Pathway

The demonic beasts on the other hand were animals which gained sentience after absorbing large amount of demonic energy over a long period of time. Demonic energy was one of the energies of the Nether plane. But every now and then, the demonic energy would seep into the mortal plane through the occasional cracks in the fabrics of the universe.

Then, the magical beasts. They had neither awareness nor intelligence. They simply had no sentience, and they were the weakest of the lot. Their energy imbued bodies served as sources of nutrients for cultivators.

The steller eagle was a magical beast, but was acting with sentience. A sentient magical beast? That could only mean one thing.

Xue Wu.

Blood cultivator, or simply blood.

Xue Wus, blood cultivators or bloods, were powerful mortals who used the mystical life-force power of blood to gain extreme powers. They were mainly diviners. They used blood essence to power their oracle bones, for seeing the past and future. Unlike Chi cultivators that formed cores in their dantians, blood cultivators were not able to form cores. They would form eternal core bonds with mighty beasts, and the beasts would serve as their cores.

The less powerful Xue Wus, would go for magical beasts. But the more powerful Xue Wus, would make pacts with the divine beasts before forming eternal bonds with them. The divine beasts would be the blood cultivators' cores. Their power would grow as the beasts grew in power.

Generally, blood cultivators would bond with magical beasts and draw energy essence from their blood. That was much more safer, though, there would not be much increase in their power. But for them to really grow in power and advance in their levels, they had to bond with divine beasts and draw from their life-force-infused blood. The reason due to them being innate bloodline beasts.

Although, the divine beasts and magical beasts made them more powerful due to the fact they could draw directly on their power. However the more powerful divine beasts could also be their death. If the beasts died, they would no longer have any source of power. They would no longer be able to bond with any beasts. And unless they could find the Jade Dragon spirit fruit, they would be stuck in their advancement. 

Blood cultivators who were satisfied with their states of existence would settle for magical beasts. But more ambitious blood cultivators would go with the divine beasts since it was only through them they could attract the heavenly tribulations. And both the blood cultivator and the beast, would have to undergo the tribulations together. Hence, increasing their slim chances. 

Over the years, the heavenly tribulations had been incredibly strong against the Xue Wus, especially the ascension tribulations. Most of them had died from the effects of the tribulations. Only a handful had ever made it to ascension. Due to the fact that here was no other way for them, many blood cultivators had decided against attracting the tribulations. Life was better than the samsara cycle.

Zhang Xiu Ying sat in a lotus position with her eyes closed, deep in meditation. She was inside an abandoned immortal cave, some miles away from the JinJin village. Her awareness through her divine sense was covering the whole area including JinJin village. As a golden core demigod, her conscious had expanded greatly since returning from the valley of the gods.

She didn't want to be monitoring her son all the time, but as a mother, she was still concerned about Ju Feng leaving their home for the sect. But in as long as her son was inside the sect boundaries, it was alright with her. However, to be certain of Ju Feng's safety, she had spread her divine sense around, outside the sect's premises, to know of anytime her son would be outside the Last Sages' premises.

Earlier that morning, she had been notified of Ju Feng's presence through her divine sense. Immediately she sensed her son, she had used her divine evasion to arrive at a safer distance from Ju Feng's position. She would determine the situation of things before acting. After close examination with her divine sight, she had come to the conclusion of her son being in a group of something resembling, adventurers.

Adventures?  What was her son even thinking? He was just a child, and also were the other two kids. He didn't even care being attacked by the crazy demons? Yes, the nether demons might not come back in the time being, there were still many other sources of danger out here. 

Although she wanted to keep a keen eye on the situations, she didn't want to appear as an obtrusive element to the adventurers union. Things with being young cultivators. She could have been more relaxed is she had been aware of their sect elder who was secretly following them. She had overlooked the possibility of that, probably due to her not sensing any form of danger in the vast area her divine sense was covering. It was during the recent attack she knew of the elder's presence. 

Now that the sect elder was with them, their group was reasonably covered. She would wait for a bit more time before returning home. Or She could just continued watching them to be certain of their true safety. Nonetheless, the elder's presence was a huge relief. She relaxed her mind and continued to meditate.

***

Their journey had no disturbances since the event with the crystals. The presence of elder Wang Xiu gave them great confidence but also brought reservations too. An elder was in no way a disciple. What they would discuss among themselves, would be difficult to talk about in the presence of the elder. They had only planned on finding the forsaken palace on their own, as friends. But now, they had an elder's eyes on their back.

Although, elder Cao Wang Xiu tried to mingle and be more friendlier, they could still feel the intimidating discomfort of her presence. After all, she was an elder of the Last Sages sect. How could they express themselves freely with her being around?