"The Three-Legged Crow?" Alex asked, his words carrying blatant shock.

The bird, now fully realized in its illusory flaming form, nodded.

"You are the avatar of the Sun?" Shumi asked.

The crow smiled. "I have been called that."

Alex turned toward her with a curious look.

"The records I've read mention that the Three-Legged Crow was born of the sun, an avatar of its existence on the land. Some said it tore a piece of the sun and consumed it, becoming the Sun Crow."

She turned toward the crow. "Is that true?"

The bird didn't answer immediately. It let the pause linger for a second longer before saying, "In a way."

"In a way?"

"I did eat something to become what I had become. But it was not a piece of the sun, but rather a fruit of a tree from long ago," he said, turning to look toward Alex. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you? I can sense it in your body."

Alex's eyes went wide. "The fruit of the Nine Yang Divi— no, Nine Yang God Tree."

The crow nodded.

Alex stared at the beast in utter awe. It had eaten the same thing he had? No, something even stronger in a way. He was surprised that it hadn't died eating something like that.

"Is this your first time meeting one of us?" the Crow asked, seeing their surprised looks. "One of us that can talk back, that is."

"No," Alex answered.

"Not really," Shumi said.

They both looked at each other, a little surprised.

"Oh?" the Crow said in surprise. "Is someone still alive out there?"

"Not exactly alive," Shumi said. "But senior Heavenly Dog persists in an illusory form in his original place, despite the destruction of the Forest Moon Realm and the World Tree's death."

'Heavenly Dog?' Alex thought in surprise. There was another Primordial out there still?

"Oh," the Crow said in a saddened voice. "Did the World Tree die?"

"Yes," Shumi said, looking down. "It was lost in the war."

'Forest Moon Realm?' Alex thought, thinking back to what Shumi had said earlier about that realm. Over 500 billion people, a third of the total accounted demons that had died in the war, had died in the Forest Moon Realm.

'Did they die protecting the tree?' Alex thought. Through the Artifact God's memories, he remembered the attack on the Forest Moon Realm and how much that had angered the demons. He could only imagine how that battle must have been.

Shumi turned toward Alex. "Is there another Primordial still alive out there?" she asked.

"The Guardian Tiger is still alive in the Immortal Prison Realm. I've met him," Alex said.

"The Immortal Prison Realm?" the crow said with a strange look. "I'm not aware of any place with such a realm."

"It used to belong to the demons," Alex said. "But the Tree of Life drew away too much Qi, thus causing Heaven to fail there. And since then, the Tree of Life has taken over it as Heaven. The tree lives at its center, along with the Guardian Tiger."

It was Shumi's turn to be surprised this time. There was one of the trees alive and well out there? Even her people didn't have records on where the Tree of Life was.

"I see. He must've been given that duty then," the Crow said. "In a way, I'm happy to hear I am not the only one who had a duty. Although, it sounds like the Heavenly Dog has failed in his duty."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "The Heavenly Dog was a guardian of the World Tree?"

"He was," Shumi answered. "And it's hard to say he failed, considering he was up against the human gods. It took multiple Celestials to keep senior Heavenly Dog at bay while the others went and cut down the World Tree."

"But the World Tree is dead," the Crow said.

"The humans have the seed. We just need to find it and let it grow once again," Shumi said.

Alex watched the back and forth, unsure if he should tell them or not. He decided to keep it to himself for now and looked around the place. The surroundings were bright enough that he could see everything without any issues.

His eyes went to the two large depressions on the ground again, finding the lack of life in those regions. As he watched, a thought grew in him.

"The Sun God called this place his grave," Alex said. He pointed toward the two depressions. "Does that mean those two spots are where the Sun God and the Moon Goddess died?"

The Crow shook his head. "Those are two graves, but they do not belong to the Sun God or the Moon Goddess. Rather, they are graves of two other beasts who were close friends of mine."

Alex narrowed his eyes. Two beasts?

His mind went back to the platforms and the two beasts he saw there.

"A dragon and a phoenix," he blurted out almost immediately.

The crow held a look of incredulity. "How did you know?" he asked. "Their bodies and spirits are all gone. You should not have been able to grasp their identities."

"I… I had a guess," Alex said, a little surprised himself. He had begun to have a different theory all this time regarding the Dragon Father and the Phoenix Mother, but it appeared he was mistaken.

"So, the Dragon Father and the Phoenix Mother died here too?" Alex asked. "Which grave is whose?"

The crow blinked for a moment. "Oh! You are mistaken regarding that."

Alex looked at him. "Regarding what?"

"Those are not their graves."

"Huh?" Alex was taken aback. "But you just said—"

"Those are the graves of a dragon and a phoenix, but not the Dragon Father and the Phoenix Mother," the Crow said.

"Whose graves are those then?" Shumi asked, now growing curious as well.

The Crow obliged and answered her.

"Those graves belong to the Flying Raindragon and the Midnight Phoenix."

Both Alex and Shumi's eyes instantly went wide in surprise.

This place held not one Primordial, but three.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.