Roya and Beiya's sparring match had inspired them both considerably.
Especially since they had willingly shared their cultivation insights with each other, Roya now had a clear idea of how to make faster progress in the Profound Mystery of Evil.
The cultivation chamber was quiet, with only Roya sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion.
So the Profound Mystery of Evil also comes with a powerful soul attack. No wonder this move's aura always felt so strange and cold. Roya kept recalling the visceral impression left by those icy tendrils, unconsciously trying to make his own aura resemble them.
Before long, the temperature in the room seemed to drop by a whole degree.
At the same time, Roya's aura grew stranger and more ominous.
His black hair and dark eyes had once looked perfectly ordinary, but now, from every angle, they gave off an unmistakably sinister, uncanny impression. The only way to describe him was as a fiend from the Abyss.
Clearly, without even realizing it, Roya had successfully made an entry-level breakthrough in the Profound Mystery of Evil.
On the other hand, the silver-haired elf, Beiya, wasn't so lucky. Even after learning some cultivation pointers from Roya, she still couldn't grasp the Profound Mystery of Devour.
Of course, it wasn't necessarily a matter of luck. Even geniuses differed in talent.
"Roya, we came here for two reasons. First, Beiya wanted to discuss her cultivation of the Laws of Darkness with you. Second, we wanted to invite you to join us in what we're about to do." Milia and Beiya had been staying at Yelan Castle for over half a month, and now they were ready to leave.
Before going, though, Milia invited Roya to come along.
"What is it?" Roya was curious. Given Milia's current strength, what could she need his help with?
"I want to tame an unusual Saint Realm magical beast. It's much stronger than Aoni." Aoni was the name of Milia's Black Dragon companion.
The Black Dragon race was only a Level Nine Magical Beast race. Aoni had already become a Saint Realm beast, making her a bona fide Black Dragon Queen. But to powerful experts like Milia and Roya, even a Saint Realm Black Dragon couldn't offer much help in battle.
"What's so unusual about this beast?" Roya asked, intrigued.
"I found the big fellow on Qianyan Island. I think it evolved from a Gargoyle. It's very intelligent..." Gargoyles were an exceptionally unusual species on the continent.
Their bodies were made of hard rock, and they were about the same size as humans. But their facial features were grotesque and abstract, like those of demons, which was how they had earned their name.
Gargoyles were tremendously strong and exceptionally tough. Their strength was on par with that of Saint Realm dragons, but they had one weakness: they were relatively slow.
Even so, Gargoyles were more than formidable enough to be a handful.
But Roya wasn't interested in Gargoyles right now. His attention was on the "big fellow" Milia had described.
"This big fellow is nearly ten meters tall, with a body as hard as steel. His strength and defense are many times greater than those of an ordinary Gargoyle."
"I also noticed that he seems to have grasped some kind of Profound Mystery. Even a casual punch from him could easily smash a small mountain..." After hearing Milia's detailed description, Roya's heart skipped a beat.
Wasn't this an Earth Giant?
"Milia, when did you find this 'big fellow'?" Roya had been indifferent at first, but now he was instantly intrigued.
Across the countless planes, all kinds of strange lifeforms had come into being.
There were Metal Lifeforms, plant lifeforms, and more. Among them, races such as Volcano Giants and Earth Giants were exceedingly rare, and each individual was tremendously powerful.
Earth Giants could even be considered more precious than many divine beasts.
In the original story, there was a Volcano Giant in Hell who trained until he reached the Asura level. I think his name was Pusiluo... If I could tame this Earth Giant... Roya didn't expect him to reach Pusiluo's level, but he would make a promising underling.
Even when he ventured into the Supreme Plane and the Divine Plane one day, this underling might prove quite useful.
"I only found him recently. He probably hasn't been around for long. If he had more time to cultivate, I think his strength could increase quite a bit." Milia answered without hesitation.
The "big fellow" was so powerful that even Milia wasn't entirely confident she could handle him, which was why she had thought to invite Roya along.
Roya's Profound Mystery of Devour might prove unexpectedly effective against a "clumsy" opponent who was relatively slow.
"Since that's the case, count me in." Roya hadn't planned to travel anytime soon, but he was more than willing to join them if it meant a chance to tame an Earth Giant with such incredible potential.
"Then let's set off soon. Qianyan Island is quite a distance from here." The blond girl's lips curled into a slight smile when Roya accepted her invitation.
In fact, her main reason for coming had been to invite him.
All three of them had Spatial Rings, so they didn't need to bring anything else. They set off that very day.
"Shriek!"
With a high-pitched cry, a colossal bird spread its wings, spanning more than a hundred meters, and sped toward the distant east, wreathed in black flames above Yelan Castle.
The Hellfire Phoenix flew far faster than a Black Dragon, so the three of them rode on Ignis's back.
Time flew by. The Hellfire Phoenix easily soared over ranges of towering mountains, and from time to time the three of them admired the jagged natural wonders below.
Though the Valen Material Plane had two continents, east and west, the oceans actually covered the greatest area.
Together, the seven seas covered well over seventy percent of the entire plane.
And across those seven seas, countless islands dotted the waters like stars scattered across the sky.
Qianyan Island lay in the Kul Tiras Sea, near the Western Continent.
To reach it, they had to cross the Dark Alliance, the Kalim Empire, and the Parosi Empire before they could finally reach the vast Kul Tiras Sea. It was indeed quite a journey.
Of course, traveling on a Saint Realm flying beast wasn't all that slow. Wind Forbidden Island, where Milia came from, was also in the sea, in a place called the Broken Isles.
"Whoosh—"
The icy currents high in the clouds did nothing to the three riders on the phoenix's back. They even had enough time to continue their cultivation.
Before they knew it, the sun was setting. Fiery red clouds covered nearly half the sky, and their glow turned the entire land crimson.
But just outside a city called Iris City, not far from them, the city faced a desperate crisis as a vast horde of magical beasts laid siege to it.
Among all the attacking beasts, the most alarming was a dragon more than a hundred meters long. Huge, crystal-clear wings grew from its sides, and its scales gleamed like blood-red jade.
A Saint Realm magical beast—the Blood Jade Crystal Dragon!
Unlike the Black Dragon race, whose natural rank was only that of a Level Nine Magical Beast, the Blood Jade Crystal Dragon was a true Saint Realm species. Any adult Blood Jade Crystal Dragon was extraordinarily powerful!
But this massive creature had been intercepted outside the city by a red-haired man.
Clearly, the red-haired man was also a formidable Saint Realm expert.
Before you continue