“Don’t butt in!”
Xu Xiaoshou pushed Mu Zixi’s cheeks up like he would a dog. He really wanted to just throw the Spirit Mark of Life out there. The girl would definitely chase after it without a moment’s hesitation.
However, there was the question of whether she’d bother returning the mark to him afterward.
Mu Zixi glowered at Xu Xiaoshou and kept quiet altogether.
After all, she had enough emotional intelligence to tell that Xu Xiaoshou’s previous words meant something out of the ordinary.
And when she linked them to her battle with Mo Mo, she came to remember things.
She figured that Mo Mo’s secret probably had something to do with that gap in her memories.
The two of them looked at Mo Mo after they stopped fighting. No longer able to stand the two of them staring at her, she gave in.
Mo Mo weighed her words before saying, “That thing has always been in my right arm. There’s no way anyone would know about it.”
She cradled her right arm and sensed that the thing was still there. Fortunately for all of them, it was currently dormant.
However, Mo Mo still didn’t dare to say much else.
Xu Xiaoshou didn’t pursue the matter further, as he would overstep his bounds if he did so. Fishing out secrets… umm, no. Counseling required proper guidance, after all.
He then tactfully repeated one of Mo Mo’s words. “It?”
“Yes.” Mo Mo was apparently led on to say more. Her eyes flickered with memories. “To this day, I still have no idea what its identity is, but my Innate Elemental Power was awakened because of it.”
This shocked Xu Xiaoshou.
Something capable of guiding the awakening of Innate Elemental Powers, and in such a specific direction? Just how powerful did something need to be to do something like that?
Even the likes of Elder Sang could only take his chances when the elder had given him a fire elemental power to train with when he was still at Acquired Level. And that had only amplified his chances of awakening fire elemental traits after he stepped into the Innate Level.
“Beings that are masters of the sealing element and known by name are few and far between,” Mu Zixi interjected before Xu Xiaoshou could continue trying to prompt Mo Mo. “What does Holy Emperor Fengtian have to do with you?”
“Holy Emperor Fengtian?” Mo Mo’s eyes flickered with confusion. “I don’t know.”
“You’re lying!” Mu Zixi said decidedly.
Xu Xiaoshou turned around and glowered at Mu Zixi. “What the hell is wrong with this girl?” he thought. “Who the hell interrogates people like that? What could you hope to get out of asking her such a question?
“Go slow and steady, get it?”
Mu Zixi rolled her eyes and said, “Xu Xiaoshou, what’s that look supposed to mean?”
Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.
“Signals, little sister!” he thought. “Do you know what signals are?
“Doofus!”
Then, to tell her to shut up and let him do the talking, Xu Xiaoshou simply gestured for her to zip it.
He turned around and continued gently, “Don’t mind her. That kind of person… umm, thing, I guess even if it told you its identity, you couldn’t afford to belief it wholesale.
“But, I’m sure you’ve been curious about who it is, and given how there’s no way that thing could keep an eye on you all the time, are you… sure that you’ve never looked into it?”
Mo Mo hesitated and nodded slowly. “I have.”
“Hmm?” Xu Xiaoshou then leaned forward, all ears.
He remembered how in his past life those devils in white garb back in the hospital had asked him stuff just like this.
Mu Zixi then pulled at his collar and asked exasperatedly, “What are you trying to do sticking so close?”
Xu Xiaoshou was exasperated.
“Oh my sweet little sister, could you just shut the f**k up!?” he thought. “Is it really so excruciating for you to keep quiet for just a single moment?”
Mo Mo was rather amused by these two’s interactions and replied slowly, “I’ve looked into it, and the conclusion was a rather simple one: The Demon beast.”
Demon beast?
The siblings-in-training were stunned. That was a new term that they had never heard of before.
“What’s a Demon beast?” Mu Zixi asked, feeling curious.
Xu Xiaoshou didn’t stop her from talking this time, as he’d been about to ask the same question.
Mo Mo probed the presence in her right arm and confirmed that the thing was really dormant before continuing uneasily, “You both know that the Tianxuan Gate is a small world unto itself, right?”
Both of them nodded their heads.
“The Tianxuan Gate is a training ground that was created by the Tiansang Spirit Palace’s authorities specifically for the disciples of the Inner Yard to train in,” she began.
“However, outside the spirit palace and throughout the entire continent, extradimensional spaces like that are actually abundant.”
Mo Mo paused for a bit, the continued, saying, “Most of those spaces were born naturally.”
Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow. He already knew about those extradimensional spaces, but he wondered what any of that had to do with the grey mist figure.
