Soon, Dyon had two crystals in his hand. Although they didn't look much different from each other, the cultivation age stone was significantly heavier.
"How old are you really?" Saintess Rue asked curiously.
Saintess Ray's large white eyes sparkled as she looked toward Dyon expectantly.
Dyon grinned. "Didn't the mighty and wise wrinkled turtle over there already tell you? I'm thousands of years old. I'm foolish and untalented."
The two saintesses couldn't help but giggle at Dyon's provocative words.
"It seems that you three clans are quite ungrateful." Dyon said, turning his attention back to the three family heads. "Do you remember the history of the Celestial Deer Sect? Do you know why it was named as such instead of the Celestial Beast Sect it was meant to be originally? Hm?"
The three heads remained silent. Truth be told, Dyon was impressed that they recollected themselves so quickly. Others might not be so calm in a situation where they had no power like this one.
"It's fine that you don't remember, I don't mind reminding you.
"Celestial Beasts have been hunted for the special properties of their blood for billions of years. Unfortunately for you all, even as the purity of your bloodlines declined over the years, this feverish pursuit didn't fall off. Instead, you became less and less capable of defending yourselves."
Head Tigris growled, but didn't say much else.
"Even now, your blood is able to give birth to things that should be impossible. I guess this could count as your one saving grace.
"Several million years ago, at the time of the 23rd White Mother, your celestial beast clan was finally approached by its first possible ally, someone who genuinely wanted to help. Despite finding your hiding place, he didn't divulge this information and instead extended an olive branch.
"No longer would the celestial beasts have to constantly stalk the Ancient Battlefield. Maybe you all would finally have a home now. The only thing this man asked in return was your help in finding a path to saving the mortal plane because he believed that your bloodline held the secret to creation.
"You used this man for protection, for resources. He treated you not as beasts, but as equals, as family.
"Yet, the day the ancestors of this very man faced their fiercest challenge, the only ones among you who showed up to pay this favor back were the Celestial Deer.
"The supposed courage laden tigers were nowhere to be found. The wise turtles were hiding in their shells. The supposed King Apes were liking flinging their own shit at each other. All while that man's fellow clansman and descendants died for a fight you should have been part of.
"That man was none other than the First Master of the former Celestial Beast Sect, now to be forever known as the Celestial Deer Sect."
Dyon rolled the crystals between his fingers, absentmindedly staring into the distance as the family heads trembled in embarrassment and rage. They clearly couldn't handle the questioning gazes of their attendants who knew none of this.
"How dare you?! My people fought!" Head Tigris growled.
"Your people fought?" Dyon sent a piercing gaze toward Head Tigris. "My Granny Celest and my master lost a husband and a father that day. What did you lose?"
"Since when did this become a competition of who lost more?" The combination of not being able to move along with Dyon's piercing commentary only fueled Head Tigris' rage more.
"Oh? Do tell me, how many Celestial Tigers participated? Did you send any elders? Did you send any talented geniuses? Or did you just send those you felt it was alright to lose?"
The Head of the Tigris family trembled with rage, but had no clear rebuttal. He had obviously been alive then and he knew very well what decision he made.
"Still, at least you sent some aid, unlike these two shameless bastards here. Why would I want cowards like you under my command? The moment things became difficult, you would run away with your tail between your legs. You even preferred to scurry back to the Ancient Battlefield hole First Master had saved you from, just to preserve your pitiful lives.
"Then, the Celestial Beasts once more became loose sand. Why did you even come back here? Did you believe that enough time had passed that your betrayal would be forgotten? Or is it that you thought even if a new successor was chosen, you'd be able to bully me easily?"
Head Tudo and Head Simia remained silent. They clearly had their own reasons for leaving the Ancient Battlefield once more, but it was obvious that the reasonings Dyon gave for them coming here specifically was correct.
"Unfortunately, you picked the wrong person." Dyon said with a grin. "I'm not unfamiliar with dealing with dao formation experts. Let's see." He tapped on his chin in mock humor. "I've killed two them. Gained 11 of them of allies. Oh, and I've enslaved one. Did you really believe I'd be afraid of you all?"
The expressions of the three heads and their attendants turned hostile. Did he really expect them to believe that? What absolute nonsense.
Even the two saintesses had weird looks on their faces, even tugging at the edges of Dyon's ripped sweatpants.
Dyon smirked. With a wave of his hand, nine spirits appeared in the air, each exuding an aura that could only be matched by a title holder. Their demeanor, their presence, no matter how poor their sensory abilities were as beasts, it was very obvious that these were the spirits of former dao formation experts.
The eyes of the three family heads contracted, but on some level, they were still relieved. Having nine spirit allies who were once dao formation experts was much different than having eleven living dao formation experts. Whether it be in number or substance, both were less than.
However, who said that Dyon was finished? He didn't care at all that there were only nine considering the fact the remaining two were with Clara.
With another wave of his hand, the massive corpses of Elder Daiyu and the Daiyu Ancestor appeared.
In that moment, the family heads wanted to take a step back, but were completely bound by the laws of the world. Although Elder Daiyu's aura was manageable, the Daiyu Ancestor was very close to a half-step transcendent!
At this point, even Head Arie couldn't help but look at her grandson in a new light. No matter how many ways you wanted to try and explain this, Dyon was at the very least present at the death of these dao formation experts.
On the one hand, Elder Daiyu had removed the cap on his cultivation just before death because he thought Dyon was the Dragon King responsible for the death of his brothers. This caused his cultivation to rise back to the dao formation level just before death.
Then there was the Daiyu Ancestor who was already a high level dao formation expert, but then burned his soul and turned the energy toward his body in exchange for Dyon taking care of his descendants. Not to mention leaving behind the treasures that funded Clara's research while Dyon was in his trial world.
However, as if all of this wasn't enough, Dyon called Elder Nova out who still held a lethal gaze in his eyes.
"Kneel."
At first, Granny Celest had been on guard, but she could only watch in shock as a mighty dao formation expert actually listened to her grandson's words. Although Elder Nova was far weaker than her, he was still someone that Dyon had no business ordering around like this!
Dyon snorted. "Lying to you all? Do you think I have the need to do such a thing?"
Head Todu's nonchalant face inadvertently become more and more red. This was the first time she had made such a blatant mistake. Still, her hopes of Dyon letting her off were dashed the moment he picked up the age stone to wave around.
With a final grin, Dyon poured his energy into the crystal, causing a number of starry lights to appear.
Everyone knew that each red light symbolized one year, with each orange light symbolizing ten years, but looking at the floating lights and checking Dyon's cultivation, they couldn't help but double and triple check.
Head Todu's face paled as she remembered her estimate of thousands of years, watching those three orange lights float as though they were her worst nightmare.
'He's 33 years old?!' Saintess Rue and Ray rubbed their eyes, hoping that these were the hundred-year yellow lights playing tricks with their eyes.
Saintess Rue reached outward, snatching the crystal from Dyon's hands and pouring her own energies into it. But, when several perfectly fine yellow lights floated from it, her face reddened in embarrassment as Dyon chuckled.
However, it was clear to everyone that Dyon wasn't done as he focused his attention on the cultivation age stone.
Still… Even after everything that happened…But, when only three red lights appeared, they felt as though their hearts had stopped functioning properly.
