While Lin Mu and his beast companions were having their meal, another set of events was happening far away from them.
A large man with horns was standing upon a broken ridge. A frown was on his face, while an aura of confusion surrounded him. Behind him, several men wearing the armor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty were working.
They seemed to be doing several different tasks. Some were gathering soil, stones and other materials from the ground, while some were analyzing the change in the topography. There were scorch marks, ravines and slash marks left everywhere in the area, which these men seemed to be analyzing.
"General Niu, the initial reports were correct." One of the men wearing the armor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty approached the horned man.
"That was expected. But what more did you find? Any traces of a Demon?" General Niu Juo questioned the investigator.
"Unfortunately, it is not possible to do that. There are remnants of both Yang and Yin energies left in this area. Even if there were traces of a demon, they have either been mixed in with them or erased due to them." The investigator answered.
"Hmmm… I see." General Niu Juo looked around the devastated land, trying to imagine what must have happened here.
The day the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribulation had happened, he had felt it too. Or rather, most people in the Desolate Blood Battlefield had felt it. There were many theories as to who might have been behind it, but no confirmation had been reached.
It didn't help that the Transcendent Immortal Tribulation had helped to erase the traces of the being undergoing it too.
There were now great doubts cast on the ruling powers of the world about the fact that Demons were still alive. And not just that, but the fact that a Demon had lasted long enough to possibly reach the Transcendent Immortal realm.
This was a thing of great concern. After all, the demons were one of the greatest threats that the humans of the Rust Sky world had ever faced. Their reappearance would basically mean that the existence of the humans was now at a stake.
Especially since it was possibly a Transcendent Immortal Demon that would be on the same level as the Rulers of this world.
Even now, the balance of powers was in delicate equilibrium. The Huiqing Empire and the Dao Wind Empire had an alliance of sorts on the surface, but their relations with the Holy Topaz Dynasty and the Eight Kingdoms alliance were more that of neutrality.
There was always a chance that the other two powers might take this opportunity to flip the odds in their favor by using this new variable. Fishing in muddied waters was a tactic as old as war itself, after all.
If another Transcendent Immortal was added to the mix, it was quite likely that this balance would fall apart. Not to mention, it would be someone that would be opposed to the human race itself.
Thus, in order to verify the facts and prepare themselves, the powers had decided to investigate this matter with great prudence.
The disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree was already a big pain to the Holy Topaz Dynasty, but now the same culprit was behind a Transcendent Tribulation too.
If this had happened a few years later or before, the powers might not have been this tense. But all this was occurring when the Tournament of the Guardian beasts was close by. Only a few months were left till then, and the number of people arriving would be massive.
It won't just be people from the Rust Sky world after all, there will be several visitors from other worlds too. It wasn't unusual for envoys from various worlds to come and observe these tournaments.
And if something bad happened during it due to the overlook of the local powers, they would lose face. The visiting powers would love for something like that to happen, as it would mean that the local powers would fall out of favor with the temples of the Four Guardian beasts.
The Temples were always an independent and neutral faction that all ruling powers had to respect.
They seldom interfered in the matters of the world directly, and it was mostly when there was something threatening the existence of the entire world. In fact, it was a well known fact that the temples of the Four Guardian beasts had actually done nothing when the Demons were attacking the humans.
To them, the Demon race was the same as the Human race and their conflict was fine.
After all, among the worshipers of the Four Guardian beasts, there were plenty of demons too.
They had their temples on several demon worlds too!
One could see from this just how far their influence spread. Falling out of the favor of the Temples of the Four Guardian beasts was not something any power wanted. Even if they might be the rulers of their worlds, their might did not even come close to a fraction of what was possible for the Temples.
Those who truly lost favor with the temple would find themselves being cut off from the temples archives and resources. Not just that, but other powers that were in favor of the temples would also not deal with them to keep face with the temple.
This would lead to the isolation of the powers who had fallen out of favor.
The tournament was a big event for the temple, thus anything happening around it that would threaten its work would not be seen as good.
The Holy Topaz Dynasty was thus nervous about it and wanted to deal with it as soon as possible. After all, the Demon had technically appeared on their territory. Thus, they decided to do all they could, even going as far as to give a general of another empire their troops to command!
Though Niu Juo was not liking it at all, as he was unable to find much.
~WHOOSH~
But just as he was letting out a sigh, he felt a new presence!
