Chapter 4: Destined Companion

The difference between a normal animal and a Demonic Beast is that, Demonic Beast have absorbed World Qi and change them to Demonic Qi in doing so have formed a Dantian in their body. Demonic Beast body are a lot stronger and Advance Rank Demonic beast would have developed a special power called Demonic Skill.

In the wild, the strong will eat the weak so there are constant fights in the wild and many beast will die. However, this would mean that stronger beast will survive and their natural instinct are honed through these life and death battles. These beasts experience danger the moment they are born so they heavily rely on their instinct and this has been sharpened for generations and generations making many a Demonic Beast have keen senses and an ability to sense danger.

These beasts have been bathing in blood since the first day they were born and when compared to humans, these creatures can be considered the superior species. If compared, an Intermediate Rank Demonic beast would be stronger than a Earth stage Human cultivator.

The ranks of the demonic beast are of the following; Basic, Intermediate, Advance, Hyper, Superior, Extreme, King, Emperor, Ancestor. However, for normal people, they have yet to see an Advance beast let alone an Ancestor beast.

Similar to human cultivators, demonic beast also has bottle necks. It could be said that Ancestor is another bottle neck but no demonic beast known to man has been able to break through that stage. These bottle necks are even more difficult comparing to human’s cultivation but while its more challenging once broken through grants these beast unbelievable powers.

While Demonic Beast are considered as animals of the forest and nature. There are Spirit beast who are companions of humans. There are wild Spirit Beast and raised spirit beast, wild spirit beasts are demonic beast who have been captured, tamed or mastered by cultivators. The demonic beast is then to go through a spirit ceremony to change them from Demonic Qi beast to Spirit Qi beast. Raised spirit beasts are beast that have been hatched from spirit eggs and have been trained from birth.

Wild Spirit beast are known to be more powerful and ferocious but raised spirit beast tend to have more loyalty to their masters. Similar to Human cultivators, Spirit and Demonic beast have their affinity to certain elements, these elements correspond to their race. Storm Wolfs have wind affinity while the Chaos dragons have fire and darkness affinity.

Sometimes there may be mutation and these may lead to even more races. An example of this are the infamous blood dragon, they originated from the Fire Drakes however there was a mutation and a new dragon was born. The dragon didn’t have affinity to fire but actually has affinity blood, a first of its kind. This race gets stronger as the more blood it baths in. Every year there are more beast race that are discovered and some of these are insignificant mutations while others can change the situation of a whole nation.

…

In the courtyard of the Crimson clan, there is an old man cultivating the Fire Qi around him. The speed of the absorption was not fast or slow, it was a steady pace. Once the Qi enter the body, it flows through the spiritual vein, some of the qi will be absorbed into the muscle and the bones. For people who have reached the Absorption realm, the energy will be directed to the Dantian of the cultivator instead.

The biggest difference between a Master stage and an Earth stage cultivator is the Dantian. This difference may seem little but one Earth stage cultivator can face against hundreds of Master stage cultivators. Having a Dantian can mean worlds of difference, this is because energy stored in a Dantian can be used to perform a martial skill. The Dantian allows cultivator to use Qi in their execution of martial skills and this can bring out destructive result.

The Qi stored in the Dantian also can be used to improve the healing rate of a cultivator. Not only can it increase the healing rate but depending on the cultivator the Qi may have its own characteristics. Cultivators with fire affinity would have explosive power and incredible heat while cultivators with earth affinity would have unwavering defense.

The Dantian has unlimited usage depending on the cultivators but it also the difference between a mortal with a strong body and a real cultivator. Human realm cultivators are still considered as mortals and once someone step into the Absorption realm would they be truly recognised as a cultivator.

The old man that was cultivating in the courtyard, has a white beard matching with his white hair. He wore a set dragon pattern robe and he had a calm atmosphere around him. As he was cultivating the door to his courtyard slowly opened and revealed a young boy wearing crimson coloured clothing matching with his hair and eyes.

The boy saw the old man and waited for the old man to say something first.

“Ignis, you have come” the old man suddenly said as he stopped cultivating and stood up.

Before Ignis even said anything, the old man said “I know. You are wondering why I asked you to come here.” The old man then began walking towards the entrance of his courtyard. “Follow me” he said to Ignis. The old man turned out to be Aurelius.

