Familiar Aura

In the month that followed, the leadership of Glory Sect and Elixir Sect would respond as best they could to the very real threat of the Dark Guild. Recognising that the shocking, hidden strength of their enemy was more powerful than they could pro-actively respond to in the near future, they could only grind their teeth together in frustration and bide their time before they built up enough strength to eliminate this threat once and for all.

Due to their inability to protect shipments of precious materials from Hell Mountains and Devil's Drop, they temporarily halted transport from these locations. The mining and harvesting operations continued but would be stored at the bases there, which would be reinforced with strong experts. Although this would mean that they could not enjoy the resources in the short-term, it should not affect them in the long-term, if a solution could be found for their dangerous foe.

Ning'Er hurriedly completed the Ten Thousand Demonic Beast Array and passed the seal stones with the control imprints to Ye Zong, Ye Xiu and Ye Shuo. She then took some time to guide them on how to control this array and draw out the strength best through utilising the different combinations of the abilities of the powerful demon spirits sealed within.

They were completely astounded at the defensive strength of the array! They took time to practice utilising it, using waves of the most powerful forces from the Snow Wind Family and the City Lord's private guard group to perform mock attacks trying to break through the array. When these forces did not even penetrate through the first layer of the defence, they prepared one final test.

Ning'Er stood in the middle of the array with a serious focus displayed on her face as four of the strongest experts for the Snow Wind Family stood on the outside. After sensing the immeasurable power of the Ten Thousand Demonic Beast Array, they were not going to relax even for a moment in this mock battle, and had already transformed into their demonic spirits right from the onstart.

Ye Zong became his Black Scaled Earth Dragon, a beast with a considerably potent draconic bloodline although not considered in the direct line of the noble dragon tribe. Gong Liangshu transformed into his Blood Alligator, an immensely powerful beast Ning'Er had recently battled in the Ning You City Ruins. Ye Xiu's beast shocked Ning'Er, it was a Baphomet Hellfiend from the Hell Subsidiary Realm! As she observed this demon, she recalled with a chill that the Demon Lord's spirit beast Nie Li had battled in the past was also from this realm.

And the kindly Ye Shuo, who had asked her to treat him like an uncle, revealed the cold, ruthless aura which allowed him to lead the mysterious organisation under the Snow Wind Family responsible for the less savoury activities. He transformed into a Demonweb Spider-Queen! This creature was the unchallenged master race that lorded over the underworld, a massive network of underground tunnels and caverns that actually overlapped with the St. Ancestral Mountain Range but extended far beyond.

No one from Glory City had ventured down to the dark underworld for at least a century and Ning'Er wondered where Ye Shuo had secured such a rare demon spirit as she observed the eight-legged monstrosity with razor sharp, jagged legs and its two enormous fangs, dripping with corrosive venom.

Over and over, these four demon spiritualists threw their most powerful attacks at the shifting defence that Ning'Er controlled using the variety of different demon spirits to nullify against the onslaught of varied strikes. As time went on, it began to be obvious that Ning'Er was only using a fraction of the ability of the array as she reduced the number of demon spirits progressively, and yet defended against the four experts seemingly effortlessly.

Finally, they gave up and transformed back into their human forms before they became more embarrassed that they could not overcome the relatively passive, defensive approach of Ning'Er's manipulation of the Ten Thousand Demonic Beast Array. Full of smiles, they approached Ning'Er, who was still at the center while she drew all the demon spirits back into the array.

"Absolutely amazing! This array has outperformed my wildest expectations, Ning'Er!!" Ye Zong's booming voice sounded out, unable to hide his joy. This defensive array around the City Lord's Mansion would provide an invaluable strategic rally point in the event of a major attack by the enemy, and he could tell that even Legend Ranked experts would not be able to break through from his first-hand experience facing it. Any hesitation that remained in his heart dissipated and he knew that at this point, there was no other option but Ning'Er who could be the successor for the City Lord's position.

Ye Xiu cupped his hands to the girl in front of him, "Glory City thanks you for your contribution!"

Ye Shuo and Gong Liangshu remained quiet but their ecstatic expressions did not cover up their obvious approval of the defensive strength of what they had just battled against.

Ye Zong turned to Ye Shuo and told him, "Bring Ning'Er to the City Lord's Treasury. She can choose one item from it, except for those of our Snow Wind heritage treasures. Other than that, anything is acceptable!"

With a curt nod, Ye Shuo led her to the heavily guarded vaults in the basement of the City Lord's Mansion where the treasury was located. Ning'Er couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation knowing that she would be able to see, first-hand, the greatest collection of precious items in all of Glory City, which none of the other families would be able to compete with!

