James looked at Draven speechlessly. "I have known for a long time that you are a wastrel, but I didn't expect it to be to this extent."
Draven shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "As long as there are demon beasts in the jungle, I am rich and can afford to be a wastrel."
James shook his head helplessly. Both of them chatted idly for some time before Draven left the place.
If it was in the past, Draven would not have so casually decided to spend 2000 second-tier essence coins. After all, he had his sister's tuition and cultivation resources to take care of. But now since she was with her grandparents, he was on his own and could spend his money however he wished.
To top that up, his power also soared drastically with the addition of the Ultimate Demon Physique, which pushed his body to a new height, and his Asura Avatars, which could hunt on their own without him even needing to lift a hand. All in all, his speed of making money was a thousand times faster than before.
After reaching home, Draven didn't choose to enter his Dream God Ring as usual. Instead, he began cultivating his two life-bound weapons with his spirit chi and vital chi.
As Draven's mighty vital chi and spirit chi touched the two tattoos on his body, he felt himself being connected to two black spaces. In the first black space, his Silent Eclipse stood as a faint illusionary shadow, while in the second one his Drunken Shepherd's Twin Treasures floated in a similar way.
Draven's chi was like thousands of threads which were connected to the two treasures out of nowhere, constantly solidifying their illusionary forms.
As time passed, visible to the naked eye, the two treasures became more and more real until Draven felt a sense of fatigue and headache which forced him to exit the black space.
When he exited the black space, Draven was shocked to discover that his body was all skin and bones like a skeleton wrapped in human skin. His head was also spinning like never before.
But the next second, his Ultimate Demon Physique became active in full force. The chi around Draven became a whirlpool which entered his body through his 360 acupoints, repairing his body and bringing his shape back to normal. Even then, the headache still persisted like a throbbing pain at the center of his brows.
"Just sleep for now. Your life-bound weapons are simply too strong. They directly depleted both your spirit and vital chi. Make sure to only cultivate one of them at a time in the future," Silas's voice rang in Draven's head before he fell to the ground into a peaceful sleep.
.....
Inside Seraphina's aircraft, the interior was nothing short of a mansion with all types of luxurious furnishings and decorations.
But Jessy was not in a mood to admire any of it. She just sat on a luxurious sofa with a sullen look on her face as she fixed her eyes on Draven's clone, who sat on an opposite sofa like a pitiful lamb.
Devis and Magnus exchanged helpless glances. In the end, Devis said in a gentle tone, "Little Sia, this is your real brother. Grandpa personally verified it. Believe me."
Jessy looked at Devis angrily and said in irritation, "First of all, my name is Jessy, not some Sia. Secondly, my brother is a man, not a sissy like this idiot."
Draven's clone shrugged his shoulders and remained silent when he heard this.
Saya frowned as she sat beside Jessy. "Little sister, you have to understand little brother was locked up in a prison cell with slaves until now, forced to work inside a mine for years. Don't be rude to him. It is his situation that made his personality so timid."
Jessy frowned. "Situation? At least as a slave there was someone to give him food, right? When my mother died my brother was only seven and there was no one to look after us. No food, no relatives, no one. In such a situation, even if I was in his place I would have thrown away the two-year-old burden who was living with me."
"But my brother didn't do that. Even when he starved, he somehow found ways to feed me. Even when he was all skin and bone, I never once knew what hunger really felt like."
Jessy looked straight into Devis's eyes. "You saw my brother's body, right?"
Devis nodded with a sigh.
"Do you know why there are scars all over his body, even though they wouldn't leave scars if you used light element to treat the wounds?" Jessy paused for a moment and said, "That idiot always relied on wild medicinal plants to heal his wounds, just to save that little bit of healing money for my tuition and other cultivation resources. Most of the time when I was young, he always came back home with bleeding wounds with the smell of blood around him, but I never saw him cry like this sissy. His spine was always straight and there would always be a gentle smile on his face."
"Later, when I awakened my bloodline, the patriarch of the Stonewill family who was at the Ascendant Realm and several other people came to my house to buy my bloodline with money. Normally, a mortal realm cultivator would have accepted the offer and sold his sister to the powerful Stonewill family, but my brother did the opposite. He fought a bloody battle against them and killed most of them. That battle was so intense to the point that even the patriarch of the Stonewill family was forced to run away from our house after one of his arms was cut off."
"A few days after that I got an offer to study in the Golden Phoenix Academy. Again, it was a place only meant for rich people, but my brother still sent me there, just for my protection. At first when I saw all the rich kids around me, I truly felt inferior and told my brother I didn't want to study in that academy any longer, but my brother didn't allow that. Instead, he sold most of the things mother left behind and used the money to fund my studies."
"From that day on, all the dresses I wore, all the resources I used, everything was the same as those rich kids. In my eyes, that is my real brother, no matter if he was any demon vessel or not."
Everyone stayed silent after hearing Jessy's words. After all, they also knew everything she said was true from their investigation on Draven until now. This was also the reason why they decided to let him go, even though the crime he committed was unforgivable.
...
The next day, Draven woke up from the floor with a heavy head. "Why didn't you tell me its consumption is this great?"
"Don't worry. The only frightening part is the vital chi consumption, but that's not a problem for you. An Ultimate Demon could never die from something as simple as overusing their vital chi. As for your spirit chi, you have the Seven Sense Mantra. It will pull you back automatically if the drain ever becomes dangerous," Silas's lazy voice echoed in Draven's mind.
Draven rubbed his head and asked after a while, "I am going to a friend's wine shop. Since you always carry a wine gourd, I assume you also like wine. Although it won't be to your standard, if you want you can join me."
"Nah, I have some particular taste when it comes to wine. There is one type of wine, mentioned in legends, that I am eager to try. Unfortunately, until now I still don't have that luxury yet," Silas said lazily.
"I want wine and meat. My mouth is already dry without eating anything for days," just then the voice of a young boy was heard in front of Draven.
Draven's seventh sense kicked in. Like lightning, two swords appeared in his hands as he somersaulted backward into a fighting posture.
"Jade-Horned Tiger King..." Draven muttered to himself in terror as he recognized the beast in front of him. It was now only the size of a regular cat, but the aura Draven felt from its body was surely the one that belonged to the Jade-Horned Tiger King he saw in the jungle.
"Relax, brat. I don't eat human meat," the tiger demon rolled its eyes when it saw Draven's exaggerated expression.
"It's my contracted beast, Loki. Just bring him along. That guy is a foodie like you," Silas's voice rang out once more, making Draven's expression relax.
"You intentionally attacked me, forcing me to enter the Asura God Mansion?" Draven asked after he calmed down and the events from the past connected in his mind like the pieces of a puzzle.
But Loki ignored him and just jumped onto his shoulder like a squirrel.
Draven sighed. Since this thing was Silas's contracted beast, its cultivation would also be monstrous. So he didn't dare anger it and should only treat it with respect. After all, his 7th sense would not have warned him if this was just a normal tiger cub.
Once he had brushed his teeth and washed his face, Draven left for John's wine shop on his super bike. Loki still perched on his shoulder like a squirrel. The rushing wind did not stir a single strand of the cub's fur, even though it wasn't using any elemental or vital chi to shield itself.