That was the main reason Bob Marley didn't have a problem keeping his status as the Beast Taming Faction Leader. However, very few people know about it. Elder Reliance was more like a trump card that could be pulled out in a critical moment. In the Dalamu Sect, only Mia, Tiria, and Droman knew about Reliance's Demon Beasts. Of course, we're only talking about the powerful ones.
Around a minute after Reliance heard the screams, two more Demon Beasts returned to where Reliance was staying.
One of the beasts looked like a palm-sized fiery red bird, the type that anyone would ignore even if they had noticed it. At most, some girls might find it cute. However, the fiery red bird looked at Reliance and... talked!
"Master, I got the long-haired one!"
Reliance nodded.
"I know. Good job, Zunzun!"
The bird then began to jump on Reliance's hand gleefully after receiving Reliance's words of approval.
The second demon beast was a lot bigger than the palm-sized bird. However, compared to the Dark Green Centipede that came from the ground, it was still smaller in comparison. It looked like a dark snake around three meters long. However, it had a horn protruding from its head. This was another Demon Beast that other cultivators wouldn't find in the Sasamil Empire.
"Thank you for the meal, Master. That guy's dantian was quite good."
This Dark Snake could also talk, but it gave a more refined air when compared to the energetic red bird.
Reliance also petted the Snake's head on the side.
"That's very good, Jinjin."
He then looked in the direction where those guys tried to flee earlier and asked.
"By the way, did you get rid of the bodies?"
The fiery red palm-sized bird and the Dark Snake nodded in unison.
"I burned his body to ashes after I ate his dantian."
"I dissolved him with a little bit of venom. He should be nothing more than a green pool now."
Reliance was satisfied to hear their responses.
"Great. Now, let's stay here and wait for Bilibili to come back. He will probably need quite a few more travels until he gathers enough Decaying Roots. Make sure you stay hidden so that no one finds you."
Elder Reliance's three Demon Beasts are all at the Rank Six Level! That was also why the other two cultivators fled the moment they heard the Centipede's voice.
Nana, Elder Tiria's Snow Crane, was at the peak of Rank Four. Because of that, she already had some intelligence.
At Rank Five, demon beasts' minds would finally evolve to the level of being as intelligent as humans. Of course, they will start like babies and will need a lot of time to learn. That's not a problem though since demon beasts at that rank already have long lifespans, just like cultivators at the same level of power. However, they can only convene their thoughts through Spiritual Sense Messages. If they tried to talk, only grunts and growls could be heard coming out of their mouths.
Finally, at Rank Six, a demon beast would be able to really talk without needing to use Spiritual Sense. A demon beast at this level would be the same as a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator. That shows just how terrifying Reliance is to have Three Demon Beasts at this level. Of course, he didn't tame them when they were already like this. Instead, he took his time and effort to help all three of them reach this level. Also, he really treated them as if they were his real family. Naturally, Elder Reliance was extremely important for all three of them.
Now and then, Reliance would tame other demon beasts, but he didn't keep them with him since it would be too much of a hassle. The only ones that really followed him were always these three.
In fact, Reliance was someone with outstanding talent. If he didn't spend so much time with the demon beats' issues, Mia believed that he would have entered the Soul Transformation Realm already. Of course, the Soul Transformation Realm wasn't only related to Spiritual Energy. One also had to find their own path first. Hence, Mia never tried to intervene with his own choices. After all, Reliance's own path might be related to the Demon Beasts that he loved so much.
A few hours later, the Shadow-Like Obscure Spider returned from the Profound Abyss. It then opened its mouth and spat out two small roots. Those roots seemed to have some kind of dark smoke coming from them as if they were burning. However, it was not the case. That was the effect of growing inside the Profound Abyss where Decaying Energy is constant. That was also the ingredients that Mia asked from Reliance.
"Very good, Bilibili. I need at least 10 more of this. Go back and bring them to me."
