Meeting old friends

The group came back together and looked at the battlefield, and they had proud expressions on their faces like artists who had completed a masterpiece. Licht frowned, looked around, and said

"Here we go again."

Once again, they were surrounded, but instead of beasts, they were humans, or at least humanoid. Some of them had scales across their bodies and horns; others had a wisp of flame dancing above their heads and had feathers scaling across their bodies. There were different kinds of people, and they all surrounded them, pointing spears in their direction.

"Master, I thought you said this was the continent of beasts; how come there are halfkins?" Sloane asked

"Those are not half-kins. They are beasts that have the ability to take human form. It is a skill called polymorph." Licht replied to his disciple.

Julius and Frances were already planning on attacking when Tenebrea spoke.

"Keep your weapons back and don't resist." The group except Licht were surprised, but since they saw that even Licht did not disagree with her, they kept their weapons back.

A middle-aged man with two black horns and scales on his neck and the back of his hand came out; he had a tail that was as thick as a leg. He said, "You are trespassing on the Holy beast's continent. Seeing how you killed several beasts, including gold beasts, I can tell you all are very strong, but our continent is also not something to be trifled with. Go back to whence you came, or you will be the enemy of all of the holy beast."

Licht laughed, 'So that guy calls himself a holy beast now?'

"YOU TRASH!!! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO?" A voice resounded like thunder. All the polymorphed beasts fell to their knees, as the pressure from the voice alone was terrifying.

The disciples also felt threatened by the pressure of the voice, as the aura from the voice felt ancient and powerful.

Licht smiled as that aura felt familiar to him.

"BRING THEM TO THE EMPIRE," The voice said, disappearing after speaking.

The group looked at Licht, and he nodded.

They were all carted to the empire, and what they saw was quite a sight.

Walls that were made of gold and spanned kilometers. The walls were over 200 meters high, with soldiers at every corner. The group was baffled as they stared at such a sight.

The lead soldier saw their faces like village bumpkins and felt proud.

"This is the only group of beasts living together that came together to form a hierarchy. Welcome to the holy beast's empire."

As they got close to the wall, there was a statue of a giant tortoise with a snake for a tail. Just the presence of the tortoise was overwhelming.

"This is one of our emperors. Emperor Xuan Wu. There are also three other emperors and empresses. We don't know how our leaders did it, but one day they decided to come together and form what we have before us today. I dare say we are the strongest superpower in this world." He said proudly:

"That's a bold claim," Julius muttered.

"Bold claim, you say? I have heard of the Demon and Vampire clans of the Daemon's continent. The church of Xoxoqui and the orc empire of the Gregorian continent, but none of them have our level of strength, and that is a fact." The lead soldier looked at Scarlet, Sloane, Julius, and the rest as he said disdainfully.

Julius still felt doubtful and looked at Licht, who just smiled at him with a sly expression. Julius gulped as he finally seemed to understand the strength of the Holy Beast empire.

They got into the huge empire, and they were once again surprised by the sights. Human-like beings and beasts were walking side by side without a threat to life. The lead soldier led them to a formation and told them all to get on.

"This looks like the formation Master used to teleport the demon clan members." Sloane observed.

"It is a scaled-down version. They can only teleport a small number of people, not a large number." Tenebrea replied. It would have been difficult for Amphy to have gotten on the formation due to its huge size, but it also learned how to shrink, and now it hung around Gayatri's neck as a serpent.

"On the entire Daemon continent, I had never seen a transmission formation, but on this continent, I am finding out they are everywhere to ensure easy travel." Frances said in astonishment.

The group got onto the formation, and instantly they were teleported to a different location. They were used to moving from one point to another in space, so they did not feel different.

They looked around and noticed a big building. It had four towers, and in the center was a big castle. The lead soldier, who was in charge of leading them, told them to follow him. He walked towards the big castle that was made of literal gold and kept shining like a magnificent divine castle.

After walking in the castle for a few minutes and seeing so many dazzling sights, they grew dull and no longer expected anything more stunning than what they saw. Finally, they reached the throne room, where in the center were four thrones of different sizes.

On the biggest throne sat a dark-skinned man who was practically a giant. He was basically four meters tall and was filled with muscles all over, yet he still looked appealing. He had scales on his neck and arms. His palms and feet were actually claws, and he was fitted with a huge pair of wings and a girthy tail. His horns were golden, and they were the same color as his eyes.

The second-biggest throne was occupied by a woman who had the fairest skin. She had animal ears, and her hands and feet had white fur and claws. She smiled, and her fangs showcased that she was definitely a predator.

On the third throne was a fat old man who had a long neck, and he held a cane that looked like a snake. His entire presence was like that of a benevolent old man.

