The Future Leading Race

"I'll let you live, but you're all my subordinates from now on. Be lucky I didn't slaughter you all just now, considering you might be members of the future leading race." Xiang Xiang waved the cross blade in the air near the demon girl.

The demon girl was panicking before but heaved a sigh of relief as sweat rolled down her purple skin.

"C-Can you please remove y-your weapons from my comrades' bodies?" The demon girl spoke in a tone of urgency as she watched Jelvin struggle under Xiang Xiang's weapons.

He was still shouting in pain.

Xiang Xiang turned to look at Jelvin, and with a simple wave of her hand, the rapiers pierced through his body completely disappeared.

They all uncondensed and became regular Evil Qi.

She then turned to look at Luciana, the big sister demon who still had an angry look on her face.

She waved her hand and the rapier embedded in Luciana's leg disappeared as well.

Xiang Xiang then turned to ask,

"Why are you all in this forest anyway." To the demon trio, it felt more like Xiang Xiang was demanding an answer rather than her asking a question.

Luciana spoke up first.

"Jelvin said he discovered a treasure within this forest. Since we live in the Ashen Mountains, which is nearby, we decided to come check this forest to see if Jelvin's words were true..." Luciana gritted her teeth as she wrapped a piece of bandage around her leg.

Jelvin was also doing the same.

He was frantically ripping the bandages from his chest and wrapping them around his shoulders and legs to stop the bleeding.

He was too afraid to even look at Xiang Xiang after what she did and how easily she handled him.

After Luciana finished wrapping her wound, she asked a question.

"Now that I've answered your question and Dina surrendered, can you tell us what you mean by future leading race? You keep saying it yet you haven't told us anything about it."

Though she was afraid of Xiang Xiang, Luciana still wanted answers to her own questions.

Xiang Xiang looked at Luciana for a moment before answering.

"Do you all know what the Guidao Shen Heart is?"

"No..."(Dina)

"No."(Luciana)

"..."(Jelvin)

"...The Guidao Shen Heart signifies a world epoch and the changing of the leading race of the world. Not only that, the hero of this era will appear. So I just made the assumption that you all were a part of the future leading race.

Actually, what's your race?"

Hearing this answer, all three of the demons grew angry yet they didn't are say anything rude to Xiang Xiang.

'Are you kidding me? You almost killed us all because you thought we were a part of some future leading race?!'

Jelvin, in particular, was furious but when he remembered what Xiang Xiang did to him he became slightly passive.

'This woman is crazy. Attacking people based on a stupid assumption...'

Luciana was gritting her teeth silently as numerous thoughts and insults rampaged her mind.

Dina, on the other hand, was sitting on the ground with a frustrated face. She wanted to curse Jelvin because he led them to danger, but she knew it wasn't all his fault.

All of this was the cause of the crazy woman holding the large cross blade.

'I can't even sneak attack her...Her sword skill is amazing and I've never seen anything like it. I will definitely die if I try something foolish.' Dina was calculative, but she couldn't find any solution to their current dilemma.

"W-Were from the demon race, specifically the Gaphom race..." Dina hesitantly said. She felt ashamed when she mentioned this because of the way her race acted.

The majority of her race was extremely prideful and adventurous, and she was of that type as well. Though, she was more subtle with her pride and didn't act high and mighty towards everyone she met.

Dina knew based on previous experiences that being prideful and arrogant in front of the wrong person would lead to death, just like today.

If she acted out of line in front of this mysterious woman, then they'd all die within seconds.

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief after realizing she avoided imminent death.

"What exactly is the Gaphom race?" Xiang Xiang asked. She didn't have any recollection of the Gaphom race, or rather, the previous owner of her body didn't.

Dina quickly responded.

"We, the Gaphom race are known for our horns that curve upward. I was told by my father that male Gahpom are amazing at physical combat and female Gaphom are amazing in comprehending the elements..." Dina spilled all she knew about her own race, which was surprisingly little.

Xiang Xiang looked at her for a moment before looking at Luciana and then back at her.

