and domain of the White Tiger sect.

At this moment in the very center of the White Tiger city inside a majestic hall sat 17 people. All 17 had profound cultivations, especially the one sitting in the main seat. He was a man that looked like he was in his late fifties. That was not his real age of course, since cultivators look much younger than they are and have lifespans ranging from a 100 to a 1000 years and more depending on the cultivation level.

The man in the main seat was surrounded by the aura of a king, his hair and beard were snow-white, his eyebrows looked like two swords and his gaze was deep and profound. He was about 2.5 meters tall, in fact the other 16 men surrounding him were all taller than 2 meters. This was a characteristic of those that cultivated the White Tiger sect technique, which was called ‘White Tiger of Annihilation’. The name was given to it by the ancestor of the sect for its explosive attacking power and immense physical strength.

The 16 elders surrounding the Chief of the White Tiger sect were called the ’Tiger claws’. And they were numbered from 16 to 1 in terms of their power. On their white robes each one of them also had a writing on the back with their specific number.

‘’Our sources tell us that the Tang clan is moving against the Azure Dragon sect, we cannot possibly miss the fun, everyone get ready, we are going to the Azure Dragon sect immediately’’ Said the chief of the sect with a smirk on his face, he looked like he did not care much for the result of the battle between the Azure Dragon sect and the Tang clan, and he just wanted to have some fun.

The 16 claws all sighed but nodded in agreement, they knew that their chief always decides things on a whim and was generally a very impulsive person. He once destroyed a small sect when he was younger because they dared to make fun of him.

Back in the Azure Dragon sect, Tianshen was now standing in front of the entrance to the restricted area of the sect. Cao Chen was standing next to him and said with a serious expression ‘’this path will lead you to the tomb, but be careful while crossing the forest, it makes people see unpleasant illusions, some people that trespassed here before were driven mad and swallowed by the forest’’

Tianshen smiled lightly ‘’Do not worry chief, go back and proceed with the tournament as I instructed you, then wait for me. I will arrive when the time is right’’

Cao Chen nodded and disappeared from Tianshen’s sight. Tianshen turned around and looked deep into the dark path of the forest, the darkness of the forest could not extinguish the deep blue glow in Tianshen’s eyes. He then proceeded to walk into the darkness at a slow pace.

As soon as he entered the forest, things around him started twisting, in the next moment he found himself standing inside a small house. The house looked very poor with barely any windows in it. Just a bed, a table and three chairs.

At the moment there was a woman lying on the bed with other 3 women surrounding her. She looked like she was giving birth. There was also a man pacing back and forth outside of the house with a worried look on his face.

If one tried to feel the cultivation of these people, they would find that they had none. Yes, they were just mortals. Tianshen recognized the woman instantly and a big frown appeared on his face.

‘’You dare look into my memories and show me illusions of my past life?’’ said Tianshen with a commanding tone. His eyes started shining bright blue like two stars, he lifted his hand and made a grabbing motion, and suddenly the scene distorted again and came back to normal.

Tianshen stood there for a couple of minutes without moving then smiled slightly ‘’laughable’’ he said, and then continued moving deeper into the forest.

After about an hour of walking the scene around him changed again and he found himself staring at a bloody battlefield, the earth and the sky were painted red with blood and there was a person in the middle, the person’s cultivation was profound, much stronger than anyone in the Azure province. The person held a sword in his hand, it was an unimpressive sword, the only thing standing out about it was its dark blue color and the faint writing which could be seen on the hilt which read ‘Sword of Judgment’.

Tianshen again lifted his hand and easily destroyed the illusion. After that he sighed, as if recalling that specific moment which he just saw in his memories and continued walking.

After some more time of walking Tianshen started to see the exit of the forest which meant that he arrived at the tomb. Just as he was about 10 steps from exiting the forest everything distorted once again and this time, Tianshen found himself staring at another scene.

But this time his reaction was much different, his pupils contracted and a deep frown emerged on his face as he watched a man drenched in blood holding a woman in his hands. The man was screaming with an inhuman voice and was crying blood at the same time.

But after a short moment Tianshen’s expression became extremely calm and focused.

He turned around towards the forest and said once again with a commanding tone ‘’I decided to overlook the previous 2 times, but every dragon has a reverse scale. Now should I come back into the forest to find you, or will you present yourself to me?’’

After speaking these words Tianshen released his soul power, the whole forest started to shake.

‘’Still not coming out?’’ said Tianshen.

He increased the release of soul power and the trees and bushes now looked like they were about to wither from the intense pressure.

Tianshen then circulated the Buddha Body technique and punched the ground, the whole ground around a 500m radius shook intensely ad the trees in that area lost their leaves.

In the next moment a baby-like voice sounded in front of Tianshen ‘’no more please! No more! You will destroy the whole forest! Just stop!’’

Tianshen retracted his fist from the ground and his soul power. He then looked in front of him and saw a small white puppy which surprised him. He immediately recognized the species, this was in fact a demon beast but not just any demon beast. It was a demon beast with a divine bloodline, the ‘Dragon-Dog divine beast’. As to how it got here, Tianshen could only guess. This was a demon beast with a bloodline that was rare even in ancient times when Tianshen was at his peak.

‘’What are you looking at you big bully? You think that just because you are strong, you have the right to resist this sir’s illusions and destroy this sir’s forest? Watch how I will bite you to death!’’ Screamed the puppy in a cute baby voice then jumped to attack Tianshen with its sharp teeth.

Tianshen lifted his hand and with a swift move caught the little puppy by the fur on its back.

‘’How dare you? Let this sir go this instant, unless you want a calamity to befall you!’’ shouted the puppy.

Tianshen lifted the puppy so that he could face it and then said ‘’Dragon-Dogs don’t have the ability to produce illusions, how can you do it? Is it the forest?’’ He asked with an emotionless look.

The puppy got startled for a second, this human just named its divine bloodline and guessed how he produced the illusions with just a single look.

‘’hahaha, now that you know this sir’s noble bloodline and awesomeness, you better put me down’’ said the puppy with a proud arrogant look on its face.

Then the puppy proceeded to say ‘’you probably want this sir to become your divine beast companion now right? Right? Because you know how awesome I am. But too bad this sir has no owner because nobody deserves to be our owner’’

Tianshen suddenly tossed the puppy away like a dirty cloth and turned around while saying ‘’sorry, not interested in pets’’. And then he started walking towards the tomb.

‘’How dare you toss this sir around and call us a ‘pet’ you lowly human? And how dare you not want this sir as your beast companion? People would prostrate themselves on the ground to take this sir as a beast companion you hear me!!?’’

Tianshen continued walking without turning back, he was now in front of a stone wall. There was no visible entrance to the tomb, but the wall was covered in ancient writing, so Tianshen guessed that the writings were the clue for how to open the tomb.

Just when he was about to try to decipher the writing… ‘’Hey! You want to enter the old geezer’s tomb right? Right? This sir can show you if you want’’ sounded a baby voice from behind him.

Tianshen turned to the puppy and said ‘’show me’’.

‘’If you bow down and kowtow to this sir a 100 times, maybe this sir will think about it’’ said the puppy with a proud and conceited look on its face.

Before the puppy could say anything more Tianshen was already holding it by the fur on its back again and staring at it. When the puppy saw Tianshen’s gaze this time, it felt a chill run down its spine. It was a smile but not a smile at the same time.

‘’Little puppy, tell me your name’’ said Tianshen with a murderous smile on his face.

‘’Th-th-this sir’s name is Panhu’’ said the puppy while stuttering out of fear.

‘’Tell me Panhu, do you want to reach the apex?’’