Ignis then ran up to Aurelius and walked by his side. This was a privilege that only a grandson of Aurelius has, if it was any other cultivator they must walked behind him to show their respect. Unless it was someone stronger than Aurelius then it would be Aurelius that would be walking behind to show his respect. However, in the Twin Fire and Ice City there are very little amount of people that has the same cultivation level as Aurelius, let along higher.

Aurelius and Ignis then exited the Crimson clan and was currently on a busy street with many people walking and some people have shops where they were trading and selling items. “Today I’ve decided to show you around our county. This is so that you know where to go for specific reasons and know which place you should avoid.

The first place we are going to visit is the Agora Market. In this market, all the locals or visiting merchants and travellers will set up stalls so that they can trade items.

When doing business in the Agora market you have to be careful and be observant. Sometimes there are rare heaven defying treasure that will appear but sometimes there will be also be fake items.” Aurelius explained to Ignis, he also told Ignis of small but significant places as they go pass them.

“Heaven-defying treasures?” Ignis repeated what Aurelius said and gulped his saliva as he said the words.

Aurelius laughed at his grandson response. “Yes, heaven-defying treasures however the chances are very low and you must be able to recognise the different items that will appear or else you would only be scam. While having strength is important, intelligence is not any less important. Do you understand?”

Ignis nodded at his grandfather question. What Aurelius said might be common sense but for a naive child, like Ignis who only dreamt of cultivation it was like a new door open in his mind. It was as if a new road was starting to be build alongside Ignis’ road to cultivation.

…

Agora Market is one of the most popular place in the county of fire due to gathering of rare resources and treasures. It is located in the north part of the county and the only reason it’s not located at the centre is because that is where the Crimson Clan is located.

“We’ve arrived. Boy, look closely this is the Agora market, let’s go in now.” Aurelius didn’t wait at all and immediately went in.

Ignis did not mind at all and was actually happy that his grandfather didn’t say much. He then followed Aurelius in, as he went into the market he was stunned on how many stalls there were and how noisy it was.

Everyone in the stalls were shouting out their merchandise trying attract cultivators. There were stalls that were packed with people and stalls with no people at all.

“Ignis, since today is your first day here. If you find an item, you like I would buy it for you.” Even though Aurelius said that he was willing to buy multiple things for his grandson.

Ignis eyes light up as he heard Aurelius’ word and he rushed in and to look for a treasure. However, before he got any far he spotted few eggs on a stall. Behind the stall there was a person that wore a mask and cloak hiding his face and body.

Ignis rushed to the stall with Aurelius following behind him. Aurelius was too intrigued about the eggs on the stalls.

As they arrived the stall, Ignis was curious about the eggs while Aurelius was actually shocked as his eyebrows jumped up and his eyes was wide open.

“These eggs. Are they Spirit Eggs?”

The mysterious man behind the eggs let out a laughed and said “Yes, they are spirit eggs.”

Aurelius then frowned and then looked at Ignis’s happy expression. He sighed and then said “Okay, Ignis remember what I’ve said before I can only buy you one thing in this market choose carefully what you want.” Deep down he thought, “Usually Spirit Eggs are sold by the Celestial Hall, so buying a spirit egg that isn’t from Celestial Hall is quite risky. However, I can’t see this cultivator’s cultivation realm and the fact no one else notice this stall meant that he has put down a formation. Even I didn’t notice this place until Ignis saw it.”

On the stall, there contained 9 eggs, all of them were unique and had different patterns and aura. However, when Ignis saw the eggs there was only one that was in his vision the whole time. It was a red egg however it had a holy aura surrounding it.

Once the man noticed Ignis expression and how he only had sight on the red egg and seemed like he was drawn into it. The man let out a laugh. “Today was the last day I was going to stay in this town and this is your first time here in this market. I’m someone who believe in destiny so meeting you here could be part of destiny. I’ve decided to give you this egg”

Ignis was shocked and then became very happy and excited. While Aurelius was just thoroughly shocked. This is because while spirit eggs aren’t rare they are still extremely expensive. This is especially true for these spirit eggs that Aurelius, himself, can’t even recognise. The action of the man, made Aurelius extremely suspicious of him. However, he took no action because this was beneficial for Ignis.

Ignis then looked at Aurelius for his approval and Aurelius nodded showing his consent.

Seeing how Ignis was still being obedient to his grandfather while being excited made the man laughed again.

The man then gave the egg to Ignis to hold. Upon the first contact with the egg made Ignis felt a certain connection with the egg. It was a first time for Ignis to feel this way.

