Chapter 60: A Big Commotion
On the day of the wedding, laughter echoed continuously within the Grand Canyon.
The four clan leaders, having chosen to yield and retreat, had been feeling depressed. Taking this opportunity to celebrate heartily, Beirut and Carleona were the happiest, drinking freely with the four clan leaders and the various elders.
"Lord of the Manor, congratulations!" Gaisrein raised his glass with Beirut.
"Haha." Beirut smiled at Gaisrein, then lowered his voice, "Gaisrein, have you Four Divine Beasts clans really backed down and refused to fight?" Beirut was also concerned about the conflict between these two sides.
Gaisrein was startled for a moment, then nodded.
"What's the reaction from the eight great clans?" Beirut inquired.
"No reaction yet," Gaisrein shook his head. "I estimate that in the short term, they won't be able to confirm whether we've truly submitted."
"Mm." Beirut nodded. "But you must be careful. Once the eight great clans know you've retreated, even if they don't dare enter the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range, they'll find other ways to retaliate against you."
Gaisrein said with self-mockery, "We've decided not to leave the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range. What else can they do?" There was still some sorrow in his words.
Beirut said no more.
"Hey," Carleona beside him chuckled softly, "Tell me, will Bebe and Nisse's child be a boy or a girl?"
"How would I know?" Beirut laughed. "But I'm sure of one thing—it won't be a Soul Devouring Rat!"
If both husband and wife were Soul Devouring Rats, their offspring would definitely be Soul Devouring Rats. Unfortunately, across countless planes, only Beirut and Bebe were Soul Devouring Rats. Generally, particularly terrifying divine beasts were extremely rare in number.
For example, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and even the Nether Serpent were all unique. Only with an extremely low probability would true divine beasts appear through intermarriage among their descendants. But that probability was far too low. Meanwhile, divine beasts like the Bashe Snake and Suanni were more numerous across countless planes.
The stronger a divine beast's talent, the rarer its numbers.
The weaker the talent, the greater the numbers.
---
Several months passed in the blink of an eye. Outside Bebe's house in the Grand Canyon.
Linley, Beirut, Carleona, and a group of people gathered there, while Delia and Nisse were inside the house—Nisse was about to give birth. The most nervous and anxious person present was Bebe.
"She's going into labor, she's going into labor!" Bebe stood outside the house, muttering to himself as he paced back and forth incessantly, unable to stop.
"Bebe, just sit down," Linley couldn't help but laugh.
"How can I sit down?" Bebe's entire body trembled and twitched slightly. He glanced at Linley. "Boss, I'm so nervous my heart feels like it's about to jump out of my chest, and you tell me to sit down? Sigh, why isn't she out yet? It's taking so long."
Beirut chuckled. "Bebe, Nisse only went in a moment ago. There's still a long way to go."
Bebe could only endure it. Every second now felt incredibly long to him.
"Wah—" Suddenly, a high-pitched cry rang out.
Bebe stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
"Creak!" The door opened, and Delia walked out, looking at Bebe with confusion. "Bebe, what are you standing there dumbfounded for? Aren't you going in?" Bebe snapped out of it, his body turning into a black blur as he dashed inside.
Delia laughed. "That Bebe, he's gone silly."
"When you gave birth to Wade, Bebe said I was nervous. He's even more nervous than I was," Linley said with a smile.
Delia shot him a look. "Don't get smug. I heard that when Taylor and Sasha were born, you were so nervous you were sweating all over. And you, a Saint-level expert, sweating from nerves?"
Linley could only smile wryly.
A moment later, Bebe and Nisse came out of the house. Bebe's grin stretched from ear to ear as he held a baby in his arms. Nisse was human, so the child was naturally in human form. However, this baby—like Gaisrein—carried divine beast bloodline but was not a true divine beast.
"Boss," Bebe said excitedly, looking at Linley. "Look, this is my child, this is Bebe's child! Haha... I, Bebe, have a child too!" Bebe was completely ecstatic, almost delirious with joy.
"Here, let me hold him," Beirut said with a smile.
"Mm." Bebe carefully handed the child to Beirut.
Beirut took the baby and examined it closely. "Oh, it's a girl. Her Soul Devouring Rat bloodline is decent, but awakening her divine beast bloodline will be troublesome." Beirut had yet to find a way to perfectly unlock the talents of the younger generation.
The Four Divine Beasts clans had the ancestral hall baptism, which allowed younger members to gain the ability to transform and even acquire divine beast talents. Of course, the strength of these talents varied, depending on bloodline concentration.
"A girl is good, a girl is good." Bebe's grin never faded as he laughed.
Today, he was overjoyed.
As a divine beast, the Soul Devouring Rat, Bebe's talent was so strong that it invited heaven's jealousy, so his number of offspring would naturally be extremely limited. For instance, Beirut had three sons, but they were triplets, born all at once. After that, Carleona never gave birth again.
As for Linley, though he wasn't a divine beast, the world's restrictions on him were somewhat looser. Still, Taylor and Sasha were twins, born together. Wade only came later, after they had reached the Infernal Realm.
From that day on, Bebe became passionate about one thing—raising his child. Sitting on the grass cultivating, the girl had jet-black hair and skin as translucent as jade.
This was Bebe's daughter, Ina.
"It's hard for Ina to even become a god," Linley sighed inwardly. Although Ina possessed divine beast bloodline, she wasn't a true divine beast. And Beirut had no way to replicate the effect of the ancestral hall baptism for now.
Ina could only rely on herself for the time being, which meant that after over a hundred years of cultivation, she was still at the Saint-level.
