Aftermath

Anyang planet had been witnessing demons attack over the ages, and the people of the nine villages were no exception. But none of the residents of the nine villages who were at the lunar plains had ever seen the attack of the dreadful atramental energy before. It was during the battle at the lunar plain most of them truly saw the nature of one of the deadly energies of the void they had heard and read about.

However, none of the villagers apart from the copper cores and above retained the full knowledge of the events. It was as if the memories of the atrament's attack had been muddled up in their minds. Realizing what was happening, the chieftans converged and decided to allay the fears of the villagers before initiating their victory's celebration over the demons. And with that, the lunar festival continued and would eventually last for the following two days after the demons encounter.

Few minutes later, the dignitaries began bidding their farewell to one. With a shake of his head, Chu Shang Wu raised a hand to Tu Yun Fan.

"The heavens' smile is on you today, Yu Fan."

"Don't be hard on yourself, Shang Wu. The universe only save you from another disappointment. You'll have another chance."

"Until we meet again, Storm-Water."

"Until we meet again, Terra-Bane."

Zhang Xiu Ying smiled softly as she observe the two cultivators. Moments ago, they could wait to tear each other apart, competitively. And now, they were acting like old friends.

"Life."

The demigod was looking around, checking the conditions of the plain when she suddenly felt a covet stare on her soul. As a demigod, she could sense the intense death and darkness aura emanating with the silent gaze which gave her a shiver. The power of the gleam on her soul seemed to be at the peak-stage of the silver core, but could well be in the realm of the golden core too. Now that she was a peak stage silver core with an Asuran bloodline, she could vaguely sense a Jindan cultivator. She quickly located the source.

Liu Yang. The number one ranked salient who had been glancing at her ever since the commencement of the competition. There was something about him that was raising the danger alarm in her head, although she couldn't place her hands on it. Zhang Xiu Ying committed the information into her memory before leaving the lunar plain with her family..

A week later, Chu Shang Wu was on his way to the lunar mountain, when he decided to check on the Zhang family. From the events at the lunar mountain, he became aware of the demons' intention concerning the Zhang family. But he didn't know the reasons behind it. Chu Shang Wu was hoping to learn more on the matter from lord Luyang. And he was certain the Zhang family would also want to know. Chu Shang Wu sent out his divine sense and quickly came across a familiar divine sense.

"Lady Zhang, I meet you well."

"I meet you well too, Shang Wu."

"Thank you, lady Zhang. I'm just on my way to see lord Luyang. If you don't mind me stopping by your place?"

"Not at all, Shang Wu. You know you are always welcome to our home at anytime."

"I know lady Zhang. Just checking if it still holds ground.."

Chu Shang Wu said with a laugh.

"Of course it is. I will meet you at the entrance when you arrive."

"Alright then, lady Zhang. See you soon."

Few minutes later, Zhang Xiu Ying was gliding in the air to welcome the arriving Chu Shang Wu. After landing on the ground, Chu Shang Wu turned to Zhang Xiu Ying with an appreciative nod.

"The defensive arrays in this place always impress me. It would have been impossible for me to enter without you. You wouldn't even know you already missed the place. This place is truly impressive, lady Zhang Xiu Ying."

"If you say so, Shang Wu."

The demigod smiled gently before gesturing towards the entrance of the cave. After receiving a nod of gratitude from Chu Shang Wu, she nodded back as they continued to walk towards the cave.

"But we all know our Thousand -World array can't compare to your Ten-Heavenly-Steps arrays, Shang Wu."

"Hehehe. You flatter me, lady Zhang. The Ten-Heavenly-Steps formation is not as powerful as you tend to believe. After all, it's only a pure-grade heavenly treasure compared to yours."

Chu Shang Wu replied with an easy smile as his mind wandered-off to his own ancestral treasure, the Ten-Heavenly-Steps formation. A pure grade array with tremendous capacity of killing any soul inside it after taking ten steps.

"I've been thinking of why you have such a powerful defence arrays like the Thousand-World, lady Zhang. But after the demons attack, I now see the reasons."

Entering the cave, Chu Shang Wu exchange greetings with the rest of the family. His gaze lingered on the young Ju Feng as his mind momentarily wandered off in thoughts. Ah, the distressed child who had been carrying an enormous weight of sorrow, right from his birth. He had wondered why they named the child Ju Feng without their ancestral name, not until he was told of the words of a powerful fire oracle in regards to the child. The young boy was still being followed around by the many shadows of death. Even the demons wanted him dead.

Chu Shang Wu sighed as he returned his attention to Zhang Li Qiang who was gesturing towards an empty chair.

"Please have a seat, master Chu. And accept a little refreshment from us. We insist on this."

"Alright then, please don't mind the trouble."

After receiving the refreshments, the silver core took one bite of the millet cake, and his facial expression was of utter amazement.

"Delicious! How can I even remember who I am after eating all these? I've even forgotten my own name already."

"Hehehe."

Zhang Xiu Ying waited for her family's laughter at Chu Shang Wu's complimentary words to recede before addressing the Terra-Bane again.

"Shang Wu, you said you want to pay a visit to the titan lord."

She stared at the other silver core who nodded in return. After a quick recollection, the demigod shook her head slightly in disbelief as she gazed in the direction of the opened doorway.

"I still couldn't believe we've been living this close to a titan and I didn't know. The mighty titans, legends of old. Even the records of the great wars have some of them in it."

"Even as a demigod, there was no way you could have sense a terra-elemental titan lord. Hm, there's a lot I could learn from him."

"Well, we've all agreed to follow you. If the titan lord will see us, of course. We want to know more about the things he said, and learn everything we could from him."

"Let's go and find out what he thinks then."