The beast cores had formed a hexagonal shape connected by rings of light, and Anthony was simultaneously absorbing them all using the one in his hands as a medium. The beast howled again, this time it was getting closer. The shadow of the sun was quickly fading in the horizon. Once it got darker, all kinds of beasts, ghosts and walking corpses would arise in the perilous lands, wandering around in search of victims. And that was exactly what Anthony was hoping to avoid. But he entered a trance and lost track of time, making him unable to notice what was happening around him.

Seven of the beast cores crushed at the same moment, turning to powder. The energy inside them had been expended before others since they belonged to lower ranked beasts. The ring of light mended itself and Anthony continued to absorb the energies emanating from the beast cores.

After a while, twenty one more shattered. The speed at which Anthony absorbed the energy from the beast cores had increased significantly. The process kept repeating itself, till only emperor ranked beast cores were left. The emperor ranked beast cores shone like gems in the dark night. There were of different colors and appearance, unique to each type of beast.

Without knowing it, purple, red, black and green lines began to appear on Anthony's body. The emperor ranked beast cores does not just bear the energy of the beasts, it carries their auras and ability, in addition to their murderous and demonic emotions. So absorbing and filtering the energy to avoid the intake of negative energy was much harder.

Anthony opened his eyes to reveal a dark red color which looked nothing like his normal self. The moment he opened his eyes, the energy surging out from the emperor ranked beast cores formed a tornado and oozed into his body.

His chest immediately felt suffocating and he opened his mouth instinctively to gasp for air as the energy madly churned around in his body. He was half conscious, but somehow, he had the presence of mind to know that it was already nightfall and he needed to leave.

He forced himself to open his eyes and a warm liquid came up to his throat. He spat it out and was horrified to realize that it was blood. The dark energy from the beast cores had harmed his body, probably due to the fact that towards the end, he didn't filter and extract the negative aura properly. He had originally wanted to absorb only the beast essence while filtering out the poisonous and negative energies. But during the time he was half conscious, some managed to find their way into his body.

"The energy is so fierce." He muttered, shaking his head to regain clarity.

However, it was no use. He was muddle headed, and the place kept spinning before his eyes.

He tried to find his way back to the ancestral hall but couldn't tell the road apart. He couldn't see anything and he kept staggering around till he returned to his initial position and collapsed.

The noises of creatures approaching multiplied, but Anthony was too far gone to notice. At that moment, the bracelet the god Lan Xuanyu offered to him emitted a bright blue light and encased him. Lan Xuanyu's silhouette appeared behind him, and a strand of light left the bracelet and formed into a knife. The knife immediately went to the dead creatures and extracted some important organs and bones and the blue light also formed a huge egg shape and a little bowl shaped partition appeared beside Anthony. The floating bones and organs which were cut out by the knives formed from the blue light gathered in the bowl shaped partition, storing them.

The blue light immediately carried Anthony up, and he floated to the ancestral hall where Hua Cheng's temple was located through a series of short cuts. After ten minutes, he returned to the temple through the back door, and the blue light gently set him down between Lan Xuanyu's statue and Hua Cheng's statue. There was a very tiny string of light that extended from either of the statues and were connected to the ball of light protecting Anthony. And it was the tiny strings of light that guided him back.

One of the strings of light pulled an old wooden bowl closer, and deposited the bone from the demonic beasts into it while the other string of white light made sure that all the doors were properly shut.

After a while, the cocoon made of blue light disappeared, leaving just the bracelet. However, the bracelet was still pulsing with a bright light. A voice sighing could be heard around him. But soon, everything went quiet, except for the gentle sounds of his breathing from where he lay, peacefully sleeping between the two statues.

*****

SOMEWHERE IN A MYSTERIOUS ISLAND IN THE CELESTIAL REALM

Lan Xuanyu was still sitting before the mirror formation, watching Anthony as he slept. Hua Cheng lightly patted his shoulder, drawing his attention away from the sleeping Anthony.

"You seem to care about this little mortal too much. Yes, he's full of potential. But the world never lacks geniuses. What the cultivation realm do not lack the most are geniuses. Whether from the demon realm, nine heavens, or the celestial zone, geniuses are always abundant. Why do you care about this one so much? You never care about other people, but you have been paying the boy lots of attention, even telling him jokes and petting him. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you had special feelings for him."

Lan Xuanyu chuckled.

"Don't talk nonsense. My special feelings are only reserved for you."

"Then what about your Xiao gege? What feelings do you have for him?" Hua Cheng asked, caressing Lan Xuanyu's smooth jaw.

"You're right indeed. There are geniuses everywhere and I don't give a fuck about them. But Xiao gege is indeed special. I do like him." He whispered with a smile. He looked up at Hua Cheng.

"A'Cheng, don't you feel his aura is familiar? Truly, and clearly familiar."

Hua Cheng frowned at this point as he looked at the mirror showcasing the sleeping Anthony.

"I do feel his aura and attitude is a bit familiar."

Lan Xuanyu's eyes brightened up on hearing that.

"You still remember that person, right?"

Hua Cheng shook his head in the negative.

"Although, I feel as if his energy is familiar, I can't seem to recall exactly who it was. The memories are hazy, and I'm afraid of opening it."

Lan Xuanyu smiled and nodded.

"In your heart, you know, but you're too afraid to admit it because you don't want to revisit that pain. This only proves it."

He looked at Anthony and smiled.

"Doesn't he remind you of someone special? He looks like my little brother. Their auras are the same, and he's equally naughty like A'Tian."

Hua Cheng caressed his hair to comfort him.

"It has been nearly a thousand years, but you still can't forget him."

"Hua Cheng, but you know it's true. He feels like our little brother—my little brother. Their auras aside, he also has the same primordial physique type, albeit dormant." Lan Xuanyu whispered desperately, holding Hua Cheng's hand as if begging him to agree with him.

"You mean Long Tian?" Hua Cheng whispered, looking at Anthony's reflection in shock as the memories finally pieced together.

"That's right, I have this gut feeling that he's my younger brother, Long Tian. He's Long Tian's reincarnated form." Lan Xuanyu whispered, holding Hua Cheng's clothes.

Hua Cheng sighed and patted his shoulders.

"You miss him too much. He…"

"No. It's him. Have I ever told you I saw someone I thought was my brother in the past thousand years? He looks innocent and naive as he once was before his first awakening. However, it seems his first awakening came late because he lived among mortals and only recovered a bit of his powers due to an emotional shock. His cultivation speed and ease of absorbing any kind of energy is equally the same, or a little bit poorer. And most importantly, he has the Heavenly Dao primordial dragon physique."

"What? He doesn't." Hua Cheng said with a smile, examining Anthony through the mirror.

"He does. I know my brother the best. The first form of the physique is Heavenly Dao imperial dragon physique which will be activated after his first awakening. And as his cultivation increases, he will unlock the inner power, the primordial version which is his true ability. Don't you remember? He was on the verge of awakening the primordial version when the immortal demon emperor and his legion of demonic generals ambushed him. He wasn't able to reach his peak before his tragic demise in his bid to keep the ancient demon Lord from awakening. My brother, he would have reached that legendary realm if I arrived on time."

Hua Cheng sighed and hugged Lan Xuanyu tightly. "You're doing it again, blaming yourself for Long Tian's death. We were equally caught up in an ambush and did our best to arrive on time. Besides, his soul shards were not found. He's probably recuperating somewhere, molding a new physical body for himself. A'Yuan, Long Tian's death is not your fault. It's not your fault at all."

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