The final throne had a little petite girl who had an aura of flames; she sat on the throne, licking a lollipop, and looking at Tenebrea.

Before anyone could speak, the big, dark-skinned man stood up and walked towards Licht. Giving him a huge hug, he said, "Aniki, I knew you wouldn't die just like that."

The disciples were surprised. When they saw the burly man walking in their direction, the pressure emitting off of him was enough to make them kneel, but they all fought it, and now seeing that man lift up their master and cry like a baby was not a sight they had expected to see.

The little lollipop girl and the fat man also stood up and said, "Lady Tenebrea, I see you have been well. We had our doubts, but when Ao Long did not lose faith in the man who fought alongside you, we had to keep up our faith too."

The predator lady with the white fur walked towards Licht and said, "My ancestor mentioned you and said we should be very respectful to you."

The entire group was now flabbergasted. These people emitted pressure that they did not actively feel from their masters.

"Ao Long, can you please put me down now? You're leaving me in an embarrassing position in front of my disciples."

The man known as Ao Long exclaimed and dropped Licht while trying to fix his clothes. He then looked at the group and went towards them, saying, "Aniki's disciples are my disciples. Give Uncle a hug."

He lifted everyone of them, including Gayatri and even the beasts like Fenrir, who was in puppy form. It was a very embarrassing sight.

"Ehehm, some of them are my disciples, dragon." Tenebrea cleared her throat.

The little girl and old man raised their eyebrows, and all gathered around the group, including the white-furred lady.

"Awww, y'all are so cute."

"We have so many gifts for you, disciples."

"I am not a disciple. I am papa's and mama's daughter," Gayatri said with puffed cheeks.

"Oh my! Aniki had a daughter?"

"She does have his aura. She's so adorable."

The disciples were all helpless and looked to their masters to save them from this predicament, as they seemed like monkeys on display in a zoo.

"Okay, Okay. Stop scaring them and introduce yourselves." Licht said exasperatedly.

Oh, where are our manners?" They all stood straight, looking majestic.

"My name is Ao Long. I am the Dragon of the East." The giant said.

"My name is Hu Feng. I am the Vermillion bird of the south," The little loli said.

"My name is Bai Laohu. I am the White tiger of the West." The white-furred lady smiled.

"I am the great Xuan Wu, and I am the Black tortoise of the north," The old man said with pride.

The disciples had no idea what these things meant, but when they heard Ao Long was an actual dragon, they all had starry eyes. A dragon was merely a legend, a myth that did not exist, and yet here stood one. A full-blooded dragon.

Licht explained to the four of them what they were here for, and Ao Long brought out two cores, one dark red and the other golden. They were the last fragments needed to reach their full power.

Licht also explained to his disciples how he and Ao Long met, as did Tenebrea.

So apparently, when Licht was young, he sailed to the Holy Beast continent. He came across the dragon clan, but they weren't really dragons. They were beasts that had the bloodline of dragons. Ao Long was the one with the purest bloodline, and when he fought against Licht, he lost, so since then he chose to take Licht as his older brother, but since Licht did not have a name, he chose to call Licht "Aniki".

Licht stayed on the continent for a couple of years and then left, but Ao Long never forgot him. Several thousand years later, he looked in the sky and recognized Licht fighting a being that made him shiver in fright. Knowing this was a battle in which he could not interfere, he watched in fear as he saw Licht fall in an unknown direction. He felt sad, thinking his older brother had died. He trained hard and finally became a full dragon, but it was too late. He later met the group, and they decided to form the empire.

Meanwhile, Tenebrea met Hu Feng and Xuan Wu on a trip when she came to the continent too, several years after Licht. Hu Feng was a vermillion bird, meaning she was immortal. She would die and reincarnate over and over and retain her memories, but she had recently reincarnated, and her strength was slowly increasing when she was being attacked by the beasts. Tenebrea saved her and took her under her protection. They moved together for a few years when they came across this middle-aged tortoise that was a trickster and liked pranks. After Tenebrea beat some sense into him, he relented and also journeyed with them. Tenebrea, too, like Licht, had to leave. Watching Tenebrea and the silver-haired man fight against that being was difficult; it became even harder when they saw both of them lose, but they still held hope. They continued their journey and met Ao Long, holding hope that their friend and mentor would be alive. The last person to join the group was a white tiger that was male.

The white tigers were not immortal, but they had a special skill where they could pass their cultivation to an offspring, so they always selected a good offspring after they went through a series of tests. The latest offspring was Bai Laohu.

The group listened, and Licht made it known that they could stay here for a while as the disciples increased their cultivation in preparation for the final battle.

Licht and Tenebrea did not use the last fragment because they were sure that once they broke through the barrier, the being they fought would wake up, and their disciples were not ready to be involved in such a battle.