31 New Threat (1)

In an immense desert in the Middle East, dunes stretched as far as the eye could see. The sun shone hot like a blazing flame on the sands below as a gentle breeze blew from the south, carrying the sands into the ever-changing dunes. Out of nothing a small streak of Qi reached the sands and quickly found its way towards a small scorpion hiding beneath it.

That streak of Qi, although dense, was not entirely white. There were dark purple tones to it, giving it a mysterious and dangerous vibe. The natural energy entered the scorpion's body without any resistance and was quickly absorbed by it.

As the energy bathed the arthropod's body, it began to undergo mutations visible to the naked eye. His cultivation base increased non-stop, causing the Qi in the environment to swirl madly, pushing away all the grains of sand around him.

But the consecutive breakthroughs were not the most impressive change, because in a flash of time, the tiny scorpion had already grown to nearly three meters in height! Its claws became stronger and sharper, its exoskeleton turned harder than metal, and its tail became even more poisonous.

But the transformation wasn't just external, deep within his body, a small core was forcibly formed. It was the size of a walnut, golden in color with purple lines. That was a testament of its strength, the main reason for its growth. It showed that he was at the Foundation Establishment Realm! Not only that, but at the peak of this realm, just a half-step away from the next major realm!

That was called a Beast Core, or a Demonic Core. It was a unique thing for the beast, similar to a human dantian, it was responsible for storing huge amounts of Qi for the beast's use. Every beast in the Foundation Establishment Realm would have to form a Beast Core to evolve to the next level. It was slow work and many would never make it, however Leo simply skipped that for the scorpion.

Even though it looked like a blessing, not everything came for free and some would say it was more of a curse. That's because the beast would never be able to advance in cultivation instead said otherwise by Leo. It would be stuck in this realm until the end of its life.

Yet, the simple animal that was once at the bottom of the chain food, was now transformed into an unstoppable killing machine. Probably the strongest creature on Earth.

Soon, the beast waved its scorpion claws around and went towards the nearest city.

********

In the middle of a large and dense forest, an ancient tribe took shelter. The cloudy and rainy weather was constant in the place, but their huts made of vine withstood the rain well.

At the moment, the tribe was celebrating the success of the hunt. His brave warriors had returned with food and life from the clutches of the dense, dark forest.

They lived inside the Amazonian Rainforest, a name they came to know after contact with other humans that used strange clothes and equipment. Still, most of the tribe preferred to live in isolation, only from time to time having contact with the outside world.

The fire crackled brightly inside the tribe's common hall, searing the flesh of an unrecognizable quadruped. The delicious smell filled everyone with joy... Or almost everyone.

In a reserved corner of the hall, the Chief of the tribe was talking to one of the expedition's warriors. Both had long black hair, neither fair nor dark skin, and broad faces characteristic of the Indians of that region.

"...it's getting worse, Abaeté" whispered the warrior with a pleading voice. "The tribe needs your wisdom."

"I know, we must do our ritual when the flower of the moon blooms. Until then, we must hold on." The chief said firm, but as he eyed the kids around the fireplace, fear flashed for a moment in his eyes.

"We've already lost three men this last week...The hunting is becoming scarce, the beasts became wilder, stronger and more agile!"

"One month, we must wait for-"

*CRASH!*

The chief was interrupted the moment the hut walls were destroyed.

A multitude of debris flew across the hall. Children cried and women screamed, the men immediately grabbed their weapons, which were never far away, and faced whatever was attacking them.

Amidst that chaos, from within the hole on the wall two golden eyes with thin black irises stared back at the Indians. It was an immense snake's head that had greeted the tribe.

Silence. Everyone stared at each other without even moving a muscle. They had never seen such a monstrous animal, it would be able to swallow a whole man in the blink of an eye.

Whoosh~

The snake's tongue swayed outside its mouth for a second and then went back.

At that moment, it felt like the animal gave a small smile.

********

China,

Near a beautiful lake an old man with long white hair was fishing peacefully, admiring the scenery with a smile on his face. He was on the bank of the river, with his bare feet in the icy water, waiting for some fish to bite his bait.

