The Fire Dragon and the other three Divine Beasts were all extremely excited. Looking around at the endless Violet Cloud Crystals, he laughed, "Young Master, don't worry! We won't let you down. This much Violet Cloud Crystal—it's something we'd never even dreamed of. If we'd had this many before, we'd be at least mid or late God-Venerable by now!"
"With all these Violet Cloud Crystals, our cultivation will definitely soar! Ice Wolf, God Scorpion, Storm Roc—how about we compete to see who can mine the most crystals?" Fire Dragon suggested.
"Just what I was thinking! Let's see if your dragon claws are tougher, or my wolf claws!" Ice Wolf laughed.
"You two might be strong, but nothing beats my pincers! This time, you guys are definitely going to lose," God Scorpion said, full of confidence.
Storm Roc didn't bother to talk; she instantly shifted into her true beast form—though much smaller for convenience—and began digging with her massive talons. In just a few breaths, she'd already unearthed a crystal, leaving the other three stunned.
The others quickly shifted into their true forms and started excavating in this special space—nobody wanted to lose! For God-Venerable-level beings, digging through dirt and stone was total overkill, but Evan Chu was more than happy to see it. The more they dug, the happier he got.
While the four Divine Beasts dug like mad, Evan found himself with nothing to do. With a thought, he returned to the Timewheel Bracelet. Now that he had two dantians, he needed to master how to control and use them— the more skilled he got, the better it would be for him.
Evan spent almost three thousand years inside the Timewheel Bracelet, while only about thirty years passed in the God Realm. Even though it was a short time outside, plenty had happened—especially with Drifting Cloud Guild and Skysoar Sect.
Ever since Drifting Cloud Guild's Young Guildmaster was injured by Evan, the Guildmaster swore Evan would pay a heavy price. But thanks to Rainbow Court's protection, they'd never had a chance to strike.
Recently, word spread that Rainbow Court Mistress Elena Rainveil had left Rainbow Court. For Drifting Cloud Guild, this was a golden opportunity. In terms of sect strength, the two sides were about equal, but with Rainbow Court Mistress gone, Rainbow Court couldn't compare anymore.
The Drifting Cloud Guildmaster led dozens of people, rushing to Rainbow Court, only to be stopped by a powerful sect-protecting grand formation. Every major power has its own defensive array, which takes massive resources and manpower to activate—it's never opened unless there's no other choice.
Now that Rainbow Court had suddenly activated its grand formation, it meant things were urgent. This surprised the Drifting Cloud Guildmaster—a formation like this is insanely hard to break, unless several God-Venerables attack together and you pinpoint the array's core.
But causing that kind of commotion would be huge. Rainbow Court’s female disciples have marriage ties with several other factions—if Drifting Cloud Guild pushed too far, it could trigger backlash from those powers.
For a moment, he hesitated—should he attack or retreat? Rainbow Court Mistress’s absence was a rare chance; if he missed it, it’d be a huge waste.
But Drifting Cloud Guild’s intelligence network was razor-sharp—they knew Heavenblade Sect and Skysoar Sect also had beef with Rainbow Court. If he attacked alone, those sects might just sit back and reap the rewards, letting Drifting Cloud Guild do all the dirty work.
Heavenblade Sect is the top power in the God Realm—maybe they wouldn’t bother, but Skysoar Sect was unpredictable. The only way to prevent this was to form a temporary alliance, so no one would gain too much. Even Heavenblade Sect would hesitate to act while the real sect masters were still in seclusion.
As for why Rainbow Court Mistress had to leave—she had no choice. According to reports from her scouts, millions of miles away in the God Realm, a golden little bird and a blood-red lion had been sighted. From their traits, she deduced they were almost certainly Evan Chu’s beast brothers, Shadow and Old Goldwing.
But those two only appeared for a blink before vanishing. Reports said they showed up mainly to snatch God Stones from weak God-Man cultivators—which meant they’d hit a bottleneck in their cultivation.
Now that they’d disappeared for so long, they were probably hiding out somewhere to cultivate, or blending into human society. Rainbow Court Mistress was clever—she figured that with their current strength, they were at best early God-Lord Realm.
If they transformed into human form, any God-Emperor-level expert could see through their disguise. But it’d been almost twenty years since the last report, and still no one had managed to catch those two Divine Beasts. That meant they were probably still safe—for now.
As soon as Rainbow Court Mistress got the news, she sent people to search the area, keeping it all very low-key for secrecy. But even after scouring hundreds of thousands of miles, they found nothing. That’s why she got anxious and decided to check personally—and that’s also why the grand formation was activated.
Old Goldwing and Shadow were basically homebodies—barely leaving the courtyard. By day, they stood guard; by night, they cultivated. Their progress was faster than before, though they only heard bits and pieces about God Realm news, nothing major since they were in a remote border region.
Still, there were plenty of God Stones in those borderlands. Shadow and Old Goldwing took jobs as gatekeepers for a second-rate family—the strongest in the clan was only mid-stage God-King. By now, both had broken through to early God-Lord Realm, but their actual fighting power reached late God-Lord Realm.
With strength like that, they started to get noticed. After their breakthrough, only a mid-stage God-Emperor or higher could see through their disguise. If they reached God-King Realm, then only God-Lords could spot their true identities.
The family’s patriarch paid them a hundred low-grade God Stones a month—just enough for cultivation. They were even invited out for drinks and meals, living a pretty comfortable life for now.
Rainbow Court Mistress, exhausted, went with a few trusted aides to quietly investigate where Old Goldwing and Shadow had appeared. She kept everything secret, using her unmatched disguise technique to transform into an old lady and avoid trouble.
But after half a year undercover, she still had no leads. She did have plenty of spies in Skysoar Sect, though. That Poison Maiden spent every day in the pill room refining her peerless poison—and rumor had it, she was almost done. In three to five years, she’d finish for sure.
There was a powerful formation around the pill room, so sabotage was impossible. Besides, Skysoar Sect was a den of tigers and dragons—breaking in was nearly impossible.
Time was running out, so Rainbow Court Mistress had no choice but to investigate personally. She knew better than anyone how terrifying that peerless poison was—she’d once seen the Medicine Sovereign’s secret recipe herself. That recipe was also linked to Lord Frostbane, or maybe it was just a coincidence…