The loud shout sounded out across the entire mountain peak, the words, “WHERE IS THAT SLAVE?” echoed through out the forest Silver was in.

The creatures that lived deep within the mountain began to howl and hiss as they ran as far away as they could.

However Silver on the other hand just stood there, seemingly not bothered at all by the loud shout. In truth he was actually expecting something like this, to him it would have been surprising if nothing at all happened.

Krias on the outside also seemed like he didn’t care about the loud shout but inside his mind there were doubts. He could feel the power that emanated from the shout and knew that most likely if that person found him, his life would undoubtedly come to an end.

“The only way I can survive is to trust this masked person but…..first I need to test him.” Thought Krias.

Krias couldn’t tell what Silver looked like because of the mask so he was unable to guess his age but from looking at his height and his body, Krias guessed that the masked person couldn’t be any older than himself.

Suddenly, just as Krias was deep in thought Silver who had began to grow impatient said,

“You have very little time, I suggest you make your decision quickly.”

In actuality Silver knew that Krias was having doubts, the reason for this was because in his past life the feeling of imminent death was one he was very familiar with. He knew that human beings no matter how brave and courageous, when faced with the threat of death will most likely do anything to survive. Especially when the human is a young man, who has lived only to the age of fifteen to sixteen years old.

“I will follow you, but only if you are able to meet two requirements.” Said Krias.

Silver frowned from within the mask,

“He’s already in a bad situation and he still wants to set requirements?.....Fine I’ll listen, but only because I can’t bare leaving him to die, this kid definitely has the potential to be a great aid in the future.”

“Speak!”  said Silver.

Krias nodded and then said,

“First of all, you must guarantee my life.”

Silver simply shrugged his shoulders and said,

“I accept!  Continue.”

Inwardly, Krias breathed a sigh of relief and then proceeded to say,

“Secondly and most importantly, I would like to test you. If you are able to take my full force strike without dying then, I Krias will swear loyalty to you.”

Immediately, a smile appeared on Silver’s face, he was completely confident in being able to take Krias’s full force blow without dying. However, the one thing that worried him was whether or not he would be able to ensure Krias’s safety.

“Fine but I suggest you hurry up or else…..” Silver didn’t finish his sentence instead he remained silent and continued to stare at Krias.

Not wasting any time Krias pulled out the branch that was stuck in his leg and then got into an attacking stance.

Suddenly all the hairs on Silver’s body stood up, he almost immediately retreated but Silver fought the urge and remained standing where he was.

“This [Instinct] is really annoying! But for it to act up this much just from this kid getting into position means that I can’t underestimate him.” Thought Silver.

He then began to prepare himself for Krias’s attack. However the surprising thing was that Krias wasn’t attacking but instead just remained in position unmoving.

After about ten breaths worth of time Krias’s mouth opened and from it came the words,

“[Night Mist Blade].”

Immediately after saying those words, a huge amount of darkness spiritual power condensed into his right hand forming into the shape of a pitch black long sword and as soon as it was completely formed Krias dashed forward at incredible speed, just like an arrow that’s been shot from a bow.

Silver was caught completely off guard, he hadn’t thought that Krias would be a sword user. After all, when dealing with Hion he had fought barehanded.

However who was Silver? He was a warrior who had fought countless battles in his previous life and had gained great battle experience. He immediately recovered from his shock and began to circulate his divine power to its maximum, this caused it to burst out thus strengthening his body thanks to the light divine power as well as create a sort of defensive layer of countless tiny serpentine like lightning divine power.

Seeing this, Krias didn’t hold back either and put all his spiritual power into his blade which caused it to grow even darker and completely blend in with the night. In the time it would take someone to take a breath Krias had already arrived within attacking range and without any hesitation he swung his sword in a downward motion heading for Silver’s head.

Silver could only see the outline of the sword as it was too dark but despite that he could tell that the attack although powerful wouldn’t be able to kill him because of his exceptional healing, however it would definitely be able to cause him extreme pain.

So without hesitating Silver quickly struck out with his own fist which not only held the power of his incredible body but was also filled with lightning divine power. However just as the sword and fist were about to make contact, the characters “ZARA” on Silver’s mask began to glow with a blinding light that encompassed almost the entire forest and a deafening cry could be heard coming from the mouth carving on the mask.

In an instant both the blinding light and deafening cry had died down almost as if they had never even taken place.

Currently both Silver and Krias were lying on the ground unconscious, their faces deathly white and drained of color. However the most shocking thing was that the mask Silver had on was nowhere to be seen.

Back in the burning tiger room,

Hion was on the floor kneeling in front of a middle aged man with short Viking-gold hair, sickle shaped eyebrows, had a marble jaw that was strong and firm as well as had a shapely face which although wasn’t at the level of Hion, could still be regarded as handsome. The outline of the muscles on his body could even be seen through his robes.

“Father, that slave must still be somewhere close. You have to kill him for what he’s done otherwi…”

“SHUT UP! If you say anything else I will show you pain. You’ve already disgraced me enough by allowing yourself to lose to a…aa..a slave of all people. I Tous have truly lost face!” Said Hion’s father as he clenched his fist and his body trembled in rage.

Suddenly Tous shivered and his eyes widened in shock as his body stopped moving. He then slowly turned his head towards the direction of the forest Silver and Krias were currently in.

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“What was that energy just now? Could it be him…?” thought Tous.

