Cesar watched the surroundings with vigilance. At any moment, enemies with sublime Cultivations were bound show up. The connection to Earth that he once praised was currently useless to him. Would emperors walk through the dirt? No! They would soar through the skies like dragons! Enemies wouldn't show up on foot, but rather from air – where his Spiritual Sense of Earth was of no use! So Cesar sat upright, eyeing the skies with every fiber of body. What about his danger sense? Couldn't Cesar rely on it like he had done numerous times before? He could. But not completely. When one's Cultivation is high enough, crossing miles in an instant was possible. Even if his danger sense yelled at him to run, Cesar wouldn't be able to run away with Lily's safety guaranteed. He was acting as Lily's guardian, and leaving her alone would be the same as leaving her to die. That was the absolute last option available to him. Even the option of death came before leaving Lily to die by lonesome self. Betray Lily? Betray her trust? No! Cesar would welcome death with open arms while protecting Lily!

Even with Cesar's nubile and sublime body, there were hints of fatigue under in Cesar's eyes. Watching the skies with his entire will power was like running at full speed. There were limits to the human body, even with Jasmine regulating it!

Cesar had been watching out for enemies with such rapt attention that he failed to notice gentle eyes looking towards his direction. Her eyes were untainted, pure without a shadow of a doubt. But in her previous silver eyes, there were hints of red.

Without noticing, without being able to react, loving hands wrapped themselves around Cesar. Lily had woken up not too long ago. It wasn't that Cesar had failed to notice her awakening. It was because Lily had hidden on purpose. She had felt her eyes closed, her breathing even. She had used her Spiritual Sense to look at Cesar. The hearts of all women would warm seeing the man they love protect them with every fiber of their being. This 'warming of the heart' effect was not lost on Lily. There was butterflies in her stomach, and her heart seemed to be beating out of her chest.

Her ambiance seemed different. She seemed more powerful, and there were red streaks of hair which now garnished her previous silver hair. Her Bloodline seemed be integrating with her. This could be good news or bad – maybe both. With integration, she would naturally become more powerful. The Bloodline however, was a foreign element. How would the foreign element affect Lily? Could it be controlled? Would it alter her psyche or morals? Would it take over Lily's mind? The mental and Soul barrier Lily had protected her from outside attacks, not attacks from within. If the Bloodline staged a coup, Lily would be powerless to stop it.

“I could get used to this.” Cesar said. He wanted to say 'You scared the crap out of me', but that seemed uncultured and uncouth.

“Just wait a few more years... You'll be waking up much happier...” Lily said with a vixen like voice...

Cesar cocked his eyebrows. Sexual teasing? That was unlike Lily. But the red sparks in her eyes made her more alluring. Her words no longer seemed like teasing, but more like promises.

“I'm already the luckiest guy in the world.” He wrapped his own arms around the soft arms that Lily had surrounded him with. “I'm glad you're alright. I was worried about your Bloodline. Are all breakthroughs this dramatic?”

“Worried about the little old me? Don't be. But it seemed like stuff happened during my breakthrough... Something important happened... Tell me.” Lily seemed to go through one of her instant transformations in personality.

Cesar relayed what had occurred during her breakthrough to the Nascent Profound Realm.

“Then a blue Phoenix came down from the clouds and called you 'empress', in perfect human language. Every now and then, drops of blood would fall from the sky. I wasn't even able to see their speeds or detect their presence...” Cesar continued telling the story and Lily seemed enthralled.

“You also have red in your eyes and streaks of red hair now. That only used to happened when you were enraged and your Bloodline flared.” Cesar said.

That made Lily summon an Ice mirror and she carefully looked herself over. “How do you like the new look?” Lily asked with a smirk. She didn't seem concerned with her changing appearance.

“Makes you looks more fierce... Still beautiful as ever.” Cesar said truthfully.

Cesar continued recalling the events that had occurred during Lily's breakthrough, which wasn't hard considering he had a perfect photographic memory. After Cesar finished retelling the event precisely, he leaned back and waited for Lily to digest the information.

“I feel different Cesar. I feel more free... More unrestrained. I don't feel the need to hide my tendencies or thoughts from you. It's a good feeling.” She said with a soft voice, but it was said with a factual tone.