She then continued, “Most extradimensional spaces produce things not found throughout the continent, and those places are seen as treasured places.
“But, there is one type that isn’t, as not only does it produce things, it also produces extradimensional beings that are humanlike.
“Extradimensional beings of low intellect know nothing but destruction, but among those of high intellect, some are just as intelligent as humans.”
“The Demon beast, then?” Xu Xiaoshou then asked.
Mo Mo nodded. “Indeed. Demon beats are very hard to come by. Sometimes not even an entire extradimensional space can produce one, but when they do…” She then smiled bitterly.
Xu Xiaoshou more or less understood what she meant.
So, the demon beast wouldn’t be satisfied just going about wrecking things, then. Who wouldn’t want to have a look at the world out there, eh?
But then again, how would one get out of the extradimensional space, and could one get out? Would they be detected by the sentinels guarding such spaces when getting out?
All these questions needed answering.
There might even be demon beasts that were seen as common extradimensional beings and were just cut down by said sentinels, seeing them as nothing more but things out to wreck things.
Under such an extremely harsh living environment… any capable of making it out of the extradimensional spaces undetected and come to the continent…
Boy, just how powerful both their intelligence and combat capacity indeed!
It took mere seconds for him to finish analyzing the matter and realize that there were holes in Mo Mo’s story.
“According to what you’ve just said, you were still weak when you caught the attention of that demon beast, so how did you get into one such space, then?”
Mu Zixi eyed Mo Mo with just as much curiosity as Xu Xiaoshou.
Mo Mo smiled bitterly and asked instead, “You think only extradimensional spaces produce demon beasts, then?”
Xu Xiaoshou was baffled.
“That’s right!” he thought.
“The fact that demon beasts are found in extradimensional spaces doesn’t mean they’re not found in our world!”
Instead, those who’d been able to escape a long time ago and evade being hunted down by the spiritual cultivators would be even more unimaginably powerful!
That thought sent shivers down his spine.
Running into the grey mist figure while he was still in the Tianxuan Gate had been quite the coincidence, which meant it was bound by the rules of this small world, which prevented it from bringing about powers that were higher than Master Level.
If he’d run into it outside the Tianxuan Gate, he definitely wouldn’t have shirked from fighting it and would’ve given that pompous attitude he’d taken on after making his breakthrough.
And that attitude would’ve brought about his downfall.
Xu Xiaoshou then added yet another line to his “Tactics against Enemies.”
Grey mist figure: An enemy far more powerful than you can imagine. Only by hiding like a coward can you live long!
Right, hide like a coward.
He committed the words to memory like this was the only thing in the world important to remember. It was imperative that he never do anything rash before he was 100 percent sure of what he was doing.
He’d been lucky this time…
He let out a long sigh inwardly, and voiced his puzzlement. “Given how powerful the demon beast is, it could bring about mass destruction, eh?
“So why would those huge forces out there just let these things do as they pleased, then? Shouldn’t they have joined hands to take it down or something?”
Mo Mo sighed and answered, “The Holy Divine Palace had been pursuing it the whole time, taking a kill-on-sight policy with extreme prejudice.
“However, this caused any surviving ones to become even more careful, and when it comes to the art of hiding, do you think any are more capable than these beings?”
Xu Xiaoshou immediately realized what was going on. “So one of these remnants targeted you, then?”
She unexpectedly shook her head. “No.”
“I was probably invaded by a demon beast from an extradimensional space, making me a first-generation ‘demon beast host.'”
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou didn’t know what to say. “So we’re now back to the very beginning after all of that?” he thought.
Mu Zixi couldn’t help but ask, “First generation? So you’re saying that you actually entered an interdimensional space when you were still weak? How is that possible?”
Such spaces weren’t opened to everyone. Only those who were sufficiently powerful could gain access.
Mo Mo shook her head again. “I didn’t.”
Xu Xiaoshou and Mu Zixi were puzzled.
She’d never entered an interdimensional space and yet she was a first generation demon beast host? Was she messing with them?
“Have both of you forgotten that extradimensional space incident in Tiansang Prefecture several years ago?”
Mu Zixi looked baffled as she rummaged her memories.
Xu Xiaoshou spaced out, doing his best to recall what had happened, yet he was still unable to find any relevant information in the fragments of his faded memories.
It was Mo Mo’s turn to be speechless as she looked at the two of them.
What was with these two? Had they been living under a rock or something?
Had they really been nowhere else but the Tiansang Spirit Palace their whole lives? That event had rocked over a dozen cities and prefectures out there, it was so huge, and yet they knew nothing of it?
She was unable to take it any longer and immediately blurted:
“The White Cave!”