Umbarath sends word that a undersea remnant is opening up soon and invites Mara to attend as it should be ideal for Mara's current cultivation. So I prepare to send Mara off to who knows where and find myself having a few weeks to look for some trouble. So after searching the auction house's information service, I decide to head to a mountain range known for large number of stage eight demonbeasts once Mara is escorted away.

It's called the Fangs of Surakang, these jagged mountain peaks cover rough circle about nine thousand miles across. It's obvious that a huge meteorite blasted these mountains to great heights during the early years of the Era of Transendance. Now it is teeming with demonbeast and the surrounding Fangs of Surakang imprisoned the demonbeasts in the crater creating an self contained environment.

The peak stage eight demonbeast have created their own factions and war for resources and territory. It is said that a powerful sect once ruled the crater but vanish after the destruction of their era. Two eras have pass, and no news of anyone ever finding the sect's stronghold. Even the name of the sect has been lost in time.

The Fangs of Surakang is a famous danger zone for mid stage eight and higher practitioners. Since lucky chances and danger are like lovers, I had crafted my first set on tier eight defensive gears while we had waited for the undersea renmant to open. Not only I had new defensive gears, I also finally finished upgrading my inner world.

One supreme and eight high quality Dragon Veins deliver close to ten times the normal world qi for my inner world. Suffix it to say, the abundant qi has turned many creatures in my inner world into demonbeasts. I had even put bounties on living demonbeast that's good for eating so I can seed my inner world with such tasty creatures.

Since these future meals have higher cultivation than the newly emerging demonbeasts of my inner world, they easily carve out an existence for themselves. I even manage to get big brother Umbarath to score me a few schools of demonfish to inhabit some of the larger lakes. They are a bit on the small side, but Umbarath say give them a couple of decades and I can start cooking them. He even manage to capture a pair of young sea serpents, and I hope they will someday breed.

As for the beastgirl twins, they have become rather friendly towards me, as I had given them pills to make all their wounds and scars vanish. Then crafted pills to regrow their missing fur and even provided them with custom made peak tier seven equipment. These gears serve as incentive to cultivate and break though to stage seven.

Their cultivation have rise quickly once I installed the Dragon Veins, now they are trying to solidify their peak stage six cultivation. I had given them both a tier six nirvana breakthough pill and a tier seven foundation pill. I can see they can't wait to make a breakthough so they can try out their new equipment.

Although the grand auction ended a month ago, I'm still here on the island because it constantly provides me with what I need to craft. All the late and peak stage experts are still here hoping to have me craft additional artifacts for them. So they happily make farming runs to the main continent to deliver me materials and demonbeasts for cooking.

I watch as nearly every day a skyship will arrive bearing gifts from powerful sects from all over the world. The auction house had made a grand list of items I wanted and spread that list across the world. So now I look forward to the arrival of each skyship to see what interesting presents they may deliver to me.

But staying on the island for so long has made my wunderlust burn fiercely. So when Mara was invited to a stage seven undersea remnant, I nearly exploded in tears and took the island teleporation gate as soon as Mara was escorted from my side. I had given her a several jade tokens for protection and a few for attacking as well. I even crafted her a full set of peak tier seven equipment for additional protection, including a spear, a bow and a sword for use against water affinity demonbeasts as we waiting for he seafolk escort to arrive.

It's not that I want to leave Mara's side, I just need to find my own lucky chances as my cultivation has not made any movement for so long. So I happily take the opportunity to try my luck and headed for Fangs of Surakang.

I was camping and in the middle of cooking up a stage six Kolvari Shellboar when the edge of my divine sense is intruded upon by a group of six cultivator moving fast. So I shifted postion to get a good view of the possible incoming entertainment when I discover a second larger force hot on the heels of the first group.

The first group is made up of five stage six guards escorting their peak stage five young master wearing those gaudy clothes I saw from the last city where the noblemen seem to favor wearing. I see the nobleman glance my way but has no intentions of involving me in his plight and continues to move across my field of vision. My eyes tells me he is wearing some kind of artifact that misdirect appraisal and divining attempts on him. He could be a old expert with that kind of artifact protecting his identity.

So I reach up and slice off a chunk of meat and let it disolve in my mouth for a taste. It's good as I feel my stamina and toughness take a tiny move in the right direction. Satisfied with how the cooking turned out, I pluck a jug of Burning Murkavien from my ring as I feel it would go best of the spiritual meal I just cooked up and settle in watch the show before me.

A new cultivator arrives before the fleeing group stopping them cold, he is a late stage six cultivator and the guard captain is only at mid stage six. So the fleeing group has no choice but to stop and defend themselves. I glance over to the new comer and his outfit is familiar, so I go over all the friendly factions I know but recieve no hits in my memory.

Then I switch over to neutral factions then into enemy factions and finally got a hit, the outfit belongs to the faction from that trash that attack Mara after my visit in the Alchemist Tomb so my voice drums the air "fellow cultivators, you are disturbing my dinner, leave before I take action!" and I take another bite of the savory meat.