She didn't feel the need to hide her tendencies or thoughts now? What about before? There was no reason to hide them in the first place. He had been completely open with her... Almost completely open. He had put his life on the line for her. Fulfilling some tendencies or fantasies was easy for Cesar... But he understood. Psychological defenses or dogma stopped people from speaking out some thoughts.

Cesar was sure Lily was talking about erotic fantasies or tendencies. On Earth, one's aged mattered on the topic of sex. It was simply ingrained into their core belief values, especially in the western world. Even in this world, where people walked on the border of death, and morals tended to be loose, the matter of age and sex were interconnected. One had to be at least 9 years old before they start engaging in sexual activities and 15 before marriage. Cesar was physically and mentally an adult. But he was '4' years old. Since Lily was 9 years old, she had to wait before Cesar was 'of age'.

Cesar's thoughts were different. Sex was just the physical form of love. He didn't need to have sex for just sex. Jasmine could active his pleasure centers a moments notice. Orgasms on demand. She could even replicate the sensations of touch. He was also able to do the same, just with his Aura. Any physical aspect of sex didn't matter to Cesar. But the interconnected feeling of intertwining with someone he loved could not be replicated. Not to mention, he didn't crave sex, nor did he have urges. Jasmine was regulating his body after all.

He was also immortal at this point. Waiting a few years didn't matter. Actually, his immortality had a huge role in his decision making. Right now, with his Cultivation and ability to control metal, he could go to some god forsaken place where no creatures exited, create quantum computers and Energy Generators, be it Plasma or Void generators, and Cultivate to Godhood in peace. Would that be boring? Not for him. He could experiment for thousands of years and not even notice the passage of time. Thousands of years of absorbing Energy from Void generators would make him pretty much invincible. And Jasmine? Well... She would be bored for a few years because her memory banks were locked. But she had already experienced all there was to do. What he was currently doing might as well be one of the infinite scenarios she's already done. That was actually the smart thing to do. Immortal didn't mean invincible. He could still currently die.

He was no longer the Cesar from Earth. He wasn't squeamish about killing. He had his morals but in times of necessity, he would forsake them.

Each situation could be looked at from different perspectives. He could create a portable laboratory and go along with the wishes of Lily and Jasmine. He had no qualms about that. Others may think that's manipulation of their part, but it wasn't. Their actions were born out of necessity. Jasmine kept him safe and alive. Lily had goals and aspirations, but she placed Cesar's needs and wants before hers. At any moment, Cesar could make an unreasonable demand and she would follow it. But his current goal was to learn more about this new world. Inadvertently, Lily would be fulfilling his goal by taking them to the place where the latest information was available, The Worlds Military.

Cesar also had a fascination with the language that dealt with Formations and Inscriptions. It seemed deeply etched to what he considered 'The Universal Language'. If the universe operated on a language, Cesar considered the Runic Formations and Inscription language of the Cultivators of this world to hold that position. This was because even though he didn't understand the Inscription language, he could see the effects of the language on reality and the Spiritual world. It also seemed to be a mix of mathematics, programming language, dimensional positioning, Energy manipulation and multiple forms of logic. On Earth, mathematics was considered the universal language, but compared to this unique language, math couldn't compare. Getting closer to the Cultivators that dealt with this language had become a priority. That made getting to The Worlds Military even more important .

Also, Cesar had never experienced 'love'. He loved Jasmine, but she was still a construct in his mind and Soul... Where could replicate touch and his senses, he realized. When sparring against Jasmine, he had 'touched' her many times. Cesar's mind blanked for a moment. With his sensations being present inside his Soul Domain, sex was then entirely possible inside his soul... Cesar had never realized that. But he was sure Jasmine had. There was absolutely no way Jasmine would not have recognized this fact... This meant that Jasmine had some sort of plan involving their 'love' life. It was also why he followed Lily and wanted to help her achieve the goals she had set for herself – All because of love.

“The Bloodline is a foreign element inside you. What if it takes over? What if it changes your personality...” Cesar let the possibilities hang in the air.

