The Snow Jade Qilin, mount of the Ancient Human Emperor—the old horse Qin Yi had once thought was about to die.
Among four-legged creatures, it ranked in the very first tier in both looks and strength.
Jiuying, the Heavenly Emperor's mount, had stood at the peak of the Ancestor Saint realm. As the Human Emperor's mount, the qilin was naturally the same.
Liusu would never let herself be overshadowed by Yao Guang in that regard... Or rather, Yao Guang had chosen Jiuying back then precisely because she needed a mount comparable to Liusu's. Ancestor Saint peak Demon Gods were not easy to find. Yao Guang had once considered the Soaring Serpent, but she had failed to subdue it. That serpent was far too savage; Jiuying, at least, knew which way the wind blew.
Everyone looked down on Jiuying's origins, but some of that was deliberate. Though Jiuying's birth could not compare to the first tier, its divinity was hardly lacking. It was not some true grassroots nobody.
A nine-headed demon serpent was a top-tier demon beast in any legend, and in some legends, the ultimate BOSS. If that counted as grassroots, then what did that bunch nobody had ever heard of count as...? Rather than grassroots rising up against Aristocratic Clans, it was more like second-rate Aristocratic Clans being green-eyed with envy toward the top ones.
There was naturally a reason Yao Guang had chosen a mount to rival the qilin. If she had casually picked one that Liusu could laugh at, Yao Guang would never have borne it.
It was only that the qilin had been grievously injured in those days and had never recovered well. It had only fully healed in recent years, and it was even less likely to have embarked upon the path toward creating the