Reliance then threw another black stone to the spider, who ate it as if it was the world's best delicacy. Right after, it became a shadow that entered the ground once more and disappeared in the Profund Abyss' direction. The spider was only a Rank Three Demon Beast. However, it wasn't hard for Reliance to train it to do some simple tasks. Getting those Decaying Roots were one of them.
Reliance then looked at the direction of the Dalamu Sect and smiled.
'My little chick, I'll come back for you soon.'
Back in the Dalamu Sect, Droman had been helping Rean, teaching him all he knew about Formations. Old Worm did the same thing as he helped Roan with alchemy instead. Of course, Roan and Old Worm were totally different from Rean and Droman. Those two rarely spoke beyond the necessary words, while Rean and Droman liked to constantly talk about everything.
Other than that, Rean would spend his time checking the steelworks in the Jamaris Weapon Store. The business had been booming continuously, which brought a lot of money to Rean, the Weapon Store, and the Zafa Bank.
As for Roan, other than cultivating and alchemy, he only had to deal with the Blue Orchid District's disciples.
Of course, Rean and Roan still had the Sect's Duties to perform every now and then. That was an absolute rule that no one could escape from. Even Malaka, being the Sect Master's Disciple, had to do them.
Still, Rean and Roan didn't leave the Sect even for a second. Not that they were afraid of being pursued, but that they wanted to reach the peak of the Late Stage of the Foundation Establishment before anything else. With the unlimited supply of Rank Two Spirit Stones that Rean was getting, they simply didn't lack Spiritual Energy anymore.
Back in the communication system process, Droman had been working on the Router Formation whenever he wasn't teaching Rean. Of course, he also called Rean over every now and then to ask a few questions or to see if he could come up with some ideas. After all, this Formation was the most complicated one he had made so far.
"You see? I tried to use Lightning Beads to record the information that reaches the Formation before it gets added to the queue. At first, it was working fine. But soon, I noticed that the sequence and length of signals became disordered as I kept using the same bead. The weird thing is that there is nothing different in the Lightning Bead."
Rean couldn't understand most of the Router Formation that Droman was creating. Still, he already learned enough to understand the basics, especially the electrical signals that Droman was talking about.
"I see what's happening here. The power of the electrical signal is enough to display a message. After all, the message is not shown by the electrical part of the Formation. Instead, it's shown by the Spiritual Energy part. However, as I mentioned before, converting Electrical Energy into Spiritual Energy and then back into Electrical signal once again is not efficient at all."
"Because of that, you made an amplifier that increases the signal's power but can still keep the sequence and length of the signal. Only then would it have enough power to record the signal it has received until its time in the queue comes. However, the bead is keeping what I would like to call 'residual data.' On its own, this residual data is not enough to damage the next signals that arrive. However, because you used the amplifier, this residual data that was also made of Electrical Energy comes back."
"At first, it doesn't make any difference since it is only a few pieces of signal that make no sense. The receiving formations on the end of the line will ignore those meaningless signals. However, as more and more residual data accumulates in the Lightning Bead, the more they fight for space in the Lightning Bead itself. The Lightning Bead doesn't know which signal is right and which one is wrong, so it tries to keep everything. Naturally, it runs out of information space, which causes the problem you see."
Droman nodded his head.
"I see... so Lightning Beads seem to be a bad choice since it can't get rid of the useless information."
Rean shook his head.
"It depends. Is this Lightning Bead something created by us cultivators, or is it a natural treasure?"
"It's created by cultivators. To be more precise, it was created as a means of defense. As long as you pour enough Spiritual Energy into it, you can release an attack at the late or peak stage of the Energy Gathering Realm. To be honest, it's quite popular with the clans with the money to spend since it can be used by their weak members to defend themselves. Ah. It's registered in the Empire's bureau office as the Lightning Sect's product, just like your Steel Weapons. Also, the Zafa Bank is the one who helps them with the advertisement."
Rean nodded.
"Was this the only material capable of saving information?"
Droman shook his head.
"I still have a few more candidates that have a good chance of working better. However, they are a lot more expensive, and I mean it when I say expensive!"
Rean's eyes then shone as he showed a greedy smile.
"Then, I think it's time to buy the copyrights."