The Middle Circle

The fluttering of leaves destroyed the silence as a strong breeze passed through the destroyed trees. A grotesque scene was visible as many mangled bodies of large Azure wolves were lying on the ground in between the pool of blood.

A half-masked man in a tattered black robe sat on the edge of the cliff, his eyes focused on the endless valley, his legs dangling in the air, and blood oozed from his various wounds.

"What are you thinking?" Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.

He shook his head, his gaze fixed on the endless valley. "Nothing much. Just thinking about my days on Earth. I'm not sure, but that life had changed me. I was so caught up in that materialistic world that I had forgotten what happiness was. Even though I'm fighting like a barbarian in this world, I'm having fun."

But then he smirked, "This is an interesting life. Even though I could die at any point in time. But who cares? I'm having fun with what I'm doing."

But the amusing voice echoed in his mind again, "Then why did you make that girl a fool. You could have a more interesting life when everybody would hunt you and shout that you are a demon,"

"Do you think I'm a fool or what? Even though I want an interesting life. I'm not a fan of running away from everyone." The man muttered as a white pill appeared in his hand, which he immediately swallowed.

Suddenly, the blood stopped oozing and all the wounds on his body healed at a visible rate as he stood on the cliff and gazed out at the valley before turning around to see the wolves' mangled bodies lying on the ground.

A frown formed on his face as he shook his head and started strolling towards the other side of the jungle

"You put up a good fight against these wolves. Especially the alpha, who was as powerful as the soul formation cultivator." The Demon Lord's voice echoed in his mind once more. But his steps came to a halt as he turned around to look in a direction.

His brow furrowed as he walked in that direction, his eyes settled on the rustling shrub, and a strange sound reached his ears.

He came to a halt as his gaze was drawn to the dead body of a large wolf, but the rustling shrub drew his attention, and he crouched down and pushed the shrub away to see a wolf cub attempting to move the dead body of the wolf with its head, while a faint cry reached his ears.

When he saw the cub's actions, his body froze, and a lump formed in his throat. As he carefully lifted it to the point of his eyes, his lips pursed and a drop of tear formed at the corner of his eyes.

The cub struggled slightly, but it eventually came to a halt as its azure eyes stared at the half-masked man figure in front of it. The Cub was all white with a grey splotch on its brow. Andy kept a close eye on it before the cub began struggling in its hand again.

Demon Lord's voice suddenly echoed in his mind once more, "It's interesting. Take this cub. It might be useful to you in the future."

Andy nodded slightly. "Even if you had said nothing, I would have done the same thing. But could I fit this cub into the space?"

"You can, but you should make a contract with this cub first, and then you can even store it in your consciousness."

Andy's eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before he remembered that such a thing was mentioned in the book. When Fang Yan arrived in the upper world, he even made a contract with a dragon.

"Could you teach me that?" Andy murmured, his gaze fixed on the cub in his hand, which was struggling furiously. But then, his mind was flooded with new information.

He felt a tinge of pain as he bit his index finger with his teeth, and blood leaked out from that finger before he moved and began drawing some strange circular design on the cub's forehead, which froze in his hand as Andy touched it.

And as soon as he drew the last line of the design, a bright red light glowed before the circular design flashed in the air for a moment before disappearing into the cub's forehead. The cub's azure eyes dilated briefly before it stopped struggling and began licking Andy's hand.

His lips curled into a smile as he felt a connection with the cub, and he could even feel the cub's emotion, which appeared to be quite happy.

"You are Whitey from now on," Andy muttered as the cub froze for a moment before licking his hands again, but Demon Lord's voice echoed in his mind.

"That is a Heavenly wolf, not a Heavenly Dog."

Andy shook his head. "Whatever it is. He is Whitey from now on."

Silence ensued for a moment as the cub turned into the white light and disappeared into Andy's forehead. And he stared at the body of the dead wolf lying on the ground before he turned around and started towards the inner circle.

"Be careful from now on. The middle circle had the Demonic Beast till the soul formation realm. But you would eventually face the Profound Realm Beast as you reach the inner circle," Demon Lord's voice echoed once more.

Andy's eyes narrowed as he stared at the road within the woods as a Broken Spherical ball* appeared in his hand, which vibrated slightly and was attracted in a particular direction, "Fang Yan was really a lucky bastard. In the book, he didn't even meet a beast and directly went to the ruins to grab the other half of the sphere." Andy muttered as he clutched the ball tightly and disappeared from the spot.

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*- It was the sphere of time that slows down the time around Andy. It helped him grow stronger in a short amount of time and was first mentioned in chapter 19.