The late stage six expert looks my way and is surprise to see me cooking a stage six demonbeast but then offer "this is none of your business boy, you should learn not to interfere with your betters."

But I reply "it is my business when you take action inside my divine sense range."

The young nobleman gives politely "my apologies.... master chef, I would leave if I could but I am afraid these trash won't let me go" and even goes as far as cupping his hands and give a short bow of apology.

I couldn't help but smile at his polite ways despite his predicament, so I hand out to the braggart "you belong to that faction that was destroyed a few months ago for attacking my disciple, you really have some balls to threaten me!" With that I charge up an early stage seven earth and fire battle skill called Stonespiker.

The braggart looks at me as if seeing a ghost and stammer out "yyou wwere the oone to destroy my clan?!" But unfortuneately for him my answer erupted below him as the ground around him erupted with a dozen super heated stone spikes that pierce him from all directions locking him in place. The earth qi formed into solid stone spikes roughly three meter long and about six inches thick, while the fire qi randomly adhere to the spikes forming tiny pockets of lava that begin roasting him alive.

His screams lasted a breath of time as he did his best to break the confining stone spikes, but his late stage six battle strength could only scratch the surface of the early stage seven spikes before he finally turned into ash. The young nobleman looks like he might lose his lunch after seeing a man roasted alive. The group hunters started to back away in fear realizing I am a lot stronger that expected. So I lock them all down by pouring qi to create an early stage eight oppression and force them down to their knees.

I have also been discreetly probing the young nobleman's protection restrictions and soon realize he is not an old master in hiding as he has not detected my probes. So I go full bore and send over my breaching restrictions to see who he real is, of course the first layer is the new stealth restriction I added to my repertoire of mastered restrictions.

The stealth restriction I recently aquired at last auction house is a peak late stage eight array and rather devilish to make. It has invisibilty, misdirection, camoflage, dislocation, Ilusionary, and infiltration layers to afford it some serious protection against detection. The remaining four layers is just a qi bank for each of these layers to use when needed, with stealth in place I can even fool a peak stage nine expert with no knowledge in arrays with my current cultivation. If I were to raise to peak stage eight I could fully power up this stealth restriction, then I could fool a mid stage ten cultivator who hasn't spent time learning about arrays.

Since this guy is not an old master, it should be a piece of cake to breach those restrictions to see who he really is without him knowing I did it. You just don't present me a restriction puzzle and expect me not so satisfy my curiosity. I begin stripping though the outer defense restrictions and my divine sense focus on what my curiosity has led me.

The part of my awareness that has taken to backseat notice the qi fallout cause by various help tokens being broken among the group of hunters peaks my interest as I wonder who is going to show up. I then take a long swig from my jug in my left hand before reaching over to cut me another slice of Kolvari Shellboar. I realize the qi pressure from my divine sense as I continue to lockdown the hunters is the culprit of the activation of those tokens.

The young nobleman and his guards face me in parade stance and show me the utmost respect. As I take a bite of the meat I see the last defense restrict layer is breached and I enter the first concealment layer. At the same time I see a portal opening up behind the kneeling hunters.

Three elders arrive and pale at my oppressive might and suddenly found themselves kneeling as well. The strongest is a mid stage seven, so I directed my oppressive might to include the new arrivals. The second concealment layer is an illusionary layer that simulated the physical appearance that everyone sees.

A weak stage seven elder squeeks out "senior, please forgive these disciples if they offended you." I send over a qi slap that sent the elder sprawling.

"They did not, but you just did, how dare you insult me!" I stand up and presented myself and continue "what part about me screams at you that I am an old man?" I allow qi to build around me causing my aura to madly spike and then I let my killing intent burst forth in rage.

I watch the body bouncing off the ground a few before rolling face up about nine meters away against a rock. This explosed the remnant of his left face, the qi slap had turned a palm size imprint on his face into blood mist. Explosing the man's fractured skull, his labored breathing is sure signs he is barely alive. The mid stage elder provides "my most profound apologies young master! My fellow elder meant no disrespect, he meant you being his senior in cultivation."

Seeing Slapface's final breath I drop my qi build up and reign in my killing intent and go with "people who can't the time to take stock of a situation don't deserve to be called an elder. The situation here has occured because these two groups of people have invaded my dinner. The stakes are currently going against you because your side has insulted me twice while this young nobleman has treated me with the utmost respect given only to a respected superior officer." The second concealing layer is a misdirection layer so I drop two layers of power to burn though the restriction labyrinth as fast as possible.