Ignis was very thrilled holding the egg in his hand and then the egg started shaking and cracks appeared on the egg. Once again Ignis was baffled and didn’t really understand what was happening while Aurelius too was shock but this was because he knew what was happening.

The eggs shell fell down revealing a furry creature in the eggs. The creature had small white wings on its back and exhibited a holy aura. Its eyes were closed, the creature was a lion cub with white wings and the body of the creature was of a red colour.

“It hatched! Grandfather it hatched!” Ignis said to Aurelius

“Yes, it indeed hatched. However, the question is what creature is it.” Aurelius was curious of the race of the spirit beast.

He then looked away from the beast and then look up to ask the man however he was surprise to find that the man disappeared with the other eggs.

“Huh, where did the old man go?” Ignis was confused at the man’s disappearance and was looking around to find him.

Aurelius decided not to look for the man because he knew that since he didn’t even know when the man left then it meant that the man cultivation was a lot higher than his own cultivation. “Ignis, he already left you don’t need to look for him anymore.”

“Okay…” Ignis was disappointed that he couldn’t say thank you to the mysterious man but he was happy once again when he saw the sleeping creature in his hand.

“Ignis, what do you want to do now?” Aurelius asked Ignis

Ignis then went quiet and thought carefully before saying “Grandfather, I know that it took a while to get here but is it possible to go home now? I want to bring Solace home.”

Aurelius let out a smile “Haha, of course it’s possible the idea of bringing you here was so that you can experience it. Hmm, Solace huh? So, that’s the name you have decided to give to your new companion. It’s a good name fitting for such a spirit beast but Ignis, you have to remember this carefully. You are his master and it is you how much take care of raising it, not only is Solace your pet but also your companion you must treat him well.”

Ignis nodded at Aurelius’ teaching.

Aurelius and Ignis then walked out of the Agora market and headed home as the sun was setting creating a serene atmosphere.

…

Aurelius and Ignis arrived back at the Aurelius’ courtyard when the sun has already set. The temperature was once again freezing cold due to the emergent of Ice Qi.

Ignis was having deep thoughts as his face had a face was expressionless which was unusual for a cheerful boy like Ignis.

“Grandfather may I ask you a question?” Ignis asked Aurelius

“Go ahead, ask this old man any question.” Aurelius responded to Ignis. As he was an observant person he knew that his grandson was thinking of something serious.

“Grandfather, I’m grateful for Solace. Yesterday, you have introduced me to uncle Reynold and today you showed me around the county of fire and gave me my first spirit beast. At the same time, why you have not given me time to cultivate?” Ignis questioned his Aurelius

Aurelius expression changed and frowned. Aurelius then sighed and looked Ignis then looked away. “I said I won’t stop you in cultivating that method however you are still my grandson and I wanted to delay you cultivating because as I’ve said before it is dangerous. In the end, I can’t stop you, I can only offer help and watch you grow.” Aurelius solemnly said.

“Tomorrow you don’t have to visit this old man anymore, you can start cultivating.” Aurelius managed to squeeze out these words but it also hurt him since he was sending one of his grandson on a treacherous path that would be stained with blood and be full of violence.

“Thank you, grandfather. I won’t disappoint you.” Ignis then bowed toward Aurelius and while carrying his spirit beast he left the courtyard.

With Ignis gone, there was only Aurelius left in the courtyard. Suddenly someone entered Aurelius’ courtyard. “Dear, I’m back from my small trip.”

“Oh, welcome back. How was the trip?” Aurelius replied without even turning his face toward the person.

“Hmph, you won’t even look at your wife who just came back.” Replied the mysterious person. It turned out to be Alyssa, Aurelius wife.

“Ignis, he will start to cultivate tomorrow” Aurelius then said.

Alyssa then quieted down and then said “The moment he was born he was destined to do something great. On that day, there was a solar eclipse, the moon covered the sun, the darkness encompassed the source of light. Those old men in the shadow probably started planning since then.”

Aurelius then sighed and said the words “I know”. He paused for a while the continue “How was the result of your journey to county of Earth?”

Once Alyssa hear Aurelius question a smiled appear on her face and she then said “I found this during my journey.”

Suddenly an orb appeared in Alyssa’s hand.

Aurelius sense a source of energy suddenly appearing and turned around to look what Alyssa was holding.

“You found it?” Aurelius was surprised as he saw the item in Alyssa’s hand.

“Yes, I was fortunate to find it in the county of Earth.”

Aurelius then let out a hearty laugh. “It seems like the plan will have to start soon.”

Aurelius and Alyssa then went into their house.