"Young master, don't worry. We can definitely capture those two divine beasts, but we'll need to ask someone for help. With just our strength, it's really hard to deal with them," said the black-clothed youth.
"You mean ask the Grand Elder for help? I thought about that too, but lately the Grand Elder's been swamped with affairs—I don't want to bother him. Besides, I want to surprise him with these two divine beasts, so let's forget it. As long as we have Violet Cloud Crystals, we'll have plenty of chances to get them," the purple-robed youth replied confidently, smiling.
After flying tens of thousands of li, the little golden bird and the little lion finally stopped. At this moment, no one would notice they were rare divine beasts—these two were, of course, Evan Chu's beast brothers: Goldwing and Shadow.
They ascended to the God Realm in the second year after Evan Chu, and maybe by luck, both landed in the same Ascension Pool. Thanks to a special bond they'd already shared, they reunited within a month after arriving in the God Realm.
Right away, the two began searching for a place to go into seclusion and cultivate. They knew that with their current strength, finding Evan Chu was impossible—the God Realm was far beyond their imagination. After several years in seclusion, they both made breakthroughs, but without enough God Stones to absorb, their realm advanced painfully slowly. So sometimes, they would ambush weaker gods to snatch God Stones.
But most of the time, they only got a handful of low-grade God Stones, which left them frustrated. Gradually, their eyes turned to Heavenly God–realm cultivators—the haul was a bit better, but still not enough. To get stronger, they had no choice but to take bigger risks.
They shifted their targets to God-Lords. From God-Lords, they managed to get a decent amount of God Stones and Violet Cloud Crystals—though they were all low-grade, it was just barely enough to absorb. After a few years of this, both finally broke through to the Heavenly God Realm.
This latest incident happened because they were about to ambush a God-Lord, but ended up getting outmaneuvered instead. If not for Goldwing's insane speed, escaping would've been nearly impossible. The gap between Heavenly God and God-Lord is just too huge—they're nothing like Evan Chu, who can kill across realms, and not just by one or two levels either.
"So, Goldwing, what now? Are we going to look for big brother or go into seclusion?" asked Shadow, the Bloodshadow Berserker Lion.
"I don't know either. The God Realm is just too big. Back then, big bro said he wouldn't use his original name or face here. Even though you and I have Soul Contracts with him, right now we can't sense him at all. Got any bright ideas?" Goldwing asked.
"I think we should just go look for him. Without God Stones in the God Realm, it's nearly impossible to advance our cultivation, and going into seclusion barely does anything. As long as we're careful, we should be fine," said Shadow.
"But the God Realm is so huge—where would we even start? Actually, I have an idea. If we let ourselves be kept as pets, maybe we'll get some really useful info. After all, people who keep divine beasts are always powerful, and we might get a bunch of God Stones out of it.
Once we have enough God Stones, we can quietly slip away. If we hear anything about big bro, we go find him; if not, we go into seclusion. But with his heaven-defying talent, I bet he'll shake up the whole God Realm soon enough. When that happens, we'll definitely hear about it. It's just that he hasn't been here long enough to make a splash yet," Goldwing said.
Shadow paused, then said, "That's actually a pretty good idea. But since we've already signed Soul Contracts with big bro, we can't sign with anyone else—and honestly, no one else is worthy anyway. If we become someone else's pets without a Soul Contract, we won't be valued at all."
"I thought of that too. We can't sign a real Soul Contract, but we can fake one, right? Don't you have that in your inherited memories? The only downside is our strength drops for a while, but it recovers soon enough," Goldwing replied.
Shadow glanced at Goldwing and said, "You mean the False Soul Contract? It's a good way to avoid suspicion, but the pain is brutal. Plus, I don't trust those gods at all. I say we skip it!"
Goldwing knew Shadow would say that, so he laughed, "Then come up with something better. It might not be perfect, but it's the only plan I've got."
"We could just transform into human form and join a mid-tier family as hired guardians. We might get fewer God Stones, but it'd be way safer, and we'd still be able to collect news. What do you think?" Shadow asked.
"Transform into human form? Both of us still have divine beast auras. If we run into a God-Emperor or higher, they'll see right through us. That's basically suicide—this plan won't work," Goldwing shot back.
"You're really not thinking this through. We just need to target a declining family—the strongest they'll have is a God-King. That way, we won't get exposed. With our current power, we'll definitely be put to good use," Shadow said confidently.
Goldwing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright, let's give it a shot. If we're exposed, we'll run right away. Risking it once for big bro is no big deal!"
After a bit more discussion, the two flew off toward a small town—only small towns don't have powerful experts. It was just like when Evan Chu first ascended to the God Realm: the strongest local was only a God-King.
With a goal in mind, Shadow and Goldwing were safe for now. But the situation was much worse for the earliest ascender, the Emerald Immortal Empress. After ascending, her inherited memories surfaced—she was originally from the Silver Dragon Clan, and after ascending, her appearance changed drastically.
If she stood before Evan Chu now, he wouldn't recognize her—her face was covered in several white blotches, which were actually immature Silver Dragon scales. Only when she grew stronger would they slowly fade. Right now, she couldn't even transform into a Silver Dragon.
On nights with a full moon, she would even take on a dragon-headed, human-bodied form, which made the Emerald Immortal Empress miserable. With no God Stones to cultivate, her progress was painfully slow. Even after absorbing energy from the Ascension Pool, she had only just broken through to the Heavenly God Realm.
With such weak strength, she was basically an ant in the God Realm. On top of that, her ugly appearance made it nearly impossible to find work for God Stones. Now, all she could do was hide out in a remote cave, slowly training and hoping one day she'd finally break through.
In her heart, she wished Evan Chu would rise to glory soon—then she wouldn't have to suffer like this. Even though she was technically his servant, Evan always treated her like a sister. If he knew what she was going through now, he'd be heartbroken...