Lily let the silence reign until she looked around. Bodies littered the ground, eclipsing the horizon itself. Her eyes could not see beyond the oceans of dead Desolate Beasts. She hid her emotions behind a blank face. She was horrified. It looked like a battleground. The last time she had seen this many dead Desolate Beasts... Everything had been taken away from her. She was also ecstatic that there were dead Desolate Beasts numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Her hated for Desolate Beasts had surfaced. Yet another part of her was apathetic. Apathetic to the point of normalcy. That innumerable amount of Desolate Beasts sacrificing themselves for the sake of her development was natural, almost expected. That part of herself scared Lily. That wasn't something that had been there before... She was sure it was the influence of the Bloodline...

The mountains of dead corpses made her remember... Where were Blake, Lisa, Desmond and General Calix? Were they dead? They shouldn't be. Cesar would have protected them. This was also her way of changing the subject and not answering Cesar's question, “Where's everyone else?” She asked while she snuggled against Mother Wolf's snout. Mother Wolf enjoyed Lily's attention and care, wagging her tail. Not even Lily's upgraded Spiritual Sense could sense where they were.

Lily didn't have an answer for Cesar. How her Bloodline functioned was simply outside her control. But she knew Bloodlines didn't usually make Cultivators deranged or demented. They made Cultivators more powerful. But her Bloodline as special, it had been called an 'empress' Bloodline... Whatever that meant. Spending time worry about what could go wrong was a useless waste of time, energy and brain power.

“They are underground... Where we should be going immediately.” Cesar said while he controlled the Earth. He should have done that immediately after he had realized that Lily had woken up. The anger of the Heavens was still present. Desolate Beasts seemed to have stopped coming. That meant that human Cultivators... Or other species of Cultivators would come to investigate. He also controlled the Earth to collect the corpses of the Desolate Beasts. He could already see the Cultivators of the Capital dying from shock at the amount of Desolate Beast corpses currently in his possession.

Cesar was sure he wouldn't be able to cope against the current Lily. The moment she had her arms around him, he wasn't able to break free. There were no ripples, absolutely no air fluctuations as she moved through the air at speeds he couldn't follow. In the world of Cultivation, there was always someone stronger. This also made him reflect upon the heaps of treasure now within his grasp. He couldn't trade the mountains of Desolate Beasts corpses, not openly anyways. If information about his transactions spread, more powerful Cultivators would naturally show up and plunder his items. Because he could still die, Cesar didn't want to become a weed that could be pulled out of the ground at a moments notice. But the Earth was his domain. He could simple use the Earth to hide his treasures and wealth.

During the hours of waiting, Mother Wolf had chowed down the carcasses of multiple Desolate Beasts. She had been at the peak of the Ferocious Beasts and it was only a matter of time before she would become a Desolate Beast. The Energy they had collected during their time as Ferocious Beasts bloated their bodies to monumental sizes. Being dozens of meters tall in the Ferocious Beast realm didn't make them strong. It made them an easy target. Cultivation, Energy and fighting experience made beasts strong. When evolving into Desolate Beasts, that Energy contracts inwardly and upgrades their bodies according to their physiology, Bloodline or Heritage.

While going underground, Cesar asked “So how much blood did you have now anyways?”

Lily delved inside herself, into the space that collected the blood... “Too much to put into numbers...” Lily responded. After another moment, she added, “Don't worry about the Blood Pill. Since I've entered the Nascent Profound Realm, the process should become quicker... I've also gained some enlightenment towards my Bloodline and Cultivation...”

Lily wanted to say more but wasn't able to. Suddenly behind them, a sizzling sound came and Mother Wolf dropped into an unconscious state. Cesar and Lily looked and saw steam rising out of her body. Lily smiled and a mystical Blood Essence Energy appeared around her, which Lily directed towards Mother Wolf. The Energy coated the now unconscious Mother Wolf. Cesar looked at Lily with a raised eyebrow.

“Mother Wolf is advancing into a Desolate Beasts... I'm just giving her a little boost. The Blood will awaken her Bloodline or Heritage. Usually, Desolate Beasts are lucky if they awaken a 3rd generation Bloodline or Heritage. I want Mother Wolf to be a part of our lives, so I'm helping her a little.” Lily said. She couldn't give any specifics because her Seal would prevent her from speaking important information, but she was informative none the less.

