12: Protector

Leaving school and returning home, Xu Du was spotted in the living room playing with a pigeon-sized, greenish-black avian spiritual beast.

Xu Yan's eyes lit up when he saw this scene, and he quickly walked forward.

"Uncle Qing, why are you back?"

This greenish-black avian spiritual beast, whom Xu Yan called "Uncle Qing," was none other than one of Xu Du's ace spiritual beasts, the Azure Sky Luan. It possessed genuine peak Monarch Rank strength and had a significant background just by itself.

Xu Du obtained the opportunity to enter the Parasol Tree Realm and contract a spiritual beast when he was young. He met and brought it out of the Parasol Tree Realm, and after several evolutions, it achieved its current form, possessing a portion of the bloodline of the Azure Luan, one of the Mythical Five Phoenixes among the Five Phoenixes and Nine Chicks of the Phoenix Clan.

Normally, it stayed within the Parasol Tree Realm to seek breakthroughs, using the aura of the Parasol Tree Realm and its elders to refine itself, purify its bloodline, and strive for further advancement.

It was currently in an extremely crucial state and would not easily leave the Parasol Tree Realm.

Usually, if anything happened, Xu Du would proactively go to the Parasol Tree Realm, rather than it returning to the farm.

However, its sudden appearance at home at this time genuinely surprised Xu Yan and led him to form a few guesses.

Before Xu Yan could even ask, the Azure Sky Luan's gentle voice entered his ears.

"Don't overthink it. I haven't completed my breakthrough; I'm still a bit short of that step.

Senior Xuan Niao of the clan said I was missing a sliver of Destiny, and coincidentally, that's when Du contacted me.

The Senior told me that this situation was a reminder of where that missing sliver of Destiny should manifest, so I returned."

Hearing this, Xu Du looked a little embarrassed.

"Well, actually, I contacted all of you. Xiao Yan decided to train on his own at home and might face some dangerous situations soon. I was thinking of choosing one of you to temporarily follow him and lend a hand when he faces an insoluble crisis.

The reason I contacted you was simply because I thought it best to treat everyone equally and not make exceptions for any reason.

Yet, you, the one least likely to return, were the first to respond to me."

The spiritual beasts left behind by Xu Du and Xu Yan's mother usually cultivate in various Secret Realms and dimensions, except for a few left to guard the house.

As for what happens if they aren't around when needed, well, that's thanks to Huaguo technology: every spiritual beast wears a special accessory, which allows them to return directly to the Beast Taming Space when required, and then be summoned to the master's side using the Beast Taming Space as a transfer station.

Listening to Xu Du's words, the Azure Sky Luan showed a thoughtful expression and then said, "In that case, the sliver of Destiny I am missing does not rest with you; instead, there is a high probability that it has manifested upon Xiao Yan."

Having said that, it flew up from Xu Du's hand, transformed into a gentle breeze, circled Xu Yan once, and then vanished.

Only a segment of its speech remained in the air.

"Since that is the case, I shall stay by Xiao Yan's side for the foreseeable future, acting as his Dao Protector Spiritual Beast while simultaneously searching for the sliver of Destiny that I lack.

Xiao Yan, if anything happens, you can summon me directly. If you do not actively summon me, I will only intervene when you face a life-or-death crisis."

Seeing the Azure Sky Luan's decision, Xu Du said nothing more, shook his head, and left.

As for Xu Yan's subsequent training and trials, Xu Du did not proactively interfere. If Xu Yan had questions, he would answer them, but he would not actively interfere with his choices, allowing Xu Yan to develop on his own.

Xu Yan's grandfather treated Xu Du in the same manner back then, and Xu Du naturally inherited this fine tradition.

As for Xu Yan, being able to request leave for self-training naturally meant he had prepared early.

Over the past month, Xu Yan had already rehearsed multiple plans, waiting only to choose one and begin implementation after his leave was approved.

Now that the Azure Sky Luan served as a safety net, the previous plans seemed overly conservative and were immediately discarded by Xu Yan. He ultimately chose the plan he had initially abandoned first.

According to the information Xu Yan collected, a large number of Heteromorphic Beasts were gathering in Secret Realm No. 162375, not far from Ning City, and a Beast Tide was expected to erupt soon.

Secret Realm No. 162375 is a Low-level Secret Realm, where the strength of the Heteromorphic Beasts is mostly Soldier Rank, and the strongest existence is merely General Rank.

Unlike spiritual beasts, most Heteromorphic Beasts possess little intelligence and harbor significant malice toward humans.

Xu Yan's original plan was to enter Secret Realm No. 162375 and use the life-and-death struggle of the Beast Tide to rapidly enhance Zhu Yan's strength and experience.

At the same time, Xu Yan could obtain a batch of Heteromorphic Beast materials and points for fighting Heteromorphic Beasts, which he could then exchange for good items from the Secret Realm Treasure Vault.

Incidentally, this would also allow Zhu Yan to release its natural disposition.

Spider-type Spiritual Beasts, especially those focused on the Dark Element like Zhu Yan, are inherently not peaceful creatures; they naturally carry the brutality of a predator.

It merely forcefully controls this emotion because of its concern for Xu Yan.

Xu Yan had noticed earlier during training with the spiritual beasts on the farm that Zhu Yan was mostly indifferent to the Sparring Spiritual Beasts, treating them as if they were dead objects or food, and never held back when attacking, specifically targeting the opponents' vital points.

If it weren't for Xu Yan's order not to kill the Sparring Spiritual Beasts, coupled with the efforts of the Healing-type Spiritual Beasts on the farm, those Sparring Spiritual Beasts would have likely suffered heavy casualties long ago.

Even so, few spiritual beasts on the farm are now willing to spar with Zhu Yan.

Zhu Yan's fighting style is fine, so Xu Yan has no intention of changing its combat style.

However, the farm environment inherently involves restraint. By forcefully holding back when it could immediately kill an opponent, the Killing Intent does not easily dissipate; instead, it accumulates alongside its inner brutality.

What Xu Yan needed to do was find a way to release this accumulated Killing Intent and brutal emotion before it reached Zhu Yan's tolerance limit.

Slaughter, while boosting combat experience and strength, is also one of the most effective ways to release Killing Intent and brutal emotions.

In Xu Yan's view, the Beast Tide in Secret Realm No. 162375 was an extremely grand Feast of Slaughter.

There, Zhu Yan could recklessly slaughter the Heteromorphic Beasts participating in the Beast Tide without restraint, using their flesh, blood, and lives to enhance its own strength.

However, this plan was ultimately the first to be abandoned because the risk was too high; Xu Yan could not guarantee that he and Zhu Yan would survive the Beast Tide.

However, now with the protection of the Azure Sky Luan, safety was guaranteed, and this plan, which had previously seemed too risky and was abandoned, was brought out once again.