She was rather disappointed as she walked around but quickly remembered that she had been exposed to treasures far beyond the capabilities of Glory City, or even the Divine Continent that it was situated on. Nevertheless, she made a show of approval to Ye Shuo as he brought her to each section filled with Legend Rank inscription scrolls, weapons and armour.

Just as she was ready to settle for a powerful inscription scroll, Ning'Er's gaze fell upon a mysterious item right at the back of the vault. It was an egg about a third the size of a millstone, bright scarlet and gold in colour with many intricate inscription patterns lining its surface. Although she had never seen anything like it before, there was a familiar bloodthirsty aura that radiated from the egg that caused her to feel a suffocating pressure.

Jindan!

So this was where Nie Li had found the powerful space-time demon beast, which had been so critical to their development and fighting strength! She had been told that Jindan had absorbed an immense amount of energy before hatching, and that it needed to be properly nurtured with spirit stones before it matured. A grown space-time demon beast would bring about abilities which would seem miraculous to those who had not encountered it!

She placed her fingers onto the inscriptions on the egg, her eyes opening wide in surprise at what she was seeing. The beautiful runes which covered the surface built upon each other, layer upon layer, and were more complex than she had ever seen before. She could feel a strange energy pulsating gently into her fingers as they drew close and quickly drew back as she realised it was the power of time mixed in with space, synergistically flowing with each other.

With her natural affinity and expertise in inscriptions, her heart throbbed with excitement as she realised that she would be able to raise her level of knowledge and application by studying the inscriptions and aura of this egg. This could mean that in future she could create inscriptions which could draw on the power of time and space, whether in talismans or equipment!

If she comprehended enough, it may even form a foundation for her to eventually comprehend the Law of Time or the Law of Space, if the appropriate opportunity presented itself. Something with how the green vine within her soul realm had responded and helped her take her first step into comprehending the Law of Wind instinctively let her know that it would be possible for her to learn the Laws faster than any normal expert.

Although she still couldn't understand why the vine had taken root within her or why it had given her another chance at life, she was discovering more and more that a key purpose inherent was to accelerate the comprehension and cultivation process of its chosen 'vessel'.

"Uncle Ye Shuo, is it acceptable that I choose this egg as my reward?" Ning'Er asked tentatively.

"You want this egg???" He looked extremely surprised. "It's been in my family for many decades but we've never figured out what demon beast it's from or even how to hatch it. Are you sure this is what you want?"

He would have thought that for any regular expert in Glory City, they would have scrambled for one of the Legend Ranked items which would have immediately raised their strength but this interesting girl had decided on a mysterious egg instead!

"Well, according to the City Lord's instructions, it's not considered one of the heritage treasures of the Snow Wind Family. You may choose it as your reward." Ye Shuo confirmed.

"Thank you!" Ning'Er replied ecstatically. Adding Jindan to the future resources she had at her disposal would greatly enhance her options and battle capability! She also looked forward to reuniting with this 'pet' that Nie Li had lovingly raised and who had become such an integral part of their team.

She went back to her assigned room in the City Lord's Mansion and decided to begin studying the layers of convoluted inscriptions on the egg, immersing her consciousness into the task as she focused on every line and curve, losing track of time as she pondered on it. Without knowing it, she entered into a deep training state as the green vine within her began to stir and make a faint connection with the demon beast within the egg, since they shared the space-time attribute.

The state of time around Ning'Er's soul began to slow down as she trained in this immersed meditative state. If someone could look into the room right now, they would see the unusual sight of what looked like churning clouds, spinning slowly around her. Even more unusual was the fact that she was fading in and out of reality, flickering into intangibility and back to tangibility as the moments went by.

By the time morning came and she awokened, she realised that although only eight hours of real time had passed, the amount of time she had cultivated for amounted to one whole month and she had even unknowingly broken through to five star Black Gold Rank just like that! This was exponentially more amazing than cultivating within the Heavenly Sacred Border and if she could trigger the phenomenon again, it would give her an unbelievable advantage.

She knew she would need to better master her understanding of time before she could trigger the strange time event again, but even in the previous night's cultivation, she had felt that she was starting to comprehend the most mysterious and complicated Laws of Time and Space. Although it was not close to the progress she had made with the Law of Wind yet, next to small white bud on the green vine, she could start to see light shades of yellow and blue on the other two buds. Given enough time and opportunities, all three buds representing the three Laws would develop and grow to dramatically strengthen her strength and abilities!

Remembering that she would need to reach Legend Rank before finally confronting the Dark Guild, she walked out looking for her friends as she thought through the next step of her plans to raise their strength.

It was time to visit the Abyss Prison Realm!