Tous then gave a sideways glance to Hion before heading out at extreme speed towards the forest Silver and Krias were in. Naturally it wasn’t Tous alone who had been able to feel that weird energy just now, and just like him others quickly rushed to the forest including Akela and Dion.

However it had to be said that the Divine Tiger clans head quarters really was huge, the many experts that rushed towards the forest took a round-about route unlike Silver and Krias who had used a shortcut. It would definitely take them a while to get there.

Meanwhile inside of Silver’s consciousness his soul could be seen and circling around it was the sovereign power, however currently along with those two there was now a black mask with the characters “ZARA” on it hovering around. It just stayed there, doing absolutely nothing.

Suddenly a miniscule amount of sovereign power traveled into Silver’s divine core instantly re-energizing him. The amount of the sovereign power taken was comparable to picking a single sand grain from a vast desert, a desert which Silver has absolutely no control over.

Soon after that Silver woke up and after closely examining himself, he found that the cause of him losing consciousness was because all his divine power had been drained from his divine core. If it wasn’t for the sovereign’s power he would probably have suffered significant set backs in his future during cultivation.

He had also noticed the black mask in his consciousness but after repeatedly trying to stimulate it with no results, Silver decided to give up.

He then focused his attention towards Krias.

Silver sent a small strand of his light divine power into Krias and immediately after it penetrated his body, the huge amounts of darkness spiritual power in Krias’s core burst out and surrounded the light divine power devouring it.

“It looks like he still has the ability to cultivate but it’s going to be a while before he can get up.”

Silver then began to look around and with a sigh he said,

“It looks like I’ve caused quite a commotion this time. It’s going to be very tricky fulfilling those conditions of yours but I did give my word so I’ll try my best. However, you must also sacrifice to gain.”

Having said that Silver walked towards the unconscious Krias and grabbed hold of his right arm,

“An arm for a life!” said Silver as he applied strong pressure to the arm and with a “Crunch!” sound Krias’s arm was completely broken. His body only twitched once before going back to normal.

At this time the numerous experts had arrived at the entrance to the forest where Silver and Krias were and just before they entered the forest they were greeted with a loud shout,

“Halt!”

The multiple practitioners immediately stopped their advance and looked upward toward the sky where they saw an old man standing on air looking down at the various practitioners coldy,

“Hmm, I wonder why all of you have come to my place?” said the old man coldly as his gaze swept his fellow clan members.

Suddenly a loud laugh came from within the group and then a person began to fly upwards. This person was of course Ignus.

“Old Ye, we don’t mean to be rude its just that we felt a peculiar presence coming from your garden and we came to check it out.”

Old Ye looked at Ignus then with a cold snort he said,

“You have until dawn to leave and while you’re here, stay away from my workshop.”

After leaving those words Old Ye left saying nothing more.

Ignus then immediately pushed forward with the others following closely behind and only a few moments later they arrived right in front of Silver.

He was kneeling on the ground his face deathly pale, hair in a complete mess and was breathing heavily. A few meters away a dark skinned young man could be seen on the ground, his face had bloody wounds on them, and his arm was broken. The surrounding area had torn down trees and broken branches scattered around, giving the impression that a battle had taken place.

Immediately after seeing the scene before them both Akela and Ignus quickly went to Silver’s side and helped him up. Although they had many questions, their first priority was to make sure Silver was alright.

However just as Akela and Ignus were preparing to leave with Silver, Tous stepped forward and slightly bowed,

“Elder Ignus, I don’t know what relationship you have with that boy but before you take him do you mind having him give us a brief explanation as to what happened here.” Said Tous in the most respectful and polite tone he was capable of.

Ignus cast Tous a cold glance which immediately caused him to break into a cold sweat however he still kept his composure as he needed to confirm his suspicions.

“This child is my grandson as you can see he is injured so forgive me for not being polite but we will be taking our leave.” Said Ignus coldly.

Suddenly a loud , “Hmph!” sounded out filled with disdain, an old man with gold and grey hair could be seen approaching quickly towards Ignus.

In the blink of an eye that old man arrived beside Tous who then immediately bowed,

“Father!”

“Ignus I don’t see any major injury on your grandson and besides its not like we’re asking him to do anything strenuous, all we want to know is what happened here and for that he only needs to use his mouth.” Said the old man.

“Rolind, I don’t remember asking for your opinion on the matter so I suggest you watch your words otherwise…Hmph! Don’t blame me.” said Ignus as he narrowed his eyes.

Hearing this Rolind seemed calm but inside he cursed Ignus for not giving him even a bit of face.

“Ignus we’re both Elders of the central branch and it is our job to know everything that goes on here, besides look at all these people who’ve rushed here to find out the truth of the matter, surely you can’t let them leave with nothing.” Said Rolind and almost as if on queue Tous furiously nodded his head.

Seeing everything that was playing out even Silver began to get irritated,

“Hmph! You think you’re the only one who’s good with words!”

He then coughed lightly drawing attention away from the two arguing Elders and onto himself.

“I was just strolling through the castle,*cough*, when suddenly I heard a blood curdling scream come from a room with a carving of a burning tiger on the door.”

Hearing this Tous eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he glanced at the dark skinned youth on the ground and suddenly understood everything.

Silver didn’t know that Tous was Hion’s father but seeing the resemblance he would bet that he was at least a cousin or uncle.