"If female Gaphom are amazing at comprehending the elements, then why are you two using weapons?" Xiang Xiang found this entire situation slightly confusing after Dina explained to her what her race was.

Both Dina and Luciana's faces turned tomato red as Dina began rubbing her right arm. They were both embarrassed for some unknown reason.

"Why are you both looking like that? Is it an insult to say something like that to a female Gaphom or something?" The only one who didn't have such a look on their face was Jelvin.

He looked slightly ashamed before hesitantly speaking up.

"M-My...My sister and Dina are not good at comprehending the elements at all...T-They were kicked out of our tribe and I accompanied them."

Xiang Xiang covered her mouth as she recalled what Jelvin said.

'How are they not good at comprehending the elements when their female Gaphom? Unless Dina's father didn't know what he was talking about...'

"Sigh...Anyways, now that that's out of the way, allow me to ask you all a few questions."

"W-What is it...?"(Dina)

"..."(Luciana and Jelvin)

"Have any of you heard of the Billowing Clouds Sect?" As Xiang Xiang said this, Dina looked like someone had poured cold water over her while she was sleeping.

She had a surprised yet fearful expression on her face.

"Why do you want to know about the Billowing Clouds Sect?" Luciana said, the previous embarrassment on her face was completely gone.

She had a solemn look on her face as she asked the question.

As if she realized something, a shocked expression appeared on her face as she quickly corrected herself.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that the Billowing Clouds Sect is something we don't like to talk about often..." She quickly responded.

"Why? Did someone from within the sect do something to you all?" Xiang Xiang felt more interested in the sect than before after hearing Luciana's response. It was clear that they had a run-in with someone from the sect.

Not to mention, Xiang Xiang was already greatly intrigued after hearing the conversation of the two disciples from the sect the other day.

Apparently, there are people at a higher level than the 2nd Stage of the Foundation Building Realm within the Billowing Clouds Sect.

This itself wasn't what intrigued Xiang Xiang.

It was how they were advancing to that stage.

She could advance so quickly because of the Demon Lotus, though, she would still have gotten to the 5th Stage sooner or later.

But she knew that the magical beasts within this forest were too much for the people around the forest like the villagers.

So the only answer was either that there were weaker magical beasts somewhere that could be harvested for their monster cores easily.

Or, the Billowing Clouds Sect had something that could enhance the cultivation speeds of the disciples of the sect.

When thinking about it, a grin appeared on Xiang Xiang's face. She didn't plan on sharing the Demon Lotus with anyone, let alone the villagers.

So it would be extremely beneficial to her and her subordinates' development if she could get her hands on another treasure.

"Do you know where the Billowing Clouds Sect is located exactly?" Asked Xiang Xiang. She looked intently at Luciana while asking, which put Luciana under a lot of pressure.

"I do, the Billowing Clouds Sect is located within the Ashen Mountains too. The only thing is, it's located on top of one of the 4 great mountains. It's said that to reach the summit of any of the great mountains, it takes more than a month."

Luciana reluctantly replied.

It was evident to her that Xiang Xiang planned on making a visit to the Billowing Clouds Sect.

"I'll go to that place once I'm strong enough. I'm sure I could be squashed easily by some of the higher-tier disciples within the sect right now." Xiang Xiang's words gave Luciana peace of mind and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Jelvin on the other hand was curious.

"W-Why do you plan on visiting the Billowing Clouds Sect? They don't like Gaphoms, and they hate people who cultivate Evil Qi..." Jelvin's response may have sounded rude, but it was just him asking his question.

He knew that he could possibly be in trouble by saying something like this, but he didn't want to go to that place at all.

Just going there would lead to all of their deaths.

"They obviously have something valuable that's helping their disciples cultivate quickly. The Qi in this place isn't so good after all, and it would take a normal mortal more than 5 years to get to the 1st Stage of the Foundation Building Realm."

Jelvin looked at Xiang Xiang strangely before asking another question.

"Don't you know the history of this area outside of the Ashen Mountains?"

Xiang Xiang looked puzzled.

"History?"