Each actions have implications behind them. For Lily, the action of awakening and upgrading Mother Wolf's Heritage didn't mean much. She was just helping Mother Wolf. Lily wanted to make sure Mother Wolf wouldn't be left behind because Mother Wolf didn't have the potential or Cultivation that she and Cesar were showing. Their fates wouldn't allow weak allies to join them. But Cesar looked at her actions differently. He was objective in his thinking. Lily was able to awaken Bloodlines and Heritages? She was able to upgrade them? That was a monstrous ability. Cesar was also sure Lily would be affect humans similarly. He saw the implications of such an ability. Those old and powerful Desolate Beasts must have some of their potential hidden, some potential that not had yet been awakened. If the old and monstrous existences of this world learned of her ability, they would expend all their resources and strength to acquire her. Lily would end up a slave or royalty depending on their their values.

The Earth opened to reveal Blake, Lisa, General Calix and Desmond inside the cave. They were petrified, confused, and were completely on edge. Cold sweat drenches their bodies. They eyebrows were in knots.

During Lily's breakthrough, hundreds of thousands of Desolate Beasts and Ferocious Beasts had marched towards her location. That had created a rumbling sound that had been heard even at the Capital. When the Desolate Beasts had knelt, prostrating themselves before Lily, hitting their knees on the ground, it was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off. These sounds had echoed in their ears, since their positioning was right below her. The Earth had muffled the sounds slightly, but it hadn't made an ounce of difference. It sounded like Mt. Tai had collapsed. No Cultivator would be able to remain calm under such conditions.

Seeing Cesar and Lily, Lisa immediately started crying. She was sobbing her eyes out, “Bwaaa... I thought you both died!” She jumped in Lily's arms. Lily just combed her hair with her fingers, almost like a mother petting her daughters hair, trying to calm her child down.

“Fuck. I almost died of a heart attack. I almost became deaf. I think the vibrations dislocated my hips. The anxiety much have taken 10 years off my life. I demand you increase my pay to 10 percent.” General Calix spat the words out in a quick manner. His tone was of him being wronged. It was as if he had suffered a grave injustice and demanding compensation was completely natural of someone in his position.

Desmond wanted to say something, but seeing General Calix's mastery of the Dao of Shamelessness, his words died at the back of his throat. He wanted to thank Cesar for saving their lives but he just stared at General Calix with wide eyes.

Lily held her smile and laughter.

General Calix completely ignored Desmond as if he was not there, looking like an old man who has justice on his side! His face was just too thick! Even Cesar was caught off guard, but only for a moment!

“10 percent huh?” Cesar said with a mischievous tone. He really was going to miss the old man and his offhanded tactics and humor. 10 percent of the price of the High-grade Spare Meteorite was an astronomical number... Cesar decided that he wanted to have a friend who was just as shameless as General Calix in the military.

But he didn't control his Earth element to show everyone the wealth currently in his possession. No one knew that not only could be control Earth, but he could use it for scouting and collecting purposes. Only Lily had some clue.

There would be absolutely no advantage of them knowing the amount of wealth in his possession. Hundreds of thousands of Desolate Beasts corpses alone would be enough to send a major Kingdom in upheaval, not to mention the Capital. The reason wasn't only because of the value of Desolate Beasts. The value was in the time and manpower needed kill such a vast amount of Desolate Beasts. There were numerous industries based around just killing and processing Desolate Beasts. The lively hood of millions of people depended on Desolate Beasts. It was the same as gold. To Cultivators, gold wasn't a valuable resource, but not even they could not live without it.

Lily was actually the first to pick up the clue from Cesar's tone of voice. Cesar was rarely mischievous. So this was a rare occurrence. There had to be a reason behind it.

General Calix didn't break his facade. Everyone knew he was joking, but he looked completely serious. He finally broke out in a laugh and slapped Cesar's shoulders. “Thanks kid. You saved my old ass again.”

“Our journey's still not over old man. I'll be saving your wrinkly ass a few more times. If you're already having health problems, you might not survive the coming days.” Cesar replied with a laugh.

Blake and Desmond bowed with their hands clasped, showing their appreciation. They had long since become accustomed to their antics.

…......

