"Xing'er?"

  "Yes."

  She levitates in the air to stop by my side.

  "Where are we? Why is the spiritual energy here so weak?"

  Her expression turns grim as she floats in front of me to look at the green forest around us. "This is a small world that was abandoned long ago by the gods. I heard that no one has bothered to come here because it no longer holds value to them. It is the only place I could bring escape to."

  She then turns around, her eyes glassy from the thin layer of tears.

  I can only sigh. At least her quick thinking saved this body even though the soul of her master is gone.

  Since I have inherited it, I will take good care of Xing'er. She is, after all, the only being this divine lord valued. He refrained from showing affection because he did not want her to be emotionally attached to avoid her suffering if he were to die.

  His fear came true, but not in the way he expected. I'll make sure to burn more incense sticks for him when I settle down.

  "Who inhibits this world?"

  Xing'er shakes her head. "No mortals, just beasts."

  I close my eyes and use my domain-sensing technique. At the moment, I can only cover a few hundred meters around us for I have not cultivated it like my previous body.

  In this area, I detect countless beasts, all going about their business in harmony.

  Most of them are plant eaters, posing no threat to each other.

  If only this kind of peace could be achieved back in the third world, how beautiful it would be.

  However it leaves me wondering, do other worlds also fight like we do?

  I have heard that there are more than nine worlds, the heaven excluded. What is it like over there?

  I shrug internally. All I can do is to first change my world before I think of others. Maybe when the time comes, I can travel to broaden my mind.

  "Let's go."

  "Mm!"

  I jump from the rock, thinking to myself how graceful I'll appear in Xing'er's eyes, but my robes get stuck between the rocks and I'm left hanging upside down after smacking one of them.

  "Zhuren!" Xing'er hurries to my side. "Are you okay? If you don't mind, let me transform. Your body is still recovering."

  "That will be a good idea," I whisper as the blood continues rushing down to my head, accelerating my nosebleed.

  A strong gush of wind infused with qi suddenly whirls around me. It lifts me from my awkward position with care before setting me down on the transformed white dragon.

  She is at least ten meters tall with two small curved horns.

  Her white mane is soft to the touch and quite adorable. I dare not say anything out loud lest she realizes I'm not her real Amsterdam, so I quietly appreciate her dragon features in my heart.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  When she is all grown up, her elegance in both forms will shake the worlds.

  "Are there any powerful beasts here?" I ask as she sets off, maneuvering through the air with experience.

  "'Yes. I can sense them,'" Xing'er answers through telepathy.

  "More powerful than you?"

  "'Some might be thousands of years old, Zhuren. I will avoid their territory so we don't have to fight them.'"

  I fall into deep thought. Should I look for weaker beasts to bring with me back to my world? With Xing'er's strength, they will submit to her after a little show of power. I would have loved to use the power in me, but without any good techniques, I might explode before I can show my dominance.

  Once they're tamed, they can be quite useful, maybe even cultivate them to gain a second form as Xing'er.

  "'Zhuren? Zhuren?'"

  "Huh?"

  "'Where are we going?'"

  "'The third star.'"

  "'Why have you chosen it? You never wanted to visit there even though your sister was sent there three hundred years ago.'"

  Ah, yes. According to this body's memories, I have three siblings, one younger sister, and two older brothers. The relationship between them hasn't always been pleasing especially when the eldest brother surpassed this divine lord's cultivation. The competition between them has been stiff as a brick with no genuine sibling love. This is the opposite of my relationship with my only sister. Even in the final battle against the humans, she stood by me.

  Before I fell, I forcefully sent her back to my palace through an array and then destroyed it so she wouldn't come back.

  She must be grieving my death right now.

  'Wait for me, mei mei, your brother is on his way to you.'

  While I lose myself in my countless thoughts, a strong gush of energy blasts us from the south. Before it gets to us, an array shield appears in front of us just as Xing'er comes to a stop.

  "'Zhuren, it seems our presence has been noticed.'"

  I stand up, my eyes squinting into the mountain-like cloud. The malice is coming from it though the creature behind the attack doesn't show itself.

  "Is it stronger than you?"

  "'It is hiding its strength. I did not even feel its presence until its attack.'"

  "If we cannot defeat it, we'll run. No need to die for nothing here."

  "'I understand.'"

  For some seconds, we wait for it to attack again. A minute goes by. Still, nothing.

  Does it want to let us go or not?

  I raise my hand and manipulate the wind to form an external apparition made of air. With it, I slap the clouds away, revealing the monster that has been hiding there.

  My eyes grow round as I stare at the creature that is now bare to Xing'er and me.

  In all of my years, I have never seen such a large fox. It makes Xing'er's dragon form look like a part of its tail.

  With two pairs of glowing golden eyes, it casts us intense glares. The air all around us begins to feel as if it is crumbling intending to squash us to death before crumpling what will be left of our corpses.

  If I wasn't in a god's body, the pressure coming from the beast's gaze would have crushed my organs and sent me arrowing for the ground dead.

  How is this possible?

  What level is this fox?

  Its body radiates nothing but divine energy that I have never experienced before. It is so intimidating that my current body is growing fatigued.

  I always thought gods were the strongest for I had met a god before. But facing this nine-tailed fox, everything I have known is being challenged.

  "'Zhuren, this...this is a god-king beast. I'm afraid we cannot win even if we fight it.'"

  I swallow, never allowing my gaze to falter or stray from the majestic beast standing in front of us.

  It is over fifteen meters tall possessing an untainted white fur coat. Its eyes are bright red like the blood, and its nine tails which are dancing gently give it a magnificent aura that even I cannot fathom.

  How has this small world with depilated spiritual energy managed to give birth to such a beast?

  Maybe nobody has been coming here because of this intimidating beast.