"Come with me, Nine Nether Sparrow."
Mu Chen suddenly spoke, extending an invitation.
The black sparrow's eyes narrowed. Faint black flames rose from its wings, and it said, dangerous and fearsome, "You know who I am?"
The relatively harmonious atmosphere on the scene instantly turned tense, as if swords were drawn and bows bent.
"I do. The famous Nine Nether Sparrow Clan of the Spirit Beast Realm is well known."
"What direction is your evolution?"
"Are you becoming a Nine Nether Flame Sparrow, a Nine Nether Cold Sparrow, or the legendary Nine Nether Underworld Sparrow?"
Mu Chen asked, completely unfazed.
As everyone knew, the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan carried a trace of the Undying Bird Bloodline.
But not every clan member could awaken it.
Different members had different paths of evolution.
The clan was made up of several Main Branches: the Nine Nether Flame Sparrows, who controlled fire; the Nine Nether Cold Sparrows, who controlled extreme cold; and the Nine Nether Underworld Sparrows, who controlled Nine Nether Underworld Fire, among others.
Of these, the Nine Nether Underworld Sparrow was the rarest.
That was because the next step beyond becoming a Nine Nether Underworld Sparrow was to awaken the Super Heavenly Beast bloodline within, returning directly to one's ancestral form: the exceedingly rare ancient Undying Bird.
Every year, large numbers of clan members failed to evolve into Nine Nether Underworld Sparrows because their talent was lacking. They settled for the next best thing, advancing into Flame Sparrows or Cold Sparrows instead.
The ancient Undying Bird was even rarer than the Phoenix Clan.
In a sense, it was also a royal offshoot within the clan.
Although the Undying Birds were few in number within the Phoenix Clan, their status and bloodline were in no way inferior to those of the True Phoenix