"W-What the hell is wrong with Kulas? What happened to him in the time we were gone?" Tian Yang questioned in a dumbfounded voice as he approached the bed, a look of disbelief on his face.
They'd been gone for only a little over a hundred years, yet Kulas looked like he'd aged millions of years. Tian Yang couldn't comprehend it.
"It started shortly after you left," Xie Mey explained in a defeated voice. "It was as sudden and random as his mood swings. At first, it started out as a cold. Then, it gradually worsened until he got a fever. Nowadays, he spends most of his time asleep, only waking up once a year for a few hours. Unfortunately, we don't know the cause even at this very moment."
"A fever? Cultivators cannot get fevers, much less a cold. And he's no ordinary cultivator but an Immortal…" Ren Xia remarked with a confused voice after hearing the details.
"This is outrageous," Tian Yang suddenly said with clenched fists. "How is it that every time we leave this place, something drastic happens? It's as if the heavens are purposefully messing with me."
He turned to look at Xie Mey and continued, "We spoke with the Heavenly Doctor, and he said that Kulas' mood swings might be caused by a curse. And for the last hundred years, we have looked for treasures that could get rid of curses."
"A curse, you say?"
Tian Yang nodded and retrieved several treasures from his spatial ring. "Although we can't say for certain that it's a curse, it's the best guess we have now. I am going to examine him now."
Without hesitation, Tian Yang immediately used the treasures he had acquired over the past hundred years on Kulas.
As weird as it may sound, Tian Yang found himself silently hoping that Kulas was cursed. At the very least, they would then know what was wrong with him. If it wasn't a curse, they would be back at square one.
However, even after using multiple treasures, none of them reacted, meaning they were unable to detect any curses affecting Kulas.
"How is this possible…?" Tian Yang muttered in a defeated voice.
"If it isn't poison, a curse, nor a heart demon, what could it possibly be? I doubt mental instability would put him in such a state, either." Ren Xia pondered out loud.
"Uhhh… I should've said this sooner, but despite his appearances, my father is actually very healthy." Xie Mey suddenly said. "We had many doctors look at him. And all of them said the same thing. His internal organs are healthy, and his Dantian and spiritual veins are all normal."
Tian Yang almost couldn't believe his ears. How could Kulas be considered healthy while looking like a dried up corpse? "This situation is getting weirder by the moment," Ren Xia shook her head.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, she noticed some movements from the bed.
The next moment, a hoarse voice resounded, "Brother… Is that you…?"
"Kulas?!" Tian Yang immediately responded.
"What the…?" Xie Mey mumbled with a dumbfounded look on her face.
Kulas had already woken up a week prior to their return, so she was surprised to see him wake up again in such a short time.
"Ah… I really didn't… want you to… see me in such a… state…" Kulas spoke in a weak voice.
"Rather than wasting your breath on such nonsensical words, tell me if you have any idea what happened to you," said Tian Yang.
Despite asking such a question, Tian Yang already knew how Kulas would respond to it.
"I… don't know…" Kulas said. "But it started… after we went to war… with the… Three Pillars of Heaven…"
"War with the Three Pillars of Heaven?" Tian Yang frowned.
"You guys are at war with them? Since when?"
"Shortly after you left, the Three Pillars of Heaven sent their demands to compensate for the incident. However, their demands were outrageous." Xie Mey spoke in her father's stead, and she proceeded to explain the whole situation to them.
"What a ridiculous demand." Ren Xia shook her head after listening to the details. "They just want an excuse to go to war. I guess they've been bored out of their mind after being at the top and unmatched for too long."
Tian Yang remained silent for a long moment before speaking, "What are the chances of the Three Pillars of Heaven being behind Kulas' phenomenon?"
"Quite frankly, it's not high," Ren Xia replied. "However, it's not low, either."
"But how would they have done it?" Xie Mey asked.
"Unfortunately, there's no way we will know unless they reveal it to us. Kulas has met with many people over the years. They could've pulled something at any time. This would explain why Kulas, who seemed perfectly healthy, suddenly started to have mood swings," said Tian Yang.
"Perhaps they have always wanted to get rid of the Giant Race for whatever reason," Ren Xia shrugged. "If the Three Pillars of Heaven are the pioneers of cultivation, then Kulas would be the creator of the Giant Race. If I had to guess, they don't want any competition."
She continued, "They have revealed themselves to be ruthless and unreasonable with their demand, after all."
Tian Yang clenched his teeth, anger burning within him. He could never understand why those wielding immense power so often used it to trample the weak. First the Immortal Clans, and now the Three Pillars of Heaven.
"So, what now?" Ren Xia asked.
"If the Three Pillars of Heaven are truly involved, I am going to try to figure out what they did to Kulas and find a way to cure it," he spoke with a resolute expression.
"How are you going to do that?" Xie Mey asked with a puzzled face.
"By going to the Holy Continent. I know someone from there, and she said that I could visit with her permission."
"No… it's too… dangerous…" Kulas rejected the idea.
Tian Yang sighed, "There's no other way."