The artifact in question is the innerwear the noble is wearing, and since my breaching array strip though all it's restrictions to take temporary control of mastery. It gave me a view I wasn't expecting, my curiosity allow to take this snapshot of a vision of a fairy wearing a very shear see though innerwear. I can see everything and know she is a rare beauty comparable to Mara as her cultivation is early tier six and has locked own her appearance at such a tender young age. I withdrawl my divine sight knowing that vision is permanently etch into my stage eight perfect memory and I couldn't help think way to go to my curiosity for finding me such a jewel of a memory.

I glare at the sealed memory restriction that I labled 'Do not open until I become an old man or until my curiosity gets the better of me' I see that a third item has been placed in it and wonder what it could be before tossing it back of my mind as the hunter's new speaker interrupts my train of thought an offers "my apologies for the second offense young master, please allow us to withdraw so we won't bother you anymore" and tosses his void ring toward me as his ante towards peace.

The simple void restriction are easy to see though and with a glance I was somewhat impressed by some of the items store in his void ring. Which made respect the man, he just handed over the efforts of his life time over to me just to save these disciples so I went with "fellow cultivator, it's hard not to respect an elder dedicated in protecting his younger generation. You may withdrawl" and I turn my attention to the nobleman as I removed my oppressive might on the hunters, they give a quick bow and escape as fast as they can.

I watch him cups his hands and give me a formal bow and offers "thank you young master for saving me! If there is anything I can do, please don't hesitate to ask." I am staring at his protective restriction and wondering why I have not tried to breach it, then this thought crosses my mind, I was going to but I was angered of being thought as an old man and I lost interest in breaching his restrictions and diverted the qi into a qi slap instead.

Since he being respectful I decide not to indulge me curiosity and hand out "you seem to be a nice fellow, why don't you join me for a quick bite and tell me what you think of my cooking."

He goes "I don't want to impose since your my benefactor," it's obvious he want to get moving at put as much distance from the hunters as soon as possible, it's very noobish thinking and decide he is really green, maybe this is the first time he's come outing?

I give a smile of should I help, and go with "your forgetting one thing, if you eat a meal with me, I become your brother for a day. Just take a quick bite with me and they can't touch you for a day without provoking me."

As that idea hit's home behind his widening eyes, I adjusted my divine sense and can feel a wisp of divine sense from that speaker still lingering around. So I pull out a simple chair for the nobleman to sit in and gesture 'it's your move' as I cut myself another slice of meat and basically slurp it down as it instantly turn to a soft warm thick liquid in my mouth.

From the corner of my eyes I see him bow and utters "thank you for inviting me for dinner."

He acts rather shy, so that pushes the boundry of newbish further and I go for the kill "this must be new to traveling, I can see from your nervousness. I won't bite, just sit down and relax and take a bite on this" and I cut a slice off the roast and put is on a plate and hand it to him. If he was older I wouldn't bother with a plate, but nobles are kind of finicky there, so I pulled out a plate for him.

He seems grateful and offers "I heard of demonbeast chefs, but never tried any of their delicacies," and takes what appears to be a single nibble from that slab of meat.

I laughed heartily and command "that's no way it eat that, you have to bite off the biggest chunk you can to get the full effect." I watch him hesitantly comply and see his face light up in understanding and see him devour the slice in a blink of time.

He looks at me and hand out "that was the best meat ever! It melts in my mouth with such rich flavors. Then it invades my body and feel my stamina and toughness shoot up! Young Master! May I know your name?"

He's looking a little pitiful so I decide to go with "Drake..." Then I remember what my bloodline ancestor used to introduce himself in his youth. As his direct decendant I would be entitled to use it as well, so when talking to noblemen who attached to where you hail from to their names I add in "of the Northern Clans."

I seem his thinking hard but finally puts out "you must come far for I have never heard of such people." I couldn't help but think my name is spoken everywhere, where has this nobleman been hiding?

I wave that thought away and cut off another slice of meat and gulp it down with satisfaction. Then look at the shy young man try to give a confidance boost by offering "if you want more then help yourself." I head back to my chair for a drink and watch how long it take to gather his nerves to get up. I was rather surprise to see he nervously got off the chair and make he way to the roast. Then I watch him gingerly slice off some meat and timidly backs towards his seat.

As I alternate between chewing off a chunk from my thick slab of steak and taking a deep dose of the Murkavien. I watch this young man walk back and forth as he slices off several bites of meat at a time so I offer "hey, don't cut off tiny slices at a time, cut them like this" and I shake my slab of steak when I see him get up for the fifth time.

This startles him but then I see him nod in understanding and he finally cut himself a decend slab of steak. Then I see him nibble away that steak in record time and then goes "so that's how it is! I understand now young master chef!"

I got up and slice a large hunk off and place it in a temporal shift crystal and toss it to the young man and state "eat that someday and remember that you owe me one day calling me brother."

Then I pack the rest of the roast in another crystal and toss it into my ring. I call out my new flying throne and begin taking off, I glance over to the young noble and hand out "cultivate well and maybe I can collect that day." I see him and his guards cup their hands and bow deeply as I leave, but I finally see recognition is the nobleman's eyes.