Pearl arrived at the Lion Colony, after flying as fast as he could for nearly half an hour.
Senior Yao, the black jaguar next to him, breathed loudly as he had been forced to give more than everything he could to help Pearl come all the way here as fast as they could.
After Alex's arrival in Brightfalls City, he had called him and Pearl out as they had another task.
They had to get the aid of the beasts in the Beast Paradise to fight on their side.
Given Pearl's newfound identity and his previous connection to this place, it was deemed that he was the best choice to come here and persuade these beasts to fight on his behalf, to avenge his father and mother.
Pearl wasn't sure if he would have instead gone with Alex to the secret realm where his father had died. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see that or not.
However, what he wanted did not matter at the moment. What mattered was what he and Alex needed. What they needed was help, and he was here to get them some.
"Young lord, is this the Lion Colony?" the Jaguar asked Pearl.
"Yes, this is my mother's home. The place where my grandmother was married to," Pearl said with a somber voice. "Let us go, Senior Yao. My uncle should be in there somewhere."
Pearl flew toward the village with familiar buildings. He had come here nearly 20 years ago and hadn't returned since then. It was good to see that nothing had changed.
A young beast flew out from the colony to check on the intruders.
"Who goes there?" the beast asked.
It was a young Night Lynx with glowing yellow eyes. It looked at Pearl and stopped for a second as it had never seen a beast like him before in his life.
Pearl didn't remember seeing this beast back when he had been here 20 years ago either.
"My name is Pearl. I'm here to meet the Colony Leader. Is senior Xiongwei around?" Pearl asked.
"He is around. What colony are you from?" the Lynx asked.
"None. We came from outside. Please hurry, we don't have much time," Pearl said.
"From outside? How did you… Outsiders are not allowed entry," the Lynx said quickly. However, given that the outsider was a beast, he wasn't sure if the rules still applied or not.
"Stay here, I'll get the leader."
The Lynx flew off and less than a minute later, Zhu Xiongwei, the leader of the Lion Colony, Pearl's uncle, came flying out. He was surprised to see Pearl arrive on his own, without Alex with him.
"Pearl? Is that you?" the Lion asked. "My god have you grown in just 20 years? It's nice to see you again, my child."
"Uncle, it is nice to see you too," Pearl said.
The Lion walked up to Pearl and petted him along the back of his neck in a gentle manner. He then looked at the jaguar next to him and gave a small bow in greeting.
"May I ask who this is?" the Lion asked Pearl.
"This is senior Yao. He is a trusted subordinate of my great grandfather, Bai Jingshen," Pearl said quickly. "Uncle, I'm sorry, but I do not have much time to waste on formalities."
"You're in a hurry? What's wrong?" the Lion's eyes narrowed in seriousness.
"Uncle… I found out who killed my father and my mother," Pearl said. "It was the Dragon Emperor."
The Lion stood still in shock, his head moving ever so slightly as he tried to make sense of the situation. "The… the Dragon Emperor? Why… why would he kill sister Meiyoung?"
"Because of me," Pearl said softly. "The Dragon Emperor tried to kill me because he was afraid of me for some reason, so my father and mother gave up their life in order to protect me."
The Lion's face slowly grew pale at first then grew dark as a look of hatred filled him. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"I spoke to a remaining will of my mother," Pearl said. "She explained everything to me."
The Lion looked up. "Sister Meiyoung did? Can I talk to her?" the Lion looked hopeful.
Pearl shook his head. "I barely got to talk to her at all," he said. "She is no more, but in that conversation we had, she explained to us what had happened. It was the Dragon Emperor who tried to kill me and ended up bringing death to my parents."
"So, in revenge for that and many other atrocities he has committed, my brother had waged war against the Emperor himself. He has arrived in the Eastern Continent with an army and they will start fighting any moment."
"That human is? I see. What do you need from me? Why have you come to talk to me?" the Lion asked.
"I was hoping you could help gather the 7 leaders so I could persuade them into sending aid to my brother. He has come with an army, but there are too few people in the army to fight against everyone in the Eastern Continent. So he needs help."
"As such, I came to Beast Paradise to hopefully gather an army of beasts to help my brother."
The Lion frowned slightly. "That… that might be a little difficult. While what you say does indeed make me want to help, the other leaders have no reason to fight the Dragon Emperor. They will call this your personal vendetta and try to remain out of conflict."
"As I promised you before, I tried many times to gather them to talk to them about the situation from many years ago when they decided to close the Beast Paradise."
"I tried to figure out what the cause was, but they've been tight-lipped this whole time. I'm not sure how much help they will be."
Pearl shook his head. "You just gather them, Uncle. I will persuade them. I am sure they will want to talk to me. And they will have reason to help me too," he said.
"Really?" the Lion asked. "Are you sure you can persuade them?"
"I can," Pearl said. "For I have brought them information that it was the Dragon Emperor who killed the Azure Dragon in the first place."
The Lion's face was a shade of pure shock. "What?" he asked. "The Dragon Emperor killed the Azure Dragon?"
The Lion had known long ago about the death of the Azure Dragon, or at least his being missing. However, this was the first time he had heard about the killer.
"I will gather them right away," Lion said and quickly sent a message all around for the other 6 beasts to gather at his place immediately.
Within minutes, Pearl could feel the aura of many beasts rushing toward them at a speed only possible for the beasts that were in the late Saint Transformation realm.
The Ox, the Eagle, the Lizard, the Elephant, the Swan, and the Deer arrived at the Lion colony and were greeted by the Lion.
"Leader Zhu, what is the important thing that needs to be discussed?" the Lizard asked.
"Please come into the council chambers," the Lion spoke. "We have something urgent and of utmost import to talk about."
