Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!

In the most secluded grove of the Cloud Concealment Sect, the fine cracks on a slender stone dog sculpture broke open, revealing a spirit dog with fur as white as snow, silky and bright, and eyes crystal clear.

It stretched its limbs and gracefully stepped on the colorful clouds, flying away.

At that moment, Jiang Yuan and his group were still riding paper cranes over the vast sea, heading southeast.

Carefree City was long out of sight. Under the moonlight, the human world's sea seemed boundless, with no islands, ships, or any silhouette visible. The sea wind stirred the waves, making the few paper cranes seem even smaller.

"No wonder the Golden-Horned Thunder Avoiding Beast is unattainable; this sea is enormously vast. We've been flying for so long and haven't seen a single island," Xie Chenyuan said, guiding the direction with a compass, thinking it fortunate to have the senior's paper cranes to ride on. Otherwise, the prolonged sword flight would consume a lot of spiritual power, which could be disadvantageous in a conflict.

Hu Zhile carefully distinguished the scents drifting in the wind, shaking his head and saying, "We're probably still far away. At least, I can't smell anything other than the sea's salty scent. If there are caves and trees on that island, it certainly won't be small."

Jiang Yuan rested with closed eyes, smiling as he heard this, "It surely won't be too close to Carefree City. Otherwise, the City Lord and the major families would have found it long ago. The Golden-Horned Thunder Avoiding Beast probably wanted to eat people and previously searched over the sea to find a hiding place.

However, I still find it strange. The Shen Family knows the demon beast lost control and wanted to devour the demon cultivator; it's understandable others couldn't restrain it when the ancestor attended the banquet. But why did it have to cause trouble at the City Lord's banquet? Even if it's frenzied, it should have some sense."

"Venerable Family, your words are mistaken," Bai Yunqi said lazily, tilting slightly, with a blue silk fan leisurely in his right hand, "Demon Beasts are ultimately Demon Beasts. No matter how intelligent they are, they retain more beast nature.

Once they lose their mind, unlike demon cultivators, they don't care about gains and losses. Their raisin-sized brains then only unleash the most primitive beast nature — being stupid often happens."

This made Jiang Yuan even more confused, "Demon Beasts are naturally able to absorb heaven and earth spiritual power. In theory, they can cultivate. Isn't being intelligent a sign of awakening their spiritual wisdom? Why can't they become demon cultivators?"

Bai Yunqi closed the fan and explained patiently, "The threshold for Demon Beasts to become demon cultivators is slightly lower than that between mortals and cultivators.

The boundary is vague, but there is an unspeakable line; once crossed, even if their talent is poor, they are demon cultivators. Those who can't cross it, no matter how strong or smart, remain demon beasts."

"But demon cultivators may not achieve successful cultivation, and demon beasts may still undergo ascension," Hu Zhile added. "All animals in the world originated from Divine Beasts. However, over time, some lost their spiritual power completely and turned into ordinary birds and beasts. Others retained some ancestral bloodline and became demon beasts.

According to the orthodox view, demon beasts should evolve to match divine beasts and ascend ultimately.

However, reportedly in ancient times, the cultivation technique for beast body evolution and ascension was entirely lost, leaving only the method for human cultivators. This led to the saying 'humans are the spirits of all things' gradually emerging.

Demon Beasts began pursuing human transformation into demon cultivators, creating new paths of ascension. Those with strong beast bodies unable to cross that line to become demon cultivators gradually became sect and family guardian beasts."

I see!

Jiang Yuan thought of Xuanyuan Yangguang's "imitation divine beast" plan, wondering if he wanted the old dragon and stone tiger to follow the ancestors' path and evolve into divine beasts through sanctifying their flesh.

If he could genuinely innovate a beast body cultivation technique, he might indeed succeed!

Regrettably, Xuanyuan Yangguang later disappeared, and it's unclear what he accomplished.

The sea seemed endless. After flying against the wind on paper cranes for over three hours, Hu Zhile suddenly sniffed, "Venerable Family, I smell earth and trees ahead. We might be close!"

"Ahead?" Xie Chenyuan extended his divine sense but still couldn't detect anything, only to glance at the compass and notice the needle slightly moved. He was greatly impressed by the fox spirit's talent, "We are indeed approaching; prepare for battle, everyone."

Jiang Yuan flipped his right hand, holding a blade. In truth, the weapon could have been upgraded at the Treasure Forging Workshop long ago, but he wasn't satisfied with the main material for upgrading the long spear and looked for better materials to enhance attack power.

For now, the attack power relied entirely on the equipment, so upgrading the blade wasn't urgent.

After flying for another twenty minutes, a dark, beast-like island indeed appeared in their sight.

[Nameless Island: The hiding place of the Golden-Horned Thunder Avoiding Beast. It's resting now, the perfect time for a sneak attack]

"Right there!" Xie Chenyuan, looking at the compass, was extremely excited. The sound of sea breezes rustling through leaves and the wailing noise echoing as wind rushed into a huge cave matched exactly what he sensed during divination!

He had a vague feeling that he was touching an invisible threshold pointed out by a senior this time. Once it was successfully crossed, the Divination Technique would elevate to a new height, a realm his master had never reached!

"Buzz!"

Approaching the island, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt his mind blanking, memories emerging of a scene — the group of four, riding paper cranes, sweeping over the front sea; lightning appeared out of nowhere, striking them. Though not instantly wiped out, they were visibly battered.

Passive skill Foreknowledge Technique activated!

"Stop!"

Fortunately, while saving spiritual power, everyone was independently controlling their paper cranes. As he blurted out, his mind directed the paper crane to retreat.

The others hadn't reacted before being pulled back by the paper cranes. Almost simultaneously, lightning appeared out of nowhere less than a few meters ahead, striking hard, but missing its target, hitting the sea's surface, splitting the water and forming a bottomless trench.

"Close call!" Xie Chenyuan gasped at the shock and turned to look.

Among the four, besides the senior, whose realm was unknown, he was the strongest in the Nascent Soul Realm. The strength of the Golden-Horned Thunder Avoiding Beast was comparable to his. Any action from it wouldn't escape his senses.

Having detected nothing, the spontaneous lightning attack was undoubtedly a pre-set trap. Jiang Senior hadn't made any move before, suddenly commanded to stop, and the paper cranes retreated in time. He clearly sensed something.

Either Jiang Senior was at least two realms higher than him, or he possessed an amazing skill to foresee everything!

Bai Yunqi and Hu Zhile were used to this. After all, when they went to the Bloodthirst Hall in the Demon Realm, the Venerable Family could preemptively avoid all ambushes and navigate crises effortlessly.

Although unsure how he did so, obeying the Venerable Family's command was never wrong!

"Buzz!"

"Buzz Buzz!"

Foreknowledge images repeatedly flashed in Jiang Yuan's mind. After looking through them all, he couldn't help but frown slightly, "Damn, the entire island is laid out like a heavenly trap network.

Either get entangled with the lightning traps set by the Golden-Horned Thunder Avoiding Beast and get blown up, or sneak in via the water route. Do you think we should face it head-on?"