Uncharted Territory

In the midst of the Verdant Mist forest that starts at the Serpent mountains and reaches the Zephyr plains, was a place known as the Elderstone Sanctuary. This place was an ancient meeting ground where all the leaders of all the beastkin tribes, clans, and cities would gather. There were massive stones of all sizes and shapes, haphazardly arranged and covered in runes and carvings.

The whole venue was circular, and in the center there were a few larger stones that acted as a platform with an old man leaning on a cane. The sanctuary was currently full of beastkins, some where sitting, others were standing, some in human form, and others in beast form. Unlike the younglings on Sun & Moon island, no one chose a hybrid form, but everyone knew the man standing in the middle.

"Elder Shenlong", everyone greeted the old man in an uncoordinated manner.

"Greetings to all the chieftains, leaders, and elders of the beastkin nation", Elder Shenlong said.

It appeared that he did not try to speak loud, but used his essence to make sure he was heard.

"It has been a few hundred years since the last time I visited here, and I see many familiar faces", Shenlong smiled at everyone, "As well as a few new faces."

No matter what form the audience took, they all made a small gesture of respect towards the tortoise beastkin.

Elder Shenlong continued, "As always, when we hold this gathering, it is usually after a great event or disturbance. I can already see that many are confused or angry about things we witnessed or were a part of recently. I will call forth the first speaker so that we all might gain insight of these events. The newly appointed Commander Fangrider has come in the place of Commander Proudmaw, please come to the stage."

A large husky as large as a pony quickly made its way towards the elder. It once again gestured towards the elder in respect before facing the audience.

In a deep and angry voice, it spoke, "I am here today because beastkin who we thought to be allies, turned against us to work with humans."

The audience immediately responded by becoming noisy as they heard Fangrider's words, but a slight pressure from the elder tortoise returned things to normal.

Fangrider was pleased with the reaction, so he continued, "Commander Proudmaw was killed by humans, but he gained the help of the Bloodclaws and merfolk, and we demand compensation."

Half of the attention of the crowd stayed on Fangrider, while the other half turned towards Chief Bloodclaw. The latter rose, and made his way towards the stage in a way that suggested he knew this would happen. Once he was standing next to Elder Shenlong, the old man looked at him.

"Chief Jaeger Bloodclaw, what do you say about this accusation?", Shenlong inquired.

"While I was not the one that killed Commander Proudmaw", Jaeger remarked, "I was present when it happened."

The Wolf lord wanted to say more, but as he predicted, the sanctuary was once against noisy.

"I think it would be better to show everyone what we have been dealing with", Chief Bloodclaw produced his Qphone from his bag before displaying a frozen image, "It is unknown when the first altar room was found, but the all have been found now."

The image split into thirteen rooms with altars and murals, and each one highlighted a certain animal.

"At first glanced, it would seem that these were left behind by past ancestors to grant opportunities to those who found it", Bloodclaw narrated, "But it was all a ruse. Every room carried a stone that housed a core of an ancient beast, but the stone carried malicious intentions. The stone would call out to those whose blood essence was close to their own. Once it was found, it would instruct the holder on how to quickly gain strength. Once the holder no longer was needed, the ancient core in the inside would forcefully drain the holder of their essence, and wait for the next victim. The ultimate goal of the ancient core was to absorb even essence to be reborn."

As Jaeger Bloodclaw spoke, several scenes were displayed of the ancient beasts as they appeared to defend themselves. When he spoke the last line, the crowd dissolved into howls and discussions again.

"Unfortunately for Commander Proudmaw, he had found the Stone of the Dog", Chief Bloodclaw spoke again once things quieted down, "And as you see here, he had no problems sacrificing thousands of his own kind for his ambitions."

The scenery changed to the land around the commander's house, where mass graves and bodies were scattered throughout.

Commander Fangrider immediately shouted, "Do you have no decency that you will slander the dead?"

"Commander Fangrider, you seemed surprised by this?", the wolf lord responded, "Do not tell me no one had investigated the late commander's land because even now if you go there, you will find this."

Jaeger Bloodclaw looked surprised at Fangrider because it seemed the latter was genuinely unaware of this predicament.

"As I have said before, I did not kill Proudmaw", Chief Bloodclaw stated, "He died when the ancient beast core he carried decided to drain him of his essence and summon itself forth into the world."

The next image was taken during the battle when the three headed dog used the commander's body to summon itself.

"Where are these stones now?", Fangrider questioned, "If they are what you say they are, should not we be sealing them away?"

"Destroyed", Bloodclaw answered, "Daoist Wei Huoran, disciple of the Sage that sits on Sun God island, said that his master used the stones in a trap against the Dragon Emperor of the central sea."

Another image was shown as giant explosion was displayed from a far vantage point. When all the beastkins in attendance saw the scale of the attack, all of them grew quiet. Even Elder Shenlong grew solemn when he considered the amount of damage that attack could cause on their continent.

"I do bring more good tidings to everyone, but I must ask Commander Fangrider if he is satisfied with my explanation", Jaeger Bloodclaw said to the dog beastkin.

"Before I accept this, I must ask if anyone here can bear witness to the words of Chief Bloodclaw?", Fangrider asked the crowd.

He knew it was a rude thing to do, but he was no ready to relent yet.

Suddenly, several beastkin were seen moving and gathered on the stage next to the wolf lord. This included Chief Razortalon, Lady Auburn, Chief Ironclaw, Clan leader of Whitetail, as well as the leaders of the Hawks, Falcons, Crows, Sheep, Horses, and Yaks. One by one, each leader testified for Jaeger Bloodclaw as they spoke about the battle against the gorgon, or the defense against the Hellboar. Jaeger's Qphone also showed moments of each fight, and how each person was involved with it.