It was dawn, and the river was at the entrance to the city. At that time, many people left to do their chores and passers-by were already used to the old man. He had been doing this for so long that some even thought he was part of the scenery.

Suddenly, the calm river revolved and the fishing rod he held pulled strongly. The old man got up and smiled, making apparent his missing teeth.

"Today I'll have a big fish for lunch! Hehehe!" With a strength unusual for someone of his age, the man pulled the fishing pole straight up.

Weirdly, the river was churning more and more and now waves were being created in the water. Startled by that bizarre scene, the passers-by stopped to watch it.

Suddenly, before the old man could react a huge goldfish jumped out of the water and with its mouth open. The thing was bigger than a shark and came directly at him!

"Oh… Shit!" That was the last thing he said before he was eaten by the fish.

**********

Inside a big mountain, an eagle had just feeded its hatchlings with whatever prey it had gotten. As the small little things were eating happily, a streak of pure Qi found its way towards their mother.

Even though the eagle had already increased its strength a bit because of the natural Qi in the environment, it was nothing compared to now. As if injected testosterone, the eagle transformed.

Its wings reached a span of four meters in a minute, its powerful claws became strong enough to break rocks. The winds revolved around her and scared the other birds on the mountain.

As its screech reverberated throughout the mountain, the animals knew the king of the air had been born!

This kind of phenomena happened all around the world, humanity would soon notice that they were falling behind in the food chain.

*******

Tokyo City.

Inside a luxurious apartment, Hei Niyanyu slowly opened his eyes. The shadows that were ever present covering his body moved in an orderly manner. The two bright red orbs that were his eyes shone like a lighthouse in the dark, scarring an old man and the maids who were serving him.

"Lo- Lord Niyanyu, might I be of service?" An old man quickly prostrated himself and asked.

He had a long white beard and a luxurious black robe, contrasting with the reverence on his old eyes and wrinkled forehead. He, who was once one of the mighties leaders of the Yakuza, was now subservient. Yet, he dared not to show any frustration in his face, not to end up like the other two.

That memory still gave him goosebumps. Fortunately he chose to bow down.

"Hmm… a Peak Foundation Establishment being? No… A Quasi-Golden Core Beast, interesting…" Niyanyu muttered to himself, lost in his own thoughts. He sensed the fluctuations of Qi with his Divine Sense.

Even though his cultivation had been destroyed to some extent, his Divine Sense could completely cover the Japan island!

As Niyanyu was lost in thoughts trying to unveil his 'new boss' intentions, neither the prostated old man nor the maids dared to say a word.

"Call everyone back and stop any operation other than finding these books. For the moment, everyone should focus exclusively on things related to cultivation!" He ordered as his red eyes flickered like flames and the shadows moved accordingly.

Niyanyu had somewhat understood Leo's plans, not that the god had planned to hide them anyway. It wasn't complex at all, but maybe he could spice them up.

"Yes, my Lord…" The old man nodded but before he could leave, the shadows around Niyanyu flickled and a small book appeared in front of him.

Startled, the man grabbed the book with shaking hands. Although similar to the cultivation books the organization got, this one had a completely black cover and the title looked like it was hastily written.

[Blood Qi Demonic Cultivation Technique] the old man felt a shiver run down his spine as the meaning behind the deep red words came to mind.

"Put this on the internet, but remember: no one in our organization is allowed to learn this!" Niyanyu warned and got up. "I'll be going for a while."

As the shadow figure disappeared before their eyes, the old man and the maids couldn't help but to sigh in relief.

Unknown to them, Niyanyu did the same as he flew to the sky. A thing that once could be done without a care, would take him quite an effort to do so. He had to constantly use his Qi and what was left of his Domain to fly. Fortunately, he was an experienced god and had precise control over his own weakened body.

As the clouds passed under his feet, he waved his hand and distributed hundreds of Demonic Cultivation Books to Earth. But it wasn't random, his targets were selected first with his divine sense: they were the worst and most evil people he could find.

"Let me help you show how terrifying a cultivation world could be…" Niyanyu muttered.