Numerous powers had seen the anger of the heavens. What surprised them was that the anger came from a section of the Boundary Of Death, which was near the Floating Cloud Kingdoms Capital. Of course, most of these powers knew of the new Kingdom, but to them, it was still The Barren Lands – The place with little to no resources. Such a rare event occurring in such bizarre place had confused many powers. But the Heavens were mysterious. Only the Boundary Of Death gave the place some importance. The anger would then naturally be connected to the Boundary Of Death.

Was it an ancient mystic realm? Had a Desolate Beast awakened an ancient Bloodline? Had a sleeping entity awaken? No one knew. But for the Heavens to be angry, the reason behind it had to be extraordinary.

Most of these powers had sent scouts if they were close to the location or an Elder if they were from further distances. But when the vast amounts of Desolate Beasts started converging towards the location, they all retreated with ugly faces.

Not a single human power wanted the Desolate Beasts side to become stronger, yet they were powerless to stop them. They had even seen extremely powerful Desolate Beasts flying through the skies. It the anger had gotten attention of powerful Desolate Beasts, then it had to be special - completely extraordinary.

Moreover, this put attention on the Floating Cloud Capital. Would the powerful Desolate Beasts destroy the Capital since it was close in vicinity? Doing so would only require a wave of their wings or paws.

Yet the Capital wasn't destroyed. But powerful Desolate Beasts defended a portion of The Boundary Of Death. Scouts were allowed to enter, but someone of high Cultivation wasn't. These powerful Desolate Beasts all had pride and the intelligence that surpassed humans. They wouldn't kill mindlessly. Most of them hadn't killed a Cultivator in a very long time. Squashing an ant gave no pleasure to these powerful Desolate Beasts.

This was all to protect the 'empress'. Someone with too high a Cultivation would be able to use techniques that would reveal what had occurred. Hundreds of thousands of Desolate Beasts had sacrificed themselves? That would cause a commotion in the entire Cultivation world. Lily had what was known as a 'Draconian' Bloodline. On Earth, all life originated from a single Entity, a single celled organism. But in this world, with the start of the 'Big Bang', the Energy had created Supreme beings. There was not a single source of Life, but multiple sources instead. One of those beings, was The Azure Dragon. This is where Lily's Bloodline originated from. She could be considered the heir of the Bloodline.

Cesar had been only been somewhat correct in his thinking. It wasn't that Desolate Beasts wanted Lily to be solitary. They wanted to 'nurture' the empress. They had taken away her family to nurture her mentality. Cesar was left to be with the empresses for emotional support. Not even the powerful Desolate Beasts could see through Cesar's true potential. In times of need, the Desolate Beasts would naturally help the empress, but only to a degree. The empress would rule over them in the future, but she had to be fit for duty. That meant she had to be stronger than all of them. That power was needed to be gathered by her own hands, through bloodshed and killing. The fate of an empress was not an easy one. The empress had the ability to upgrade Bloodlines? That was natural. An empress, someone of royalty would have subjects working under her, serving her every need. They would naturally be the most powerful of their kind.

Since the Capital was left alone, most powers thought it would be a good place to stay and investigate The Boundary Of Death when the Desolate Beasts would eventually leave. The Capital was the ideal place since it wasn't destroyed by the Desolate Beasts and due to the close vicinity to the anomaly they wanted to investigate; the anger of the Heavens. Of course, since the Exhibits were about to start throughout all Kingdoms, most powers would be efficient in their thinking. They would send their younger talent to the low level Kingdom to gain a spot. Would this be losing face? No. Because multiple powers knew each others moves. They would be facing against other powers.

This would kill two birds with one stone!

Cesar could not have known all this. Jasmine was right in her thinking that Cesar and Lily were pieces on a chess board. Soon, Jasmine would piece together the information. She had been watching, always collecting information. The Spiritual Sense that connected Cesar to Earth also allowed Jasmine to further her reach. She was collecting astronomical amounts of data. Soon, she would start collecting 50% of the Energy Cesar would absorb, allowing her to improve her calculation speeds and unlock her memory banks. Would Jasmine allow Cesar and Lily to be pieces on a chess board? No!

Cesar's next priority was the battle of words that was about to occur. The trade for the High-grade Space Meteorite with the Capital.

But the surprises that The Spirit Of Earth had in store for Cesar were not yet over.