623 Blue Deer's Fate

Thump Thump!

"Hm? What's wrong little one?" Lost in thought as he was inspecting the scales that had suddenly appeared on the blue dear together with the small antlers, Xuan Hao was brought back from his thoughts as the blue dear stomped its hooves on the ground to catch his attention.

Rustle~ Thump!

"You want me to follow you?" Seeing the blue dear suddenly move towards the bushes it had emerged from before doing what could only be described as a 'follow me' signal, Xuan Hao saw no reason to refuse it.

After all, last time he had followed the blue dear to help it deal with the winged lion demon beast, he had ended up getting a quest and a pet Domain Lord Realm demon beast!

Rustle~

Noticing that Xuan Hao was following it, the blue dear did not wait around any longer, as it rushed into the bushes it had emerged from before rushing in a certain direction inside the small forest that surrounded the massive rock filled with the blue divine energy.

Swish-!

Following after the blue dear for what seemed like hours, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he once again had a feeling that he was trapped in some sort of formation that twisted space like he had been when he had first tried exploring the Main Star Peak in the past.

However, after looking around and trying his best to feel his surroundings with his domain, Xuan Hao realized that nothing was wrong with the environment around him and the space around him was far too stable for any formation to be messing with it to trap him in some sort of loop

Realizing this, Xuan Hao felt even more curious about just how big the Main Star Peak truly was. Even if he wasn't completely certain as of yet, Xuan Hao had already deduced that the Main Star Peak should be located in some sort of pocket dimension of sorts similar to a secret realm.

The only difference was that the Main Peak was not located somewhere in the void outside the world he was a part of but was instead integrated into the world in some sort of way that he failed to understand with his current comprehension of space.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao understood just how powerful the past owner of the Main Star Peak should have been. Even if the person was not above the Soul Ascension realm, that person should at the very least have been far stronger than the current Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the Sky Empire.

After all, from what he could gather so far from the information through the book Yi Min had given to him, the current emperor of the Sky Empire should have only reached the Soul Ascension Realm a short time ago and hadn't broken through again since then, while the ancestor was rumoured to be a minor realm above that.

Xuan Hao had no idea how true it was, but at the very least, he could tell that it should not be too far from the truth, as the current position of the Sky Empire on the Ewaria Continent was considered average among the different empires that inhabited the central parts of the continent.

Thump!

Watching as the blue deer running in front of him suddenly came to a stop, Xuan Hao felt confused for a short moment before noticing what was in front of it.

"This is... Your father...?" Recognizing the massive blue deer laying on the ground in front of him as the father of the blue deer demon beast that he had seen back when he had first encountered the blue deer, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression before starting to inspect it.

Given that the massive blue deer had not moved at all since his arrival, Xuan Hao could not help feeling something was wrong as he watched the small blue deer nudging the massive blue deer without getting any response from it, as it remained still on the ground without moving.

"Haaaa..." After a short scan with his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a sorrowful sigh, as he realized that the massive blue deer in front of him was not breathing and had the Nascent Soul that should be present inside its body given that it was a demon beast in the Nascent Soul Realm, was absent.

From all of this, Xuan Hao did not take long to realize that the massive blue deer demon beast that had been in the Nascent Soul Realm the last time he saw it was dead!

Not to mention this, but there wasn't the slightest sign of fighting or resistance present in the surrounding area and there were also no wounds present on its body!

"..."

Looking back towards the blue deer still trying its best to wake up its father, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say or how to explain the current situation to the young blue deer. Even if he told it what had happened to its father, there was no way he could be certain that it would even be able to fully understand him in the first place!

But... What killed the blue deer? The winged demon beast that was most likely behind the mother of the blue deer's death was already taken away by me! Given that it had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, it should be able to stay safe as long as it didn't venture into any dangerous areas on the Main Star Peak... Or perhaps... It was not the winged demon beast that killed the blue deer's mother, but something different!

Frowning even further as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes as his domain spread out and covered a few hundred meters around him.

From the condition of the massive blue deer, he could tell that it had been killed instantaneously without any chance to fight back.

The massive blue deer was at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm when he had last seen it, so for something to be able to instantaneously kill it without any chance of resistance, the enemy should at least have reached the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm. Maybe even beyond that...!

Against an unknown opponent that was at least in the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm and likely even stronger than that, Xuan Hao didn't dare to be the slightest be careless, as he full well understood that even if he was far stronger than someone at similar realm to himself, it would all be for naught if the opponent managed to land a fatal attack on him while his guard was down.

Even if he managed to win in the end, he would likely be forced to spend dozens if not longer recovering after such a fight... Not something he wanted to do if it could be avoided.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Seemingly having grown impatient after seeing that the massive blue deer was not responding, the small blue deer jumped up and down in an attempt to 'wake up' the massive blue deer laying on the ground.

However, this did nothing, as there was no chance for the massive blue deer to ever wake up again...

Thud~

Ignoring Xuan Hao who was cautiously scanning his surroundings at this point in time for any sign of the one responsible for the death of the massive blue deer, the small deer slowly collapsed on the ground beside the massive blue deer before letting out of small, yet soft cry filled with pain.

From the sound alone, it was not difficult to realize that the small blue deer had come to the realization that its father would no longer wake up again...

"..."

Turning towards the sad blue deer as it cried out softly beside the massive blue deer, Xuan Hao decided to remain silent as he continued looking for any signs of the one responsible for the death of the massive blue deer.

[Main Quest: Investigate what caused the death of the blue deer's father.]

[Description: Investigate what could have caused the sudden death of the blue deer's father.]

[Reward: Sky Watcher's forgotten notes relating to celestial bodies]

Before Xuan Hao had any time to find any clues about the one responsible, the system reappeared, as it gave out a new quest... However, different from the past few times... It was a main quest this time around!

It had to be known that the rewards from the main quests were always something that was useful to him.

"Sky Watcher's forgotten notes relating to celestial bodies? What in the world is that...?"

However, after reading the name of the reward that was for once not hidden away behind question marks, Xuan Hao could not help feeling confused, as he had absolutely no idea what the [Sky Watcher's forgotten notes relating to celestial bodies], was about...