103 Sovereign Beas (2/2)
As the second night came to an end, Hei Gou's eyes finally fluttered open. The already handsome guy was even more handsome than he had been before.
It was as if he had shed his old body and gotten a new one created from pure jade. He was picturesque and reminded Xue Wei of a statue of some god of beauty.
Xue Wei was stumped for words when he saw Hei Gou wake up. He said nothing. Instead, he just smiled and felt relieved.
”What on earth are you?” Although Xue Wei was quiet, Hei Gou was not.
”You are definitely not human, some sort of mutation has happened to me! My bloodline, although noble and being a Celestial Dog, has improved in purity! I am not far from a dragon right now when it comes to the purity of my blood! In fact, I think my beast shape has changed slightly too!”
”Purity? What are you talking about?” Xue Wei asked curiously. He had never spoken with a Primordial Beast before, so he did not know how exactly the beasts determined their ranks.
”Beasts are split into various groups, but what determines what group a beast belongs to is actually the purity of their blood.”
”When the world was created, the beasts and humans were created with it. The humans were mortals but were taught the miracle of cultivation. But although this was the case, the beasts reigned supreme because of one thing that made them superior.”
”Back then, Mortal Beasts, Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts were not the only kinds of beasts. Back then, there were also Sovereign Beasts.”
”Sovereign Beasts are the ones with the purest blood. Their blood is sacred to any other beast. I am not sure why, but there was a great mystery behind the blood of the Sovereign Beasts. Unfortunately, all of them perished long ago, so they have become myths by now.”
”The Sovereign Beasts were, according to legends, donating their blood to the other beasts, to help them gain enlightenment.”
”I am not exactly sure what this enlightenment is, but it was a sacred ritual. The blood of the Sovereign Beasts would be infused into our ancestors, and this is what had determined the purity of the descendants.”
”Many families decided to make arranged marriages with the ones of the highest purity of blood to safeguard their legacies.”
”My family, although mainly consisting of Celestial Dogs, has multiple branches within it, like the families of most other beasts.”
”I am from a very mediocre group of Celestial Dogs; the blood purity of my family is rather low, and my prospects are also limited.”
”Even if I died, no one in my family would care, not even my parents would bat an eyelid at the fact that I would perish.”
”Since this is the case, why not screw those who do not care for me and follow the only person who ever showed me consideration? Who cares if I am going to follow a human? That is better than being alone for the rest of my life.”
Xue Wei listened to Hei Gou's speech and his eyes bulged slightly.
”Wait, wait, wait,” he said as he raised an arm and looked at Hei Gou. ”I have never before heard about Sovereign Beasts. What are they?”
”I do not know much, but I know a few rumors and legends. Let me tell you about them. They are the supreme sovereigns of this world. They are four races, the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the Black Tortoise, and the White Tiger. These four races of beasts all safeguarded an area of the world. One in the north, one in the south; one in the east and one in the west.”
”These four races were towering above any other, and they were the main reason why the beasts reached their peak of strength.”
”What happened to them? No one knows. Some rumors say that they transcended mortality and rose to the heavens, others claim that they went extinct because too many beasts tried to absorb their blood, and yet some are certain that they are still alive this day today, living in hiding somewhere in the midst of the vast world's most dangerous regions.”
”I think that the higher-ups of the Primordial Beast rankings are aware of what happened to them, but someone as lowly as myself will never be told,” Hei Gou sighed.
”When I was a small pup, my mother would tell tales about the Sovereign Beasts and our time of glory, back when humans were livestock and slaves.”
”I listened intently, not because I felt superior, and felt that humans were supposed to be our slaves, but because the Sovereign Beasts seemed like the most sacred creature I had ever heard of.”
Hei Gou's handsome face twisted slightly into melancholy as he was reminded of his childhood.
”Truth be told, I ran away from home,” he sighed after a bit of time. ”I was nothing more than a chess piece to my parents. Much like how human youths are sent to the battlefield to fight against Primordial Beast and the beast hordes, the Primordial Beasts are similarly sent to the battlefield to fight against humans.”
”I was tasked to go hunt down a Primordial Beast Hunter of the Heavenly Warrior rank. I, someone with the strength equivalent to, at most, a Sky Warrior, was sent to my death.”
”The moment I got the order, I ran away. I was never chased. I think they did not care since a Primordial Beast with my strength will never survive for long alone.”
Xue Wei said nothing; he just looked up into the crowns of the trees above them. Hei Gou also remained quiet as he reminisced about his past.
”My uncle is Xiao Lei,” Xue Wei finally said after a long time. ”He is a famous Primordial Beast Hunter.”
”I have no parents, nor memories of my early life. All I know is that when I was around ten years old, my father died due to an attack by a Primordial Beast. Before that, my mother had already died.”
”This is what my uncle told me. Although this is the case, I never felt sad or felt like I was lacking anything. I was loved dearly, but now I start to fear: what will I do if one day I stand face to face with my uncle again, and what will I do if he is going to hunt me down like all the other Primordial Beast Hunters? Can I really fight him?”