At this point, even Elder Shenlong no longer doubted the words of the wolf lord.

He turned towards Commander Fangrider, "Commander, are you convinced by the witnesses that have stepped forth?"

Everyone could see that Fangrider wanted to continue to be stubborn, but the beastkin commander relented, "Yes, I have no reason to doubt the leaders of so many honorable tribes."

Elder Shenlong clapped his hands, "I believe that should satisfy everyone's curiosity or interest in the events of the last few years. Next on the agenda, we will hear from Chief Razortalon."

The eagle lord proudly stayed on stage as everyone else returned to their seats.

"Elders, chieftains, friends, I want to explain to everyone several interesting pieces of information the could be beneficial to you", Razortalon said, "As someone who has investigated the wonders of Sun God island for many years now, I can attest to the opportunities you can grasp if you keep an open mind."

The reaction among the audience was mixed as some seem to view Razortalon's word with interest, while others seemed dismissive, and a few scowled.

Razortalon showed his Qphone to everyone, "This artifact you see here is more amazing than you ever imagined. I can save and displaying images, speak with others no matter their location, as well as other functions. Also, they have raised spiritual plants and livestock of the highest quality, and shared their methods with us. They have developed revolutionary new ways for our younglings to grow stronger faster."

"How could there be something so good?", a tall, petite woman in yellow robes heckled Razortalon.

"This is the same place to killed the Dragon emperor, do you really have to doubt my words?", Razortalon replied, "How about this? Send your ten most untalented younglings down there for a full season, and when they return, tell me if your doubts still exist."

Razortalon spent the next few minutes explaining some of the things to expect if they send or visit the island themselves.

"Now let me end with the final reason for this gathering", Razortalon announced, "Please gaze upon this."

Razortalon commanded his Qphone, and a giant image of the Shuo continent was displayed for everyone.

"This is the land we all share", the eagle lord exclaimed, "And now let me show you the world."

The floating image changed as the flat image changed into a sphere, and the lone continent became smaller as the other two continents appeared as well. But what shocked everyone the most was when the globe was finished, not only was the three continents they were aware of shown, but also the two others on the opposite side.

"What is this", Elder Shenlong stammered when he realized the implications of this image.

"Daoist Wei Huoran created an artifact that flies at the edge of the sky", Razortalon replied, "It's purpose was to discover the truth of the world, and after it completed its mission, this is the result."

Razortalon manipulated the globe to the unknown continents before zooming in on the northern continent. When the image zoomed very close to the certain part of the land, the crowd saw many spiritual beasts of varied sizes in combat or trying to escape.

"I asked Daoist Wei why this land would contain spiritual beasts that have long believed to no longer exist", Chief Razortalon explained, "And said that his master told him, 'All the land used to be as one, but a long time ago a terrible force caused the land to fracture. These two continents took the most impact from the force and were driven away. The magical beasts were also seperated by this force, and each land adapted to their new surroundings', and I believe that is why the cores of ancient beasts were buried on this land."

The response from the audience was overwhelming, so Razortalon had to wait several minutes before he could speak again.

"I will not ask anything for any of you", Chief Razortalon said, "But I will be assisting Daoist Wei, however I can in the goal of reaching the new continents!"

Meanwhile, on Sun & Moon island and the Nanying Continent, the Finals qualifying tournament had commenced. The competition for the top eight for each category was fierce, but some of the competitors from Nanying still wanted to complain. They had heard the beastkins from Shuo and cultivators from Wu would also qualify for the finals as well, and felt they had the easier path.

All it took was one decision from the Ministry of Entertainment to quell the situation, 'Ninety nine percent of the participants from the other two continents have not had the time required to qualify for the same level of competition. There will be no changes made.'

Wei Huoran, on the other hand, was doing something he had not done it a long time, relaxing. For the last twenty something years, he had been doing everything to survive, but he finally reached the point that he was not in a rush. At the moment, he was slowly rowing a boat on the famous lake of Market Square with one other passenger.

"Is it really ok to be out here on the lake?", Zeng Meirong asked him.

"It's alright", he answered, "This is probably the only time we can do this in peace. The visitors that already arrived are all inside the pod cafe right now, and it will be a few more days before the Golden Peony return with the other returning guests."

He stopped rowing, and let the momentum take them as he drank from a thermos of sweet tea.

"Is still amazing to me that you were able to breakthrough as fast as did, and not suffer any backlash", Meirong commented.

"I'm not sure why either", Huoran admitted, "Even my master has tried to find out why, but in the end was unsuccessful. One day, maybe I'll discover the reason, but you are very talented as well."

Meirong blushed, it was true, a beastkin her age was still considered young. She was recently able to reach the same strength as a normal adult merfolk recently, or a 'golden core' cultivator. After the formation of her core, Moon city had celebrated her achievement although she had tried to dissuade them. Huoran had taken her to a quiet dinner, which was more to her satisfaction.

Huoran had felt some pressure to spend extra time with Meirong, but not from her. After his 'Zodiac array' exploded, he had to quickly see her to convince the crying woman that he did not get caught in the explosion. Also, he was very aware that the time he had spent in the workshop in preparation of the war had been immense. Now that everything had settled down, Huoran had only spent the normal hours just exploring the professions, and visiting Meirong more often.

"Have you been paying attention to the qualifying tournament?", Meirong asked.

"Not really", Huoran smiled, "I will once we hold the finals on the island. That should be right before the beginning of the season of sun. I think once that's finished, the new house will be done as well. I will come and get you when it's the new season, and then we will hold the grand ceremony."

Meirong's face turned red, "Yes."