"Uncle Linley," a crisp voice rang out. Ina had stood up, her eyes mischievous like her parents'. "You seem to be in a good mood. Any good news?"
Linley couldn't help but smile. "Nana, your intuition is sharp. Mm, I've made some breakthroughs."
"Oh?" Ina's eyes lit up immediately. "Which elemental law?"
"Fire," Linley didn't hide it.
Fire was Linley's slowest element to progress in. Although he had been cultivating fire for over a thousand years, he had only just fully comprehended the fourth profound mystery today. As for the other two profound mysteries of fire, he hadn't even started on them.
In contrast, water, which he had started six or seven hundred years later than fire, had its fifth profound mystery already in the later stages.
As for wind, though he had comprehended seven profound mysteries, the remaining two hadn't even been started yet.
The fastest to cultivate was earth.
For the laws of the earth, with six profound mysteries, Linley's last one—the power of life—had reached a bottleneck. He was only one step away from becoming a Highgod. Moreover, the profound mysteries of strength and earth element had begun to fuse.
"Mood also affects cultivation speed," Linley sighed inwardly.
"Uncle Linley, you're amazing. Sigh, I still haven't become a god. In the entire Grand Canyon, I'm the only one who hasn't. Last time I went to see Grandfather, everyone I met was a god," Ina said helplessly.
Beirut and Carleona doted on Ina, often taking her to visit other places.
"Don't lose heart," Linley comforted her. "When cultivating elemental laws, you need to immerse yourself in them, constantly ponder, and cultivate with focus. You'll make progress. I believe you have more patience than your father."
"Mm," Ina nodded with a smile. "Father has the least patience when cultivating."
"Hey, what are you saying about me?" A voice came from not far away. Bebe walked out of his house and glared at Ina. "Nana, are you badmouthing me?"
Ina snorted delicately, turned her head, and ignored Bebe.
Bebe could only rub his nose. "This kid, she's not as obedient as when she was little."
Linley was at a loss for words. He had originally thought that having a daughter would make Bebe more mature. But he was wrong—even with a daughter, Bebe was still the same.
"Buzz—"
A spatial tremor spread out.
Linley's expression changed, and he couldn't help but look up. Although the spatial tremor had weakened considerably by the time it reached them, Linley still sensed it.
"What's happening?" Bebe's expression also turned serious as he looked at Linley.
"What's wrong?" Delia, Nisse, and Wade all ran out.
"Let's go out and take a look." Linley led the way, flying upward. Bebe, Delia, Nisse, Ina, and Wade followed. But when they flew out of the canyon mouth, they saw—
"This..." Linley was stunned.
In the southern sky of the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range, a dense, overwhelming sea of figures flew over like locusts. Many of them were attacking the forests below.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Trees exploded, leaving deep craters. The earlier spatial tremor had been caused by this. However, these people were restrained, attacking the ground without affecting the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range itself.
"So many people?" Linley's heart turned cold.
"Uncle Linley, how many are there? At least hundreds of thousands, right?" Ina was dumbfounded.
"Hundreds of thousands? Far more than that!" Linley said in a low voice.
At that moment, not only Linley but the entire Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range saw countless members of the Four Divine Beasts clans flying out, gazing at the terrifying sea of people in the southern sky. Those people were all bombarding the forests south of the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range.
"Stay here, don't run around," Linley ordered. "If there's danger, head back to the Grand Canyon immediately. I'm going to see the Patriarch."
"Got it," Bebe nodded.
Linley nodded slightly and immediately flew at top speed toward the dragon head source of the Dragonblood Path. At that moment, not only Linley but several elders were also rushing toward the Patriarch's location. On the way, Linley met the Second Elder.
From a distance, Linley saw Patriarch Gaisrein and some others, also looking south.
"Patriarch," Linley flew over.
"Linley, you're here." Gaisrein smiled at Linley. "Take a look. What trick are these eight great clans playing?"
"Is it really the eight great clans?" Linley had already suspected as much.
"Just watch and you'll know." Gaisrein turned his head to look south.
Linley also looked south. A large number of experts were bombarding the forests. After a moment, Linley realized: "They... they're laying a foundation!" A large area had all its trees destroyed, and a solid foundation was being laid.
Then—
The eight great clans' side had a massive number of members carrying giant boulders, beginning to build castles and mansions! With the abilities of gods, especially such an astonishing number of gods working together, in just half a day—
A series of castles were built south of the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range.
The area covered by these castles was comparable to the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range itself. Moreover, these castles were clearly divided into eight distinct zones. Seeing this, the members of the Four Divine Beasts clans in the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range were all stunned.
"What are they doing?" Elder Jarvis asked in disbelief.
"Doing what? Settling down next to us!" Gaisrein said darkly.
Suddenly—
"Cowards of the Four Divine Beasts clans!" A rough voice rang out across the sky above the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range. "Haha, I never thought the descendants of four Sovereigns would hole up in this Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range, too scared to come out. Haha..."
The laughter echoed throughout the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range, and all the clan members heard it.
Everyone was furious.
"You can hide, can you? Fine, let you hide. Now the eight great clans are right next to you! If anyone from your clan comes out, we'll kill them. If you've got the guts, stay the cowards forever and never come out!"
"Haha... Four Divine Beasts clans? More like Four Worm clans! Haha..."
"If you've got any guts, come out. The eight great clans have people ready to face you anytime! No guts... then just keep hiding."
Wave after wave of laughter came from the other side, thundering through the sky above the Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range.