Emperor’s Domination

"So what is this innate gift?" She asked again.

"Divine beasts do not exist in this world so you haven't seen them." He said.

"Yes, true dragons and phoenixes." She had heard about the divine beasts before.

"There are different names for them, dragons, phoenixes, kun pengs, and many others. We simply don't see them in Eight Desolaces but they are around. Where do you think their power comes from?"

"Their bloodline?" She blurted out the most obvious answer before correcting herself: "Ah, you're referring to their innate gift?"

He nodded and said: "That's one way to put it when we're talking about their source."

"So the innate gift of the phoenix is…" She murmured.

"It is rebirth. It is not limited to the bloodline, it'll serve as the source of your dao and power." He elaborated.

"So this innate gift is greater than the bloodline." She seemed to be understanding more and more.

"The power of the bloodline stemmed from this innate gift. It is everything, the source of what is considered a phoenix. If you were to only learn the grand completion bloodline, that would be a superficial level of knowledge." He nodded.

"Superficial?" She shuddered after hearing this. The grand completion bloodline alone was enough to make her a peerless demon god. How could this be superficial?

"What would be the result of actually learning the gift in totality?" She asked.

"I'm sure you haven't met a divine beast." He brought this up.

"No." She shook her head: "I don't think anyone has seen them before."

"They are considered the strongest beasts, far beyond the reach of this world. Can you imagine how powerful they are?" He elaborated.

This was something she couldn't answer due to a lack of knowledge. However, it seemed that just obtaining a bloodline was incredible enough.

Their ancestor had accomplished so much by obtaining the phoenix bloodline. What about the real divine beast with all of its arsenal ready?

"They must be unbeatable." She said.

He chuckled in response: "The innate gift is in your mind, a treasure awaiting your excavation. You don't need to focus on anything else, just this alone is enough."

She gradually understood that her phoenix bloodline right now was not worthy of pride. It was only the beginning; there was still a long way to go in the future.

"It is a blessing of three lifetimes to receive your grace, Young Noble." She prostrated, thinking that words weren't enough to show her gratitude.

He accepted her grand gesture and said: "I fancy those with intelligence and wisdom, they allow one to reach the dao. Talent and power alone do not elevate one above the rest."

She memorized his guidance and led him into the village. It only had several dozen households or so.

There must be countless villages like it around City of Demons. They walked around and searched the houses for Ancient Pheasant.

Strangely enough, the villagers didn't find the presence of their saintess surprising. They acted rather indifferent toward her. It was because these mortals have seen demons and disciples of Dragon before. However, they didn't know anything about Ancient Pheasant.

Thus, the duo searched the entire village to no avail.

"What should we do? Father was certain that we would be able to find him here." Qingzhu mused.

"Try his method." Li Qiye smiled and wasn't in a hurry at all.

Qingzhu then remembered the monkey king's advice - follow the rooster's crow.

"I'll give it a shot." She sat down in the meditative pose and focused.

She entered a state of zen and everything became silent. As for Li Qiye, he closed his eyes with a smirk on his face; he didn't care if they could find Ancient Pheasant or not.

After a while, she suddenly heard a crow. It didn't come through the ear but rather, through the mind.

"Over there!" She stood up and pointed over yonder.

"Let's go take a look then." He opened his eyes and agreed.

Suddenly, war horns interrupted them. It wasn't overly loud but everyone in the city could hear them.

"Hmm?" Qingzhu stared in the direction of the city and became startled.

Other disciples felt the same way and stopped their tasks.

"It's a summoning horn." They calmed down and assessed the situation.

This was a unique horn to Dragon. Its purpose was to summon all nearby disciples. They were required to run back regardless of their current mission.

"What is happening?" This question was on everyone's mind.

"It's been decades since the last summoning call." One expert said.

"Are we under attack?" A junior asked around for information. However, this certainly didn't seem to be the case.

"Dragon is recalling its members." Outsiders took note of this as well.

"Something big must be happening." One disciple said as he ran back to the sect.