The cultivation aura which was initially intense and oppressive but it suddenly turned soothingly warm and light on the body. Faintly visible golden sparks of energy were seen being emitted out of Grandma Yuan's body as she breathed in and out.
"Epic Gleaming Griffin Arts, Rebirth of Golden Griffin," Yuan spoke as a silhouette of a massive Griffin slowly climbed out of her body and took shape. The winds within the borders became unsettling as if to show its aggressive emergence into this world, and it even imitated the way Loopa Ooofpa emerged from the forest by letting out a loud wailing screech.
Subsequently like Grandma Yuan's chi, the Griffin calmed down when it lowered its claws as they grabbed the ledge of the border wall. But the most unexpected thing to the Border Guards and Demon Exorcists was seeing that silhouette of the Gleaming Griffin materialised.
They were all in shock as this was the first time seeing someone materialising their animal cultivation into a living and breathing creature. "Heh, this is nothing compared to the Royal Zodiac Dragon Clan's technique. Mine is just a rip off of theirs." Grandma Yuan explained to the students watching her from behind while taking heavier breaths as a way to stabilise her chi circuits.
While this particular technique had never been used against any enemy for decades, it did not mean she lacked any practice on it. In fact, it was actually part of her recovery therapy, allowing her to master the intricacies of it with the help of a Royal Zodiac Dragon clansman. It was mainly because she had used this Rebirth of Golden Griffin technique as a last resort against the rampaging Loopa Ooofpa at the expense of her comrades' chi and ...life.
The chi 'payment' for the technique had been so tremendous back in the day that her comrades sacrificed their blood and flesh to convert the remaining chi needed for the summoning. To this day Yuan blamed herself for her incompetence to hold the materialisation at that point.
Even though it was not fully her fault for not comprehending the technique well enough as her cultivation manual only had theories for such a technique, it technically bordered a miracle that she had been able to materalise it from just that alone.
Only through the help of the Royal Zodiac Dragon clan did she find out that there were so many missing components with the 'summoning' and the optimisation of her chi could have improved. Although she would have prefered to keep the memories of that fateful day where it all happened suppressed, she stared at the Unceasing Hunger as if this was what she had been waiting for all her life.
A chance to redeem herself.
Even though there were also regrets with Ming and his System, this particular grievance in her heart was heavier than the others as there was no possible reconciliation between her dead comrades who had overtaxed their Dantian cores to allow for the maximum amount of chi transferred into her.
"Everything ends with a full circle, eh?" Grandma Yuan thought to herself as the Gleaming Golden Griffin lowered its body. Yuan could feel the softness of its feathery neck while it glittered and glowed with radiance.
The Griffin also rubbed onto Yuan as a sign of affection and later allowed her to jump onto it before extending its wings again to signal the others to move away from it. The Border Guards were taken aback that such a weakly looking old grandmother had the strength and finesse to jump so easily, but the Demon Exorcists knew better how that look was merely a façade.
"I can still remember how she whooped our asses on the first day of her intensive camp training." Lein said when he saw her jump so elegantly. The days where they underestimated their demanding elderly instructor felt like it was just yesterday.
"I can hear you." Grandma Yuan said without turning her head back.
"Teacher! I am coming with you!" Su Zhen shouted, asking for permission to fight along with her. This prompted the rest to want to follow her as well.
"NO!" Grandma Yuan told them sternly as she activated her cultivation once more, pushing them away with a chi burst. At this moment, the Griffin had also started flapping its wings, further disabling them from moving forward.
"Let it go." Lein decided to hold back Su Zhen. "If we follow her, we will just hold her back."
"But it's impossible for her to fight alone! Claire, say something to stop her!" Su Zhen shouted as the Griffin began to take off. However, even her long-time assistant was standing at the back, subtly waving back at her.
"You still owe me my bonus red packet for the upcoming new year. Please remember to return." Claire said via the System Channel which made her boss smirk.
"Just get it from your new Boss. You two-timer." Grandma Yuan snapped back at her.
"You were the one who approved it. Don't pretend to go senile on me now. Besides, it feels more appropriate to get it from an elderly figure." Claire remarked as she started to type a few things on the System's phone. "System, you better have a way to save her…" Claire thought to herself.
"This rascal… I never regretted hiring you to be my assistant." Grandma Yuan replied as she looked forward. The Loopa Ooofpa had never been so ready to consume the incoming large golden Griffin as it could sense the intense amount of chi residing within it. Hand tentacles had already started to crawl out of the forest and zoomed into the skies just to grab the prize that was like an inch out of reach.
"Gleaming Griffin Arts, Rainbow Feather Storm." Grandma Yuan announced as she lightly held on to the nape of her Griffin and continued to channel chi within it. The Golden Griffin glimmered despite the looming dark skies, and out of its wings, feathers with homing capabilities soared through the darkness with streaks of bright rainbow trails following it.
Like a beacon of bright light that continued to shine and illuminate, it destroyed the hand tentacles and lit the hopes of the Guards along the wall, bringing cheers.
"Don't be so happy!" Claire shouted at the Border Guards. "The waves of enemies are not stopping! Use that renewed strength you uncovered and stop those monstrous Demons! You four! What are you staring at? Since you are at the wall, do your job as Demon Exorcists!" Claire commanded as she placed an artefact on the ground and suddenly the section of the wall lit up with greenish hues.
"Ms Claire, you are using that?!" Su Zhen lit up further when she saw the greenish hues glowed with a hum along the edges of the border wall and slowly spread to the other sections of the border walls.
"Duh, how else are we going to survive with these little numbers the guards are left with?" Claire answered as she used her head to prod the Demon Exorcists to get a move on. "We have to stall them until other demon exorcists reach here."
"Besides, I need to see if Jin's System was not lying to me about my new 'intern' powers," Claire added in her head.
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